" The least of learning is done in the classrooms." Thomas Merton

A week ago I received a strange question out of the blue. A woman called and explained that she had a learning disability and was trying to pass the written portion of the driving test. She knew what she needed just not where to find it. She told me that she needed to make an online testing/studying method for herself. The actions of inputting all data plus the reinforcement of information would cement it all in her brain. We talked for a while and I gave her a few suggestions that I had. After we spoke I did a bit of research looking for an easy to use and helpful application. I came across Cramberry. At its core it is a set of flash cards. All you do is hop over to the site, register, and start creating sets of flash cards for anything you want to learn or quiz yourself on. If you can type in information in predefined boxes then you can do this. When you have typed in all the questions and answers you can begin to quiz yourself. It shows the question and then you click on it to see the answer. You then tell if you were right or wrong. Wrong answer will come back to haunt you during the rest of the quizzing. I like it for its simplicity but I do wish there was either a shareable or embeddable feature for teachers to share with their students. They do have a sharing button but it only works if the other person is already registered. Why not just make regular flash cards you say? I would agree that they are basically the same however I find I can log onto the site whenever I get a free moment and quiz myself versus carrying around some cards that I may or may not have on me. I recommend giving this one a try.

The answer we discussed and she seemed happy with was that if she owned a device like the iPod Touch or something similar they have plenty of flash card applications that you can design for yourself or they have pre-done ones like for learning languages. She seemed happy with the small portable idea.

“If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends.” John Enoch Powell

Sometimes this job has its perks. To teach computers and their programs I must try them so I can speak with some knowledge about how they work. I opened the new Google Earth, like a kid on Christmas, to try it out and got decidedly lost. I had written a long time ago of this program and how it is a boon to those of a geographical mind but the new version is incredible and far surpasses what came before. One of the major complaints of the old one was the generic blue nothing that represented all of our oceans and lakes. With this new version they have made it just as fun to scour the oceans as had been to go through cities. This is just the beginning of this newly done program. Today I have been flying around Mars looking at all the landing sites and reading up on landers that worked and some that didn’t. Finally the dizzying constellations of the sky was intense. Think of every bit of the sky that we know of mapped and clickable. It was like having an observatory right at my fingertips. All of the map choices would be a help to almost any teacher no matter the subject. The obvious would be just to look at the maps but everywhere you go there are layers to put over your view. The moment you click a layer choice it will shows tons of small icons all over the land and sea. A click on any of them will reward you with videos, information from all sorts of official sources, quizzes, and much more. I took a virtual tour through the marinas trench from a swimming perspective and not just satellite views. The history teacher can benefit as well. There are historic layers like ancient Rome to go through. I really like the slider bar that shows me satellite images from different dates. They have images from around 1949 till now. One last thing that really made me happy was the amount of other organizations that are involved, Gigapan photos which are 3-d like high resolution photos which allow a lot of zooming into or a group like Seafood Watch that I pay a lot of attention to when I purchase seafood. If you have never used this application or had forgotten about it then it is time to return. It truly is a show stopping piece of software. Get your kids on this and have them record their own tours with narration. I love this idea of kids floating through maps and information and not even aware they are learning something. Give this a try.

"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." Adelle Davis

It’s a funny thing that when I think of the Internet I think of sites and stuff to do that is elsewhere in the world. It seems everything is created in California but of course this is not true. Even in our small towns people are doing amazingly helpful things on the net. I happened to be at the doctors recently and noticed something called MYPhotoDiet. I spoke to the Doctor and he explained that people have a tough time thinking out healthy food choices for themselves and their kids. So to help they created MYPhotoDiet which is a pictorial view of what a good diet should consist of. I am a visual person and find I am always after cookbooks with pictures. I explained to the doctor that I had a tech blog and I would like to look into it but I try to recommend stuff that is free or low cost so he gave me the codes for the Myphotodiet kid’s lunch’s program. He said that any of the readers are welcome to use the code. I checked it out and it simple to get into and use. For the kid’s program it shows 30 days of meals and gives the nutritional breakdown for each one. It looks decent. All the diets are in PDF format and can be downloaded to your computer or you can look at it online. The other diets like the one for diabetes or heart healthy ones range from 10.95 to 19.95. Give the free one a try and if it works for you try the others

To gain access click login and type in HEALTHY in the username and the KIDS in the password. Make sure it is all in capital letters.

One last thing I was happy to see my Doctor had his own blog and is staying up with technology. Check it out here.

“When they invent the transporter on Star Trek, then the Internet will be a real threat.” Jerry Storch

I had planned a lot of important posts for this week and then I got sick and now it is Friday. So in honor of the end of the work week I felt a fun post was better than the usual so here we go.

