• 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor
• 2GB RAM (1067 MHz DDR3)
• 1280×800 LED screen
• Illuminated keyboard
• Bluetooth SuperDrive (DVD-R)
• 250GB HD NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
• Airport (wifi) 802.11g
• Mag-Safe power adapter

Bought in Oct. 2008, it has been well-loved and is in great shape. Also includes:

• Snow Leopard installed (10.6.2)
• Leopard (10.5) DVD
• AppleCare (2 years left)
• and MiniDisplayport=>VGA adapter.

The closest I could get to this configuration on the Apple Store site (with 2.26GHz instead of 2.4Ghz), if bought today would be $1527. It’s yours for $1000 or the best reasonable offer I get.

Here I discuss a structured learning activity, in the broader curriculum of canoeing, that allows for a range of skill levels to engage in, and be challenged by.

Gunwale paddling

At Flying Moose Lodge, after campers have had some experience and instruction on how to do the basic C- and J- strokes, and have a few hours of practice (and maybe a trip, or even a previous summer of trips) they begin to have a surface understanding of what it means to canoe.

We still haven’t covered things like initial and secondary stability. I do this by taking campers out and having them lean without tipping. The goal is no longer to tip, but to come as close as possible to tipping without shipping water. It’s fairly easy to do on our camp-built cedar/canvas canoes that have an arched bottom (and thus good secondary stability), but quite difficult to do in the Old Town Trippers, which novice canoeists prefer because they’re so stable when lightly loaded (initial stability). Of course, there’s much flipping in this lesson, but because they already know how to flip and rescue, they can still have fun with it.

Of course, when they’re precariously leaning over in a canoe is an ideal time to also teach bracing, where they get introduced to the idea that control of a paddle-in-water can play a very big part in keeping them from tipping. (This idea —one’s connection to and reliance on one’s paddle — is a point that I think we need to emphasize/convey even more, and I’ll discuss it in a future article, “A Boy and his Paddle.”)

As I mentioned, some of the campers may have already had a summer of trips, or are already comfortable in a canoe. If campers get to the point where they’re stable on the gunwales, we challenge them to paddle in that position. If they can maneuver a canoe with one gunwale kissing the water, chances are they’ve got a deep understanding of the canoe, and probably have deeply-embodied skills as well. At this point, we’ve got better canoeists than 95% of camps with canoes.

The ability to skillfully and competently maneuver a canoe on its edge allows paddlers to make quick turns easily, and in addition to looking cool and being a great indicator of canoeing prowess, can be a great asset in playing Dead Fish Polo.

Educational Implications:

Broad-range activities, activities that can be approached at different levels of understanding and skill, have been around forever. Example are abundant in our lives, but schools largely try to segment their populations so that any group of learners are learning the same skill or concept. This is unrealistic, especially when considering the narrow constraint of age-segregation that the current system is based on. The exceptions in this system — those who are held back or who “skip” grade levels are often ostracized because they don’t fit the system. Rather than force them to fit the system, we should change the system to allow for more range in learning groups.

One of the underlying assumptions in the above canoeing activity is that the learners (“leaners” in this case) are at different skill levels and different ages (though all between 10-16 here). As it turns out, the mix of age and abilities results in a great deal of formal and informal modeling and mimicking between them, as well as considerable volunteered tutoring as the more adept try to explain to those who aren’t getting it what they’re doing (and in the process re-thinking and restructuring it into terms that they’ll understand — this alone is a significantly deep learning method for them!)

I’d love to see age and skill levels mixed up more in classrooms, allowing for multi-level learning and teaching of content by the students themselves. If we are to move from the teaching paradigm of “teacher as expert” to “teacher as guide,” we need to allow students themselves to develop their own islands of expertise (Crowley and Jacobs, 2002) by experiencing and understanding concepts and skills from more of an interdependent standpoint, where they can cooperate and help each other learn rather than only compete with each other (e.g. for the grading “curve”).

Bringing classic back to FML.

