About a month and a half ago, I finished a countdown of my ten favourite children's books. Then I promised I would give you some that are good, but just missed the list. After a long wait, here they are (in no particular order):
Stephanie's Ponytail (Robert Munsch): a great story about individuality - and a really funny ending! Check out the link it has a cute story in it. Also, as a side note, I have a friend (maybe she reads my blog) who was given a copy of this book but someone replaced all the "Stephanie"s with her name.
Curious George Series (Maragaret and H.A. Rey): If you haven't heard of Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat, I suggest you go to the library. If you have heard of them, you know why this is here.
The King's Stilts (Dr. Seuss): Not one of his better known books, but one that was read to me a lot in childhood. Moral of the story: if you're going to work hard, make sure you take some relaxation time (and don't build your city where the only thing holding back the ocean is a bunch of trees that birds like to eat).
Babar Series (Jean de Brunhoff): Originally from France, Babar is an elephant who has wonderful adventures. How can you not like that? Well, though the stories are great, check out the section "Criticism" in the Wikipedia article I linked to above. Apparently Babar is about more than just elephants...
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (Virginia Lee Burton): I only put this here because I remember this book from my childhood. Reading this as an adult, this seems to promote development of the land (without any concern for the animals, environment, etc.). But the story does redeem itself with it's ending (sort of).
That's all I could really think of off the top of my head. Does anyone out there have any other great children's books they want to share? If so please do...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Movie Review: Cube
Ok, so despite having the day completely off and having a lot of things to post about (I watched so many movies this week I'm not sure I could remember them), I didn't get to posting until I needed to get to bed. So unfortunately this is going to be a bit short.
I had never heard of Cube until my sister told me about it and lent me a copy to watch (as with many great things I talk about on here, my sister is once again the source). I was actually pretty excited to watch what some would call a horror movie.
Cube starts with us meeting several people (it ends up that we see 7 in total) who awake to find themselves in cubed rooms of different colours. They find each other and try to find a way out of this cubed prison. There is a small catch though: some of the rooms are booby trapped. Using skills they all have, they work together to try to find a way out.
You can bet that things don't go exactly as planned and some gory things happen. I'll be honest about the gore: it's not that bad. Yes there are some gross things, but there is definitely much worse out there. So if you're looking for gore, look elsewhere.
Where Cube is brilliant is the way in which the characters act. The whole situation is absurd, but they do what they can to try to get out. We are never told why they are in the cube, who made the cube, or anything else. All we know is that they need to get out.
What makes the movie even better is that, not only was it made in Canada, but it was also filmed on a single fourteen by fourteen foot set (with different coloured panels to show the different rooms). Very low budget but very scary nonetheless.
For anyone who wants a psychological thriller I would definitely suggest Cube. I give it a 3.25/4.
I saw some other good movies this week so perhaps I'll find the time to fit in reviews later in the week...
I had never heard of Cube until my sister told me about it and lent me a copy to watch (as with many great things I talk about on here, my sister is once again the source). I was actually pretty excited to watch what some would call a horror movie.
Cube starts with us meeting several people (it ends up that we see 7 in total) who awake to find themselves in cubed rooms of different colours. They find each other and try to find a way out of this cubed prison. There is a small catch though: some of the rooms are booby trapped. Using skills they all have, they work together to try to find a way out.
You can bet that things don't go exactly as planned and some gory things happen. I'll be honest about the gore: it's not that bad. Yes there are some gross things, but there is definitely much worse out there. So if you're looking for gore, look elsewhere.
Where Cube is brilliant is the way in which the characters act. The whole situation is absurd, but they do what they can to try to get out. We are never told why they are in the cube, who made the cube, or anything else. All we know is that they need to get out.
What makes the movie even better is that, not only was it made in Canada, but it was also filmed on a single fourteen by fourteen foot set (with different coloured panels to show the different rooms). Very low budget but very scary nonetheless.
For anyone who wants a psychological thriller I would definitely suggest Cube. I give it a 3.25/4.
I saw some other good movies this week so perhaps I'll find the time to fit in reviews later in the week...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Happy Father's Day
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, uncles and so on and so forth, including my own father!
Some interesting facts about Father's Day:
Some interesting facts about Father's Day:
- The first modern Father's Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1908. If that date and place sound familiar it's because that was also the year and state where Mother's Day originated.
- In Thailand, they celebrate Father's day on the birthday of the King (which is currently December 5th).
- For more information check out Wikipedia.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Learning to Run All Over Again
I know I said I would try to keep this from becoming a "today I had toast with jam" blog, but I thought I might as well add this in and if you don't like it... don't read it (but read all the other interesting stuff I'm writing about.
Yesterday I did what I had in my mind for weeks now: I signed up for a Run Clinic. Yes. I did. This is not a joke. For those of you who know me, you're probably wondering why I would join a clinic after training with a University Program for the last 7 years (ok, two different University programs over that time). Well, it all comes down to having people to run with. Since my recent leaving of University (or more importantly, the ending of my eligibility - though that's a controversy and a half on it's own) I have no one to run with. I also got really out of shape during my practicum and thus had to wipe out my outdoor track season.