Now I have written before of geeky things being posted on the net because I believe if you understand the geeks of the planet you will understand why technology is the way it is. So to proceed, if Monty Python is the North pole of the geek world then Star Trek must be the South pole. Star Trek for many is the reason they got into computers or at least pursued it in some manner. For years watching the old glorious series was a pain that involved purchasing a huge library of videos. In fact , growing up, a friend of mine Josh owned all the episodes on VHS that took up fully half of his room. Even on DVD it is an investment and a storage issue but thankfully another problem has been solved. CBS just uploaded the entire original series to YouTube. There are full length commercials but this isn’t too bad. The quality is not HQ but it is acceptable. I do like the added feature if you want to keep it small to dim the brightness of the usually way too bright YouTube page. I know I have talked many times about TV on the net but this is increasingly how people are watching TV. So on this Friday take a small adventure into space during your lunch break.
I have to say it Live long and prosper.

Since I am doing a frivolous post I might as well finish it off with the theme to Friday the 13th.

	Henry Mancini - Friday The 13th Theme
	Found at skreemr.com

“Parents always think it's the kids' fault. If they're naughty, it's the kids' fault. Not true! Children generally are not naughty for no reason.”

Quote from Emma Thompson
I am doing research for a possible lecture for parents talking about net security for their kids and I came across this nice little site. KidRex is essentially Google with a heavy safety feature turned on but with a cute crayon feel. This is a simple way of limiting some of the naughtier bits of the net. It just filters the search for words that are too risqué. Many reviews are very positive but one did say if a kid was determined they would see what they wanted. I follow this thinking as well. I would use this site as a way of taking the unfortunate distractions out of reach but do not think this will eliminate risk. I have read much on this subject trying to prepare and everything seems to point to one major way of helping your children. You are not going to like it! It is not easy but talk to them about what they may see and help them understand they are not bad for seeing it. Real explanations have a way of removing the desire for the hidden, Some parents try to shelter their children from these things but instead it only sows the seeds for wanting to see the stuff more. Many cultures introduce wine early and make it a normal part of life. I know in the Jewish tradition it is not uncommon to have a little wine with a Passover dinner or on special occasions. This has been shown to reduce overindulgence later in life. Use this site to reduce the amount of violence and sex stuff they see but try talking to them as well. It is far more effective than filtering.
As I come across more information I will try to put it up.

I had one more thought on this subject. In hacking circles it is understood it is far easier to gain access to a system not using complicated computer programs but through social engineering. Getting someone to tell you the password is easier than cracking it. The same can be said about filtering. You can try it filtering it but with enough determination you get around anything but if a child is taught not to be interested in the unsavory stuff then it will stay with that person far longer.

“Amnesia used to be my favorite word, but then I forgot it.”

We’ve all been there. You’re in the middle of a conversation and you are trying to describe something and you realize the word you were just about to say with such eloquence has just evaporated. No matter what you cannot think of it but you know it is just on the tip of your tongue. This website chir.ag has a project called Tip of your Tongue that is there to help. Let’s say you know the beginning of the word. All you do is type in the letters you know and on the right side of the screen it displays the possibilities. You can further filter out words by using the other options. As an example I typed in “AG” in the begins with section however I knew it also had a letter “T” somewhere in it so I added it to the filter. The word is less than 8 letters so I put that in. Finally I saw my word “Aglet”. Yes it is a real word. Look it up. I like the addition of the definitions. I find it really helps to clear up misunderstandings. I would except that this site would be perfect for the cheating…err…um…person having trouble with a crossword puzzle. The tip of the tongue thing can be so frustrating. I will be happy when they create a mobile version for the iPhone but until then I will keep using their site. Give it a try.

Note: Anonymous quotes are a pain to match an image to so you get something random. This image is from Worth1000.com

“Is it weird in here, or is it just me?” Stephen Wright

Last night I tried to get to a website and found my browser just blank. Eventually it finishes and tells me that the server was not found. I clicked again all throughout the day waiting for the link to work but still nothing. The problem is that I start wondering is it just me or is the site actually down. I could have some strange setting or have done something to upset the internet gods. I normally would have gotten hold of a friend and had them try the same site and see if it comes up for them. Instead I tried a really straight forward site. Down for everyone or just me allows you to type in or copy and paste an address like YouTube.com. It then tells you if it is down for you or everyone. I love this site for its no frills. It has one function and it accomplishes it. Once I found the site was down for everyone I can try to accomplish the task some other way and I do not have to spend more time looking at setting that have nothing to do with the issue. So if a site does not pop up double check your spelling and if that fails try DFEOJM.

"Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl." Bill Peterson

I love the internet! The reason is simple. I do not have to watch football. Yes I can skip all the fanfare of people playing catch and get to the real reason to tune in. Of course the commercials. Now before I get angry emails let me say I have a short attention span and commercials are just the right length while the actual game that many people watch the Superbowl for is a bit too lengthy. In the past you have been able to watch some of the commercials at one site and then some at another but this year it has all boiled down to HULU. Just click the site and watch away. The only issue I find a bit strange is that the commercials are all sponsored by other 5 second commercials but this is our new world. It is some strange twilight zone when commercials have to pay for other commercials to be watched. Anyway enjoy them if you like or if you would like to rewatch the highlights of the game click here.