Do You Have a Snow Dog?

Northern Life

Snow dogs are very important in Minnesota. Without this unique creature it is quite impossible to appreciate the nuances of weather. For instance, how cold is cold? If you have a snow dog in the family, you would never ask this question.

Earlier this evening I took my snow dog (Spot) for a walk. As it was only 17 degrees Fahrenheit outside (about -8 Celsius), my snow dog told me the weather was perfect for playing and jumping in the snow. However by 6 am tomorrow morning the temperature should fall to around 0 degrees Fahrenheit (about -16 Celsius). I know from experience that my snow dog will tell me that it is a "three paw" morning. However, "three paws" is not an absolute measurement … at least not to us humans. Snow dogs know differently. When the temperature falls, a snow dog will attempt to walk on three legs … keeping one paw off the snow and ice … hence a "three paw" morning. I pity folks without a snow dog. They will never truly appreciate what constitutes a cold Winter morning.

Three photos are attached:

  • Two photos are from Spot the Snow Dog’s walk this evening with her master
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  • The other photo was taken earlier this evening. Spot’s crazy human insisted on working out at a local park. Spot (aka snow dog) thinks her master is crazy.  Why would someone want to run around on skinny sticks for almost an hour … often climbing hills, just to glide down them.  Humans are weird!

SnowdogSnowlightsRichxskiSnowdogbook
   

Attend MIT for High School !

Legos

I’ve followed MIT’s Open CourseWare site for many years. You’ll find the courses indexed both my Google Co-Op search engines, and engineering learning wiki, but did you know MIT now has an site dedicated to high school engineering? This is a great addition.  Here are some of my favorite links from the new site:

However, if MIT is a "bit much" for your tastes, just download the Lego Digital Designer and have fun!
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Lego

Gourmet Dinner at Super 8

Uncategorized

Take one Winter storm, mix in one stranded couple at the Super 8 in Waverly, Iowa … and you have all the makings for a gourmet dinner! While the snow and ice were paralyzing the area, we walked to a local store and made our huge purchases:

  • One bottle of red wine (screw off top … we had no cork screw)
  • One Orange
  • One Box of Crackers
  • One tub of seafood salad

For our dining entertainment we availed ourselves of Super 8’s wireless and used my laptop to listen to NPR’s live stream of Prairie Home Companion!  In fact, we used only the finest plastic cups for our wine! Life is good!

Later that evening we still managed to get over to Christmas at Wartburg.
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Dinner1
Dinner2

Dedication

China

Occasionally in life you meet someone who teaches you about dedication and ideals. Dj is my teacher. Last night we had dinner near Rockefeller Center in New York City. I learned that Dj will move back to China in January to help the children of China. Given Dj has given up a career as a Microsoft software engineer to pursue his dream of helping the kids, my own efforts in China seem small by comparison.

Good luck Dj! I hope to see you in China next Fall.

Nyc

Finding and Filtering New Content

Uncategorized

The amount of information found via the web is amazing, and hard to assimilate.  One method for finding new content is to check reputable awards sites. One very good award web site to follow is the "Eddies", also known as the Edublog award site. Dating back to 2004, these awards recognize top blogs in the educational field … from corporate to educational.

This year’s nominees find me reviewing and subscribing to three new blogs (and maintaining my subscription to Tony Karrer’s eLearning Technology):

  1. Clive on Learning – from the United Kingdom
  2. Mobile Learning – from Australia
  3. Technology Enhanced Learning – from Germany

It goes without saying that without the use RSS, you receive only imited value from new content. If RSS is still a new concept to you, link and watch this short video. You will then need software. Here is my software recommendation, GreatNews, along with some screencasts.

One final point, note how the three blogs which I am newly monitoring are from countries other than my own. If you don’t believe that culture affects one’s viewpoint on many subjects, please reconsider. The intelligent person recognizes the affect of their own cultural norms, and tries to move beyond those imitations.