Category: Just Rambling

My Week Ending 2021-03-07


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

  • Just when you think you’ve tried every browser in the world, a new one comes along with big claims of speed
  • If you don’t mind moving to a different place for some of these jobs, the government is hiring

Monday

  • Say what you will about YouTube, they’re always changing and improving – this time for tweens and teens
  • I love Niagara Falls in the cold of winter but sadly couldn’t go this year but there are pictures here

Tuesday

  • Lessons from video conferencing – we’ve all had them
  • Clubhouse continues to intrigue me but not enough to get an account until it embraces Android (and I get an invite)

Wednesday

  • Looking to relocate? Here, supposedly, are the best places to move to
  • From NASA, an incredible image of the planet Jupiter. I guess all cameras were not pointed at Mars

Thursday

  • I’m guessing that it’s a positive business case that people at home have more money so why not launch a casino to take some of it from them
  • Another phenomenon during the pandemic has supposedly been the rise in the amount of academic cheating

Friday

  • I always read articles like this. I don’t expect that the entire list would be new to me but I search for that new gem
  • It’s really depressing to read that some people are feeling safer teaching online. This needs to be rectified

Saturday

  • And more ideas, this time from the Microsoft Edge browser
  • It was sad to read of the passing of Walter Gretzky

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 – March 5, 2021

voicEd Radio

On this week’s show, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about Birthdays, Design, Gaming and Caring Adults

The show is available here https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/anniversaries-design-gaming-and-caring-adults/

  • Melissa Turnbull
  • Diana Maliszewski – @MzMollyTL
  • Alanna King – @banana29
  • Zelia Tavares – @ZeliaMCT
  • Lisa Corbett – @LisaCorbett0261

Intro 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. Note the new time. After four years, I’ve been bumped forward half an hour.

Technology Troubleshooting

It’s interesting how some things are not compatible.

Recently, WordPress when I put in the link to my Wakelet collection of topics wants to do an embed. I’m not convinced that it’s working perfectly. This is a work in process. If you couldn’t get there from the above, here’s the actual link.

https://wakelet.com/wake/LAgwUk1aI3Ba5JTLW8iWY

Video of the Week

This is great news. What’s still up in the air is when it goes into my arm.

Photo of the Week

From two years ago, the pier at Erieau.


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.

My Week Ending 2021-02-28


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

  • I had never heard of the “Winter Circle” before so I did go outside to see if I could see things. It was cloudy…
  • I had just been talking about this with a friend who wanted to know how soon I’d buy an electric car

Monday

  • I suppose that there will be people that will flip over this. But, there are many online calculators already and personally I have an Android RPN calculator installed already
  • What a wonderful tribute to a voice that many of us have heard for years

Tuesday

  • It looks like our Australian friends will still get news via Facebook as a result of this settlement
  • It’s heartbreaking to read of people who need to go to a payday loan agency to get money just to survive at the high rates charged

Wednesday

  • If you’re 60 and over, here’s the plan for getting vaccinated against COVID in Ontario. Well, until it changes
  • From NASA, an incredible image of the planet Jupiter. I guess all cameras were not pointed at Mars

Thursday

  • Here’s another indication of people being last to the party – we’ve know that we need to teach information literacy for years
  • If you ever had the urge to mess with Google’s advertising algorithm and didn’t know where to start, this extension might help

Friday

  • Peter Beens shared an image and wanted a date. I remember the date and had blogged about it. Unfortunately, the image had previously been embedded but not available now
  • I read every one of these articles about the COVID virus that I can find. The more you know….

Saturday

  • Online safety is important – I think we all know that or should – how to understand it seriously
  • Thirty years of web browsing. Wow, has it been that long? Can you remember when your browser did a real subset of what it can do today?

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 – February 26, 2021

voicEd Radio

On this week’s show, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about complexity, cheating, character, calendars, and c-blogging. (sorry)

The show is available here: https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/complexity-cheating-character-and-calendars/

  • TheBeast – @thebeastedu
  • Tim King – @tk1ng
  • Dave Cormier – @davecormier
  • Cameron Steltman – @MrSteltman
  • Cal Armstrong – @sig225

Intro Song:

Closing Song:

All of the podcasts are archived here. The show is broadcast LIVE almost every Wednesday morning at 9:15 on voicEd Radio.

Technology Troubleshooting

I got a request from Ramona Meharg to help with the online Bring IT, Together Conference. My regular involvement with ECOO is in the rear view mirror these days but who could say no to Ramona. She has given so much to Ontario educators, it was nice to help her out.

