A typical question that always comes up at least once a semester from my students is when will they ever use this stuff in real life. My standard response has become, "I don't know. What do you plan on doing with your life?" Their usual response is that they don't know. So I tell them "It's ok if you don't know. But whatever it is, you had better be prepared for it and that's what you're here for." They seem to think that is a good idea and let the conversation go.
There is a McGyver tip titled Estimate Distances with Your Arm and This Rule of Thumb posted at LifeHacker. I used something like this for range estimation when I was in the Marine Corps. It relies on the ratio of the distance between your eyes and the length of your arm (usually about 1:10). The phenomena is called parallax. Astronomers parallax to estimate the distance to stars.
The post also mentions The Old Farmer's Almanac. I used to read this over and over again when I was a kid, along with Webster's Dictionary and Collier's Encyclopedia.
I guess I didn't have much else to do when I couldn't go outside to play during those long Michigan winters.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Let the Eagle soar again...
NASA's current budget is 0.6% of the Federal budget. This is an extremely small investment when you consider the real tangible benefits that have been gained from spin-offs from the space program. When you consider the amount of money that is wasted in other areas, it is really sad to see our space program, something that is such a source of pride to our nation, struggle the way it has.
It has been said that if NASA had continued at the pace of the 1960's, we would have humans all over the solar system by now. Think of all of the jobs and other benefits to society that would be created. Think of what our world might be like if more people could see it for what it is - a pale blue dot in space. Wouldn't this view bring us closer together by showing us how we really are all in this together?
I say, let the Eagle soar again. Let us move beyond the pettiness of the last century and become what we can be. Let's inspire the next generation to be the greatest generation, the generation that finally, truly unites us with a common goal. The world is waiting.
Our inheritance is the stars. Let's not wait any longer.
It has been said that if NASA had continued at the pace of the 1960's, we would have humans all over the solar system by now. Think of all of the jobs and other benefits to society that would be created. Think of what our world might be like if more people could see it for what it is - a pale blue dot in space. Wouldn't this view bring us closer together by showing us how we really are all in this together?
I say, let the Eagle soar again. Let us move beyond the pettiness of the last century and become what we can be. Let's inspire the next generation to be the greatest generation, the generation that finally, truly unites us with a common goal. The world is waiting.
Our inheritance is the stars. Let's not wait any longer.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
21st Century Literacies
I just finished watching an interesting presentation on 21st Century Literacies by Howard Rheingold which he presented presented at the Reboot Britian conference in July, 2009. You can view his talk at BlipTV. (Approximate length: 40 minutes)
According to Rheingold, new literacies for students in the 21st century include: Attention, Participation, Cooperation, Collaboration, Critical Consumption (crap detection), Network Awareness.
"Schools are places where we park our children while we go to work and where they learn to be good 19th and 20th century workers. Unfortunately, this is the 21st century...a lot of learning takes place outside of school and when the teacher is not looking." (Rheingold)
"I am not sure how to get there, how to evaluate efforts or measure impacts...whether schooling as we know it is even the place to start building the necessary institution." (Rheingold)
In his talk, he refers to a number of his other articles that have been published, such as the one titled Crap Detection 101.
According to Rheingold, new literacies for students in the 21st century include: Attention, Participation, Cooperation, Collaboration, Critical Consumption (crap detection), Network Awareness.
"Schools are places where we park our children while we go to work and where they learn to be good 19th and 20th century workers. Unfortunately, this is the 21st century...a lot of learning takes place outside of school and when the teacher is not looking." (Rheingold)
"I am not sure how to get there, how to evaluate efforts or measure impacts...whether schooling as we know it is even the place to start building the necessary institution." (Rheingold)
In his talk, he refers to a number of his other articles that have been published, such as the one titled Crap Detection 101.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Destinations: A Future Timeline of Gifted and Talented Education
This is an timeline for a work of fiction that I composed for a course on gifted education that I participated in. It parallels some of the legislation for special education in the US, time-shifted about 50 years into the future. It gets kind of science fiction-like toward the end.
