To Be Thankful For

One of the aspects of life in the United States for which (at least in my opinion) we all should be thankful is our freedom of press. Leaving aside the possible threats to that freedom in the current day, I invite you to visit the Newseum.

Its mission: to help the public and the news media understand one another better.

Cool.

Cable Crossing

This PBS site is dedicated to documenting the laying of the first translantic cable. Most fascinating.

Giving Thanks For Things Nice

I came across this web presence that just seemed to be a great antidote for a lot of the wringing of hands and concerns being voiced in many quarters these days....at school and elsewhere.

The site is called NiceNet.Org. Here's their philosophy:

Nicenet is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to providing free services to the Internet community. Nicenet's primary offering, the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) is designed to address the pedagogical needs and limited resources of teachers and their students.

Before the commercial frenzy of the "dot com" years the Internet was home to a thriving culture of openness and sharing. This culture was born from the distributed, peer-to-peer nature of the Net, a model that to this day stands in stark contrast to the one-to-many print and broadcast commercial mass media. Nicenet's foundation was built upon this spirit of free flowing ideas and new possibilities.

The first project at Nicenet was aimed at educating the masses about the unprecedented potential of the Internet. Nicenet's founders soon realized that merely espousing the virtues of this new medium was not sufficient and set out to create their own contribution to the Internet community. Thus, the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) was born.

The ICA was first conceived as a web-based classroom environment that could be used by post-secondary teachers with their students. The system was designed not as a replacement for the classroom, but rather as a supplement allowing greater communication and sharing of information among students and between teachers and their students. However, Nicenet does not restrict the use of the ICA for any purpose and our users have frequently found creative and unimagined uses for the ICA.

The power to utilize the Internet effectively must remain open to everyone for its potential to be realized. The advent of the World Wide Web provided a perfect forum to offer a solution that could be easily adopted by teachers directly, without the need for institutional support, technical expertise or financial resources.

Nicenet set out to provide a tool that is very easy to adopt and use. The ICA requires only a web browser and a connection to the Internet, so there is no software to install or servers to manage. The simple format of the system is highly intuitive with a very low learning curve, requiring no formal training. The interface has low graphical content to make it easy to use through a standard modem. Such a model allows teachers to incorporate the ICA based on their personal pedagogical priorities rather than institutional infrastructure.

Nicenet strongly believes the classroom should not be a marketplace. The ICA is offered free of charge with no advertising, allowing even classrooms with modest resources access to powerful tools. Nicenet relies on the generosity of our supporters and volunteers to continue to provide the Internet Classroom Assistant.

This gets two thumbs up from this reader!

Just Ask Gammaw

Although I think the webmaster/originator/teacher that has created this actually named "Fran", I gather that there are some folks who call her "Gammaw".

Anyway, this Gammaw has her own website with all sorts of tutorials and other aids/tips/handy info at her Gammaw Geek site.

Lots here!

Can't Read That, Huh?

I've occasionally been accused of having handwriting that is -- well -- a "challenge". Palaeography is the study of making sense of challenging handwriting, typically in historical (obviously handwritten) documents.

Courtesy of the National Archives is a set of resources, including a tutorial, that will give you tips on how to decipher that old (or more recent) scratch that is just not making sense.

Stealing Ideas

Discovery Channel (cable) has a program called, It Takes A Thief. I'm going to have to catch this one. Apparently the set-up is that the program follows and films some actual (former) thieves as they try to break into a (pre-arranged) home. We get to watch their techniques and, afterward, glean ideas on how to better protect our own homes from this kind of instrusion and violation.

What will they think of next!?

A Defiant Tacoman

Although I've been gone from Tacoma for more years than I would care to admit, I know the town where I grew up has not entirely left my consciousness. I've already brought you a link about the "Galloping Gertie" Narrows Bridge.

Now I take you to a very picturesque part of Tacoma: Point Defiance Park. Here is a site dedicated to this refuge from the city streets and noise. You can walk, run, bike, and (yes) drive through miles of trees and nature. You can also stop at Fort Nisqually and play our some historical dramas, if you have a fancy to.

Point Defiance Park is a place filled with a number of great childhood memories -- of family picnics, swims on the beach, eating at waterfront restaurants, watching the ferry leave for or return from Vashon Island.

It's a great place!