Vergil’s Coffee

A nice run on a nice day…here’s the numbers:
CHRIS JUDSON 55 M4044 M GOSHEN 46:48 1:42:04 2:41:26 3:37:54 8:19

I’ve come to grips that the eeePC is not my primary computer and really wasn’t designed to be. So, after the 3rd time restoring the machine to factory settings using the Recover CD, I’ve vowed not to keep loading on a bunch of apps that I really didn’t need. (You know, that urge to load up a new computer with as many things as possible before actually using the thing?)

One thing that has annoyed me though is the inability for Flash-heavy sites to run on the default OS of the eeePC. I exclusively use Vimeo for all my video work (via the FlipVideo) and the site always hangs during the upload process and the crashes the browser. I’ve Googled for an answer, but couldn’t seem to find one until I jumped on the #eeePC IRC channel and zer0her0 clued me in on the basic uploaders:

http://vimeo.com/upload/video/basic

And also a more minimalist version:

http://vimeo.com/upload/video/babyface

Both work fine from my 4g (701); I’m liking, though, the basic over the babyface one: Still like to see my upload progress.

And now, I can upload my vids while I’m on vacation and not rely on Lori’s laptop to do what I should be able to do on this basic machine.

Wee-Haw!

P.S. Apparently there’s some hostility toward Flash-based websites in the Linux world (and other OS universes) <g>.

For wintertime it’s all about comfort food and something warm and hearty. Here’s two recipes that are fast and easy to throw in the crockpot and yield some good main courses:

Harvest Ham

• 3 sweet potatoes (sliced in half lengthwise)
• 1.5 pounds of boneless ham
• 1 cup of maple syrup

Place potatoes in bottom of slow cooker to form a rack; put ham on top of potatoes and pour syrup over ham and potatoes. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. (option: add 6 carrots and place them with the potatoes…we usually skip the carrots).

(ref: FitItQuick, 2004)

Cranberry-Orange Turkey Breast

• 1/2 cup of orange marmalade
• 16-oz can whole cranberries in sauce
• 2 tsp. orange zest, grated
• 3-lb. turkey breast

Combine first three ingredients in a bowl and place the turkey in slow cooker. Pour half the orange-cranberry mixture over turkey and cover. Cook low 7-8 hour, high 3.5-4 hours (until turkey juices run clear). Add remaining mixture for the last 1/2 hour of cooking. Remove turkey and allow of 15 minutes before slicing.

(ref: Fix-it and Forget-it, 2008 Calendar).

It started to feel like winter today with the rain/snow and permacloud taking over while I was working outside. It’s times like these that make me appreciate some good and hearty comfort food to warm the soul and fill the belly.

A favorite in our house is a variation of a Quick Cooking recipe “French Country Casserole” in which we just take out the stuff we don’t like (carrots and onions, for example) and still maintain a nice blend of meats and beans and taste. Preparation is about 7 minutes and the dish takes about an hour to bake. So, here’s a nice recipe to warm you up this winter.

• 1 pound fully cooked Polish sausage (or some other long sausage type of meat like kielbasa) cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 can (16 oz) kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 can (15 1/2 oz) great northern beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine or beef broth (either works well)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

Combine all ingredients in a 2 or 3 quart baking dish, ungreased (we use a glass casserole dish that has that glass cover thing…makes it easier when you are finished). Cover and bake at 375 degrees F for 60-70 minutes. Nine servings. If you like more veggies, you can add 3 medium carrots, thinly sliced and 2 small onions, sliced into rings…but like I mentioned before, we’re not carrot nor onion fans).

Enjoy!

Tonight, to make true to my promise after skimming the plan and writing about it and then making a few comments about businesses teaching education, I’m finding that most of my gut impressions were true…I’m just seeing the detail of how much economics has to play in this plan. It is, in a sense, about keeping up with other states and countries and is based on a national movement called 21st Century Skills (which I remember being concerned about in my first skim). If the 21st Century Skills gets more steam, this will probably be the next education reform to replace No Child Left Behind (now, it will be No Business Left Behind…sorry, it was really too easy to pass up).

I spent time working through the Introduction and the Executive Summary and I’ll post more later. In short, fear is the motivator and the proof of the claims are up for debate. In general: the evidence and research is much like most policy documents: an insistence on direct correlations and relationships. It is almost as if claims are treated as common sense or obvious because some business group did a study and that means that those conclusions are true. (And yes, I have read Freakonomics and Blink lately along with the dictionary and teaching argumentation and rhetoric to AP students.)

And while I am at it, I should also mention that I have been twittering since Feb 2007, I have a Facebook page, been using a website for my classes for 10 years, learning Latin though an online community, play bass and I think an inuksuk is pretty profound. In short, I find the report out-of-touch with the real digital age of students and locked into the bureacracy of policy and capitalism. Education and learning to be a productive member of a democracy is not the goal of this report; education for securing the top spot for The Democracy is.

As a side note, I do not doubt the hard work of these people; they did their jobs very well. The issue, though, is that this is not an innovative educational document; this plan is for economic recovery.

I’m taking a look at my original post regarding the current technology plan for Indiana and I’m rereading the original ,pdf report. I’m beginning first of all with the occasion of the report and it looks like much of the Indiana plan comes from an organization called Partnership for 21st Century Skills (and guess how many of these educational/business leaders actually spent any time in the school, let alone as a classroom teacher? Hint: somewhere close to nil).

On the Partnership site, I came across a video “Transforming Education for the 21st Century” produced by BizWise TV (here’s the YouTube version) with a business spin on the world of education with all of the usually whippings of the current educational system (with its generalizations sprinkled with some businesse–even a “paradigm” thrown in). No real numbers are used in their proof of why the American educational system is so bad. Oh wait, at 11:33 into the video, Keith Kruger (CEO for the non-profit Cons. for School Networking) is giving real numbers based on a study initiated by…oh, Cisco Systems (the producers of this little business webcast).

Now, back to this study (which comes on the heels of the line: a lot of money spent on technology without a lot of impact): Cisco funds the study to review the literature of the past 10 years and came to the following two conclusions:

The rest of the video continues the same pseudo-news approach to education (there’s even a panel discussion toward the end of the business-ad-webcast). What you will not find in this video is anyone really asking questions that can’t be answered. I think businesses are meant to feel smug after watching this video because they have the answer to solving the public school “crisis” (and, with all charity, you know). These people have never taught in a real classroom and yet, in their American Business Experience (like a knight in shining armor), they have the answer (and btw, they also have the products for your school to accomplish their-oops- the goals).

So, back to the 21st Century Skill folk, there are some reps from the educational community: university people. Nothing again our friends in higher education, but that still doesn’t make you an expert in what happens in the K-12 classroom.

And really not sure if I need to.

This is the post

Just checking back with my favorite blog.