Sustain the Matrix
I’m sitting on my exercise bike, typing on my computer. That’s right… I have a desktop on my exercise bike that allows me to pedal for hours while working (it’s the only way I can find to keep in shape and stay “jacked-in” to my computer all day.
Anyways, I’m supposed to go into my office today to get some work done. However, I’m a commuter, it’s a snowy day outside, and I’m thinking about the gas I’m going to burn going to and from work. I’d like to say I’m environmentally friendly when I can and besides, it’s the post-xmas time of year when my wallet hurts a bit. If I’m right, the root “Sustain” will be the most used word of 2008! Sustainable market, credit, growth, environment, progress… So, don’t I want to sustain?
I ask myself, do you want to help sustain the environment? Would you drive to work and waste the gas when what you need to get done can be done from the warmth of your own home? Are you ready to abandon the peace and quiet of the office (and possibly the productivity) and try to find a quiet corner of the house away from the noisy (very, very noisy) toys Santa got your daughter for xmas?
If I don’t go to the office, well then they don’t have to heat the office. Those are resources saved too right? My home will stay heated whether or not I’m here. In fact, with a virtual office, I can abandon that room altogether.
One of the biggest concerns I’ve dealt within my area this last semester is, “How does art fit in a virtual world?” Now there is someone teaching drawing in Second Life! So maybe I can start teaching drawing from home. Poof! My classroom no longer exists. More resources saved!
How far do we want to take this? Perhaps the idea of humans living in small spaces pedaling away on their bikes like hamsters on the wheel while using virtual worlds to live and work (escape?) isn’t such a bad one? I’m already doing it! And I feel good about it!
Wasn’t the idea behind the Matrix supposed to be evil? What if the world came to a point where every resource was calculated to the point of precision…. Or absurdity! How much oxygen does the grass in my yard produce? Might I plant something else that may yield a better carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion ratio? Do I fill my yard with trees?
Now if only my bike powered my computer… Perhaps my body heat energy could be harnessed too. Am I sounding strange? Ask yourself this: If all the people trapped in the Matrix were released at once, could their world have sustained them? Wouldn’t they want to go back in? Wouldn’t they want to survive? Live? Sustain?
Sustain the Matrix
I’m sitting on my exercise bike, typing on my computer. That’s right… I have a desktop on my exercise bike that allows me to pedal for hours while working (it’s the only way I can find to keep in shape and stay “jacked-in” to my computer all day.
Anyways, I’m supposed to go into my office today to get some work done. However, I’m a commuter, it’s a snowy day outside, and I’m thinking about the gas I’m going to burn going to and from work. I’d like to say I’m environmentally friendly when I can and besides, it’s the post-xmas time of year when my wallet hurts a bit. If I’m right, the root “Sustain” will be the most used word of 2008! Sustainable market, credit, growth, environment, progress… So, don’t I want to sustain?
I ask myself, do you want to help sustain the environment? Would you drive to work and waste the gas when what you need to get done can be done from the warmth of your own home? Are you ready to abandon the peace and quiet of the office (and possibly the productivity) and try to find a quiet corner of the house away from the noisy (very, very noisy) toys Santa got your daughter for xmas?
If I don’t go to the office, well then they don’t have to heat the office. Those are resources saved too right? My home will stay heated whether or not I’m here. In fact, with a virtual office, I can abandon that room altogether.
One of the biggest concerns I’ve dealt within my area this last semester is, “How does art fit in a virtual world?” Now there is someone teaching drawing in Second Life! So maybe I can start teaching drawing from home. Poof! My classroom no longer exists. More resources saved!
How far do we want to take this? Perhaps the idea of humans living in small spaces pedaling away on their bikes like hamsters on the wheel while using virtual worlds to live and work (escape?) isn’t such a bad one? I’m already doing it! And I feel good about it!
Wasn’t the idea behind the Matrix supposed to be evil? What if the world came to a point where every resource was calculated to the point of precision…. Or absurdity! How much oxygen does the grass in my yard produce? Might I plant something else that may yield a better carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion ratio? Do I fill my yard with trees?
Now if only my bike powered my computer… Perhaps my body heat energy could be harnessed too. Am I sounding strange? Ask yourself this: If all the people trapped in the Matrix were released at once, could their world have sustained them? Wouldn’t they want to go back in? Wouldn’t they want to survive? Live? Sustain?
Sustain the Matrix
I’m sitting on my exercise bike, typing on my computer. That’s right… I have a desktop on my exercise bike that allows me to pedal for hours while working (it’s the only way I can find to keep in shape and stay “jacked-in” to my computer all day.
Anyways, I’m supposed to go into my office today to get some work done. However, I’m a commuter, it’s a snowy day outside, and I’m thinking about the gas I’m going to burn going to and from work. I’d like to say I’m environmentally friendly when I can and besides, it’s the post-xmas time of year when my wallet hurts a bit. If I’m right, the root “Sustain” will be the most used word of 2008! Sustainable market, credit, growth, environment, progress… So, don’t I want to sustain?
I ask myself, do you want to help sustain the environment? Would you drive to work and waste the gas when what you need to get done can be done from the warmth of your own home? Are you ready to abandon the peace and quiet of the office (and possibly the productivity) and try to find a quiet corner of the house away from the noisy (very, very noisy) toys Santa got your daughter for xmas?
