Technorati Profile
It picked up on RGB very quickly. I wonder if they scan for terms in common use faster than they scan for oddball things like Rolling GradeBook ?
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Fast, Cheap, Simple Evacuations
Technorati Profile
It seems to me that you could decrease the load on the highways if you were to use the railroads and a cheap version of an extra big commuter train.
Gondola cars are normally used to transport bulk goods, but, with a bit of plywood, 4 x 4's and plenty of mattresses they could be modified to carry people in an emergency. Simply divide up the area within the car such that in the event of a sudden stop or start, only one person would be thrown into the mattress in a given sector of a gondola car. The necessary supplies for the modification could be stockpiled near big railroad yards. The mattress could be ones otherwise headed for landfills.
This should speed up the evacuation process, as the cars can be prepped out of harm's way, and 100 cars each holding 100 people could move 10,000 people in 2 hours to at least 100 miles away from the disaster. This means 10,000 people every four hours for each train so set up. Ten such trains could evacuate a city of 1/2 million in less than 24 hours.
What do I have to do to call this concept to the attention of Homeland Security and FEMA ? Of course, since they didn't think of it first, and I'm, well, not a very good Republican, they'll probably reject it out of hand, as "not invented here."
It seems to me that you could decrease the load on the highways if you were to use the railroads and a cheap version of an extra big commuter train.
Gondola cars are normally used to transport bulk goods, but, with a bit of plywood, 4 x 4's and plenty of mattresses they could be modified to carry people in an emergency. Simply divide up the area within the car such that in the event of a sudden stop or start, only one person would be thrown into the mattress in a given sector of a gondola car. The necessary supplies for the modification could be stockpiled near big railroad yards. The mattress could be ones otherwise headed for landfills.
This should speed up the evacuation process, as the cars can be prepped out of harm's way, and 100 cars each holding 100 people could move 10,000 people in 2 hours to at least 100 miles away from the disaster. This means 10,000 people every four hours for each train so set up. Ten such trains could evacuate a city of 1/2 million in less than 24 hours.
What do I have to do to call this concept to the attention of Homeland Security and FEMA ? Of course, since they didn't think of it first, and I'm, well, not a very good Republican, they'll probably reject it out of hand, as "not invented here."
Barabara Schmidt Miller Celebration of Life Triathlon
Technorati Profile
I had a really good time at the 11th Barabara Schmidt Miller Celebration of Life Triathlon. I took pictures, photos, pixs, picts, from on the water on my windsurfer, and from in the water with an underwater housing. you can see them at www.swland.org, be sure to scroll down.
This event took place at Scott's Flat Lake, near Grass Valley and Nevada City California, 95949 and 95959, on Sunday, September 25, 2005. I also shot the runners and bicyclists, and a lot of money was raised to fight cancer, such a good cause! BTW, the reason for the redundancies in this listing are so that people searching using technorati or other search engines will be able to find it easily.
You are welcome to make copies of the images for non-commercial, personal use, but I would appreciate you dropping me a line at keachie (at@at) swland org. You fill in the dot and unscramble the "at" sign.
I had a really good time at the 11th Barabara Schmidt Miller Celebration of Life Triathlon. I took pictures, photos, pixs, picts, from on the water on my windsurfer, and from in the water with an underwater housing. you can see them at www.swland.org, be sure to scroll down.
This event took place at Scott's Flat Lake, near Grass Valley and Nevada City California, 95949 and 95959, on Sunday, September 25, 2005. I also shot the runners and bicyclists, and a lot of money was raised to fight cancer, such a good cause! BTW, the reason for the redundancies in this listing are so that people searching using technorati or other search engines will be able to find it easily.
You are welcome to make copies of the images for non-commercial, personal use, but I would appreciate you dropping me a line at keachie (at@at) swland org. You fill in the dot and unscramble the "at" sign.
Curiouser and couriouser....
Technorati Profile
Or however you spell it. I am still looking to see how technorati picks up on things. I will now post this, and put a fully written out RGB in a comment. I want to see if technorati just gets the main post, or if it can grab from a comment as well. So this post stays up for several days, to see if I can pick up on "RGB in a comment," and then I add in a comment with RGB written out, and see if it can pick up on RGB written out in a comment.
