tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-174991802024-03-13T03:10:36.176-07:00Here Be DragonsChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-82342657532601607572010-07-12T22:23:00.000-07:002010-07-12T22:23:39.270-07:00The Kindergarten TattlerMaryanne and I found a Father's day craft that my brother helped make when his was back in kindergarten. (18 years ago). It was a newspaper called the "Kindergarten Tattler" and it had pictures drawn by each student that explained what things their Dads like to do best. Some of the drawings and captions were really sweet. For example Lane's said his Dad liked to catch butterflies; while Joey's Dad likes climbing trees. Quite a few Dads' favourite thing was to go golfing. Some of the more interesting ones were suggestive of what kinds of things were going on at home. Genevieve's Dad dreamed of sleeping and having another baby. Heather's Dad enjoyed kissing her Mom and Megan's Dad enjoyed tickling her Mom best. But the most surprising thing was that according to Geoff the thing that Dad likes best is shooting guns.<br />
That is right, Dad apparently likes shooting guns best. This really surprised Maryanne and I especially since Dad only owned a rifle for hunting and he was drawn by Geoff holding a hand gun. This could be chalked up to the fact that he was a kindergarten student and doesn't notice detail except that Geoff did. I know this because he was one of the only kids to draw a human with all of their correct body parts and even more telling he even drew the shoe laces on Dad's shoes. So I took a closer look at the gun and it occurred to me that the only handgun in our house was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Master_System">Sega master system's</a> handgun for the game <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_Hunt">Safari Hunt</a>. I think that must be what it was.<br />
I will upload the picture as soon as I can. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-34097020007281893732010-04-12T21:17:00.002-07:002010-04-12T21:22:36.526-07:00Truly Unique Computer GamesRecently while reading <a href="http://xkcd.com/721/">XKCD</a> I came across the mention of a fourth dimensional game. When I researched it I foudn that it does not exist yet but that it has won some design <a href="http://www.igf.com/02finalists.html">awards</a>. I then checked out some other games that won similar awards and found some really fascinating games. Many of these games are short games that you can finish in less then a week or even an hour, but they are note worthy because of the way they play the game.<br />
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The first one I want to mention is called the <a href="http://www.continuitygame.com/">continuity game</a>. The game is a side scrolling game similar to Super Mario but with really simple clean graphics. The catch is that you can rearrange the levels by sliding the cards around. As long as the edges of the cards match up your character can move between them. Also as you play there is beautiful, calm music playing.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.continuitygame.com/images/screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://www.continuitygame.com/images/screenshot.png" width="320" /></a></div> The second game is more artistic. It is called a puzzle poem because the game is a poem in which you switch out nouns and verbs. The game is the title of the poem <i>"<a href="http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php">Today I die</a>." </i>As you do this it takes you through the story of the poem to the conclusion. I almost think of it as more art than game. It is a really neat concept that I have never seen applied to a game structure before. To add to the mood the poem also has music playing in the background.<br />
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If you have a moment I suggest you check out both of these games.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-3948692816169846792010-04-10T17:00:00.001-07:002010-04-10T17:02:00.143-07:00Oops! The story of my ringtone.So I made an awesome ringtone for my phone today. As anyone reading this knows I am a very big fan of the <a href="http://riderville.com/">Saskatchewan Roughriders</a>. Today I downloaded the "<a href="http://riderville.com/uploads/assets/SSK/Audio/greeniscolor.mp3">green is the colour</a>" song. It is such a great song that I thought it would make a nice ringtone. At first I thought that I could just transfer the file to my phone but the phone is older and would not allow the file to be used for the ringtone. So I looked online at how to convert my mp3 file to a ringtone. It turns out the itunes can do the trick by converting the file to an AAC format. Then I was able to use a website called http://rumkin.com/tools/sprint/ to send the file to my phone's download folder. This worked beautifully and now I have the song as my ringtone. <br />
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I then went and got groceries and when I got back to my house I got thinking about our phone plan. I remembered having unlimited text messaging which is what the file to my phone had been embedded in but I also remembered not having any data plan. I then called Bell, our provider, to find out what this little ringtone had cost me. It turns out that we have a really old plan and that the cost was going to be 5 cents a KB. The ringtone was 3.5MB or $175.00, I then nervously asked what kinds of plans would I be eligible for to cover this cost. It turns out that there is a $10.00 a month unlimited browsing plan that we could add, sigh of relief. We had to add it to both phones and we need to keep it for at least a month. <br />
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In the end I ended up having an awesome $20.00 ringtone. I also have a very loving wife who told me that she would never bring it up since I clearly felt so bad and foolish about what happened. I had to share how awesome she is with the world. I also had to let everyone know that I have a really cool ringtone.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-27856840986742898022010-03-26T23:45:00.002-07:002010-03-26T23:48:47.873-07:00Future vacationHi everyone. This is the way I want to travel some day.<br />
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If you want to read more go <a href="http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/luxury-eco-zeppelin-would-fly-future-passengers-around-world">here</a> and <a href="http://www.seymourpowell.com/aircruise/aircruise-press-release.html">here</a>.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-70547800644516289382009-11-24T22:13:00.000-08:002009-11-24T22:13:23.536-08:00Farming UpI came across the idea of farming in skyscrapers a couple of years ago. The idea seemed interesting and far fetched at the time. Lately though I have been running across this idea everywhere I go on the internet. (With that said I go to some pretty nerdy places). First I came across it recently again in <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-rise-of-vertical-farms">Scientific American the November 2009</a> issue. Then while reading an interesting <a href="http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=2643">article about farming Detroit</a> I linked over to an article about how <a href="http://www.guernicamag.com/spotlight/1182/food_among_the_ruins/">Detroit is a food desert</a> and there are possible plans to turn parts of it into farm land again or to turn the skyscrapers into hydroponic farms. Then today I saw that vertical farming was the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/11/20/f-vertical-farming-agriculture.html">spotlight story</a> in the technology section at the CBC website. <br />
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So what is vertical farming? In a few simple words it is farming in a skyscraper. It is obviously more involved than that but it gets across the general gist of the concept.<br />
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So why farm in a skyscraper? <br />
The various articles give a number of reasons. I will try to sum up the major ones below. These are in no particular order.<br />
1) The farms can be built into the cities water management systems to better use waste water.<br />
