This morning I was up early (for me, during the summer). I planned to work on the blackboard component of my classes - specifically, for the fully online class, which goes "live" on Monday. I was greeted by a black screen - apparently the machine had re-started at some point during the night. An error message about wininet.dll resulted when it tried to load my desktop, and all I got was the wallpaper and screensaver, no icons. It wouldn't go into safe mode, except for the one with the C prompt. Going back to the last good boot didn't stop the error. I could get the task manager by hitting ctrl-alt-del, but it wouldn't run anything. After trying many things, and the feeling of panic starting to set in that I might need to use the repair CD...or worse, maybe it was a hardware problem...

I found this website, followed the steps, and it worked like a charm! Must have been another virus. I fully scanned the system, but didn't come up with anything obvious except for registry errors. But, so far, so good.

The remainder of the day was spent with graduate student emails. Some sticky situations always arise this close to the start of the semester. So blackboard and the Fall online class will have to keep.

I don't know how I missed this story. (Probably because I find myself only reading the advice, obituaries, and three or four comic strips since the TU stripped out nearly all other worthwhile content in their last makeover.)

I'd be more likely to have read the story if it had appeared in the Record, so went to their website to check if I'd also missed it there - and the link goes to the TU story! Why is it still exclusive, I wonder? Isn't this public information? I swear, schools operate under such a veil of secrecy when it comes to personnel issues.

Anyway, glad to have stumbled across the details here.

I know students in my classes, especially my toleration class (where it is the focus of one three hour class) wonder why I am such an extremist on this issue. I cite many examples, but this will resonate when I include it in the reading next semester: A piece of recent local evidence, right in the education field.

Got The Lovely Bones from Netflix and watched it a couple of nights ago. I already read and loved the book, and didn't expect it to be as good. I have to admit they did a fine job of adapting it to a movie. It can't have been an easy story to transform into a screenplay. They managed to capture the essence of the book. (I still enjoyed the book more, though, and I am glad I didn't watch it first - after seeing a movie version, I am rarely tempted to read the book it was based on.)

It was borderline too creepy for me to watch, though. I had no trouble with this aspect when reading it. There must be something about the printed word, or about my imagination, that allowed me to handle it. Visually represented, it has been haunting me, especially at night.

I don't get why what this guy did was illegal? He didn't beat someone up. He didn't commit an act of vandalism. I don't see where anyone was placed at risk. He cursed out a passenger, took beer, and slid out of the plane. An offense that he would be fired over? Yes, certainly, but it seems to me as if he was [dramatically] quitting anyway. I suppose people may have been afraid. But this isn't the Minority Report world. I think how he expressed his frustration is way better than the workplace nutjobs who litter the news because they shoot up colleagues.

Yesterday, it wasn't a boiling hot day, but the solar cover had been on, so the water was warm, and I swam. Today, it is so humid and hot - earlier this afternoon I had to water my container tomatoes because they were wilted. I tried to pick string beans, but the sun was just too much. Unfortunately the pool is 65 miles away...:-(

I did manage to go out a little while ago and pick the beans, though. And thankfully the tomato plants have perked up.

So far I have had only one email from a student complaining about summer grades. (The final grade was D.) Now I have a few days before I have to immerse myself in my consulting work, and in the Fall semester. What shall I do?

I have to complete an online training to get approval for research I am doing, so that will be one thing on the list. The other is yard work, I have to weed whack. The garden is bountiful! What a great year for growing things, almost makes up for last year's constant rain and abysmal harvest.

This strikes me as incredibly disingenuous. You are caught stealing on videotape, resign so that you can escape criminal charges, shoot a bunch of co-workers, and then your family blames it on discrimination? Talk about the ultimate in not taking responsibility, blaming others, and denial.

Unrelated...last night as I was cooking dinner, through the kitchen window I noticed wild turkeys crossing the back yard, a bit down the hill. I had to do a double take, and run from window to window (covering Sam's eyes when necessary) to get a better look. Sure enough, that's what is was! It's a sight that is commonplace in Samsonville, but completely unexpected in Castleton.

