how to monetize your site

new tool for helicopter parents

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal:

The Helicopter Parents Are Hovering on Facebook

David Rivera recently had someone "unfriend" him on Facebook: His own child. » Full Story on Wall Street Journal

Then I saw this video this morning:


Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

why i teach naked

I am a firmly in the camp of those who teach naked. Teaching naked causes students to pay more attention in class and become more active learners. There is more than enough research to show teaching naked increases student learning. I've found to teach economics effectively I must teach naked.

Isn't student learning what is important?

Oh, did I mention that to teach naked is to not use technology in the classroom? That is, to teach without computers.

The most often used technology in the classroom is PowerPoint (ppt). PPT presentations make it easy to follow lectures and the slides can be posted online for students to reference later. The only problem is that ppt has been shown to lower learning outcomes. Students are not actively involved. It is better for student learning to have them just copy notes from a chalkboard than to sit passively listening to a lecture and watching the pretty pictures on the ppt slides. The worst active learning beats the best passive learning.

Here is a sad commentary on higher education. Recently I was talking with a yet-to-be-tenured colleague from another department who mentioned she felt pressured to use technology in the classroom. So far she has resisted the pressure because she cares about student learning. However, she also has to receive tenure to keep teaching.

A recent post on Freakonomics cites articles and findings about ppt. PPT is not only destroying student learning but according to the Armed Forces Journal, PowerPoint is hurting our national defense by diminishing decision-making skills at the Pentagon.

Power corrupts, PowerPoint corrupts absolutely. Six years ago that was the quite appropriate sub-title of the first known ppt-hating article. The title of that article was:

PowerPoint is Evil.


Be blessed.
RB

P.S. I do require my students to use Aplia outside of class to do both practice and graded problem sets and assignments. However, this requires active learning.

new computer app: cleans monitor screen

Cleans your computer screen from the inside: Click here!

doesn't take much to thrill me....

We have a new voicemail system at work with software that will notify me by email when someone has left a new message. So if I am working elsewhere (e.g., the library, home) I can check my voicemail whenever I check my email. Also, if I don't want to be bothered by an interruption by email or phone, I don't have to be. This is cool.

Since I now have a cell phone of my own, I can call back wherever I am.**

What do I need an office for?

Be blessed!
RB

** If you know my cell number, don't EVER send me a text message. I not only don't know how to use it, I don't want to know how to use it. The cell phone comes with its own voicemail service if you want to give me a message. It is faster, easier, and cheaper than sending a text message. There is such a thing as inappropriate technology. Sometimes we have to take a stand against evil.

don't track

The limerick is a follow-up to this.

21 Jul 08 11:21 AM - Shipment delivered, Canton, NY

Three days from Kentucky to Watertown N-Y,
Three days from Watertown to Canton N-Y,
Package was delivered on the estimated date,
But it feels like two days late.
And I'm still left wondering why.

to track or not to track

I have an order from Amazon that is being shipped by DHL with an expected delivery date of July 21-23. Like many parcel delivery services, DHL allows you to track the progress of the package with email updates:

July 15 2008 4:40 PM - Shipment received by carrier - Campbellsville, KY. (Hmmm...shipped out fast. Maybe I'll get it early?)
July 16 2008 9:19 AM - Processed at DHL Location - DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH.
July 16 2008 4:45 PM - Depart Facility - DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH. (So far so good.)
July 17 2008 7:03 AM - Arrived at DHL facility - East Syracuse, NY. (Hey, I might get it tomorrow, Friday....)
July 17 2008 9:30 PM - Processed at DHL Location - East Syracuse, NY.
July 17 2008 10:13 PM - Depart Facility - East Syracuse, NY.
(Great news...I probably will get it on Friday.)
July 18 2008 1:04 AM - Arrived at DHL facility - Allentown Hub, PA. (NO! NO! Wrong way! Come on, you're owned by Germans: Yo, ahtung? Vee vill nicht tolerate zuch sloppiness! Ist Sie a bunch of sissie dumkophs?)
July 18 2008 8:59 AM - Arrived at DHL facility - East Syracuse, NY. (Ok, ok. Pretty quick correction there. Maybe Monday?)
July 18 2008 9:49 AM - With delivery courier - East Syracuse, NY. (Is this going to Watertown or, dare I say, even Canton? Be still my heart.)
July 18 2008 1:06 PM - Delivery arranged, no details expected. (I bet they took it to a post office so USPS can do the last leg. But is it at the Watertown or Syracuse PO? ...I just checked Amazon.com and they have it in Watertown. But is it with DHL or USPS? Oh, the suspense! ...I did some more detective work; checked out DHL.com; they handed off to USPS. It has got to be here Saturday morning.)

Offspring #3 informed me that this is exactly why one should not track packages. I guess so. If it comes early then it would be a pleasant surprise. Instead, I'll be disappointed if it is on time.

However, maybe this is more a sign that I have been spending this week in the library reading scholarly economics articles, therefore needing to be heavily caffeinated in order to be able to continue reading. Tracking this package is the most thrilling part of my day.

That is to say, maybe I need to get a life?

Be blessed.
RB

new vista: button button, where is the button?