My first summer, in 1993, at Flying Moose Lodge, Harrie 4 gave me the dubious job of “taking care of tents” which I thought was something of a ridiculous task. But throughout the summer, I inspected, fixed, assigned, checked-in, and maintained all the Eureka tents that the camp used on trips. It *was* a ridiculous task, but at the end of the summer he gave me a bonus and said that “the tents have never been so organized!” Yes, that could simply be a nod to my OCD, but it also was a nod to simply caring about tasks assigned — as ridiculous as they might be.

Consequently, in the 15 summers that I’ve worked there, I’ve always had *some* hand in taking care of the tents — whether as the guy who takes care of them or as the guy who orders them and shows someone else how I took care of them (to get them started — most deviate according to their own personality and style). Given the age of the old Eureka Timberline 2 and 4 person tents that we had, we ordered new ones, and tried out other brands that were simpler to assemble, free-standing domes, lighter weight, etc.

This year, given the input of the guy who “took care of the tents” we decided to go back to the Eureka Timberline Outfitters. But we’re going to try to get smarter about it and get the 6 person versions. Our average trip size is 1-2 counselors and 3-5 campers. In 2 and 4 person tent terms, that meant that we sent 2-2 person tents (counselors get their own tent), and some combination of 2 and 4 person tents for the campers. We find that the younger campers prefer to be in a tent with others, and in crappy weather the 4-person tents are piled into for a game of cards, or just to talk and joke around. Add to this, that a few of the places we stay will limit the number of tents, and the argument for 6-person tents increases. Also:

• larger tents means fewer needed for trips
• fewer tents means less time to set up
• fewer tents to take up space on the drying lines
• fewer parts to lose or get mixed up with other tents
• better quality for less cost

The downsides are that the Eureka is heavy.  Over 18lbs. In a world of ultralight tents, that sounds like a lot, but if you think of it as only 3 lbs per rated person, it sounds much more reasonable — especially if you factor in the extra durability (the zippers and screens on even the high-end lightweight tents we’ve used don’t stand up well to young campers).

So we’ll get a few of these to use on a few of the trips, and keep the lightweight (more delicate) tents for the older campers to use on their backpacking trips, where weight matters more and the kids are old enough to care about taking care of the their tents. We’ll see how it goes…

Answer: the edges peel up, get linty and brown, and eventually the iPhone starts to look like a mushroom. At that point, it’s time to replace it.

I have to admit I was getting sick of replacing it. The first time I had to replace it, it had stayed on about 10 months. The second one stayed on about 8 months. And after it started coming off horribly, I was determined to get a different cover/case for my iPhone. So I bought an Agent 18 EcoShield and was almost immediately disappointed. Although “dockable” — and a dock adapter was included, it didn’t fit in either the dock that came with my iPhone (apparently non-universal), or in the “Universal” dock I bough online (admittedly not from Apple). In order to fit in my dock, I had to remove the bottom half of the case, and since it sits and charged at my bedside each night, it quickly became one more thing in my life that I didn’t feel I wanted to deal with.

Additionally, the Agent 18 EcoShield was actually much more slippery than the InvisibleShield, and while ostensibly offering greater impact protection than the Invisibleshield’s mere sticker protection, it was also far more likely to slip out of my hand. It’s like wearing a helmet while riding a bike whose wheel is likely to fall off,  vs. not wearing a helmet on a safer bike. The InvisibleShield is the safer bike because it’s less likely to slip our of your hand.

The Agent 18 EcoShield (and other cases) are also super bulky compared to the InvisbleShield. I found that I didn’t want to take the iPhone out of my pocket because it was a pain to get in and out, whereas with the the Invisibleshield it’s mere microns thicker than the iPhone itself, and while providing enough texture to grip my fingerprints, it doesn’t also grab the fabric in my pocket — something the silicon cases that were popular a year ago were horrid at. (Side comment: my iPhone wasn’t syncing the other day because the sync socket (there’s a better name for it…) was dirty, so I took it to the local Apple Genius to clean for me, and he showed me his Otterbox iPhone case that had a rubber plug for that opening. OMG! The thing was huge! I could only wear cargo pants if I had one of those. *And* it’s not even waterproof! Why have a non-waterproof Otterbox case? It seems like an insult to the Otterbox brand (which makes great, but expensive, waterproof boxes).

