A good idea

Posted at 3:30 PM by Abi Za
A few weeks ago, I opined that I wanted to know how much of my gasoline purchase was going to the gas station and the petroleum company, and how much was going to Uncle Sugar.

Looks like the state of Tennessee was way ahead of me:

According to the attendant at the gas station, it's a statewide requirement.  While I still had to do the math to figure out how much I gave to the state and federal governments while filling up the truck, it's better than anywhere else I've been.
Posted in

He should have trimmed his mustache

Posted at 3:15 PM by Abi Za
A man in England attempted to sneak out of the courthouse and avoid reporters by dressing in women's clothing before departing.  Apparently it didn't work.

My guess is he wore something no woman would be caught dead in.  Let's face it, most of us guys have the fashion sense of a mule:

"Let's see, shall I wear the bright red lipstick, blonde wig, striped silk blouse and black pants with patent leather pumps, or go all out and wear the tight sweater and skirt combo with 7" stillettos?"

Now, some guys might be able to pull this off.  I've known several men who could change into something a little more feminine and blend in pretty well.  I, on the other hand, would only blend in with a reunion of the 1988 East German Women's weightlifting team.  It's just so hard to find pretty shoes in size 15 men's and I can't find a dress that isn't a moomoo that doesn't make me look like a hooker.

For those of you who have met me, I apologize for the mental image you just had.
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Goodbye, Good Luck, and Thanks For All The Fish

Posted at 3:00 PM by Abi Za
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has decreed that his government will no longer allow NATO forces to bomb Afghan homes that are being used by Taliban or Al Qaeda insurgents.  Everyone wants to eliminate or at least minimize civilian casualties. However, the enemy we fight in Afghanistan mixes with the civilian population specifically because we may pull a punch when there's the chance of harming non-combatants.  By putting such places off limits, President Karzai provides the Taliban with a safe haven to retreat to in a fight and lay low while they plan their next operation. Effectively, he's made all of the cities and a large part of the country into no-go zones for NATO troops, since unless they can call down the hammer of the gods, they're unlikely to engage the enemy in any concentration.

Since President Karzai has decided that he's capable of telling us where and how we can fight in defense of his regime, I say we let him stand his own army on the firing line for a change.  I mean, it's only been a decade since we started trying to make a cohesive Afghan national army so we could go home.  It's not like we didn't create the circumstances that allowed him to become president in the first place, or that we haven't spent billions of dollars and the lives of over 1500 American soldiers to prevent his execution at the hands of his countrymen.

Listen up, sparky:  About 15 minutes after the last C-141 takes off out of Bagram, you, your family, and everyone associated with you is going to be put against a wall, beheaded, hung, or set on fire.  The only thing that's keeping your heart beating is the fact that Americans are more willing to put steel on target than your own soldiers are. How about instead of kvetching about the methods, no matter how sloppy we use, to try to root out the Taliban, you get off your well dressed backside and get your bloody army into the field and trained to actually do more than march in a straight line on a parade field?  Keep dictating to us the methods by which we keep your bloody heart beating, and you just might wake up and find yourself with a country devoid of American guns and soldiers. 
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Lucky Gunner Blogshoot

Posted at 3:00 PM by Abi Za
Well, the weekend had to eventually end, but the smile is still on my face.

Here are some more pictures:





There were multiple re-enactment groups attending the first day.  The half-track and tanks were joined by extremely well restored U.S. and German vehicles such as the jeep and BMW motorcycle you see above.  The re-enactors were more than happy to allow us to shoot their guns, even taking the time to explain how the guns worked and demonstrating the best ways to shoot them.  My favorite of all of these was of course the M-2 .50 caliber machine gun, but a close second was the Thompson.  There's just something about that sub-machine gun that tripped my trigger.

Of course, no shoot would be complete without pictures of what the range looked like with lead flying at it:

I love the smell of tannerite in the morning!


The only good min-van is a dead mini-van
Someday my minivan will meet a similar fate.   But I'll use more tannerite if I can afford it.

During lunch, the organizers of the event recognized two soldiers who were veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I'm proud to say that standing ovations for these two brave men came easily.  It was fun to sit back and watch these two gentlemen sit down to compare notes with Vietnam veterans.   I'm sure a lot of good stories and advice were exchanged.

Next, we see the signs that a good day at the range has occurred.  The evidence is the many large piles of brass and the many trash bags full of bullet boxes:







Over the course of Day 1, I tried to shoot as many different guns as I could.   I have decided that my "Guns I Will Own" list will now include an MP-5, a G-3, an M1917, an M-2, a Thompson, and a BAR.   There were others that I shot and were fun, but these are the guns I want in my safes for 'entertainment purposes'.