At work I have a new computer with the Vista operating system. I have heard a lot of complaints about it but I have found it to be very much like XP whenever I want to do something. Vista looks much nicer and has a few new things that are nifty.

One reason for fewer issues, however, may be that my machine also came with My Documents from my old computer as well as a number of programs already installed and set up. Most importantly, my web browser (Firefox) and email client (Thunderbird) were set up and ready to go as if they were on my old desktop with XP (i.e., bookmarks, add-ons, contacts, previously customized toolbars, preferences and options transferred).

As you can see, it is much, much prettier than XP. A good background pic for the wallpaper helps. (Mine was a shot taken by this young beauty's grandmother.)

The problems I have had have been minor. However, trying to solve them proved to be almost comical. Each had to do with the inadequacy of Vista's Help and Support program.

On my initial logon I was asked if I wanted an on-screen keyboard. I didn't know what it was so I clicked yes, thinking it would be no big deal to turn it off. Baaaaddd assumption. Every time I logged on, a keyboard would pop up on the screen that could be used by the mouse. I could close it but then with each new login, it would pop up again.

I searched Help and Support. Nothing on how to get rid of the unwanted item. I search through the various folders on Control Panel. The various icons were similar but renamed, but no luck. I called and emailed the campus IT helpdesk. No one knew.

Finally, into my office came two IT people, very bright students that I know. They did more sophisticated searches, tried all sorts of things. They found the offending file (osk.exe) but were afraid to delete it since it may just give annoying error messages.

After a good long while, after exhausting all options, one finally said, "Let's try googling it." Googled it we did and found a very simple solution on some discussion board in India.

All we had to do was click a button after choosing an option in a folder in Control Panel. Vista put it under Ease of Access Center. Selecting the correct option, we found a button there to choose the on-screen keyboard and we just unclicked it.

The funny thing is that Vista's Help and Support doesn't give this option as a way of enabling the keyboard. It leads you to another place that has no way of turning the keyboard off.

Even funnier we had been in the Ease of Access Center before. At the top of the page, in a large font, is "Start On-Screen Keyboard" but clicking that doesn't let you turn it off. You have to scroll down and chose among the small-print options buried in the page.

The option had to do with using the computer without a mouse.

Ease of Access. Right.

The next day I had another problem and spent a good long while trying to solve it. Again, Help and Support was no help and no support.

Then I remembered: Google it!

Problem solved in seconds.

Earlier, I heard one of the students from IT, a young man from Kenya, muttering to himself as he left my office, "How did he ever get so rich?" Only in America could a Bill Gates get rich by knowingly putting out a flawed product that would be fixed later, after users suffer the consequences. The thing is, this has been true of all versions of Windows.

Be blessed.
RB

more work

Something I did put in a lot of hours for last month was preparing my department's new website. While I did not design the look, or theme, I did organize the content (i.e., the organization of pages). In short, I did most of the words but not the look. So I can't take credit for how nice it looks.

We are using a content management system (cms) called Drupal. It is sort of like what people do with Wordpress or on other blog sites, only much more flexible. It is very easy for people to update or change the content without having to know any programming.

Be blessed.
RB

Note: There was no financial compensation for this work.

blog topics

This afternoon I labeled all my posts to this blog. [See Blog Topics in the sidebar on the right.] This was mostly for my own benefit so I can more easily find old posts. This was the ideal mindless task since I spent the morning in bed and I was too under the weather to do much else this afternoon.

Time for a nap.

Be blessed!
RB

death by powerpoint

Fighting death by PowerPoint... How to make a presentation and not to bore your audience to death.

slu's email

This is from a campus-wide email sent out about an hour ago.

Campus users may have experienced slow response when trying to send email message starting on Monday of this week.

This problem has been resolved and the cause has been identified as a dramatic increase in the number of spam message being sent to campus. 

For those that are interested in some information regarding spam and message delivery:

• We typically deliver around 50,000 legitimate message per day during the summer and around 120,000 during the school year.
• We typically deal with around 500,000 spam messages per day.
  
• On Monday and Tuesday of this week, we encountered nearly 2,000,000 spam messages or double the usual load.
  
• We are on pace to exceed 1,000,000 spam messages today.

I am amazed at the volume of emails and spams sent to just a small college with only 2,000 students.

RB

introducing snap*shots from snap.com

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Be blessed!
RB

never trust a bookmark

This week I had to wait around my office to see if some summer school classes would have the enrollment to make. (They didn’t.) To pass time, I started looking at some genealogy sites. There went my week! I am too compulsive. There is always one more relative to find. I did find over 60 new ones, but most come at the same time. Digging for hours and finding nothing, then I hit a vein and mine it for all its worth. Hours of nothing, then I get the joy of discovery for a couple of dozen minutes. The find spurs me on to even more hours of prospecting in hopes of another discovery.

Picture Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of Sierra Madre.

I haven’t done this in a couple of years. I had bookmarked a bunch websites with information and possible leads. However, the vast majority of the old links were now dead. So I spent a lot of time trying to rediscover and unearth the information again.

