Day: February 16, 2020

My Week Ending 2020-02-16

by dougpete, posted in Just Rambling

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.

  • This may be the best article written by a non-teacher that you’ll read about the current strike situation in Ontario.
  • Collections of links to resources for people are very helpful as a launch pad. At least someone has taken the time to curate a small collection. In this case, it’s iPad apps for teacher-librarians.
  • It’s timely. We hear and read of conditions in other countries about how they’re handling the Coronavirus. We also need to look at home.
  • I wonder if Trump will be able to product an Oscar winning film after his term like Obama did.
  • It’s no coincidence that Apple production of AirPods is down since they outsource the work to China.
  • I’ve always liked Logitech products. In this case, there’s a price drop in their “Crayon” product.
  • Would it be too tacky to send this message home with students to parents and have them read it together?
  • From Alfred Thompson, his thoughts about providing qualified teachers to teach Computer Science. Are large classes the solution?
  • For a staff meeting Bingo game and a chance to laugh at yourself. There are lots of things that teachers say that the general public wouldn’t even dream of.
  • Bad news for school boards in Quebec. After Bill 40, they’re gone. Will this even work?
  • We know that Google Chrome uses a great deal of memory just to work. But, how many open tabs does it take to crash a $50,000 Macintosh? Seriously, who has a $50,000 Macintosh?
  • I’d be willing to bet that very few people even know much less use profiles in their browser. I don’t; I just open a private tab when I want something new.
  • This is an interesting turn. Microsoft has done some pretty amazing things with their new Edge. Could it beat Chrome as your browser of choice?
  • This is a good conversation to have. The concept of “screen time” limits is something that people just take as truth.
  • You just had to know that the federations would be in the audience when the Minister of Education is delivering a speech. Nothing was said about having a Q&A session though
  • I think we’re all more concerned about end to end encryption these days. If you’re not, you should be. Here’s a list of messaging apps to use. At least one was a surprise to me.

Blog Posts on
doug … off the record

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

#FollowFriday – February 14, 2020

https://wke.lt/w/s/ecSm4B

voicEd Radio

This week, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about: Arts, Activism and Legacy

This week’s show – https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/february-12-arts-activism-and-legacy-stories-that-connect/

All of the podcasts are archived here.

Intro song

Blog posts this week came from:

  • Amanda Potts – @Ahpotts
  • Anne-Marie Kee – @AMKeeLCS
  • Zoe Branigan-Pipe – @zbpipe
  • Laurel Bottrell – @L_Bottrell
  • Patti Henderson – @GingerPatti

Technology Troubleshooting

I wrote about my biggest troubleshooting issue in yesterday’s blog post.

I looked anxiously for news of a fix and checked for an update this morning.

Still nothing.

The problem is that now that I know that it’s a problem, I have this overwhelming desire to actually use it.

Grrrr.

One week later – moving along now.

Mysteriously, this has been fixed with no effort on my part.

I’m happy about this again.

Video of the Week

Interesting – do you believe?

Photo of the Week

I got a lot of positive feedback for being so lovingly sensitive. I had to come clean; I bought the flowers and my daughter Brittany did the rest. Then, she used the picture to promote Chicano’s Tacos and Tequila. Still the best place for a meal!

Thanks for reading. Please join me daily for something new and, hopefully, interesting.

dp

This blog post was originally posted at:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com/

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

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Whatever happened to …

by dougpete, posted in Just Rambling

… lawn darts?

This is another from the collection that Sheila Stewart forwarded my way. Thanks, Sheila.

I think the answer to this one is pretty easy. The plastic fins on the end were smart for accurate throwing but the metal tip that stuck in the ground had the potential to be a killer.

Mushy – Day 361 – lawn darts at an elementary school rummage sale!! (I didn’t buy ’em)
A package of Franklin brand lawn darts. Photo taken at an elementary school yard sale in Washington state, United States, with a Kodak Z650 Zoom digital camera.

I’ve also seen them called Jarts.

They came with a yellow plastic circle that was the target. Play, as I recall, was like a lighter game of horseshoes.

Now, playing by the rules was something that we did when my parents were around. Left to our own, we had other uses for them.

  • catching them
  • throwing them overhand for distance
  • being merciless when a friend would climb up a tree and become a target
  • using a newspaper as the target and trying to hit the pictures
  • and probably a few other things

Despite these uses, I don’t recall a serious event happening in our side yard with their use. We weren’t allowed to take them off our property though.

I do recall an incident once with someone else while we were camping. He came into the camping office bleeding from the forehead. A couple of bandages and he was off again.

Eventually, they were banned in Canada. They aren’t in the same deadly category as Kinder Eggs, but I don’t recall anyone being upset when they were banned. Sometimes, it’s just common sense.

For a Sunday, your thoughts…

  • did you ever own or play with lawn darts?
  • do you have any accident stories to share?
  • do you have any non-standard games that you played with them?
  • interestingly, real darts are still a thing. I’d argue that, in the wrong hands, they could be even more dangerous. I mean arming people with these things while they’re drinking in a pub? Your thoughts?
  • can you think of any current toy in production that should be banned?
  • is there a safe way to implement the lawn dart concept? (Answer is yes, there are alternatives)

Please take a moment and share your stories in the comments below.

This post originated on:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com

If you read it anywhere else, it’s not the original.

OTR Links 02/16/2020

by dougpete, posted in Links

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