Simplify Man...Simplify

Too frequently, when trying to FTP from Blogger to my own host, it simply doesn't work. As I maintain, technology is only good if it makes one's life easier.

Well, to make my life easier, I have decided not to publish to my own site any longer. Some will say, and probably correctly, that my host is the problem. I'll take care of that at a later time, but for now I have 250mb of lifetime free server space.

There are a few things that made this decision difficult.

1. Blogspot is blocked at my school, and likely thousands of others. However, so are most blogs if there is a way to determine they are "personal webpages." [Yep, that's the category name that flags bad information.] The 21st century book-burning continues in full force. Remember, information is a dangerous threat.
2. Many readers will not subscribe to a generic (blogspot) blog, thinking it is unprofessional, or beneath their standards of value. Their loss. :-) I don't have that many readers anyway.
3. I will no longer be able to use my blog as a way of giving instruction to my students while they are in the school building. UNLESS I allow the to use their cell phones for the mobile version.

Overall, I made the decision to move because it will make my lie easier. I am doing much more blogging (thought not this one) from my iPhone. I send it to Posterous, which distributes everything to my blog, Twitter, and my posterous account. And it is so simple, even I can do it.

So I hope my readers will let me know they have found me...again.

Have a happy, prosperous, and simplified New Year.

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Image: Taken by me from the TV commercial.



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Note:Publications of professor-marvel.com or associated works (unless specifically labeled with another copyright notice) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
The views expressed here are my own and reflect only my opinion.
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No Blogging, Candy, and Ghandi

My last blog post was October 19.  There is a reason I did not post...and it really was difficult for me to resist.

Here's the story.

My 7th grade class studies India as part of our curriculum.  Ghandi is one of the historical figures we discuss.  I sometimes use quotes as a starter, and as Halloween approached I used the story of a mother who wanted her son to stop eating sugar. 

She took her son to his "idol," Ghandi, and asked Ghandi to tell her son to stop eating sugar; knowing that if it came from him, her son would surely quit.  Ghandi said, "Bring the child back in 2 weeks."  The mother was confused, but did as she was instructed.

Two weeks later the mother returned with her son, and Ghandi said to the boy, "Son, sugar is not good for you.  You should stop eating it."  The mother asked why Ghandi did not give this advice two weeks earlier.  Ghandi's response, "Two weeks ago, I still ate sugar."

Well, this story struck a chord with one of my classes.  I challenged them to try and give up something they liked for two weeks.  They challenged me in return.  They said, we'll not eat candy for two weeks (until Halloween) if you can give up something for two months.  I asked what I would have to give up; and the class voted on blogging at Professor Marvel. 

We all did it.  [I trust each student gave up candy until Halloween, though I might be naive, huh.]

Well, I'm back.  So, did anything big happen in since October 19 that's worth talking about?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Awe! ClusterMaps Has Archived

I was just getting enough red dots that I thought my map looked cool. I write with the intent of reflecting on things I think I can use later, so red dots are not really expected. But it is kinda cool when you see 'X' number of people have been to your blog page. That doesn't mean they are reading the content, but they viewed the page. So, as a way of remembering the past year, I offer the last ClusterMap of the first year. Sixteen people viewed my page yesterday, and three of them were from new places (that I can tell). Alaska, a second dot in Brazil, and the northernmost dot in Canada.

I guess I'll have to write something good soon.