Red Space Rocket

I’d be interested to know what folk think after they have read this article.

For those of you who might be interested, I also maintain a page on Facebook. You can “become a fan” there, if you wish.

I also have a quiz on Facebook about using capital letters correctly, which might amuse people for a minute or two.

Thirty years ago today, the first internet type dialup accounts were made available to the public.

1979: CompuServe begins offering a dial-up online information service to consumers.

Sept. 24, 1979: First Online Service for Consumers Debuts | This Day In Tech | Wired.com

If you are looking for some news to read for your Daily Reading task I have put a list of some newspapers, both Australian and American, on the Red Space Rocket wiki.

twistori

My sister showed me this site and I love it. I hope you like it, or hate or react in some fashion to it.

Someone asked me what software and hosting I use for Red Space Rocket. I know this is not going to be interesting for most people but here it is.

Red Space Rocket is hosted with bluehost, the blog is powered by WordPress, the Wiki is powered by MediaWiki and the discussion forum is powered by Vanilla.

This is one-on-one on-line tutoring for maths, science, english, research and study skills. The library has subscribed to this professional and secure service which operates from 4pm to 8pm, Monday to Friday.

Geelong Regional Library – Welcome

I haven’t tried this service as my local library is not part of the Geelong Library network. However if you go have a card for them I think this is certainly worth a try. Even a little extra work each week will make a big difference for most students.

Although Red Space Rocket is all well and good for a little discussion we have very good discussion groups on our Intranet. There are two set-up for Geography and English under my name.

Class Forums

This is your chance to take a more active part in things so go in and have your say and ask your questions.

STAFF in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have been editing Wikipedia to remove details that are potentially damaging to the Government.

Government caught Wiki-watching – National – theage.com.au

There are people who will swear that you should never go near Wikipedia because anything created by that many people must be wrong. As students will know I think it’s a really valuable first (but not last) point of research. If you want the a few pages of well written summary information it’s a wonderful resource, just don’t completely believe anything you read from one source much and certainly if the source is not primary (by which I mean someone there at the scene or responsible for the original research).

All the same it’s powerful stuff and people do use it to inform themselves which is why governments and corporations take an interest in what it says there and make changes to put themselves in the best light. I know I’d be tempted.

I was looking for a quick and easy way to make a propaganda poster of my own. What I found instead was something that lets you make a horror movie poster. I was too good not to share.

Horror Movie Poster Maker

Robert Burke and Williams Wills.jpg by patrickkeane

I just discovered The Australian Dictionary of Biography online which is published by the Australian National University.

While there is mountains of information available online sadly it can be harder to find good information about Australians. This site seems an excellent resources especially for History topics.

I even found an O’Meara although I am pretty sure he is no direct relation.

O’MEARA, MARTIN (1885-1935), sleeper-cutter and soldier, was born on 6 November 1885 in the parish of Lorrha, Tipperary, Ireland, son of Michael O’Meara, labourer, and his wife Margaret, née Connor. He arrived in Western Australia as a youth, having worked his passage as a stoker.

Newspapers by Meriluoto

You never know what interesting bits and pieces you’ll find in the newspapers especially the weekend ones for good long articles.

However they can be a bit frustrating for finding information on a specific topic unless you it happenes to be news right now.

This is where something like ProQuest comes in handy. If you have a library card from a local library chances are excellent that you can just put in the number from your card and use this. It let’s you search hundreds of newspapers years back and it’s dead handy.

For example I just typed in “weblog” and got 408 articles about them to choose from. This strikes me as a very handy tool.

I have been thinking about how to use comic strips to tell simple stories or explain ideas. I can’t draw to save my life so I have been looking at online tools that do this sort of thing.

Here are a couple I have found. If anyone knows of other good ones I’d love to hear about them.

Strip Creator
Comic Creator
Garfield Comic Creator
Witty Comics

Modern Library: 100 Best Novels by sassenach

I thought this piece in Slate Magazine, called The Novel In The Age of the Internet, was quite interesting.

It talks about having connections all over the world and the lack of a consistent story and the lack of clear endings. It has certainly set me thinking.