So, I decided to focus on the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in October. I probably could have trained for this on my own (even though the longest race I have ever done is less than half of a half marathon), but I thought it would be nice to train with people - even if I am fitter than they are (try not to read any cockyness from this - I could be wrong and not be the fastest in the group). If anyone out there wants to challenge me, I'm in the Half Marathon group at Peninsula Runners in Victoria, B.C. (the leaders are much faster than I am, so that makes me think they know their stuff).
Anyway, I have actually gotten excited about this and thought it would be a good idea to have weekly updates to how the clinic is going (to inspire some of you to do the same thing). I also think I can outdo my fellow UVic runner in his blogging about his training. Since it starts this Wednesday I don't have too much to say yet, but rest assured I will next week.
Yesterday I did what I had in my mind for weeks now: I signed up for a Run Clinic. Yes. I did. This is not a joke. For those of you who know me, you're probably wondering why I would join a clinic after training with a University Program for the last 7 years (ok, two different University programs over that time). Well, it all comes down to having people to run with. Since my recent leaving of University (or more importantly, the ending of my eligibility - though that's a controversy and a half on it's own) I have no one to run with. I also got really out of shape during my practicum and thus had to wipe out my outdoor track season.
So, I decided to focus on the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in October. I probably could have trained for this on my own (even though the longest race I have ever done is less than half of a half marathon), but I thought it would be nice to train with people - even if I am fitter than they are (try not to read any cockyness from this - I could be wrong and not be the fastest in the group). If anyone out there wants to challenge me, I'm in the Half Marathon group at Peninsula Runners in Victoria, B.C. (the leaders are much faster than I am, so that makes me think they know their stuff).
Anyway, I have actually gotten excited about this and thought it would be a good idea to have weekly updates to how the clinic is going (to inspire some of you to do the same thing). I also think I can outdo my fellow UVic runner in his blogging about his training. Since it starts this Wednesday I don't have too much to say yet, but rest assured I will next week.
Countdown of My Favourite Sports Movies: #'s 10, 9 & 8
More than a month ago, I suggested that I would do a top 10 countdown of my favourite sports movies. Keeping in mind there are a few sports "Classics" that I have not seen, here is the first three in the countdown:
10. Any Given Sunday. Why is it that some of the best sports movies are about Football? Any Given Sunday tells the story of a fictional football team. An aging quarterback is hurt in a game and is replaced by the second string quaterback who is also hurt. This sets the stage for the third string quaterback (Jamie Foxx) who fills in more than adequately. The story follows many different members of the team (Al Pacino as the head coach, Cameron Diaz as an owner, James Woods as the team doctor, etc.). Directed by Oliver Stone this football movie is definitely worth a watch if you have the time.
9. Chariots of Fire. It's not often that a sports movie will win Best Picture at the Oscars (the only one I was sure of was Rocky - and I haven't even seen it), so I thought Chariots of Fire should be on the list. Set in 1924, the movie tells the story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, two British Sprinters who ran in the Paris Olympics that same year. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it is a movie that should be seen. This movie has probably the best opening of any movies I've ever seen (and the music lives on forever in my head - especially when we ran through Willow's beach in Victoria as a group on a cloudy Sunday morning).
8. Rudy. Admittedly I have only seen this once, but include it on my list because it is a classic and it has a good message (work hard and your dreams can come true). Starring Sean Astin (funny, I've been compared to two of his characters...) and Charles S. Dutton, this is a great movie to watch if you're in need of some sports inspiration. In it, Rudy (Astin) is always told he is too small to play football. He never stops trying and tries to make the Notre Dame football team as a walk-on. Like Chariots of Fire, this is also based upon a true story (you may notice a trend...)
Check back next week when I'll go through #'s 7, 6 and 5.
10. Any Given Sunday. Why is it that some of the best sports movies are about Football? Any Given Sunday tells the story of a fictional football team. An aging quarterback is hurt in a game and is replaced by the second string quaterback who is also hurt. This sets the stage for the third string quaterback (Jamie Foxx) who fills in more than adequately. The story follows many different members of the team (Al Pacino as the head coach, Cameron Diaz as an owner, James Woods as the team doctor, etc.). Directed by Oliver Stone this football movie is definitely worth a watch if you have the time.
9. Chariots of Fire. It's not often that a sports movie will win Best Picture at the Oscars (the only one I was sure of was Rocky - and I haven't even seen it), so I thought Chariots of Fire should be on the list. Set in 1924, the movie tells the story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, two British Sprinters who ran in the Paris Olympics that same year. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it is a movie that should be seen. This movie has probably the best opening of any movies I've ever seen (and the music lives on forever in my head - especially when we ran through Willow's beach in Victoria as a group on a cloudy Sunday morning).
8. Rudy. Admittedly I have only seen this once, but include it on my list because it is a classic and it has a good message (work hard and your dreams can come true). Starring Sean Astin (funny, I've been compared to two of his characters...) and Charles S. Dutton, this is a great movie to watch if you're in need of some sports inspiration. In it, Rudy (Astin) is always told he is too small to play football. He never stops trying and tries to make the Notre Dame football team as a walk-on. Like Chariots of Fire, this is also based upon a true story (you may notice a trend...)
Check back next week when I'll go through #'s 7, 6 and 5.
