technology notes

On this day in History

Mr. Diamond — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:32:00 GMT

A Newsman Passes
Edward R. Murrow

Born in 1908, this newsman started in radio. His broadcasts from Europe prior to the start of World War II, brought him to near celebrity status. Although he was back in the States before the war included America, he returned to Europe to report on the war from there. He did many reports from the scene, including one on an Allied bombing raid, and he was present at the liberation of the Buchenwald Camp in Germany.

In the early 1950s, he appeared doing commentary at the end of the CBS evening news on TV. He is credited with increasing news staffs at CBS. Murrow passed away 2 days after his 57th birthday. He received the Peabody Award (international award for excellence in radio and television Broadcasting) numerous times. He also was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. There is a High School in Brooklyn named after him.

Reading about Murrow made me think about what other public figures I have grown to admire. Who is someone you admire and why do you admire them? What are some of their accomplishments?

Thanksgiving, a time for thanks

Mr. Diamond — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:51:00 GMT

Although it was not the first thanksgiving on the North American continent, the origin of what is considered to be the modern Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, is credited to the celebration that happened at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts in 1621.

There, the pilgrims gave thanks to God for them surviving that first terrible winter in New England. In the years since, the holiday has lost much of it's religious connection for most, and is now observed as an opportunity to gather and give thanks and appreciate that which we have.

In light of that, I want to recognize what I am thankful for. I am happy to have my friends and family, I am grateful for my health and thankful I live in America.

Share time! What are some of the things YOU are thankful for and why?

September Returns

Mr. Diamond — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:50:00 GMT

Welcome Back!

Well, the summer is winding down, the temps are cooling off a little and the yellow vehicles clog the road again. Back to school sales seem to start earlier each year. We were still in the middle of summer school when I noticed the first of the ads running on television. I used to look forward to school because it meant clean, new notebooks, a new backpack, fresh pencils and other supplies. Of course, in the last few weeks of summer, I always rethought that excitement and while it meant a new class or perhaps new friends, it also meant I was almost out of free time and back to a routine of schoolwork and early alarm clocks. Still, I squeezed all I could out of those last few weeks and had as much fun as I could.

I saw many of you during summer school, but some I did not. Tell me (and all the other readers) about your summer time fun! What did you do this summer after summer school ended. If you thought summer school was fun, tell us what your favorite parts were and why? Personally, I liked the bowling and movies (I never got to the pool) and also had fun looking through the reading program materials you all used. I know some of you loved the kickball games. If you didn't join us for the great time most of us had, tell us about what you DID instead this summer.

Most importantly, welcome back and it's great to see you all!

CG (Computer Graphics) - A look at 2 farms

Mr. Diamond — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:57:00 GMT

If you want to keep up with what's new, educating yourself can never stop. One of the things I am very into is technology, so I try to read as many tech blogs as I can about the areas that interest me. I also love movies. These days, whole new worlds are created on the computer. If you saw Avatar, you know what I mean.

I found this entry on a blog called CGArchitect. Peter Sciretta took a look at Pixar and LucasFilm's renderfarms. The first, a look at LucasFilm's renderfarm, can be found here. The information about Pixar, who turned out movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars and The Incredibles (among others), include some still photos about their renderfarm.

I can't believe the amount of processing power it takes to create these films. After you watch the video, tell me what you think about it.

Cool, a Halloween Weekend!

Mr. Diamond — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:45:28 GMT

Halloween
Ok,so it's Halloween. Tell me about your big, scary plans. Did you go Trick or Treating? To a Halloween party? Celebrate with family? What did you dress up as? I think my favorite costume I ever wore was as a vampire, but I soon got tired of the fangs. The cape was cool though. Tell us about your weekend!

Ok, so what do you think?

Mr. Diamond — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:11:00 GMT

What's on your mind?

Here's a chance to talk about anything you'd like that is considered school appropriate. Suggestions, comments thoughts on what you'd like to learn about. Talk about your best friend (use the initials, not the whole name). Maybe you want to tell me about a favorite book or tv show and why you liked it.

Just remember, school appropriate and nothing mean about another person. Let's see what YOU are thinking about today!

Tell me what you thought of our story

Mr. Diamond — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:59:00 GMT

Today, we are going to hear a story on the computer. When we are done, I want you to tell me what you thought of the story. Enjoy!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Mr. Diamond — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:37:00 GMT

Technology changes all the time...

I recently looked at some of the new cell phones coming out this fall. I don't know that you can really even call them cell phones anymore. True, you can make phone calls on them, but they do so much more. A few years back they started calling the phones with more features smartphones. It seems that they're all smart phones these days. Twenty years ago, I knew a doctor who had a "mobile phone" for use in his car. He was a doctor and carried a beeper (anyone still use those?) but felt the need to be reachable, even when he was in his car. It doesn't seem like such a big deal these days, but back then it was. It came in its own briefcase (a briefcase? these days they fit in a small pocket) and cost almost a thousand dollars. Each phone call cost over two dollars a minute. My first cell phone was almost the size of my computer desktop speakers. You couldn't carry it in your pocket, it didn't fit. That was 12 years ago. My phone now does phone calls, delivers emails, surfs the web, plays music and videos, can take still or moving images (video) and is not that different then most phones out there. It's also much smaller.

My first home computer (30 years ago) came from Radio Shack. It stored information on backup tape using a standard cassette tape. You had to use the counter and rewind to the right spot to find your program. Most programs ran in a language called BASIC and did very simple things. The screens were monochrome (meaning one color, usually white or green on the black screen).

I'm wondering how technology will change over the next five years. How small will our cell phones get? Will everyone have a computer that fits right in their pocket? What else do you think will be different? Can you guess? Write back and let me know what you think.

Mr. Diamond

Welcome

Mr. Diamond — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:59:44 GMT

and of course,

Welcome back to the computer room!

I look forward to another exciting year in the Technology Lab. Last year, we got our technology chops wet with all kinds of projects both online and working with software programs on the computers. Depending on your class, we dabbled in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. We experimented with Google's Sketchup, drew with Tux Paint and Kidpix. We created some poetry, researched populations, drew Venn diagrams, explored some online gaming, took surveys and evaluated some of the responses. I found these projects very exciting and I look forward to revisiting and improving some of these projects and working on helping the students here at the Lorge School to further their technological skills and knowledge!

Over the summer, as I'm sure you know by now, we installed new computers in the lab. I think they look great and I loved the expression on everyone's face (students AND staff) when they started using them. I'd like to thank Dr. Hayward and Mr. Osman for their help in getting the new lab for us!!

As for this new tool (blogging as communication), please feel free to write back and comment on things you might like to include in our studies in Technology Lab this year.

Mr. Diamond