After the storm


In the spring of the year, it’s kind of a regular thing around here.

After dark, at times, severe thunderstorms will roll through the area. We usually get our first notice from one of the Detroit television stations and their Doppler radar and all the other goodies that they have just for the purpose. Storms seem to either come screaming across the state from Chicago and Grand Rapids or up through Indianapolis and Toledo.

When I went to be last night, I had no notice really. I was watching the hockey game on Sportsnet and I guess bad storms aren’t worthy of reporting. Maybe I should watch it on CBC Windsor.

Earlier in the evening, I happened to be watching something on a Detroit station and they gave their viewers a heads up. Yet, there was nothing to worry about as I looked out the window and headed off to bed. Boy, I was wrong.

Within minutes, it seems, the lightning started and then the thunder. Finally, huge downfalls of rain made its way. The storm seemed to last all night and I’m not sure how much I slept. It didn’t seem like I snoozed much but I must have. When I woke, the patio and yard were just soaked.

The best thing is that #ONStorm was trending on Twitter this morning. I can’t help but marvel that, as a youth, we would have had to go for a drive to see the extent of the local impact of a storm. Or, next week when the town’s newspaper came out.

A most impressive post was this capture of a lightning bolt in Kingsville.

What I found especially neat was the collection of people that were reporting their experiences to the hashtag and the number of storm chasers who were checking in with video and graphics.

During the night, emergency notices came across my phone from Environment Canada and the local emergency service. I’m probably very bad about this; I have my phone on mute during the night.

Environment Canada meteorologists are tracking a severe thunderstorm that is possibly producing a tornado.  Damaging winds, large hail, and locally intense rainfall are also possible.  Take cover immediately if threatening weather approaches.  Please consult local media for more information.

As it turns out, we didn’t have a monopoly on the storm. It seemed to continue to head eastward. That means that many of you reading this post got a storm of varying proportions.

May be an image of map, sky and text that says 'FLINT LAPEER GURAND PORLSI 2021 EDT SARINA HOLLY CFTORD STRATHROY 26 32 34 FLIROLLA RICHMOND Rain/Pluie 24h (mm) 250 178 203 13 333 29 24 25 46 16 WALLACEBURG DETROIT 102 127 76 102 64 64 45-50 30 BOR 35 CHATHAM WINDSOR 39 72 LEAMINGTON MONROE 20 12.5 20 .4-12.5 2.5-6.4 0.25 2.5 TOLEDO CANADA.CA/WEATHER CANADA.CA/METEO Canada''
I don’t want to say there’s a bullseye on southern Essex County but …

What was your storm experience? Did you get warning? Do you subscribe to a local emergency notification service?

OTR Links 06/22/2021


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Piling on


In football, there’s a personal foul called “Piling On”. In the Canadian Football League, it’s a 15 yard penalty.

It’s one of those penalties that is understood just by thinking of the name of it only. Essentially, the ball carrier has been stopped and the play should be over. However, there are times when players on the defense continue to jump on the carrier. Sometimes, it can even end up causing an injury.

It’s a judgement call, to be sure, but I do know as an offensive coordinator that I’d be ranting on the sidelines whenever I thought it was being done to us. Nobody wants to see a player get injured.

As the school year comes to an end, those in power are starting to indicated what the fall might look like. Except Ontario, of course, where the Ministry will share its plan in July.

This has certainly been a year to forget. So many plans, so many Plan Bs, so many hopes, so many disappointments, …

One of the recurring things that you read about is “learning loss”. I think we would all be surprised if this wasn’t mentioned. To be fair, I’m not sure that it has been measured accurately but is more of a common sense feeling. The one thing that goes through all this is that every student was affected.

Everyone wants to get back to normal. We don’t know what normal will actually look like or even the plan for the return until July. There are messages that I’m hearing from other jurisdictions.

It makes me sad to read this. It just takes a drive through your town to realize that it will be a long time before things return to “normal”. Can we do it in education like this? Will it work? Why are the kids paying the price?

On the positive side of things, kudos have to go out to the Thames Valley District School Board for dumping the quadmester approach. I think we’ve all seen the stress that it caused for both teacher and student. Let’s hope for more progressive moves keeping kids first as we move forward.

After all, who wants to be flagged for piling on?

OTR Links 06/21/2021


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Week Ending 2021-06-20


Here’s a summary of some of the things I learned and published this week.

Readings 

You can follow my daily readings as they happen here.  Below are a selected few, with commentary, from the past week.

Sunday

  • A warning to 2 billion, yes billion, Google Chrome users about a need to update to get the latest
  • It’s great news around here if you want to eat outside – Open Air Amherstburg is back. Not racing but dining in the streets Friday to Sunday

Monday

  • If things weren’t bad already in Mississauga and Brampton, there’s a safety recall in process
  • Another reason to love Niagara Falls – they’re being lit up in Montreal Canadiens’ colours

Tuesday

  • OK, kids – go and get a ticket from the Ontario Provincial Police for doing something good
  • It’s great to see that Detroit recognizes the value of teachers by getting more of them and paying them more

Wednesday

  • It’s interesting that an article about getting started with Google Sheets is needed in the year 2021 but here it is
  • This article speaks volumes about our ignorance of the residential schools and what it meant for First Nations peoples

Thursday

  • How the return to school plan looks for secondary school students around here
  • Ford said he would use the nuclear option and he did

Friday

  • The statue of Sir. John A. Macdonald is removed from a Kingston Park and may end up being reinstalled at his grave site
  • If you’re running short of riddles, here are 30 more – hopefully some are new

Saturday

  • It’s hard to believe that there are people who misspell some of these words. Well, I guess not – I have a Facebook account
  • Quebec secondary school students will be putting in a few more hours at school in the fall

Blog Posts on
doug — off the record

My daily contributions to this blog are linked below. If you’re looking for a week in review for doug–off the record, you came to the right place.

#FollowFriday – June 18, 2021

https://wke.lt/w/s/IqoaFK

voicEd Radio

On this week’s show, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about a national reckoning, vaccines, skunks, gifts, and hybrid teaching.

Featured bloggers:

  • Paul McGuire – @mcguirp
  • Sheila Stewart – @sheilaspeaking
  • Amanda Potts – @Ahpotts
  • Amber MacArthur – @ambermac
  • Deborah Weston – @DPAWestonPhD
A National Reckoning, Personal Research, Summer Tech and More

Opening Song:

Closing Song:

All of the podcasts are archived here. The show is broadcast LIVE almost every Wednesday morning at 8:45 on voicEd Radio.

Technology Troubleshooting

I paid attention to the Google warning and updated the instance on my Chromebook.

Usually, this is good news but it isn’t at present.

All of a sudden my Chromebook is really slow and at times gets responsive.

I’m looking for an update every time I use it now. Hopefully, soon.

Video of the Week

If you have problems getting it in gear, watch this Tina Turner concert. What energy and what a voice.

Photo of the Week

One of our favourite walks is Belle River and we enjoy the new jetty.

Thanks for reading.

Please join me daily for something new and, hopefully, interesting for you. I honestly and truthfully appreciate your few moments reading my thoughts. Time willing, this summary appears every Sunday afternoon.

Be safe.

dp

This blog post was originally posted at:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com/

If you find it anywhere else, it’s not original.