2015: Congress adds Title XII to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 creating a Bureau of Special Education for the Gifted and Talented. Educating gifted and talented students is still not mandated by federal or state law. However, creation of the Bureau signified that a change was on the horizon.
2022: Two significant US Supreme Court decisions [Darcy v. California (2022) and Nguyen v. Topeka Board of Education (2022)] apply the equal protection argument to students with gifts and talents. The courts take the position that children with gifts and talents do not have an equal right to access education as their non-gifted peers. Although there is no existing federal law that mandates this stance, some students begin leaving school to be home schooled as a result of these court decisions.
2023: Section 1054 of the Rehabilitation Act of 2023 is enacted into statute. This national law mandates the identification and tracking of gifted and talented students. This national law was enacted with little fanfare. Most educators were not aware that this applied to public schools.
2025: The Education for Gifted and Talented Children Act (EGTCA) is enacted. This was also known as P.L. 184-1204. Today we know this law as the Individuals with Gifts and Talents Education Act (IGTA). Before 2025, children with gifts and talents were mostly provided an education solely on the basis of their abilities. EGTCA, along with some key Supreme Court cases, mandated all school districts not to educate students with gifted and talented abilities.
2040: The Americans with Gifts and Talents Act (AGTA) is enacted. AGTA adopts the Section 1204 regulations as part of the AGTA statute. In turn, numerous “1204 Plans” for individual students start to become a more common place in school districts. Gifted and Talented students are regulated to special classrooms where their education can be monitored and controlled.
2047: IGTA is reauthorized. This amendment calls for gifted and talented students to be excluded in from state and district-wide assessments. Also, Federal Department of Education agents are now required to be a member of the IEP team. Some Gifted and Talented students are relocated to schools where their needs can be better met.
2051: No Child Gets Ahead is enacted. This law calls for all gifted and talented students to be segregated from the general population by the year 2064. It also sets limits on what can be taught in government schools and enacts strict penalties for schools whose student performance is out of conformance.
2054: IGTA reauthorized There are several changes from the 2047 reauthorization. The biggest changes call for more accountability at the state and local levels for identifying and removing from the general population all Gifted and Talented children. As more data on the number of gifted and talented people still at large are revealed, states react more severely to the crisis. Another notable change involves school districts providing adequate instruction and intervention for students to help keep them out of gifted and talented education.
2062: Executive Order 9066. President Walter N. Utak authorizes the internment of gifted and talented students with Executive Order 9066, which allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones", from which "any or all persons may be excluded." This power is used to declare that all gifted and talented are to have their rights as US citizens suspended, except for those in internment camps. In 2064, the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the exclusion orders, while noting that the provisions that singled out the gifted and talented are a separate issue outside the scope of the proceedings.
Internment camps are established in Alaska and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the purpose of relocating the gifted and talented. The US border with Canada is officially closed to prevent fleeing by those seeking a more intellectually tolerant society.
Destinations:
Camp 1 (Minimum Security – Moderately Gifted) is located in Lake Superior National Park 34 miles northwest of the town of Newberry. The residents of Newberry had been evacuated in 2035 after wild fires swept through the region.
Camp 2 (Highly Gifted) is located near the upper branch of the Coleen River in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge close to the Canada border. The camp is about 85 miles from both the villages of Old Crow in the Yukon Territory and Arctic Village in Alaska’s Brooks Range.
Camp 3 (Exceptionally Gifted) is located near a bend of the Etivluk River about 15 miles from its confluence with the Colville River on Alaska’s North Slope. The closest villages, each about 120 miles from the river bend, are Ambler to the southwest and Atqasuk to the north.
Camp 4 (Maximum Security – Profoundly Gifted) is located on the remote island of St. Matthew, which sits alone in the Bering Sea without road, airstrip, or town. The closest village is Mekoryuk, on Nunivak Island off the Yukon River delta. St. Matthew’s nearest neighbor is 209 miles away.
2064: The "Public Welfare Land Act” becomes law. Also, known as the Great Equalizer, seizes public and private lands which have been used for the "endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college or institution where the leading object has been scientific and classical studies and the mechanic arts in order to promote liberal and practical education." All colleges and universities in the US are closed.
2066: All communications are lost with the island of St. Matthew (Camp 4). Satellite surveillance downlinks showing images of the island are scrambled. The secure inter-web connection is fire-walled by St. Matthew Island. US Intelligence agencies are unable to “hack the system.” All ships and aircraft approaching the island mysteriously vanish.
2068: The United States of America ceases to be a power of any consequence. Anti-intellectualism spreads around the world. The State of Arizona ranks first in the nation in education.
2072: The US-Canadian Virtual War ends in 38 minutes and 27 seconds. Michigan and Maine are annexed by Canada. California, Alaska, and Hawaii secede from the Union.
2078: In an effort to revitalize the economy, Congress declares war on Alaska. Federal troops fire on Camp 3. In one day, one hundred and ninety-seven Federal troops are killed by friendly fire. Internees suffer no losses. The Federal government’s only remaining active combat division is lost in the arctic wilderness.
2082: The European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany detects launches from St. Matthew Island into low Earth orbit. The announcement of the launches is later retracted.
2091: The world economy collapses. China, Russia, South Africa, and India engage in a limited nuclear exchange. The inter-web collapses due to a virus filled upgrade originating in Ohio. World civilization enters an agrarian-based barter economy.
2099: Canada annexes Alaska. Camps 2 and 3 are liberated and found to have booming economies and healthy, prosperous populations. Advances in medicine in Camp 2 have eliminated all disease except for the common cold. Technology in Camp 3 is found to have advanced to include free, limitless energy from zero-point energy sources.
2110: Alaska secedes from Canada and becomes the new world superpower due to the prosperity created by intellectual freedom.
2125: World-wide panic ensues when the European Space Agency announces that a spacecraft of unidentified origin has entered Earth orbit. The unidentified spacecraft is later determined to be a starship launched by the internees of St. Matthew’s Island more than 40 years earlier to colonize an Earth-like planet in the Alpha Centauri system. The Education Bureau moves to conceal the truth from the general public.
Notes:
The timeline from 2015 until 2054 is based on A Timeline of Special Education History as prepared by John Peterson at http://admin.fortschools.org/PupilServices/StaffInfo/A%20TIMELINE%20OF%20SPECIAL%20EDUCATION%20HISTORY.htm. I attempted to align these dates with the same intervals of time that occurred for the various legal actions involving special education for those with disabilities.
Executive Order 9066 is from an article on Japanese American Internment Law on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment. Executive Order 9066 is the actual order signed by President Franklin Roosevelt that allowed the internment of Japanese-Americans to occur during World War II.
Camp locations are the results of a Google search for most remote locations in the continental US. At least the Alaskan entries are. The one for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is fictional. (Probably)
The entry for 2064: The "Public Welfare Land Act” is based on the 1862 entry on the First Morrill Act at http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html
I learned of the European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany from a search for EAS tracking stations that yielded a reference at http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMB0DJJX7F_index_0.html
References to the events of 2091 were inspired by the novel The Humanist Inheritance by M. J. Lineberger.
I conducted a search for earth-like planets on Google and was referred to an article by the Daily Mail at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-529410/Earth-like-planet-supports-life-circling-Suns-nearest-neighbour.html
2015: Congress adds Title XII to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 creating a Bureau of Special Education for the Gifted and Talented. Educating gifted and talented students is still not mandated by federal or state law. However, creation of the Bureau signified that a change was on the horizon.
