fun

5 Comments Posted on educational technology

Word Lens: real-time OCR and translation app

This was too cool to pass up. Free today (thanks, @mraspinall!) is Word Lens.

Original

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Live image

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Editable image

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Cool, eh? Useful for travellers, fun for the rest of us.

3 Comments Posted on Uncategorized

Silver Bells #CarolsInCode

public boolean soonChristmasDay(int numBells) {
  Bell[] bells = new Bell[numBells];
  if (Time.currentTime().monthValue()==12 && Time.currentTime().dayValue()<25) {
    for (int i=0; i<numBells; i++) {
      bells[i].setColour(Colour.SILVER);
      bells[i].setLocation("The City");
      bells[i].ringALing();
    }
    hearThemRing(bells);
    return true;
  }
  else return false;
}
4 Comments Posted on blogging

Joyful Blogging in Response to @fryed

A picture of a boy playing in water in an urban setting.

“Real Joy” by Todd Baker (technowannabe) via Flickr, CC-BY-2.0

Donna Fry challenged me and other Northern Ontario bloggers to be joyful in our blogging and share in Lee Kolbert’s challenge. Here’s my entry in the fun.

The Process

  1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
  2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
  3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
  4. List 11 bloggers.
  5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

Here we go:

Acknowledge the nominating blogger

Donna Fry – big thinker. Read her stuff (I know I didn’t need to say that, since you do already).

Share 11 random facts about yourself

  1. I like to read fiction, but I stress about what I should read.
  2. Math makes me happy.
  3. Coffee is a food group.
  4. I have read Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede about ten times, and I just read some of it to my daughter. I didn’t read the whole thing to her, though, because she couldn’t wait for me and she finished it on her own.
  5. I like cooked tomatoes, but not raw tomatoes. I don’t know why.
  6. My favourite part of winter is that there are no mosquitoes.
  7. If I had no need to work, I don’t know what I would want to do with my time.
  8. My favourite pie is blueberry, followed by raisin and pumpkin. In case you needed to know, like if you’re baking at Christmas time or something.
  9. I wear my watch on my right wrist.
  10. I know how to knit, but I’ve prioritized other things in my life, so I gave all my needles and yarn to my mom.
  11. I feel guilty when I don’t keep up with a podcast or a blog.

Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you

1. What was the first “subject area” you studied after leaving high school?
Pure Math and Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. I eventually settled on Combinatorics and Optimization with PM/CS as minors.

2. If you could cook anything, what would you cook for supper tonight?
Pizza, probably with barbecue sauce mixed with the pizza sauce, topped with mozza, asiago, chicken, and red onion.

3. What makes you stop and pause during your day?
Something reasonable but unexpected, whether it’s something I hadn’t thought of or something I disagreed with. Sometimes that changes my mind.

4. Cats or Dogs?
Dogs. Cats are a big, fluffy allergen.

5. If you could have only one Pinterest Board, what would the topic be?
Stuff To Make

6. What was the catalyst that got you blogging in the first place?
I was loving Twitter for connecting with people and having conversations, but sometimes I had more to say. Hence my tagline, “When Twitter isn’t long enough”.

7. What is one (funny) childhood misconception that you had, or that you have experienced with a young child?
I thought “delicatessen” was pronounced “dell-ih-CAT-iss-in” until I said it aloud as an adult. I was laughingly corrected.

8. What was your favourite summer job?
I worked at the UW Instructional Support Group helping students to learn computer science. That’s the job that showed me I wanted to be a teacher. It was a winter term job first, but I returned to it through various seasons.

9. Where do you find flow?
Writing is my flow generator. When I write, things become clearer. I don’t write enough, it seems.

10. What was one personal challenge you faced in 2013?
Finding a balance between work and family is an ongoing challenge, but I think I’m winning. Now I usually only work a lot at night if I want to.

11. What are YOU passionate about?
Mostly I’m passionate about learning stuff, as evidenced by my rather large number of interests.

List 11 bloggers

  1. Kerri Grasley (@KerriGrasley, http://kgrasley.wordpress.com)
  2. David Jaremy (@DavidJaremy, http://davidjaremy.wordpress.com) (see David’s response)
  3. Doug Peterson (@dougpete, http://dougpete.wordpress.com) (Doug was nominated more than once; here is his response)
  4. Peter Anello (@PJAnello, http://anello.ca)
  5. Steve Wilson (@GeraldtonSteve, http://wilsonteacher.ca)
  6. Lisa Donohue (@Lisa_Donohue, http://lisadonohue.wordpress.com)
  7. Brian Aspinall (@mraspinall, http://brianaspinall.com) (see Brian’s response)
  8. Danika Barker (@danikabarker, http://danikabarker.ca/barkerblog/)
  9. Eva Thompson (@leftyeva, http://evathompson.wordpress.com) (see Eva’s response)
  10. Colleen Rose (@ColleenKR, http://northernartteacher.wordpress.com)
  11. Mark Carbone (@markwcarbone, http://blog.markwcarbone.ca)

Post 11 questions

  1. Who is the “most famous” person you’ve ever spoken with?
  2. What’s one thing you’ve learned recently for pleasure but not for work?
  3. What’s your favourite type of exercise?
  4. What is something you love to do in each season of the year (name 4 things)?
  5. What’s something you have to do that you feel self-conscious about?
  6. Who helps you to “overcome”?
  7. If you could magically change one thing (and only one!) about the state of technology in education, what would it be?
  8. What do you appreciate?
  9. Who have you thanked today? For what?
  10. Is “unplugging” a good thing for you, or a bad thing, or …?
  11. How did you feel when you were nominated?

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone if you decide to participate, and thanks to Donna! That was fun!