If you use Blogger, you may sometimes want to backup or move your blog data outside of Blogger. To do this, you'd normally log into your Blogger blog, go to the Settings tab, click on Export blog at the top of the page, then click the big orange Download Blog button.
But unless you also have allowed your blog feeds to "full", you'd only download a short portion of each of your blog entires (not so great for backups!).
To enable the "full" blog feed, again go to the Settings tab, then click on the Site Feed sub-tab, and then select Full in the drop-down menu next to the Allow Blog Feeds setting.
2011-05-09
Reasons to learn math you'll never use
The film, "An Education", is about the experience of a teenaged girl (Jenny) growing up, meeting an older man, and making decisions regarding pursuing school versus marriage. There is a passage near the end of the film that rather haunts me, especially the very last line (in bold below):
Some think education is for opening the mind of young people to the light of reason. Some believe education is essentially career and job skills training. Some think it is to "raise the kids" in the parenting sense, as though teachers are parents. Many think it's more or less pointless, but essential as a child caring service while the children's parents are out making a living. Some don't think about the question altogether, opting to do whatever the teachers say, as education is just traditionally "the thing to do".
The list of purposes ascribed to education by various people goes on...
It strikes me that much of the frustration at all levels of education comes down to people having varying beliefs that are often contradictory, sometimes confused, and at other times missing altogether, about the purpose of education (and by that, I mean formal education in the school setting).Jenny: Studying is hard and boring. Teaching is hard and boring. So, what you're telling me is to be bored, and then bored, and finally bored again, but this time for the rest of my life? This whole stupid country is bored! There's no life in it, or color, or fun! It's probably just as well the Russians are going to drop a nuclear bomb on us any day now. So my choice is to do something hard and boring, or to marry my... Jew, and go to Paris and Rome and listen to jazz, and read, and eat good food in nice restaurants, and have fun! It's not enough to educate us anymore Ms. Walters. You've got to tell us why you're doing it.
An Education
Some think education is for opening the mind of young people to the light of reason. Some believe education is essentially career and job skills training. Some think it is to "raise the kids" in the parenting sense, as though teachers are parents. Many think it's more or less pointless, but essential as a child caring service while the children's parents are out making a living. Some don't think about the question altogether, opting to do whatever the teachers say, as education is just traditionally "the thing to do".
The list of purposes ascribed to education by various people goes on...
2011-05-08
Things to remember as a professional
Communication, communication, communication!
Feedback, feedback, feedback!
Energy, energy, energy!
Feedback, feedback, feedback!
Energy, energy, energy!
2011-04-19
As an educator, "I want to work. I want to build something"
If you're following the news (see below*) of the education funding situation in Alberta, Canada, and especially of the news coming out of Calgary, you'll find a lot of very confusing and seemingly unreasonable things are going on. Due to the way the union negotiated contracts work, and the relatively reduced size of the budget, a lot of new or young teachers — and even some younger but experienced teachers — may find themselves without a job come September.
It should be noted that those contracts were negotiated and agreed upon by Alberta's Conservative government, and now the size of the budget is also controlled by the very same Conservative government! Is it not fair to say that the entire situation with the teacher layoffs has been engineered at the hands of the Conservative government? I wonder if they might, in one or two years, ratchet up the education funding just in time for the provincial elections that will likely occur in 2012.
In any case, the situation reminds me of a scene from Mad Men, when Don Draper says, "Who the hell is in charge? A bunch of accountants trying to make a dollar into a dollar ten? I want to work. I want to build something of my own. How do you not understand that?":
(or hear it here)
It will be a real shame if a lot of young teachers will be denied the opportunity to contribute to the building of a better and more educated citizenry, because the government wants to shave a penny's worth off each dollar**.
* Calgary’s public school board could cut 324 staff
Hundreds more teaching jobs to be cut by CBE
Provincial education funding falls short
A lesson in pettiness?: Province gives to education with one hand and takes away with the other
Rural students getting hosed
** The imagery evoked is what I want to convey; I don't know if the cuts to education will amount to more, equal, or less than 1% of the whole provincial budget.
