Mapping with RunningMap

This mashup uses Yahoo Maps which is superior for rural apps where high resolution satellite images are necessary for identification of land features.

SD Bennnett http://www.runningmap.com/?id=42948



Click to enlarge image

As I was playing with the Map I moused over the point near the gate of the cemetery and low and behold the Lat Lon showed up on the left and I found by holding down the left button I could move the point and read off the exact Lat Lon location to about 5 decimal places which is about 1 meter resolution.

Terra Firma Rammed Earth Builders

Terra Firma Rammed Earth Builders: "integral"

Bender Barn of South Dakota Public TV

The January 3, 2008 edition of Dakota Life had a feature on the Family Barn.

To watch the video, click here, then click on 'play media"

xeriscape : Search Results : GoodSearch : Search the Internet with GoodSearch and support your favorite charity or school.

xeriscape : Search Results : GoodSearch : Search the Internet with GoodSearch and support your favorite charity or school.

Exporting from the XO for printing and archiving

Click the pic to make larger.

once you have the document on the USB thumb drive, you can go anywhere with it, but it would be nice if you could reproduce it easily. I suggest you Take a Tour of AbiWord: if you don't already have it on your adult machine.

I found that the best way to handle documents exported from the XO for printing, archiving, etc. was to download AbiWord

The word processor on the XO (Write) is a version of AbiWord. The documents can be saved and exported to a USB drive from the Journal. On the first try I took a picture with the XO camera and inserted it into Write and saved it as rtf. Then exported to a USB thumb drive, loaded the rtf to AbiWord that was on my HP laptop and had a document the was full available for edit. AbiWord also can save in MSWord format. i loaded that document in another open source product, Open Office, and had a MSWord compatible document that was fully available for edit. Since I am not an owner of MSWord I cannot speak for those compatablility issues, but suffice it to say that the XO Linux presents no problems with the open source products that are free.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC), Getting Started

One Laptop per Child (OLPC), Getting Started

The fun things the Fredricks Kids will be doing over the next few years.

Activities they will be sharing with friends all over the globe.

How exciting is that?

OLPC News: Education is a Basic Need in the Developing World

OLPC News: Education is a Basic Need in the Developing World

OLPC is About Education

And somebody needs to focus on education in order to break the cycle of poverty. That's us. We need more of us, too. It isn't either/or, it's both/and. It would cost billions of dollars to feed every undernourished child as soon as possible, and the money is not forthcoming from governments or private donors. I wish it were.

For more on OLPC on my blog, Please click here

See what One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is all about - Run it in Windows

Here is the home screen Martin and Saela will see on their machines and 2 children in in as yet unknown developing country will be booting up their machines too.


This screen shot was taken from Grampa's HP Pavillion Laptop. For more information about
Emulating the XO/Quick Start/Windows - OLPC Information
download your own copy. It is Linux. It is free. That's how "open source" software
works. It is the sharing community.


Download the emulator and run it in a Windows window by clicking olpc_qemu_full.zip (210 MB)

More information about the OLPC Give One Get One (G1G1) project. Hurry offer ends Dec 31. While your there check how the OLPC is built around the education model not the commercial model.

Holiday Celebration

Just a bit tipsy but so fortunate to have such great friends.

Thanks to John and Cindy

Columns - newsjournalonline.com

Local poets all ready to rumble

Consider: In the current issue of the journal The American Scholar, poet Douglas Goetsch writes about being asked to lead a "drive-by poetry" field trip composed of New Jersey high school students.

The concept "entails loading the students into a van, cruising around and pulling over near targeted pedestrians. One of the students sticks his or her head out the passenger window and serenades -- or accosts -- the startled pedestrian with some passionately recited lines by Walt Whitman or Pablo Neruda. The kid pops back in, rolls up the window and the van takes off in search of the next victim."

OLPC Software and interface

Software and interface:


"GCompris"

OLPC Map

Creatings Solutions Home Page

Creatings Solutions Home Page

Scientific American: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

Hint: Don't tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life

Scientific American: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings.

The result plays out in children like Jonathan, who coast through the early grades under the dangerous notion that no-effort academic achievement defines them as smart or gifted. Such children hold an implicit belief that intelligence is innate and fixed, making striving to learn seem far less important than being (or looking) smart.

This article has some very thought provoking ideas to consider. Sort of like learning to value the bicycle, it takes lots of time and energy. Read it, NOW!

Green Living Tips

My son in law bought this book and all I got was this widget!

Politics 'stifling $100 laptop'

This video is from BBC News article,
Politics 'stifling $100 laptop'
By Jonathan Fildes, Science and technology reporter, BBC News 27 Nov 2007

Cardinal Siting

We don't see these too often in our back yard

See if you can find him!

First Day to Give one Get one

Go to One Laptop Per Child web site, Please click here to find out more about this charitable project to build a better future.

We are pretty excited about the applications and the child centered approach of the XO laptop.


We think this is a fine way to carry out the tenets Nathan Dungan, a financial educator and president of Share-Save-Spend, an organization that helps people develop healthy financial habits presented in an interview with Krista Tippett on Speaking of Faith, November 8 Click to Listen.

His simple formula - spend a third, save a third, share a third!

November 8, 2007 Speaking of Faith Summary

Many of us are gearing up to spend more money than we actually have for the upcoming holiday season, which has deep roots in religion. We explore the turmoil many of us experience with money in our day-to-day lives — and how we might work towards a moral and practical balance for ourselves and the next generation.

A nice intro to what the XO Sugur is all about

All about Dad, born 11 11 11--- ----------------------time to celebrate

Click on the pics to see full size

After church a nice dinner with some fine wine, then off to take a ride in the country. The good South Dakota breeze in the Depot Parking Lot.

Interactive Map of the Fairview Township Birthday Loop, Veterans Day 2007, Ed's 96th Birthday.

A daughter-in-law's perspective"

Had such a nice dinner, and Ed just so enjoyed it. Then we went for a drive out in the Fulton area, all gravel roads etc. and Mag had not been out and about that way for 25 years, so she said, but she could still remember so many details of who lives where, and knew most of the current occupants of farms. And Ron was just delighted--hadn't been out either, but for many more years. It was fun to be a mouse in the corner and just listen--many times all 4 of them talking at once. Just a festival of old stories. Ron was recalling his high school classmates, stories etc. Just a WONDERFUL day.

Digital Photo Album Management

Scroll through the Urban Bicycle Tourist Photos

To go to the full size pic, click on the thumbnail.





by cariboupics
To go to the album, click on the thumbnail.

Join Webshots and download Desktop to show pics full screen + much more.

Firefox users will want to add the extension CoolIris Preview to really make this a slick photo file manager.