Thanks David, whoever you may be, for the feedback. It took at least 8 hours to work.
Or however you spell it. I am still looking to see how technorati picks up on things. I will now post this, and put a fully written out RGB in a comment. I want to see if technorati just gets the main post, or if it can grab from a comment as well. So this post stays up for several days, to see if I can pick up on "RGB in a comment," and then I add in a comment with RGB written out, and see if it can pick up on RGB written out in a comment.
Thanks David, whoever you may be, for the feedback. It took at least 8 hours to work.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Technorati Profile
Ah ha, the HTML from technorati does show up in every post. Ok kiddies, the "Rolling GradeBook" can be found at www.swland.org.
This post is formatted for fast reading, just like the program it describes. The formatting does not work for every posting situation.
It is a shameless promotion of a scheme to save teachers from going to Stress City when grades are due. It's my little bit to save the world, one classroom at a time. I wish I had this system waaaay back when!
I used to do classes in Excel for other teachers as a Mentor Teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District. I have since upgraded the concept and am now producing, and still developing a grade book called, "The Rolling GradeBook," which is described in detail at www.swland.org.
One big difference between this one and all the rest is that it can be used by the person who knows no Excel, right out of the box, and yet it has every whiz-bang feature I can think of, and I keep adding to it, from those mentioned to me by teachers after they've used it. As time and inclination permit, the teacher can learn the magic (how Excel works) behind the scenes.
It's sort of like buying a car. With the Rolling GradeBook you can get in, turn on the key, and drive off. It can be used the night before grades are due, if necessary. Later on, if you wish, you can find out how the motor and the electric headlight wipers work.
Another big difference is that this system assumes that you'd rather walk around the classroom with a clipboard and a piece of paper with your current students neatly listed on it, with space for writing, than to be chained to a laptop or desktop, lugging a tablet PC, or trying to squint at a Palm Pilot.
A third difference between this and the rest, except others based on Excel, is the ability annotate in great detail any assignment, grade, or code for attendance or misbehavior, while it is still fresh in your mind. You get to use Excel's comment feature for this, and, if that is not enough room, or you wish to add photos or sound bites, you can simply add in another tabbed worksheet to your file, and use the comment to reference that tab. A missing work indicator instantly shows up in the classroom or Internet posts, even in the summary postings, so that the student cannot declare that they didn't know that anything was missing.
Each class and each grading period gets its own Excel file, which can be "saved as" incrementally during the report card period for maximum safety, security, and speed. Each class can thus have its own password, and the files are small enough to fit on a 1.44 floppy, and the program avoids all the hassles of database rebuilds, connecting to the Internet, slow connections and computers (this will run fast on pre-Pentium computers), and monthly or yearly fees. You cannot get "lost," as long as you can remember your file names, which can be as clear as, "Period_1__Monday_Day_1.xls," etc. The day of the period is clear identified inside each file, right above the data you are entering, along with the day of the week, and the date of the year.
You can still post as much information about grades and attendance as you like to the classroom wall or the Internet, with the student’s names anonymized, and the anonymization changeable daily if necessary. There is plenty of room for IEP's, etc., to be tucked safely away from casual eyes. You can also develop graphs from the data, and easily import and export data to your District administrators.
As I am slightly visually impaired, the program makes extensive use of the formatting and color coding capabilities of Excel. It is ideal for people with low vision.
And, "Yes Virginia," you do get to assign weighing factors to each and every assignment, but I recommend you do that for tests, quizzes, papers and projects only. Besides, handing back one of the above, graded 0 -100, and telling the class it has a factor of 5, gives them practice in multiplication. They can easily see the effect in the grade postings.
Cheers,
Retired and rolling on...
Doug
Ah ha, the HTML from technorati does show up in every post. Ok kiddies, the "Rolling GradeBook" can be found at www.swland.org.
This post is formatted for fast reading, just like the program it describes. The formatting does not work for every posting situation.
It is a shameless promotion of a scheme to save teachers from going to Stress City when grades are due. It's my little bit to save the world, one classroom at a time. I wish I had this system waaaay back when!
