Stephen's Untold Stories

A local school system near Atlanta is about to issue laptops to every teacher and also to every student in middle and high school. (Over a period of time) Many in the community have voice their opposition to the plan, but I would encourage them to read this OpEd about a similar program in Connecticut.

"In spring 2009, we will expect our students to use a laptop – not pen
and paper – to take the essay section of the state 10th-grade exam.
This will allow us to assess how well youngsters write final drafts.
Now we can assess only first drafts because of the time constraints of
using pen and paper. This is inconsistent with what is important in the
real world: the final outcome of one’s work produced after multiple
revisions.

Research demonstrates that students who regularly
use computers while learning to write, gaining immediate feedback on
their work, show significant gains in standardized tests of writing
performance."

Yes, this is indeed the World’s Ugliest Car.

This cat looks like it’s haunting the poor dog!

Burger King has unveiled a new breakfast sandwich that’s a huge bet not everyone is dieting.

The No. 2 fast food chain debuted its Enormous Omelet Sandwich Monday. The sandwich has one sausage patty, two eggs, two American cheese slices and three strips of bacon.

That works out to 730 calories and 47 grams of fat — more than a Whopper burger, which the Burger King Web site said has 700 calories and 42 grams of fat.

This is a product that many have been waiting for. Adobe Premiere is a great product, but it has always been tough to learn. Adobe has released Premiere Elements to help with the process. It doesn’t have the complete functionality of the regular version of Premiere, but it is a good product to use if you want to eventually get to Premiere. Even if your goals aren’t that high, you can still do some great stuff with Elements.

Here are some projects that teachers have submitted for use with Premiere Elements.

Here is a great program that I used a great deal when I was a classroom teacher.

"The Hot Potatoes suite includes six
applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice,
short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and
gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not
freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for
publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make
their pages available on the web. Other users must pay for a licence."

Here is their site.

You can use a crossover cable to connect two computers together without the use of a hub or switch. You can buy a crossover cable at a computer store, but this site shows you how to make your own!

We’ve all wanted to sing along with Homer…now we can!!

Sing along with Homer.

This site has some really good stuff. You can buy antennas and even wardriving kits. Of course, I would never advocate actually doing that!

Okay, if you get one of these you are a HUGE geek. (I might just get one!)

Click the image to see their site.

At only $84 each, why only buy one??

This blog is written by an E.M.T in London, England and it has some fascinating insights. It used to be titled “Why I Hate Humanity,” but as he says, “the antipsychotic medication seems to have kicked in.”

Random Acts of Reality

I kid you not.

"A short-sighted 84-year-old driver
was banned from the road yesterday after reversing on to a roundabout
and leading police on a 3mph chase."

Here is the complete article.

I just started using this in preparation for my CWNA exam, and I must say it is quite impressive. It’s just another example of success with open source software.

Ethereal Protocol Analyzer

There are some good places to get maps of countries, but this one has to rank near the top.

Here is one that I just found. It seems to be a pretty good one.

Here is an interesting team you won’t see playing in the Final Four.

“The Fighting Whites basketball team was organized in early February
(2002) by a group of Native American and non-Indian students of the
University of Northern Colorado with the intent of playing intramural
basketball. We came up with the “Fighting Whites” logo and slogan to
have a little satirical fun and to deliver a simple, sincere, message
about ethnic stereotyping. Since March 6, when our campus newspaper
first reported on the “Fighting Whites”, we have been launched into the
national spotlight, propelled by a national debate over stereotyping
American Indians in sports symbolism.”

This might be a good alternative to the ultra-expensive tablet PC. You can take notes and then transfer them to your PC.

Click the image for more details.

It’s true!

“Senator Allran wants the state to erase the free game modules from all its computers – the digital version of throwing the deck in the trash can. The plan, he says, will save taxpayers millions in gained productivity – not to mention soothing their angst over secretaries and executives’ long hours clicking digital decks.”

Click here for the full article.

This has always been a sticky one. This article has some suggestions.

My thanks to my friend Buffy for this one!

It was just a matter of time!

“Blip Systems said in a statement that it has developed a Bluetooth-mesh system in which sensors are placed on cows. That enables farmers to monitor the location and health of each animal, the company said in a statement.”

Click here for the full story.