I have learned not to trust bookmarks since sites disappear or move or get reorganized. Solution? I print everything. However, I don’t waste ink and paper, I print to a pdf file using either Adobe Acrobat or the free PrimoPDF. The files are usually small and easy to move and store. Life is simpler and easier now. (I know, you read it all before here.)

Another thing about doing genealogy research on the web is that others have already done the heavy lifting and I just need to find their work. The information can also be downloaded into files standardized for use by almost all genealogy software such as Legacy Family Tree.

My father insisted that Blewett was a Scotch-Irish name. My father was also an Anglophobe. I have traced his entire family to before they came to America. There are zero Irish or Scotch ancestors. In fact, the first Blewett to come to America in his family tree was from Cornwall in SW England. You can’t get any further away from Scotland and still be in England than Cornwall. Fortunately I discovered this unpleasant truth after dad passed away.

All the Blewetts in and from Cornwall, and there are lots of them, are descended from one family. The original Blewett in England was supposedly a Brittany knight who came over with William the Conqueror in 1066. Only recently have people become picky about spelling, so if you ever meet a Blewett, Blewitt, Bluett, Bloet, or Blouet, they are probably my cousins.

Blewett, whatever its original form, is derived from the French for the color blue combined with the French diminutive suffix et. The French meaning also referred to a bluebottle, blue bird, a blue flower or corn flower, or a color of cloth worn at the time.

The stem of the original name also means livid, which is what my father, also a Francophobe, would be if he knew he was descended from an Englishman with a French last name.

Another family tale concerns the Sailors family. Supposedly the first Sailors in Ohio got his name because he was a deserter from Napoleon’s navy. Well, doing some research I found a number of Sailors in Ohio and Indiana descended from German or Swiss Saylors, Seylers, Seilers, and similar names. Sailors is just an Anglicized version. So I thought another interesting family tale bites the dust. However, this week I recorded an ancestor, John F. Sailors, born in Ohio, who for the U.S. Census listed his father as being born in France. His father would have been the right age and there are no Saylors, Seylers, Seilers, etc, from France. So the story is quite likely to be true.

Be blessed!
RB

free software to make pdf files

I have Adobe Acrobat at work and on my laptop, but not on our desktop at home. I have gotten into the habit of creating pdf files for anything that I once printed out. It is a lot easier to store and transport. If I ever want a hard copy, I can print out the pdf file and it will look like it would if I had printed out the original. Yesterday, I emptied out papers in a three-foot drawer in one of my file cabinets at work. It was full of scholarly articles I had photocopied or printed out over the years. I realized that I can get any of these online and print them to a pdf file. In fact, the important ones I had already done so.

While the Adobe Reader is free, Adobe Acrobat is a bit pricey. It is not worth buying for home use. I have been looking for an alternative for a while but even the off-brand software isn’t free.

This week I finally found free software that prints to a pdf file: PrimoPDF. It is easy to use. Like the pdf creator sold by Adobe, this software just sets up another “printer.” If you want to print to a pdf file you just hit ctrl-P and select the printer titled PrimoPdf. It will store it to where and under what name you select.

To check out and download click PrimoPDF.

a new look

I changed the look of this site. I guess that happens when you want to do something but have nothing to write.

I knew that I liked blue. Our house has blue trim and our vehicles are blue. My websites have themes that feature blue. Even most of the Steelcase furniture in my office is blue. However, a few moments ago I realized that both this blog and my long-time personal website have blue/gray themes.

Those are Georgetown colors! How did that happen?

I must be missing my little Hoya.

Be blessed.
RB

P.S. Hoya Saxa

blogs and newsfeeds

I have been following a lot of blogs. It started out with blogs of certain people, mostly in church. Then it went to other people in church, then their kids, and then even other youth in church. It doesn't seem to matter if the blogger is young or old, but occassionally I get provoked, challenged, or uplifted by what folks write. I am still mulling over things people wrote last July and August!

I just counted the blogs I watch. I have over forty xanga sites to which I subscribe. I also have over two dozen non-xanga blogs (e.g., blogger, livejournal, etc.) I like to keep up with.

I really do not have time to check 70-plus blogs on a regular basis. I can't imagine anyone else would either. Only a handful actually have new content added on any given day.

I get a daily email update from xanga with all the new posts from subscribed sites. Typically there are a half dozen or so new xanga posts. The last couple of days have had closer to ten or eleven, but often there are only a few.

The other, non-xanga blogs have newsfeeds. All I have to do is open my browser, click a button or two and it checks for updates. Usually there are only three to five updates on any given day. That also includes newsfeeds from photo pages of family and friends on flicker and webshots in addition to blogs. (BTW, xanga sites also have newsfeeds.)

So instead of checking about 80 photo and blog sites, I only need to check the ten or so that actually have anything new.

I am very grateful for technology!

Internet Explorer 7 is now available to download. It has a newsfeed function built into it so that it is easy to get a newsfeed for a site and to check your personal collection of newsfeeds for updates.

I prefer Mozilla Firefox as a browser since it is much more customizable than IE. I use an add-on program, Sage, to handle my newsfeeds.

You might want to try newsfeeds. It is much easier than going to Louisa's site and clicking on all her links!

Be blessed!
RB