As part of my graduate class, we had to write about cookies and tell how they can be good or bad for the computer user.

Well the creative bug hit hard ( or should I say bit hard…maybe it was just a little byte) and this is the result.

C is for Cookie

C is for Cookie,
they’re sometimes good for me,
Simple files of text
used on sites I see,

C is for Cookie
they’re sometimes good for me,
storing shopping carts
and giving web security

C is for Cookie
they’re sometimes bad for me,
3rd party sites
that track the sites I see

C is for Cookie
they’re sometimes bad for me
too much data
can be good for thieves.

C is for Cookie
its really up to me
I can choose the sites
to allow cookies

Additional Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie

C is for Cookie Original Lyrics
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/s/sesamestreet21673/cisforcookie976504.html

Twitter has a limit, once you are following 2000 people you are unable to follow additional people. This is explained here: http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/entries/66885 > this limit is designed to discourage spam.
A workaround to this limit is to create a Twitter List and add the person you want to follow to that list. This doesn’t seem to count against the follow limit and allows you to follow additional people.

It seems weird to be writing about my summer two days before Thanksgiving, but perhaps its fitting as I had an amazing summer with a lot to be thankful for.
Philmont Scout Ranch
As I wrote in my last post (far too long ago) I traveled to Philmont Scout Ranch near Raton, New Mexico with eight scouts and three other adult leaders from my troop (Troop 154, from Sterling Heights, MI). We had an enjoyable train ride from Detroit to Raton. It was a bit eventful as our train was held up for a storm on the east side of the Mississippi due to high winds and stormy conditions.
Our trek was great with many amazing sights including:

-seeing three bears in the wild (all of our group saw one bear as we were about to start on the trail, about eight of us saw two bears and I was the only one to see all three)
-seeing a rattlesnake up close (but not too personal)
-seeing the world’s only T-Rex print
-backpacking in God’s Country for ten days and about 55-60 miles
-sunrise on our last day on the trail at the Tooth of Time

We all made it safely without much more than sore feet and a bloody nose.
I took many pictures (about 5 GB worth) but unfortunately my two, 2GB cards became corrupt and the pictures were lost. I tried every piece of photo recovery software and sent one of the cards out for service without any luck.

My pictures can be seen here: Philmont Photos on PICASA.

I also took along a Flip Video camera and shot some video along the way. I was impressed with how it came out. It also did not burn through batteries as bad as my camera did.

Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPdTKRiquR0

Here’s a picture from The Tooth of Time on the morning of July 5th.

Overall Philmont was an amazing place to visit and “I’m going to go back there, someday…”

Lost Lake Scout Reservation 2009
This summer marked by 20th summer at Lost Lake and my ninth (or tenth, I lose count) as Commissioner. I enjoyed camp but decided during the summer I needed a change. This was my last year as commissioner. In 2010, I will be teaching Photography Merit Badge and starting our camp’s Cinematography Merit Badge program. I look forward to 2010.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

When I came back from summer camp in early August I was anticipating having two-three weeks of lazy, nothing to do summer vacation. That lasted for about four days. I belong to the Stage Combat and Theatre Repertory Company Knights of Iron and have helped out for many years behind the scenes. I even have/had the nickname “Sir Not Appearing In This Film” from Monty Python because of helping out but not being on cast. This season would be different.

With ten days before opening day at the Michigan Renaissance Festival one of our cast members had to pull out of the show. I was selected to replace him in the role of James the Guard in our Adventures of Robin Hood show. The Adventures of Robin takes place in five scenes throughout the day and festival grounds. It finishes with a Human Combat Chess match. This is no small project. For me this required learning the script (Scene I, which was almost all of my speaking parts, was 9 pages alone) and learning three different sets of fight choreography. With the two other guards we fought Will Scarlet and Robin Hood in Scene I and I fought Little John in the Human Combat Chess Match at the end of the day. It was mentally challenging to learn the show in the ten days I had to learn the script.

The show opened on August 23 and ran on weekends through the first weekend in October. By the end of the run over 16,000 people had seen our show.
Here are some pictures from the show.

The first picture shows Little John tripping me during our fight in the Chess Match at the end of the day.The second picture shows us at the end of each day when we would greet the patrons as they left for the day. Many times we were asked to pose for pictures, to make things fun we had twelve poses, with three special poses. Prince John would choose a number and we would make that pose. We also had a Power Rangers, Charlie’s Angels and The Travolta pose. It was a fun way to make sure the patrons had a good time. In this picture I am on the far left. Also in the picture are Sir Guy of Gisbourne, The Sherrif of Nottingham, Prince John, Paul and Max. The last picture shows another scene from my fight with Little John. In this scene Little John is throwing me around the chess board with his staff.