The evening of Day 1 was taken up with a dinner with the staff of Lucky Gunner and the other blogger and media attendees.  During the dinner, the winners for the 2011 Gunnie awards were announced.   Congratulations to everyone on those!

On Day 2, the re-enactors had gone home, so for the most part we shot what we brought.  Representatives from Kriss were there to demonstrate their new line of guns, and I must say they are sweet:




Oh my gosh!  Someone gave me a suppressed machine gun!
I tried all four variants of the Kriss gun: the pistol, the short barreled rifle, the suppressed sub gun, and the non-suppressed sub-gun.  It's basically the same action with different options added to it.  All of them use Glock .45 magazines, so a user won't have to search for proprietary magazines to keep their gun fed and happy.  All of these guns were comfortable to shoot, accurate within the limits of the .45 ACP round, and had amazingly light felt recoil.  The Kriss representative who worked with me on the firing line showed me how the bolt pivots downward into the area just forward of the trigger guard, driving a lot of the recoil down instead of back at the shooter.  This reduces felt recoil and muzzle climb.  I must say I was impressed.  When compared against the 9mm MP-5 and .45 Thompson, the recoil on the Kriss was very light.  The civilian model has an MSRP of about $2000, which is steep, but do-able.  This one goes on the "Guns I Will Own" list.

While shooting on Day 2, I realized that Oleg Volk should be nick-named "The Candyman".  He brought out several really nice toys:

Keltec KSG
I got a chance to shoot his Keltec KSG and the Coonan .357 automatic.  The KSG is a neat concept and it carries a metric crap-ton of shells in its two magazine tubes.  I've been told that shooters are encouraged to put buck shot on one side and slugs on the other.  Using the switch to select which magazine to feed from would allow the user to tailor their ammuntion selection without having to unload their weapon.  The overall shortness of the gun made it easy to quickly change targets, and it kicked against my should in about the same way that the Mossberg 500 I brought to the game did.

The Coonan is also going on the list.  I put two magazines through it, and I am officially in love with it.  My impression of its heft at the NRA convention was correct.  It's a solid chunk of steel, but that weight helps a lot in controlling recoil and climb.  I was able to make respectable groups with it at between 5 and 7 yards, and I'm sure with practice that would tighten up.

I have to say, even though Day 1 was a complete blast, I enjoyed Day 2 even more.  It gave us more time to talk and socialize, and since no-one was waiting for us to shoot, we could take our time and discuss the merits and failings of each of our guns.  One thing I noticed on both days was just how happy and friendly everyone was.  It's something I've noticed about the gunnies I know.  Even the rock stars like Tam, Oleg, and Uncle were more than happy to sit and shoot the bull or share their guns with the rest of us.  I was asked to shoot other people's guns and offered my own meager collection up for others to enjoy, and no-one batted an eye.  Even when we were discussing politics or gun issues, which tend to get everyone's Irish up, we never stopped being polite and respectful. This reinforces something I already believed:  Gunnies are good people.

One thing that allowed us to enjoy ourselves as much as we did was the copious amount of Magtech and Seller & Bellot ammunition that the folks at Lucky Gunner were handing out for our enjoyment.  I'm pretty sure the only thing that can make a range trip with a great group of people better is free ammunition.  Rounds of just about every caliber were given out with a smile.  I can't imagine how many thousands of rounds were fired over the two days, but I'd really like to thank Lucky Gunner, Magtech, and S&B for the ammunition.

It was a great weekend, and I took my time saying goodbye to everyone as I packed up and headed north.  Angela and her staff at Lucky Gunner put on a heck of a party, and the people who attended made the weekend enjoyable and interesting.  I'm already looking forward to next year!
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Thoughts for the day

Posted at 10:16 AM by Abi Za

A mother's gift to her country's cause is a story yet untold
She had three sons, three only sons, each worth his weight in gold
She gave them up for the sake of war, while her heart was filled with pain
As each went away, she was heard to say, he will never return again
CHORUS
One lies down near Appomattax, many miles away
Another sleeps at Chickamauga, and they both wore suits of gray
'Mid the strains of "Down to Dixie", the third was laid away
In a trench at Santiago, the Blue and the Gray
She's alone tonight, while the stars shine bright, with a heart full of despair
On the last great day, I can hear her say, my three boys will be there
Perhaps they'll wait, at the heav'nly gates, on guard beside their guns
Then the mother true, to the gray and blue, may enter with her sons
--The Blue and The Gray, by Paul Dresser
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. -- Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address
In Flanders fields the poppies blow      Between the crosses, row on row,   That mark our place; and in the sky   The larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.
--- In Flander's Fields, by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
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My little range buddy

Posted at 7:40 AM by Abi Za
This is one of the millions of cicadas that have been our companions this weekend. When the shooting stops, it sounds like someone's running a giant weed whacker.




