Making Movies

Made a four minute movie in 90 minutes yesterday. No, I didn't do it alone. But I participated in a David Pogue's I-Movie workshop at UCET using the audience as the cast of a short that ends up plugging Apple's I-Pod. It's actually the second shoot I've seen in recent months. The other one resulted in Life's Little Questions, a new public service announcement for Pioneer, Utah's Online Library.

Pogue's I-Movie session underscored the basics of video production: adequate lighting, attention to audio (including voices "on mike" and appropriate use of natural sound and music), camera stability, no or very mimimal use of panning and zooming, and of course digital editing.

"In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director." -- Alfred Hitchcock

Found while looking for something else: The Cartoon Factory

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Just Beam It

The Utah Coalition for Educational Technology (UCET) is holding its annual spring conference today and tomorrow at Cottonwood High School. The keynote speaker is computer columnist David Pogue who is also described as book author, book reviewer for The New York Times, musical-theater conductor, magician and songwriter. UEN is conducting several of the workshops and has a booth in the vendor area.

"Thanks to virtual reality and the world wide web, not only can we be anywhere, anytime, but we can also be whoever we want while being nowhere in particular." --Jason Ohler

Found while looking for something else: The Internet Movie Database

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Heroes - Forte and Pianissimo

Looking for a little good news? The Carnegie Hero Foundation has published its latest round of annual honors. A Utah teenager is on the list and received coverage in the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune. To make the Carnegie list you need a dramatic story, but of course there are incidents of quiet heros all around us. Here are a few I know of.

A young teacher finds old textbooks and other out-of-date curriculum materials frustrating. He leaves the classroom but does not abandon his dream that access to technology can help improve education. The enterprise he helped organize now brings educational technology and curriculum support to half a million students in schools, colleges and universities throughout his state.

A grad student envisions a way to electronically translate the "old" EBCDIC computer language to the more popular ASCII code. The resulting "black box" enables businesses to save thousands of dollars by connecting relatively inexpensive PC printers to their mainframe systems. He starts companies that engineer and market this technology to busineses throughout the world.

The young son of an English immigrant is known in his 1870's community as the boy always has a pencil handy. He follows his father and brothers in the cattle business, but also trains as a teacher. Later he becomes a school superintendent, legislator, one of the founders of a rural telephone company. And in the midst of the great depresssion he somehow sees that all of his children -- both sons and daughters -- graduate from college.

Who are your quiet heroes and what are their stories?

Related resources at UEN include the Student Education Occupation Plan (SEOP), Technology Life and Careers - All About Me, and Cyber Careers.

"You don't have to be noisy to be effective." --Philip Crosby

Found while looking for something else: We got what we want, not what? by Pete Kruckenberg

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p.s. Have you taken my exercise quiz? So far the "movers" are in the lead. See below.

QSL Cards? DXing?

A former ham remembers. But first, take my one-question exercise poll and see how your response compares with others who also drop by this blog...

Rich's Exercise Poll

How much do you exercise in wintertime? Never Monthly Weekly 2-3 days / wk 4-6 days / wk Daily

Current Results

I'd passed the five word per minute code test, the written exam, and submitted all the paper work. A few weeks later I received my novice class amateur radio license from the FCC. My call was WN7MYJ -- pretty heady stuff for a kid just starting junior high. There was only one problem. I was a ham radio operator with no equipment and poor odds at getting any since my mom was paying off huge bills from the illness and death of my dad. Fortunately my cousin had more resources and I got to use his equipment a few times before the license expired a year later.

Blogging has reminded me of that early experience. One of the sub-hobbies within ham radio is DXing or seeking out distant stations. You verify that you'd heard them by collecting QSL cards. When I started this blog a few weeks ago I didn't even consider that I might have international readers. So, it's been a unexpected reward to see readers from Canada, Israel, Netherlands and the United Kingdom taking a look at the RU-Blog.

Related resources at UEN inlcude Our World which was initially a part of UEN and SLOC's partnership to develop education resources for the 2002 Winter Games.

"I feel we are all islands in a common sea.--Anne Morrow Lindbergh"

Found while looking for something else: Phil Windley's Public Service Tip #6 - Laugh at the Jester

Looking for the Myeloma - My Sharona song? It's in Saturday's entry below.

What you see directly below this text may look so much like a banner ad that your eyes will automatically skip over it. But take a closer look. It is a poll written just for you, the person who often sits at a computer screen, but sometimes swings a golf club, or hits a tennis ball, or rides an indoor bike to prepare the glory of spring on a mountain biking trail. So right now, while you're thinking about it, take ten seconds and click on your response.

Rich's Exercise Poll

How much do you exercise in wintertime? Never Monthly Weekly 2-3 days / wk 4-6 days / wk Daily

Current Results

Doc Burns

I’ve enjoyed the work of Dr. David Burns, M.D. of the Stanford University School of Medicine. He writes in a conversational way that’s informative and engaging – partly because of the self disclosures he makes.

“You cannot always be completely rational and objective. Certainly I’m not! I have my share of shortcomings, my dark moments of self-doubt, my periods of irritability. I believe these experiences give us the opportunity for growth, for intimacy, and for a deeper comprehension of what it means to be human.” --Dr. David D. Burns

A few related resources at UEN include Prevention Dimensions: Don’t Let Stress Get You All Wet, and Get to Know Yourself. Find more with UEN Search and UEN Curriculum Search.

Found while looking for something else: Anne Frank, The Attic

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"Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."
--John Petit-Senn

Found while looking for something else: Colonial Williamburg Electronic Field Trips

Some in his family saw him as destined to failure. He didn't do well in school. Several of his business ventures failed. He also struck out as the designer of a three-wheeled car, a one-piece bathtub and an unusual home. It wasn't until his fifties that he gained recognition as an inventor, engineer and educator.

The man is Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome -- which unlike any conventional building gets stronger, lighter and cheaper per unit of volume as its size increases. His structure follows the rules of physics but breaks our expectations -- just as Bucky himself did when he didn't achieve "success" until well after his forties.

Others also described as late bloomers include artist Paul Cezanne, chefs Julia Child and Harland Sanders, former president Harry Truman and actors John Houseman and Boris Karloff.

"...when my fingers feel weak, I force myself to do the scales. Afterwards, I usually feel wonderful." --Johnny Costa, jazz pianist, 1922 - 1996

Found while looking for something else: Johnny Costa.com