Dilbert gives a good example of why I hate standardized tests: humanity is too diverse to be standardized.
The scary thing is, I have taken personality indexes that are worse than that one…
Why Standardized Tests Are Bad
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Monthly Archives: February 2008
U2 3D: The Movie
My wife and I saw this a while back, but I forgot to post on it. The U2 3D movie is awesome. Even if you don’t really like U2, the 3D technology is so realistic. I’m not talking the red and blues glasses of a few decades back, or even the funky plastic cheap-o Disney ride glasses of the last decade. you still have to wear funky glasses, but the advances in 3D film are really noticeable. The shots that look over the massive crowd in the soccer stadium make you feel like you are really there looking out over the crowd. The drum set also looks incredibly real in 3d. On top of all of this, they also added some graphics to a few scenes – basically, they took what was showing on the screen behind the band and made it float transparently in front of the band. Neat effect.
We saw it an I-MAX, which really added to the realism. I recommend taking this route if you can.
Enough Armchair Quarterbacking Already!
A pastor of mine used to make fun of football fans. He is a football fan, but he thought it was funny to see mid-aged, overweight men yelling at the screen when a young, strong, in shape player made a bad judgment call. Like they could have done any better in the same situation. Of course, who cares about all of the good plays they had also accomplished up until then.
I get pretty discouraged reading Christian blogs. All they seem to be able to focus on is something that some church somewhere is doing wrong. Usually, the blogger attended one service or listened to one sermon online and concluded that the whole church is not preaching the gospel, or preaching the “correct” style, or whatever – based on that one sermon.
The whole thought that there is only one correct preaching style (expository, topical, parables, etc) that is absolutely the one best way to preach in all situations is pretty ludicrous. Jesus himself used all types pretty equally, so to say that expository preaching is the best way to preach is pretty anti-Biblical to me.
Of course, how can we even tell how the preaching is at one church from just one or two sermons? If they are really following the example of Jesus, what if it is just that week that they decided to teach in parables and life application (like Jesus frequently did)?
And to clear the record, “Gospel” is not a category of message in the Bible. Gospel is just the way we translate a Biblical word that really means “good news,” not a category called “Good News.” If someone found a sheep that they had lost, that was “good news” also – the same word would be used. ANYTHING that could be considered “good” could be considered “Gospel” by the Biblical use of the word. Jesus told us to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God. Paul would later just use “good news” when writing letters to people that he knew would know what “good news” he was talking about.
But, really, you go to a church and claim that they don’t preach what you call “the Gospel” ever based on one sermon?
I find it funny that so many Christians today would probably go call Jesus a bad preacher that doesn’t preach correctly if they went to see one of His sermons.
I would love to just see a blog post about what some church did right somewhere, not the constant doom and gloom of every church every where is always getting it wrong drum beat that we see on so many blogs today. I’ve got a few ideas of what I could post on this area about my church, so I will get to posting that in the future.
TxDLA 2008 Conference
I just found out that I am being blackmailed into doing another blog. TxDLA (Texas Distance Learning Association) usually has a blog that goes along with their yearly conference. I’ve been asked the past couple of years to help out, but have managed to avoid even having to answer. Of course, when your manager is the one doing the asking, you can’t just forget to respond to the email. Or, in our case, the Google Talk IM. Yes – I am a whole 15 feet away from my manager and we still communicate by IM. All I have to say is, don’t ever say “no” to Harriet. See gives new meaning to the term “one tough Grandma.”
Okay, it as more like she said “Matt can you help” and I was like “sure, whatever.” Blackmail just makes for a more interesting blog post.
So, anyway – if you are planning to be at TxDLA 2008 (or just happen to be free the week after Spring Break), feel free to drop by my session. I’ll be doing a hands-on session about “Effective instructional design techniques in Moodle and Second Life.” Sounds fairly… ambitious… huh? It should be fun.
Even more ambitious than that is my presentation in June in Utah: “The Future of the Internet – Web 3.0 and 3-D Web.” That is at a smaller conference for a specific set of people, but I am also working on getting my ideas in this area published in a compilation. We’ll see how that goes.
LOST: The Island is Hell
Yep…. been watching Lost. And formulating some theories. So, here goes….
There is this new character named Matthew Abaddon. We first saw him last week in a flash forward, posing as a lawyer that asked Hurley some weird questions about the other survivors. The Lost Easter Eggs Blog posted a creepy slow motion clip of Abaddon leaving the mental hospital. It doesn’t look like a human is leaving. Maybe the smoke monster?
http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/2008/02/matthew-abaddon-slow-motion-leaving.html
If you look closely, you can see the door handle shining through where his waist should be. Weird.