I'm done with summer grades! A day before deadline. Yay!

Today I walked to church in a better mood. I've been feeling blue lately, mostly associated with the loss of Ande so suddenly, and the end of the semester pressure is always anxiety producing (grades are due Wednesday). But, I started to do some light looking (I expect it to take a while) for a new cat, and just seeing pictures of possibilities made me think about the future in a positive way, instead of dwelling on sadness. Plus, I got a major amount of grading done yesterday.

The weather was beautiful, perfect for walking. My ankle held up well!

I got there pretty early, as I always do when I walk rather than go in a car (the car can be so last minute, a deadline pusher). I was expecting some "news" among the announcements at the beginning, and sure enough, there was. But it was not what I, or probably anyone else (except for those few already in the know) was prepared to hear.

You can imagine that the congregation was so distracted after this thunderbolt that it probably would have been better to cancel Mass (not that this ever would be done, of course). Our band was playing today, and they are so good - but even that didn't help. The music either made you feel like crying, or no one joined in and sang at all.

Back to feeling blue. Even though I made more progress again today on the end of semester stuff!

Woman neglected 40 dogs, Ulster SPCA says - The Daily Freeman Blotter: Serving the Hudson Valley since 1871(DailyFreeman.com)

Beware of "antivir solution pro" which gives popup messages that look very authentic and say you have virus infections. It also interferes with running your own anti-virus check or system utilities. It is actually a spyware scam designed to get you to buy anti-virus software. There are a lot of time consuming ways to get rid of it, but I just went into Safe Mode and restored my system back to a point before the popups mysteriously started to appear and that took care of it.

I've been meaning to link to my sister's painting site.

Also, over the weekend, we saw Inception. It's an interesting movie, worth seeing. My only complaint: why are movies so loud? Can't theatres turn it down during the action?

It's nearly August, time for my annual Saratoga post! I looked back on what I've written here over the years to mark the occasion, and found this from 2002, this from 2003, this from 2006 and this from 2007. I also have an essay from 1998, written in the dark ages (ie, pre-ejournal), I'll have to upload it to GBP before I can link it here. So I guess I can't call it an annual post, some years I do my best to ignore it.

This year opening day passed and I was too preoccupied with other things to focus on it. My class has been competing with consulting. Plus, yardwork and all the heavy lifing are entirely my responsibility now. I'm blue over Ande's death. And of course, Prankstergate trumped opening day in the news coverage (that's no mean feat). I did have a flash of pleasure that it rained, though.

Something that I can't stand about the Capital District is the obsession with horse racing. There isn't one thing about it that charms me, not the hats (and I love fancy hats), not the gambling aspect (I don't even buy scratch-off lottery tickets), not the nightlife (and that's another thing I love, or at least used to, before I got too sleepy), not the pink sheet that the newspapers come wrapped in (it has been handy for housebreaking my various puppies, though), and especially not the gushing over it everywhere (just shut up, OK?).

The only thing I do like are the horses, and that's the reason why I hate every other aspect of it. For the gushers it's about how it is the "summer thing to do." Glamorous, fun, fashionable. Taking vacation days, or absolutely having to be there opening day are considered as legitimate as your doctor appointment or kid's recital or tournament (this is reminding me why I don't miss the 9-5 world).

It certainly isn't about the horses. If it was about the horses, the track would be closed because it is so dangerous. That part doesn't make the headlines, it is a passing mention (if that).

This weekend I will take a picture of Cinderella and post it here. She is my mother's rescued retired thoroughbred. Cindy wasn't her race horse name, that's what my mother calls her, because she was so pitiful, but so beautiful, when she rescued her.

This would be great! I am going to contact my representatives to voice my support.

Check out this video:

A Vision of K-12 Students Today.

Strikes me as containing a lot of "truthiness."

This is a great idea! A campaign I can really get behind. Go get a sign at MHRHS!