If I don’t go to the office, well then they don’t have to heat the office. Those are resources saved too right? My home will stay heated whether or not I’m here. In fact, with a virtual office, I can abandon that room altogether.
One of the biggest concerns I’ve dealt within my area this last semester is, “How does art fit in a virtual world?” Now there is someone teaching drawing in Second Life! So maybe I can start teaching drawing from home. Poof! My classroom no longer exists. More resources saved!
How far do we want to take this? Perhaps the idea of humans living in small spaces pedaling away on their bikes like hamsters on the wheel while using virtual worlds to live and work (escape?) isn’t such a bad one? I’m already doing it! And I feel good about it!
Wasn’t the idea behind the Matrix supposed to be evil? What if the world came to a point where every resource was calculated to the point of precision…. Or absurdity! How much oxygen does the grass in my yard produce? Might I plant something else that may yield a better carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion ratio? Do I fill my yard with trees?
Now if only my bike powered my computer… Perhaps my body heat energy could be harnessed too. Am I sounding strange? Ask yourself this: If all the people trapped in the Matrix were released at once, could their world have sustained them? Wouldn’t they want to go back in? Wouldn’t they want to survive? Live? Sustain?
MacBook Pro 2007 Graphics Freeze Workaround
I have been having problems with my MacBook Pro. Finally, I have found the problem (thanks to the SLED listserve)!
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/MacBook_Pro_2007_Graphics_Freeze_Workaround
What’s the problem exactly?
When running Second Life on an affected MacBook Pro, your machine completely freezes up. The cursor doesn’t move, pressing the Caps Lock key does not change the Caps Lock light and your machine is no longer reachable from any other machine on the network. The only means available to recover is to hold the power button down until the Mac powers off and then restart it.
The solution they give requires a download and install of the OpenGL Profiler which will then tell your Mac to run the SL client with a different rendering driver (one made for ATI cards, not Nvidia). I will have to check with ITS to see if this is even a possible solution that they might have me pursue. If you are having problems like this please let me know at afontan @ bgsu. edu.
MacBook Pro 2007 Graphics Freeze Workaround
I have been having problems with my MacBook Pro. Finally, I have found the problem (thanks to the SLED listserve)!
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/MacBook_Pro_2007_Graphics_Freeze_Workaround
What’s the problem exactly?
When running Second Life on an affected MacBook Pro, your machine completely freezes up. The cursor doesn’t move, pressing the Caps Lock key does not change the Caps Lock light and your machine is no longer reachable from any other machine on the network. The only means available to recover is to hold the power button down until the Mac powers off and then restart it.
The solution they give requires a download and install of the OpenGL Profiler which will then tell your Mac to run the SL client with a different rendering driver (one made for ATI cards, not Nvidia). I will have to check with ITS to see if this is even a possible solution that they might have me pursue. If you are having problems like this please let me know at afontan @ bgsu. edu.
MacBook Pro 2007 Graphics Freeze Workaround
I have been having problems with my MacBook Pro. Finally, I have found the problem (thanks to the SLED listserve)!
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/MacBook_Pro_2007_Graphics_Freeze_Workaround
What’s the problem exactly?
When running Second Life on an affected MacBook Pro, your machine completely freezes up. The cursor doesn’t move, pressing the Caps Lock key does not change the Caps Lock light and your machine is no longer reachable from any other machine on the network. The only means available to recover is to hold the power button down until the Mac powers off and then restart it.
The solution they give requires a download and install of the OpenGL Profiler which will then tell your Mac to run the SL client with a different rendering driver (one made for ATI cards, not Nvidia). I will have to check with ITS to see if this is even a possible solution that they might have me pursue. If you are having problems like this please let me know at afontan @ bgsu. edu.
YouTube Channel: Classroom
From Vlog Blog:
There is an interesting article over at Adweek about how universities are leveraging YouTube by putting PR videos, classes, and even entire semesters of classes online at the video sharing site.
The article concentrates mostly on the efforts of UC Berkeley, which has set up its own channel. Under the current agreement, YouTube has agreed not to put ads on the Berkeley channel. Instead, they have traded the space for the extra cachet they hope to gain.
While there is no “outside advertising” on the channel, and there is indeed a lot classroom material, the Berkeley channel is obvious meant to be one giant advertisement for Berkeley itself.
In the article, Ben Hubbard, co-manager of Berkeley’s Webcast program, explains: “You can put together a one-minute spot that markets the university in a certain way, but there is nothing like showing the real thing.”
And so, is it working?
The article states:
Within three weeks of launching the YouTube partnership last month, Berkeley had 1.3 million views on the three channels it runs on its page. “When you really boil it down, the size of the YouTube audience is mind-blowing and it shows how hungry people are for this type of content,” he (Hubbard) says.
I’m not sure if putting my classes up on YouTube is a good idea. However, I recently gave my students a list of 5 classroom innovations to see which they’d take most advantage of. Downloadable podcast or vodcast lectures and collaborative blogs (as opposed to individual blogs) ranked the highest. Starting a Facebook group or supplying supplemental podcasts (interviews with artists, extra information about an element, principle, or concept) ranked lowest. Of all things I was surprised the Facebook group ranked lowest because in the same survey 70% of them said they use Facebook daily.