Backpack the Cat
That sounds like the title for a children’s story and it could very well turn into one. One of my students found two kittens on her way to school. She put them in her backpack and left them outside for the morning. Someone found her backpack and brought it into the school where it was returned to her. She hung it up on our coat rack and kept quiet about it. The kittens cooperated by keeping quiet as well. Near the end of the day I notice three girls hanging around by the coat rack. I told them to go back to their seats and get to work. Just a few minutes later, they were back by the coat rack. So I walked over to send them back to their seats and find out what was so interesting. When I got to the coat rack, I noticed the backpack was moving, I asked who’s backpack this was and the student owned up saying “There’s a cat inside…” So we walked down to the Principal’s office. While at the Principal’s office, I removed the kitten from the backpack and was holding it, when I heard the backpack meow. So I opened the backpack and discovered the second kitten.
After determining that these kittens were not pets and were strays. I decided to adopt one of them, the fourth grade teacher adopted the other. So I have a new family member…to go with my fish tank. She was promptly named Backpack after where she was found.

Interesting note: One of her favorite places to sit is… on top of the computer backpack that I take to school every day.

So it has been an amazing summer. Some of the hardest work and most fun I have had in my life all at the same time.

Soon I will be leaving for my annual summer camp adventure, but before I go I will be going on a trek to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I have included the trek details below for those who may be interested.

Here’s the itinerary for my upcoming trip to Philmont.

Formatting note: Activities tend to happen after the backpacking is done. Elevation changes are estimates. There may be some side hikes to places not on our itinerary that will add some distance and allow for some additional opportunities and photos.

Day 1- Opening Campfire

Day 2- Ranger Training (Philmont Training), See the World’s Only Tyrannosaurus Rex Track-
Backpacking Distance- 2 Miles
Elevation Change- Not much
Ending Elevation: 7200 feet

Day 3-Archaeology, Tour Petroglyphs, Conservation Project
Backpacking Distance- 2 Miles
Elevation Change- about 1000 feet
Ending Elevation: 8200 feet

Day 4- Western Lore, Horse Rides, Cantina Show, Chuck Wagon Dinner and Breakfast(no dehydrated food)
Backpacking Distance- 5 Miles
Elevation Change- about 500 feet
Ending Elevation: 8500 feet

Day 5- Rock Climbing and Rapelling
Backpacking Distance- 6 Miles
Elevation Change- about 1000 feet
Ending Elevation: 9500 feet

Day 6- Burro Racing 12 Gauge Shotgun Shooting and Reloading
Backpacking Distance-7 Miles
Elevation Change- An up and down day, last 3 miles gain about 1000 feet.
Ending Elevation: 10200 feet

Day 7- Trail Camp- No Activities
Backpacking Distance: 5 Miles
Elevation Change: Another up and down day last two miles push us over 11000 feet
Ending Elevation: 11500 Feet

Day 8- .30-06 rifle and Reloading
Backpacking Distance: 5 Miles
Elevation Change: Next two days are all downhill (-1500 feet)
Ending Elevation: 10000 feet

Day 9- Gold Mining and Panning, Mine Tour, Blacksmithing, “Stomp” show
Backpacking Distance: 7 Miles
Elevation Change: Continuing downhill mostly (-2000 feet)
Ending Elevation: 8000 feet

Day 10- Cabin Tour@Hunting Lodge, Western Lore, Branding
Backpacking Distance: 6 Miles
Elevation Change: Up and down but not much of a change
Ending Elevation: 8000 feet

Day 11- Side Hike Tooth of Time
Backpacking Distance: 5 Miles
Elevation Change: Up and Down day (1000 feet up and down during the day)
Ending Elevation: 8000 Feet

Day 12- Return to Base camp
Backpacking Distance: 5 Miles
Elevation Change: (-1000+ feet)
Ending Elevation: <7000 feet

Backpacking Distance (not including any side hikes): 54 1/2 Miles
Highest Elevation: 11800 feet
Longest Day: 7 Miles

Looking for more information?
Check this site out: http://www.philsearch.org/ Click on Treks. Scroll down the page and click on Trek 5. There is our itinerary. You can also see photos from previous groups. I hope to submit some of my own after the adventure.

Thanks to all veterans and current members of our armed forces.

Stand silently in straight lines with your friends.

Why is this still taught in schools?

I honestly can’t think of a time as an adult where I’ve had to stand in line silently with my friends. Of course at church services and other religious occasions you are expected to stand quietly, but I don’t think it is my place to teach students how to behave in those environments. In my teaching setting now, I wouldn’t presume to teach my students how to behave in a religious environment. Even when I taught in a Catholic school this was hard for me (mostly because I’m not Catholic).

I instead teach my students to stand in line (when necessary) and keep a reasonable (usually whisper) level of talking. Of course they know that when an adult is speaking they are to be quiet and listen to the speaker. They are also taught that different adults and teachers have different expectations.

What do you think?

What are some other rules/behaviors we teach that are unnecessary?

Here are some interesting things to follow using Twitter. If you are not familiar with Twitter, check out this link for a good introduction. http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter.

Biology/Ecology

@WildEarth This is the Twitter stream for Wild Earth TV Wild Earth TV broadcasts from the Djuma Private Game Reserve. They have a web cam and also post live video from frequent drives through the reserve.

@UntamedScience This is the Twitter Stream from Untamed Science and the EcoGeeks Podcasts.

@EarthVitalSigns If you are looking for information about Global Climate Change from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Exploration/Adventures

@Rich_Wilson Rich Wilson is the Skipper aboard the Great American III which is participating in the Vendee Globe Solo-Non Stop around the world race. This Twitter stream includes frequent updates of his trip. Also check out sitesALIVE for teaching resources. Here are a few additional resources from Loraine a technology teacher at the Jackson School.
http://www.vendeelglobe.org/en
http://ehrweb01.aaas.org/sail/

Space Science

Space Shuttle Missions

@STS_119 STS 119 Discovery scheduled for launch on February 1, 2009.

@STS_126 This was the most recent mission from November of 2008. Check out this page for more information. http://www.space.gs/08/sts-126/

@NASA … for general information from NASA.

@Astrospace … space and astronautics news. http://www.space.gs/

Moon

@LCROSS_NASA… Lunar mission to the poles to see if there is water ice near one of the poles. See also http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

@LRO_NASA… The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter scheduled for launch in April of 2009. See also http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Mars

@MarsScienceLab Here’s information on the next science mission to Mars due to launch in 2011.

@MarsPhoenix This was the twitter stream for Mars Phoenix which stopped transmitting from Mars on November 10, 2008. It is still active with news from Mars.

@MarsRovers Spirit and Opportunity’s official Twitter Feed. Its hard to believe that they have been on Mars for five years already. For more rover information check out: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Saturn

@CassiniSaturn From the Cassini Equinox Mission to Saturn

To Boldly Go…

@PlanetQuest Looking for planets beyond our Solar System with JPL.

It might be interesting to set up a iGoogle Page or a Pageflakes page with these feeds to use as part of a classroom science page. Or if students were studying a particular topic they have some resources to follow.
Feel free to add other similar sites in the comments.

Our school has been using Engrade since the beginning of the second quarter. Prior to switching over (I had been using Thinkwave Educator, fantastic customer support there!) I set up an account and emailed them a few basic questions. To date none have been read. Why? Does customer support exist with Engrade? It certainly seems like it should. After all there is a prominent button that says “Email Engrade Support”. I understand that I am not paying for this service, but I would have expected that at least the emails I have sent would be read.

Here’s an example of outstanding tech support. We bought a Smart Board 8 years ago (well past warranty) I started having difficulties with it a couple of weeks ago and emailed their tech support email. Within two hours I had a response. Two hours for a product that in tech terms is an antique.

Thinkwave Educator is similar in that any issues I have had with both their free accounts (currently) and with their paid products I have always received prompt and accurate customer support.

Is Engrade going to provide support for their product?

But Annja had a hard time buying it.
Rogue Angel: Golden Elephant by Alex Archer

One of my favorite archaeology/fantasy authors. I have not read this one yet but have read the 12 books preceding this one.

Rules:
* Get the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence – either here or on your blog.
* Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.
* Don’t look for your favorite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

Thanks to Stephen Abrams of Stephen’s Lighthouse and Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk Blog)for this rather interesting (and easy) meme.

Bloggers, you’re it.

And now for a variation…

Follow the same rules as above but this time use the most recent book you finished.

Alex Henry’s only three boats were lost and he saved his own life by grimly hanging to the bottom of an out of control craft he had been riding in, clinging tenaciously for several hours before finally being rescued by one of Amherst’s aides.

The Conqueror’s by Allan W. Eckert

A narrative of the French and Indian War focusing on the rebellion around Detroit led by Chief Pontiac. I started reading this in October to get ready for my hike along the Chief Pontiac Trail in southeastern Michigan.

What is the closest book to you and what did you last read?

Last week one of my Travel bugs (Scout Bear) celebrated its third birthday.Its birthday is the day I started him on his geocaching adventure.

A travel bug is a geocaching item that has been given a unique code that is trackable using the geocaching.com website. Generally the travel bugs are small items that have a small tag attached to them. Scout Bear is different. It is one of the Post Office Bears in a Scout Uniform.

He started close to home near Auburn Hills, Michigan and has traveled over 10,000 miles. He has met many scouts along the way including Cub Scout Pack 25 from Princeton, Massachusetts and the GPS Scouts who took it on the MidState Trail while they were getting ready for Philmont. (Interesting note: I will be going to Philmont this summer as well) He has traveled to 11 different states and Mexico during the three short years he’s been on the trail.

This could be done as a sort of modern Flat Stanley type activity with a class and their own travel bug. The only difficulty is the random travel of the travel bug. Travel bugs have been known to disappear (someone finds them and doesn’t log them into the site or just keeps them) or they end up lost.