Another positive thing to do: Vote for Pastor Charlie.

What with Ande's death, I have been remiss about posting some things so here goes...

I saw "Curtains," which was put on by Spotlight Players last night. Good show. Another thing I can get behind, community theatre!

I also saw "Chicago" at Mac Haydn theatre recently - wow. I've seen it many times before, and it has been great every time (the movie is also good), but it really stood out as theatre in the round, with few sets.

Then, recently I finished Atwood's "Year of the Flood." As always, great book by a master contemporary writer. Scary too. "Oryx and Crake," sort of its "pre-quel" was better, though.

DA drops charges. Yay!

Recently I have taken on a consulting project that I believe will be beneficial to the organizations I am consulting for, as well as to me - in that it will inform my own classroom behavior in a positive way, and finally, I think it will benefit the university as well.

One of the essential elements of the project is encouraging teachers to get in touch with that early love of learning that many of us lose touch with the more we are formally educated. In this way they can connect with students, who still have natural curiosity.

I’d say the overall philosophy of this very free approach to learning is constructivism, with the tool of inquiry-based learning being the focus. Although the discovery-learning approach has much in common with progressivism (which falls out of favor any time back-to-basics movements are popular), it is a more abstract approach, while progressivism is concrete. As a result, a few elements of the more structured approaches, such as essentialism, are also in evidence.

As I spend more time working on this project, I already find that it is influencing my thinking. I have evolved my college teaching over the years to be more constructivist, although I also have some essentialist elements. But a big piece is about the students asking questions, and they are used in online and face-to-face discussions. It works well, better than always having me asking - and sometimes answering - the questions.

In this project elementary students are told to ask questions and see where that takes them. The questions are explored, changed, added and subtracted. Eventually they will identify possible sources and try to find answers.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of writing on the subject, so it is often on my mind recently.

A few days ago the story broke of the homeowner who is facing charges because he tackled one of four teenagers who was trespassing and causing mischief in his yard late at night. I was writing an important note to my nephew on my laptop in the livingroom, when the story ran on the Channel 6 news. I was half-listening (as opposed to not listening at all, which is my usual state) because the story was interesting. Then I heard the name Rob Madeo and it caught my attention. I sometimes read his blog that appears on the Times Union website, and also read his now-defunct Albany Eye blog, which he wrote anonymously. Very little of the story was left, and I thought he was the man who had tackled the kid. I thought that was interesting, so I decided to read the details from my desktop, before going to bed.

I found the story was already semi-viral, and that Madeo was the teenager’s father, not the homeowner. I read the original story, and saw that it had run on the front page (remember I am a print subscriber even though I often read stories on the internet instead), with no identity of the kid’s father. Then the next morning, the story with Madeo identified was the top story on the front page. I also noted that an anonymous emailer with the alias “the Delmar tipster” was credited as the source for some allegations from the kid’s side of the story that were not in the police report.

The story jumped out at me for several reasons. I could see that it generated controversy in the blog commenter community even before Madeo’s name was revealed. The parents of the boy were pressing charges against the homeowner, while the teenager was too young to be cited. This raises questions about our rights to private property, a very big issue, and it did not surprise me that there could be national interest in the story. Next, on an emotional level, I think it captured the frustration many feel with people blaming others, taking no responsibility, and using the courts and lawyers to resolve things that used to be between neighbors.

Once Madeo’s name was revealed, the local interest in the story jumped even more. In the days before the Times Union jumped into the blogging scene, when there were Capital District bloggers mostly toiling away with little audience, the Albany Eye was one of the few blogs they routinely trumpeted. It was no secret the author was a media insider, but the question was who. AE clearly had access to information not privy to outsiders, and also had an axe to grind with some media folks and organizations.