Photo Feature: Blue Jay Fans
Proof that I've been a Blue Jays fan for a long time. Me and my cousins in our Blue Jay uniforms sometime back when they were actually good. Taken by Sharon Davidson.If you have any photos you think are good, send them in to pieceofdust@gmail.com and they will get posted in this space.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Recipe Contest Announcement
Today has been a very frustrating day between my computer and myself... let's just say there is no easy (or quick) way to make 30 copies of a dvd I made for my students (especially since it took forever to get one good copy). Anyway, I finally got things sorted out and I want to get to my planned post. I've wanted to do this every Friday for months now, but I have always been up against a deadline. But today is different: I planned it out last night!
For my latest contest (I need to get interest in this blog up), I'm asking for your submissions of recipes. To make things clear, I have made some guidelines and criteria for judgement.
Criteria to win this contest:
Each recipe will be given a score (probably an average of the above 7 criteria - evenly weighted and out of 10 each). The winner will receive a Season One DVD of The Next Great Chef (I'm too sick of technology today to get a camera out and take a picture of it - perhaps in an update for this contest).
Entries are due no later than Thursday July 5th, 2007 at 11:59pm Pacific Time (that's a Thursday night and gives you three weeks). All entries are to be emailed to pieceofdust@gmail.com. Each individual may submit only one entry and must include their mailing address with their entry for it to be valid.
If you have any questions regarding rules or anything else, please post them as a comment so that everyone can see them and I will respond to everyone (so that it's fair).
Happy cooking!
For my latest contest (I need to get interest in this blog up), I'm asking for your submissions of recipes. To make things clear, I have made some guidelines and criteria for judgement.
Criteria to win this contest:
- Ingredients must be widely available. If it's not in my regularly used grocery store you will be penalized - and moreso if I can't find it in a few others.
- Cost should be as minimal as possible. It shouldn't cost me $30 for one serving. I'll rank them from most expensive to least expensive (barring no sales - I'll do the math. Math makes me happy).
- The dish should be easy to make. I will actually be making these and ranking them based on how easy they were to make (which also means your instructions should be clear).
- The dish should be creative. That means no ripping it off from the internet (though I admit it will be hard to catch). If you give me a recipe to make hot dogs or rice crispie squares I will be a bit suspect of your efforts - though why anyone would submit that as their recipe is beyond me.
- The dish shouldn't be too simple or too complex. Basically I'm talking about the number of ingredients here. It shouldn't be one thing (I'd say 5 is probably the minimum) and it shouldn't be 30 ingredients. Use your common sense when judging this. I'm more concerned about things being too simple than too complex (see above points about complex dishes though).
- Is the dish tasty? I'll be sharing my cooking with others so I won't be the only judge on this matter.
- Is the dish healthy? Lots of sugar (or other chemicals) is probably not a good idea. Natural foods are best (though I will accept pastes, sauces, etc. - don't go overboard with stuff like that though).
- The dish can be anything you want it to be (though don't think that you can bribe me with desserts).
- Please use measurements that I can understand. Cups/tablespoons/etc. or L, mL, etc. (including both would make my life easier).
Each recipe will be given a score (probably an average of the above 7 criteria - evenly weighted and out of 10 each). The winner will receive a Season One DVD of The Next Great Chef (I'm too sick of technology today to get a camera out and take a picture of it - perhaps in an update for this contest).
Entries are due no later than Thursday July 5th, 2007 at 11:59pm Pacific Time (that's a Thursday night and gives you three weeks). All entries are to be emailed to pieceofdust@gmail.com. Each individual may submit only one entry and must include their mailing address with their entry for it to be valid.
If you have any questions regarding rules or anything else, please post them as a comment so that everyone can see them and I will respond to everyone (so that it's fair).
Happy cooking!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Pimping Your Firefox Part VIII: Weather in Your Browser
It's been a while since I talked about all the great things you can do with Firefox. For a quick reminder, you'll need Firefox to use these great things (and you can read all my previous Firefox talk here).
Follow this link to download Firefox.
Today I am going to talk about two Firefox add-ons that are weather related.
The first is Forecast Fox. This extension gives you the current weather as well as a few days (mine gives me 3 days) in advance. All you do is open your browser and it's there. The extension even updates itself. So for those of you who are too lazy to bookmark your local Weather Network forecast page (or if you're from Victoria, this awesome page - maybe more on that another day) you don't have to. A couple of caveats though. I would tend to think that the other two pages would be much more reliable (though as you can see on the Victoria Weather page, within a city there can be huge variations - so a home thermometer would be best). The second is that the other pages are way more detailed. I use Forecast Fox, but only as a guide.
A second extension (which is more cool than useful) is Sun Cult. This extension will give you sunrise, sunset, moon rise, moon set information for your city and day (as well as some more information). This could be useful if you need to know how light it will be out (the end of twilight is one of those extras you get). Anyway, I think it's cool and it goes well with Forecast Fox so I threw it in there.
Hope you're all enjoying Firefox. If you haven't at least tried it yet, I suggest you go here and download it for free (as it always is) and try it out!
Follow this link to download Firefox.
Today I am going to talk about two Firefox add-ons that are weather related.
The first is Forecast Fox. This extension gives you the current weather as well as a few days (mine gives me 3 days) in advance. All you do is open your browser and it's there. The extension even updates itself. So for those of you who are too lazy to bookmark your local Weather Network forecast page (or if you're from Victoria, this awesome page - maybe more on that another day) you don't have to. A couple of caveats though. I would tend to think that the other two pages would be much more reliable (though as you can see on the Victoria Weather page, within a city there can be huge variations - so a home thermometer would be best). The second is that the other pages are way more detailed. I use Forecast Fox, but only as a guide.
