The World Through the Eyes of Flory

Technology in the Classroom?

2010-03-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

Personal Response Systems (PRS), annotation devices, PowerPoint and Flash presentations, laptops, and smart phones. The list goes on and on. I am curious to hear the students point of view on the use of technology in the classroom, both for use by students and by instructors. Is it more of a distraction or would you consider it a legitimate teaching or learning aid?

Chile Earthquake Tsunamis

2010-03-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

I recently came across this article on why the Chile earthquake tsunamis weren't as large as expected. Some pretty interesting theories and most definitely worth the read!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100228-earthquake-in-chile-2010-tsunamis-hawaii-japan/

Enjoy!

Huge Swing Back to Normal

2009-12-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

After an amazingly warm November in Iowa, it was nice to see a strong cold front finally sweep through the state. Yesterday's Iowa Environmental Mesonet feature

(http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/onsite/features/cat.php?day=2009-12-01)

really told the tale of how much warmer we were last month. To me, the most interesting feature is the range of temperatures we will go through in the next couple of days. Yesterday (Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2009) was 15 degrees F above normal. Today's temperature will be just about at the climatological mean of 38 degrees F. As the cold air continues to pour into the state, tomorrows high temperature is only expected to be in the high 20's or close to 10 degrees F or more *below* normal.

We still haven't received measure snowfall in Ames this season and it doesn't look like it will occur any time soon. To add to the fun, the circulation opens up the Arctic toward the end of the week and blasts us with even colder air.

Jump on a Wave!

2009-11-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Ben Green, ISU College of Veterinary Medicine, I have received and accepted a preview invitation for Google Wave (wave.google.com). After a short presentation at Iowa State on Friday, I was very curious to be more than just a spectator. At the moment, it is lonely on the wave. However, more people I know are receiving invites and I am anxious to see if Google can overcome the challenges Wave presents and make it live up to its promised potential.

It is fascinating, often humerous, to see the number of different ways people are getting their hands on invites. Seems like just about everything is fair game from getting the invite directly from Google to begging on Twitter (Way to go Nick K.!)

If you have an account, feel free to Wave me at daveflory@googlewave.com.