Category: Just Rambling

Whatever happened to …


… that one street?

In my childhood, it was Raglan Street.

It was where all the rich people lived and it seemed like every house was lit up and decorated for the Christmas season. It was a family tradition to get into the car when it was very dark, scrape the ice off the inside of the back windows so that we could see out and then go for a drive to see everything.

It wasn’t like there weren’t lights in other places. We had lightbulbs around the front window of our house and my mother would always paint a winter scene on the window. My daughter tries to keep up the tradition.

But it didn’t seem like any other street in town had all of the houses decorated. On that one street, you could see it all!

We went for a drive to Kingsville last night to see the spectacular display at the park there. The winner for us was this one.

Of course, there had to be a wild goose theme. This is Jack Miner’s hood afterall.

Around here, you don’t have to drive to Kingsville though. We have our own River Lights where two of the downtown parks are done up magnificently. My favourite is the town fountain which, despite my picture, isn’t leaning in real life.

And, the Bright Lights Windsor display opened last night. Link and some pictures are available here.

It’s not just in the community. At my high school, you would end up being assigned to a Grade 9 home room and you’d grow with them from 10, 11, and 12. Annually, the student council would have a door decorating contest and we were all in on that. At least for Grade 9 and 10. It became less cool to do that once you got older! I don’t recall that we ever won but I remember kids (and me) bringing in old decorations and end of roll wrapping paper to do the door on B41. One year, we even had a string of lights.

Christmas displays aren’t necessarily about lights. I received an invitation to visit the Duff-Baby house from David Garlick.

I’m hoping that we can swing it.

Driving to Kingsville and back home, we were impressed with the lights that were on display everyone, even on farms. It was a far cry from the past. Lights were everywhere and it made for a quick drive.

Despite all this, there are still memories of that one street from a long time ago.

How about you? Any memories? Please share them in the comments below.

  • growing up, or even now, was there that one street that was a must see?
  • does your community have a light display that everyone wants to check out?
  • how about your place? Do you decorate? Laser lights can be rough on a dog
  • was it colder back then or have cars got better? I can’t remember the last time I had frost on the inside of my car
  • do you make memorable trips to see the lights? As a kid, a biggie for us was to Victoria Park in London. These days, it’s the Dufferin Islands in Niagara Falls

Get into the holiday spirit and share some thoughts! And, a picture or two would be nice as well.

This post comes from:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com

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

My Week Ending 2019-12-01


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.

  • I think that I lived through most of these changes to Windows over the past while. As noted in the title, some are good and some are bad.
  • Apparently, there’s now a guy in Winnipeg who can wear pants again. I can’t imagine wearing shorts there in the winter. (or here either, for that matter)
  • This is such a scary story to read. It’s not like Orangeville is the sort of place that you would expect violence. So, if it’s happening there, what’s it like in your school?
  • Cyber security is something that I read so much about and yet I don’t feel like I have a grip on what it meant years ago never mind 2020.
  • Actually, I find it good advice to stay away from most stores during Black Friday or at least do your research. Often, they’re just clearing out stuff they couldn’t sell otherwise.
  • Everyone should spend time learning shortcuts because you just become so much more productive when you do. These are for Google Chrome.
  • Great news! If you have enough money, you too can get to play football on American Thanksgiving. I do miss John Madden and Pat Summerall.
  • Tips and tricks for the stalker in you. It seems to me that you should be able to find people who want to be found pretty easily. Others might take a bit of effort.
  • Well, it appears that OSSTF blinked first. Walkout next Wednesday. Will this action effectively get a collective agreement quickly?
  • I love video tours or photos of great libraries. Here are seven of the best in Ontario.
  • Good on these Nunavut students. But, it’s sad. Students should always be there to review any changes to the education system. I’ll bet they have more productive and progressive ideas about history and technology and pedagogy and mathematics and …
  • Of course, we’re a safe country. But, here’s a list of the safest of the safest communities. We used to be at the top of the list and had a sign you’d see when driving into town to prove it. I wonder what happened.
  • Is it really sad that a shopping mall has to fire their Santa Claus? I wonder what’s in the closets of the people that actually did the firing.
  • If the CEO of Twitter uses DuckDuckGo, why aren’t you? I’d like to know how frequently he uses the Twitter search engine.

Blog Posts on doug … off the record

My daily contributions to this blog.

#FollowFriday – November 29, 2019

https://wke.lt/w/s/Q4m5a4

voicEd Radio

My on demand radio page can be found here.  

This week’s show – https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/november-27/

Intro song:

Blog posts this week came from:

  • @SheilaSpeaking
  • @mr_robcannone
  • @THOMLYNN101
  • @staoapso
  • @Bigideasinedu

Technology Troubleshooting

Christmas trees are a technology, aren’t they?

Or maybe our solution is.

One of the challenges that you have when you have a male dog is his natural desire to “mark” everything. We learned when he was a puppy that that included the family Christmas tree.

So, a few years ago, we bought a can of sour apple spray. That solved the problem then. We still have that can and still use it annually – just in case.