The idea here is that the farm building has a water treatment center in it and that municipal waste water gets purified enough to water the plants and the solid wastes are burned to provide energy. This would help to deal with city water management problems and provide water and energy for the farm. (it may need to supplement its energy with other sources of power still)<br />
2) There is not enough land to keep farming using current methods if the population continues to grow.<br />
I do not know how accurate it is but many different articles from different sources all seem to say that we will run out of farmland within the next 50 years. This includes if we just wholesale clear cut all current forests. The only way to allow for a growing population is to provide more food. In order to do that we need to have more farming in a tinier area. This means many storied farms.<br />
3) Limited water supply.<br />
We have all heard that water supplies are going to become more and more scarce as more people have to share them. In a controlled environment like a building you can recapture any water that evaporates off of plants and reuse it. You can also use things like drip irrigation to reduce the amount of water you need.<br />
4) Access to quality food.<br />
While most of us have access to good food this food has often traveled around the world to get to us. If we had vertical farms then you could have farms right in the city and they could provide local produce year round to grocery stores. You might even have a grocery store right on the first floor of the farm. <br />
5) Pollution reduction.<br />
This would reduce all the pollution that is used to ship it to you normally. It would likely take some time before the reduction in transportation pollution was greater than that of constructing the building but it would eventually be greener.<br />
6) Local jobs<br />
Running a large farm like this would generate jobs. The fact that there is a growing population means that this would not take jobs away from current farmers as they will still be needed as well.<br />
7) Save wild landscapes<br />
If we can build these kinds of farms then we do not need to expand farmland into areas that are currently still wild areas.<br />
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There are likely many more ideas. I would like to hear what different people think about this concept. One business model idea I had about it would be to have people that cannot use all of their own compost to give it to the vertical farms. They then get a share in the produce being grown. Kind of like a Co-op or something.<br />
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Well let me know what you think. Also if you want more information the website that seems to be the collecting point for all things relating to vertical farms is <a href="http://www.verticalfarm.com/">www.verticalfarm.com</a> .Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-29725935461792183422009-11-18T22:56:00.000-08:002009-11-18T22:56:44.257-08:00Fun with Microscopes!Recently Maryanne got a <a href="http://westprocrastination.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-camera.html">new digital camera</a> and I was given permission to do as I pleased with the old one. I have been using it at school for various projects but on Monday I got to thinking that it sure would be nice if I could take photos through the microscope for the grade 6 and 7 students that were away that day. I remembered that you could <a href="http://www.prolabscientific.com/Flexcam-USB-Camera-p-21148.html">buy cameras for microscopes</a> but that we would not use it enough to justify the approx $550 dollar cost. So then I decided to experiment a little bit to see if I could use the old digital camera to take a photo of my cheek cell.<br />
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My first attempt was of me just holding the camera up to the ocular lens of the compound microscope. I then looked at the display screen on the camera to try and line up everything for the shot. This was my first attempt.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghnmKFVP5OnOou41u-6d_HrfolQDPC-JKGsmvytUVUtHkX4hAw0c2ooAUy85Ma8cS9voZWl9T9hi3zo8ewasfg8soNbeTYWKP0K4jMRQRVN4mucRM3fP3pb1gwHE4atV96IZPNEg/s1600/DSC03979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghnmKFVP5OnOou41u-6d_HrfolQDPC-JKGsmvytUVUtHkX4hAw0c2ooAUy85Ma8cS9voZWl9T9hi3zo8ewasfg8soNbeTYWKP0K4jMRQRVN4mucRM3fP3pb1gwHE4atV96IZPNEg/s320/DSC03979.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What you see is an iodine stained couple of cheek cells scraped off the inside of my check with a toothpick. (Your cheek cells regularly slough off so it does not hurt to take the sample. Even my grade 6 and 7 students thought that it did not hurt.) If I recall the resolution of the microscope was 100x. You can make out the nucleus of each cell clearly. The bunched up part in the upper right hand corner is a bunch of cells that are stuck together.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This was a pretty good result but I wanted to make it more stable. I found an old thick cardboard tube that had been given to me by Dad a couple of summers ago. (They had been used to ship some sort of scientific instrument's light bulb to Dad and he thought that they were too sturdy just to toss so he gave them to me with the comment that I should see if I could do something interesting with them.) The cardboard tube fit perfectly around the ocular lens. I then but it to size to ensure that when the camera's zoom lens was out it would be as close to the eyepiece as possible without touching it. I could now brace the camera against the cardboard tube without worrying about shaking while zoomed in on high power.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I gave the new setup a good test the next day (Tuesday) with a water sample that I collected from a lake that is a 5 minute walk from the school. I was able to find a very cooperative water flea in that water.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyaMnk2Q2WUhLnxpJyuBBZmOZi2CypuAcvsBvj2fb-44S967aJ4vI3DfMmXxhtlnf49EjAlgRZrXMbJnehYC3Vq-QCzu4qaJ_gZkmv6_qMd83DqWwvW79WENs7Sm_APYnWZhwCQ/s1600/DSC04002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyaMnk2Q2WUhLnxpJyuBBZmOZi2CypuAcvsBvj2fb-44S967aJ4vI3DfMmXxhtlnf49EjAlgRZrXMbJnehYC3Vq-QCzu4qaJ_gZkmv6_qMd83DqWwvW79WENs7Sm_APYnWZhwCQ/s320/DSC04002.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here he or she is at 400x magnification. In this photo the head is mainly in focus and the body is kind of blurry. This is due to the fact that at this level of magnification the thickness of the water flea prevents all of it from being in focus at once. Also it wouldn't really hold still.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lastly I tried to make a video. I will add the video tomorrow. Right now Maryanne has gone to bed and I need to head that way as well. But so far I'm pretty happy with the camera setup.<br />
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</div>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-67725737090126842232009-11-15T23:14:00.000-08:002009-11-15T23:14:03.400-08:00Awash in a Sea of Humanities.This weekend we had our friends Karl and Meg and their little boy Andrew over to our house. It was really good to see them. They had last been here for a week in <a href="http://westprocrastination.blogspot.com/2009/08/keeping-me-entertainedon-my.html">August</a> and even though that doesn't seem like a long time when you are two every month seems to bring about huge changes. Andrew is now babble talking more coherently and he is starting to be a little more careful and thoughtful in the way that he plays. For instance he did not just pull magnets off the fridge but pulled them off and then arranged them into shapes on the fridge. He also was able to get around just that much better this time. Maryanne has a great<a href="http://westprocrastination.blogspot.com/2009/11/for-your-entertainment.html"> post about him being a ghost</a>.<br />
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We also had our friends <a href="http://ariannland.blogspot.com/">Ariann</a> and <a href="http://derekbturner.blogspot.com/">Derek</a> over on Saturday to visit with Karl and Meg and little Andrew. During this visit everyone got analyzing the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/">Up</a>. Then on Sunday we had our friend <a href="http://amandolynandky.blogspot.com/">Ky</a> over after Church for lunch. Soon Karl, Maryanne and her were discussing how to get a <a href="http://gcu-ubc.ca/">GCU</a> group going at UVic. It was during this conversation that Maryanne made the comment that she did not know anyone outside of the History or English departments. It was at that moment that I realized that my life has gradually become surrounded more and more by people deeply entrenched in the humanities.<br />
