Rachel explains LONG shadows
Couldn’t resist asking Rachel to provide an audio explanation for long shadows today at the park!
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audioboo, recording, shadow, shadows
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Author: Dad
Learning about Lincoln at Ford’s Theater
Alexander recorded this AudioBoo after we toured Ford’s Theater today in Washington DC.
My AudioBoo account is linked to Twitter so a link to this was automatically tweeted out, but when I posted this with WordPress for iPhone I was NOT able to copy/paste the actual embed code unfortunately. It would be great if AudioBoo would adapt their mobile interface to permit copying of the embed code on an iPhone.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
A few favorite photos from Washington DC today
Here are a few of my favorite photos I snapped today in Washington D.C. with Alexander. I added all of these to my NECC 2009 Flickr Set.
This is the first time I’ve seen a Tomahawk cruise missile up close.
We were able to not only see but also TOUCH several enormous meteorites today at the Smithsonian Natural History museum, including this one from Arizona:
The exhibit on the Mishin diaries and the light they shed on the Soviet moon landing plans was very interesting to me
This was the “designed but never used” Soviet cosmonaut moon suit:
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) exhibit was definitely the highlight of the day for me.
I incorrectly called these “unarmed aerial vehicles” near the end of the video sequence I recorded at the exhibit today. These are definitely NOT “unarmed.”
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aerial, aircraft, airforce, smithsonian, space, uav, unmanned, vehicle, rocket, moon, cosmonaut
Alexander on the Hubble Space Telescope
Alexander shared the following thoughts at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum today in Washington D.C.
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museum, smithsonian, space, video, youtube, hubble, telescope
On the homepage of ISTEconnects
Alexander’s photo reading in bed with his iPod Touch was on the homepage of the ISTEconnects blog today and in this ISTEconnects post. 🙂
Full disclosure: I wrote the post! 🙂
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read, reading, #necc09, isteconnects, iste, ipod, touch, itouch
Build your own Lego characters
Alexander reports from Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City, at our new Lego Store that just opened Thursday.
Getting the Black Belt and Becoming a Ninja in Club Penguin
Rachel earned the “black belt” in Club Penguin today, and also earned the ninja mask. She recorded some thoughts about this today and shared them online via AudioBoo.
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clubpenguin, game, online, club, penguin
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Rachel is marketing karate!
Rachel is taking a gymnastics and karate class this summer, and was just featured in the gym’s email marketing advertisement for a new karate class, she hired this search engine optimisation agency to help her out with the marketing. Marketing can be tricky, but with the right internet marketing company, your job will get so much easier.
Students in an earlier class are featured on YouTube, breaking boards. Rachel hasn’t done this yet!
Travian sitting report
My week of “sitting” for Alexander’s Travian account is officially over. These were the results:
This was what Alexander asked me to do:
Overall his village sustained 9 attacks, and I think on 3 of those occasions the attacker got resources. That was one of the reasons I build up a 2nd cranny to level 9. (The cranny protects your resources when attackers come.)
Hopefully he’ll be pleased with the results. His field production levels are a lot higher than they were a week ago.
Alexander, why don’t you write a “report card” on how things went when I sat for you in Travian, and post it here as a blog entry? I did add your Travian share link to the top of my blog at the start of the week, so be sure to check your “earn gold” link under Travian Plus. 🙂
A baby frog at Slippery Falls
Last night we visited Slippery Falls Scout Ranch for the closing campfire of Alexander’s first summer scout camp. On the way down to the campfire ring, Rachel spied this small, baby frog which her brother picked up and mommy later held.
Rachel didn’t want to hold it!
Rachel writes a note (and shares an Audioboo)
Rachel wrote the following note today as a marketing flyer for the “spa treatment business” she was offering with her sister.
I asked her to read the words as an Audioboo:
Rachel is just 5 and is finishing up pre-K. It is VERY exciting to see and help her make the reading/writing connection! 🙂
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reading, writing
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
New haircut for Sarah
Last Friday it was time for Sarah to get a big haircut! Both Sarah and Rachel got their hair cut at Sweet and Sassy in Edmond.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Behold, The Snack Leader! (Dad’s lyrics included)
This was a hoot tonight: Rachel and I created a five minute podcast I published on my main blog titled, “Behold the Glory and Honor of the Snack Leader!”
Here is the script I wrote and read for the first three minutes of the podcast.
In the hallowed halls of government, academica, and scientific research institutions, you may have heard of awards such as these:
The Nobel Prize.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Congressional Medal of Honor.
To a five year old preschool student, however, these awards are nothing compared to the honor, the prestige, and the glory of one hallowed title…
The right to be… the honor to be… for a single day… the one and only
Snackleader!