2022: Two significant US Supreme Court decisions [Darcy v. California (2022) and Nguyen v. Topeka Board of Education (2022)] apply the equal protection argument to students with gifts and talents. The courts take the position that children with gifts and talents do not have an equal right to access education as their non-gifted peers. Although there is no existing federal law that mandates this stance, some students begin leaving school to be home schooled as a result of these court decisions.
2023: Section 1054 of the Rehabilitation Act of 2023 is enacted into statute. This national law mandates the identification and tracking of gifted and talented students. This national law was enacted with little fanfare. Most educators were not aware that this applied to public schools.
2025: The Education for Gifted and Talented Children Act (EGTCA) is enacted. This was also known as P.L. 184-1204. Today we know this law as the Individuals with Gifts and Talents Education Act (IGTA). Before 2025, children with gifts and talents were mostly provided an education solely on the basis of their abilities. EGTCA, along with some key Supreme Court cases, mandated all school districts not to educate students with gifted and talented abilities.
2040: The Americans with Gifts and Talents Act (AGTA) is enacted. AGTA adopts the Section 1204 regulations as part of the AGTA statute. In turn, numerous “1204 Plans” for individual students start to become a more common place in school districts. Gifted and Talented students are regulated to special classrooms where their education can be monitored and controlled.
2047: IGTA is reauthorized. This amendment calls for gifted and talented students to be excluded in from state and district-wide assessments. Also, Federal Department of Education agents are now required to be a member of the IEP team. Some Gifted and Talented students are relocated to schools where their needs can be better met.
2051: No Child Gets Ahead is enacted. This law calls for all gifted and talented students to be segregated from the general population by the year 2064. It also sets limits on what can be taught in government schools and enacts strict penalties for schools whose student performance is out of conformance.
2054: IGTA reauthorized There are several changes from the 2047 reauthorization. The biggest changes call for more accountability at the state and local levels for identifying and removing from the general population all Gifted and Talented children. As more data on the number of gifted and talented people still at large are revealed, states react more severely to the crisis. Another notable change involves school districts providing adequate instruction and intervention for students to help keep them out of gifted and talented education.
2062: Executive Order 9066. President Walter N. Utak authorizes the internment of gifted and talented students with Executive Order 9066, which allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones", from which "any or all persons may be excluded." This power is used to declare that all gifted and talented are to have their rights as US citizens suspended, except for those in internment camps. In 2064, the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the exclusion orders, while noting that the provisions that singled out the gifted and talented are a separate issue outside the scope of the proceedings.
Internment camps are established in Alaska and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the purpose of relocating the gifted and talented. The US border with Canada is officially closed to prevent fleeing by those seeking a more intellectually tolerant society.
Destinations:
Camp 1 (Minimum Security – Moderately Gifted) is located in Lake Superior National Park 34 miles northwest of the town of Newberry. The residents of Newberry had been evacuated in 2035 after wild fires swept through the region.
Camp 2 (Highly Gifted) is located near the upper branch of the Coleen River in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge close to the Canada border. The camp is about 85 miles from both the villages of Old Crow in the Yukon Territory and Arctic Village in Alaska’s Brooks Range.
Camp 3 (Exceptionally Gifted) is located near a bend of the Etivluk River about 15 miles from its confluence with the Colville River on Alaska’s North Slope. The closest villages, each about 120 miles from the river bend, are Ambler to the southwest and Atqasuk to the north.
Camp 4 (Maximum Security – Profoundly Gifted) is located on the remote island of St. Matthew, which sits alone in the Bering Sea without road, airstrip, or town. The closest village is Mekoryuk, on Nunivak Island off the Yukon River delta. St. Matthew’s nearest neighbor is 209 miles away.
2064: The "Public Welfare Land Act” becomes law. Also, known as the Great Equalizer, seizes public and private lands which have been used for the "endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college or institution where the leading object has been scientific and classical studies and the mechanic arts in order to promote liberal and practical education." All colleges and universities in the US are closed.