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Allow me to present my evidence. My wife is in grad school to become a historian. This means that all of the university people that we get to know, any conferences that we go to are all about history. Our friend Ky who goes to Church with us and is Maryanne's lifelong friend is in grad school to get her doctorate in some sort of English literature thing. Our friends Karl and Meg are both humanities people. Karl is getting his PhD in some sort of wisdom literature field and Meg has her bachelors degree in political science. Our friends Derek and Ariann are also humanities focused. They both have their bachelor of education but are specialized in humanities. Derek in English and Social Studies and Ariann in Music and Social Studies. Even among the teachers at school I am the only one that's only focus was science. The closest to another science guy is our new vice-principal Mr. Douglas. I think that he was a geography major and understands meteorology really well but his focus and passion is not science but instead Christian Ethics, which is very important.I do have a few people at Church who are science guys but at this point I only really see them on Sundays.<br />
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So what does all this mean? Well it means that a lot more of my conversations are about humanities. I know that a lot of the people mentioned above are now saying "Hold on Chris, we talk science all the time!," which is kind of true. We talk about popular culture science. Things like the show Big Bang Theory, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, etc. We also discuss science fiction, but I realized this weekend as I listened to some very intellectual people wade into an overly deep discussion on the movie Up that I don't really have anyone local that I can discuss the corresponding science stuff with. For instance how might we actually make the dog translator collars that are seen in the movie? I do not remember that last time I could really debate and discuss stuff like how the FTL on the Battlestar might work. When I mentioned to Derek that I would prefer to make robots (more applied science) than play Wii (popular culture science) he seemed surprised that I would prioritize my time this way. I think that in the next while I might try to seek out more people to do science things with.<br />
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I hope that I did not offend any of my friends who are focused on humanities. I like our conversations and I enjoy the things we do. This was more of a realization that since the beginning of the school year I have not talked with anyone about the big science thoughts in my head and I miss that. In case anyone is wondering the main thought projects I have been working on are skyscraper farms, quantum entanglement FTL engines, light rail train system for Regina. I miss doing science with others as colleagues rather than always as the teacher. <br />
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Well, its late and I need to go to bed. Good night.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-59790820296482175682009-11-08T22:24:00.000-08:002009-11-08T22:24:15.105-08:00A Boy and his House Hippo: Part 1Those of you from Canada may recall the Concerned Children's Advertisers' ad about the House Hippo from 2000. <br />
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Well, a long time ago Maryanne got some soap that had a little toy hippo in it. After I freed the hippo from his soapy prison I declared him to be my pet House Hippo. Today I decided to document some of the adventures that my House Hippo and I have together.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenprocrastination/4088003045/" title="In his natural habitat by Maryanne, Queen of Procrastination, on Flickr"><img alt="In his natural habitat " height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2698/4088003045_d7555085e2.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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This is the House Hippo at his watering hole. This is his natural habitat. You can see Maryanne in the background sitting on the couch with her laptop. That is her natural habitat. <br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenprocrastination/4088761504/" title="Representing by Maryanne, Queen of Procrastination, on Flickr"><img alt="Representing" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2790/4088761504_70de8ee1e6.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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This is a picture of the House Hippo cheering on the Riders. He is looking forward to the western final. Go Riders. <br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenprocrastination/4088760384/" title="Roaring at Hologram Potato Leia by Maryanne, Queen of Procrastination, on Flickr"><img alt="Roaring at Hologram Potato Leia" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/4088760384_8def0f5510.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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Here you can see him roaring at Princess Leia. His is kinda like a Wookiee, he roars when he is happy and when he is sad. His favourite Star Wars character is Chewbacca.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenprocrastination/4088000907/" title="A boy and his house hippo. by Maryanne, Queen of Procrastination, on Flickr"><img alt="A boy and his house hippo." height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2689/4088000907_4d03b0d5ab.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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This last one is of my House Hippo standing on my hand and saying hi to me. <br />
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To see the rest of the House Hippo photos check out <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenprocrastination/sets/72157622641106947/">Maryanne's Flickr account</a>. Well that is all for now but I think that the House Hippo may become a regular on my Blog. If anyone has any activities that they would like to see the House Hippo doing let me know.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-26142348379421325432009-11-03T22:29:00.001-08:002009-11-03T22:33:18.902-08:00Working on not Working on Report Cards.For a guy that claims to be immensely busy getting his report cards done by Friday I have certainly managed to have some fun over the last week.<br />
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Now some of that fun was at school which is almost like work: Sometimes you have to make your own fun during the dry moments in class to engage the students. This might mean that you find the net force on a flying feline.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuSnt_QDqyg38zFceVbnG-RhhC39UOwTv_1W3dFlz1RGsdQhor6Fugf4e6GZL5tU0kAeG3g04eBPfJOXRIh5htt6YhTXi1RFH7J6sTB3wFXHF5GwogYDH1O8Q_DAo4EaT7oNh_8Q/s1600-h/DSC03890.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuSnt_QDqyg38zFceVbnG-RhhC39UOwTv_1W3dFlz1RGsdQhor6Fugf4e6GZL5tU0kAeG3g04eBPfJOXRIh5htt6YhTXi1RFH7J6sTB3wFXHF5GwogYDH1O8Q_DAo4EaT7oNh_8Q/s320/DSC03890.JPG" /></a><br />
</div>Or, it might mean that you spend a class convincing Math 11 students that they do not need to despair at turning y = (x-3)(x-1)(x+1) into a graph. If they act like CSI detectives and examine all the clues they can piece together their "crime scenes" and figure out what the graph will look like. By the end of the class we were jokingly calling each other detectives and I even promoted one boy to Sergeant when he solved a tough "case".<br />
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I did even manage to have some fun away from work.<br />