It should be noted that those contracts were negotiated and agreed upon by Alberta's Conservative government, and now the size of the budget is also controlled by the very same Conservative government! Is it not fair to say that the entire situation with the teacher layoffs has been engineered at the hands of the Conservative government? I wonder if they might, in one or two years, ratchet up the education funding just in time for the provincial elections that will likely occur in 2012.
In any case, the situation reminds me of a scene from Mad Men, when Don Draper says, "Who the hell is in charge? A bunch of accountants trying to make a dollar into a dollar ten? I want to work. I want to build something of my own. How do you not understand that?":
(or hear it here)
It will be a real shame if a lot of young teachers will be denied the opportunity to contribute to the building of a better and more educated citizenry, because the government wants to shave a penny's worth off each dollar**.
* Calgary’s public school board could cut 324 staff
Hundreds more teaching jobs to be cut by CBE
Provincial education funding falls short
A lesson in pettiness?: Province gives to education with one hand and takes away with the other
Rural students getting hosed
** The imagery evoked is what I want to convey; I don't know if the cuts to education will amount to more, equal, or less than 1% of the whole provincial budget.
2011-04-09
Few notes on ergonomic keyboards and mouse
I'm typing away at a lot of software programming and thesis writing, so having a good keyboard is a must. Here's two suggestions, both of which I've personally tried and has worked well for me. I wrote down a few notes for you to ponder.
Currently, I use a Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000. It's an ergonomic keyboard with a soft curve laterally, and no vertical curve (it lays flat). It's a wicked keyboard if your shoulder width is not so wide, because it has only that slight curve, rather than the dramatic curve of other ergonomic keyboards. It also has a light but distinctive touch, so it's easy to press the key down, but not so easy that you would accidentally "smoosh" a key down by accident. The key's travel — how far it travels from the start of pressing a key to bottoming out — is also quite short, so there's less finger motion required to type.
If the Comfort Curve 2000 doesn't fit your body type, you might want to try the Microsoft Natural Ergonomics Keyboard 4000
. I've used that one before, and it's pretty good, but only if your shoulder width is wider than, well, mine is. Unfortunately, it's keys have a longer travel length, and its spacebar is a tad heavy to press down due to its design. If you're not used to the keyboard, your fingers may become tired and sore the first few times of prolonged usage, but at least for me, I get used to it soon after. I've used that for years before switching to the Comfort Curve 2000 model, and it was a good experience.
Unfortunately, both of those keyboards, at least when used on a Mac, optionally suggests that you install the Microsoft IntelliType software. The IntelliType software has been known to apparently cause a lot of kernel panics for on Mac OS X — on the order of once or twice a day even, when under heavy typing load. If you use Windows, then this is not an issue (I've used both of those keyboards under Windows XP and Windows 7, and they work well). If you use a Mac, you may find my previous post on the issue useful.
Currently, I use a Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000. It's an ergonomic keyboard with a soft curve laterally, and no vertical curve (it lays flat). It's a wicked keyboard if your shoulder width is not so wide, because it has only that slight curve, rather than the dramatic curve of other ergonomic keyboards. It also has a light but distinctive touch, so it's easy to press the key down, but not so easy that you would accidentally "smoosh" a key down by accident. The key's travel — how far it travels from the start of pressing a key to bottoming out — is also quite short, so there's less finger motion required to type.
. I've used that one before, and it's pretty good, but only if your shoulder width is wider than, well, mine is. Unfortunately, it's keys have a longer travel length, and its spacebar is a tad heavy to press down due to its design. If you're not used to the keyboard, your fingers may become tired and sore the first few times of prolonged usage, but at least for me, I get used to it soon after. I've used that for years before switching to the Comfort Curve 2000 model, and it was a good experience.Unfortunately, both of those keyboards, at least when used on a Mac, optionally suggests that you install the Microsoft IntelliType software. The IntelliType software has been known to apparently cause a lot of kernel panics for on Mac OS X — on the order of once or twice a day even, when under heavy typing load. If you use Windows, then this is not an issue (I've used both of those keyboards under Windows XP and Windows 7, and they work well). If you use a Mac, you may find my previous post on the issue useful.
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