Duke CIT Presentation

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That is pronounced "Green" as in www.gruenetexas.com/

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Like Sam....


Just don't let the other dogs down at the corner know I said so.

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arf! arf! arf! (left channel)

................ arf! arf! arf! (right channel)

And even more Snark in Stereo Bark!

It's from the cover of my new art project, dog's debate automata.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

One of my most favorite flowering cacti is the Beavertail -- and this is the first of many blooms I will see judging form the buds.

Oh no, I leave tomorrow for almost 2 weeks, and I might miss them all.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

It was a while ago I blogged something about Doing Something Solar... I've not done a *whole* lot since then, but am planning on some research over the (sunny) summer on what it might take to rig some solar panels into my home grid.

The folks at Connect2Earth were nice enough for doing something nice for me- for mentioning of their project, they sent me this cool gift. It is a Solio Hybrid Charger which has panels that can use the sun to fill its battery and in turn, re-charge any device powered by USB type connectors, including the iPhone.

I've charged the battery up since I got home and will be testing the power of the phone charge (I don't know if it is me, but my phone seems to charge more fully off of the A/C than my laptop).

I can see some future use as a backpack tool just so I can fully geek out (or call for help) out in the woods. But even at home, if I keep this charged by the sun, and use it to power the phone and my mp3 player, well, it might just be a tiny tiny less amount of electric sucked from the coal burning on the grid.

At least it seems to work better than my little hand crank/solar charger I keep in the car.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Traffic on the Congress Avenue Bridge is reduced to toy car status by the tilt shift effect.

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My boss Larry raves about a new iPhone app developed by my friend Mare called Clean My Screen-- "It cleans your screen from the inside!"

Get yours from cleanmyscreen.peghole.com/

cogdogblog posted a photo:

I had doubts about making a smoothie from this Memorial Day left over pumpkin, but it came out not bad. I added some frozen blue berries (hence the purple color) and it was a bit on the runnier side since I was low on yogurt

Yummy.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

The locals are friendly here!

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As if there is only one-- "The Web" hah. This one does not have broken links, spam, or facebook nonsense.

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You can expect this photo to be in some future Ed Tech conference presentation, but for today, it was just an enjoyable 5 mile kayak outing on Upper Lake Mary, near Flagstaff, AZ.

As part of the unmarked waters, I happened to see a Coyote, the Trickster, loping along the edge of the forest.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

It's actually an ice cream (and judging from the stuff piled around it) and junk store in Pine, Arizona. The core of it is a historic cabin-- historic in this part of the country means going way back to maybe 1880.

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I spent the afternoon prepping and planting this year's vegetable garden. With the week of rain, plus the extra soaking I did to mix in the fertilizer, it ended up a bit muddy. In between my rows, my feet kept sinking to ankle deep in mud.

My best shoes!

cogdogblog posted a photo:

I forgot to factor in this collection of name tags and rabies vaccination tags that belonged to Dominoe.

In my last 50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story workshop I used this as another way to get the prompt for a story- bringing in and holding a real world object... objects have a lot of power once we tap into emotions of the past moments.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Yo, Randy Thornton, who doubted my tweets of Arizona rain in May-- this the 4th day in a row we've seen rain clouds and actual water falling from the sky.

I cannot ever remember seeing any rain in May- usually smack in the middle of the dry stretch of the last April storms and the first monsoon thunderstorms in July.

But I am not complaining, and neither are the always thirsty trees and my soon to be cultivated vegetable garden.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

You never know who will bump into at the Bee Line Cafe in Payson, Arizona.

Nah, this was planned. Howard Rheingold was in Phoenix yesterday as a keynote speaker for the 2009 Maricopa Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference.

I had hoped to drive down for the conference, but my schedule imploded with things that needed to get done, so I had to opt out of the drive down (yeah leave lovely cool mountain air for 107 degrees). But luckily, Howard had plans to visit one of his friends who lives in Payson, which is only 18 miles from where I live, so we had plans to breakfast at the down home Bee Line (where they have the cutest grumpy old waitresses).

Born in Tucson and growing up in Phoenix in the pre suburban explosion, Howard has his AZ roots, and it was an enjoyable time talking about The Way Things Were, social media, his new book ideas, classes at Stanford / Berkeley, etc.

Thanks @hrheingold for hanging out in lively Payson!

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Feeling like you have no where to go? Is life pressing you in? Do you not see options to get out of what is keeping you from where you want to be? Is some lumbering biped chasing you with a camera?

Do not despair, there is an answer!

Here at Sunny Lizard Philosophers, we have a program to help you scoot along the cracks, soak up the sun, and find joy in eating insects, all in the progress of discovering your inner gecko.

This offer has no expiration date.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

The brief rain shower from yesterday and the minimal traffic on my street made for a neat perspective shot. Here is another one with the pocket Canon almost touching the ground, something much harder to do with an SLR...

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Today's treat while kayaking near the north end of Roosevelt Lake was getting this close to a bald eagle nest (there are signs warning not to enter, and I was told someone got caught today and earned a $500 fine).

