tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-107135122011-04-21T15:07:22.902-05:00<a href="https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/johnmartin/web/"title="my homepage">live</a> | <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/johnnymartin/Menu1.html" title="Flying Moose Lodge media">love</a> | <a href="http://website.education.wisc.edu/johnmartin/" title="school, research, thoughts">learn</a> | blogJohn Martinnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-39419205263857282202009-06-15T14:24:00.000-05:002009-06-15T14:25:38.285-05:00

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1165971589384304742006-12-12T18:57:00.000-06:002006-12-12T18:59:49.396-06:00

I've got a new site! http://regardingjohn.comgo there!

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1160451804456551252006-10-09T19:47:00.000-05:002006-10-09T22:43:24.550-05:00

This article, Incompetent People Really Have No Clue, Studies Find, is a truly funny, and somewhat disconcerting article that might better explain why the Deciders of the world make the decisions that they do.People who do things badly, Dunning has found in studies conducted with a graduate student, Justin Kruger, are usually supremely confident of their abilities -- more confident, in fact, than

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1160420877899326142006-10-09T13:53:00.000-05:002006-10-09T14:13:06.873-05:00

My .Mac membership expires in 3 days, and rather than renew it for a third year, I've decided to not put up with the shoddiness of .Mac (at a premium price -- not the kind of thing I expect from Apple), and instead get a much bigger, fully hosted site (for much less money).Consequently, my sites will look a bit messy for a few days while I figure out the the new configuration. In a way, I like it

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1160349448917338232006-10-08T17:58:00.000-05:002006-10-08T18:48:10.713-05:00

Okay, consider it checked off on my list of "Things to do before I die" -- it actually wasn't ever on the list, but now that I've done it, I never need to do it again.I like to think of myself as a pretty open-minded fellow. One who thinks that two consenting adults can do pretty much whatever they want. However. I can't imagine that the show is really healthy for anyone. While it was interesting

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1159416500007137412006-09-27T22:58:00.000-05:002006-09-27T23:08:20.006-05:00

The short story is that we're going back -- and it's gonna be a Pay-per-view episode. I don't even know what that means. I've never watched an episode in my life, and only know Jerry Springer through short clips I've seen in movies, and heresay from others.Here's the long story: Two weeks ago friends got tickets for six and we drove to Chicago to participate in my first ever Jerry Springer

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1159414699422602352006-09-27T22:25:00.000-05:002006-09-27T22:48:00.240-05:00

Yesterday our Star Schools group went to the Milwaukee Academy of Science and tested the Augmented Reality Game we wrote, called "Sick on South Shore Beach" -- about some kids who got sick, and the players' jobs are to work together as a water chemist, a wildlife ecologist, and a public health doctor to figure out why.We also tested the paper-based "control" game that the grant requires. It's a

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1159413932814073912006-09-23T18:21:00.000-05:002006-09-27T22:29:20.166-05:00

I got a fancy new computer, and am geekier than evah!Using PhotoBooth and a mirror to take this pic only proves it.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1158357177828990252006-09-15T16:52:00.000-05:002006-09-15T16:52:58.193-05:00

The winds are changing:California bans driving while holding a cell phone: "September 15, 2006 (Computerworld) -- California today became the fourth state to ban motorists from holding cell phones while driving, moving the issue of driver distraction to the forefront of the national agenda.In a live Webcast, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law legislation that passed in the California

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1158343597006264262006-09-15T12:30:00.000-05:002006-09-15T13:15:03.490-05:00

Through a MacArthur grant by Squire, Steinkuehler, Hayes, and Shaffer, I've been hired to help out. This is pretty cool because it involves the most fun of the things that I love.Greenbush Game: I get to continue work on it, and various configurations of it. This is cool, and the most closely related to my own place-based research.Star Schools Games: I get "affiliated" with the Star Schools grant

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1158007266092142382006-09-11T15:19:00.000-05:002006-09-11T15:41:06.206-05:00

It's been five years since the World Trade towers were demolished; just about as long that Saddam's friendly nature to terrorists has been blamed, and it's an election year. This leads me to predict that any day now Osama bin Laden will be miraculously captured, we'll have another major attack on the U.S. and the Republicans will get an unexpected surge in votes (in most of the districts that

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1157388911397579302006-09-04T10:29:00.001-05:002006-09-04T11:55:11.423-05:00

No, I haven't got a new saw ... yet. But if I did, I think I'd get a Hilti 267-E (and a EurekaZone Smart guide system). Why get a guided circular saw instead of a table saw? Mobility is the big reason. I don't have a shop yet. A powerful, quiet, accurate circular saw with good dust collection, along with a guide system can do just about all a table saw can do, and can do it in a backyard or other

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1156459718006069712006-08-24T17:00:00.000-05:002006-08-24T17:48:38.106-05:00

No, I'm not getting a new car. The ol' spoilered speed demon Corolla is doing a fine job. But as I was driving the 4-hour commute to Grinnell, Iowa, watching gas prices rise and rise, I started thinking about how much a weekly drive there would cost. Even in a car that gets +30mpg (up to 39mpg without A/C running).A lot. 260 miles, divided by (let's be conservative) 32 mpg is 8-some gallons of

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1156267635588151752006-08-22T12:16:00.000-05:002006-08-22T12:27:15.616-05:00

Camp ended again. The campers left. The counselors helped take everything down and left. I took a day to paint the floor in my cabin and left. I visited my dearest friend Ali and her BF Rob in Boston, and drove to Michigan. It was MIS Weekend, or something like that. NASCAR. Not a great time to find a cheap hotel there. Oops. So, for $110, I watched cable (fascinating device, the TV), slept in

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1150426569890036182006-06-15T11:47:00.000-05:002006-08-22T12:16:03.600-05:00

Here are my thoughts, for next year, on streamlining, and de-headache-ifying the GLS conference printed program process:To harness the brain power of the group, constructively critique previous (and other) conference programs as a group.Do this at the beginning of the conference planning process.Use the previous year's content for the mock up.Combine printed program group and web program

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1148326434590342902006-05-22T14:26:00.000-05:002006-05-22T14:33:54.873-05:00

Remember the riots in 2002? Some protester threw a bottle and the police reacted? Here's the police footage of that riot. Scenes from Nazi film footage has been added for ideological effect, but it's otherwise pretty damning. If there was a bottle (no evidence of it), that wasn't the reason. It was just the line they used. Their own words, on their own video tape, explain why they used excessive

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1148323906701755552006-05-22T13:28:00.000-05:002006-05-22T13:51:46.730-05:00

Among my many personality, um, traits, I have these cycles of inspiration that those who need to deal with me need to learn to love -- or at least tolerate.When inspired I do kick-butt work. But when my interest wanes, or something more interesting comes up, I tend to take a quick peek at it (sometimes not-so-quick), and temporarily forget my previous interest.And so here I am, with two weeks

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1147713882960046432006-05-15T12:13:00.000-05:002006-05-15T12:29:50.506-05:00

Another year, another 12 months of adventure and uncertainty! Life is still pretty freakin' good.You probably want to get a gift for me, right? Well why wouldn't you? We all like to give gifts. We just tend to be too busy or poor or otherwise occupied to follow through with that urge. I know that I am. The other thing, of course, is that we sometimes look around and realize that we already often

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1147368725921174332006-05-11T12:28:00.000-05:002006-05-11T12:32:05.956-05:00

As a service primarily to myself, let me just document here that the proper Institutional Review Board forms for my summer research project are all submitted and ready to be approved. Yay.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1147317412019579732006-05-10T21:35:00.000-05:002006-05-10T22:16:52.060-05:00

My life is filled.still trying to keep up with learning new video games in my spare time. Lately I've been trying Katamari Damacy (love it); Max Payne (not great, but somewhat compelling); Parappa the Rapper 2 (sorta fun in a freakish kinda way); and Frequency (really dislike it, but the remix mode could be as fun as GarageBand, maybe).C graduates with her doctorate tomorrow. Family in town,

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145478451604658492006-04-19T15:10:00.000-05:002006-04-19T15:27:31.630-05:00

I've been grinding my teeth the past few months, irritable, exhausted, struggling to maintain a positive outlook. Not sure what it is, but I think it's partly due to a rush to get done with things and not making the progress needed to get there. But the past few days have been getting clearer. I sleep with the window open and wake to birds and sunrise. There's a clarity in it that I'm beginning

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145642512248657782006-04-16T18:55:00.000-05:002006-04-21T13:01:52.376-05:00

I met with a fabulous editor at AERA who gave me more thorough feedback than I've had since peer edits in my MA in English. He's a Comp & Rhet person, so I suppose...you write well, but you over-write. Strive for much greater economy and precision and a more direct writing style. Speak to your readers, rather than trying to impress them.Avoid cluttering your argument with others' ideas. At the

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145037553404504442006-04-14T12:43:00.000-05:002006-04-14T12:59:13.426-05:00

Below (posted previously), I've basically thrown my notes from the AERA (American Education Research Association) conference that I spent 6 days at. It was utterly mind-saturating for me -- to the point where Saturday afternoon I could even not recall how many sessions I'd been to in the morning (it was one), much less who presented in them, or what they presented on. So does that mean it was a

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145036289997902732006-04-14T12:28:00.000-05:002006-04-14T13:00:00.173-05:00

Here I am in my local coffee shop, putting up my notes from AERA, and a few tables down a woman is complaining to the director of her son's camp that the son was given a bad rating and not invited back to be a counselor this year because "he was a bad influence".OMG! she's pulling all the stops of her expertise. Her kid is a saint, and it's all been documented. He's won awards, is a big sports

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145035680908989082006-04-14T12:15:00.000-05:002006-04-14T12:28:00.933-05:00

Richard Lesh, Indiana University "Complex Systems Overview"• Almost everything we study is a complex system (an ill-defined term covering a broad range of stuff). • The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao• The action is in the interaction.• Feedback cycles• (Double Pendulum example -- if you control for the inital order, you will not be controlling it• in cooking, you

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145034945108120632006-04-14T12:03:00.000-05:002006-04-14T12:15:45.136-05:00

April 10, 2006: Developing Methodological Rigor in Design Research in educationwww.rochester.edu/warner/aeraJohn Beck, George Mason "Handbook Design Research Methods"Sasha Barab, IU "Illuminating "ILF"• Web-supported community• (Barab & Duffy) (Barab & Squire 2004 p3)• traditional DBR: theory, design, and problem it addresses• iteration #2 changes all three• historical methods :

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145034214541058382006-04-14T11:52:00.000-05:002006-04-14T12:03:34.560-05:00

Social JusticeJill Andrea Pinkney Pastrana UW-Eau ClaireShattering the myths of neoliberalism through challenging ideologies• White student's Discourse of resistance is a discourse/ideology of Empire• Living in the matrix• They don't see the way the rest of the world lives, or what connection it has to them, and/or why it is important that they do?• How do we get that point across? (

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145033271377491432006-04-14T11:40:00.000-05:002006-04-17T11:17:29.996-05:00

Cultural Historical Activity TheoryTeatro, Play and Imagination: The Creative engagement of Social LifeShirin Vossoughi, Octovio Estrella (UCLA)Theater of the OppressedPlay, imagination, social analysisVygotskian notions of play"children can become a head taller than themselves in play" - Vygotsky (?)how do we re-invoke a sense of play in highschool studentCan Teatro humanize the world?Form

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145032596343806292006-04-14T11:36:00.000-05:002006-04-14T11:36:36.363-05:00

NSF Update - www.cra.orgFederal (John Chirenesky)• Cyber Infrastructure: 600 Teraflop conglomeration of connected super-computing centers 10Gb per second connection.• National Virtual Observatory: data-mining applicatio for K-12 to use to search through various images of the Universe through assorted wavelengths.• CyberCorp -- like americorp, but after school, students spend two years protecting

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145031900902088792006-04-14T11:23:00.000-05:002006-04-14T11:40:32.543-05:00

DBR: A methodological Toolkit for the Learning SciencesDBR came out of Learning Sciences and has developed along with it. Moves away from the lab and into the classroom, where there's more messiness, but more authenticity.Tweaks design to better Cobb, diSessa, Lehrer, & Schauble ("Prototypically, design experiments....") is becoming the defacto definition of DBR.Within Quest Atlantis, we had four

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145031399174754682006-04-14T11:07:00.000-05:002006-04-14T11:16:39.180-05:00

Writing the Doctorate; Writing the ScholarBarbara Kamler and Pat Lorna ThompsonWhen students sketch out the nature of the field relevant to their inquiry, they are mapping a field of knowledge production. Doctoral students might butt up against the published "experts" • find that they drwon in the literature, • he says; she says (a list) -- student makes a list of the key people, as academic

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1145030850638968082006-04-14T10:57:00.000-05:002006-04-14T11:07:30.656-05:00

Industrial Designers and 10 year olds making furnitureUniversity of Alberta in Edmonton (30,000 undergrads +6-7000 grads)Brenda Gustofson, Dougal A G MacDonald,Design Technology is based on identifying a need and potential solutions to that need.- design technology is value laden"Can studying children as they work with adult, novice designers provide insight into how to facilitate children's

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1143236800894983302006-03-24T15:46:00.000-06:002006-03-24T17:25:21.406-06:00

A review I just posted to Amazon: So far, after 4 days with it, I like it very much. This is a very good phone. It also tries to do many other things, and is fairly successful at some. My primary needs were: reception, battery life, and reliability/build quality. My secondary "wants" were Organizer, FM radio, and camera. The rest of the features the w600 has fit into the "That's nice" category.As

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1141410390223362562006-03-03T10:10:00.000-06:002006-03-03T12:27:18.090-06:00

Place-Based Inquiry (PBI) is the natural child of Place-Based Education, Inquiry-Based Learning, Design-Based Learning, and Project-Based learning. Are you sensing a pattern here? I argue that playing and redesigning Augmented Reality Games wraps all of these up nicely with a bow. It's situated in a specific culturally-rich placeit is collaborative and sociocultural in both the playing and

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1141251103166093312006-03-01T15:48:00.000-06:002006-03-01T16:12:12.603-06:00

I have so much stuff that focuses on what *I* want to do, but I was reminded today to step back and address the needs of the larger field. Now, this brings up all sorts of questions, like what larger field? the field of Education? The field of Educational Technology? The field of Augmented Reality Gaming? I just don't know where to start, so let me start broadly and work my way down.What is ARG?

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1141249537792940802006-03-01T15:31:00.000-06:002006-03-01T15:48:05.996-06:00

Questions for Feb 28 meeting with my advisor. We got through the first two...Ideas for dissertation focus:Place, Design, Culture, Tools, IndividualPlace-Based InquiryDesign-Based research Activity Theory in using game design to learnWhat would I measure?A theory of what could beToolsDesignSocial interactionMere exploration of what happensIdeas for Pare article (theory/need paper)Best from prelims

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140997343960855072006-02-26T17:18:00.000-06:002006-02-26T17:42:23.986-06:00

Here's quick map I made in Omnigraffle that lays out some of the main elements that I could study. The octogons represent "things" (clearly, I need a better descriptor), and the arrows represent "influencing factors." So, for example, tools are shaped by, and shape, culture, activity, place, and the individual. As it is mapped out, "Tools"is the centerpiece, but we could easily rearrange the

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140991222440918092006-02-26T14:48:00.000-06:002006-02-26T17:18:30.476-06:00

This is a "working paper" briefly discussing PBI's connections to Sociocultural Learning.My most immediate Place-based Inquiry project is a place-based augmented reality game for a deep-woods camp. In this project there are many influences from and connections to topics like video games, environmental education, embodiment, design-based pedagogy, sociocultural learning (communities of practice,

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140986814877423722006-02-26T14:38:00.000-06:002006-02-26T14:47:53.423-06:00

I *need* one of these. "Need" here means "want" of course, but in a "gosh this sure would be neat to have at my FML cabin for those nights when I don't want to stay up long enough to justify lighting a candle, or those nights when I *do* want to stay up and read and the flickering light of a candle just doesn't do it for me."It's LED, so the bulb lasts forever and the batteries last 150 hours. It

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140914942160468962006-02-25T18:41:00.000-06:002006-02-26T14:15:56.050-06:00

This is a "working paper" briefly discussing PBI's connections to video games.My most immediate Place-based Inquiry project is a place-based augmented reality game for a deep-woods camp. In this project there are many influences from and connections to topics like video games, environmental education, embodiment, design-based pedagogy, sociocultural learning (communities of practice, activity

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140905628587958202006-02-25T15:25:00.000-06:002006-02-26T13:04:54.056-06:00

Place-based Handheld Games (PbHG) is a terrible name and acronym. I like the simplicity or ARG (augmented reality games), but ARG doesn't get into the "culture of place" aspects that I like (I had been trying to call culture of place "geoculture", but Immanuel Wallerstein already has that term defined with a much different meaning than what I envision for it).In some ways, I'm trying to touch on

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140900322946155102006-02-25T14:25:00.000-06:002006-02-25T14:45:22.966-06:00

This kind of stuff in human-computer interfaces keeps me "turned on" in Educational Technology. Jefferson Y. Han has a pretty cool demo video of the work he and his colleagues at NYU have been doing, and while the demo is currently an "inside a dark room" thing, and my work is all about the geocultural environment, I can certainly envision this sort of mutli-touch technology in a portable format

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140890753692412062006-02-25T11:36:00.000-06:002006-02-25T12:05:53.750-06:00

I'm excited about my research. I think it's a really cool thing in so many ways. Consequently, perhaps, when I explain it I tend to mention many of the ways that I think it's cool. I talk about how I want to incorporate the appeal of video games into this outside game experience. I talk about how the campers will have to work together and draw on each others' body of knowledge and experience. I

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140118804816130532006-02-16T13:29:00.000-06:002006-02-16T13:40:04.836-06:00

My silly little obsessive plan to bike to work every day this academic year failed today. It snowed big.I started well enough this morning in the 3" that fell overnight. I fish-tailed my way to the coffee shop in the soft flurries that were still falling. But after two hours of writing I looked out the window and another 5" had fallen. I pushed my bike home, ate lunch, and sludged through the

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1140117192841857202006-02-16T13:00:00.000-06:002006-02-16T13:46:04.570-06:00

I eat those candy hearts without reading them now.I think that's kind of sad. I realized this after downing the fourth of five in my hand with nary a glance at the little pearls of heartfelt love inked onto them. It made me pause and carefully consider the last one in my hand. I have no idea what it says. I can make out the symbol of a heart printed on it, which seems repetitive to have on a

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1139423829653730622006-02-08T12:33:00.000-06:002006-02-18T16:02:38.840-06:00

Name: John MartinSchool: University of Wisconsin-MadisonDepartment: Curriculum and InstructionMajor Program: Educational TechnologySpecialization: Games, Learning, and SocietyMinor Program: Learning SciencesAdvisor: Dr. Kurt Squire Status: passed prelims, starting proposalTentative Research Title: "Sociocultural Learning in the Play and Design of Place-Based Augmented Reality Games"(the title

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1138217637981713802006-01-25T13:06:00.000-06:002006-01-27T00:29:51.946-06:00

Her name is BunkinsWhere have I been? It's a bit embarrassing actually, regardless of which audience in life I speak to. I'm playing video games, specifically World of Warcraft, and less enthusiastically some others. And I'm blogging about it at regardinggame.To many "adults" I'm wasting time on a frivolous and potentially damaging (immoral etc.) game: it's violent, it's sometimes mean-spirited (

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1137612641427097922006-01-18T12:57:00.000-06:002006-01-18T14:04:46.476-06:00

There are times that I notice things I usually take for granted. My butt's comfort on my daily ride is one of those things. I love my Brooks B17 bike saddle. I think I've mentioned that I love my fixed gear bike, but really, a big part of it, I'm sure, is that my butt is very happy to be on a comfy saddle.Just one seat ago (about 3 months now) my butt would ache after a relatively short ride to

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1137020312762943272006-01-11T16:07:00.000-06:002006-01-11T16:58:32.800-06:00

I've been wanting a waterproof digital camera for years. I once had Olympus Stylus 35mm "Weatherproof" camera that I loved. It worked in rain, and I didn't worry about it getting splashed in a canoe, although I did put it away in rapids or rough water situations. When I went whitewater rafting on the Kali Gandaki river in Nepal, I had a Sigma 300 SLR that I triple-bagged, and instead used a

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1136662049911415222006-01-07T13:04:00.000-06:002006-01-11T17:01:18.203-06:00

It occurred to me, as I've been thinking about all this "life" stuff that I used to spend so much time getting excited about (before grad school distracted me with its demands), that I'd spent years designing houses and looking at house plans and ideas, and I'd always wanted to do a "green" house. Passive and active solar, earth sheltered and/or green-roofed (sod and plants), with all sorts of

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1136329565286099652006-01-03T16:09:00.000-06:002006-01-05T16:33:28.273-06:00

As a newly-engaged sorta guy, I'm prepping for wedding and rest-of-the-life-type discussions -- china, flatware, houses, etc. -- and it's actually kind of fun. I've since discovered that her Mikasa china is our informal china, and upon further inspection of it, I can definitely live with it (it's actually pretty good; fancier than I'd pick, but nice). Her informal flatware is wonderful too, and

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1135819472601211322005-12-28T18:24:00.000-06:002005-12-28T19:24:32.656-06:00

I am anticipating a discussion on flatware. I expect that we have to choose both 'everyday' flatware, and 'silver.' My tastes run toward the more usable, so I'll try to exert what influence I have on the everyday flatware -- think practical. I'll consider things like ergonomics (balance, how comfortable are they to hold, cut with, stick in my mouth, etc.), ease of cleaning (complex, deep patterns

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1135815757793199072005-12-28T17:41:00.000-06:002005-12-28T19:25:12.713-06:00

Let me first say this: I poke fun at things. I poke fun at things and people that I like, and don't like. I poke fun at myself, at my family, friends, partner, co-workers, neighbors, people in the news and those who make an impression -- and the things they do or don't do. It's probably accurate to say that the only things that I don't joke about are things that don't make any impression on me at

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1135746399231472422005-12-27T23:04:00.000-06:002005-12-27T23:06:39.266-06:00

This may be trite. Let me say it anyway. Family and friends are pretty cool. Gatherings of them can be very cool. (sometimes they can be stressful, but overall... cool.)that's all.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1135665639370197062005-12-27T00:24:00.000-06:002005-12-28T19:27:52.006-06:00

One of the best friends I've never met sent the URL for this article to me tonight, and I think there's some cool stuff in it. It amazes and delights me, in fact, when people are creepily on target with such things as "an article for you."The writer/speaker is Richard Hamming, who I'd never heard of, but will look up again. The title is "Good and Bad Procrastination". My favorite part is: "There

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1135664574756191512005-12-27T00:00:00.000-06:002005-12-27T00:22:54.790-06:00

It appears that I'm getting married. Having asked, and receiving for an answer a somewhat breathless "yes, I will!" the ball is set in motion. And this is strange to me. Nice, but strange. In some regards I feel like (and my family and friends are emphasizing) that I'm joining the grownups, "Finally!" they add. And there's a certain curiosity I have about this "grownup" life, but there's also a

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1135018683585910052005-12-19T12:36:00.000-06:002005-12-19T14:58:49.096-06:00

It's -11 degrees Celsius (13F, -4F windchill). It's too dog-gone cold to bike. Having said that, I have this old Yukon hat with rabbit fur lining that I found at St. Vinny's years ago, and have had many happy warm-eared winters with it, thanks to the long-eared bunny friend who must have donated his fur to the hat maker. But it's getting a bit worn, and the lining is splitting/tearing. And I

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1134960950604558102005-12-18T20:50:00.000-06:002005-12-19T14:30:06.286-06:00

This is ridiculous. Really truly ridiculous. And ridiculously cute too. It's really really chock full of cuteness.The best thing about Little Saint Nick here, is that he's just one of many many cute things on cuteoverload.com. There are more. Lots more. Some are even cuter.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1134362332441173712005-12-11T20:46:00.000-06:002005-12-11T22:38:52.503-06:00

I like my Timbuk2 Detour 2 -- mostly. The main flap doesn't fully cover the opening at the top; rain gets into the main compartment. Also, the side pockets are too shallow; my 2-liter Nalgene bottle and travel coffee cup fall out from time to time. So, I decided to modify it. I'm handing it off to a local shoe repair guy who has an industrial sewing machine and strong kung fu to make the changes

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1133639594862181472005-12-03T11:37:00.000-06:002005-12-03T13:53:14.930-06:00

My other bike (the one that's not the Peugeot fixed) is a 1994 Kona Explosif with ProjectTwo forks. I bought it in December 2000 from a retiring prof (retiring at 38 -- very cool). The past few months I've been so extraordinarily happy with my fixed gear Peugeot that I'd almost forgotten about my Kona. Then winter showed up with its snow and ice and slush, and I pulled the Kona out and lubed it

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1133384285675289822005-11-30T14:19:00.000-06:002005-11-30T15:00:10.190-06:00

In the race between Beard and Head, it seems to be a tie. It's been 30 days (not quite a month) since I shaved it all bare for my Ghandi Halloween costume, and I decided to make a race of it. Life is one big experiment for me, and sometimes my follicles get involved.So the beard hair is, of course, coarser. But the head hair seems to be coming in darker than it was before I shaved. Hmm ... no

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1133380090650034372005-11-30T10:21:00.000-06:002005-11-30T14:17:39.020-06:00

I do. It makes me very happy. I have yet to not ride it to work this Fall (since I got back from Maine in August). That makes me a green commuter. I haven't even had to take the bus -- not even on the rainy or cold days. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't proud of that.As to the bike itself, it's not a fancy one. But I love it anyway. It's a 1980's era Peugeot Bordeaux converted to a fixed gear.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1133136884746975972005-11-27T18:11:00.000-06:002005-11-27T18:14:44.746-06:00

Yellow and blue Hokey Spokes! or red (your only choice) FX FlareHow cool are these? And tremendous Geek factor! And if I program them to say "Don't hit me!" maybe it'll keep the cars away?

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1133136234976649232005-11-27T17:45:00.000-06:002005-11-27T18:03:54.993-06:00

Jen Koberstein got me a pair when she went to New Zealand, and they were perfect gloves in all but the coldest biking weather, at which point I'd wear them as liners under the Trek shell lobster gloves I have. Alas, one day one of them developed a hole.Short of heading to New Zealand (or sending me -- which would be a nice gift in itself), you can get these gloves made of cute little nuisances

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1133134990939492692005-11-27T17:31:00.000-06:002005-11-27T18:07:57.303-06:00

More bike safety stuff, but also super-cool for camping gear that might otherwise get lost at a dark campsite. The super-bright stuff is at SafetyCentral for $5.99, but if you can find another source of Scotchlite tape, that'd be fine. Also fine is the yellow tape or decals at reflectivedecals.com. I'd like to get enough to outline the frame of my bike on both sides. Yellow or orange would be

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1133132640626943002005-11-27T16:55:00.000-06:002005-11-27T17:04:00.653-06:00

Why this particular one? Well, because of the ledge -- you can see it on the left side of the picture. It keeps the papers from sliding around on the board better than the clip itself can. I had the earlier "corner clip" version before) of the clipboard for a few years until the University book store stopped carrying them. They work great (and are my absolute favorite) for holding 8 1/2 x 11

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1132972693953690742005-11-25T08:25:00.000-06:002005-11-25T20:38:14.070-06:00

Craftsman 12-in-1 Screwdriver, Magic Precision® I need a precision screwdriver set -- but instead of one of those sets in the plastic cases that break, I thought I'd try to find an all-in-one type that stores its bits in the handle. This looks like it'll do -- and it's a Craftsman, so it ought to last a while.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1132892278847000792005-11-24T21:23:00.000-06:002005-11-24T22:17:58.876-06:00

Finished my prelims on Tuesday. I feel pretty good about them. At some point, I'll get around to formatting and posting them on my Learn site, but until then I'm doing a little test -- and I don't recommend it.The first question can be found, in its unformatted glory (meaning I merely copied it from Word and pasted it into the blog) right here.THe second part here.And the references for both

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1132413470122770402005-11-19T09:08:00.000-06:002005-11-25T20:42:08.453-06:00

From the department of "How Cool is this?"An innovative knitter by the name of Amy O’Neill Houck has pulled off the brilliant. I wish I knew how, and had time to, knit. Of course there are (or rather "is a pseudo-") commercial alternatives mentioned in my last entry, but commercial alternatives generally lack the love and funk-ability of the handcrafted.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1132250672281744492005-11-17T11:51:00.000-06:002005-11-17T12:04:59.983-06:00

17 degrees out with a windchill of 7 degrees. Last night it was colder and dark and sleety-snow was pounding my face when I biked home. I am happy that I live less than 3 miles from my office.Still, it was cold. And my ears hurt, even with a stretchy poly balaclava type thing on my head. So I started thinking about my options, and when I got home I Googled around a bit and found "helmuffs" as

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1132090191357824652005-11-15T15:24:00.000-06:002005-11-15T15:30:42.306-06:00

Nineteen pages of the first question's response are pretty well finalized, and I'm on my final section (not counting the Conclusion). In the next day or so I think I'll post it here in order to open it up to anyone who might want to comment and point out weaknesses. Realistically, no one will. But still...

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1131904321590987742005-11-13T11:19:00.000-06:002005-11-15T15:31:56.653-06:00

prelims: universal abbreviation for the preliminary pages of a book before the start of the main text, often numbered in roman numerals.preliminary examination, preliminary exam, prelim (an examination taken by graduate students to determine their fitness to continue)Here I am, writing away on my prelims, and I'm noticing that it's an interesting journey of spurts of creative writing that wear

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1131729339787979202005-11-11T11:00:00.000-06:002005-11-11T11:15:39.823-06:00

The long fingers of the government reach further than I'd previously thought! In their study "On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets," Ali Rahimi, Ben Recht, Jason Taylor, and Noah Vawter find that:Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1130772713747320682005-10-31T08:21:00.000-06:002005-10-31T09:31:53.796-06:00

I woke in the clarity of a dream. It's such an amazing space of lucidity. In the dream an older and very respected friend visits, but since I'd seen him last, his capacity to care for himself has been greatly reduced by age etc. This frustrates him to tears: "I'm the person who always takes care of others. This isn't supposed to happen..." And it's true. He was the brilliant one with all the

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1130704517454811772005-10-30T14:25:00.000-06:002005-10-30T14:35:17.476-06:00

Can this be too much logic for the faithful to encounter. This is the site I might have written if I had the time to address religious beliefs.In grade school and high school, the answer was always: "Trust in the logic of God. It far exceeds ours." But that only sufficed until I started to recognize authority figures as humans.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1130622901480042132005-10-29T16:43:00.000-05:002005-10-29T17:06:29.576-05:00

This year we hosted a Death and Dismemberment Party at Happy Bunny's Chamber of Horrors. It was quite fun. As befits such a violence-themed event, I went as Ghandi. It was, to my memory, the first time I've shaved my head, and quite a change from just over a year ago in my long-haired hippy days.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1130169187632468532005-10-24T10:39:00.000-05:002005-10-24T11:03:16.750-05:00

It seems like just a few days ago that I was pining for the near future, where we'd be able to walk down the street and have access to "official" and "unoffcial" information about the buildings and businesses we passed via a handheld device running GeoAnnotation and Collaborative Cartography software. And I thought about it, and looked around on the web for such a thing, and couldn't find

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1130022259636806912005-10-22T17:46:00.000-05:002005-10-22T18:04:58.876-05:00

What kind of social software are you? (take the test here). So I do. It's quick and dirty, and my expectations are low. But then I get this:You are Game Neverending. You find yourself in the beta of some game where you can't kill anything. You get sprinkled with pixie dust, and get scared at the sheer goodwill. I've heard this before from just about anyone who's tried to get me to play tetherball

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1129607879707157262005-10-17T22:38:00.000-05:002005-10-17T23:02:09.556-05:00

I found a Dell Inspiron 1.2GHz Celeron M 40GB/256MB/DVD-CDRW for $528 shipped. So, with my Augmented Reality Game using a Windows game engine, and being on a PocketPC, why not just swallow it all, and give up the pleasure that it Virtual PC, and PocketMac (piece of crap), and all the back doors and work-arounds that I needed to go through to get it to work? And I did.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1129606697374010282005-10-17T22:01:00.000-05:002005-10-17T22:38:17.386-05:00

Although it's far from perfect, I've finally figured out (at least a bunch of) how to get non-Mac-template pages up on my .Mac site. It's not as easy as it should be, but I suppose that's because they want their templates used, while my design doesn't even mention that it's a .Mac site (except in the address). At any rate, I've updated it. It looks a lot like this one (except for the "Blogger"

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1129440854840638342005-10-16T00:20:00.000-05:002005-10-16T00:39:15.760-05:00

I recently received a comment from a woman who's doing some amazingly-fun stuff in performance gaming (Jane McGonigal at Avant Game). She responded to an entry on Pierre Levy on the ARGaming blog, and briefly explained that his idea of games "virtualizing" space and place was important in her PhD work. It was a brief comment though, so she offered to explain more like this: Hard to explain in a

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1129310477907584422005-10-14T11:51:00.000-05:002005-11-25T20:45:50.643-06:00

I'm trying to wrap my head around the importance of space and place in learning -- an especially important thing in the Augmented Reality Gaming that I'm researching. But I've been having a difficult time understanding it, or maybe simply staying focused, while reading about it. Although I've got an MA degree in Writing/Litereature, I'm still much more of a visual person.So I started to collect

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1129130176261916722005-10-12T09:38:00.000-05:002005-10-12T10:16:16.276-05:00

People who know me, even moderately well, sense the bitterness I feel toward the church I grew up with, and toward similar intolerances I hear echoed in larger fundamentalist institutions.I fully admit that my feelings of bitterness and betrayal speak to my own issues of intolerance.I am working on this. I constantly look for the "middle ground" and for thoughtful people who try to see multiple

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1129087269677042602005-10-11T21:42:00.000-05:002005-10-11T22:21:09.693-05:00

Yikes! I clearly don't belong in the front of the line for braces, but still I am considering them. Seems that over the past few months my right siekacz boczny tooth (God, I love Google images!) has been shying behind my right siekacz srodkowy tooth, causing a slight cross bite, and contributing to an oft' bit upper lip, which, when bitten, swells up as if to say "Bite me again, baby!" It's far

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1128955779378369962005-10-10T09:46:00.000-05:002005-10-11T21:40:28.796-05:00

All better now. A few niggling little errors in my CSS and Firefox falls apart. What kind of a world-class browser is that? Even Micro$oft's IE (old Mac version!) was able to deal with it.Clearly, my post-midnight edits have caused some problems to the format of this blog. It seems to look okay in MSIE for Mac, and Safari, but not Firefox.I haven't checked PCs...And the PCs seemed to work fine

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1128893976371431152005-10-09T16:39:00.000-05:002005-10-10T00:19:09.900-05:00

I'm slowly getting continuity between my four subsites: Live Love Learn Blog. Blog's been the toughest so far, largely due to the constraints that the template forces, but also significantly due to my own learning curve, my insistence on a trial and error methodology.Next up: Love.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1128723198126314432005-10-07T15:40:00.000-05:002005-10-07T17:13:19.296-05:00

Well, if this (LivePlasma) ain't the fanciest piece of something or other that I've seen since the brain. Here's a tool where you enter a band or movie that you like, and it maps out other bands or movies that you may be interested in. I don't know who decides what bands are similar, or if it just mines from Amazon or iTunes, or wherever, but it seems to map out "genres" pretty well. It includes