The question was answered in 2006 when AE broke the story of Trey Anastasio’s arrest. Turns out the insider was from television: WNYT (which went a long way toward explaining AE’s animosity toward Liz Bishop), and AE had scooped his boss. To keep his job, AE had to be shut down, and it was. I don’t remember whether that was when I first heard his real name, because I vaguely remember reading posts about it on some other Albany-based blog that existed at that time (and maybe still exists, not sure), and also reading a personal blog that did not cover media which was purportedly written by the AE blogger. But my memory about that detail could be wrong. I do know when I heard his name, it wasn’t familiar to me - I think he was never on the air at WNYT and so viewers would not be exposed him. I don’t regularly watch WNYT, so I am not sure about this either.

Fast forward a few years and he surfaces in the Times Union blogger community, not as a paid staffer, as a volunteer. By now his identity is known, and it appears he is no longer connected to the television station. His posting style didn’t change very much. Some of it is funny and interesting, but there are a lot of nasty, offensive posts that are defended as satire. In his FAQ about the Albany Eye fiasco, he blows off the ethical questions.

His fellow bloggers are an assortment. The paid staffers tend to be political (one of them was recently hired by YNN, and she sucks. She brings the same nasty tone to Capital Connection that she did to the TU), write about lifestyle issues such as whether to shave your pubes or paint your fingernails pink or red (which gets a lot of commentary, go figure), or about fine restaurants to try in a quest to become even fatter (I’m mean). Some of the staffers rarely post, and all treat the blogs like 9-5 jobs, which is understandable. But topics die out at night and over the weekend, because all comments are moderated. This may also happen because people are reading and commenting on blogs only while they are at work. (The implications of that alone could be the subject of a study.)

This leaves the volunteers - on a wide variety of topics. There are the super controversial (Animal Rights, Tea Party), the various other causes, the very nice (mostly about pets, animal rescue, eating healthy, etc.), and the town-specific (sometimes these go viral, sometimes these are nice, and other times mundane). It can be a cliquey environment, both between various bloggers, and among the commenters. A couple of male volunteers have been very outspoken in support of Madeo. The females who have posted on the subject are more critical.

I’ve been chronicling my comments on various Times Union blogs so that I have a record. The ethical questions raised by this story are what I find most interesting. I’ve been interested in the issue of plagiarism for a long time, since I sometimes catch cheaters in my classes. It’s an issue about which I am an objectivist - not a constructivist as I usually espouse, when teaching, learning, or in the consulting project. I note the ethical failings in our society (Enron, Jayson Blair, Hevesi, too many to list) and see a connection to the students who cheat.

Parents who intervene for kids who can do no wrong. Taking no responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions. Suing one’s neighbor, rather than having an iced tea or beer with them.

I find it frustrating that the TU is absent self-reflection, as if it does not have a role in shaping perception. This is always the company line at the TU, and I have never seen any of the volunteer bloggers call them on it. In the Troy Record, this story appeared today, far inside, and the father was not named. The TU can say they are withholding the kid’s name, but when the father is so prominent in their front page stories, how can they make this claim with a straight face?

They can try to shush the dissent, all the while glorying in the hits.

I’ve covered so many of the points that disturb me in my comments which I have pasted below, so I won’t re-hash them all here, but I think you would have to be very dull witted to not wonder what Madeo’s role is in the shaping and presenting of this narrative. His defenders can deny it, but his public actions have demonstrated a pattern of deception and low ethics. He hid his identity, threw unsubstantiated mud at others, and betrayed his employer. This time around, that his son is involved does not seem to matter to him at all. He’s going to prosecute, to sue, to get even. And delight in the limelight and the sympathy of fools all the while. I bet I am right, that the Delmar tipster is Madeo. Try not to look at the man behind the curtain!

Interestingly, last night I was thinking about this, and generally, when I am fevered with thoughts, I am inspired to write. Instead, I took paper and pencil and drew a cartoon satire. It is something I do from time to time, all the way back to childhood and it is always called Nileston News. But I have not done it in maybe a decade, and before that, it was decades since I did it routinely. I could instantly see the influence my consulting project has had - I am rediscovering that joy in asking questions and seeing where it leads me.

Despite this sensible editorial, another wagon joins the circle.