I met one of the observers who was in s small power boat. She said that three babies were hatched and that one may have taken her first flight today-- in fact, one of the young ones was missing (two are visible here).

cogdogblog posted a photo:

I can almost make out the proto shape, but what starts out like some sort of a fleshy flower on this Ponderosa Pine will eventually dry out to be a cone. It will blow of the tree on a windy day perhaps next February. I will scoop it up in one of my buckets, and one cold night it will disintegrate as a hot coal in my wood stove. I will transfer the ashes to a metal can outside, eventually mixing it in with my compost. Maybe a year later, it will mix with the soil in my garden, and be reborn as perhaps an eggplant.

What a cycle. For now, I can just appreciate it for what it is- a sign of something new, something that will grow into something else, something of a lovely singular purpose.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

A ground's eye view of the passage of humanity (as it were) at the Houston Airport. I was sitting near a janitor closet adjacent to a precious electric outlet and was intrigued by the effect of reducing people to their feet.

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So many rules in this world- another of my collection of Dog Signs flickr.com/photos/tags/dogsign

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He Brooklyn! a tree grows in Salem too. Doing one of my random walkabouts in Salem, Massachusetts, I was mesmerized by this shadow leaning over, draping on and around, this house.

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A pale imitation of Bryan Alexander's twitter icon.

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"Ghost" is another of Bryan Alexander's goats. I like how one of her horns is slicked back, kind of stylish. But I've read one too many stories about their gruff...

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Despite the weather predictions for clouds and rain, everything parted late in the morning to a full on sunny day, and after our hike up Buck Mountain, Barbara Ganley and I could not resist more photos of this view from her patio.

I may change my whole war on dandelions-- this view is sheer beauty.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

On our hike today we passed this tiny graveyard almost invisible in the woods, just 6 graves, with inscriptions from the 1800s. I like how the weathering blends into the fallen leaves..

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Today was a full 10 hours of road time, driving from State College PA north into New York, and into Vermont. While I felt warmly greeted at the Empire State line, at a subsequent rest stop, I could not be overwhelmed by the sheer number of dire warning signs, meant to?? threaten me into good behavior? Tell me who is in charge? make me fear the water?

Sure this is in one isolated place where guess previous human behavior suggests my fellow humans have not been caring to the space, but what message would a world covered in "DO NOT" and "YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED" signs be like?

(note this is NOT a knock on New York- I will do almost anything short of wearing an I <3 NY shirt--, it was just the juxtaposition of these string of signs that ticked something off...)

And don't even get me started on all of the travel places that flush toilets or turn on water for us.... Is the human condition so incapable of even the basic sanitary functions? Is the next level for the State to wipe our asses too?

cogdogblog posted a photo:

After today's presentations at Penn State, I walked around the corner, and stood face to face with Mr Nittany.

Ironic as I borrowed him for the example story prompt in today's talk on 50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story.

If I can remember the audience's contributions, the story here involved Joe Paterno feeding the Lion some buckeyes (or Buckeyes), when Sue shows up with some orange spray paint, finally with an appearance of the police.

(Hey, it was the audience that made this up, not me!).

Their homework is to devise an ending to the story.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Today's kayak excursion was to one of the best lakes I have explored so far- Willow Springs Lake is at the crest of the Mogollon Rim, about 25 miles east of Payson on Highway 260, and seems a lot less over run than Woods Canyon Lake.

It is very easy to get to, plenty of parking by the water, and one of the easiest put ins so far.

The water was rather high, with a lot of places to put ashore and explore. Hardly anyone on the water.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

An admirer sent me the nicest surprise today- a CafePress minted t-shirt with a mural of all 366 photos from last year's project. Sweeeeeet!

Now if this photo goes into next year's shirt.... (recursion! recursion!)

cogdogblog posted a photo:

I've seen it in pictures and web cam, but today I got to stand on Cole Camplese's office where the ETS Podcasts are recorded.

It's been a fantastic visit so far to Penn State and Cole has been an over the top gracious host. If I were to describe the experience, I might have to draw a diagram.... (inside joke)

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Penn State University- a lovely campus even on a grey rainy day.

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Lunch on the road....

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I am not sure which New York building has this beautiful gold roof, but with some severe contrast cranking and color tinting, I like the way it glows above the dark city.

A beacon? Or did someone just leave the porch light on?

cogdogblog posted a photo:

I'm on 34th Street... magic?

Oh, the miracle and joy of New York is just the energy of the streets, the traffic cop screaming at a slow moving bicycle, a woman balancing a slide of pizza the size of a poster, the sidewalk hawkers, the people who have perfected not looking at anyone while they are looking at everyone, the guy on the corner asking for donations for the homeless, and then adjusting his pitch to the man smoking a cigar ("Cuban cigar for the homeless?").

And for a city that out of towners seem to pack fear for or think everyone is out to get them, a tiny story. I was happily toddling down Park Ave and 2 different people called to grab my attention to return a small pack that fell out of my laptop case (the pouch with the head phones)...