I used to do classes in Excel for other teachers as a Mentor Teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District. I have since upgraded the concept and am now producing, and still developing a grade book called, "The Rolling GradeBook," which is described in detail at www.swland.org.
One big difference between this one and all the rest is that it can be used by the person who knows no Excel, right out of the box, and yet it has every whiz-bang feature I can think of, and I keep adding to it, from those mentioned to me by teachers after they've used it. As time and inclination permit, the teacher can learn the magic (how Excel works) behind the scenes.
It's sort of like buying a car. With the Rolling GradeBook you can get in, turn on the key, and drive off. It can be used the night before grades are due, if necessary. Later on, if you wish, you can find out how the motor and the electric headlight wipers work.
Another big difference is that this system assumes that you'd rather walk around the classroom with a clipboard and a piece of paper with your current students neatly listed on it, with space for writing, than to be chained to a laptop or desktop, lugging a tablet PC, or trying to squint at a Palm Pilot.
A third difference between this and the rest, except others based on Excel, is the ability annotate in great detail any assignment, grade, or code for attendance or misbehavior, while it is still fresh in your mind. You get to use Excel's comment feature for this, and, if that is not enough room, or you wish to add photos or sound bites, you can simply add in another tabbed worksheet to your file, and use the comment to reference that tab. A missing work indicator instantly shows up in the classroom or Internet posts, even in the summary postings, so that the student cannot declare that they didn't know that anything was missing.
Each class and each grading period gets its own Excel file, which can be "saved as" incrementally during the report card period for maximum safety, security, and speed. Each class can thus have its own password, and the files are small enough to fit on a 1.44 floppy, and the program avoids all the hassles of database rebuilds, connecting to the Internet, slow connections and computers (this will run fast on pre-Pentium computers), and monthly or yearly fees. You cannot get "lost," as long as you can remember your file names, which can be as clear as, "Period_1__Monday_Day_1.xls," etc. The day of the period is clear identified inside each file, right above the data you are entering, along with the day of the week, and the date of the year.
You can still post as much information about grades and attendance as you like to the classroom wall or the Internet, with the student’s names anonymized, and the anonymization changeable daily if necessary. There is plenty of room for IEP's, etc., to be tucked safely away from casual eyes. You can also develop graphs from the data, and easily import and export data to your District administrators.
As I am slightly visually impaired, the program makes extensive use of the formatting and color coding capabilities of Excel. It is ideal for people with low vision.
And, "Yes Virginia," you do get to assign weighing factors to each and every assignment, but I recommend you do that for tests, quizzes, papers and projects only. Besides, handing back one of the above, graded 0 -100, and telling the class it has a factor of 5, gives them practice in multiplication. They can easily see the effect in the grade postings.
Cheers,
Retired and rolling on...
Doug
Techno-Ratey Doesn't See Me
Apparently Technorati is unable to find me because nobody is linked to me, and vs versa.
I'm wondering if I have to leave the techrati htmkl code in every post from here on out to make it look.
I'm wondering if I have to leave the techrati htmkl code in every post from here on out to make it look.
More On Rolling GradeBook
If you will link to my blog, I will send you a copy for the cost of the postage and the disk.
This post is formatted for fast reading, just like the program it describes. The formatting does not work for every posting situation.
It is a shameless promotion of a scheme to save teachers from going to Stress City when grades are due. It's my little bit to save the world, one classroom at a time. I wish I had this system waaaay back when!
I used to do classes in Excel for other teachers as a Mentor Teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District. I have since upgraded the concept and am now producing, and still developing a grade book called, "The Rolling GradeBook," which is described in detail at www.swland.org.
One big difference between this one and all the rest is that it can be used by the person who knows no Excel, right out of the box, and yet it has every whiz-bang feature I can think of, and I keep adding to it, from those mentioned to me by teachers after they've used it. As time and inclination permit, the teacher can learn the magic (how Excel works) behind the scenes.
It's sort of like buying a car. With the Rolling GradeBook you can get in, turn on the key, and drive off. It can be used the night before grades are due, if necessary. Later on, if you wish, you can find out how the motor and the electric headlight wipers work.