So I broke down, went to the Invisibleshield website and filled out my second lifetime warranty claim, agreed to put up another $3.95 for shipping and handling (plus another $25 on credit hold until they get my defective InvisibleShield back, which looks like a dried used condom that’s been run over on the street, by the way). And the next thing I know I’m at the dining room table installing the damn thing again.

Installation of the InvisibleShield is a bitch. It was a bitch the first two times as well, but they made it worse by cutting costs. Instead of sending a nice little spray bottle to wet the InvisibleShield so it doesn’t immediately stick to the iPhone (and thus make precise alignment nearly impossible) they switched to a pre-wetted sponge. It doesn’t get the sticky side of the Invisibleshield (essentially a clear decal) wet enough. Luckily, I had decided that the little spray bottle they used to include was super cute, so I kept both earlier, and they were still full enough to use again.

I wet the sticker, slid it on, aligned it, held down the corners, and viola! It worked! They mostly lined up. The past two applications had always resulted in a little fold or wrinkle in one or more of the corners (and there’s a whole lot of complaints about this in various forums and posts online, so I won’t go into it, suffice to say that it was a problem for me too. But this time, I had it licked. Mostly. It all lined up except for a slight hangover on the bottom left side (less than a millimeter, but enough to probably catch and peel up if I don’t razorblade it off), and the curved-L on the top right of it has two little wrinkles as well that smooth down when I hold it, but wrinkle back up if I leave it.

And there’s a bubble on the back that isn’t coming out … so far.

But in the end, I have to say that I love the texture of the InvisibleShield. I love that it turns my nice slick iPhone into a non-slip-but-still-slick iPhone. I love that the front of the phone has a slight “orange-peel” texture that resists fingerprints and smudges, but retains its touch-sensitivity. I love that it doesn’t bulk up my pocket. If they could make it easier to install then I’d whole-heartedly endorse it. But for now, I have to only whole-heartedly endorse it for those who are ridiculously patient and careful in installing things (with good eyes for detail-oriented crafts), but not so OCD that they won’t be able to deal with a tiny wrinkle that will, no doubt, fill up with pocket lint and spread, slowly but surely, until one has to spend another $3.95 for its “free” replacement.

Looks distorted, but a good computer program could de-distort it...

Make the extreme fish-eye lens the standard

I think I mentioned the need/opportunity for this before…

Now that we’re carrying computers in out pockets, and making phone calls with our cameras, why not have a spherical lens that can grab more panoramic views than a “flat” one (Yes, I know most lenses are not actually flat). The answer, before these cameras were tied to our mobile computers, had something to do with a lack of interest in overly-distorted pictures.

But now our clever Big Brothers have done it:

[From MSNBC]: To expand the system’s utility, Davis and his team have designed software that maps the fish-eye panoramas onto an aerial view of an area. Click on a spot on the Google-like map, and any monitors displaying that area will pop up.

Tying the panoramas to map coordinates means every pixel can be assigned a latitude and longitude. Essentially, one worker could recruit multiple cameras to converge upon a street corner or city hall with a simple point and click of the computer mouse.

Okay, so it’s actually just the opposite of what I proposed — instead of de-distorting a single image, they map together (and distort) a bunch of surveillance cameras into a monster fish-eye image.

So why not distort a fish-eye? I doubt the result would impress Ansel Adams (actually, I bet he’d freak over it), but it could usher some pretty cool surveillance, er, I mean documentation, like we were promised in Bladerunner (Again, not the same thing, but along similar lines).

Pogies?

Yesterday morning, at -6° F, the 30-minute bike commute to my office was cold. 

While it’s only 15-20 minutes on warm days on my fixed gear, my winter bike — a mid-80′s Kona mountain bike with Nokian Hakkapeliitta 106 studded tires on it is a much slower ride, especially in the frozen dry slush. 

So I bundled up in my red Santa snow suit, two pairs of socks, neck gaiter, ski goggles, my winter “bomber” helmet, and mitts — I left my Trek Lobster gloves, which are wearing thin in the lobster-tips, at home and opted for a recently-found 40g  thinsulate mittens with fleece gloves velcroed inside. They’re great mittens (a great design!) that keep my hands warm in most conditions, but they didn’t work for biking. They are so thick that it’s hard to grip the handlebars, and air must get in through the seams at the finger and thumb tips because although for the most part my hands stayed warm, my fingertips (mostly thumbtips) suffered. 