I also remembered hearing the word Abaddon in the Bible somewhere. I looked it up on Wikipedia quickly, and thought the entry there had some interesting points:
Abaddon (Hebrew Avaddon, meaning “destruction”). In Biblical poetry (Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11), it comes to mean “place of destruction”, or the realm of the dead, and is associated with Sheol. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna.[1] By extension, it can mean an underworld abode of lost souls, or hell.
In Revelation 9:11, it is personified as Abaddon, “Angel of the Abyss”,[1] rendered in Greek as Apollyon; and he is described as king of the locusts which rose at the sounding of the fifth trumpet. In like manner, in Rev. vi. 8, Hades is personified following after death to conquer the fourth part of the earth.
Locke’s Dad told Sawyer last season that the island is hell. Maybe so? Or maybe some weird place for lost souls to find peace? But not purgatory, because they have already said that it is not purgatory.
Online Publishing (Microsoft Office Alternatives)
The competition between Google and Microsoft has been huge in the news recently. While it seems that the debate is centered on online advertising sales, there is a bigger rivalry going on that fuels this: Google has been trying to complete with Microsoft software for a few years now. Gmail was one of the first attempts, but they also jumped into the game when the rolled out Google Docs and Spreadsheets (now expanded to included PowerPoint-like Presentations).
Google is not the only company yo do this. Several companies have created online alternatives to Microsoft Office products. These websites use programming tricks to mimic several key functions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Office products. Google Docs is probably the most well known. Zoho is probably the most comprehensive, with a large range of tools that other sites don’t have. Other sites, like Buzzword, are trying to start other alternatives. All of these sites offer basic Office-like functionality online. In time, they all claim that they will be able to mimic all Office features online.
There are several benefits and pitfalls to these attempts. The main pitfall is that your documents will probably exist online, and if you are cut off from the Internet – no access to your work. I say “probably” because Zoho has actually developed a service (based on Google Gears, actually) that gives you the ability to save your work off line, work on it while disconnected, and then upload it whenever you connect. Also, if you are one of the few that really, really use those obscure Office features that haven’t been re-created online yet, you might really hate not being able to use them.
The benefits of using an online publishing MS Office alternative are numerous. Any of the sites mentioned above will give you a list of these benefits. The main one that I like is that you can collaborate with others online, in real time (sometimes), on the same document. No more emailing back and forth copies of work, only to have someone start working on the older version because they forgot to open the latest email. You can also open your work up to any collaborators that you choose, or share the final product with the world.
The lightweight nature of the programming used in most of these websites means that they also work great on Mobile devices. Some of these companies are developing mobile versions specifically for some mobile devices. See this website for Zoho on the iPhone.
Another nice feature of most MS Office alternatives is that they can import Office documents, as well as export to MS Office file formats. They are not only online alternatives – they also seamless integrate with MS Office.
Of course, I forgot to mention the biggest draw for educators wanting to use these sites – they are usually free. Upgrades are also possible – for example, Google Docs will charge you $50 if you want support. That’s some pretty inexpensive support.
The field of “online MS Office alternatives” is rapidly growing. I usually have to hit the Zoho blog several times a week just keep up with all of the changes. Will any of these companies actually ever kill MS Office? I doubt it. But they have been causing Microsoft to re-think how they do business, and even start offering new features that probably would have never happened without this little nudge.
It’s Election Year, and The Circus Is In Town
Or I guess I should say, “the circus is on the TV screens.” I hate election years. Just because it exposes the worst in human behavior. People can’t seem to disagree respectfully anymore. Nope – they have to resort to using emotionally manipulative words in a vain attempt to guilt other people into feeling bad for thinking differently than they do. Which, of course, never works – people just get offended and get into a war of insults. Lovely.
Both Republican and Democrats have serious problems with their party lines. Mainly because they sometimes take up positions just because it is the opposite of what the other one has. And then some third party or independent party will come along and take up a stand opposite of the two major parties just to be different.
Here is what I say: I think we should just give each party one term in office and then switch to the other party. One term for Republicans, and then one term for Democrats. Of course, four years is not enough time to get any good done, but eight years is enough times for the stupidity that hides in the shadow of either party to start ruining our country, so maybe we should expand that one term to maybe five or six years. Whoever can win their party’s nomination for the election year that their party is in power gets the presidency for the next term. Of course, we would have to let everyone vote in the primaries that year. But I just say we give both sides a shot every other term and be done with all of the stupid mud slinging.
Oh… wait… Obama and Clinton proved that even intra-party mudslinging can get ugly. Drat – shoots down that theory….