Another big difference is that this system assumes that you'd rather walk around the classroom with a clipboard and a piece of paper with your current students neatly listed on it, with space for writing, than to be chained to a laptop or desktop, lugging a tablet PC, or trying to squint at a Palm Pilot.
A third difference between this and the rest, except others based on Excel, is the ability annotate in great detail any assignment, grade, or code for attendance or misbehavior, while it is still fresh in your mind. You get to use Excel's comment feature for this, and, if that is not enough room, or you wish to add photos or sound bites, you can simply add in another tabbed worksheet to your file, and use the comment to reference that tab. A missing work indicator instantly shows up in the classroom or Internet posts, even in the summary postings, so that the student cannot declare that they didn't know that anything was missing.
Each class and each grading period gets its own Excel file, which can be "saved as" incrementally during the report card period for maximum safety, security, and speed. Each class can thus have its own password, and the files are small enough to fit on a 1.44 floppy, and the program avoids all the hassles of database rebuilds, connecting to the Internet, slow connections and computers (this will run fast on pre-Pentium computers), and monthly or yearly fees. You cannot get "lost," as long as you can remember your file names, which can be as clear as, "Period_1__Monday_Day_1.xls," etc. The day of the period is clear identified inside each file, right above the data you are entering, along with the day of the week, and the date of the year.
You can still post as much information about grades and attendance as you like to the classroom wall or the Internet, with the student’s names anonymized, and the anonymization changeable daily if necessary. There is plenty of room for IEP's, etc., to be tucked safely away from casual eyes. You can also develop graphs from the data, and easily import and export data to your District administrators.
As I am slightly visually impaired, the program makes extensive use of the formatting and color coding capabilities of Excel. It is ideal for people with low vision.
And, "Yes Virginia," you do get to assign weighing factors to each and every assignment, but I recommend you do that for tests, quizzes, papers and projects only. Besides, handing back one of the above, graded 0 -100, and telling the class it has a factor of 5, gives them practice in multiplication. They can easily see the effect in the grade postings.
Cheers,
Retired and rolling on...
Doug
This post is formatted for fast reading, just like the program it describes. The formatting does not work for every posting situation.
It is a shameless promotion of a scheme to save teachers from going to Stress City when grades are due. It's my little bit to save the world, one classroom at a time. I wish I had this system waaaay back when!
I used to do classes in Excel for other teachers as a Mentor Teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District. I have since upgraded the concept and am now producing, and still developing a grade book called, "The Rolling GradeBook," which is described in detail at www.swland.org.
One big difference between this one and all the rest is that it can be used by the person who knows no Excel, right out of the box, and yet it has every whiz-bang feature I can think of, and I keep adding to it, from those mentioned to me by teachers after they've used it. As time and inclination permit, the teacher can learn the magic (how Excel works) behind the scenes.
It's sort of like buying a car. With the Rolling GradeBook you can get in, turn on the key, and drive off. It can be used the night before grades are due, if necessary. Later on, if you wish, you can find out how the motor and the electric headlight wipers work.
Another big difference is that this system assumes that you'd rather walk around the classroom with a clipboard and a piece of paper with your current students neatly listed on it, with space for writing, than to be chained to a laptop or desktop, lugging a tablet PC, or trying to squint at a Palm Pilot.
A third difference between this and the rest, except others based on Excel, is the ability annotate in great detail any assignment, grade, or code for attendance or misbehavior, while it is still fresh in your mind. You get to use Excel's comment feature for this, and, if that is not enough room, or you wish to add photos or sound bites, you can simply add in another tabbed worksheet to your file, and use the comment to reference that tab. A missing work indicator instantly shows up in the classroom or Internet posts, even in the summary postings, so that the student cannot declare that they didn't know that anything was missing.
Each class and each grading period gets its own Excel file, which can be "saved as" incrementally during the report card period for maximum safety, security, and speed. Each class can thus have its own password, and the files are small enough to fit on a 1.44 floppy, and the program avoids all the hassles of database rebuilds, connecting to the Internet, slow connections and computers (this will run fast on pre-Pentium computers), and monthly or yearly fees. You cannot get "lost," as long as you can remember your file names, which can be as clear as, "Period_1__Monday_Day_1.xls," etc. The day of the period is clear identified inside each file, right above the data you are entering, along with the day of the week, and the date of the year.
