Amazing Stickman
Draw a Stickman is just delightful. Go to that page, select Episode 1, and I defy you not to say “Oh cool!” within 20 seconds. It is entirely charming. What else could you want on a Monday afternoon :)
Author: AMH
Productivity, Travel and Passwords this week
Things my RSS feed wants me to do this week: Stay productive after work on my side projects because if work and your homelife are all you’re doing, you’re a bum. Go to NYC for Manhattanhenge or make plans to go back for it in July. Buy Travel Blog the Board Game – even though from the description it is unclear where the “Blog” part of the game comes in. Consider if I am suprised that those over 55 pick more secure passwords than those under 25.
Choosing an Analysis Tool
I’ve been learning some Octave recently and have refreshing my Python on my summer to-do list for a course I’ll be teaching in the fall, plus I’ve been running into a ton of articles about R (particularly for data visualization) that are making me think I ought to give it a look as well. So this comparison of the three from Slashdot was a nice overview from one person’s experience of which tool to turn to when: R, Octave, and Python: Which Suits Your Analysis Needs?. The comments (as always) offer some interesting input as well, including suggestions for other … Continue reading Choosing an Analysis Tool
To Code or Not To Code
There is an interesting pair of essays about how universal “learning to code” ought to be over at Coding Horror: Please Don’t Learn to Code and a follow-up So You Want to be a Programmer. The first essay questions whether we really need more programmers, and whether learning some basic programming is that valuable a skill as compared to learning how to understand a problem and its solutions. The followup clarifies that what is being criticized is learning to code for the sake of knowing how to code, as compared to learning to code in order to solve a problem … Continue reading To Code or Not To Code
Ninjas, Fire and Rockets this week
Things my RSS feed wants me to do this week: Buy a set of ninja throwing knives. Rate American English accents – helping researchers is good! You should do this too! Turn my sensitive documents into a fireplace log. Contribute to a project to produce a new letterpress-printed edition of Pride and Prejudice. Get excited about the start of commercial space transportation!
Interactive Learning Startup Top Hat Monocle Wants To Turn Your Homework Into A Tournament
This article about a company that produces classroom engagement technologies such as in-class polls, discussion forums, and homework tournaments is making my head spin. I can get behind the value of in-class polls or quizzes, where students get immediate feedback, and professors get an immediate sense of what they sank in or not. But this: Top Hat offers an SMS-based response system, while all others access its platform through the web. Students can ask questions during lectures without interrupting teachers and get instant feedback from other students. Why would we even bother all getting together in the same room, if … Continue reading Interactive Learning Startup Top Hat Monocle Wants To Turn Your Homework Into A Tournament
Conversation on Non-Coding Contributions to Open Source
An interesting but common discussion over on Slashdot of how to get started working on open source projects, particularly if you’re fairly novice, evolved into some even more interesting discussion of the merits of getting started by helping with documentation, what that even means, and some firsthand accounts of people’s problems with trying to get a foot in by volunteering to do documentation. Some chat about the same issue but with UI design as well. A pretty good read for students who want to build up more of a portfolio than just their coursework but want some practical advice on … Continue reading Conversation on Non-Coding Contributions to Open Source
Tablets for all
I’ve been thinking a lot about tablet computing in educational settings, partially because of some research I’m doing, and partially because of the splash of Apple’s announcement of iTunes U back in January which doesn’t seem to have been followed up by much. My gut reaction is that tablet computers are awesome, but for certain purposes. I absolutely love mine when I’m not working – vacations, weekends, messing around online in the evening. But when it comes to my teaching, I’ve yet to find ways that it really supports or helps me, and it makes me suspect that it isn’t … Continue reading Tablets for all
This has truly hacked my life.
It seems like 90% of the time, I skim through my Lifehacker feed without clicking a single link and question why I stay subscribed. And then I come across a post like this one that instructs you to Sift Out the Crumbs in a Cereal Bag with a Kitchen Strainer for a Better Last Bowl and they have me sucked back in for another month. The best thing is, you don’t actually have to follow the link since the whole “hack” is pretty much there in the title – if you have ever eaten cereal you get how it works.
Personal Thermostats
My first reaction is that I need one of these wristbands that lets me control the temperature as I walk around a building. Oh yeah, and you can do other gesture controls with it too, but mostly it lets you not be freezing cold all the time. Except, it requires working in a smart building, not to mention a building with a more functional HVAC than I currently have. I am then struck by the fact that this sounds great until hit with the reality that different people have radically different temperature comfort zones. As the only person in the … Continue reading Personal Thermostats