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From the No Surprise Here files

Posted at 7:35 AM by Abi Za
A study in the UK confirms what a lot of parents have known for years:  Taking your kids to the zoo is more effective at teaching them about the environment and conservation than having them sit in a classroom and learn the same material.

Guys, if you have to have a study to figure this kind of thing out, hang it up.  It should surprise no-one that kids respond better to hands-on, entertaining experiences with a dash of education thrown in than they do to textbooks and overhead slides.  Anyone who's ever taken a 6 year old to see the gorillas and read the placards about how fragile their natural habitat is and how few of the animals there are in the wild knows how interested the little tykes are about their hairy cousins after that.  Heck, our kids could recite obscure facts about the flamingo, the emu, and the polar bear before they could say their ABC's.

Kids learn best through play.  That's why I always make it fun when I take Girlie Bear to the range, or work on ABC's and 1 2 3's with Boo by playing with blocks or coloring books.  Heck, I even knew this when I taught in the military.  I always spent the minimum necessary time going through the dry lecture material so that we could get to simulations where students learned and then applied the knowledge that they had heard in lectures.

Someday I'm going to ditch the day job and just start writing applications for grants so I can study the phenomenon of meat becoming inedible if left out in the sun, or that if left to its own devices, the chlorophyllic organisms in the American lawn will gain in height.
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I wonder if that was street value

Posted at 7:24 AM by Abi Za
A company in Los Angeles is reporting that a truckload of crab that was supposed to be delivered to Seattle has disappeared.  The paperwork the trucker used to pick up the load was forged, so authorities are working on the assumption that this is the work of organized crime.

The two things that went through my mind while reading this was:

"Hey buddy, wanna buy some of this crab that I got in the live well of my Volare?"

and

I wonder if the trucker will sleep with the shellfishes if he cooperates with the police?
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Someone needs a hug

Posted at 7:19 AM by Abi Za
A man riding on the New York subway stripped down to his briefs and high heels and 'entertained' the crowd by riding one of the poles in the car.  While some found it to be entertaining, I'm guessing most thought it was a sign of psychosis.

Warning - I am not responsible for the sanity points you lose if you watch the video embedded in that article.

Now, I'm pretty open minded.  Everyone has hobbies or diversions to pass the time.  But a guy stripped down to black underwear and a pair of pumps swinging around on a dirty subway car pole is not how I keep my mind busy during a commute.  Maybe if this goofball wanted to make the ride a little better for his fellow subway riders, this gentleman could bring along some Lysol and a Swiffer and clean up the accumulated grime and other residues on every surface of the vehicle.  Heck for that, he might get the keys to the city.
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Memorial

Posted at 5:00 AM by Abi Za
The old woman's eyes were gray blue.  I remember this because she looked me in the eye and held my gaze as she lightly shook my hand and thanked me for what I had done for her husband and her family that day.  She walked down the line of soldiers and repeated her thanks to each of us.

I was the NCOIC for her husband's funeral detail.  I had heard her softly thank the Officer in Charge as she accepted the folded flag from him.  She was a lady such as has become rare in our world.  She spoke with a soft Southern accent that had none of the twang that is so easy to fall into.  From reading her husband's biography, I could see that she had lived just about everywhere the Army can send someone with their family after marrying her husband early in his career.  She had followed him through several tours of Europe and myriad domestic bases, both to places that I remember fondly and to places I cringe to think of.  She had taken care of her children and their home while he did multiple tours in Vietnam and at least one assignment to Korea.  She had obviously done something right with her kids, as two of them wore uniforms to the funeral, and two of the others had "Dr." in front of their names in the obituary.  The seats at the packed chapel that weren't filled with soldiers who had known and served with her husband were filled with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

As she walked back to her sons and daughters to say their final goodbyes to the old soldier, I thought about how much of his life he had given to us.  His list of decorations included two medals for valor, each paired with a Purple Heart for wounds.  He had served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War, rising from an intelligence analyst with a line battalion S-2 to the command sergeant major of an intelligence battalion before retiring to a position with one of our contracting companies.  I met and worked with this man a few times both before and after his retirement, and while he was a gentle man, there was more iron in him than a cursory glance would find.  If he knew he was right, and he normally was, he never backed down.  In the few times he was wrong, he was quick to apologize and learn from his mistake.  Those who worked for him loved and respected him, and I never heard anything but praise for him.

