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        <title><![CDATA[Ross Isenegger : Weblog]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[The weblog for Ross Isenegger, hosted on Commun-IT.org.]]></description>
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        <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/</link>        
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            <title><![CDATA[Absolutely Bone Chilling]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4178.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:45:47 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/absolutely-bone-chilling.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/absolutely-bone-chilling.html</a></span></p> I have been casually following the case of Julie Amero, a computer-illiterate supply teacher, who fell into the hands of the law after a disturbing run-in with pornographic pop-ups.<br /><br />Now, from <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-teacher-in-porn-popup-case-dodges-jail-loses-creds.html">Ars Technica</a>, <br /><br /><blockquote>"It's over," said Julie Amero. "I feel wonderful." <br /><br />This is not, to be sure, how most people would react upon being slapped with a $100 fine and having their professional credentials revoked. But after a four-year ordeal, during which the unassuming substitute teacher was decried as "disgusting" in the local press and convicted of felonies carrying a 40-year prison term, the plea agreement she reached with Connecticut prosecutors Friday must have come as a relief—even though a forensic report made public today shows she probably did nothing wrong. </blockquote><br /><br />The <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-teacher-in-porn-popup-case-dodges-jail-loses-creds.html">whole story</a> is worth reading, even if it gives pause to anyone involved with using the internet with children in an ignorant and self-protective bureaucracy.]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[I laughed out loud!]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4158.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:31:32 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-laughed-out-loud.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-laughed-out-loud.html</a></span></p> From <a href="http://delicious.com/dougpete">Doug Peterson's del.icio.us stream</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><br /><a href="http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/">Let me google that for you</a><br />This is for all those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than google it for themselves.<br />(tags: weird web utilities useful tools share)</blockquote><br /><br />I visited the site, typed my favorite search term ("<a href="http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=ubersketch">Ubersketch</a>") and laughed out loud when I saw the result.  Now, will I be brave enough to send that to a querier (that is someone who poses a query - which reminds me of an off-colour joke about the effeminate English teacher...)?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.commun-it.org/community/gday/">Geoff Day</a> told me again that there is no such thing as a dumb question, but in my heart of hearts, I tend to disagree.]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Myers-Briggs for a Blog]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4145.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:15:29 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/myers-briggs-for-blog.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/myers-briggs-for-blog.html</a></span></p> Just last week a colleague explained how I am a ENTJ.   <br />The <a href="http://www.typealyzer.com/">Typealyzer site</a>, via <a href="http://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/webtools-for-teachers-11162008/">Web Tools for Teachers</a>, indicates that my blog is not:<br /><blockquote><br />The analysis indicates that the author of<br /><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com">http://mathfest.blogspot.com</a><br />is of the type:<br />ESTP - The Doers<br /><br />The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.<br /><br />The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time. </blockquote><br /><br />Makes you wonder if I am creating an alternate persona for general consumption.]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Nomination for the 2008 Edublog Awards]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4119.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:52:16 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/nomination-for-2008-edublog-awards.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/nomination-for-2008-edublog-awa</a></span></p> Here are my nominations for the <a href="http://edublogawards.com/2008/">2008 Edublog Awards</a>:<br /><br />1. Best individual blog:  <a href="http://dougpete.wordpress.com">Doug Peterson Off the Record</a><br /><br />4. Best resource sharing blog:  <a href="http://janeknight.typepad.com/pick/">Jane's e-Learning Pick of the Day</a><br /><br />5. Most influential blog post:  <a href="http://bobsprankle.com/bitbybit_wordpress/?p=349">The Time is Now - Bob Sprankle</a><br /><br />6. Best teacher blog:  <a href="http://tcmtechnologyblog.blogspot.com/">Teaching College Math - Maria H. Andersen</a><br /><br />9. Best elearning / corporate education blog:  <a href="http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/">Presentation Zen - Garr Reynolds<br /></a><br /><br />11. Best educational use of video / visual: <a href="http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?cat=55">dy/av series - Dan Meyer</a>]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[What is your dream interface?]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4108.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:15:40 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-is-your-dream-interface.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-is-your-dream-interface.ht</a></span></p> I have often thought how much I would like a computer to be more like a large drafting table where I could move and manipulate a bunch of Windows.  The keyboard might just be one of those moving windows.<br /><br />Now, SMART seems to be marketing something like this for primary students.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><object width="425"  height="344"><param name="movie"  value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b_FRmYXtneQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen"  value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess"  value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b_FRmYXtneQ&hl=en&fs=1"  type="application/x-shockwave-flash"  allowscriptaccess="always"  allowfullscreen="true"  width="425"  height="344"></embed></object></span><br /><br />Do you think this will gain traction?]