[Star Wars Throne Room Theme music]
Yes, the glorious snackleader!
As the chosen snackleader, it is your duty and privilege to be the unquestioned student leader of the day.
Yours is the privilege to select and bring the snack of the day. The snack everyone in your class will eat. The snack you truly love, and want to share with others.
As the snackleader, YOU are the designated line leader of the day. This means EVERYWHERE the class goes, YOU are the leader. You are the one in front. You are the one all other students look to for guidance and direction. Where YOU go, the class will follow. This is the weighty responsibility, as well as JOY, of the class SNACKLEADER.
The obligations of the Snackleader do not end there, however. For it is to the Snackleader ALONE which falls the privilege of SHOW AND TELL for that day. The Snackleader is permitted, and the Snackleader ONLY, to bring something from home– a prized possession, a work of original art, a family pet, or a favored toy, to show and explain to the ENTIRE class. It is the duty of the SNACKLEADER to uncover the mysteries of this item, to reveal to everyone the meaning and significance which this single object holds in the mind of the Snackleader.
As other children in the class sit quietly and listen to the moving stories of the Snackleader, the spotlight of the educational world falls to this one individual. In the spotlight. On the stage.
Honored and recognized. Hailed and hallowed. Behold her in all her glory: The Snackleader!
Rachel (since she can’t read very much yet) didn’t read a script, she just recorded her section impromptu. It seriously IS a huge thrill for her to be the snack leader in her class starting on Thursday. I think it is great her teachers provide students with this opportunity to be in the spotlight and be able to make so many important choices in their classroom for the day.
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education, snack, leader, preschool, podcast
Mother’s Day Podcasts 2009
We recorded short, 3-5 minute Mother’s Day Podcasts for our mothers today for Mother’s Day, which is coming up this Sunday. These podcasts were inspired by Carol Anne McGuire and her wonderful students. These were the questions we used for our interviews.
1.Tell me your favorite thing about your mother.
2. What does your mother do every day when you are away at school?
3. What does your mommy look like? (How would you describe her to someone who has never seen her before?)
4. What does your mom like to do when she is not working?
5. What does your mom like to eat?
6. How do you show your mother that you love her?
7. How does your mother show you that she loves you?
8. If you could give your mom anything in the whole world, what would you give her?
9. What makes your mom smile really big?
10. What have you learned from your mother?
These audio podcasts are published to a special page created with iWeb on MobileMe, and were also uploaded to EduBlogs.tv (for free) so they could be embedded here and on other websites.
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mother, mothers, day, podcast, mom
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Crosspost – Help Needed! WordPress commenting isn’t working (WordPress database error Duplicate entry)
Ah, these are the moments I wish I had my own IT staff. If you’re a WordPress or mySQL guru perhaps you can help me!
I am running WordPress on my main blog (“Moving at the Speed of Creativity”) and the blog has stopped accepting comments for some reason, as of Monday night (April 27, 2009) around 8 pm CST. That’s when my last comment came in successfully. I can post new entries to the blog, but no new comments can be received. I’m running WP 2.7.1. I haven’t installed or updating the blog or plug-ins lately, so I don’t think the source is a recent change I’ve made. I tried disabling all plug-ins except Akismet, but the error persisted. I think the problem is in my mySQL database. 🙁
I checked my WordPress directory error_log file and this is the last entry. It is a “WordPress database error Duplicate entry” message:
The other strange symptom is that in my WordPress dashboard, it shows that I don’t have any comments on my blog, even though there are almost 7000 approved.
The comments are still there, when I click the “comments” sidebar link they show up. Something is messed up with the auto-incrementing and I think it needs to be reset in mySQL. I’ve never done that, however.
I did a full mySQL database backup using phpMyAdmin. I considered reinstalling WordPress 2.7.1, but since this appears to be a mySQL problem I don’t think that would help. I haven’t (to date) done a good job monitoring and managing my error and access logs, and I’ve got some other issues and problems that it looks like I need to fix. (Some big ones with PodPress.) Overall I know I need to clean up my mySQL database, but never having done that before I am not sure where to begin. At least I have a new backup, I know that’s always a good idea…
Do you have any suggestions or tips for me that could help? Since my blog isn’t accepting comments (isn’t that ironic) I’ve cross-posted this to our Learning Signs blog (where commenting is working) or you can Tweet me an idea or link as an @reply or direct message.
Many, many thanks. Yuk. I really don’t like technical glitches like this which can often consume LARGE amounts of troubleshooting time.
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wordpress, error, mysql, comment, duplicate