Today, an entire generation of American men and women are on the same path this extraordinary man and his family took.  A military life, as a soldier, a spouse, or a child, is more difficult and yet more of an adventure than someone who hasn't gone through it can describe.  Many people and families crack under the strain, and some will shatter.  What is amazing is how many thrive and succeed.  In addition to those like me who did their time and got out, there are also those who walk onto a plane or ship after kissing their loved ones goodbye, but are carried off of another plane or ship with honors.  It is for these men and women that we pause today.

We should always remember what these people give up for us, and how their sacrifice makes our lives better.
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A good start to the weekend

Posted at 9:51 AM by Abi Za
We're about halfway through the first day of the Lucky Gunner Blogshoot, and I'm having a ball.  One of the guys here had a full auto M-16A1, so I gave it a shot out of nostalgia.  As I was loading up a couple of magazines,  I realized I was sharing a table with Tam and Oleg.  Now that's a good way to start the day.

The event is happening a few miles outside of Knoxville, and you couldn't ask for a prettier location or day.  Here's a few pictures:



More to come!
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Sure, we believe you

Posted at 5:00 AM by Abi Za
Representative Barney Franks, Democrat of the Volksrepublik of Massachusetts, has denied using his position and power to get a job at Fannie Mae for his significant other in the 1990's.  All he did was "casually recommend" him for the job.  You know, like Don Corleone casually recommended that his godson be put in as the lead in a film.

I can see it now:  "Hey, nice mortgage company you've got here.  Be a shame if something were to happen to it.  Oh and by the way, my boyfriend needs a job.  You guys got anything for him?"

I'm sure that everything was on the up and up here.  I can't imagine the recommendation of a Congresman to a company he helps to oversee and regulate would have tipped the scales one way or another.  I mean, come on.  Don't all of us get our jobs because our spouse or significant other put in the good word for us?

Apparently the quasi-governmental company was more than happy to hire the young man, and it's only a coincidence that he left his position with them soon after breaking up with the good Congressman.

Congressman Franks needs to remember that we're not as stupid as he seems to think we are.
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What's in your nightstand?

Posted at 8:50 PM by Abi Za




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Google maps 5.5 for Android: explore the world in 3D

Posted at 4:57 AM by Abi Za

Google Maps 5.5 for Android has finally been released. It is a cool mobile app which adds up more features to mobile Google maps app that has already been in the market for quite a while now and which has been used by more than 200 million users across platforms and devices worldwide. This new version adds ‘ check in’ and ‘ rate and review’ buttons to place pages .Google Maps 5.5 is completely free and is available in the Android Market.
google maps for android

Some features of Google Maps5.5 for Android

Here are the main features that Google Maps 5.5 for Android offers to its users :
  • It is completely free
  • It is easy and simple to use
  • It has an intuitive interface
  • Check-in and rating buttons added to Place pages
  • You can update your Latitude Location History home/work address
  • It lets you check out a transit station in a nearby city,
  • It offers Free, voice-guided GPS navigation system
  • It helps you find, rate, and get recommendations for places

google maps mobile

How can i get started using Google Maps5.5 for Android ?

To learn more about this awesome mobile app , you are invited to watch this short video tutorial


That’s it about Google maps 5.5 for Android: explore the world in 3D .
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iTalk Recorder : A Free Audio Recording Mobile App

Posted at 3:52 PM by Abi Za
iTalk Recorder is one of the top downloaded app for Ipad and iPhone . iTalk Recorder allows its users to record audio and save it into their mobile library . I just can’t believe it is free now . As educators , iTalk Recorder can be very helpful when attending lectures or meetings , use it to record whatever going on around you and just the way you want it.

italk recorder



Some features of iTalk Recorder

Here are the main features and services that iTalk Recorder offers to its users :

  • It is free
  • It is dead simple
  • It is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later
  • It has a great interface
  • It uses easy recording features that you can handle instantly
  • You can email recordings in iTalk Recorder Lite but emailing is limited to files under 2MB which ius a generous capacity for us in education
  • It offers a high-quality handheld recordings
  • It allows graphics updated for Retina displa
  • It includes auto noise-cancellation (iPhone 4)
  • It has easy to use control tabs : just the big red button to start recording, tap again to stop; slide forward and back when playing back your recordings


How can i get started using iTalk Recorder ?