I tried to get into the room a day in advance and it hadn’t been opened.

I tried the morning of and had the same result.

I then tried about 45 minutes in advance of the session and no luck so had to call for support. As it turned out, I hadn’t been given an account for access.

It’s nice to have the keys.

Once equipped, I think the sessions went off without a hitch.

Video of the Week

If I ever have to go to court, I hope that I get a judge like this.

Photo of the Week

From the school around the corner, a socially distanced snow person.


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.

My Week Ending 2021-02-21


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

  • If you’re interested in ditching Google and doing something for the planet, you might want to consider the Ecosia search engine
  • There has been a great deal of talk about SpaceX as an internet provider – here’s a link to get you up to speed

Monday

  • Tab groups is a feature that finally has come to the Google Chrome browser – here’s how to use it
  • There has to be a lot of takeaways from teaching during COVID. Do we want to return to lectures or is there something better?

Tuesday

  • Let’s hope that there are no more delays and excuses so that Moderna can deliver the doses they promised
  • Goodbye Mac operating system. You’re not in the top two any more

Wednesday

  • Some simple and yet powerful suggestions about how to evaluate educational technology
  • Weird Canadian jobs to think about. Guarding the Stanley Cup, I wouldn’t classify as weird though

Thursday

  • Photomath is an interesting application and they just raised a whack of money
  • You knew that this had to happen. The Blue Jays wouldn’t be able to play in a Canadian division like the Maple Leafs

Friday

  • The backlash against Facebook is an interesting topic to follow. India has now been contacted
  • If you are interesting in programming in the year 2021, Python needs to be in your portfolio. Here are some courses

Saturday

  • If you’re going to ditch LastPass, here is a list of alternatives
  • The sales price of this house in Kitchener isn’t exactly a BIA moment

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 – February 19, 2021

https://wke.lt/w/s/m7FnTT

voicEd Radio

On this week’s show, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about politics, patience, applications, and professional practice.

The show is available here: https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/patience-politics-and-practice/

  • Aviva Dunsiger – @avivaloca
  • Debbie Donsky – @debbiedonsky
  • John Allan – @mrpottz
  • Charles Pascal – @CEPascal
  • Beate Planche – @bmplanche

Intro Song:

Closing Song:

All of the podcasts are archived here. The show is broadcast LIVE almost every Wednesday morning at 9:15 on voicEd Radio.

Technology Troubleshooting

Sometimes, it’s the simplest of all things.

Above, I’ve got a link to a Wakelet with all the FollowFriday references in it. For the longest time, it was just a copy and paste of the link and it goes into place.

Starting last week though, it became a mess. Instead of just pasting the link WordPress tried to embed the Wakelet which would be cool if it worked. But it didn’t.

I tried a number of things with no luck.

As a last resort, I typed a space before pasting the link. Success!

I love finding new solutions to problems.

Video of the Week

Here’s where part of our tax dollars go

Photo of the Week

Word apparently got out that last week I had shared a picture of geese on the Detroit River at the King’s Navy Yard. The ducks arrives to multiply the number just floating around.


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.

My Week Ending 2021-02-14


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

  • If you’re a fan of the Canadian Football League or just interested in the game, you have to visit the Hall of Fame if you’re in Hamilton
  • Google’s new plans for tracking may not use cookies in the future. A discussion of what might be

Monday

  • I know that it’s pretty cool here in Southern Ontario but it’s nowhere near what it’s like in Edmonton
  • This is an inspiring story about student involvement in the development of their city. We need more of this

Tuesday

  • Team building is important all the time but can be a challenge when the classes go virtual. Here are some tips
  • During lockdown, even the nicest of people are having difficulties. Sadly, some are taking out their ire on teachers

Wednesday

  • Super Bowl advertising is like a call to action for media literacy but the techniques described here for use in the classroom could be used all the time
  • The rules for the different colour safety zones in Ontario have changed and will come into place for most next week

Thursday

  • It may well be that people don’t want to use computers and technology in the classroom for a while and that’s understandable. There will come a time when it’s good to go again and here are some Youtube channels to use
  • It sounds like it’s going to be difficult to find a place to eat in downtown Toronto with these restaurants closing

Friday

  • A story about Toronto neighbourhoods suffering from the lack of Black history education
  • If you’re an administrator or a boss, here are 10 of the worst behaviours that you should avoid