There is more to take in in the city than there are neurons to notice...

cogdogblog posted a photo:

My Mophie Juice Pack Air arrived today, just in time for tomorrow's cross country flight from Phoenix to Newark.

It is a batter supply for the iPhone that is built into a protective case; it adds some thickness and a little weight, but if it delivers as it promises 2 full charges, then I will be happy.

More on this story as it develops

cogdogblog posted a photo:

The annual May explosion of bearded irises is about to begin! Bring it on
www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/tags/iris

Purple, baby, purple!

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Goat indecision.

Today was another beautiful sunny day in Strawberry, AZ, and was a good one for visiting one of the two tourist stops in town- the Ranch at Fossil Creek which features friendly llamas and goats-- John and Joyce make some of the best fudge anywhere from the goat milk (I only get to sample when my blood sugar dips) and some amazing goat cheese as well. John said they were working on a deal to sell at Whole Foods in Phoenix.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

This is an overlay of my paper plan and final prezi piece. I recently made a prezi for my dominoe story used in 50 Web 2.0 Ways to tell a Story.

In thinking about how I would design this, I decided te "pull away" shot would be similar to the opening white on black slide used elsewhere, except the letter would be formed by smaller versions of the photos used in the story, thus spelling out in larger letters, "dominoe"

Since there are 18 photos in the story, I would need shapes to spell the rest of the letters- Originally I thought I would use white rectangles, but that would be a lot of extra presi uploads, so instead I drew small blob shapes with the prezi line tools.

Prezi is an interesting tool to design in (and the interface is #*#&#ing hard to master); the real trick seems to be effectively using the scale to hide and show elements.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

I remember staging this shot in maybe 1987. I climbed up behind the backboard and my friend Kevin timed the hanging on the rim perfectly. I dont remember if he really jammed; I may have dropped the ball from above or he may have had a step to help. Forgive me Kev if yuo really did the Jam.

Still, it was always one of my favorite hand made photos- did this one for a Photo class at Essex Community College.

Last night I pulled out a box of old prints to show a friend. These were ones I made in the late 1980s when I had my own dark room equipment, and thought it was time to digitize them into the 21st Century.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Lucky blind angle. I was trying to get a ground view up photo of a poppy flower by holding my compact camera beneath and aiming it up.

In reviewing the photo, I see I managed to get it almost parallel with the trunk of the much larger Ponderosa pine tree behind it. Luck!

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Trying to eat more veggies. Wanna live longer. Also makes more stuff for compost pile.

Anyone have a recipe for Butternut Squash Avocado Potato soup?

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Without indication that it is okay to do, our rural mailboxes in Strawberry sprout identities with various stickers, signs, hand drawings etc. It makes sense, because as you approach a generic bank of mailboxes, how can yo tell easily which one is yours?

I was dropping some mail off today and just glanced at this box and Shazam! Photo Op.

Actually my mailbox is still virgin un-decorated.

These were just replaced after a recent incident where a drunk driver took out a few hundred boxes including mine, losing in the process my beloved red WordPress sticker.

I am in the market for a new sticker, just waiting to find the right one.

Maybe I just need a clever phrase and a label maker.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

It's been a long time since I used the geology rock hammer I got first in 1986 as an undergraduate student at University of Delaware,

Today, i went for a trip with friends to search for geodes beneath the foot of the Mogollon Rim, and found an area where this sandstone had been mineralized. It was a fun day whacking rocks!

cogdogblog posted a photo:

I have photographed the texture in this old juniper tree more than once, but sometime today caught my eye-- the pattern of negative space between the peeling bark; usually I am intrigued by the alligator skin texture of the bark, but it flipped on me today.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

This morning I got to eat some sourdough toast from the bread I made last night. Something about that makes me feel so frontier-like.. well excepting the electric bread making machine and the packaged mix.

One step at a time.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

It's hard to get a macro shot looking down into the tulip, as the focus tends to lock on the upper parts of the petal or even the stamen (center). This photo got a bit more interesting by dropping the saturation and raising the color tint to bring out the painter-like texture inside the petals.

Sometimes the photo comes as it was taken; other times, you have to game it a bit.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

A few weeks who I was visiting a friend in Phoenix who turned me on to home made fruit smoothies using fruit Donna had saved in your freezer.

With all the fruit left over from last weekend's CyberSalonAZ gathering at my house, I have now cut up bags of strawberries, bananas, and mangoes in the freezer. I can take a few out as needed, toss them into the blender with some water/milk, and enjoy a nice fruity drink.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Since I don;t have cable or TV reception, I am going to use my computer as an "antenna" for content to watch on the new HDTV. And this new cable is the key- a DVI (from the MacBookPeo) to HDMI (to the HDTV) cable is the key.

Now I can watch on the big screen and movies / shows I bought in iTunes or the on demand movies from NetFlix, or heck, just sit back on the couch and watch TweetDeck.

Not only is the quality supreme; this one table does video and audio, so its less cable clutter. And at 5meter length, I can take the laptop over to the coffee table.