2066: All communications are lost with the island of St. Matthew (Camp 4). Satellite surveillance downlinks showing images of the island are scrambled. The secure inter-web connection is fire-walled by St. Matthew Island. US Intelligence agencies are unable to “hack the system.” All ships and aircraft approaching the island mysteriously vanish.
2068: The United States of America ceases to be a power of any consequence. Anti-intellectualism spreads around the world. The State of Arizona ranks first in the nation in education.
2072: The US-Canadian Virtual War ends in 38 minutes and 27 seconds. Michigan and Maine are annexed by Canada. California, Alaska, and Hawaii secede from the Union.
2078: In an effort to revitalize the economy, Congress declares war on Alaska. Federal troops fire on Camp 3. In one day, one hundred and ninety-seven Federal troops are killed by friendly fire. Internees suffer no losses. The Federal government’s only remaining active combat division is lost in the arctic wilderness.
2082: The European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany detects launches from St. Matthew Island into low Earth orbit. The announcement of the launches is later retracted.
2091: The world economy collapses. China, Russia, South Africa, and India engage in a limited nuclear exchange. The inter-web collapses due to a virus filled upgrade originating in Ohio. World civilization enters an agrarian-based barter economy.
2099: Canada annexes Alaska. Camps 2 and 3 are liberated and found to have booming economies and healthy, prosperous populations. Advances in medicine in Camp 2 have eliminated all disease except for the common cold. Technology in Camp 3 is found to have advanced to include free, limitless energy from zero-point energy sources.
2110: Alaska secedes from Canada and becomes the new world superpower due to the prosperity created by intellectual freedom.
2125: World-wide panic ensues when the European Space Agency announces that a spacecraft of unidentified origin has entered Earth orbit. The unidentified spacecraft is later determined to be a starship launched by the internees of St. Matthew’s Island more than 40 years earlier to colonize an Earth-like planet in the Alpha Centauri system. The Education Bureau moves to conceal the truth from the general public.
Notes:
The timeline from 2015 until 2054 is based on A Timeline of Special Education History as prepared by John Peterson at http://admin.fortschools.org/PupilServices/StaffInfo/A%20TIMELINE%20OF%20SPECIAL%20EDUCATION%20HISTORY.htm. I attempted to align these dates with the same intervals of time that occurred for the various legal actions involving special education for those with disabilities.
Executive Order 9066 is from an article on Japanese American Internment Law on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment. Executive Order 9066 is the actual order signed by President Franklin Roosevelt that allowed the internment of Japanese-Americans to occur during World War II.
Camp locations are the results of a Google search for most remote locations in the continental US. At least the Alaskan entries are. The one for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is fictional. (Probably)
The entry for 2064: The "Public Welfare Land Act” is based on the 1862 entry on the First Morrill Act at http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html
I learned of the European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany from a search for EAS tracking stations that yielded a reference at http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMB0DJJX7F_index_0.html
References to the events of 2091 were inspired by the novel The Humanist Inheritance by M. J. Lineberger.
I conducted a search for earth-like planets on Google and was referred to an article by the Daily Mail at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-529410/Earth-like-planet-supports-life-circling-Suns-nearest-neighbour.html
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Push For Quotas For Women In Science
"The NYTimes has a story about how Congress has quietly begun to press for an equal number of women in the hard sciences and engineering under Title IX, which is best known for mandating numerical equality for boys' and girls' sports for institutions that accept federal funding. The problem is, the article says, it is not merely that women face discrimination from male colleagues, though that is often true, or that they are discouraged from pursuing these fields. Rather, women with aptitude in these areas often simply have other interests and so pursue their education and careers in other fields like law, education, or biology. Opponents of this plan, including many women in scientific fields, say implementing sex-based quotas will actually be detrimental because it will communicate that the women can't compete on even terms with men and will be 'devastating' to the quality of science 'if every male-dominated field has to be calibrated to women's level of interest.'"
