If you have a makerspace, hacker group, or an electronics class or robotics club at a local high school...it's hard to have too many stepper motors, power supplies, sliding carriages on straight steel rods, LEDs, etc.
What on Earth are they stuffing into their apps to make them balloon in size so quickly?
I remember when my ca. 2013 phone started to run out of space because the fifteen or twenty apps I had installed (including Facebook and Gmail) were taking up much of the half-gig of available storage space. Now I wouldn't be able to fit much more than Facebook in that space.
I certainly don't see 10x the features in Facebook.
I love some aspects of the ChromeOS on Chromebook environment. They're relatively fast despite the price, they don't usually break, anything that goes wrong can usually be fixed by a boot cycle or removing and re-logging-in the user.
But as a physics teacher, there are applications and tools I need that are not replicated on Chromebooks. There is no usable equivalent to Tracker Video Analysis; support for probeware is minimal and hobbled; support for USB and serial-USB lab interfaces and data collection interfaces is lacking.
As a result, I use the Chromebooks and Google Classroom for quite a bit of communication, sending documents, receiving assignments, and some data anlysis. My classroom computers are necessary to do the heavy hitting with Logger Pro, connecting Vernier hardware, Tracker, and occasionally some other esoteric tools. I'll have to keep them until something like a mature WINE environment is available in ChromeOS.
The LG G3 experienced two problems that lead to non-functionality and eventually death. First was a failure to recognize the SIM card, which can sometimes be repaired with a new sim card tray. The second was the flicker and fade screen failure. Probably actually a chip or solder failure in the video subsystem.
In my opinion, the common cause of these is faulty soldering or faulty solder. Perhaps they have not adequately perfected RoHS lead-free solder profiles. Lead-free solder is a disaster overall and is leading to short device lives and way more e-waste. The lead-free solder can't predictably handle thermal cycling well, quickly ages, cracks, and can generate tin whiskers.
My Panasonic Viera smart TV has not had a single firmware update since I brought it home from the store. Three years, not a single update of any kind. I've prompted it, I've checked the version number -- no updates.
It's almost like once they have your money, they don't care.
I found cherrytree on the Ubuntu repository, and have been using it to good effect for quite some time. It is hierarchical and very flexible.
I see it is cross-platform, so you could keep your note document on a cloud platform like Google Drive and access it from any computer you're logged into. It doesn't have a web version or Android/iOS/Chrome App version, so no mobile device use.
On my Android phone, I use ColorNote. Regular notes and checklists work nicely there.
Teaching as a profession has barriers to entry. These are established by professional organizations through the government because it requires people to demonstrate a minimum basic knowledge of the practices and regulations of the profession.
There are abundant opportunities to achieve certification through legitimate pathways, usually through a small number of courses covering the relevant topics. In many states, you can start teaching in a field for which you hold a bachelor's while taking the required coursework for full certification online or at night and over summers for one to the years.
People who complain that a person can't teach in a field where they professionally operate are really saying that a person is not willing to go through one of those straightforward methods to become a professional teacher.
I commend anyone who undertakes the project to make a fusor. It is a great technical feat.
So far what I've seen in these projects is technical. Learning how to build and maintain vacuum systems, building and safely using high voltage supplies, managing instrumentation, running the device and collecting data on its operation to tweak and modify the operational parameters.
I also see that success depends on access to funding or "salvage" equipment. Even trying to build a single demonstration/experimental plasma apparatus for my classroom is running me several thousand dollars. Once I spend some time with students studying plasmas with that device, I'd love to try a fusor just for the fun of it and to develop some scientific questions that student's might investigate with the fusor. It isn't the technical ability of my students that limits our ability, it is the resources of time and money.
Still, the thing that has limited my interest in the fusor project is the lack of existing classroom or student project scientific applications. Not just building the device, but what experimental questions can we tackle with the running hardware? It is not enough, in the long run, to just build the apparatus. That achievement puts you at the starting point of scientific investigation, not the finish line.
I switched to Linux as my main desktop and laptop os several years ago. In the past two years I've seen more of my students using some version of Linux (usually mint) on their personal computers. At one of my jobs Linux is used on most computers both personal and server.