To learn how to start using iTalk Recorder watch this video tutorial :



Applications in Education

iTalk Recorder is all pluses for educators . As i said before this is a great tool for professional development , how many times we attend important meetings,lectures, or seminars and we just can not  note everything that has been dealt with , now with iTalk Recorder it is completely different .You wont let go of any info no matter how little it is . I strongly advise you to have this free app on your mobile devices .

That’s it about iTalk Recorder : A Free Audio Recording Mobile App .
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FreezePage: Freeze pages for later use

Posted at 2:29 PM by Abi Za
FreezePage is a great web tool. It is a sort of bookmarking tool that is completely different from all the other bookmarking tools we have seen here so far. FreezePage as its name entails is a service that allows its users to bookmark the page as it is and store it for a later use. When you get back to the stored page you will find the same page you have bookmarked with no updates. Let me explain this more; for example i was on a blog reading an article about a certain web2.0 tool and then suddenly i had a call and i needed to go. If i bookmarked the page with other bookmarking sites i would for sure have it there but when i would refer to it later that day or anytime i would  find the page updated and probably new articles there so i would  have to start looking for the exact page i was reading this is because these bookmarking tools bookmark the URL and not the page itself, but with Freeze Page you will be able to get back to the exact page or even the exact paragraph you left off. Hummmmmmm isn’t that cool ? for me it is much more than that.

freezepage

Freeze Page not only freezes the pages for a later use but also generates a url for this very page you want and you can share it with others to see . The page and its content will never change no matter how long you kept it in your store.

Some features of Freeze Page

Here are the main features that FreezePage offers to its users:

  • It is free
  • It is easy to use
  • It has an intuitive interface
  • It requires a sign up to store your pages
  • It allows its users to bookmark pages as they are
  • It generates URLs for frozen pages
  • It lets users share their frozen pages with others
  • It has a bookmarklet to install on your browser
  • The frozen page never changes


freeze page



How can i get started using  FreezePage ?

Go to FreezePage main page and

  1. sign up for a free account
  2. enter the address of the web you are reading or just paste it there
  3. Press “Freeze Web Page” and wait while we get the Web page from the address you specified
  4. the frozen page is automatically placed in a personal folder (“My Frozen Pages”)

Applications of FreezePage in education

Educators can benefit a lot from this free service. They can just freeze the pages they find online and generate URLs to share with their students , in this way they can make sure students are keeping up with what they bookmark for them .You can also use it to share URLs of pages of relevant interest with your colleagues and friends.

That’s it about FreezePage: Freeze pages for later use.
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Human Restore:Free educative documentaries

Posted at 12:20 PM by Abi Za
Human restore is a a great website for educators. It is a repository of free engaging documentaries featuring different categories. This website looks like John Locker: The free documentary website which i have covered in an earlier post. I know we need documentaries to include in our teaching from time to time but the problem is if you set yourself to look for some free ones then you would find yourself navigating the web endlessly and just to find if ever you are lucky , the ones you wanted. To save teachers’ time and help them better benefit from the net i organized a special page where i submit posts and links to the best free teachers resources. Look above and click on teachers resources to have a look at what you might have missed .

human restore

Human Restore is free and very simple to use . You do not need to sign up or anything . just head over to Human Restore main page and look at the categories column on the left hand side . Click on any category to bring up its components.  Select the ones you want to watch and click on them . Yes it is this easy.

human restore1



Applications of Human Restore in education

I strongly invite teachers and educators to have recourse to video resources such as Human Restore. Multimedia elements are very helpful in teaching and learning and students show more interaction and engagement when videos or audio clips are integrated into the classroom teaching.

That’s it about Human Restore:Free educative documentaries .
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Google Apps for education: the best guide

Posted at 6:57 PM by Abi Za
I think you would know by now that i am one of the bloggers who is fond of Google to the extent that i have Google stickers all around the house even on the fridge door lol. What i love about Google next to its search facilities is the high quality services it offers to educators. ¨probably all of these services are free and very easy to use with simple tutorials to walk you through all the procedure of its application. Believe me , if you ever understand and grasp in what really Google provides for educators , you would be in a better tech position than ever before.

google workshop

I get emails from people around the world asking me if Google can help in education and each time i get one like this i just get shocked at how ignorant some educators are of the fantastic services offered for free by Google. Being a 21st century educator means automatically that you are integrating technology into your teaching and the first step to guarantee a safe, neat and secure implementation of this technology is to learn about what Google has for education.