A second extension (which is more cool than useful) is Sun Cult. This extension will give you sunrise, sunset, moon rise, moon set information for your city and day (as well as some more information). This could be useful if you need to know how light it will be out (the end of twilight is one of those extras you get). Anyway, I think it's cool and it goes well with Forecast Fox so I threw it in there.
Hope you're all enjoying Firefox. If you haven't at least tried it yet, I suggest you go here and download it for free (as it always is) and try it out!
Bus Story: The Lively Man
For those of you who have seen Cocoon this story sounds like something right out of the movie. Here's what happened:
Last night I was taking the bus home late in the evening (about 9:45 or so). There was an elderly gentleman on my bus who was standing up at the front of the bus (there were seats he could sit in, but he seemed to enjoy standing there). At first I thought he was talking to the bus driver (to be honest I had music in my ears) but then he started to get a bit active. He walked from side to side.
Soon he was holding himself up on the bars that run the length of the bus. Soon he started doing chin-ups (at least what I thought were chin-ups, he didn't really pull his chin over the bar - but considering there is not much room above the bar and his age, I was pretty impressed). I looked around and didn't really see anyone paying attention to him (at this point what he was doing wasn't that obvious).
So I started thinking that maybe he's got a bit of energy and was excited about something. But it didn't stop at the chin-ups. He eventually started holding on to the bar and then bringing his feet up as high as he could. At first it wasn't high, but eventually it got to about the height of the bar. Again, I looked around (with a noticeable grin on my face) and saw a few people pay attention (though many were obviously making an effort to ignore it - an interesting bit of social interactions - makes me think of some interesting social experiments I could do...).
It wasn't until he started swinging back and forth (with each arm on different bars) that I realized I had my cell phone - which has a camera - on me. I took it out to try to get a picture (which drew at least one grin from a fellow passenger), but he got off as soon as I got it picture ready.
So that's my story. To make things even weirer, the guy kind of resembled Don Ameche in Cocoon (in actions and in appearance).
I think I could start a blog writing about my bus experiences (I think I should post my poem about buses that I wrote as an example for my class.... perhaps another day).
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed seeing it. Isn't life full of wonderful things?
Last night I was taking the bus home late in the evening (about 9:45 or so). There was an elderly gentleman on my bus who was standing up at the front of the bus (there were seats he could sit in, but he seemed to enjoy standing there). At first I thought he was talking to the bus driver (to be honest I had music in my ears) but then he started to get a bit active. He walked from side to side.
Soon he was holding himself up on the bars that run the length of the bus. Soon he started doing chin-ups (at least what I thought were chin-ups, he didn't really pull his chin over the bar - but considering there is not much room above the bar and his age, I was pretty impressed). I looked around and didn't really see anyone paying attention to him (at this point what he was doing wasn't that obvious).
So I started thinking that maybe he's got a bit of energy and was excited about something. But it didn't stop at the chin-ups. He eventually started holding on to the bar and then bringing his feet up as high as he could. At first it wasn't high, but eventually it got to about the height of the bar. Again, I looked around (with a noticeable grin on my face) and saw a few people pay attention (though many were obviously making an effort to ignore it - an interesting bit of social interactions - makes me think of some interesting social experiments I could do...).
It wasn't until he started swinging back and forth (with each arm on different bars) that I realized I had my cell phone - which has a camera - on me. I took it out to try to get a picture (which drew at least one grin from a fellow passenger), but he got off as soon as I got it picture ready.
So that's my story. To make things even weirer, the guy kind of resembled Don Ameche in Cocoon (in actions and in appearance).
I think I could start a blog writing about my bus experiences (I think I should post my poem about buses that I wrote as an example for my class.... perhaps another day).
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed seeing it. Isn't life full of wonderful things?
The Facebook Phenomenon
So unless you've been hiding under a rock lately, you've likely heard of Facebook, the internet social networking site. Originally started at Harvard for it's students, the creator of Facebook - Mark Zuckerburg - eventually opened Facebook to everyone. The site has been going through a rather lengthy and rapid evolution. To read more about what Facebook was and where it came from, check out Wikipedia.
Facebook has become huge, almost overnight (I first heard about it in December 2006) and is frequently making news headlines here, here and here. Seemingly almost everyone I know is on Facebook and those who aren't are only holding out for personal reasons (these are the same people that didn't get MSN Messenger or ICQ when they were "all the rage" - but Facebook is so much more).
I want to talk about what Facebook is right now and why it can be a useful - if used properly - tool. For starters, my big appeal for Facebook is to keep in touch with friends I don't normally see. I was actually enticed to join it to stay in touch with my fellow classmates while we started our final practicums in January. We even created a group for our graduating year and as of today we have more than two thirds of the grads in the group. As teachers, having a social network like this could be extremely useful.
A second useful thing about Facebook is it's ability to have public or private message boards for groups, and for sharing pictures, planning events.