It's anecdotal evidence, but it doesn't seem to me that the Linux desktop is suffering.
I recall that it was canon that certain things like dilithium crystals and antimatter fuel could not be replicated (at least, not on the kind of scale that would be necessary to power a starship).
They also couldn't replicate gold-pressed latinum. They needed a currency for cultures that were more capitalist, and it had to be one that had natural scarcity.
Every technical revolution in education since Edison's wax cylinder phonograph or prior has been prophesied to replace classroom teachers.
A brief list: The Gutenberg press. Edison's phonograph. Classes by mail. Voice radio. Television. Two way video. Multi user computer terminals. Microcomputers. Multimedia software. The internet.
This too will become a minor fad, blossom, fade, and find a very minor place in the ongoing art of education.
I teach physics and the list of software I can't run and for which there is no full equivalent is longer than the list of software equivalents I do use on Chromebooks.
I have had to maintain a classroom lab of Windows computers to run the software I need for data import and analysis, video analysis, computational physics, and simulations. If IT stops supporting them, I could easily run all of that software on Linux on the same machines for the foreseeable future.
He was an engineer at Boeing before turning to comedy and then to science education. He also is at least partly responsible for a "marsdial" instrument that was both a cheap and interesting experiment/tool on a Mars lander/rover.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who laments the upcoming loss of iGoogle. It's been how I get my quick blog/news updates every day for years.
When they announced the shutdown, I went through the process of exporting my feed information so I could import it in Google Reader. That seems to have been a wasted effort.
I'm paying close attention to the alternatives people are mentioning here...hopefully something will fill the iGoogle gap.
Slashdot Mirror
In a "self-driving" car, the "driver" you refer to is a passenger.
If you have a makerspace, hacker group, or an electronics class or robotics club at a local high school...it's hard to have too many stepper motors, power supplies, sliding carriages on straight steel rods, LEDs, etc.
Louis Rossman should have some entertaining videos about this. I'mma make some popcorn...
That's called Kopi Lewak coffee. I have not tried it and have no plans to.
What's your channel? Or at least something I can search to find your channel.
What on Earth are they stuffing into their apps to make them balloon in size so quickly?
I remember when my ca. 2013 phone started to run out of space because the fifteen or twenty apps I had installed (including Facebook and Gmail) were taking up much of the half-gig of available storage space. Now I wouldn't be able to fit much more than Facebook in that space.
I certainly don't see 10x the features in Facebook.
I love some aspects of the ChromeOS on Chromebook environment. They're relatively fast despite the price, they don't usually break, anything that goes wrong can usually be fixed by a boot cycle or removing and re-logging-in the user.
But as a physics teacher, there are applications and tools I need that are not replicated on Chromebooks. There is no usable equivalent to Tracker Video Analysis; support for probeware is minimal and hobbled; support for USB and serial-USB lab interfaces and data collection interfaces is lacking.
As a result, I use the Chromebooks and Google Classroom for quite a bit of communication, sending documents, receiving assignments, and some data anlysis. My classroom computers are necessary to do the heavy hitting with Logger Pro, connecting Vernier hardware, Tracker, and occasionally some other esoteric tools. I'll have to keep them until something like a mature WINE environment is available in ChromeOS.
The LG G3 experienced two problems that lead to non-functionality and eventually death. First was a failure to recognize the SIM card, which can sometimes be repaired with a new sim card tray. The second was the flicker and fade screen failure. Probably actually a chip or solder failure in the video subsystem.
In my opinion, the common cause of these is faulty soldering or faulty solder. Perhaps they have not adequately perfected RoHS lead-free solder profiles. Lead-free solder is a disaster overall and is leading to short device lives and way more e-waste. The lead-free solder can't predictably handle thermal cycling well, quickly ages, cracks, and can generate tin whiskers.
Over Microsoft Bob?
My Panasonic Viera smart TV has not had a single firmware update since I brought it home from the store. Three years, not a single update of any kind. I've prompted it, I've checked the version number -- no updates.
It's almost like once they have your money, they don't care.
I found cherrytree on the Ubuntu repository, and have been using it to good effect for quite some time. It is hierarchical and very flexible.