You can still post as much information about grades and attendance as you like to the classroom wall or the Internet, with the student’s names anonymized, and the anonymization changeable daily if necessary. There is plenty of room for IEP's, etc., to be tucked safely away from casual eyes. You can also develop graphs from the data, and easily import and export data to your District administrators.
As I am slightly visually impaired, the program makes extensive use of the formatting and color coding capabilities of Excel. It is ideal for people with low vision.
And, "Yes Virginia," you do get to assign weighing factors to each and every assignment, but I recommend you do that for tests, quizzes, papers and projects only. Besides, handing back one of the above, graded 0 -100, and telling the class it has a factor of 5, gives them practice in multiplication. They can easily see the effect in the grade postings.
Cheers,
Retired and rolling on...
Doug
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Rolling GradeBook
This is a really neat Excel template for teachers which covers just about all the bases needed for slick classroom management. Rolling GradeBook can be seen at www.swland.org.
In addition to the usual autocalc features, this grade book offers a striking visual realization of clarity in data entry. The various items are color coded, and each day is clearly delinated from the others. Every entry can have a comment which can be HUGE, but stays hidden until you mouse over the cell.
By making maximum use of Excel's tab features and drill through data capabilities, you can keep IEP's on separate pages, create quickie one time lists for fieldtrip checkoffs, textbook checkouts, and lab fees, etc.
Each class gets its own file, and thus each class can have its own password.
The data can be possed with easily changed code ID's to the classroom wall or to the internet. There is a system for visual alerts for missing work, space for the District ID numbers and codes, or even codes created by the teacher.
Try it, you like it. Soon to be available on EBay.
In addition to the usual autocalc features, this grade book offers a striking visual realization of clarity in data entry. The various items are color coded, and each day is clearly delinated from the others. Every entry can have a comment which can be HUGE, but stays hidden until you mouse over the cell.
By making maximum use of Excel's tab features and drill through data capabilities, you can keep IEP's on separate pages, create quickie one time lists for fieldtrip checkoffs, textbook checkouts, and lab fees, etc.
Each class gets its own file, and thus each class can have its own password.
The data can be possed with easily changed code ID's to the classroom wall or to the internet. There is a system for visual alerts for missing work, space for the District ID numbers and codes, or even codes created by the teacher.
Try it, you like it. Soon to be available on EBay.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Under God doesn't sound Good to me
When I was in second grade, we were suddenly told we had to add "under God" to the pledge that had worked so well through WWI and WWII, and earlier, without the phrase.
I was born partially deaf, and my parents were not particular religious, and religon was2abstract to pay attention to, except for when my grandmother was burned up in a fiery headon collison with a tanker truck, and I was told she gone to God, that God had called her, and a bunch of other things which may me question just who the heck was this Being who ran off with my best friend ?
We are now told that it is optional for the students to say, "under God."
As soon as it is "optional" for the teacher to lead it without being forced to say the Christian/Muslim/Jewish phrase, then maybe it is not a mixing of church and state. There should be a standard unit (grade appropriate versions) to be taught anytime a student has a question about the inclusing/exclusion of the phrase.
What the heck does "under God" mean ?
"With joyful support from God," I could understand, but still have objections.
"Under God," has sinister connotations.
I was born partially deaf, and my parents were not particular religious, and religon was2abstract to pay attention to, except for when my grandmother was burned up in a fiery headon collison with a tanker truck, and I was told she gone to God, that God had called her, and a bunch of other things which may me question just who the heck was this Being who ran off with my best friend ?
We are now told that it is optional for the students to say, "under God."
As soon as it is "optional" for the teacher to lead it without being forced to say the Christian/Muslim/Jewish phrase, then maybe it is not a mixing of church and state. There should be a standard unit (grade appropriate versions) to be taught anytime a student has a question about the inclusing/exclusion of the phrase.
What the heck does "under God" mean ?
"With joyful support from God," I could understand, but still have objections.
"Under God," has sinister connotations.
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