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On Saturday we hiked up and around <a href="http://www.saanich.ca/webapp/parks/displaypark.jsp?mapNo=87">Mount Douglas Park</a> here in Victoria. I was able to get some nice pictures. Some on my old freebie digital camera including this one of a very friendly passing dog.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaov61xSRqFu5XGDIiGaiGgM_vBM4Vpeu_qv9wHAiUI9Ypxpb_5tFq6q8JsR5_vY6qEY0q0nNQCRJFWp4OQi4ugJ21yR2lWZNteexU52m_spBrJEPtKl18FBATazHptFndvi0BEg/s1600-h/DSC03967.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaov61xSRqFu5XGDIiGaiGgM_vBM4Vpeu_qv9wHAiUI9Ypxpb_5tFq6q8JsR5_vY6qEY0q0nNQCRJFWp4OQi4ugJ21yR2lWZNteexU52m_spBrJEPtKl18FBATazHptFndvi0BEg/s320/DSC03967.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And some on <a href="http://westprocrastination.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-camera.html">Maryanne's nice new camera</a>.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAaX1r8bxin3qXBDoIaNXl4PEYbo22S9ipaKKDlquYCFIc57ew1G4fJF8Xp_mz3nZCxycA7ZZWzOJtmgtQ0JK5v-OD2EM47N1CLCHBpga82spyfFs1xqrx9_7nN_i-ZPgpl0GL_g/s1600-h/IMG_0860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAaX1r8bxin3qXBDoIaNXl4PEYbo22S9ipaKKDlquYCFIc57ew1G4fJF8Xp_mz3nZCxycA7ZZWzOJtmgtQ0JK5v-OD2EM47N1CLCHBpga82spyfFs1xqrx9_7nN_i-ZPgpl0GL_g/s320/IMG_0860.JPG" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgscEFsy2vcuxCbVFhTO__q7nr5T6oya_ZrQnEHDpAL2eTjI0Z88d-uPFsqE8qOdlw5cpfG-iU4tvzcpnzMN10B_kGmlf-jXpNvN1P5HkwiZ1z91MxaGTcdOjFqqHrQmlmR0GkOTg/s1600-h/IMG_0889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgscEFsy2vcuxCbVFhTO__q7nr5T6oya_ZrQnEHDpAL2eTjI0Z88d-uPFsqE8qOdlw5cpfG-iU4tvzcpnzMN10B_kGmlf-jXpNvN1P5HkwiZ1z91MxaGTcdOjFqqHrQmlmR0GkOTg/s320/IMG_0889.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>That is Maryanne in the distance.</i></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Then of course on Sunday afternoon Nov 1st it was cheap candy day:<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh and I also convinced Maryanne that I should get a Halloween Mr. Potato Head. Here he is in the dark bathroom showing off his glowing eyes. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I keep peeking him around the corner at Maryanne before I enter a room. He says "Oooooooowwhoooo" a lot.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yeah that has been how I have been working on not working on my report cards. I am really looking forward to them being done.<br />
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</div>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-38718732080380869072009-10-25T22:03:00.000-07:002009-10-25T22:03:07.139-07:00New Banner!Thanks goes out to <a href="http://www.buggeringcrapmonkies.com/">May-B</a> for the new banner. I will do my best to live up to the description on it.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-32626259381156850912009-10-24T22:35:00.001-07:002009-10-24T22:35:31.506-07:00A Good Day for the Riders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzOgWQu3CSzbdDbCm4r747Se5DwrMcAzxFDk4gVl__ep2jLg-p3_cr-EzGyZTyraKwl_2mGPyL-1KoipBUob9durxyMspptmg8RGcwX7kD65VIz3VGGQbgNj5-f3VaomeienvJQ/s1600-h/IMG_0755.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzOgWQu3CSzbdDbCm4r747Se5DwrMcAzxFDk4gVl__ep2jLg-p3_cr-EzGyZTyraKwl_2mGPyL-1KoipBUob9durxyMspptmg8RGcwX7kD65VIz3VGGQbgNj5-f3VaomeienvJQ/s400/IMG_0755.JPG" /></a><br />
</div>We did some pumpkin carving at Justin and Joanie's today, during the football game. This was my way of cheering on the team. This picture is of me after watching the recorded game; as you can tell, I'm pretty pumped. For complete photos from the afternoon, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenprocrastination/sets/72157622656273718/">see Maryanne's Flickr account</a>.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-72095363468692105142009-10-21T22:57:00.005-07:002009-10-21T23:08:01.162-07:00Fun with Physics 11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object height="340" width="475"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SNKAEM945yA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SNKAEM945yA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="475" height="340"></embed></object><br />
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Thought a few of you might like to see the kind of things I get up to in class. Hope you enjoy the rollercoaster: my students certainly did!<br />
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(More posts coming soon.)Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-3030604963792752012008-03-08T18:25:00.004-08:002008-03-08T21:27:28.679-08:00Daylight Savings time: BOOOO!Almost everyone is familiar with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time">daylight savings time</a> (DST). Some, because twice a year it messes with your schedule causing you to either be early or late to work the following Monday; others that don't change know about it because it messes with the t.v. schedule. For the lucky unaware ones here is a brief explanation.<br /><br />Early in the spring the participating regions start DST by moving their clocks forward 1 hour at 2:00 in the morning. They lose that hour until the fall when again in the middle of the night they change the time. This time they gain the hour. This gives us the sayings "Spring ahead" and "Fall back".<br /><br />So why bother?<br /><br />Well those regions that do it claim the following:<br />1) It shifts the light from the morning before most people get up to the evening when sport activities are happening. This allows outdoor evening activities to continue later.<br />2) It saves in electricity.<br />3) It increases retail sales in the evening.<br />4) It decreases car fatalities.<br /><br />When I examined these points I found that some of these reasons are true and others are kind of more mythical.<br />1) This first one is true, to a point. In Victoria it makes a lot of sense for the switch in mid March because it is actually <a href="http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_e.html?Province=BC%20%20&StationName=&SearchType=&LocateBy=Province&Proximity=25&ProximityFrom=City&StationNumber=&IDType=MSC&CityName=&ParkName=&LatitudeDegrees=&LatitudeMinutes=&LongitudeDegrees=&LongitudeMinutes=&NormalsClass=A&SelNormals=&StnId=121&">nice enough out</a> do have outdoor sporting events. This is not the case for the rest of Canada though. For Saskatchewan the average maximum temp in <a href="http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_e.html?Province=SASK&StationName=&SearchType=&LocateBy=Province&Proximity=25&ProximityFrom=City&StationNumber=&IDType=MSC&CityName=&ParkName=&LatitudeDegrees=&LatitudeMinutes=&LongitudeDegrees=&LongitudeMinutes=&NormalsClass=A&SelNormals=&StnId=3002&">May is 18.8 and the minimum is 4.6 Celsius</a>. This is about the soonest that you would want late evening sports and the sunset (without DST) on <a href="http://www.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sunmoon.pl">May 1st is 8:20 and by the end of the month 9:00pm</a>.<br /><br />Conclusion for reason #1:<br />The claims are true provided that the climate you live in is temperate or that you live in a lower latitude where the change in day length from winter to summer is less. Otherwise the argument is a lot weaker because by the time it is warm enough out the sunset is later anyway.<br /><br />2) The second reason is highly contentious. The U.S. in 2005 moved <a href="http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RS22284_20060404.pdf">DST earlier by 2 weeks</a> because they claimed that there would be a large electricity cost saving since people would have more daylight in the evening and need less light and heat. The problem is that most people turn on the lights in their house in the evening anyway because it gives more consistent lighting. So it would seem that there is <a href="http://energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-200-2007-004/CEC-200-2007-004.PDF">no gain</a>. BUT it actually turns out that since DST goes all summer it shifts the hotter part of the day towards the evening. This is the time that people are coming home and they want their houses cooler so they turn up the air conditioners. A <a href="http://www.mlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/03/time_change_saves_daylight_not.html">study done on Indiana last year showed that when they started to use DST the energy usage went up 4%</a> and they estimate that this would be larger for locations with more extreme weather patterns then Indiana.<br /><br />Conclusion for reason #2:<br />It would seem that this is pure myth and that the truth is actually the opposite, it usually increases energy costs.