I’m now on a quest for “extreme-cold” (20° F to -20° F) finger protection. I’ve read that battery-heated gloves work on palms, but not fingers. I can’t imagine any non-heated gloves would keep my fingers warm, and thicker mitts are too thick. What I’ve discovered from long-time winter bikers (besides the bus ;-) are pogies. 

Based on bikies‘ response and my own research, I think I’ll go get some pogies (oversized mittens that attach to the handlebars — a very clever idea that blocks wind and allows the use of thinner gloves, and dexterity to operate brakes and gears, etc.).

Now I just need to decide which ones. As usual for me, budget is an issue. Here’s what I’ve found so far (by price):

• Gallon Jug Pogies (comment #22) (~$6/pr)
• Cabela’s Handlebar mittens (for my ATB) ($20/pr)
• Climitts ($36/pr) (has anyone tried these?)

and the unaffordable:

• Moose Mitts ($60/pr)
• Bar Mitts (for drop bars) ($65/pr)
• Apocalypse Design Bike Toasties ($84/pr)
• Dogwood Design Pogies ($90/pr)
• Expedition Pogies ($200/pr)

Maybe I’ll try making the gallon-jug ones over winter break (when I’m tired of assembling my dissertation)

Disclaimer: This probably won’t actually fix the car industry, but it makes sense to me as a direction.We’ve got a great mass of industry still left in the U.S. but they’re making products that do not make sense in the economically- and energy-challenged world that we’re living in. My not-especially-brilliant-but-sensible idea is to convert them to green:

1. Stop making cars until current inventory is sold. Sell them as cheap as possible. While they’re being sold. Keep paying assembly workers, but pay them to meet and come up with better ideas, and to be trained. This will cut costs because there will not be raw materials being used. Obviously, this will affect some of the industries that supply parts to the big three. Get them in the room around the table, and ask for their input and ideas as well.
2. Meanwhile, engineers need to finalize plans and ramp up for the next generation of vehicles (and supply lines). If I were benevolent dictator, I’d make a requirement for x-billion dollar loan than they partner up with greener technologies like:
   • Tesla
   • Zap
   • Vectrix
   • and that guy who’s developing the air-powered motor (Engineair of Australia)
3. Recognizing that electric or air-powered vehicles might not arrive next month (but they might, if we’re really serious), when existing inventory is gone, start making new versions of only the most efficient vehicle in each class. In other words, the big three put all their best technologies into only one vehicle each of the following classes, which they will put out to compete with the other 2 companies: 2-passenger, 4-passenger, 6-passenger, 8-passenger, 4×4 SUV, 10-14 passenger, bus, panel truck, etc. There can still be options and accessories for them (paint, upholstery, etc.) but the line would be incredibly simplified and standardized — following, in many ways, the Apple computer models.
4. Convert the factories that are not making these vehicles into factories that make windmills, solar panels, buses or trains or some of the next generation vehicles (in #2).
5. Any assembly workers who don’t keep their jobs get 2-years of technical or state college paid for (with a stipend for living). If they go into green technologies, they get 4-years paid for.

Before long, we have 3 mainstream companies competing with each other in the production and assembly of electric/hybrid scooters and cars, efficient buses and trucks, solar- and wind- powered charging stations (off-grid, on-grid, residential and small-business sized. Industry and other large-scale power needs might still be best met by the current energy industry — although they should go greener too.We also will have a large population going back to school for further training and development in green technologies. This will help infuse our schools with capital, and encourage them to focus more on sustainable practices.Next up, health-care… (maybe)

