Off Topic: The Speed of Light and You

A friend of mine is a fan of No Ordinary Family and was asking about how the speed of light works with the effect of time.  Since this is a fun topic I thought I'd write something over here and point him at it rather than just doing it in an email or a Facebook Page.

MACUL Conference day one

Okay kids, here's where I'm going to dump all the interesting links and videos I get to see and find at the MACUL conference.  I do sincerely hope you're being good for the sub and that you're staying on top of the stuff we covered before I left.

All the goodies are under the break:

Off Topic: Friday Fun: Les Mis International

After having One Day more stuck in my head for two straight weeks I recalled this collection of Val Jean's singing parts of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in their native languages.  Enjoy!

 

Friday Fun: In FRENCH!

Students have been asking a lot lately about me playing the World of Warcraft in the evening. I'm guessing it's a way to mock me.

Well.... would they mock the world renowned martial arist and action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme?

(probably....)

Friday Fun: Use the Force Little One

In the News: Time to get off the Couch Gamers!

As reported on Attack of the Fan Boy:

It has recently been discovered that  Microsoft may be planning to give the Xbox 360's biggest exclusive franchise, Halo, the Kinect treatment.  According to gaming reloaded, Microsoft has secured the domain name KinectHalo.  A quick check of the WHOis profile can verify that Microsoft did indeed register this domain on June 14th of 2010.  Is this the next Halo game that fans are waiting for?

If it's anything like I think it could be, it's time to get off the couch and start working out.  Doing things like jumping from prone to a sprint won't be a single button press.  It'll mean, you know, standing up and starting to jog in place.  But I gotta admit I will revel in the day when I can tell my mother (who yes, is ~still~ nagging me about how many video games I play) that "Yeah I exercised; I played Halo."

Friday Fun: Everything's Amazing...

You know, I wanted something fun but as I thought about what students (and teachers) have today to help get the content they need I am amazed at how much has changed in just my carreer. Props to Louis CK for really putting it all in perspective.

Did you get a Kinect?

I did!  I have to admit that I did not expect to get a video game for Christmas, especially as my mother has been complaining about me "shooting aliens" since I was 8 when nearly all games were about shooting aliens, or what were supposed to be aliens but were in fact shapes made up of 8-10 squares.

But there's a recent news story that I just have to share with students about the future of gaming and the future of technology.  Why do it here?  Because the people who are pioneering this, the ones designing it, who will be writing the story of the games, and writing the programs that bring that story to life, are the ones who stick it out, get degrees, and get the good job.  Folks if something this cool can't keep you in school, well I'm sure there are other things that will, but this is still pretty danged cool.

From Wired:

A Microsoft Kinect hack lets World of Warcraft players cast spells, fight opponents and maneuver their characters using simple hand gestures and body movements.

Using Kinect and an open source framework tool called OpenNI, University of Southern California researcher Evan Suma and his team at the school’s Institute for Creative Technologies hacked together a middleware program called the Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit, or FAAST, which lets World of Warcraft players plug Kinect directly into their computers’ USB ports. Then the software translates real-world gestures into in-game commands, so players can level-grind with their fists.

In the demo video Suma and his team released this week (embedded above), the researcher shows off his implementation of FAAST in Warcraft. He uses his left hand to move the in-game camera, his right hand to select attack spells and his body to walk. The number of possible gestures is currently limited, but Suma says more will be available in coming weeks.

 

Review: The Tourist

I don't recommend movies here often, and I'm fairly sure that your typical 9th grader will find it bit slow, and a bit too clever, and a little bit light on the explosions.

However, in it Johny Depp plays an American Math Teacher who is singled out by Angelia Jolie's International Woman of Intrique as a cover.  Wackiness ensues.  It's not a blockbuster but it will probably be the best movie I see over the break.

Holiday Traditions

As we slide into the holiday break I thought I'd take some time to be personal and share some stuff about how this particular teacher spends some of his two weeks off.  Obviously there is the required "Call of Duty Online during Nap Time" that most of you probably already assume I do.  And Xander has developed a deep love for Bon Jovi and Journy by way of "playing" Rock Band 2.  Mostly it involves him jumping around holding a microphone and shouting "Shot through heart!  You blame.  You give wuv a baname, baname."

Friday Fun: Legos!

I was really struggling to come up with a good holiday themed Friday Fun since you won't get to see one of these until we slip into the new year.  So I thought about what I always asked for, as a kid, for Christmas:  Legos!  And that, with the help of the Mythbusters, lead me to these two videos:



Then the Mythbusters take it on:

Friday Fun: OK Go Homage

I'm not linking the original video so you can spare yourself the commericial, but here is a fun bit of coregraphy to the song "Here We Go Again" by the band OK Go.

Do Not Bully the Jedi!

There is a little girl named Katie who used to proudly carry a Star Wars water bottle to her first grade classroom.  Until she announced she wanted a plain pink one.  Why?

Kids at school insisted that "Star Wars" was only for boys, [Katie] wailed. She was different enough already -- the only one who was adopted, who's Jewish, who wears glasses, who needs a patch. If sacrificing Yoda for the color pink would make her fit in again, so be it.

Fortunately, Katie was not alone and thanks to the instant information spread of the internet, she learned quickly that girls could like Star Wars and that no one should be bullied for being different.

Read the full story here: "The Force is with You, Katie"

Friday Fun Delayed

In 2001, Jeep released the Jeep Liberty, coinciding accidently with the 225th anniversery of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence.  This document made the case that all Englishmen (and thus all Americans) were entitled to Life, ~Liberty~ and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Oddly, the men and women in the adverstising department decided to overlook this coincidence and let the year pass with the usual commercials of Jeeps making quick work off road in the mud.

Well, it only took 9 years but they finally decided to tap the historical potential of adveritsing.  However, they didn't do it to advertise the Jeep Liberty......

Off Topic: Friday Fun - ASL is back

Okay so here's another fun video to round the day out. I know I posted two fun videos from our school's pep assembly. This video was actually posted as the Friday Fun video a few weeks ago, but sadly Ally had had her YouTube account closed while they debated what to do about her use of the full song in her videos.

So here it is as the "Official" Friday Fun Video.

Have a great long weekend guys and Algebra kids, check back on Sunday for the answers to the riddles on your homework.

The Canned Food Drive Reward

Becuase in the 11th hour our Students stepped up, we had a very special pep assembly today to honor their commitment and to see the benefits of their labors.

Yes, they raised 60,000 lbs of food. Yes they reached out to the commuity as a group.

And for that we have:

The Hender-Sundae!



And the infamous Morg-hawk!

Off Topic: Friday Fun

So.... what did you do with your weekend?

Off Topic: Friday Fun Flash Mob

This week's Friday Fun features the kind of thing you don't always see at your local student union. Check out a fairly atypical day at Ohio State University (~cough Go Blue cough~)

Off Topic: State Champs!

How do you not blog about our State Champion Viking Marching Band?!?!?

Off Topic: Friday Fun in ASL

I have always been impressed and amazed by American Sign Language.  On my list of things I want to do "someday" is to learn ASL to the point of fluency.  As it was the closest I have is that last year I signed a song along side one of the seniors performing at the spring pops concert.  And this feat was only possible as the result of watching the video of the song signed over and over and over until I had it down.

So following up on Halloween, I bring you a pair of ASL videos I like: