The Artist Within

The advent of digital photography has drastically changed my life and, I would venture, the lives of many of you who are reading this post.

To give you some background, prior to owning a digital camera I had shot only a few rolls of film in my life.  Even though I have always been inspired by beautiful photography, I didn't have ready access to a camera nor the funds to take up photography.  You know, the typical life of a grad student kind of stuff.  Life changed when my wife and I bought our first digital camera in the summer of 2002.  I discovered that my repressed "artsy" side was longing to be free.

Digital photography allowed me to snap pictures without the worry of wasting film and money for processing.  This was so liberating!!!  The immediate feedback provided by the ability to review/preview one's pictures allowed me to learn how to take better pictures and offered even the untalented,  like myself, the chance of getting lucky and capturing a decent picture.  Add to this the ability to edit one's own pictures and send them over the internet, post them on Facebook, etc. and...well...you have a revolution.

For this exercise, I have chosen to use Flickr.  I do feel obligated though to mention that my fascination with everything Google made me first choose Picasa.  The sway came when I thought of what "most people" are using.  So, to learn as much as possible about the service that most of my students would use, I decided to give Flickr a try.  So with my new Yahoo account created (sigh...yet another account) I logged into Flickr and typed in my first search "korea dragon color" and was rewarded with a number of hits; my favourite is shown above, or click here to see it in Flickr. (I'm an academic so I feel the need to reference)  I also really liked a lot of the other images from Korea that this photographer had posted.  Wow, this is really cool!  One of my new favourite things to do is to type in some words that come into my head and then click on stuff that I find interesting.  It's really neat to see where it takes you.

So where am I today with digital photography?  Well, since purchasing our first digital camera seven years ago, we have taken about 5,200 photos.  Most of those are of our kids but I try to make time to get out and take pictures and release the "artist within" once in a while.  Here is a link to some of my pictures on Flickr . (Clicking the "Slideshow" is probably the best way to view them.)  I must say that I'm not terribly comfortable with sending photos out to the world so have only published a few of my favourites.  I have, however, discovered a wonderful new way to explore.

Thanks for reading.

Titles and Followers

Wow, I have followers!!!

It blows my mind when I think about the whole notion of "Followers". There are people out there who have declared themselves as interested in reading what I write. I know, I know, you may not be interested but just being supportive or following Mary's instructions. None the less, you are my "Followers" and now I feel the pressure to be interesteing so that I don't lose you. I wonder if this is how comedians feel when they have to be funny? Hmmm...I digress.

A few people made comments about the title of my 

blog - Dark Matter - so I thought I would provide a brief explanation. The first thing I did to convey my thinking was ask Wikipedia (because it's always right, right?) to give me an explanation. It came back with the following:

"In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter that is undetectable by its emitted radiation, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter." Mark J. Hadley (2007) "Classical Dark Matter"

I've always found that my best ideas are usually my first ideas and this was what popped into my head. Surprising even to me because I didn't follow any of the thinking outlined below! For me, writing about my thoughts, opinions and my interpretation of my experiences (both big and small) is a bit like bearing one's soul.

Do you see the link now?...No?...OK, I'll go on.

It's a bit of a play on words. Usaually we walk around with ideas, or matters, in our head, a lot of them firmly understood. Others, however, are much more fluid, malformed, confused, or what we could call dark, as in hard to see or detect, not sinister or evil. If you read the definition of dark matter you see that the effects of it are felt even though it can't be seen, much like those crazy little ideas bouncing around in our heads.

So, fianlly, to my point! (And if you've stuck with me this long you are to be commended as a true "Follower") A lot of my ideas, opinons and practices that pertain to teaching fall into the "dark" category and, hence, the tile of my blog...Dark Matter...or equally but MUCH less interesting, My Ideas, Thoughts and Feelings About Teaching".

Thanks for reading.

Reflections on RSS and Google Convergence

Well, I believe I have now unlocked the power of RSS feeds. This may replace Facebook as my consumer of spare minutes. OK, I guess I should be honest...I definitely spend more than a few minutes a day on Facebook (as anyone out there who is my Facebook Friend knows) and would never give that up. So now I have a new way of consuming more of my day! WOW!!! Add blogging onto that I just don't know when I'll find time for "work"!!!

Seriously, I have discovered that I love Google. Plainly and simply love 'em. Starting out with their search engine, Google Earth (ground, sky, Mars & underwater), Google Sketch-Up, Google Calendar and now Google Reader. I created a Google account so that I can sync my i-pod touch (on order...WOOHOO!!!!) with Outlook and be all mobile/accessible and stuff.  Then I created my reader account and all of the blogs I follow on Blogger magically show up in Google Reader! It seems that my on-line life these days is converging on Google.

HOLD ON...WAIT A MINUTE!!!!! I think I'm supposed to be talking about RSS!

I love the idea of having the information that I'm interested in "pushed" right to my desktop. I find that I don't spend much time "Surfing" anymore because the web has become so populated with information that I just get frustrated. I will definitely be on the lookout for the RSS symbol now on pages with dynamic content. 

Thanks for reading.

New Frontiers

Wow, my first blog ... this is an entirely new experience for me!

I find the ease with which we can publish our thoughts to the world, well,  simply amazing.  I am very excited to be blogging and to have a conduit to the world.  As a first time blogger, however, I can't help but wonder if the world is ready for, or willing to accept, my thoughts and opinions.

Hmmm. Interesting reflections and hence the title for my blog. It kind of feels as though the world is peering into my soul at the thoughts running around in my head. That is if anyone is looking.

Bye for now.