21st
October
2008
Our house is fairly well protected. The paper delivery man knows it well; he only tries to collect his due once every calendar month, because the dog is always watching. We have no fear of flooding, now that the city has designed a complicated series of high water deviation canals in the area. The chance of serious hurricane damage is kept at a distance by a continent. Unfortunately, we are not safe from that menace that lies in wait: the dirty oven.
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posted in food, humour |
20th
October
2008
There. The man who would have probably made a decent federal leader has been voted “off the island”. The boat won’t sail right away, but Mr. Dion has a personal gangplank. It must be noted that political parties may be among the most undemocratic of groups.
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posted in politics |
19th
October
2008
Although my new antenna is still growing in the field down in Mississippi, the rest of my station is taking form. Yesterday I realized that certain cables were missing, so with a good night’s rest, I emptied my mail bag of assorted wires and connectors. Within minutes I had located a wallwart, a proper serial cable and some other odds and ends. Let the setup begin.
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posted in ham radio, technology |
18th
October
2008
Evolving technology is necessary, and without the growth in capacity our Internet experience would be impossible, but some things just leave me feeling nostalgic. This afternoon, while trying to resurrect an older RS-232 device, I decided to make things easy by dropping into a local electronic store and picking up a “modem cable”. Some things just aren’t available (as in for sale) any more.
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posted in ham radio, technology |
17th
October
2008
Even an old teacher can be taught new tricks. This evening, I attended (in the sense of a fly on the wall) a presentation where Powerpoint was actually used in an informative manner. By an educator.
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posted in education |
16th
October
2008
I should be relieved that the barricades are absent, but there’s something about a security checkpoint that sets my nerves on edge. The city is back in the arms of the nation’s finest, as we prepare to welcome the leaders of sixty-nine states and governments. None of which we’ll see, because the public can’t approach the venue.
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posted in politics, travel |
15th
October
2008
I love the learning process; even the simplest question can lead you down into a twisty maze of little passages (or something more along the lines of this famous list:) Read the rest of this entry »
posted in education |
14th
October
2008
- Number of minutes to walk over and back from the local community centre: 21
- Number of people on duty for the election: 19
- Number of people ahead of me in the queue: 11
- Number of names on the local ballot: 6
- Number of family members met along the way (riding a longboard): 1
- Number of times I could vote: 1
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posted in politics |
13th
October
2008
Now that research (for secondary school students) seems to involve mastery of copy/paste from a web page, there are some upset educators in the house. To be fair, in my day Encyclopedia Britannica was used in a similar way; after you’d handcopied several pages of microprint, there was an even chance that learning took place despite your best intentions. Now, the action has become mechanical, and the absorption rate of raw knowledge is much lower (this has not yet been confirmed by independent study OR the editorial staff of EB).
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posted in education |
12th
October
2008
There’s an appeal to a well-run small business. The owner who understands the clientele, chooses the inventory carefully and is able to offer a reasonable price point for the things I need will get my return business. This morning, faced with the annual “close the pool” checklist, I decided to invest in one of those foam thingies that keep the skimmer from collapsing in the arms of an iceberg.
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posted in economy, environment |
