by Brian Metcalfe  - Technology Education

No Flakes Like Snowflakes!
This educational teacher's guide, which integrates into a number of subject areas, is located on the Microsoft web site at: http://www.microsoft.com/education/?ID=flake "Few things are as awe-inspiring as snowflakes, those miniature masterpieces of symmetry. This activity invites students to explore snowflakes from the inside by making their own." Step-by-step instructions help students investigate "snowflakes" using Internet Explorer, Microsoft Paint and PowerPoint.

QUality Information ChecKlist (QUICK) at: http://www.quick.org.uk/menu.htm
Have your students conduct quality Internet research by visiting this site to investigate the following eight ways of checking web site information:
     1. Is it clear who has written the information?
     2. Are the aims of the site clear?
     3. Does the site achieve its aims?
     4. Is the site relevant to me?
     5. Can the information be checked?
     6. When was the site produced?
     7. Is the information biased in any way?
     8. Does the site tell you about choices open to you?

Did you know that Ulead's GIF Animator allows one to import JPGs?
In the October 2000 issue of "Bits and Bytes", Brian Metcalfe wrote an extensive article entitled, "Get Animated", in which he provided access to the GIF Animator Lite freeware and how it could be used to create powerful animated GIFs. At that time Brian assumed that when one clicked on the "Add Images" menu item, all that could be imported were BMPs even though the filter at the bottom of the "Add Images" window stated "All Formats".

However Steve Broda-Milian, of Stanley Knowles School, discovered when he was making "Claymations", he could import the digital camera's default file format of JPG by using an old DOS trick. When one attempts to "Add Images", one normally sees only the bit-mapped BMP files. If one enters "*.*" (without quotes) and presses the <Enter> key in the "File name:" field as shown, the BMP filter opens up and shows all files. Now one can identify and import the digital camera JPG images and create animations in the usual fashion. Thanks for sharing Steve.

Quote of the Month
"Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century."  -- Perelman

by Ed Rutherford at http://orangehillsassembly.com/stories/bikebob.htm

"Get away from that Bike!" Bob yelled.

The young man looked up startled. "I am sorry, Mister. I was just looking at it.  I didn't touch it."

Bicycle Bob, better know as Cranky Old Bob, wasn't the best salesperson in the world. He wasn't even likable. He had been wounded in Viet Nam and his back was never the same. His disability didn't cover the cost of living and without twenty or thirty aspirins a day he could barely move. Bob owned his own bicycle shop, "Bicycle Bob's." Bob had opened the bicycle shop with a little money he had received when his mother passed away.

Bob was good with his hands and he prided himself on the fact that he could fix any bike faster than anybody. It was a struggle. He began to sell bicycles that he repaired and had never been picked up and later he had added a line of new bikes. Most of his customers put up his attitude because he was good at what he did. Old cranky Bob could take a mountain bike and make it stronger, lighter and faster. Even as business improved, Bob's moods became blacker and he seemed more bitter. He wasn't hurting for money but he was hurting.

"What do you want kid?" Bob asked, the young man. "You don't look like you can afford six hundred dollars for a racing bike." The young man looked down self-consciously. He was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt. His scuffed tennis shoes were close to being worn out.

The young boy said, "I am looking for a job. I was wondering if you needed someone to clean up around here?" Bob just stared. The young man went on, "You know, sweep up, put things away and dust and stuff. I don't want any money. I will work till Christmas for that $35.00 bike by the door. I will work every
day. I'll work really hard. I'll do you a good job."

Bob had to admire the young man. He was probably ten years old and he was willing to work to get himself a bike. He wasn't like most of the kids that came in here with their parents. They hadn't worked a day in their lives. Besides he needed some help with the broom and putting things away. Three weeks to
Christmas, school is out and if the kid doesn't earn his way out he goes with no bike and no pay.

Bob said, "Okay, kid, you got a job. Don't think it is going to be easy. It's going to be hard. I need someone to bring me parts and this shop had better be spotless. You got to be here at 9:00 A.M. and you can't leave until 6:00 P.M. If you don't do good, I'll fire you on the spot. You got it."