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Interfaces, Topology and Magic]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4107.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:15:40 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/interfaces-topology-and-magic.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/interfaces-topology-and-magic.h</a></span></p> I saw this at the <a href="http://tcmtechnologyblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/applied-topology.html">Teaching College Math blog</a> some time ago , but thought that <a href="http://dougpete.wordpress.com">Doug Peterson</a> might blog about it, since he is fond of quoting Arthur C. Clarke:<br /><blockquote>Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.</blockquote><br /><br />This interface uses an "inspired hack" inspired by topology.  It is fun to hear such a bright person talk unassumingly about his work too.<br /><br /><object width="425"  height="344"><param name="movie"  value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AtmwQnUlEmc&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen"  value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess"  value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AtmwQnUlEmc&hl=en&fs=1"  type="application/x-shockwave-flash"  allowscriptaccess="always"  allowfullscreen="true"  width="425"  height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I think students should see and hear stuff like this.]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Make your own saccharine posters]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4071.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:15:36 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/make-your-own-saccharine-posters.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/11/make-your-own-saccharine-poster</a></span></p> In an<a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/01/mission-minded-management-blog-featured.html"> earlier post</a>, I featured<a href="http://www.despair.com/"> despair.com</a>'s hilarious versions of the pervasive motivational poster.<br /><br />Now you can create your own online at <a href="http://wigflip.com/automotivator/">AutoMotivator</a>.  It may not motivate anyone, but it might be an interesting student task.  I did this one in about 10 seconds.  I think it shows.<br /><br /><a Xonblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"  href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VeHa5953rgs/SRLWpBzJk-I/AAAAAAAAADU/SJTW2ND-Kbg/s1600-h/automotivator.jpg"><img style="margin:0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 258px;"  src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VeHa5953rgs/SRLWpBzJk-I/AAAAAAAAADU/SJTW2ND-Kbg/s400/automotivator.jpg"  alt=""  id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265506914695484386"  border="0" /></a><br /><br />The <a href="http://diy.despair.com/motivator.php">Parody Motivator Generator</a> at despair.com is also a lot of fun.  Here is the description from their site.<br /><blockquote><h2>The War Against Motivation Continues.</h2><br /><p>For over two decades, the multi-billion dollar motivation industry has unleashed untold suffering upon the workplaces, schools and civil institutions of the world- in the insidious form of the motivational poster. By the millions they have been sold and displayed- these dark instruments of corporate propaganda. While promising to stimulate "Hope", "Success" and "Teamwork", instead these tools of coercion and intimidation have inspired only grief, anger and nausea.</p>       <p>In 1998, one company dared to fight back, as Despair, Inc. introduced <a target="new"  window=""  href="http://www.despair.com/viewall.html">Demotivators®</a>, satirical products reverse-engineered from the most powerful motivational posters ever inflicted upon mankind. And now, with the <span>Parody Motivator Generator</span>, we place those very same tools in your less-capable hands- giving you a chance to join us in the battle against an opponent as ubiquitous as it is idiotic. The chance to not only create your very own motivational parodies online, but also to purchase beautiful 11"x14" prints of your designs.</p>       <br /><h2>Now, Join The Battle and Make Your Design.<br /></h2></blockquote><br />The question designed to elicit the never-appearing comments intentionally left blank.]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[Is cromulence something you should embiggen?]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4041.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:00:54 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/10/is-cromulence-something-you-should.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/10/is-cromulence-something-you-sho</a></span></p> While watching a <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/7961049@N08/favorites/show/">slideshow of my Flickr favorites</a>, I noticed that one of the options is to "Embiggen small things to fill screen".  I wondered if someone was transliterating from Japanese.<br /><br /><a Xonblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"  href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VeHa5953rgs/SQig8Wv8N1I/AAAAAAAAADM/jMARpf0QM-4/s1600-h/embiggen.gif"><img style="margin:0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 337px; height: 178px;"  src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VeHa5953rgs/SQig8Wv8N1I/AAAAAAAAADM/jMARpf0QM-4/s400/embiggen.gif"  alt=""  id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262633123341678418"  border="0" /></a><br /><br />A quick search led me to a wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_the_Iconoclast#Cromulent_and_embiggens">article devoted to one particular Simpson's episode that uses the words embiggen and cromulent</a>.<br /><br />So do you think Flickr is hip or ignorant?]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[A year of blogging]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/4009.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:46:02 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/10/year-of-blogging.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/10/year-of-blogging.html</a></span></p> It seems de rigeur in the blogosphere to celebrate the anniversary of your first post.<br /><br />It has been a fun year of learning about all kinds of Web2.0 tools for me.<br /><br />Here are the stats:<br /><br />Google Reader reports that I have 25 subscribers and make 0.5 posts per week - I didn't notice that stat improving from <a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/02/00-posts-per-week.html">0.0 posts per week</a> until I just checked it.<br /><br />Google Analytics, which I turned on in January, reports that I have had 2,608 absolute unique visitors and 6,781 pageviews.  Interestingly, more people have visited using Firefox than IE.  