Some used Facebook for "internet stalking" and for posting pictures of themselves drinking to excess. Let me address both of these one at a time. Stalking isn't that cool, but if you don't want the general public to see pictures of you, then don't make them public. The posting of drunken - or otherwise unflattering - pictures to Facebook is not quite the smartest move. There have been many stories of companies checking out prospective employees on Facebook. I know I have checked potential roommates on there and that some parents of students I have in class are on Facebook. But before this turns you off of Facebook, you can easily change your privacy settings so that your pictures are only viewable to people you confirm as your friends (and the privacy settings can go beyond that - but that will be a future post!).
Lately I have noticed many adults joining Facebook (including one of my mentor teachers - and yes I did add her as a friend) and many people are finding those long lost friends from Highschool (and those people you just didn't want to see again - you gotta deal with the good and bad unfortunately).
Every day things seem to be changing on Facebook. As one of the articles I linked to above mentions, there have been many applications added to Facebook in recent weeks. Some of these are small, but interesting and have helped out several other businesses in the process.
What seems to be happening is that Facebook is playing a big role in making those distances between people much smaller. We can now share our lives with people far away with very little effort. Can this be a bad thing? I suggest those non-Facebook users out there at least give it a look over.
Many issues come up with internet applications like this one and I feel like I ought to explore them in depth in future posts. Please comment on any questions you have about Facebook to help me direct what I'll talk about in the coming weeks.
Facebook has become huge, almost overnight (I first heard about it in December 2006) and is frequently making news headlines here, here and here. Seemingly almost everyone I know is on Facebook and those who aren't are only holding out for personal reasons (these are the same people that didn't get MSN Messenger or ICQ when they were "all the rage" - but Facebook is so much more).
I want to talk about what Facebook is right now and why it can be a useful - if used properly - tool. For starters, my big appeal for Facebook is to keep in touch with friends I don't normally see. I was actually enticed to join it to stay in touch with my fellow classmates while we started our final practicums in January. We even created a group for our graduating year and as of today we have more than two thirds of the grads in the group. As teachers, having a social network like this could be extremely useful.
A second useful thing about Facebook is it's ability to have public or private message boards for groups, and for sharing pictures, planning events.
Some used Facebook for "internet stalking" and for posting pictures of themselves drinking to excess. Let me address both of these one at a time. Stalking isn't that cool, but if you don't want the general public to see pictures of you, then don't make them public. The posting of drunken - or otherwise unflattering - pictures to Facebook is not quite the smartest move. There have been many stories of companies checking out prospective employees on Facebook. I know I have checked potential roommates on there and that some parents of students I have in class are on Facebook. But before this turns you off of Facebook, you can easily change your privacy settings so that your pictures are only viewable to people you confirm as your friends (and the privacy settings can go beyond that - but that will be a future post!).
Lately I have noticed many adults joining Facebook (including one of my mentor teachers - and yes I did add her as a friend) and many people are finding those long lost friends from Highschool (and those people you just didn't want to see again - you gotta deal with the good and bad unfortunately).
Every day things seem to be changing on Facebook. As one of the articles I linked to above mentions, there have been many applications added to Facebook in recent weeks. Some of these are small, but interesting and have helped out several other businesses in the process.
What seems to be happening is that Facebook is playing a big role in making those distances between people much smaller. We can now share our lives with people far away with very little effort. Can this be a bad thing? I suggest those non-Facebook users out there at least give it a look over.
Many issues come up with internet applications like this one and I feel like I ought to explore them in depth in future posts. Please comment on any questions you have about Facebook to help me direct what I'll talk about in the coming weeks.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Photo Feature: Hamilton Sunset
Sunset over Hamilton Harbour. Taken by Sharon Davidson.
If you have any pictures you think are good send them to pieceofdust@gmail.com and I will post them.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Problem of the Day Part X
It's been a while since I asked any questions. Before I give out new questions I have to give some answers to the last two problems.
Part VII
1. A notable doctor had no table and was therefore, not able to operate
2. My lighter is lighter than my wallet.
Carly G. got both for 9 points.
Part IX
I'll be honest, these were vague and pretty hard. You kind of had to know the answers as it would have been hard to figure them out.
1. Elijah Wood was first seen on the screen in Back to the Future II (playing a video game in the future) and later appeared in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
2. Tim Robbins appeared in Top Gun after Goose (Anthony Edwards of ER) dies in an accident. He replaced Goose as Maverick's (Tom Cruise) flying navigator.
No one even attempted these. Guess they were too obscure.
There has been a lead change in the points race. It's not too late for anyone else to jump in the fray...
I'm going back to patterns this week. I'm hoping they are more difficult than the first ones I gave. Each one will be one point for each blank that I have and one point for the way you found it out:
1) 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, ___,___
2) 77, 49, 36, 18, ___
3) 3, 3, 1, 2, 4, 3, ___, ___
That's 8 points in total up for grabs. Email pieceofdust@gmail.com with your answers.
Part VII
1. A notable doctor had no table and was therefore, not able to operate
2. My lighter is lighter than my wallet.
Carly G. got both for 9 points.
Part IX
I'll be honest, these were vague and pretty hard. You kind of had to know the answers as it would have been hard to figure them out.
1. Elijah Wood was first seen on the screen in Back to the Future II (playing a video game in the future) and later appeared in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
2. Tim Robbins appeared in Top Gun after Goose (Anthony Edwards of ER) dies in an accident. He replaced Goose as Maverick's (Tom Cruise) flying navigator.
