Dismantling childhood

I learned a few things while taking down the play structure I had built for my kids a few years ago. 1) If you build something for your kids, make something they want as opposed to what is convenient for you. 2) Paint all exposed wood immediately or you'll probably put it off for three years and it will slowly rot underneath the simulated rainforest of suburban sprinklers 3) If you employ reusable metal corner braces, the gradual layering of wood and screws will create a puzzle that can only be unlocked with a sawz-all. 4) Good podcasts and pretending your reciprocating saw is a crappy lightsaber will make the job more enjoyable. 5) Removing a play structure is still a sad thing.

Virtual Money, Bitcoins, and perpetual motion machines.

Dedicated computers used to "mine" virtual bitcoins are being resold $30k+ on Ebay. Wait--these are just preorders, they don't exist. So, to recap: People are spending $30k+ for the promise of a machine that lists at $1500, which will be used to extract a virtual currency. The more of these machines that are employed, the less efficient each machine functions. Currently they are supposedly generating four bitcoins a day, at $80/coin. It feels like a perpetual motion machine, and is either the coolest thing ever or the end of civilization and return to a barter economy. Also, the price of gold and Apple stock is crashing. Ebay link

Debugging

Debugging

Program or Be Programmed | Edutopia

Program or Be Programmed | Edutopia

Programming Is the New Literacy | Edutopia

Programming Is the New Literacy | Edutopia

Doing a 15 Minute Presentation in 10 Easy Steps | The Other Librarian

Doing a 15 Minute Presentation in 10 Easy Steps | The Other Librarian

I'm relying on this to put my presentation together for Vegas.

PyDev Eclipse Python interpreters Error: stdlib not found - Stack Overflow

PyDev Eclipse Python interpreters Error: stdlib not found - Stack Overflow

Just working through some errors as I try to get Eclipse up and running.

Installing the Pydev plugin

I used this video to figure out how to install the Pydev plugin within the Eclipse IDE, so I can learn some Python.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACrmcGjqrJw

How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project: Teachers of low income students, however, are much less likely than teachers of the highest income students to use tablet computers (37% v. 56%) or e-readers (41% v. 55%) in their classrooms and assignments

When disciplines collide, and new forms of learning are created

This class that combines history and hacking Arduino--what a great idea. “To write their group papers, the students used a platform hosted by the Swedish Pirate Party, called piratepad,” said Famiglietti. “It’s the same site used by Anonymous and other hacker organizations to write some of their collaborative documents. I thought that was a nice touch.”

The devil finds work for IDLE...oh never mind.

I'm currently looking for an alternative to IDLE. It crashes when I go to change the font sizes. Fixing the problem involves switching to an older version of ActivestateTCL and bit of mucking about that I don't want to hassle with. http://bugs.python.org/issue15853 The author of the book I'm using also hates IDLE: http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2011/11/29/the-things-i-hate-about-idle-that-i-wish-someone-would-fix/ I googled "best free python ide os x" and came across this helpful thread, which recommends Eclipse with the Pydev plugin: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=127552