The spray has long since lost its scent but it still works. Or he remembers it and avoids it. Or, he’s just got older and wiser.

Bottom line, there haven’t been any issues yet this year. We’re all happy.

Video of the Week

I miss John Madden on television. He really shone during the broadcasts on the American Thanksgiving.

Photo of the Week

Happy Holidays from my walking partner and me.

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.

Whatever happened to …


… a bunch of things?

This week, something just a bit different. I was out for a dog walk and my iPod dialed up this classic from Tim McGraw.

It’s called “Back When” and is just in step with our Sunday theme. Click play and enjoy it!

The complete lyrics is located here but I’ll include the chorus for the purpose of this post.

Back when a hoe was a hoe

Coke was a Coke

And crack’s what you were doing

When you were cracking jokes

Back when a screw was a screw

The wind was all that blew

And when you said I’m down with that

Well it meant you had the flu

I miss back when

I miss back when

I miss back when

For today, how about a little analysis of this?

There are some now and then uses of words in this song. Care to explain where the current use came from? If you’re ambitious, there’s lots in the complete song.

This post originally appeared on:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com

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

Grey Cup aftermath


It’s Sunday morning on Grey Cup day as I write this. When it’s published, I’ll either be completely right or wrong. But that’s sports.

My predicted winner? Winnipeg Blue Bombers

But only because the Montreal Allouettes aren’t playing.

Earlier this morning, I went on a YouTube marathon looking at videos describing the Canadian game versus the American one. Talk about fake news.

The top two are here – (this is the one that I put into my post)

And then there was this one. Warning, language….

The best comparison I found of the differences between the two games can be found here on Wikipedia.

Personally, I enjoy football from either league. If I had to pick between the two, I’d go for the CFL any time. For a number of reasons, I find it a little more realistic.

Salaries

There’s a huge difference in the salaries paid to the players which somehow means that it’s a little more personal. You’d almost think that you could go to work with a CFL player which isn’t all that crazy since they often need a second job to make ends meet. Now that’s realistic.

The Game Itself

Of course, any comparison of the two games involves that difference in field sizes (seriously, metric?), the number of downs, position of the goal posts, number of players, line of scrimmage, fair catch, rouge, and movement. The Canadian game is often more exciting because of the rules and the need to be moving the ball further and quicker. The only change that would be helpful is the position of the goal posts.

Advertising

The placement of all the advertising in the Canadian game is a dead giveaway that they work for every dollar they can get. It seems to be kind of weird to be running over Tim Horton’s advertising on the field or having it on uniforms but sports car racing has done it for years.

But seriously, Google Earth doesn’t show things live so we’ll have to wait until game time to see what advertising makes it to the game.

Television

I’m old enough to remember when both the CBC and CTV covered the big game. That’s something really unique; it had been done collaboratively or separately. In recent times, the game is broadcast on TSN which means that you need cable or satellite to watch it. Americans can watch it apparently on ESPN# or via live stream.

Weather

It’s somehow terrific that most stadiums are outdoors and it is late fall for the event. There’s always a chance for snow although the forecast doesn’t call for it for today.

It’s time to settle in. 5.5 hours of pre-game before the game starts.

My Week Ending 2019-11-24


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.

  • Way too much bandwidth was given this past week about a comment from an Apple representative as to why Apple products are better in education than Chromebooks. He missed the whole point of teaching. You can spend all the money you want on technology but if you have no idea how it can work with a child, it’s just money blown away.
  • We need a champion to talk about the role of Linux on the student desktop. Oh yeah, there’s the Chromebook thing and the fact that the only app used on a Macintosh is the Chrome browser …
  • I’m fearful about the banning or at least restricting of adblockers in the future for Google Chrome. I like an advert-free experience. So much faster; I never paid attention to advertisers anyway.
  • Because it’s the essence of education and the reason why we have a highly paid professional in the classroom.
  • Personally, I never liked Windows 7. It was slow and clunky and convinced met that Linux needed to be my main operating system. Then, Windows 10 comes along and I’m changing my mind.
  • I’ve heard about this legendary drink but kind of doubted that it was available anywhere. But, if you hurry, you can get one.
  • This is great news if you’re looking for something new to listen to. Maybe something you haven’t listened to for a while?
  • I’m surprised that we’re not seeing lawsuits about the cutting of classes and programs across the province.
  • This is a sad story for journalism. Locally, our newspaper has one reporter who is everywhere with his camera. Sadly, it doesn’t give him the time to dig deeper before publishing.
  • This is a good collection of “essential free” apps for Windows. They typically have Linux and Macintosh counterparts. Finding the same functionality for Chrome OS can be done with a little work.
  • OSSTF is going to move to work to rule in the next step in negotiations. I think it’s too bad that they just don’t go to a general strike. Unlike their elementary school counterparts, it will be less of a political problem since secondary school students don’t need day care.
  • Happy time at Huawei. I can’t help but think that we lose just a bit though. If they had to develop competitors, it might have raised the bar.
  • I’ve never really had the desire to own a pickup truck. But, I’d oddly intrigued by Tesla’s offering. I’m pretty sure I don’t need bullet-proof glass so take that off the list.
  • I will have the pre-game show on starting early this afternoon and will be there for the final seconds. How early? According to the guide, the pre-pre-pre-pre game show starts at 1:00pm. My only regret is that the Allouettes won’t be there.