No one even attempted these. Guess they were too obscure.
There has been a lead change in the points race. It's not too late for anyone else to jump in the fray...
I'm going back to patterns this week. I'm hoping they are more difficult than the first ones I gave. Each one will be one point for each blank that I have and one point for the way you found it out:
1) 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, ___,___
2) 77, 49, 36, 18, ___
3) 3, 3, 1, 2, 4, 3, ___, ___
That's 8 points in total up for grabs. Email pieceofdust@gmail.com with your answers.
A School Without Deadlines...?
As I said in my previous post, I wanted to talk about two articles I saw in the Globe and Mail this past weekend. The second article concerns deadlines - or rather a lack of them - in schools these days. Basically, the idea is that students can no longer be penalized for handing in assignments late - if they turn them in at all.
This is a tough issue to tackle. On one hand, students need to be held accountable for their learning. Though I am unaware of a similar rule in B.C., I've been in many classrooms here where it feels like pulling teeth to get assignments in from students (though admittedly, that could be due to my relative inexperience). I find it hard to justify passing a student who hands in a quarter of the work they are supposed to do. What values are we teaching children by allowing them to "do what they can?"
That being said, since we do push students faster than their abilities, it is much harder for some students to do all the work in the given time. Should we be asking students to do more than they are able to do? What about home situations? Some students have help at home, while others have other things on their minds at home (and I don't mean XBOX).
Like the last post, it seems like the system does not offer any satisfying solution to this situation. We can either teach children about deadlines (the fact that we have deadlines in the first place could be debated - why does a paper about World War II (or whatever topic you choose) have to be finished by Friday? The war is not going anywhere), or we can frustrate many of them by giving them too much.
I find it interesting that the article briefly mentions rubrics, and in a way, dismisses them. Without getting into a big debate about marks and the difference between a 79 and an 80% I will say that I think that rubrics are fairer to students and a better measure of their progress.
So in closing, I have a lot more issues to look into in the future, including: Marks, Deadlines, and the segregation of students in Gifted programs (or otherwise).
I hope this didn't confuse you too much. I think the purpose of me writing this is to expose the issues facing our schools today (of which I saw many the last few months).
This is a tough issue to tackle. On one hand, students need to be held accountable for their learning. Though I am unaware of a similar rule in B.C., I've been in many classrooms here where it feels like pulling teeth to get assignments in from students (though admittedly, that could be due to my relative inexperience). I find it hard to justify passing a student who hands in a quarter of the work they are supposed to do. What values are we teaching children by allowing them to "do what they can?"
That being said, since we do push students faster than their abilities, it is much harder for some students to do all the work in the given time. Should we be asking students to do more than they are able to do? What about home situations? Some students have help at home, while others have other things on their minds at home (and I don't mean XBOX).
Like the last post, it seems like the system does not offer any satisfying solution to this situation. We can either teach children about deadlines (the fact that we have deadlines in the first place could be debated - why does a paper about World War II (or whatever topic you choose) have to be finished by Friday? The war is not going anywhere), or we can frustrate many of them by giving them too much.
I find it interesting that the article briefly mentions rubrics, and in a way, dismisses them. Without getting into a big debate about marks and the difference between a 79 and an 80% I will say that I think that rubrics are fairer to students and a better measure of their progress.
So in closing, I have a lot more issues to look into in the future, including: Marks, Deadlines, and the segregation of students in Gifted programs (or otherwise).
I hope this didn't confuse you too much. I think the purpose of me writing this is to expose the issues facing our schools today (of which I saw many the last few months).
To Fail or Not To Fail
This past weekend, the Globe and Mail published two articles about teaching and I thought I would try to devote a post to each of them. The first article concerns failing students. The article, by Jill Mahoney, goes through many reasons for not failing students, but does provide some of the arguments for failing students.
Let me first explain that in my last few classroom experiences this has been an issue with which I have fought with sleepless nights. I'll out line the arguments for both sides (both of which I agree with) and then I'll offer up my suggestions for a better way.
Arguments for Failing Students:
Well, it's clear that in the current system, there are great reasons to both fail and to not fail students. Personally I think the system is broken. We are the ones that have placed this stigma on failing by not failing students (I realize that I put way more effort into one of my practicums - that I failed - while many of my students didn't lift a finger in class and were guaranteed to go on to the next grade), and to solve this problem and satisfy all parties we could use a major overhaul of our educations system.
I propose grouping students by abilities and not by age. Students must meet certain standards and criteria to move on to the next grade. I need to explain a few things with this. Does this mean standardized testing? Yes and no. It means a set of standards. There are certain outcomes that students need to demonstrate. They ought to actually have to demonstrate them all before they can move on to the next set. I don't think these should be kept secret from students. They should know what is expected and how to meet each expectation. The second thing I want to make clear is that there should not be this big high stakes failure. If you fail a grade in this system you lose a whole year. In my proposal you could move up and down grades whenever you completed the outcomes for a grade. Students would work with a teacher that helps them meet those expectations and gives them the support they need. In theory everyone in each class would be at the same ability level (more on this below) so students would be able to work on the same thing at the same time.