I see it is cross-platform, so you could keep your note document on a cloud platform like Google Drive and access it from any computer you're logged into. It doesn't have a web version or Android/iOS/Chrome App version, so no mobile device use.
On my Android phone, I use ColorNote. Regular notes and checklists work nicely there.
Teaching as a profession has barriers to entry. These are established by professional organizations through the government because it requires people to demonstrate a minimum basic knowledge of the practices and regulations of the profession.
There are abundant opportunities to achieve certification through legitimate pathways, usually through a small number of courses covering the relevant topics. In many states, you can start teaching in a field for which you hold a bachelor's while taking the required coursework for full certification online or at night and over summers for one to the years.
People who complain that a person can't teach in a field where they professionally operate are really saying that a person is not willing to go through one of those straightforward methods to become a professional teacher.
I commend anyone who undertakes the project to make a fusor. It is a great technical feat.
So far what I've seen in these projects is technical. Learning how to build and maintain vacuum systems, building and safely using high voltage supplies, managing instrumentation, running the device and collecting data on its operation to tweak and modify the operational parameters.
I also see that success depends on access to funding or "salvage" equipment. Even trying to build a single demonstration/experimental plasma apparatus for my classroom is running me several thousand dollars. Once I spend some time with students studying plasmas with that device, I'd love to try a fusor just for the fun of it and to develop some scientific questions that student's might investigate with the fusor. It isn't the technical ability of my students that limits our ability, it is the resources of time and money.
Still, the thing that has limited my interest in the fusor project is the lack of existing classroom or student project scientific applications. Not just building the device, but what experimental questions can we tackle with the running hardware? It is not enough, in the long run, to just build the apparatus. That achievement puts you at the starting point of scientific investigation, not the finish line.
I switched to Linux as my main desktop and laptop os several years ago. In the past two years I've seen more of my students using some version of Linux (usually mint) on their personal computers. At one of my jobs Linux is used on most computers both personal and server.
It's anecdotal evidence, but it doesn't seem to me that the Linux desktop is suffering.
I recall that it was canon that certain things like dilithium crystals and antimatter fuel could not be replicated (at least, not on the kind of scale that would be necessary to power a starship).
They also couldn't replicate gold-pressed latinum. They needed a currency for cultures that were more capitalist, and it had to be one that had natural scarcity.
They were working on a more streamlined design until someone pointed out that aerodynamics means exactly jack squat once you leave atmo.
Form follows function, the designers had to take a back seat to efficiency.
At 248 days on-line, the Boeing Dreamliner has a similar problem.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/fa...
Not a problem I want to have at 40,000 feet (about 12 km).
Every technical revolution in education since Edison's wax cylinder phonograph or prior has been prophesied to replace classroom teachers.
A brief list:
The Gutenberg press.
Edison's phonograph.
Classes by mail.
Voice radio.
Television.
Two way video.
Multi user computer terminals.
Microcomputers.
Multimedia software.
The internet.
This too will become a minor fad, blossom, fade, and find a very minor place in the ongoing art of education.
I teach physics and the list of software I can't run and for which there is no full equivalent is longer than the list of software equivalents I do use on Chromebooks.
I have had to maintain a classroom lab of Windows computers to run the software I need for data import and analysis, video analysis, computational physics, and simulations. If IT stops supporting them, I could easily run all of that software on Linux on the same machines for the foreseeable future.
http://rosettaproject.org/
You win a rare "genuinely interesting and unique story" award.
Sadly, it does not include a monetary award, travel to any exotic locations, or congratulatory calls from major sporting stars or politicians.
Sure, the average consumer won't design the battery cover.
They'll just go search for replacements that knowledgeable people already modeled.
You mean like this?
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
Or this?
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
Or this?
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
He was an engineer at Boeing before turning to comedy and then to science education. He also is at least partly responsible for a "marsdial" instrument that was both a cheap and interesting experiment/tool on a Mars lander/rover.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who laments the upcoming loss of iGoogle. It's been how I get my quick blog/news updates every day for years.
When they announced the shutdown, I went through the process of exporting my feed information so I could import it in Google Reader. That seems to have been a wasted effort.
I'm paying close attention to the alternatives people are mentioning here...hopefully something will fill the iGoogle gap.