Warm-ups Weeks 31 & 32
Monday, April 17, 2017
Broadcasters have for years now, not broadcast “live”… EVERYTHING has a delay. It may be only 3-5 seconds, but that is enough to allow someone to stop things from getting out that we have all agreed should not make the airwaves. In order for a 3-5 second delay to be effective though, it means SOMEONE must be vigilantly watching as the live feed comes in. That’s easy to do when you only have one reporter at a time feeding you live footage. Now technology is advancing again, causing more dilemmas for us as a society. Facebook Live. Since now anyone can go “live” (and I don’t know that it has a delay, but even if it does, who is monitoring it?? And how many people are monitoring vs uploading?) Facebook Live has allowed disturbing video to be shared with the world. And the problem is once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it. Since the FCC oversees broadcasting and has strict regulations on broadcasters, do you think this new feature of Facebook needs more regulation? It comes back to the age old question, just because we have the ability to do something, should we do it?
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Do you consider yourself to be shy? Believe it or not, I am. Oh, I can get up in front of you guys and teach all day long. I can even teach other teachers. But put me in a social setting with a less structured role, and I clam up. I will interact with people I know, and yes, like any true Texan, I can spark up a conversation in a grocery line, but put me at a party where I don’t know other people and expect me to socialize… yeah, probably not going to happen. I will sit there awkwardly waiting for the event to be over. It’s one of the things I wish I could change about myself. Any suggestions on how those of us who are shy can overcome shyness?
Wednesday/Thursday, April 19/20, 2017
Have you heard that Facebook is venturing into Augmented Reality? (think something along the lines of Pokemon Go, but not necessarily a game). Not sure what they see as the practical application of this technology for Facebook, but there is one company out there that has developed (I think) a cool application of this technology. It is called Quiver. They provide augmented reality coloring concepts. Remember when your teachers would have you color maps or maybe the structure of a cell? Now, with Quiver, they can make the drawing that you color come to life! If you so choose (and if you are finished with your other assignments) you can pick up a coloring page off the table and color it. Then download the free Quiver app to your phone and follow the instructions. You can see your page come to life! For today’s question, tell me… can you think of another way to use augmented reality technology?
Friday, April 21,2017
Read the story at the link below and then respond with your thoughts… To me, this does NOT seem more secure! What do you think? Do you see any issues with this plan?
Week 32
Monday, April 24, 2017
Do you know how to cook? I mean, really cook? Not just grilled cheese sandwiches and canned soup, but things like pork chops, lasagna, stroganoff… things that require more in-depth skill? If not, would you be interested in a club that worked on these skills? Actual hands on learning to cook… Humble High School no longer offers a hands-on cooking class as far as I know. I have toyed with the idea of doing a club that focuses on health and nutrition and wondered if anyone else is interested…would you be interested in a club like that?
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
This weekend I have plans to attend a Disc Dog competition. These dogs are supposed to be very talented in catching and retrieving Frisbees. I am really looking forward to it. It make me wish my dogs were talented enough to do something like that… but my dogs can’t even sit on command! I am NO GOOD at training dogs! What about you? Do you have a dog? Can your dog do any tricks or follow commands and if so, who taught the dog? If you don’t have a dog, tell me about any other pet you have… have you trained it to do any tricks of follow commands? (Dogs aren’t the only animal that can be trained!)
Wed/Thursday, April 26/27, 2017
This Friday marks then sixth week of the grading period and that means progress reports! Teachers will be reporting grades on Monday. This is the time for you to check your progress and see if you are on target to pass your classes! Log in and check your grades… are you on target? If not what will you do to try to reclaim the credits? Have you/will you speak to your teachers to see if they have suggestions for you?
Friday, April 28, 2017
I read this article online and I am just not sure what I think about this whole situation. I hate to think that there are students going hungry, but I am not sure how we should deal with it. It is important to remember that NOTHING is ever really free… someone, somewhere will have to pay the price. When my kids were going to school, we did not qualify for the free/reduced price program, but yet, I struggled to afford school lunches every day. $2.50 may not sound like much, but when you multiply it out, that’s $12.50 a week (x2 because I had 2 kids) $25.00 a week… $100 per month. Again, not a lot for two kids to eat lunch, but still for someone who does not have extra money, it can be difficult. So what do we do about kids whose families cannot afford the lunches but do not qualify for free/reduced lunch? If the school districts or the state has to provide it then taxes go up on taxpayers. Read the article at the link below and then tell me… how do you think we solve the issue?