The young man, Kenny, did a good job. He soon learned where all the parts were and he would run to get them when Bob called for them. When he wasn't getting parts or helping Bob, he would dust, sweep and clean up. After the first week, customers were commenting on how the shop looked different. "Bigger," they would say. Bigger that's a laugh Bob would think.

It was Christmas eve and Bob planned to close early. He could see Kenny waxing the used "Huffy" by the door. The young man had earned his thirty-five-dollar bike. The funny thing is that Bob really liked the kid. He liked having him in the shop. Bob enjoyed the funny things the kid would say. The respect he paid to the customers and to him. He was really going to miss the kid. It made Bob wished he had a family. Hey, he thought, who am I kidding. Who would want old cantankerous guy like me?

"Kenny, I'll give you hand getting the bike ready. You, going to ride it home?" Bob asked.

Kenny quickly answered, "No. I am going to push it home."

Bob looked puzzled, "Why push it home."

Kenny answered, "This bike is for Christmas."

Bob laughed, "I know, but you already know that you are getting it. So what's the big deal."

Kenny said, "This bike isn't for me. It's for my brother." Bob was mildly shocked. This kid worked three weeks like a dog to get his brother a bike and he doesn't even have a bike of his own.

Bob shook his head, "Your brother? I didn't know you had a brother. How come he never came to the shop with you?"

Kenny had a strange look on his face, "Gerry can't walk. He got sick and he hasn't been able to walk for a long time. But he said he wanted a bike." It was like he could read Bob's mind. If he can't walk, why would he want a bike?

Kenny went on, "If he had a bike, he said he would ride it. My Mom says he couldn't. But I think he would. Mom doesn't have much money since Gerry got sick and our Dad.." Kenny paused, "He has been gone for a long time."

Kenny was still looking down, "So, I wanted to get a bike for Gerry. Maybe it will help. Maybe if he just sees it. Then he might try to ride it and pretty soon he'll get strong enough to walk."

Cranky, old Bob had tears in eyes, "I get my truck and I'll help you get the bike home." As they started for the door, Bob grabbed a hold of a new Schwinn Mountain Bike. "You get the other new Schwinn. The blue one." Kenny just stood there and looked at him. "Kenny, do I have to fire you on Christmas eve, get
that blue Schwinn and let's go."

They said that Bob was never the same after that Christmas. He hardly ever complained about his back and his after-school helper Kenny always had a smile on his face. Bob would say, "He is a good worker and he costs me a lot but he is worth it." The business kept growing and sometimes you had a hard time finding a parking place. Especially, with that crazy little kid on the red Schwinn Mountain Bike always riding around in the parking lot.

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Food for Thought: "30 Year Difference"

http://www.1972tartars.com/Janis_funpage.htm

As many of you are aware, the 100th anniversary of the first successful, powered aircraft flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk occurs this month on December 17. I've been enjoying the variety of PBS and NOVA television programs this fall which have portrayed the engineering creativity and dogged perseverance of this pair of bicycle shop mechanics from Dayton, Ohio.

As well, I have enjoyed discussing with my father the multitude of changes that have happened during his lifetime from his first view of an aircraft to Neil Armstrong's first walking on the moon. I wonder if the advances made during the 20th century will ever be eclipsed by the advances made during the current century? As Bob Dylan wrote "The times they are a-changin'". In our fast-moving, technologically-driven world of today we sometimes forget to stop, slow down and think about the changes that are occurring. However, we don't need to look back 100 years to gain a perspective on how the world has changed. Just examine the following comparisons which portray how life has changed in a relatively short period of time from 1972 - 2002. To illustrate how our vocabulary has increased during this time, images from the Random House "Sixty Years of New Words" web site are also included:

• They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
• Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
• Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
• The CD was introduced the year they were born.
• They have always had an answering machine
• They have always had cable.
• They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
• Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
• Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
• They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
• They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
• They don't know who Mork was or where he was from
• They never heard: "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel! ," or "de plane Boss, de plane."
• They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.
• McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
• They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.
  
  Do you feel old yet? Pass this on to the other old fogies in your life.
  
