Monday, June 16, 2008

STS-124 Lands

You probably already know that the Space Shuttle Discovery successfully concluded it mission on Saturday, but...the landing photo from the NASA Image of the Day sure is pretty. Space.com has an interesting story about life on the International Space Station in Bringing Space Down to Earth With Toilets and Toys.

Online Classes

Matt Villano has some good advice about adult online classes in his Career Couch series, The Homework to Do Before Enrolling Online.

ADHD Find

An article on ScienceDaily tells of a genetic predisposition that doesn't allow some people to metabolize methylphenidate (Ritalin type drugs). Mutation Related To ADHD Drug Metabolism Discovered reveals that testing for the genetic condition could possibly eliminate a lot of trial and error on prescriptions for some people with ADHD.

Single Sex Classes

Michael Alison Chandler and Maria Glod write in the Washington Post about an increase in single sex class grouping now allowable under federal guidelines. In More Schools Trying Separation of the Sexes, Chandler and Glod tell of an approach "based on the much-debated yet increasingly popular notion that girls and boys are hard-wired to learn differently and that they will be more successful if classes are designed for their particular needs."

Public Transportation for Schools in Trouble?

Clampdown on public buses could jeopardize school ride by Ben Arnoldy tells of a situation in Oakland, California, where a ruling by the Federal Transit Administration could curtail use of public transportation for schools and limit students' choice of available schools. Arnoldy writes, "The FTA wants to be sure that federal dollars to city transit systems aren't subsidizing school busing, harming private bus companies' ability to compete."

Theo

I updated my Desktop Photos page today with a shot of our barn cat, Theo. Theo chose to live in the barn, rather than in a heated (in winter - sorry cats, no AC!) section of our garage with the other outdoor cats. While Theo is an excellent forager, we take her food and water daily. That also gets us back to the barn and the pond behind it regularly.

Theo is a sweet cat, but by appearance is just your normal tortoise shell cat. I had snapped a couple of shots of her a few weeks ago and realized the weathered texture of the old barnwood could make a nice desktop shot, so yesterday, I took the camera with me on our daily trip to the barn.

I realized this morning that I might want a shot of the barn and pond for this posting, so I ran out and grabbed one. One the way back, I stopped under one of our apple trees and snapped a few shots of little green apples (that all turned out rather poorly). I also, just for the fun of it, stepped into the denser growth of the tree and snapped a sunburst shot through the foliage. I liked it, so it went up on Desktop Photos as well as into my desktop photo rotation on my computer.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

WorldWide Telescope

Microsoft has released a free, new Windows-only application, the WorldWide Telescope. According to eSchool News, it's intended to compete with the free Google Sky. System requirements for the new app are pretty steep, so check them out before making the long download. From the site description:

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope - bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

Reports

Two reports showed up today, both showing some less than positive effects from NCLB. Sam Dillon chronicles a report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in The New York Times, Report Sees Cost in Some Academic Gains. Maria Glod and Bill Turque write about the voucher program in Washington, D.C., in Report Finds Little Gain From Vouchers.

Call for Emphasis on Education in Campaigns

eSchool News reports that the "Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), and the National Education Association (NEA) have teamed up to develop a public service announcement (PSA) campaign aimed at the presidential candidates." Ed-tech groups give candidates a wake-up call tells of the groups' call for Senators McCain and Obama to place more emphasis on education and technology in education in their campaigns.

Hummingbirds

We've had a stretch of 70 degree weather this week, so I've spent a lot of time in the yard and garden. While sitting on the back porch today, I was watching a couple of hummingbirds fight over the feeder. One took the time to scold me a bit for sitting there too close to "its feeder."

The shot above is one I caught late last summer as a hummingbird darted around a begonia on the porch. The begonia has moved to the front porch, but we still have lots of hummingbirds visiting our feeders. Up until last summer, I'd always used the red, commercial hummingbird liquids sold in a lot of stores. While shopping at Rural King in Terre Haute last summer, a nice couple was telling me about their recipe for hummingbird nectar. The just mix water and sugar in a 4:1 ratio, which eliminates the red dyes used in the commercial stuff. It's also a lot cheaper.

One thing to remember, though, is to keep the mix fresh. This week when I took down one feeder for a refill, I realized the nectar had started to ferment! Our hummingbirds weren't flying around in a drunken haze, so I think it had just gone over, but I realized the commercial nectar probably has some kind of preservative in it to prevent fermentation.

On the topic of photos, the Boston Globe's Stephanie Schorow has a nice story about special ed kids and photography in Camera's eye shows perspective of special students.

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