Sunday, April 05, 2009

Slowness noted 

I have noticed, as have a couple of commenters, the slower loading time of this blog. I have removed a few elements over the weekend to speed it up, but it appears my reliance on graphs is part of the problem. Some of the external objects are being dropped, but so far I seem to have only bought about two seconds (less than 20%) improvement on the office T1. (If you read this off a 56 kbps phone line, I owe you great thanks for patience.) It may be time, after all these years, to bid Blogger adieu? Your suggestions (Mitch?) are invited in comments.

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Saturday, May 31, 2008

Mobile feed available 

A reminder for people here at the convention who want to read this blog on their mobile phones. It's doable easily if you have an RSS reader on your phone. Use Google to find one for your model of phone, as many programs are specific to their phones. Here's the Atom feed if you want to use that. As an alternative, I've set up a quick-and-dirty site on Winksite here. Click and save this on your mobile phones if you want a feed. That should be mobi compliant.

BTW, other bloggers here and blogging include Chad, Kevin, AAA, Marty (new site) and of course Michael. If I hear others I'll put them here.

UPDATE: The Uptake has posted a video report.

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Monday, October 08, 2007

Spoiled Kids 

Updated - see end of article. On a recent bike ride through our neighborhood I saw examples like the following. Mom works outside the home, as does Dad. They have two boys, about ages 10 and 12. Guess who does the yard work?

Dad mows the grass; mom sweeps if off the road and walkways. Apparently the kids were told to walk the dog so they got on their bikes, put the dog on a leash and "walked" it for maybe five minutes. Both kids returned home and are now in the house. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are finishing the lawn activities.

Want to guess when these two boys will become responsible?

Update: On Monday, The St. Paul Pioneer Press carried an article on the necessity of children doing chores around the home, not for money but responsibility and carrying their share of the load. The article includes suggestions and tips. It appears one of the major excuses for not requiring kids to do chores is that parents want to spend time with their kids without "nagging" them. We're not helping our kids be relieving them of all responsibility related to living spaces.

A major chore is picking up toys, games, etc. and no one wants to do it - maybe because there are so many of them. A simple solution here is to gather all the toys, games, etc. and give away at least 50% of them. Problem partially solved.

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Monday, September 10, 2007

Five years ago today 

...this blog was born as
a group weblog for SCSU members of the NAS to discuss events at SCSU and elsewhere that would be of interest to us and to the SCSU faculty and staff.
It has obviously become something much different than that, due to a number of people and events. All the other members of the St. Cloud Association of Scholars either retired or moved on to other things. I decided to make it personal instead, and the habit of posting here each weekday was something I just fell into.

Later on, of course, came the Northern Alliance, the radio show and its evolution. Guest bloggers have worked here, and then last year we brought Janet, who I did not know before MAS, into regular posting. This is a statement about how often good things in our lives begin with an act you do that is unrelated, even orthogonal, to what happens in the end. There are so many blessings that have flowed from the decision to try out this Blogger thing that describing the beginnings of this blog cannot really be accomplished in a post. I'm probably going to write up an 'about' page (finally!) this week.

I will have to say the best part of this has been to find a whole new group of people to talk to, a group so large that even the list in my blogroll doesn't do the trick. So rather than name a whole bunch of people, I'd like to thank just the people who matter most.

The beautiful woman on the left is the woman that makes sure I get in the car each Saturday to do the show, who asks about the people on the right blogroll of the MOB, and who allows me to scoot down into the basement to post rather than do the housework that needs doing here. That too-tall kid on the right is the kid that ends up doing the work I would do if I wasn't doing this and is tied for the second-best thing in my life. That guy in the middle isn't my son, but the famed Psycmeistr, who can stand in for the dozens of other bloggers, readers and friends I've made through this. Put yourself in Leo's spot, dear reader, because you're one of our family, too.

The biggest of thanks, then, to Mrs. S and the Littlest Scholar for permitting me the pleasures of this blog. We'll stick this post at the top for the day.

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Monday, June 04, 2007

To SCSU Scholars Readers 

To All,

Postings by me for the next few weeks will come from AK. My husband and I are traveling with friends to the 50th state, our last one. I hope to share some of the wonders of AK with you. We are huge fans of the US National Park system and will be visiting Denali and Glacier Bay. We'll even try our hand at salmon fishing.

More serious topics will be covered upon my return.

Janet

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