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1128407205346612892005-10-04T01:08:00.000-05:002005-10-04T01:39:53.613-05:00

The other day Dan White emails me requesting bio info "for the site" -- but he didn't say what site, and I didn't know, so I stalled and requested more info from him. Then this weekend he emails and says "The GLS Minor website is up!" And I look, and sure enough, there's a spot for my pic and info, but no info. So I send him a bio and research blurb, try to find a pic that fits the format (

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1128286233835857502005-10-02T15:30:00.000-05:002005-10-03T14:07:26.910-05:00

Tomorrow (done) I will post a picture of where I was this weekend. Then you will see a ridge of green deciduous trees, steadily changing to yellows and oranges, already speckled here and there with red. It is, after all, officially Fall here in Wisconsin. Christine did the Kickapoo Reserve's Dam Challenge yesterday, and invited some cool friends to her folk's farm near Soldier's Grove, WI.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1127867998330567792005-09-27T19:21:00.000-05:002005-09-27T21:21:07.003-05:00

An interesting story from Britain on Societies with God on their side. The abstract is hereLarge-scale surveys show dramatic declines in religiosity in favor of secularization in the developed democracies. Popular acceptance of evolutionary science correlates negatively with levels of religiosity, and the United States is the only prosperous nation where the majority absolutely believes in a

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1127769099469572022005-09-26T15:34:00.000-05:002005-09-26T16:11:39.480-05:00

I met with Richard Halverson in Learning Sciences today to discuss my research plans and to see whether he'd have any interest in being involved. He does. I actually walked away feeling simultaneously pretty good about what I'm doing, and a bit depressed about the amount of work I still need to do to form a dissertation-worthy question. He says the difference between narrative and a dissertation

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1127609248439156552005-09-24T19:47:00.000-05:002005-09-24T19:47:28.450-05:00

Ran across Jason Underwood's 592 Blog, which he started as an instructor at NIU for a course on video games he taught this summer. They read a lot of Gee and Squire, and other "usual suspects" and blogged their notes and reactions (some interesting reading). Somehow he got funding for his class to attend the GLS conference, and of course, they all blogged on it too. Pretty cool.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1127165333411628662005-09-19T16:16:00.000-05:002005-09-19T16:28:53.436-05:00

Back in the old days, I had me a diskette that not only held an entire operating system, but all the files I ever needed also fit on it. When I upgraded to a 3 1/2-inch "hard" disk, there was space aplenty. My first 20 MB hard drive never filled, regardless of how much clip art I added. The 40MB hard drive on my Mac Duo laptop was hugely spacious. The 3GB hard drive on my orange iBook was plenty

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1127145489294129722005-09-19T09:57:00.000-05:002005-09-27T21:21:31.576-05:00

It's funny how the grayness of weather just sucks all the enthusiasm for studying/reading out of me [whatever huge amount I can usually eke out on a Monday], while at the same time infusing a deep foreboding gloom. Ugh! Humid, cold, tired.I shall write for a bit on things not relating to school. How about the Madison smoking ban? So the city council, with the Mayor's support passed a ban on

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1126803089600771342005-09-15T11:25:00.000-05:002005-09-15T11:51:29.610-05:00

I keep coming back to these two terms as being so extremely important to the body. And now, as I search for a theoretical framework that encompasses them, I find myself critiquing and rearranging theories so that they fit. Here's an attempt at a summary of where I'm at with it:After spending last semester reading on embodiment, I've nearly come to the conclusion that so much of the mind is

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1126471709034485202005-09-11T15:48:00.000-05:002005-09-27T21:20:43.750-05:00

I started a new blog today for the FML web community -- if there can be such a thing, I hope to find it. In doing so, I invited about 40 people to join, and I hope that they'll invite other Moosers (new and old) that they know to join in the experiment. We'll see how it goes.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1126127893005331822005-09-07T16:11:00.000-05:002005-09-07T16:18:13.023-05:00

It's all negotiable, of course.Coursework1. AR Games Directed Study with Kurt Squire (4 credits) a. Goal: Annotated Bibliography to draw on for Dissertation b. Goal: Handheld AR survey to prepare for Prelim Question on Practice c. Goal: Complete my version of the RiverCity AR Game2. Prelim Readings Directed Study with Simone? (3 credits) a. Goal: Annotated Bibliography to draw on for

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1125969448073439952005-09-05T20:14:00.000-05:002005-09-27T21:23:17.790-05:00

My measly Picture-A-Day exercise sort of pales in comparison. Some people think that I have too much time on my hands. Maybe, just maybe, if I had an industrial sewing machine....

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1125063829415354642005-08-26T08:43:00.001-05:002005-08-26T08:43:49.426-05:00

in Madison. It's nice.

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10713512.post-1125063809033579642005-08-26T08:43:00.000-05:002005-09-27T21:29:25.940-05:00

Just to show the world that the extremists in the current administration aren't so bad, they've called on Reverend Pat "Wacko" Robertson to show the world what a harmless American religous extremist looks like. And then the administration and all its cheerleaders step back and say "We're pretty center,eh? I mean compared to the wackos on either side -- like Robertson on the right and Hillary on

John Martinnoreply@blogger.com0