• High heat silicon spatulas – I had a great set a few years ago, but they disappeared about the time that a roommate moved out….
• [Update: I'll make do with the ones on my Kona.] Nokian Hakkapelita 700X35 Bike Tire 106 Studs for winter biking. I think I only want one — for the front. That should keep me from going down and breaking my collar-bone. I’ll still fish-tail and have to spin to accelerate, but that’s the fun art of winter biking. I’ve got a pair of Nokian Hakkapelita tires on my Kona (26″) that I’ve been using so far this year, and they work amazingly at keeping me up. They just have such high rolling resistance that it’s like biking in sand — even on a plowed road. So I’d like to get a thinner Nokian for my fixed-gear (regular commuter) bike.
• [Update: I think I'm going to get some pogies rather than mittens. See 12-23-08 post for more details.] I need new Lobster Mitts for winter biking. The Nike mitts I bought, um, 3 years ago(?) have worn off whatever coating was on the fingers, and now cold aid gets through. I suppose I could just paint them with a flexible paint (acrylic?) to make them last another 2 seasons.
• [Update: I  found a cheap neck gaiter at Sierra Trading Post, so I no longer need this. Good thing I didn't wait -- it got cold out!] Also for winter biking, I want a face mask for my nose to neck. The trick is that it has to fit under or below the helmet. I’d like to be able to pull it down off my face for quick stops (without taking the helmet off), and then pull it back up over the nose. Ideally, this can be done on a goggle-friendly version.
• [Update: Deal Extreme has the best deals that I've found for LED bulbs. I bought 4 of their 48 LED bulbs and love them (like a very white 40 watt spot light.] A “warm-white” LED spotlight bulb to replace a regular dim-able incandescent bulb. These are probably too expensive still. But seriously, with a string of 35 LED christmas lights coming in at $8 at Home Depot, why isn’t that amount of LED lumens available in a screw-type bulb for less than $50?  
• Four hybrid AA NI-MH rechargeable batteries. A few years ago I was a duke of rechargeable batteries. I had about 40 of them, and always had 4 in the charger ready to replace any that died. I’m lazier now, and have fewer battery operated things, but I still have AA bike lights that die, and an AA razor (really good Panasonic! love it for travel!), and a few strings of AA LED christmas lights in the camp cabin, and a couple of Wii-motes, so I need some new hybrid NI-MH rechargeable batteries. I’ve purchased great batteries from Thomas Distributing with great satisfaction (cheap and good).
• [Update: I found a pair for a great price.] Insulated Sorel Rubber Boots. I no longer have a good pair of winter boots and my feet are reminding me of this. 
• [Update:  This may be more of a life-long quest for me than a good gift idea. I've looked at about 100 laptop bags, and can't find any that I like. The Samsonite bags are very heavy, and don't have great durability ratings.] A top-loading “laptop” carry-on bag. One that’s basically half the size of a regular carry-on wheeled bag, that slips onto the wheeled bag for rolling, that I can fit under the seat, and slide my laptop out of the edge of it w/o opening the whole thing. Bonus points if it stands on it’s edge, has a drink holder, and a boarding pass pocket. Here’s what I want
  • top-loading, but not a top-loader wit a zipper all around it
  • if flap-topped, secured with quick-buckles or snaps
  • needs to fit in overhead bin of regional jets, or better — under seat.
  • ideally sits upright rather than on side, with travel-mug holder or pocket
  • big enough to hold 15″ laptop and overnight clothes/toiletries (what I need if checked bag is lost)
  • soft enough to crush/flatten when not full (I have a laptop sleeve, so don’t actually need a “laptop” case, but maybe more of an “overnighter.”
  • slides onto, or hooks onto, my wheeled carry-on bag (ideally, I don’t want to check any luggage)
• Here are a few that are close: 

  • Eagle Creek Velocity small tote companion
  • High Sierra Carry On (cheapest)
  • Eagle Creek Centerline Flight Companion
  • Eagle Creek Tarmac (maybe the best choice for me — EC always makes great stuff, IMHO)

• More coming…

I hate air travel. 

• Tuesday: Madison-> Minneapolis-> Sacramento 
• Wednesday: Sacramento-> Denver-> Houston
• Thursday: Houston-> Denver-> Sacramento

 and on Monday (after an all-to-brief Northern CA vacation)

• Sacramento-> Minneapolis-> Madison

Yes, I’d hate driving more. And, yes, it’s important enough to go to theses places that I put up with air travel, but honestly, I wish I’d checked out AmTrak fares…