If the urge to learn about Google is stirring now inside of you and you feel like you need some tutorials about the different services Google offers for educators then i would save you the trouble of searching for i have done it all on behalf of you and have collected several articles talking just about Google services that you can use in your classroom, just check the tab above named Google/ Research Tools and browse through the posts you are interested in.

Today i am introducing to you another free Google service called The Guide to Going Google. It is a resource from Google to help academic and educational institutions better implement Google apps in their campuses.” This site contains tools and guidelines to use as a starting point to getting your students, faculty, alumni, and community ready and excited about bringing Google Apps for Education to campus.”



Guide to Going google



The Guide to Going Google is divided into two main parts :

One part is university edition

This part offers “Technical and communication resources and examples to help your college or university go Google”.

Second part named K-12 edition

This part offers all  the technical, professional development, and marketing resources for a K12 school or district to go Google.

Google apps for educators is the best way for schools to start integrating technology into their systems and save money they would have spent on software and systems licensing, and IT support.

That’s it about google apps for education: the best guide.
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eduplace : free graphic organizers for educators

Posted at 5:00 PM by Abi Za
Eduplace is really a great site . It offers a set of printable graphs and charts to use in the classroom with your students . These graphs are very handy and easy to use , so there is no need to spend time online trying to build charts or classroom assignment grills , you can find all in Eduplace and for free at the tip of a click . It is indeed a wonderful resource for all educators .



eduplace1

Here are  what Eduplace offers to the teachers



eduplace

Just click on any title and you will have its PDF version at your hand to print






  • Clock















  • Cluster/Word Web 1















  • Cluster/Word Web 2















  • Cluster/Word Web 3















  • Describing Wheel















  • E-Chart















  • Fact and Opinion















  • Five W's Chart















  • Flow Chart















  • Four-Column Chart















  • Garden Gate















  • Goal-Reasons Web















  • Ice-Cream Cone















  • Idea Rake















  • Idea Wheel















  • Inverted Triangle















  • ISP Chart

    (Information, Sources, Page)















  • KWL Chart















  • KWS Chart















  • Ladder















  • Observation Chart















  • Persuasion Map















  • Planning Chart















  • Problem-Solution Chart















  • Sandwich















  • Sense Chart















  • Sequence Chart















  • Spider Map















  • Step-by-Step Chart















  • Story Map 1















  • Story Map 2















  • Story Map 3















  • T-Chart















  • Ticktacktoe















  • Time Line

     
















  • Here are some snapshots of some of these graphs :











    • Persuasion map

    pesuasion map



    Describing wheel

    describing wheel



    Problem solution chart

    problem solution chart



    Applications of Graphic Eduplace in education






  • There is nothing better to say in this section then wha tEduplace creators said themselves about how grapgic organizers can be used

    Help your students children classify ideas and communicate more effectively. Use graphic organizers to structure writing projects, to help in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research and brainstorming.
    That`s it about Eduplace : Free Graphic Organizers for Educators .
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    Laterloop: Read your links wherever you are

    Posted at 1:35 PM by Abi Za
    Laterloop is a great bookmarking service for educators. It is a twin sister of Mento , the other link sharing app i have talked about in Mento:a great way to shyare links with others. Laterloop allows its users to read WebPages later on phone or web. Whether you opt for the web or mobile version you will always be able to read your bookmarks instantly. What is even great about this tool is that it allows you to read your bookmarks offline. You  download a ZIP file of your links and read them when you are offline. I am actually using Livebinders ( read: Livebinders the educative tool teachers should not miss to learn about this smart tool)which i love so much but when i tried Laterlopp i think i will add it to my bookmarking tools on my desktop.



    laterloop



    Some features of Laterloop

    Here are the main features that Laterloop offers to its users:

    • It is free
    • It is easy to use and safe
    • It requires a sign up but you can use your Google account to sign in as well.
    • It works both on the web and mobile interfaces
    • It supports iPhones, Blackberries, Nokias, and other similar smartphones.
    • It has a handy bookmarklet for the famous browsers
    • It lets you read your links offline
    • You can consult your archive of bookmarked links online

    How can i get started using Laterloop ?

    To start using this free service you need to

    1. head over to Laterloop main page and sign up for a free account.
    2. Now you need to install the bookmarklet in your browser
    3. Whenever you are on a website that you want to read later then just click on ‘Save For Later’ button on your browser
    4. The link of that page will be automatically saved to your Laterloop account to access whenever you want.