Saturday

  • If you’re using Windows 10, this is why you want to update right now
  • I had no idea that I could record telephone calls on my Android phone. After reading this article, I now know how

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 – February 12, 2021

https://wakelet.com/wake/KO0I3O2DU7sKJL76JdUWY

voicEd Radio

On this week’s show, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about politics, the unsung, creativity, connections, and coins

The show is available here: https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/personal-politics-creativity-and-counting-coins/

  • Matthew Morris – @callmemrmorris
  • Pav Wander – @PavWander
  • Jessica Outram – @jessicaoutram
  • Joël McLean – @jprofNB
  • Alice Aspinall – @aliceaspinall

Intro Song:

Closing Song:

All of the podcasts are archived here. The show is broadcast LIVE almost every Wednesday morning at 9:15 on voicEd Radio.

Technology Troubleshooting

If you follow my #FollowFriday messages, you’ll probably already know that some of them are created in advance.

It was always my desire to schedule the list of people who actually appear in the This Week in Ontario Edublogs first. The announcement of the post is automatic from WordPress.

Sometimes the Twitter message is first; sometimes the announcement of the post is first. I wanted to make it right.

The solution was so simple I can’t believe that it took me so long. WordPress is scheduled to send notification out at 5:00 and I had the Twitter message scheduled for 5:00. So, it was like a race to see which one got there first.

Then, a stroke of genius (for me, at least). I could make it right by scheduling the Twitter message for 4:59!

All is right in my little section of the world!

Video of the Week

Now we know. I have too many ways of charging accumulated over the years.

Photo of the Week

This was so cool. Facing north at the Kings Navy Yard, there is about 30 m of ice along the shore. I don’t know if it was the current but all the Canada Geese were lined up at the edge. I thought that odd and wonderful enough to take a picture in the deep freeze.


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.

My Week Ending 2021-02-07


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

  • I’m sure that the folks in Ottawa were happy to see school open for their children; the people who have to get up to speed quickly are bus drivers
  • So, Bernie Sanders’ mittens went viral. Who made them? Find out about her here

Monday

  • With all the anti-Google stuff that’s going around, they should do this before they’re forced to
  • So, here’s an example from Australia. I don’t know that I would switch to Bing; I’d quite happy right now with Duckduckgo

Tuesday

  • I had a request from a former colleague about publishing a book online for kids and suggested this
  • I like this concept – the west end of Windsor has been the ignored part of the city and deserves an upgrade

Wednesday

  • I’m a sucker for stories about the best and the worst. Not that it’s necessarily true but interesting. This time, programming languages. Scratch?
  • I’m torn with this new feature to Vivaldi. I like the concept but don’t know if I’m ready to give up the screen real estate

Thursday

  • If and when this becomes available in Canada, educators will like it as a tool to fact check
  • My new winter coat arrived just in time for this attack of the Polar vortex

Friday

  • Finally, someone lets us know that learning Scratch won’t make you a billionaire and says it out loud
  • So, we’re living in COVID times, why not make a meme of it for teachers and parents?

Saturday

  • I don’t use Microsoft Office apps at the best of times opting for LibreOffice or Google Workspace. Apparently Google Workspace is getting even better
  • I never was a fan of Pokemon Go and I’ll bet these folks from Kingsville aren’t in a hurry to play it again either after their fine

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 – February 5, 2021

https://wke.lt/w/s/2tmERt

voicEd Radio

On this week’s show, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about foxes, phone calls, history, JK, and debt

The show is available here: https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/stories-freedom-and-virtual-teaching/

Noa Daniels – @noasbobs
Richard Erdmann – @rerdmann
John Hoffman – @UncommonJohn
Amy Bowker – @amyebowker
W!ll Gourley – @WillGourley

Intro Song:

Closing Song:

All of the podcasts are archived here. The show is broadcast LIVE almost every Wednesday morning at 9:15 on voicEd Radio.

Technology Troubleshooting

Coats are a technology, right?

I got a new coat this week – just in time for this polar vortex. It came with a hood and a fringe around it. It didn’t come with a user’s manual though!

And I had a problem with it. It seemed to go over my head too far. The problem was that the fringe limited by vision. My wife said “deal with it”.

I just had a look at the coat and there was this odd little thing that, upon further inspection, appears to be an adjuster. I’ve tightened it which should solve my problem. I’ll find out later at the next dog walk.

Video of the Week

Strange? Fascinating

Photo of the Week

I am NOT a groundhog.


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.