I have an itch to blog again. An upgrade to my MarsEdit blogging software seemed like a good opportunity, but the path had curves. The software would not connect to the server. I updated plugins and ran into a glitch trying to update security software provided by my hosting provider A2 Hosting. After asking A2 Hosting for help, David P, “WordPress Specialist and General Awesome at A2 Hosting”, fixed the glitch and continued to help.
MarsEdit still would not connect. I could use the web interface for posting, but I do not like doing that. David P found an app at WordPress.com. It works, but works like a single page web browser. I searched for other Mac blogging software and found that MarsEdit is by far the best choice.
Meanwhile, MarsEdit’s developer Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software, also provided several suggestions over a period of days. He reported a strange network problem between my computer and the server. The problem was a “rogue” rule in my network monitoring software. I deleted the rule and MarsEdit now works!
I thank David P and Daniel Jalkut for their help; I consider them both “general awesome”.
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Many online resources help people learn parts of computer science. Code.org is one example. Universities have MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) aplenty. Just put MOOC into your favorite search engine, like DuckDuckGo, to find examples. More resources keep coming. This prompts some to wonder whether we still need computer science teachers. Alfred Thompson, wrote this CSTA Blog post titled “Do We Still Need Computer Science Teachers?” (CSTA is the Computer Science Teachers Association.) He points out that online resources work for people who can learn for themselves. But,
Thompson points out that teachers can explain in many different ways and give personalized hints without giving away answers. Further,
Automated computing systems are still not good at doing these things. We still need computer science teachers. We need them more than ever with the increase in computing’s importance in our society. His blog post has more. I suggest you read it here. University music departments’ used piano sales started started my wife and I thinking about upgrading our piano from the small used one we bought some 35 years ago. Wayne State University’s sale was near, so we checked out multiple pianos a couple of days ago. Pianos now come in several shapes and sizes. Our salesman (Paul, from Evola Music) helpfully led us through the many choices. He played and we played and listened to uprights and small grand pianos. A 51 inch tall upright stood out with a full, rich sound. The keys have a luxurious touch that can play a much wider dynamic range than our old piano. We purchased the piano; it was delivered the same day. At home, the piano’s sound continually amazes. We have experienced sounds we did not know a home piano could make. And, the piano is more fun to play because of its sound and keyboard touch. We certainly have been playing the piano more often. Wow. The experience reminds me of the first times experiencing a new and better sound system. Or, the first times experiencing high definition television (HDTV) in your home. The piano is a Kawai K-500, in case you would like to check it out. Mark Guzdial posts about Computer Science Education in his Computing Education blog. (I subscribe to email that updates whenever he posts.) His recent post “Get CS into Schools through Math and Science Classes: What we might lose” is one of his many posts that I like. Mark Guzdial lists three reasons not to pursue CS through the math/science model (see the post for detail):
Math and Science students certainly can benefit by learning CS concepts and CS approaches to modeling and problem solving. And there is a need in the natural sciences for abilities to analyze data sets in ways CS can help. (See bioinformatics.) However, the benefits of separate CS courses are unlikely to be realized by including CS-related units in other subjects. Expecting teachers, whose primary interest is in one subject, to teach a secondary subject within their courses is unlikely to lead to adequate coverage of the secondary subject, specially when they are measured by how well their students learn primary subject areas for standardized tests. This approach marginalizes the importance of CS. The answer is to grow Computer Science courses in our K-12 schools. We enjoyed our day (June 21, 2014) in Owosso Michigan for Train Expo 2014 located at the Steam Railroading Institute. A day’s admission to the expo was $25 and $35 with a one hour steam train ride. Other combinations and prices were available. Our train ride included a simulated train robbery. There are few opportunities these days to hear the sounds and see the sights of the stream train era. This excellent show continues tomorrow with an air show and car show and rides and snacks and souvenirs also available in town. Recommended. | |||||