    Applications of Laterloop in Education

    This is a very good tool for teachers who are very busy and keep on forgetting bookmarked links they scheduled to read. Now whether you are at school with your students or in the airport waiting for your flight , Laterloop will keep you connected to your unfinished work.

    That’s it about Laterloop: Read your links wherever you are.
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    Mento: A Great Way to Share Links with Others

    Posted at 8:36 PM by Abi Za
    Mento is a great website i have stumbled upon recently. Mento allows you to save and share links with your friends and colleagues. I know there are many tools that can do the same but for us in education Mento is just what we need . It is quick , instant , secure and your links are just one click away.



    mento



    Mento is a button for your browser and a place for saving your shared links. It is great for telling friends or co-workers about a link and in the same time be aware of those who clicked on your link. Poor students , they would no more give excuses such as i didn't get the link for the homework assignment for teachers would know if the links have been clicked on or not.

    Some features of Mento

    Here is a list of the main features that Mento provides for its users:

    • It is easy to use
    • It has a friendly interface
    • It is secure
    • It requires a sign up after which you get an invitation email to start using Mento.
    • It allows you to save and share links
    • It lets you send links to any email address, Facebook friends and Twitter contacts
    • You can use groups and tags for exchanging links with more people
    • Mento works best with Firefox and certainly supports Safari and Internet Explorer, too.
    • Mento tells you when friends clicked on your links
    • Add screenshots to the links you're sharing: select any part of the page and make your links stand out
    • You can also share videos and images from YouTube, Flickr and many other site
    • It lets you Automatically publish your links to the services you use . It supports: Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, FriendFeed, Tumblr, and Mag.gnolia.
    What do you think of this tool ? did you like it ? if so then head over to Mento main page and sign up to receive your invitation or ask a friend of yours if they are already members of Mento to send you an invitation to get started. I wish you would give it a try and see if it works for you and your students too.

    That’s it about Mento: A Great Way to Share Links with Others.
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    Google Scholar: Get the best academic and scholarly search results

    Posted at 3:02 PM by Abi Za
    Google Scholar provides “a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature”. We all use Google in our daily lives and there are billion of queries searched daily in Google. To better use Google and get your search results as accurate as possible , i have devoted a post just to teach you some of the tricks to better search Google which you can read in Google search tips .



    google scholar



    To look for researches or academic productions published in scholarly journals  then you will need a whole different kind of Google. This is called Google Scholar. It is very easy to use and above all free. Google Scholar allows you search across different disciplines and sources to look for these, books, abstracts, articles, surveys and many more. The results are mainly submitted by academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Using this free service will make your academic researches much more easier than ever before.





    Google Scholar uses a pretty smart algorithm to provide the relevant results for your queries. It ranks articles based on “the full text of each document, where it was published, who it was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited in other scholarly literature “. Don’t worry no spam result , It is Google.





    Here is a video tutorial that will introduce you to some tips and tricks about using Google Scholarly.





    Applications of Google Scholar in education

    Educators, teachers and students all need to be using this free service; why not and it is created solely for them. You can refer your students to Google Scholar to browse for articles and scholarly publications they might be needing in their research projects. Teachers can also use it for their own professional development. I personally think that Google Scholar is a must have service for all of us in the field of education.

    That’s it about Google Scholar: Get the best academic and scholarly search results.
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    Google Social Search: Socialized Search Results

    Posted at 9:09 PM by Abi Za
    Google Social Search is a newly released service. It allows googlers to get ideas and recommendations from people they trust and right into their search results. Wow isn’t that great ?Google has made it again and honestly speaking, Google has never stopped from amazing me with the high quality services they keep coming up with especially those ones that  are education oriented. I am one of the biggest Google fans and i have devoted a whole section of this blog just to Google services and tutorials , you can have a look at what you might have missed from this Guru in Google Search/ tools page.



    goole social search



    How does Google Social Search works ?

    Google Social Search is a great way to get search results containing results from people you are connected to on blogger, flicker, twitter and publicly available site. Social Search can help you find information, pages, and links your friends have created and submitted online. It will also help you find links your contacts have shared on twitter and other sites. Therefore , if someone you are connected to have shared a link ,then you may find that link in your search results with a clear annotation. For instance , if you are looking for information on How to Teach Large Classes and your colleague John shared a link on Teaching large Classes then you will see an annotation and picture from John under the results.

