Mellon Foundation Awards Davidson $800,000 to Expand Digital Studies

http://www.davidson.edu/news/news-stories/131213-mellon-foundation-digital-studies-award

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Among these initiatives is "Davidson Domains," which will provide every Davidson student a unique domain name and access to an open-source platform like WordPress. The Web domain will serve as a foundation for students’ online presence
at Davidson and beyond. As students progress through the Davidson curriculum, they will learn how to add content to the domain from any aspect of their experience. Students might use it to display outstanding assignments, samples of internship work or research
experience, and more.

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I like the idea that they are giving their students a unique domain name. I love WordPress as an eportfolio. It should be interesting to see if eportfolios at Davidson are any more successful than they have been elsewhere.

I think that a good deal of faculty time and effort would be needed to help students determine which examples of their works and experience should be included in the eportfolio.

It would seem that if you (the Institution) were recruiting a higher percentage of incoming students that would need remedial courses, and that because of this you would have a higher percentage of students failing to complete college in 4.5 or 5 years… that you would help them start preparing before they ever arrived on campus. You would also get them in as cheaply, at least for the first two years, so that if they did indeed fail, they would leave the institution with a minimal post-college bill.

Having said that, I am a technician, and as such here are three suggestions:

· Provide incoming Freshmen with a Chromebook and make all courses during the first two years Chromebook friendly. That means storing their documents in the Cloud, and using an LMS (or LMSes) that work well on a Chromebook. Google Docs

· Establish an ongoing relationship with possible candidates as early as possible, and establish whether they will need remedial activities. If so, why not have them work online in some remedial activity. Use WordPress for a development eportfolio.

· Reduce per course costs by attempting to eliminate book fees. Students don’t have to purchase or rent books for their courses.

o Wherever possible use free online course materials.

o Faculty become adept at student “touch”.

§ “Touches” are the personal, intimate, communication between professors and students which can be found nowhere else, and that make the learning process special.

“… You get a free Chromebook, and are not required, for the first two years, to purchase or rent any textbooks, and we will provide you with a personal financial advisor.“

I see that we’ve been told that a client was able to use two different passwords to login to their single account. Now, we know this cannot be. Well, if it is then something is horribly wrong!

But, years ago when I had an Apple IIe, I did come across one of those “Twilight Zone” experiences while developing a spreadsheet application.

It was probably a budget I was developing in a spreadsheet and I was putting in all ones (1) in each field and seeing if they all totaled up at the end. And then it happened, they did not add up correctly. Let’s say there were 10 items, each field having a 1 in it and the total did not equal 10. I removed the numbers and tried again. Still an incorrect total was displayed. I pored over the mathematical logic in the different fields and it all “seemed” correct. I reviewed it some more. It didn’t just seem correct, the logic was correct. Finally, I copied the whole budget and moved it to another location in the spreadsheet, and amazingly, the ten 1’s totaled to 10.

This was before the Web was easy to google and see if anyone else had experienced a similar problem, but what it came down to was that the computer chips, or at least one of them had been faultily created. I guess all the twists and turns and connections hadn’t been made on the microscopic level. If you placed the mathematical logic and fields in one area of this spreadsheet, they worked fine, but if you happened to find this Twilight Zone area, you were sent to the Bermuda Triangle.

I haven’t seen this problem since, but knowing it happened once means that it could happen again.

I think I watched the first episode (not the first season), and quickly decided I had no interest in an old department store.  “Are You Being Served,” was all that I needed of that genre.  I then waited patiently wondering how many episodes I would have to get past, without watching.  Now I see that there is a second season coming up.  Oh, goody!  Take this crap off.

—

And, I had started watching “House of Cards” and was several episodes into it when one of the main characters did something I considered so vile and unforgivable that I finished watching that episode and decided never to come back.  I seriously doubt that anything has so offended my senses, that even though it was a scripted tale, I immediately felt unclean for watching something like that.