There were even 17 visits using Chrome, but of course those might have all been from me.<br /><br />A few of my favorite posts:<br /><br /><ol><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/02/00-posts-per-week.html">See Knowledge being created and negotiated in real time</a> which builds on my fascination with Wikipedia.  I think it should be one of the wonders of the modern world.  I have made edits to the entries on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubersketch">UberSketch</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator">Calculator</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_coordinates">Cartesian Coordinates</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubersketch">Virtual manipulatives for mathematics</a>, among others.</li><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-is-time-for-digital-education.html">When is the time for digital education</a>, which is undoubtedly my longest post.</li><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/02/un-read-web.html">The Un-Read Web?</a> which is in the category of geeky stuff that doesn't seem to attract many pageviews, but which I find hilarious and which tweaked my interest in Javascript.</li><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-is-mathematics-what-is.html">What is Mathematics?  What is Multiplication?</a> which attracted the most august and vigorous commenters but which unfortunately happened at a time that I was least engaged in the web world.<br /></li></ol>Actually, as I look through the 88 posts, I realize that there is something I love in each one.<br /><br />The traffic indicates that there are some other posts that Google sends a lot of traffic from.  Notably,<br /><ol><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/01/fibonacci-gauge.html">Fibonacci Gauge</a> and <a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/02/fibonacci-gauge-part-2.html">Fibonacci Gauge - 2 </a></li><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/05/graphing-inequations-and-inequalities.html">Graphing inequations and inequalities in Sketchpad</a></li><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/04/prove-that-you-are-human.html">Prove that you are human</a></li><li><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/03/math-wars-pre-eminence-of-algebra-and.html">Math Wars, The Pre-eminence of Algebra and the Presidential Math Panel</a><br /></li></ol>There are more than a few posts that try to promote some of my work, like the <a href="http://mathfest.wikispaces.com/Online+Calculators">wiki page of online calculators</a>, the <a href="http://mathfest.wikispaces.com/Resources+for+The+Geometer%27s+Sketchpad">wiki page of resources for the Geometer's Sketchpad</a> and the <a href="http://oame.on.ca/clips">CLIPS collection of mathematical learning objects</a>.<br /><br />Of course, my blog has been peppered with things that <a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/05/tickling-my-odd-sense-of-humour.html">tickle my odd sense of humour</a>.<br /><br /><a Xonblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"  href="http://images.despair.com/banners/minidw9.jpg"><img style="margin:0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 397px; height: 220px;"  src="http://images.despair.com/banners/minidw9.jpg"  alt=""  border="0" /></a><br />I would have given up long ago based on the number of comments I receive without the Live traffic feed from <a href="http://live.feedjit.com/live/mathfest.blogspot.com/">Feedjit</a> which I still find fascinating.<br /><br />Lately, I have had more ideas for blog posts than the inclination to actually write them, so I doubt that there will be 88 posts this year, but I also doubt that there will be zero.<br /><br />Thanks for reading!]]></description>
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            <title><![CDATA[The CLIPS uberCalculator launched!]]></title>
            <link>http://www.commun-it.org/community/rossisen/weblog/3956.html</link>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:30:04 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[<p><span class="blog_post_source"><a href="http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/10/clips-ubercalculator-launched.html">http://mathfest.blogspot.com/2008/10/clips-ubercalculator-launched.h</a></span></p> I have had the privilege of working on the development of a set of learning objects supporting an instructional trajectory in Fractions, Periodic Functions and Linear Patterns, called <a href="http://oame.on.ca/clips">CLIPS</a>.<br /><br />There has been a lot of effort to design a wrapper to complement these activities.  One of the elements of this wrapper has been a simple calculator.  Recently, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubersketch">Greg Clarke</a> completely overhauled the CLIPS calculator to support four modes: <a href="http://www.oame.on.ca/calculator.html?mode=basic">Basic</a>, <a href="http://www.oame.on.ca/calculator.html?mode=sci">Scientific</a>, <a href="http://www.oame.on.ca/calculator.html?mode=graphing">Graphing</a> and <a href="http://www.oame.on.ca/calculator.html?mode=conv">Conversion</a>.  Greg was able to take advantage of the work of others who have freely shared their code in the opensource spirit.  The calculator is available inside CLIPS by clicking its icon at the top right.  It is also available standalone at <a href="http://www.oame.on.ca/clips/calculator.html">www.oame.on.ca/clips/calculator.html</a>.  The URL can be appended with ?mode=basic or ?mode=sci or ?mode=graphing or ?mode=conv as above to jump directly to one of the versions.  A drop-down list is used to switch between modes, open the calculator in another window (which makes it resizeable) and to <a href="http://www.oame.on.ca/clips/calculator.swf">download the .swf</a> locally for offline use, perhaps on an interactive white board.<br /><br />The CLIPS calculator is now prominently catalogued at the <a href="http://mathfest.wikispaces.com/Online+Calculators">Mathfest wiki page of online calculators</a>, which has lots of other interesting online tools listed.<br /><br />One nice, inobtrusive feature is that when the equals sign is pressed, the answer is copied to the user's clipboard, ready to be pasted into an answer text field in CLIPS or wherever it might be required.  I now have the CLIPS calculator as a link in my quick launch bar.<br /><br /><a Xonblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"  href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VeHa5953rgs/SPR8UsZXeAI/AAAAAAAAADE/nGLIBmPTIrk/s1600-h/CLIPSGraphing.gif"><img style="margin:0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;"  src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VeHa5953rgs/SPR8UsZXeAI/AAAAAAAAADE/nGLIBmPTIrk/s400/CLIPSGraphing.gif"  alt=""  id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256963360004995074"  border="0" /></a>]]></description>
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