    Remember that these social search results are only visible to you and only appear when you choose to log in to your Google account.

    To learn more how this service works you need to watch this short video tutorial.







    Applications of Google Social Search in education

    Google Social Search is a great service to be used by teachers and students. Now students can use it to look for search results submitted by their friends or teachers. We all trust people we know much and in this way the info published by the ones we are connected to are likely to benefit us more in our queries .

    That’s it about Google Social Search: Socialized Search Results.
    Posted in , ,

    Noteleaf: a great reminder app for educators

    Posted at 2:08 PM by Abi Za
    Are you the type of person who keeps on forgetting the meeting he has scheduled and people he meets ? Noteleaf is just what you need. Honestly speaking i am one of those people , i have sticky notes everywhere ( on my fridge door, bedroom wall and on many websites online) and still i miss many things. It is just very hard to keep up with everything.

    Noteleaf allows its users to  schedule meetings in Google Calendar and be reminded when and who you are meeting with.

    noteleaf



    Some features of Noteleaf

    Here is a list of the main features that Noteleaf offers to its users:

    • It is easy to use
    • It has an interactive interface
    • It allows its users to get reminders of what they have scheduled in Google calendar
    • It connects your Google and LinkedIn profiles
    • It is available for the desktop, Android, Blackberry, and IOS.
    noteleaf1

    How does Noteleaf Works ?

    To start working on Noteleaf you need first to authorize the app to use your Google app and LinkedIn accounts. Now you need to add an event in your google calendar to set the meeting. Noteleaf will then provide the LinkedIn information of the person you are meeting right from the calendar or simply send you a text message with a link to the mobile profile.

    That’s it about Noteleaf: a great reminder app for educators.
    Posted in ,

    Wise Mapping: a great mind maps creation tool

    Posted at 1:11 PM by Abi Za
    Wise Mapping is a great tool for educators. I am including it among the educative mind maps tools in this blog because of the important features it offers to its users. Educators can benefit from this service a lot.

    Wise Mapping is a free online mind maps editor that allows you to create and share your mind maps with others.

    wisemapping

    Some features of Wise Mapping

    Here is a list of the main features that Wise Mapping offers to its users :

    • It is free
    • It is easy to use
    • It has an interactive interface
    • It requires a sign up
    • It allows you to create and edit colorful and complex mind maps using just mouse and keyword
    • It lets you customize your maps by changing the border, text,shape and background color of your notes
    • It has a sophisticated authoring editor to help you manage your maps
    • You can share or save your mind maps right from the editor
    • You can make your mind maps either private or public
    • You can embed the image of your map anywhere you want online
    wisemap



    How can i get started using Wise Mapping ?

    To learn how to start working on Wise Mapping you need to head over to its main page and sign up for a free account .

    Watch this tutorial video to learn more





    Applications of Wise Mapping in education

    Wise Mapping is, just like all the other educative Mind Mapping tools i have covered here ,  very important in education for It develops visual thinking for students and stimulate more interaction from their parts. Students love when they are visually engaged and Wise Mapping can just help them stay focused on content. I love this tool and i recommend that you start using it to create mind maps to share with your students. Why not even introduce it to them and let them start using it as well.

    That’s it about Wise Mapping: a great mind maps creation tool.
    Posted in ,

    Catch: Capture Notes Online for Free.

    Posted at 9:31 AM by Abi Za
    Catch is a great tool for both desktop and mobile devices. It allows its users to catch anything online and create out of it a bookmark ; be it a text note, voice note, or images. This service is very easy to use so why not educators  try it in their daily work. It will make your time online much more beneficial and enjoyable. With Catch it is next to impossible that you will forget any info you have stumbled upon online.

    catch

    Some features of Catch

    Here are the main features that Catch offers to its users :

    • It is free to use
    • It is simple and easy to use
    • It requires a sign up
    • It is availablke for both Mobile and desktop
    • It offers extensions to install on your browser
    • It allows users to catch notes online and annotate them
    • It offers a high level of security
    • It lets you attach files to your notes
    • It offers a decent storage capacity
    • The voice note feature is currently an Android-only option
    • You can save notes to your catch account
    To start using Catch , head over to Catch main page and sign up for a free account .

    Applications of Catch in education

    Catch is a very important tool for both students and teachers. It will allow them to catch their ideas whenever they are online and save them in the form of bookmarks. They can then later on share them with their friends or teachers and elaborate more on them.

    That’s it about Catch: Capture Notes Online for Free.
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