Keeping Up With Blogs - Tips

from Richard's Blog Tips

Tip #1 - Use an aggregator

Blogs are much easier to read when using an aggregator, such as Bloglines or Google Reader. These free services allow you to read all of your feeds in one location (instead of having to visit each blog every day to find the new postings).

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Tip #2 - Read unrelated blogs
Subscribe to blogs that expose you to ideas that you would not normally be exposed to otherwise. If you're in Higher Education, subscribe to a k-12 blog. If you live in the US, subscribe to some Australian blogs.

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Tip #3 - Be Skeptical

After signing up for a number of blogs I decided I didn't want to invest the time necessary to keep up with the additional reading. I went to delete my aggregator account but decided to read the entries that had come in first. I found several ideas that were so helpful that I decided not to delete the account at that time. I returned about two weeks later once again to delete the - the same thing happened. Now every time I login to read my blogs I decide that I will delete my account if I don't find anything useful that day. I would invite you to do the same. 6 years later I still have my account.

Librarians are important to student success

Young Learners Need Librarians, Not Just Google The ubiquity and ease of Google searches could make kids' minds go soft without the ability to critique or contextualize the answers.
from Forbes by Mark Moran

Johnny Appleseed Day

When : March 11th and/or September 26th (birthday).

Which day should it be? His birth date is undisputed. His birthday coincides with the season of the apple harvest. A birth is a more positive day than a death. The birthday seems like a more logical day to celebrate. But,....

Celebrate today with an apple rich menu. Include fresh apples for snacks, and some applesauce or apple pie for dessert. And, make plans to plant an apple tree.

A Little Red Apple

A little red apple

Hung high in a tree.

I looked up at it,

And it looked down at me.

"Come down, please," I called.

And what do you suppose?

That little red apple

Dropped right on my nose!

Johnny Appleseed Day honors one of America's great legends. John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) was born in Massachusetts on September 26, 1774 (this date is undisputed).  John Chapman was among the American settlers who were captivated by the movement west across the continent. (The "West" was places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.) He was a nurseryman (was apprenticed in an orchard) and as Johnny Appleseed travelled west, he planted apple trees along the way, and sold trees to settlers (though he rarely accepted money and often donated any money he received). With every apple tree that was planted, the legend grew. John Chapman was a deeply religious person. He was known to preach during his travels. According to legend, Johny Appleseed led a simple life and wanted little. 



The actual date of his death was not formally recorded and the date is disputed. It is believed that he died on March 11, 1845, from what was referred to as the "winter plague".  Harper's New Monthly Magazine of November, 1871 (which is taken by many as the primary source of information about John Chapman) says he died in the summer of 1847.[8] The Fort Wayne Sentinel, however, printed his obituary on March 22, 1845, saying that he died on March 18.

 

Johnny Appleseed Word Search

Johnny Appleseed Crossword

Apple Tic-Tac-Toe Page

Apple Tree Coloring Page

Apple Facts

Apple Crafts

Apple Activities

Ohio Pioneer Apple Cake

Johnny Appleseed Festival 

Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center

Apples General Information and Links

Wow... really

Chilean Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days
NASA -- The Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day and should have moved Earth's figure axis (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches).  more at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth-20100301.html

Chile quake may have tipped Earth's axis
(CNN) -- The massive earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday may have shifted Earth's axis and created shorter days, scientists at NASA say. ... The magnitude 9.1 earthquake in 2004 that generated a killer tsunami in the Indian Ocean shortened the length of days by 6.8 microseconds. ... http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/03/02/chile.quake/index.html

March 1st

Yellowstone became the first Federally protected national park by the Act of Congress signed into law on March 1, 1872. Shown here is a photograph of Yellowstone Falls by Ansel Adams.