Last edited: 07 March 2000
Work has begun on working on web pages to support the students in the weather and climate course. These pages include information in the following areas:
Syllabus
Quickie Quiz 1 Quickie
Quiz 2
International Weather
by Country
United States
Weather
Cloud
Types at Weather World 2010 Project
Cloud types photographed in Palikir
Mountain wave cloud over Palikir
NASA
atmosphere article
Britannica
article
Insolation
The students are responsible for tracking the weather weekly in an assigned world city. To obtain the weather information the students have to access http://www.weather.com on the Internet once a week.
Sixteen of the twenty-nine students had email addresses before the course began. Of those twenty-nine email addresses only three were located here at the College. The other twenty-six addresses were all Hotmail.
Two attempts to obtain a quote from Houghton Mifflin on the Chemistry CD have met with no response. Their website has been offline recently.
Quotes will have to be obtained on the ADAM software and then POs put together for this order.
Brian Lynch has located a CD he wants for this course, a PO will be assembled for this order. Another CD is with him for his examination.
CD software was ordered for inspection purposes. The current instructor is teaching the course only on a temporary basis. The instructor for Biology will return in March.
I am still trying to find a package that will allow the computer capture of microscope images. I've found packages that capture images to a television screen. With additional hardware these could be used to capture microscopic imagery, but I am hoping to find a single package rather than cobbling something together. Oddly enough there is a new children's toy that connects a 200x digital imaging microscope to a computer.
Software support for this course has yet to be ordered.
Weather and Climate is making use not of CD based support software but of web sites with content support for weather and climate. Some good examples of such sites include:
Weather
World 2010 Project at UIUC
NASA
Atmosphere information page
Weather and Climate CDs have been examined. Most have been found seriously wanting - some are simply filmstrips transfered to CD, others are not at the appropriate content level.
Content support of courses by web sites is promising. Our proxy server connection to the Internet is designed to support such access. The number of sites and the quality of the information improves with each passing month. One of my tasks this term will be to ferret out sites that would work to support the various science courses.
The New York Botanic Garden (NYBG) donated two boxes of newsprint to the College for use in pressing plants. Shipping alone was over eighty dollars. The NYBG also donated light bulbs for the plant dryer. Many thanks are due to Dr. Michael Balick of the New York Botanic Garden for these gifts.
On the 24th of December the following email was received:
Hi Dana, We have received your Purchase Order and check. Thank you. I will send you your license keys next week when LiveMath Maker 3.0 b38 - which should be very close to the final release version - will be ready. There is some work still needing to be done for the Network versions. If you need a key for yourself, please let me know and I'll send one. Best Regards, Robert Curtis
On the 20th of January I received the following email from Robert Curtis:
Hi Everyone, We are pleased to announce the second major beta release of LiveMath Maker 3.0 and LiveMath Plug-In 3.0 -- beta 37. Today, the MACINTOSH/ENGLISH version is available. The WINDOWS versions should be available and posted in a few days. The b37 release constitutes some major improvements to the products. This is the last round of changes to the products, other than bug fixing, before final release.
I'm not certain what to make of the fact that Beta Release 38 was theoretically scheduled for release on 31 December and Beta Release 37 did not make it out the door until 20 January. Sounds like the Beta program has hit some unexpected snags.
Anca has asked that some of the MS 100 math CDs be moved to the library for student use there.
Assisted the Office of Admissions and Records as well as the Department of Natural Science and Mathematics during the week of registration. Produced various reports. Produced for the first time a report on students who were in a class that they had previously failed. This report was broken down by current instructor and distributed to the instructors. A separate report on students who were on their third or greater attempt was provided to Tutoring Coordinator Mary Snaden and Counselor Morehna Rettin-Santos.
The new network printer is in place in the department. Some computers have been able to connect to it without any problems. A couple computers have proven more problematic. Anca's computer will not reliably connect to the printer. Her computer is also suffering from other odd problems. I will be continuing to work on that computer.
The departmental Micron Microtower that is now on Don Buden's desk is not connected to the Network printer. This machine has no network neighborhood on it. There is an "MSNP" error on boot with this machine, I think that might be connected to the missing network neighborhood.
During January ongoing "just-in-time" assistance and training was provided to Linda Maradol, Jazmin Gonzales, Yen-ti Vergin, Allen Bourgoin, and Mary Manuel.
Processed and forwarded to President Moses pictures of a donation by Ambros to the College taken by Luciano using the math/science digital camera. Suggested to Sue that AV be equipped with a good digital camera for such occasions.
In mid-September a re-conditioned print cartridge was loaded into the Hewlett Packard LaserJet 6P printer. This cartridge went empty in mid-December.
I would still like to get Timbuktu into the lab.
There is interest in having a permanently mounted projector in the lab. The business department has a new projector that cost around $4000. At this point I want to see what sort of luminosity they get from the unit. I've suggested that we might convert to black aluminum blinds to further darken the room if necessary.
I have recommended that post-Title III the designated computer laboratory coordinators sit on TAC.
Some of the computers woke up in 1980. As I get the opportunity, I have been installing NetTime to correct this and to synchronize the computers. Not all computers in the laboratory connect to the Intranet. A list of non-connecting computers has yet to be compiled.
Internet support and assistance continues to be provided to Morgan Solomon as part of the Pacific Algebra Network. During January I went to Olter High and unpacked a PREL-provided computer. FSM Telecom will be installing a phone line in the Olter High math department office. Once the phone line is in place I will hook the computer up to the Internet for Solomon.
Work on the events table has yet to be completed.
I am a member of the landscaping committee and have been consulting with Francisco, Mario, and Kim as part of the committee. Jazmin Gonzales is also on this committee. We meet Tuesday mornings at 9:00 A.M. The initial propagation greenhouse has been completed and the basic clearing of the new agricultural area is nearly done.
I designed and implemented a redesign to the water supply system for the house in which I reside. This involved installing a hundred and forty feet of 2" PVC water pipe, fittings, and valves.