To make sure students had interaction with their peer group, they would also have a few periods a week (probably at least one a day) where they are with their peer group. I honestly think having students work with students of other ages is more beneficial than having students work with the same group year after year. But what do I know?
One last thought I have for my solution is this: what if a student does really well in Math and poorly in Language Arts? Well, in theory, the school could be set up so that students could go to different classes for each subject depending on their level (though I think this could be difficult if the gap between subjects was very large - as reading is important to EVERYTHING!). I'm sure my system is not perfect and could use some adjustments, but the current system is not exactly perfect.
Thanks for reading all of that.... what do you think???
Let me first explain that in my last few classroom experiences this has been an issue with which I have fought with sleepless nights. I'll out line the arguments for both sides (both of which I agree with) and then I'll offer up my suggestions for a better way.
Arguments for Failing Students:
- If passing is automatic, then why should students try? If a student doesn't feel like working, failing is one thing that can be hung over students heads. It can be a motivating factor.
- Failure happens in real life. Students may as well get used to it at an early age. If we give them things without an effort, they will expect it later in life.
- Eventually, at some level of school (High School) students will need to do work to pass, and they will need skills to pass. If they didn't learn how to add or multiply in elementary school, then who will teach them in highschool? Teachers are expected to be accountable, but I have seen many grade 5 classes where MANY students (not just some) are functioning at grade 3 and 4 levels (and some at grade 1 and 2 levels). These students must be taught these grade 3 and 4 things before they can move on to grade 5 things. (I concede this could also be a problem with curriculum - but more on that one later).
- If you promote students based on age (and not ability), you end up with a wide range of abilities in a classroom, which makes it much more difficult to teach. Sure it makes a teacher's job easier (and I might sound like I want it easier with this, but that is only a secondary benefit) but it also allows teachers to do more for ALL students.
- Self Esteem. I'll accept this argument as long as it applies to the current system. Imagine you are the only one in your whole school who gets held back. Not so fun. Under the current system failing a student can be disastrous.
- Peer Groups. Students apparently need to be with their peers to develop properly. I can accept this argument in the current system where the failed student would be the only one who is older.
Well, it's clear that in the current system, there are great reasons to both fail and to not fail students. Personally I think the system is broken. We are the ones that have placed this stigma on failing by not failing students (I realize that I put way more effort into one of my practicums - that I failed - while many of my students didn't lift a finger in class and were guaranteed to go on to the next grade), and to solve this problem and satisfy all parties we could use a major overhaul of our educations system.
I propose grouping students by abilities and not by age. Students must meet certain standards and criteria to move on to the next grade. I need to explain a few things with this. Does this mean standardized testing? Yes and no. It means a set of standards. There are certain outcomes that students need to demonstrate. They ought to actually have to demonstrate them all before they can move on to the next set. I don't think these should be kept secret from students. They should know what is expected and how to meet each expectation. The second thing I want to make clear is that there should not be this big high stakes failure. If you fail a grade in this system you lose a whole year. In my proposal you could move up and down grades whenever you completed the outcomes for a grade. Students would work with a teacher that helps them meet those expectations and gives them the support they need. In theory everyone in each class would be at the same ability level (more on this below) so students would be able to work on the same thing at the same time.
To make sure students had interaction with their peer group, they would also have a few periods a week (probably at least one a day) where they are with their peer group. I honestly think having students work with students of other ages is more beneficial than having students work with the same group year after year. But what do I know?
One last thought I have for my solution is this: what if a student does really well in Math and poorly in Language Arts? Well, in theory, the school could be set up so that students could go to different classes for each subject depending on their level (though I think this could be difficult if the gap between subjects was very large - as reading is important to EVERYTHING!). I'm sure my system is not perfect and could use some adjustments, but the current system is not exactly perfect.
Thanks for reading all of that.... what do you think???
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Movie Review: Jarhead
I never really had that much desire to see Jarhead, but I thought I should (for some reason I thought it was a good movie). To be fair, I don't think it is a bad movie. I have heard that it portrays a realistic view of the gulf war (but then again, I could be mistaken).Jarhead follows Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) through boot camp, time in the Saudi Arabian desert and fighting (briefly) in Kuwait during the (first) Gulf War. Also included in the cast are Jamie Foxx and Peter Sarsgaard. The movie doesn't appear to have any purpose other than to show the almost pointlessness of the war - but even that comes more from me wanting to find that in the movie than it actually being there. Sure there are the comments about only being there to protect the oil fields, and about not taking pills to act against the potential chemical attacks, but I think those are more a documentation of what happened as opposed to a statement about it.
Some scenes are fairly brutal, but I didn't find anything to be too graphic (but keep in mind my generation has been completely desensitized to violence). I found the psychological issues to be scarier than the threat of physical danger in this movie.
There's not much else to say about this movie. I would certainly suggest it to get a glimpse of what the war was like (though I would much rather see Black Hawk Down for that same purpose - maybe I'll watch/review that some day). I give Jarhead a 3/4. It's not a great movie, but it is something that I would recommend to most people - though some may find the actions of the characters immature (albeit realistic). Check it out if you can...
On another note, I am going to try to get another streak of blog posts going so it's not just every once in a while. Look for some stuff about teaching and (FINALLY!) an updated problem of the day...