Blog Posts on doug … off the record

My daily contributions to this blog.

#FollowFriday – November 22, 2019

https://wke.lt/w/s/LLbVO4

voicEd Radio

My on demand radio page can be found here.  

This week’s show – https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/this-week-in-ontario-edublogs-november-20/

Intro song:

Blog posts this week came from:

  • @TCHevolution
  • @LisaCorbett0261
  • @misterwashburn
  • @jprofnb
  • @MrSoClassroom

Technology Troubleshooting

One of the interesting features of the Samsung MAX VPN is the ability to take a look around the network you’re connected to.

At home, I always give it a look every now again. Despite the fact that we’re kind of rural and there’s no chance to catch someone trying to poach our internet, it’s interesting to see just how many things that are on the network.

We were on the 401 over the weekend and stopped into an ON Route where I attached to the network and looked at the connections. There are a lot of people glumming wifi at the place the signs call a “text stop”.

I’m always interested in the names of the devices that people choose. The advice that you get is to change your name for security. I had to smile when I thought that a generic name would blend in and not stand out like some of the names chosen.

Video of the Week

This will be important for the uninitiated in about an hour…

Photo of the Week

One of the gingerbread house offerings on display in town. Definitely not made with a kit.

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.

Whatever happened to …


… ribbon cables?

It always takes me a couple of days to reset up everything when I’m returning from a conference. Like most people, I suspect, I have cables everywhere. Speakers, charging cables, external monitor, USB extender, …

But as I was reconnecting and redoing the velcro cable wraps, there was one cable that I didn’t have to attach – the old ribbon cable for my printer.

Thanks, Morguefile.com

Actually, I haven’t had to do that for a number of years. It’s been that long since I had a parallel printer. But, I certainly do remember the process of setup; the cable actually attached to the bottom of my computer and then to the back of the printer.

I remember the cable as being very fragile. At work, we had to replace more than one since all that it took was a crimp and the cable had to be replaced. It was fun though for playing around with the hardware since you could address each of the individual pins to do things. For the most part, we would play around with the content that we’d send to the printer.

Of course, you don’t see these things for sale any more. (At least in the circles that I run) We’ve moved to USB printing or to attaching the printer to the network with an Ethernet cable.

For a Sunday, your thoughts…

  • Have you ever owned a parallel port printer?
  • Have you ever had to replace a broken cable?
  • What kind of printer do you regularly use at home now? I have a Lexmark printer that also doubles as a scanner.
  • I can’t remember the last time I actually printed to the printer. It probably was for an airplane boarding pass years ago. Today’s problem include dried out printer ink. When was the last time you used a printer?
  • Does your printer have faxing capabilities?
  • If you’re like me, is it easier to put what I need on a USB key and go to the drug store to print?
  • Have you ever emailed yourself a document so that you could print it at school?

Please take a moment to share your printing thoughts. Can we judge your age by your use of paper? <grin> Answer in the comments below

This post appeared originally on:

https://dougpete.wordpress.com

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

Schedule me a Tweet


For me, this has been a long time coming.

I like using Tweetdeck and it has the ability to schedule a Twitter message sometime in the future. I use that technique all the time. The first #FollowFriday message is always created and scheduled on Thursdays to appear Friday at 5:00am in conjunction with a blog post. On Wednesday, I’ll send out a message about the voicEd Radio show and it goes out at 9:00am.

In neither case, am I sitting at a keyboard ready to click as the clock strikes the hour! There are other times when I’ll space a Twitter message out during the day for whatever reason. I’ve just blown my excuse for an alibi.

All of this gives the illusion that I’m terribly organized! <grin> Ditto for blog posts, they are written well in advance and scheduled for 5:00am daily or 5:00pm on Sundays.

But back to Twitter.

The problem with Tweetdeck is that there is a lot of scripting that goes on to make it work. That can be brutal on a Chromebook with its lesser powered processor. It’s not to blame either, I’ll point the finger at myself. I have all kinds of columns with lists and searches that are constantly at work. So, I do find myself waiting for the computer to catch up with me. The worst part is that I need the scheduling feature that Tweetdeck offers at times.

So, it was with great happiness that I read today that Twitter is going to bring scheduling into the plain ol’ web interface. It’s Thursday as I write this post and I just finished Friday’s blog post. The last thing I do is schedule a #FollowFriday post for tomorrow morning and the first one always lists those whose blog posts will appear. I used the new scheduler to make it happen.

I just ask Twitter to start a new message and there was a … in the dialogue box which indicated that I could schedule the message. I just needed to tell it when.

and then the message itself

and I click Schedule and it goes into a queue somewhere to be posted at the appointed time.

Now, I’m writing this on Thursday so the message will appear on Friday and then this post will appear on Saturday bragging about my success.

Whew!