<br /><br />3) All the evidence for this one is that you do indeed spend more money and you are more likely to stay out late shopping when it is lighter out. Also you are more likely to buy sports equipment sooner in the season. So this is good for the stores but not necessarily for your bank balance. There is a flip side though. It seems that the complexity of the change over to DST causes businesses that have holdings in multiple time zones with different observances to hold off on their market activities on the day of the switch to avoid confusion. This is estimated to cost the American <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#_note-19">economy millions.</a><br /><br />Conclusion for reason #3:<br />It is true that you will spend more money. You can decide if this is good. Also it might cause business trying to avoid confusion money on the stock market.<br /><br />4) It was reasoned that the daylight in the evening would help keep people safer on the roads. It seems that this is negated though by there being less sunlight in the morning on the way to work and school. The net affect <a href="http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RS22284_20060404.pdf">seems minimal<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></a> in either direction.<br /><br />Conclusion for reason #4:<br />Mythical and not a valid reason.<br /><br />Overall conclusion:<br />Daylight saving time only makes sense for those locations that have the nice weather earlier in the spring to take advantage of a longer evening. For everyone else it just gives them a long cold evening that cannot be used anyway. Also it may cost you as much at 3.19 a month.<br /><br />Recommendation:<br />If we all stop it together this would end the confusion between provinces and states that do not do it anyway AND we can all save some money. The only downfall is that yeah we may have to wait a month to have little league outside in the evening.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-15173827778046519512008-02-10T16:27:00.000-08:002008-02-10T19:11:09.888-08:00Garbage goes in Electricity comes out.Just the other day I was talking with a colleague at work about how it would be nice to recycle everything in a tiny building that we were tearing down at school. We lamented about how hard it is to do this. I then made some random comment about a plasma technology that I had <a href="http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-03/prophet-garbage">read about</a> a few years ago that would melt almost any garbage into a usable strong building material. I had never heard anything more about it so I assumed it was still in the prototype phase. Then today I read at CBC <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/02/07/ot-plasco-080207.html">an article about a plasma recycling plant</a> that can convert 1 tonne of garbage into: 1.4 MWh of power, 300 litres of clean drinkable water, 5-10 kg of commercial salt, 150 kg of durable construction aggregate, and 5 kg of sulfur based fertilizer. It does all of this while producing almost no greenhouse gases.<br /><br />The company is called PlascoEnergy Group and they have started their first prototype plant in Ottawa. It is going to divert 85 tonnes of garbage from the landfill each day. Since this is the prototype they do not quite get all <a href="http://www.plascoenergygroup.com/?Ottawa,_Canada">the results that they expect</a>. It turns out that the plant will produce a constant 4 MW so only 96MWh instead of the expected 119 from the above list. The rest of the products are still expected. So I started to wonder how long it would take before this plant paid for itself.<br /><br />This prototype plant cost 27 million they said. Assuming that they can sell the power at the Saskatchewan cost of 9.38 cents per kWh. This is a little higher then the rates in Ottawa but it is green power and many people are willing to pay those few cents extra for green power. They should be able to make $9,004/day from power alone. They will probably also be paid a certain amount per tonne of garbage that they handle for the city. They can also sell the water, aggregate, salt and fertilizer. Lets assume that they make about 15,000/day They need to pay for their employees at the facility. Lets assume 20 guys at 20.00/hour after all it is a fairly small facility. That means 3,200 in wages. Maintenance costs of about 2,000 a day on average (obviously some days will be much higher and some much lower). Also the plant only runs 340 days a year. (25 maintenance days) That means that each year they will gross about 5.1 million and have costs of about 1.9 million. So they will make about 3.2 million a year. This means that it will take about 9 years to pay it off. This is a fairly good turn around time as I expect that the plant lifetime will be anywhere from 20 - 40 years.<br /><br />So who wants one? Well that is kinda the whole point of this project. They hope to show that it works and then they can shop it around. They apparently have a potential customer in L.A. who produces about 11,000 metric tons of garbage. If all of this were converted to power that is a potential power supply of 12,423MWhs or a constant output of 517MW. That is a decent size power plant. It won't provide all of the power for LA. which once set a record of 22, 622MW required but it would at least provide power for about 336,000 homes.<br /><br />I think that this technology will have a huge future. Let me know what you think.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-56212709571983696532008-02-09T10:07:00.000-08:002008-02-09T11:18:26.962-08:00Human Power: The new renewable powerThere is an <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/02/07/tech-knee-energy.html%22%3E">interesting invention</a> that has come out of Simon Frasier University. If you want a <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.cbc.ca/clips/mov/brown-wattage080207.mov%22%3E">video clip</a> check this out. It is basically a knee brace that generates power as you walk. I will try to explain this for everyone that might read this.<br /><br />When you step forward your body swings your calf forward. You can think of this like a swinging weight. If the energy of your swinging forward calf had to be completely stopped by your knee you would quickly wear your knees out. To stop that from happening our bodies have muscles that slow our leg down as it straightens out. You can imagine these muscles as the brakes for our legs. Again, without these muscles your knee would have to do all the stopping of the leg. This would be similar to always stopping your car with the emergency brake.<br /><br />So why did I explain the way your leg works and not the device? Well you need to understand that your leg already has a brake built into it. What this new knee brace generator does is help slow your leg down at the end of the step. (This is similar to a hybrid car using the forward energy given off by a car as it brakes to charge the battery) It does this by having your leg turn a small generator ( the reverse of an electric motor). This does not create any extra effort to walk. It will not be like trying to walk in knee high water or anything like that. The only extra work your body does is carry around a few extra pounds, and that will diminish as future versions get even lighter.<br /><br />Some other quick details that the article listed:<br />1) It generates about 5 watts of power while at a normal walk. According to my quick research on <a href="%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.duracell.com/OEM/Primary/Alkaline/mn1500.asp%22%3E">Duracell's website</a>, a regular AA can generate about 1 watt of power for about 75 minutes. That means that this is as good as about 5 continually new AA batteries. This is actually a lot of power. According to the article 1 minute of walking could power 30 minutes of cell phone use.<br />2) It weighs about 1.6 kilograms (3 1/2 pounds)<br /><br />So with all of this in mind what can we use it for?<br /><br />The first application suggested in the article is that it could power electric prosthesis so that amputees would not have to wear battery packs. There are also a wide range of other similar medical suggestions. For example any sort of monitoring unit that a person might wear or any sort of device like a pacemaker that might require power.<br /><br />Another application is of course military in nature. Soldiers could use it to power their GPS units and other handheld devices. This would mean that they would have virtually unlimited battery life and would be in less danger of falling out of contact.