Movie Review: Paycheck
I find it fitting that my last post was about a Philip K. Dick novel and this next post (after a one week layoff) is about a movie based on a Philip K. Dick story.Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, tells the story of a reverse engineer (Affleck) who has his memory erased after each big job. We first see him copying a monitor that projects out towards the viewer. He is quickly offered a very big job for a very big sum of money ($92 million). When his memory is erased three years later he is told he forfeited his payment and he is given a new set of personal belongings. It is through these items that he tries to figure out what went on.
Compared to other Dick stories turned movies (granted I have only seen a few) this one has the same feel (I felt like I was watching Totall Recall at points) of a person who is unsure of what the truth is. Unfortunately we are given information as to what is really going on and who is behind everything. This lack of suspense truly hurts the movie and degrades the quality of the film. The acting is not that great either, but what can you expect with Ben Affleck? The movie also features Aaron Eckhart and Paul Giamatti.
The one thing that stands out is the premise. This movies shows the world as we know it but with a few minor adjustments here and there (the memory wiping for one and the computer monitors for another). It is fully believable (well, some of the science is questionable, but keep in mind that Dick died before I was even born - 1982 for those of you who don't know me well) and the human reactions are what are most interesting.
If you're a Sci-Fi fan (or just a fan of Philip K. Dick), then I would definitely recommend this movie. If you hate Sci-Fi and action chases then I would not recommend watching this movie - you're not missing anything important. I give this movie a 2.75/4: good for fans, but nothing special.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Book Review: Time Out of Joint
So I bet many of you are wondering what this book is. It's not exactly a well known book. The author, Philip K. Dick, may not be that well known to all of you either. Well, not exactly. Philip K. Dick is the author behind such movies as Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report and Screamers. He has written some great Science Fiction books (it was actually the release of another movie based on his books - one point in the problem of the day for anyone who emails me the name of that movie - that got me interested in him again) and I've read a few of them.
Time Out of Joint follows the story of Ragle Gumm. He lives an ordinary life in 1959 (the year the book was written). He is a longstanding winner of a newspaper contest and lives with his sister, his brother-in-law and his nephew. But something's not quite right. The book traces Gumm as he tries to figure out what exactly is going on.
So how good is the story? Well, I thought it was well written and kept me wanting to come back for more. Dick doesn't focus on big details. He writes as if from the perspective of the regular people and explains things in ways that makes sense to them. About halfway through the book we start to get clues as to what is going on (I won't give it away in this review, so don't worry).
These clues give us just enough information to keep us wanting more.
As far as being a Science Fiction book this one is great (though keep in mind, I'm not talking Star Wars or Star Trek Sci-Fi, but real Sci-Fi, like Dark City). I give this book a 3.5/4. There are some things that could change, but is a believable story and tells the tale of a chilling situation. If you like Sci-Fi books, I definitely recommend this (and other Dick stories, which will no doubt be reviewed in the future in this place).
Time Out of Joint follows the story of Ragle Gumm. He lives an ordinary life in 1959 (the year the book was written). He is a longstanding winner of a newspaper contest and lives with his sister, his brother-in-law and his nephew. But something's not quite right. The book traces Gumm as he tries to figure out what exactly is going on.
So how good is the story? Well, I thought it was well written and kept me wanting to come back for more. Dick doesn't focus on big details. He writes as if from the perspective of the regular people and explains things in ways that makes sense to them. About halfway through the book we start to get clues as to what is going on (I won't give it away in this review, so don't worry).
These clues give us just enough information to keep us wanting more.
As far as being a Science Fiction book this one is great (though keep in mind, I'm not talking Star Wars or Star Trek Sci-Fi, but real Sci-Fi, like Dark City). I give this book a 3.5/4. There are some things that could change, but is a believable story and tells the tale of a chilling situation. If you like Sci-Fi books, I definitely recommend this (and other Dick stories, which will no doubt be reviewed in the future in this place).
Movie Review: Idiocracy
For starters let me apologize for my long layoff. I have been very busy lately and I'm trying to get things settled in my life. I figured now was a good time to get back into things. I may or may not have a book review to follow this movie review (we'll see how I feel).My sister gave me Idiocracy recently and I only had a vague recollection of what it might be about. I read up on it in IMDb and was interested so I popped it in the DVD player last night.
The premise is simple: Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) is frozen as part of an army experiment. Unfortunately the experiment does not go as planned and Bauers wakes up 500 years in the future. Apparently, due to stupid people breeding more than smart people, the average IQ has dropped quite a bit and everyone is stupid. The movie follows Bauers as he tries to get back home and solve the world's problems all at the same time.
Though not the best made movie, the premise is quite interesting and there are many hilarious moments throughout the movie. I wonder though, if the silliness and stupidity of the movie is on purpose. It has been surmised (on IMDb message boards - though I have to say I agree with the line of thinking) that perhaps the movie is a reflection of our current society in which big jocks and rock stars are more valued than intellectuals.
Directed and written by Mike Judge (Office Space), this is one of those movies that I would recommend. My high standards won't allow me to give this anything higher than a 3/4. I struggled with this rating as all the attributes of the movie that drag it down appear to be done on purpose - for example, the stupidity of the characters, and even the ending).
At the very minimum this movie is worth a few laughs and at under 80mins (the credits started rolling at about 78mins on my dvd player) it's not too big a time waster (like King Kong for instance).
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