ADDENDUM [10/11/23]:  When I stopped watching “House of Cards” Kevin Spacey was still on the show.  But, he wasn’t the main character that I was referencing above.  It was the actress Robin Wright, who years earlier had played “the Princess Bride.”   And, I understand that the offence wasn’t created by the actress, but by the show’s writer.

The offence?  I don’t recall if Spacey’s character was the elected President, or still running for office, but Wright’s character was his wife.  And, they had a security person who was facing the cruel effects of Cancer, and now was bedridden.  Wright comes to visit the sick, former security officer, in the hospital.  They talk, and she admits that she was aware that the security officer had a secret love and longing for her, that he had never spoken.  At some point, she reaches beneath the sheets to give him a “hand job” and there in his helplessness, he begs her not to.  But, that one vignette made me feel so violated and unclean.  It struck a chord deep inside of me that no other movie or TV show has ever done.  I’ve seen murder after murder, and loads of other offensive acts portrayed by actors, but this one scene stopped me in my tracks.  After the episode, I never did return to watch any further episodes of “House of Cards”.  The Spacey controversy occurred afterwards and he left the show and I think that “the character’s wife” became President.  All this, but I didn’t watch it.

And, not only did I not watch any more “House of Cards,” but it soured me on watching anything else by Robin Wright.  If she appeared in a movie, I stopped watching that movie.  Now that is powerful acting, that “on screen actions” would affect the way you feel about the actor, beyond those scenes.  Oh well…

Well actually, in another ensemble show, Mark-Paul Gosselaar was one of the main characters.  In just a few episodes, his character faced several “life choices” and he began to make “wrong choices”.  After a few of these wrong choices, I mentally wrote him off as “a hero,”  and soon stopped watching the show, which also ended not too long after.  Your hero has to remain above the rest, or he isn’t a hero.

In old TV shows, if a wife was unfaithful to her husband, she died at the end of the episode. It didn’t matter how many redeeming qualities she had, her infraction meant death to her.

For the first time on our waters, we have the melancholy task of recording a steam boat explosion, attended by the loss of three lives. The following are the particulars, as hastily stated by the Advertiser extra, of Friday last:

STEAM BOAT EXPLOSION! — After our paper went to press, an accident of a most melancholy character occurred. The Steam Boat John Walker, owned by Doyle O’Hanlon, Esq. was, this morning, about daylight, blown up, and made a complete wreck.
It appears that she had raised a head of steam and run down along side the Brig Roque, lying at anchor in the stream, for the purpose of towing her down over the shoals. Soon after making her fast to the brig and while in the act of heaving up the anchor, the boilers burst, — simultaneously blowing out the bow and stern of the boat, which, in a few minutes, sunk; and is now almost entirely under water. Capt. A. G. Dickson, who was standing on the engine house, by the side of the engineer, was blown over the stern of the brig, and has not been recovered. Damon, a black fireman, who was in the hold; and Purdie Jacobs, the pilot, were also killed. Isaac, the Engineer, a black man, was blown on board the brig, and is dangerously wounded. Prince, a black man, was also slightly wounded. The boat had on board some goods for the interior; but we are not informed who are the owners. The Steamboats Clarendon and Henrietta, are about towing the wreck into the dock, where she may be got on shore if possible.

[ Fayetteville Observer – Fayetteville, NC – Thursday, June 16, 1836 ]