<br /><br />The exciting applications are when you start to think about every day use. The reason many portable devices are so bulky and limited in there abilities is that they require enough battery life to be practical. Once you improve the battery life they can add many more applications.<br /><br />A classic example is the IPhone. When it came out everyone complained that it could not use the internet and talk at the same time. This is something that is not possible for second generation GSM edge technology. That is why almost all new phones being offered by AT&T (the company selling the IPhone) use third generation GSM umts technology. It allows the user to surf the internet or send a video from their camera while still talking on the phone via their bluetooth. It also allows the internet to be faster. It is like going from dial-up internet to broadband. So why would Apple release a phone that is clearly inferior in its internet and data usage? The official reason is that the computer chip for umts is a power hog and it would shorten the battery life unacceptably. Until they can resolve this battery problem Apple won't release a 3G umts IPhone.<br /><br />No imagine if battery life were not a problem for portable devices. The displays may be thinner, storage may be a little higher, screen size a little bigger for watching video, internet a little faster. There are also a variety of other things that may eventually be possible that will require a power source like this one. One is a shirt that has a tv built in. <a href="http://www.styledash.com/2007/05/28/wear-your-tv-as-a-t-shirt/">It is flexible screen technology</a> and it would be like having the ipod screen built into a patch on your sleeve. If that is a little too weird for you then maybe just a shirt that can <a href="http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=590">change its colour using electricity</a>. You may also have shoes that track your running and workout stats. That would be cool.<br /><br />I'd like to hear what other people think about this.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-11140920043931939292008-02-03T21:20:00.000-08:002008-02-03T21:56:34.454-08:00Robot Club (K-3) PicturesHi everyone. Robot club finally happened this week for the little guys in kindergarten to grade 3. The older kids still didn't because they had a symphony field trip but I'll get them next week. I though rather then make everyone wait for the bigger kids I would share some of the pictures from the little kids. I picked a variety that I thought everyone would like and I have a few comments about each one.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sedsWTC961Gy31PgmhNHD23mAgZ5CHdJULAyn9O1C4LMF2dfL0hl28dAzJQsNtsXNbH9zGl_hXHf4Sa4oaj1a1ELuNBwkkSK_U-DQErV6RLY8ejawffA3rqLXaU-Izdby6INfA/s1600-h/Sarpiner.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sedsWTC961Gy31PgmhNHD23mAgZ5CHdJULAyn9O1C4LMF2dfL0hl28dAzJQsNtsXNbH9zGl_hXHf4Sa4oaj1a1ELuNBwkkSK_U-DQErV6RLY8ejawffA3rqLXaU-Izdby6INfA/s200/Sarpiner.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162993422922497186" border="0" /></a>Name: Sarpiner<br />This one is a paper work ninja! It fills out tax forms faster than if they were grade 1 math!<br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9czobuCd91L3sCILxy2cE94IqNkp_BPSog0LqUIrrPLDZK1db7BPUDJtRYB6yD3MMkBHUZthwIWD_d8qaNl2bCg0u45sKzuYuexT8fpIx370uRVMjv4vjMuIpjvTMyRMnm5wMFg/s1600-h/Angel.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9czobuCd91L3sCILxy2cE94IqNkp_BPSog0LqUIrrPLDZK1db7BPUDJtRYB6yD3MMkBHUZthwIWD_d8qaNl2bCg0u45sKzuYuexT8fpIx370uRVMjv4vjMuIpjvTMyRMnm5wMFg/s320/Angel.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162993148044590162" border="0" /></a>Name: Angel<br />This one reminds me off the fat angels that Mom always prayed would sit on the car, to give us good traction, when we were driving in blizzards growing up.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhej80ffY2jsS9gZmXVxleSNDKt2GLKgUtyENkFDWH464SSlibKTkCUgnDKsqbuVioKLRg96V9d0kz_ROkTllBzTfm6zwbklv6VBtVVsJ9xqaVVNDfLkjB4YnLRN6farzCVUQCzeQ/s1600-h/Astro.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhej80ffY2jsS9gZmXVxleSNDKt2GLKgUtyENkFDWH464SSlibKTkCUgnDKsqbuVioKLRg96V9d0kz_ROkTllBzTfm6zwbklv6VBtVVsJ9xqaVVNDfLkjB4YnLRN6farzCVUQCzeQ/s320/Astro.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162993152339557474" border="0" /></a>Name: Astro Boy<br />This robot reminds me of a cross between <a href="http://astroboy.manga.com/">Astro boy</a> and <a href="http://www.homestarrunner.com/main1.html">Strong Bad</a>.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjx1q6C_Rp37WpHRry9Byq2xwn1pi0CmbP9-bjB9RHQWb44C4GahWSnqPbVMbXiLR1NE-Qva8PYYvLx2r6tVLHSFT6cP3xpEUsmI06P0DOZ0q8wJTr6D76vMXnRKdavux5KFn-kA/s1600-h/Boat.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjx1q6C_Rp37WpHRry9Byq2xwn1pi0CmbP9-bjB9RHQWb44C4GahWSnqPbVMbXiLR1NE-Qva8PYYvLx2r6tVLHSFT6cP3xpEUsmI06P0DOZ0q8wJTr6D76vMXnRKdavux5KFn-kA/s320/Boat.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162993156634524786" border="0" /></a>Name: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman">Flying Dutchman</a><br />The kid that drew this told me that what made this an awesome robot is that it can fly even though it is a boat. I agree with him. That does make it awesome<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4mIxKk-MvjTnVse9LYs8W0gm92Zi57qx2mDo4hOV5eY5ylrxroISCiLG3G7AMKYmRQEoJibpUdS96TzF9wYUPaTeMoLUwoEQ807FVkdmFO-BWeaZ7pBVwPSa2i44I6X4SDrIQQ/s1600-h/Fudge.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4mIxKk-MvjTnVse9LYs8W0gm92Zi57qx2mDo4hOV5eY5ylrxroISCiLG3G7AMKYmRQEoJibpUdS96TzF9wYUPaTeMoLUwoEQ807FVkdmFO-BWeaZ7pBVwPSa2i44I6X4SDrIQQ/s320/Fudge.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162993160929492098" border="0" /></a>Name: Fudgicle<br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;">This robot looks like a fudgicle to me. I like to think that it makes fudgicles and gives them out to good boys and girls.<br /><br /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbO14G4ns51EWu06vQRmSVkMDNyNaChsKvBALqDKUaiHZ4Obbkzlm2H4K2yA77CaR0R8QyPrPzzKFt97UV4YeyGuscM3DklXsXZUod3CAw97IsX-wmhZn19ZpbtyGwJGobpKDkJA/s1600-h/Ih.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbO14G4ns51EWu06vQRmSVkMDNyNaChsKvBALqDKUaiHZ4Obbkzlm2H4K2yA77CaR0R8QyPrPzzKFt97UV4YeyGuscM3DklXsXZUod3CAw97IsX-wmhZn19ZpbtyGwJGobpKDkJA/s320/Ih.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162993160929492114" border="0" /></a>Name: Ih.<br />This robot apparently has the ability to talk backwards. When I first saw it I thought the image soaked through the paper, but her name that I blurred out was spelled correctly so she really did write it backwards.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Well everyone. Let me know what you think. Next week (3 days or so from now) we should have some pictures of lego "robots". Have a great night everyone.<br /><br />Chris<br /><br /><br /></div><br /></div>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-16343276583273260422008-01-23T21:27:00.000-08:002008-01-23T21:32:35.498-08:00Because I'm a nice wife and all...I'm going to start telling stories on him until he starts updating his own blog:<br /><br />Chris has a lot of trouble turning down free stuff. Normally it's small stuff he finds on the street and feels the need to put in his pockets. This stuff normally shows up in the dryer -- stray keys, puzzle pieces. <br /><br />Today Chris handed me a calendar. "It's all about BC's history! And it's free! We hadn't bought a new calendar yet!"<br /><br />I sort of shook my head, because considering the fact that all our previous calendars have been of Saskatchewan it's kind of weird to have a BC one. But then he reached down and pulled seven more calendars out of his bag.<br /><br />"They were all free! Our school got sent too many and so I took a whole stack! We can put one in every room of the house!"<br /><br />Right. Anyone want a free calendar?Queen of West Procrastinationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17216968234999269409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-14212546441926823562008-01-23T10:28:00.000-08:002008-01-23T15:28:45.554-08:00Re-Starting Here Be DragonsHey everybody! This is Chris's wife, the Queen of West Procrastination (you may call me Maryanne). Since the last time our dear hero wrote here, he got himself another teaching job! (Trumpets and huzzahs.) This past fall he started teaching grade 10 (and 8/9 science) at a private Christian school.