Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2005 June
2004 November
2004 August
2004 July
2004 June
2004 May
2004 April
My Links
About my Blog (entry 1)
Mark Cuban's blog (a good read)
Dallas Mavericks
our local Amnesty Chapter
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
|
| Contact |
| 05.17.04 (3:43 pm) [edit] |
The movie Contact is such a thought provoking film to show to high school students. This is my 3rd year showing the movie and I usually wait until the end of the year in my Physics class. We watch it in 3 parts, and I give them a 'questions' sheet for each day. An example question is "what is the significance of the porch scene (with the priest)" and/or "what drives Dr. Arroway in her search for life?"
Today we watched part 1, up the when the 'signal' first arrives. The scene with her on the car, headphones on, and the camera closing in on her eyes as the signal arrives is one of my favorite scenes ever. And this scene is a great example of the difference between widescreen and TV screen dimensions. In the "cut" video version which I rented when it first came out, that classic scene has the camera closing in on only ONE of her eyes. With the 'letterbox' (movie theater) version we get to see both eyes open in shock as she gets her first signs of the signal. There is such a difference in the impact that each screen version delivers that it is wirth debating on. How many years until all of the old TV "Boxes" are dead and we all have the wide flat digital screens? Think about how rare a black and white TV are. Will the old CRT tube boxes be as ancient in 10-15 years? I hope so. Then we will no longer have to view axed versions of classic cinematography.
One more thing. My students have the ultimate assignment. Write a major term paper that answers the following question: Did Dr. Arroway really go on the 'trip' inthe movie, or was it a hallucination?
What do you think?
|
|
|
| |
| money |
| 05.11.04 (7:59 pm) [edit] |
today i told our HR accountant to change my monthly 401 contribution to ZERO dollars. I'm reading Alex Berenson's [i]The Number[/i] and after zipping through 1/4 of it, I have learned enough to yell "STOP!!!!"
Now I will accumulate more data before I do any more gambling. Thanks Alex for waking me up. And thanks also to Mark Cuban who's unconventional financial savvy has also gotten me to think more for myself and not blindly follow others and their portfolios.
Mark Cuban's recent stock blog
time to lay some real golden eggs...
|
|
|
| |
| AP Exams |
| 05.11.04 (5:09 pm) [edit] |
FINALLY!!!!!!
We are done with the AP Exams. I have a hunch my students will break the pass rate record for both AP Physics and AP Calculus that last year's class set. Now that they have worked their tails off for months on end, it is time for a reward. I have planned some good thought provoking movies...
[u]AP Calculus:[/u]
This week: Joe vs. the Volcano
Later: Holiday (Hepburn) and Pi (maybe)
[u]AP Physics:[/u]
The Elegant Universe
2001
I can feeeeeeel the extra energy on the horizon for me. What a rush....getting these students up to par for those exams.
|
|
|
| |
| that's entertainment |
| 05.10.04 (1:44 pm) [edit] |
a) Go see a new movie and pay around $9 per person.
2 months later...
b) go rent the same movie and pay around $4 per showing.
c) go buy the same movie and pay around $20 for unlimited showings.
Why can't people wait 2-3 months for the movie to come out? I understand there are quite a few that [i]must[/i] be viewed on the Big Screen. But still, we can wait out on a majority of these films and see them in the quiet of our own home. Plus, we can share the cost and pay much less for the popcorn, soda and candy.
Entertainment dollars are being spent in the billions in this society. In computer gaming, which is nipping on the toes of the movie and music industries, the customer is not afforded the same low cost options that the other two provide. New games cost $50. And it is more expensive and important to keep technologically up-to-date in the computer worlds than it is in movie (television, DVD or VCR) and music (CDs have been the mainstay for 20 years now).
If consumers fiscally revolt in each of these three mediums, look what happens to the ease of entry when the user tries to create a medium for their own cheaper entertainment:
[b]movies[/b] - pick up a camera after paying a hefty price and press "RECORD".
[b]music[/b] - hhmmm. lots of practice and then find the right group to write music. Getting cheaper to record. And very cheap to reproduce.
[b]gaming[/b] - hours and hours of learning C or equivalent computer programming language. hours of design, then debugging. Then you get an "80s" Atari game (which you should be proud of) with minimal graphics. With a few more years you can master Maya or other 3D graphics programs and make you game a bit more slick. Bottom line, way more expensive in time than the other 2.
What if there was a software program that would allow the user to [i]create[/i] his own game instead of writing it from scratch? It could be user friendly and prompt the gamer so that he defines the levels, the tricks, the rules, the avatars, and provides sketches. Then the user could create games with ease, much quicker and less expensive than the other two entertainment mediums. Could this be on the horizon?
Just a thought.
|
|
|
| |
| learning to speak the language of your clients |
| 05.07.04 (5:21 pm) [edit] |
clients. if my product sells, then it will be because I can communicate my ideas in a language spoken by my clients.
C. The language of game programmers. Later I'll get into C++ but for now, based on what some coders have told me, C is the foundation. I did quite a bit of stellar evolution code in my masters (astrophysics) classes but that was in Fortran. I have a hunch that my clients will not speak that 'language'. It must be C.
I picked up Stephen Prata's "C Primer Plus" and have decided to read every chapter, answer all of the end-of-chapter questions, and most importantly, write ALL of the assigned programs at the end of each chapter. So far, I have zipped up through chapter 3. And now that the AP Calculus Exam is behind me and the AP Physics is within days, I will be spending less time grading-assessing-preppin g and more time preparing the launch of my own business.
17 Chapters. If I can do 2 chapters a week and when graduation passes (June 5) get into 3 a week, I will be finished with this book by mid June. I did accept a summer teaching position at Cal State San Marcos (Astronomy) that should not take up too much time since I have taught the class 4 times before.
I have several friends who also code in C and I cannot wait to practice my new language with them.
Anyone interested in a floating decimal point?
|
|
|
| |
|
|