Posted by kdawson on Tuesday July 15, @05:48PM on slashdot.
Posted by kdawson on Tuesday July 15, @05:48PM on slashdot.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Hippocratic Oath for Scientists?
"I promise never to allow financial gain, competitiveness or ambition cloud my judgment in the conduct of ethical research and scholarship. I will pursue knowledge and create knowledge for the greater good, but never to the detriment of colleagues, supervisors, research subjects or the international community of scholars of which I am now a member."
Article: Living the Scientific Life
Article: Living the Scientific Life
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Teaching Math
What do kids want to learn and how do they want to learn it? There are certain requirements for every course that must be mastered by the students. But what makes learning enjoyable for some and drudgery for others? As a teacher, I can show my students an outline for the course and try to put everything in perspective so that they have a better idea of where I am taking them through the course. They know where they are and they know where they are going.
It always happens in every math class that I have taught that one day a student will as me why they need to learn this stuff. They are not impressed with explanations of how math trains their minds to think logically and teaches them to solve problems in a sequential manner by applying properties and theorems. The best answer that I can give my students is that I don’t know. And they don’t either. It depends on them and what they end up doing with their lives. Some of them will probably never use any of it. I am giving them tools to use and it will be up to them to decide if and when to use them.
I look at it as they are on a journey, one that I have already traveled. In high school algebra and geometry, they are at the beginning of a journey that will take them to calculus and higher math. Calculus is the door to a whole new way of looking at the world and leads to an understanding of the way things work. They are beginning a journey that will take them places and allow them to understand things that they haven’t even imagined.
I realize that most of my students will end their journey early and go no further than the basic algebra and geometry that is required for them to graduate from high school. That is fine. Math isn't for everyone. As long as you can make change and balance a checkbook. You probably learn all of the math that you need for normal, everyday life by 6th grade.. But there are a few who will make the journey. They will take the tools that I give them and acquire many more along their journey.
Hopefully, one or two of my students will continue the journey even further than I have gone.
It always happens in every math class that I have taught that one day a student will as me why they need to learn this stuff. They are not impressed with explanations of how math trains their minds to think logically and teaches them to solve problems in a sequential manner by applying properties and theorems. The best answer that I can give my students is that I don’t know. And they don’t either. It depends on them and what they end up doing with their lives. Some of them will probably never use any of it. I am giving them tools to use and it will be up to them to decide if and when to use them.
I look at it as they are on a journey, one that I have already traveled. In high school algebra and geometry, they are at the beginning of a journey that will take them to calculus and higher math. Calculus is the door to a whole new way of looking at the world and leads to an understanding of the way things work. They are beginning a journey that will take them places and allow them to understand things that they haven’t even imagined.
I realize that most of my students will end their journey early and go no further than the basic algebra and geometry that is required for them to graduate from high school. That is fine. Math isn't for everyone. As long as you can make change and balance a checkbook. You probably learn all of the math that you need for normal, everyday life by 6th grade.. But there are a few who will make the journey. They will take the tools that I give them and acquire many more along their journey.
Hopefully, one or two of my students will continue the journey even further than I have gone.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
A New Enerprise
CGI artist Gabriel Koerner has confirmed this is actually one of his designs. I'm really looking forward to the new Star Trek movie next summer. I really don't mind that it is a restart of the original series (TOS), as much as I am a fan of all things Star Trek. I think the modern way of story telling may be what the series needs to get a new generation hooked on making the future happen as much as my generation has been influenced by TOS.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Information R/evolution
Found on Merlin Mann's 43folders. This is an excellent video presentation by Michael Wesch on how digital technology is affecting the way that we deal with information.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
On note taking and other important stuff
I'm in grad school working on an MS in EE and for note taking have found that nothing beats plain white copy paper. It's cheap ($2-3 per ream) and with a 3-hole punch and an inexpensive 1” 3-ring binder is very versatile. I have one binder for each course. I like the 1-1/2” wide binders because I can easily fit 2 or 3 in my bag. I have tabs to divide syllabus and course schedule, notes, handouts, and blank paper. Other tools include a good ol' Pink Pearl eraser, a Z-Grip 0.5mm mechanical pencil, and Pilot G-2 0.7 mm gel pens in red and blue ink and a Pilot G-2 Pro fine point in black ink. With these tools I can quickly capture notes and diagrams. The only things that I type up are homework assignments and lab reports. In my computer, I have files for each class and sub-files for homework, labs, and lecture notes (PowerPoint presentations and PDFs supplied by the professors). With my trusty Moleskine pocket squared notebook to keep track of my deliverables and other stuff I am able to leave my Dell Latitude D520 notebook computer put away until I get to the library.