<br /><br />What this means is that he has many new stories, pictures and videos to share with you about his adventures in Teaching Land. It also means that he's been insanely busy and hasn't had a chance to write about them yet. And so he's added me as a contributor here so that, at least to start off, he can provide me the raw materials and the stories, and I can write them out.<br /><br />Hopefully we'll have the first one up tonight: Robot Club.<br /><br /><strong>Update: </strong>Robot Club got postponed until next week, and so we may have to post something else first. Like Chris's video of a Pringle's can blowing up but the chips staying intact.Queen of West Procrastinationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17216968234999269409noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-1159130892628867712006-09-24T13:21:00.000-07:002006-09-24T13:48:12.640-07:00Sunday afternoons are existentialI quite literally never post and no one is likely to read this anytime soon. But this weekend has been a good one for stopping and examining my life and motives and I thought since I was making changes I might as well tell someone to be accountable and I also might as well start doing some of the things that I have been meaning to do but keep putting off (aka bloging).<br /><br />Maryanne is away this weekend and despite the fact that I have uninterupted computer playing opportunity I have not felt like computing but have gone on long walks (5+ Kilometers up and around a small mountian) This has been good because I need to be more active and because I find that I always do my best thinking when I am out on a walk. It is for these to reasons that I am going to try and go for a good wlak daily. I think after work would be the best time for me as it is still daylight out and then I can reflect on the things from the day.<br /><br />The walks and Church this morning (which was extra nice as we had people attending from Saskatchewan that I knew and that is always exciting) have got me thinking about the importance that I place on things in my life. Not in the usual way where you suddenly realize that something is more important but in the lifestyle way in which the things that you give the most time to are the things that are the most important. I realized that while I value activity I have not been making it impostant. That is why I'm starting the walks. I also realized that while I say that I value things like friends and family that I don't make a very big effort to include them in my life. Which is one of the reasons that I'm going to start blogging again. <br /><br />One of the visiting Elders at church shared today about being overcomers and a whole buch of other stuff that I haven't fully processed yet. So this afternoon I'm going to enjoy the beautiful day head for a walk/hike pray, reflect and be existential which is something that I have missed doing on Sunday afternoons. That is al I really wanted to say. Have a great day.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-1143767246334508212006-03-30T16:14:00.000-08:002006-03-30T17:07:26.366-08:00More ChangesOkay so when it rains it pours, right? Well I hope that you can all follow this and that everyone who should get this in the next day or so does. I'm moving the site from blogger to my own site, <a href="http://www.christopherreed.net">www.christopherreed.net</a> I will begin the transition either friday night or perhaps on saturday but it will happen. Also over the next week to a month expect to find that the links without drop down menus start working and lead you to other parts of my new site. <br /><br />So why all the change? Well it is not a sudden thing. I began to play with this idea last september and began to seriously persue it over the last couple of months. I want to have a site that can act as a blog, a discussion forum on topics that interest me, a sharing of teaching resources, a secure password protected electronic portfolio for potential employeers, a homepage for myself and various other things. In other words I wanted more than blogger alone could provide. <br /><br />So what can you expect in the next little while? I'm not completely sure. With my own domain I have the freedom I want to develop the site however I want. I do know that I built the following things into the menu.<br />1) The home button will not take you to my blog (although clicking on the banner will) but to my homepage that I plan on using myself. It will have the weather for where I live, some RSS feeds for things that interest me and will act as the perfect place to start al of my internet sessions.<br />2) The blog link will continue to take you to my blog.<br />3) The archive link will continue to show archived files.<br />4) The little building link is a Forum and will take you to the new forums part of my site where people will be able to share thoughts ideas. So initial forums will be: teaching resources to share, science articles or stories for discussion, possibly a religion discussion forum, etc.<br />5) The briefcase is also called a portfolio and will be where I have my electronic portfolio. Most of it will be open for everyone to enjoy and will contain things that I have done and will act like an electronic resume. The actual resume part and other documents that contain sensitive information will be passowrd protected.<br />6) The grammaphone is the music menu.<br />7) Sir Francis Drake is the friends menu.<br />8) The computer is computer related stuff.<br />9) The model of the atom that was outdated by about 1930-1940 is the science links. (eventually clicking on the atom may take you to the science forums)<br />10) The CBC logo is my news links.<br />11) The graduation hat is the education links (again, eventually clicking on the hat may take you to the education forums)<br />12) The dart board is the games, sports and entertainment links<br />13) The Bible is the religious related links (this to may eventually lead to the religious forums)<br />14) The question mark is the catch all list of links.<br /><br />More may eventually come and the site may, no will change its looks over time. So see you all later at the <a href="http://www.christopherreed.net">new site.</a>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-1143523240253733372006-03-27T19:53:00.000-08:002006-03-27T21:30:34.156-08:00The Future of Meat?With a burgeoning population the world will need to look to new ways to meet the demand for food. Science fiction has long proposed growing meat in a factory or a lab for the purpose of space travel because it is easier than taking a herd of cows or a flock of chickens into space on long journeys (Can you imagine the size of a space ship that could support a herd of cattle? Although these ships have been purposed as well.) Well it may still be a while before you order a factory grown steak they have at least come up with <a href="http://www.livescience.com/technology/050707_lab_meat.html">the basic process for growing meat</a> at the University of Maryland.<br /><br />The arguments for growing meat are good and many: you can have bacteria and germ free meat; no animals get harmed; no meat gets wasted because you only grow what you need; better control over the cost of the meat and therefore cheaper meat. Think what it would mean for the world if you could grow any kind of meat that you want at anytime. Also think of the recipe possiblities for growing meat that normally would not have been possible to eat due to the fact that it would drive the animal to extinction. You could in theory have a bald eagle sandwich with this technology.<br /><br />So those are the positives that I was able to come up with, the questions that are raised are many as well. The first and most interesting that comes to my mind is how will the vegetarians respond. Many do not eat meat because it is cruel to animals. Other don't because it is to expensive. I expect that segment of vegetarians will vanish or at least diminsh. I also expect that some will find ethical reasons to refuse the home grown meat. Most likely based on arguments of it being unnatural.