  You know you are living in the year 2003 when:
   
• Your reason for not staying in touch with some family and friends is because they do not have e-mail.
• You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
• Your grandmother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your newborn so she can create a screen saver.
• You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.
• Every commercial on television has a web site address at the bottom of the screen.
• You buy a computer and 3 months later it's out of date and sells for half the price, or less than you paid for it.
• Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first
  20 or 30 years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go get it.
• Using real money, instead of a credit or debit card, to make a purchase would be a hassle and take planning.
• You just tried to enter your password on the microwave.
• You consider second-day air delivery painfully slow.
• Your dining room table is now your flat filing cabinet.
• Your idea of being organized is multiple-colored Post-it notes.
• You hear most of your jokes via e-mail instead of in person.
• You get an extra phone line so you can get phone calls.
• You disconnect from the Internet and you get this awful feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one.
• You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.
• You wake up at 2 AM to go to the bathroom and check your e-mail on your way back to bed.
• You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)
• You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
• Even worse; you know exactly who you are going to forward this to!

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Activity - Use the thesaurus to increase "word power"

by Brian Metcalfe - Technology Education

In past December issues of "Bits and Bytes", I've included the titles of various carols whose familiar names have been modified using synonyms. It can be a challenge of one's word power to decipher such famous carols as those listed below:

Christmas Carol Quiz
from: http://members.tripod.com/lisawebworld1/carolquiz.html

1. Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief
2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds
3. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness
4. Embellish the interior passageways
5. Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed it’s arrival
6. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere
7. The Christmas preceding all others
8. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem
9. Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders
10. Expectation of arrival to populated area by mythical masculine perennial gift giver
11. The first person nominative plural of triumvirate of far eastern heads of state
12. In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furniture
13. Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological Alpine formation
14. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me
15. Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us
16. Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy
17. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals
18. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males
19. Celestial messengers from splendid empires
20. It’s a fluff-ball sphere in the cold season
21. It’s fixin’ to appear extremely similar to December 25th
22. Boppin’ while circumnavigating the tannenbaum
23. Castaneous-colored seed vesicated in a conflagration
24. Singular yearning for the twin anterior incisors
25. Red man en route to borough
26. The quadruped with the vermillion proboscis
27. Query regarding identity of descendant
28. A dozen festive 24-hour intervals
29. Parent was observed osculating a red-coated unshaven teamster
30. A joyful song of reverence relative to hollow metallic vessels which vibrate and bring forth a ringing sound when struck
31. Please permit pristine precipitation
32. Are you experiencing parallel auditory input?

Click here to view the answers.

However, I thought that creative teachers might want to expand on this activity in their classrooms. Those who have access to either Microsoft Works or Word will know that there is a built-in thesaurus option which can present alternative synonyms to words selected. One can simply, click on a word in either of these word processors and press the <Shift-F7> key combination to activate the thesaurus and present a possible alternative word. As an example, students might be challenged to create puzzles of alternate titles (with accompanying answer keys) to some of the following:

• Favourite Song Titles
• Favourite Bands
• Favourite TV shows

However, I wondered if some educators might want to explore idioms with students. The following web sites provide a useful resource and fuel for this thesaurus-driven activity:

• IdiomSite at: http://www.idiomsite.com
• ESL Idiom Page at: http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/

The following resource should be used with caution by teachers since some of the idioms are slang and are identified with a "B" for "bad language". 

• Wayne Magnuson: English Idioms - Sayings & Slang at:
   http://home.t-online.de/home/toni.goeller/idiom_wm/

Using these resources, and a thesaurus equipped word processor, I was soon able to create student idiom puzzle challenges. Rather than just listing the modified idiom, students may be instructed to include their variation in italics between quotes within a contextual sentence(s) as illustrated below:

1. With the fast approaching exams, the father suggested that his son had better apply some "nudge lubricant".
2. Just before she went on stage, her grandmother said "Fracture a strut".
3. Unfortunately he forgot his Mathematics homework assignment. However he was "rescued by the signal" when and his Math class was cancelled while the students went to a special assembly.
4. After slipping the ring on her finger, Carlos "burst the query".
5. Some say that those about to retire cannot be trained to use the Internet. After all you can't "instruct an elderly domesticated carnivorous mammal fresh pranks".

"Watch out & remain in good spirits (:-)".