Learning Aloud

We made a quick trip to Minneapolis yesterday when we learned our son’s wife was in labor. Olive Sophia Grabe was born yesterday afternoon. Mom and baby (and dad) are doing well.

Cindy with Olive

A note for relatives and those we know who follow my blog.

You may have heard that this evening a major bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. Cindy and our youngest daughter (Kim) were on a shopping trip at the time and drove over the bridge approx. 5 minutes before the collapse. We spent some time attempting to contact them after the news hit the television. It was impossible to keep a cell phone signal for more than a few moments, but Cindy was able to contact us to let us know they were fine.

The roadways were jammed because it was rush hour and the collapse is near the site of the Metrodome where a Twins game was just starting. There is no information on fatalities at this time. Cindy and Kim gave up trying to get back across town and are staying at Kim’s house this evening.

I feel the need to update a previous post concerning Yep. This inexpensive (not free) product is a pdf organizer, tagger, annotator, etc.

What I failed to mention in my previous post was that Yep comes with a Safari specific bookmarklet (Mac specific) that converts the web site being viewed into a pdf and stores the pdf in Yep. The stored pdf is automatically linked to the appropriate URL.

Yepshot of this blog (not actual size)

I don’t have the need to store other author’s web pages for an extended period of time in the manner I might save pdfs of journal articles, but for short term storage while I am moving fast and attempting to collect resources on a topic, yepshot in combination with yep is a great tool.

I found the concept of the YouTube debates quite appealing and was excited to watch the show. Unfortunately, I was confused about the start time and missed most of the program. I should have known that there would be a way (aside from the professional spin people) to catch up. Sure enough, individual questions and responses are available from YouTube.

I have been attempting to determine how I would identify all questions submitted for this debate. This body of material (approx. 3000 if I remember the post debate comments from last evening correctly) would be interesting to analyze. For the cynical, it might be interesting to attempt to determine if this really was the “people’s” debate – did those who selected questions simply examine the pool to locate the questions that they thought would make an interesting program. This issue was discussed in the post-debate analysis. It was argued that allowing people to review the material submitted and vote on the questions to be asked would not be acceptable because those most invested (groups associated with candidates) could simply manipulate the online vote. Taking a look at some randomly selected set of questions would make a great student project.

Anyway – I think there is a way to call up the submissions – search for “The CNN/YouTube Democratic Debate” to view a much larger body of content.

We are in Portage, WI, on our way to Chicago for the LiveText conference. LiveText is a digital portfolio system that Cindy helps students and faculty in the Ed College use. I am along for the ride – we decided to take a few days around the convention and call this our summer trip. If you stay off the interstate, the drive along the Mississpi river and through Wisconsin is very nice.

We have started making comparisons between big city and small town hotels. The Best Western we stayed in last night was under $100, had free parking, free Internet, and a free breakfast. The room was easily the equivalent of what we pay $180-210 for in a convention hotel. Last time we were in Chicago, the parking was $29 per night and the Internet access approx. $10 a day.

It is probably Internet access that annoys me the most. I understand the reality of parking costs when space is at a premium, but charging for Internet in a $200 per night room is just wrong.

Blogged with Flock

Apple and I go way back. Still, I wonder what the plan is for K-12 classrooms and I am concerned. The rumor sites (e.g., Mac Rumors) report that the 17 inch iMac is to be discontinued. The present difference between the 17 and 20 inch iMac price is approx. $900 vs. $1300. While machine vs. machine (once software and capabilities are considered), I think Apple is quite competitive, this argument is not valid if there is no machine at the lower price point. With an increasing focus on Web 2.0 apps for many educational experiences, you don’t need $1300 machines even with iLife.

Perhaps I should ignore the rumors and trust Apple to do the right thing. This vail of secrecy thing Apple seems to enjoy is not good for my high blood pressure.

BTW – the iPhone is also not relevant to me because I can’t purchase one to use in North Dakota. Hence, the total focus of the Apple home page on the iPhone is simply annoying.

Now I feel better.