<br /><br />A larger question, concern or red flag that I see being raised is what is allowed to be eaten? (Note for those with weak stomachs skip this paragraph!) What I mean is that since you do not need to kill an animal in order to eat meat from it you could in theory eat dog or cat or the pet bird. While that seems gross to us the real question is why not? Now for the real gross thought. What about human meat? Remember no humans are harmed. I don't expect that this last question while have to ever be considered because it is such a taboo idea but I could not just let it go unmentioned. Also this question has not been ignored by science fiction. I recall one short story, whose title escapes me at the moment, in which the human federation makes contact with a carnivorous species of aliens that buy the rights and pay royalties to the humans to grow human meat. Anyway, I do not think anyone will suddenly start growing human but seriously what would the little yappy dog next door taste like and would you eat it?<br /><br />Finally I feel that I must address how long it will be before this becomes possible. The technology will be decades before it is ready for you to grow a steak at home. The reason is that when you grow straight meat cells they resemble a meat jelly. This is because the cells have not been stretched or exercised. They figure that they will have to learn how to stretch the cells as they are grown before they will taste "natural". Secondly a lot of the moisture and texture in meat comes from fat cells mixed throughout the meat cells. They will have to figure out how to grow this as well and how to properly mix and layer the meat and fat to taste right.<br /><br />Well I'm sure that I have given you plenty to chew on so enjoy.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-1143348667274579942006-03-25T11:07:00.000-08:002006-03-25T21:11:00.693-08:00Disclaimer and hanging with friends.So you may have noticed a change on the site here. I have at long last figured out how to do the menu I wanted and this then allowed me to construct the blog I wanted. Also while figuring out how to post all of the graphics on this page I discovered a long lost <a href="http://photobucket.com/">photobucket</a> account with photos from my days in Eatonia. So the disclaimer portion of this blog is: yes the site has at long last been updated properly but to expect little tweeks now and then as I get it even more to the place that I want it. Also another disclaimer, the photo below is gross and is for <a href="http://derekbturner.blogspot.com/">Derek Turner</a>.<br /><br /><br /><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Arthur__Dent/cc245ec4.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />This was one of the photos I found in that old photobucket account from when I blew up my hand in a grade 9 science lesson that I was teaching. The lesson quickly turned into a first aid science lesson. </p><p>And lastly, but certainly not least. I would like to welcome Shannon to the Island even though it is only for the short period of a weekend. We have had some good times and I love showing others around Victoria because I'm still new and showing a friend around is the best way to discover and learn about my new "temporary" home away from Saskatchewan. Noted discovery of the weekend is that there is a significant Blue Heron population in Beacon Hill Park. </p><p>Well that is about all for now. Although you can expect more soon and more often now. </p><p></p>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-1141540425992498632006-03-04T22:16:00.000-08:002006-03-04T23:10:54.800-08:00<u>The Files Are in the Computer</u><br /><br />As you all know my computers, plural, have had a rough time of it this year. I took all the worthwhile components out of the old one and put them into the new one. Meanwhile <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196229/">the files are in the computer</a>.<br /><br />The old computer in its old spot. <img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4811/781/400/Computer%20Front.jpg" border="0" /> <p></p><p>The old computer's filing system is easier now. </p><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4811/781/400/Open%20front.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>I was pretty happy to have my old "compy" back.</p><p></p>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-1139722516629083542006-02-11T20:52:00.000-08:002006-02-11T21:35:16.640-08:00<u>Because Sometimes Ky is Right</u><br /><br />This just in: peanut butter actually can<em> </em>kill you. Maryanne had told me about <a href="http://amandolynandky.blogspot.com/">Ky's</a> fear of stale peanut butter and I immediately scoffed at it. (Maryanne is currently, annoyingly editing over my shoulder.) Then I researched it on the internet, the great repository of all knowledge, and found out about <a href="http://monographs.iarc.fr/htdocs/monographs/vol82/82-04.html">aflatoxin and aspergillus flavus</a>. The first is a toxin that can be and usually is found in corn, peanuts and cotton seed crops. It does not kill you directly but is one of many carcinogens in our world. The latter is the mold that grows on these foods that <em>can</em> produce aflatoxin. It is invisible to the naked eye in small quantities and is always found in some measure in anything containing corn or peanuts.<br /><br />So does this mean that we should immediately write our MPs demanding that peanut butter be banned or at least regulated? Well, no. You see ALL foods are already <a href="http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/reg/rege.shtml">regulated and legislation already exists </a>to limit the chance that your food will kill you. In the case of A. Flavus farmers and transportation officials have to ensure that peanuts and corn are stored and transported at a proper temperature and humidity that limits the growth of this mold. In addition to this, food is only be allowed to be sold for a certain period of time. (This is the whole "best before date" concept.)<br /><br />What should be done then to limit your exposure to aflatoxin? Start by making sure that you store your peanuts and peanut butter in a dry, not overly humid cupboard (if you really want to you could even refrigerate them to further hamper the molds growth). Only buy what you will need in the short term. This is one of those things that you do not need to buy in enormous bulk amounts that will last for years. Although, even if you do you will likely be okay because there are things in life way may carcinogenic than aflatoxin and it should not be high on the avoid list. With that said though do not be to cavalier about it. In other words do not knowingly buy stale peanuts.<br /><br />Well, there you go; Ky is right. You should avoid that old peanut butter that has been in your grandma's cupboard since you were wee tiny.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17499180.post-1139375767613006532006-02-07T20:56:00.000-08:002006-02-07T21:35:30.046-08:00<u>Computer Has a Bath</u><br /><u></u><br />Bristish Columbia and my computers do not get along. You all remember that my first original "<a href="http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail118.html">Compy</a>" died by having spider babies laid in the power supply. Well, B.C. decided to give my new computer a bath by having winds upwards of 110 kmh drive rain around the seals on our window in the office. Yep the rain was coming around the window and dripping onto my new computer. Luckily I had shut the computer down for the day to do cleaning around the house and to enjoy the fabulous CBC Saturday Radio 1 programs. When I saw that my computer was having a bath I quickly unplugged the computer and moved it across the office to let it dry out. I checked it out today and made sure that everything was dry. It appears to be working.<br /><br />In other news when I first logged onto the internet I saw that <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/bc/story/bc_rainforest20060207.html">B.C. had set up a HUGE reserve of rain forest on the coast</a>. This was seen as a good idea by everyone, including the forestry and mining industry the native communities, environmentalists, local communities and even the government. Yep miracles can happen. Also cool fact of the day is that Polar bears are not the only white bears. Apparently there is a species of Black Bear that is all white called a Kermode bear. This is the awesomest thing ever. I think this is my new favourite kind of bear.<br /><br />Well I hope that you all enjoy the article on the bear and the new sanctuary as much as I did. I know that <a href="http://shannonjournies.blogspot.com/">Shannon</a> will appreciate it.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10677411385861659498noreply@blogger.com5