Since the publication of our extra of last week, the following facts connected with the loss and destruction of the Steamer John Walker by the bursting of her boilers, have come to our knowledge. — It appears from all the circumstances, that this unfortunate accident was the result of carelessness & neglect in not having sufficient water in the boilers. The Boat left the wharf, at 3 o’clock in the morning, for the purpose of towing the brig Roque, then laying at anchor (ancbor sp?) below the town; this had been the practice with all our steam boats after taking in freight, either before or after their departure for Fayetteville. Capt. Dickson of the Walker run down alongside the brig; after laying there five minutes, he ascertained his impending danger from the roaring of the steam through the safety valve, the water then being below the lower gauge cock; he called to the captain to make haste and weigh his anchor, that his boilers were in danger, and he could stand it no longer; scarcely had the words escaped his lips, when at the first move of the starting bar to put the engine in operation, the explosien (sp?) took place, the body of Capt. Dickson was seen going over the top-sail-yard of the brig, and fell in the river, & was not found until Wednesday night, 16 miles below town, and was interred yesterday with military honors; he was a young man of promise and worth; his untimely and melancholy fate is mourned and lamented by a numerous circle of friends and acquaintances. The Engineer Isaac Smith was thrown against the main top-sail-yard, fell on the quarter deck, covered with the fragments of the boat, and though much mutilated, it is supposed will recover. The pilot Purdie Jacobs and fireman Damon were in the hole, and both killed, their bodies have been recovered. Prince Nichols the second pilot, standing at the helm was knocked down by a piece of one of the beams, severely wounded, but is recovering. The boat is the most perfect wreck we have ever witnessed, one of the boiler heads went through the starboard bow cutting its way through a part of each beam in its course; the starboard side, a breast the boilers, for three feet down is blown completely off, carrying all the beams and deck with it; the starboard quarter is carried away; the quarter deck lifted up and landed on the timber heads; the most unaccountable damage, is a hole blown through the bottom between the fore-hatch and forecastle, the boat and engine are entirely ruined and abandoned as a total loss. Some of the goods have been taken out, very much damaged, many of the packages have not been recovered, we understand there is some insurance on the goods which will of course be paid; no insurance on the boat. Loss including the uninsured goods, estimated from $15 to $18,000, which we regret to say, will fall upon our enterprising fellow citizen Doyle O’Hanlon.

Wilmington Advertiser.

[ The North Carolina Journal – Vol. VI No 17 – Fayetteville , NC  Thursday, June 23, 1836 ]

We learn with extreme regret by the Wilmington Advertiser, that the Steam Boat John Walker, owned by Doyle O’Hanlon, Esq., of this place, was almost totally destroyed by the burstin of her boilers. Our correspondent of the Advertiser states, that the bow and stern of the boat were both blown out, and what is still more distressin is three persons were killed, and another mortally wounded; among the former were Capt. Dickson, of the boat, and the pilot Purdy Jacobs, a free man of color, of this Town; the other was a slave the property of Mrs. S. Smith of this vicinity.

[ The North Carolina Journal – Vol. VI No. 16 – Fayetteville, NC, Thursday, June 16, 1836.

If you take the Red Pill, you’ll have to give up TV & movies altogether because it will be too painful to see how controlled and skewed entertainment & the media are.

The Chicago Sun-Times had an online article entitled, “Meet Bud Light’s Ian Rappaport, who’s up for whatever”. The opening line said, “Ian Rappaport is the lucky schmuck…” that was chosen to participate in this Bud Light Super Bowl Commercial.

I look at him, take into account the state of American television, and seriously doubt that he was randomly chosen, or even wheedled down from a select group. I suspect that he is just another Jew being given the spotlight on TV and made to look like the average “Joe Blow” out having a good time sucking down some suds.

He would have been a “lucky schmuck” if he were a goyim;-)

 

ADDENDUM:  Could my world view not be skewed?

Rocky & Bullwinkle – Jay Ward (Joseph W. Cohen?)

The Twilight Zone – Rod Serling

“Red Rubber Ball” -The Cyrkle (Don Dannemann, Marty Fried) , Paul Simon

The Invaders, The Fugitive – Quinn Martin (Irwin Martin Cohn)

Columbo – Peter Falk

Marvel Comics – Stan Lee (Stanley Martin Lieber)

Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis (Bernard Schwartz), Paul Newman, James Caan, Michael Douglas

AD(D) NAUSEUM:  2016 Super Bowl Bud Light Commercial = Seth Rogen & Amy Schumer