Discontinued - Your kidding?
I just found out that my trusty TI-86 has been discontinued. So I'm using a relic. Hmmm. Well, anyway, everyone knows that real engineers use HPs. I bought the TI before I knew better anyway. Let's take a look at what they've got.
Wow. Look at the HP-50. Nice!
Oops, $149.99?
Um, the TI still works great, and besides, it's not the calculator, its the skill of the operator that counts.
Ya, that'll work.
Wow. Look at the HP-50. Nice!
Oops, $149.99?
Um, the TI still works great, and besides, it's not the calculator, its the skill of the operator that counts.
Ya, that'll work.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Getting Things Done
I finally got around to buying David Allen's book (I bought it from Amazon along with one of the textbooks that I need for one of my grad courses). So far it is a pretty easy read. The book organizes a lot of what I know and have learned from working in industry for 18 years. I'll need to get through it all, digest it, and read through it again before I decide on what it can do for me. At this point, two thumbs up. I just need to put it down and get back to my textbooks occasionally.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Reliving the 80s with Pandora
I'm just sitting here doing some random browsing on line with Pandora open in another tab. I've got several stations set up that I can go to depending on my mood. Tonight, I selected the Electric Light Orchestra station and so far there has been a steady stream of "oldies" coming across. Starting with ELO, there has been The Police, Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper, and now Bryan Adams is up. Each song brings back memories and feelings from a long time ago. It's actually quite amazing to me how music creates such an emotional response.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
What to do?
I'm trying to figure out what I want to accomplish today. I'm a functional procrastinator and if I don't sit down and organize myself in the morning, I'm just kind of random throughout the day. At the end of the day I really don't feel like I have accomplished anything.
I started listening to podcasts from Merlin's Mann's 43 Folders blog and have downloaded a series on getting things done. I started listening to it on my walk last night and it is no surprise that I'm not the only one with this problem. What is surprising is that someone else actually has to time to spend really thinking about this issue. Merlin and his guest must have some very important projects that they are putting off. It seems that it is common to find lots of other things to do (like I am doing now) rather than getting done what needs to be done. The trick seems to be that if you are going to procrastinate getting done what needs to be done by doing other things, make those other things that you do things that need to be done. In other words, waste time with worthwhile activities.
Perhaps I'll finish listening to Merlin's podcast on my walk tonight, if something else doesn't come up.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Solving Karnaugh maps ain't like dustin' crops, boy!
I've found a new toy to play with. Recently, I pulled out my EE textbooks with the goal of re- familiarizing myself with things that I have forgotten. One of the things that I have been playing with is my old favorite the Karnaugh Map. I had forgotten how much fun it is to solve K-maps by hand. I think that they are a lot more interesting than wasting time with suduko. There is something practical that can result from simplifying a Boolean functions using a K-map. After playing around with several functions, I wondered if anyone had taken the time to create software to simplify a K-map (I was almost certain someone had). I found a neat open source application at http://k-map.sourceforge.net/#top to do just that. Now to all I have to do is get around to spending a little time playing with the software. I wonder if I can get it to run on my Pocket PC.
Monday, July 24, 2006
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