3MF

I can see my house from here

Earlier this week, Poest pointed out me to the new Ask.com maps site. I'm not sure if this is new since dumping Jeeves or not, but i hadn't heard anything about it before. The nice part is that they actually have good satellite images for where i live. Compare Ask's aerial images of Walker, MI to Google's aerial photos of Walker, MI. There's a big difference. If you like the picture enough to buy your own, they even provide a link to buy a print. It still bugs me that they don't recognize my zip code: 49534. I'm not making this up, it's my real zip code. When will it show up in the data base already. The omission is on both Ask and Google Local so it's a tie in that department. Interestingly, Ask will give you walking directions as well as driving directions. Ask does loose points for automatically sending Safari (2.0.3) to the Maps Lite version of the site. I've gotta launch Firefox on my Mac to see it. Hopefully they are working on doing something about that.

Rapidprom caricature

This past weekend, Rapidparts hosted an evening of dinner and dancing for its employee to celebrate our various successes. Our department affectionately referred to the event as Rapidprom. For additional entertainment, there was a palm reader and caricature artist at the event. My friend Katie accompanied me to Rapidprom, and we posed for the illustration you see below.

Proof and Rent

I bought two DVDs from Amazon without ever watching them before which is not something that i usually do. I have, however, seen staged productions of them both. The movies were Rent and Proof which i had seen staged at DeVos and Circle Theatre respectively.

It's really not fair comparing the musical Rent to the film but i couldn't help myself as i was watching it. On the plus side, it was cool seeing so many of the original cast members and seeing the benefits of complete changes of location to move the story along. The movie added more spoken scenes whereas the stage production is practically all sung. I thought this hurt somewhat because, as musicals are often criticized, it is odd when someone suddenly bursts out into song. On stage, since everything is sung, you are lead to believe that's just how they talk in their world. It's like seeing a show where the actors are using a southern dialect during the most of the play and then jump into an English accent for the really emotional parts. Maybe i was just bummed that they cut some of my favorite musical parts of the show (namely "Goodbye Love" and "Halloween"). While most of the film had a wonderful "real" look to it, i was distracted by the obviously digitally added condensation clouds that puffed from the actor's mouths during the outside "cold" scenes. They just didn't look real to me.

I had to buy Proof because i want my DVD collection to contain as many math movies as possible. In actuality, there is very little real math in there and the story is approachable to people who have never studied math beyond simple addition. I think the play was full of wonderful themes about how we can make others believe in us and how we learn to believe in ourselves. The show also puts absolute certainty along side of mental instability in an unsettling way.

In both cases, i wish i had a way to reset my brain to remove the preexisting impressions i had of the material so i could see it again as if for the first time. I kept battling my expectations of what i thought was supposed to happen next and what actually did happen. Both shows were transformed and rearranged for their life as a feature film. I can't tell if the changes made it better or worse. It feels that i'm just looking at the same thing from a different point of view. It's like each story exists outside of any specific production or telling. I've chosen parts from each that reveal the story that i want to be told. Is that allowed?

Bad medicine

My dad began taking a new drug after the last batch of chemo seemed to do more harm than good. He's now taking thalidomide (under the brand name Thalomid). The drug was formerly given to pregnant women to prevent morning sickness until it was found to cause birth defects. Whoops. To get the drug, my dad had to answer a lengthy survey and pledge not to father any children. The drug's packaging is full of warnings about the damage it can do to unborn babies. Next to every pill is a drawing of a pregnant woman overlaid with the classic red slash. They even printed a picture on the top of a baby born with defects as a result of this medication.

The well-advertised potential birth defects aren't the only drawback to the drug. It can also cause weakness and painful neuropathy. This drug looks like it will be my dad's last stand in the battle against cancer. If the side effects are too severe or the drug is ineffective, there's really nothing else to do. The VA has authorized Hospice to take over my father's care the second he stops taking the drug.

Learning from tests

Researching shows that you learn more by taking tests than studying (via BoingBoing). This is something i've always felt was true. After a test was graded and handed back, i felt that i learned a lot by looking at the problems i got wrong. If i answered it incorrectly, i would be unlikely that i would ever do that again. It should be no surprise that feedback like that can be helpful. Students seem to fear test but i bet that's because they have never thought of them as was to help them learn.

I blame teachers for perpetuating a negative view of test. I think few realize how much learning can take place the test is graded. That's when the student finds out what he doesn't know and can take corrective action. As they say in Gung Ho (a book i just finished reading for work) , you don't know how good your canoe is until you take it through the rapids. I think it's also harmful to never bring up material in class again after it's been on a test. Surely the student wasn't expected to learn that material just to pass the test; the material should have an impact on further studies in the field or it was a waste of time. There should be more frequent, cumulative tests in classes. One might suppose that homework would fulfill this requirement, but i've come to realize that teachers don't seem to like grading homework. They assign it, you do it, and you think you did it right. Especially at the college level, teachers don't collect it and provide feedback in the form of red pen. Tests are the only chance for some real feedback. It's silly that they are only seen as a way to get a grade.