Copyright, Fair Use, and the Public Domain

It took me three semesters, but I’ve finally finished the set of Copyright, Fair Use, and the Public Domain Notes – PowerPoint presentation and Word documents.

• Copyright, Fair Use, and the Public Domain Notes.ppt
• Copyright, Fair Use, and the Public Domain Notes – Fill In The Blank.doc
• Copyright, Fair Use, and the Public Domain Notes – Complete.doc
• Copyright, Fair Use, and the Public Domain Notes – Blank.doc

As always you can find them online in My Box.net Shared Folder.

The Anatomy of a URL Presentation and Notes

I’ve just finished a major revision to my old “The Anatomy of a URL” presentation. Just about everything in it has been retooled and updated. A lot of new content has also been added. This time, however, I have created the notes documents to go along with it. I’m very pleased with the result though not the length. At 8 pages, covering the presentation with the fill-in-the-blank notes can easily take forty-five minutes to an hour to cover.

Whew!

The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Database

I’ve just completed compiling a list of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives 1950-2009. The database is now complete with 494 records. It’s well-organized with many column ‘hooks’ for activities that I have planned later including:

• Time on List (From Two Hours to nearly Twenty-Six Years)
• Special Additions (entries that pushed the quantity of fugitives temporarily over 10)
• Two-Timers (fugitives that made the list twice)
• Not Published (fugitives that were both added and captured before their entry could be published)
• Gender (Only eight women have ever been on the list)
• Resolution (How fugitives were removed from the list: Arrested, Surrendered, Killed during Capture, etc.)
• The City, State, and Country that the resolution happened in
• Tip Off (What led to the resolution: FBI Materials, Media Coverage, Informant, etc.)
• Capture Quotes

I created this database as an large example database for use with my Computer Applications I course. With 494 records, it’s large enough that students will have no choice but to use database filtering, sorting, and searching features to answer questions. All of the other available databases are simply too small to enforce this. Though I don’t have any associated assignments available for it yet, I’m confident this will be a huge boost to my database curriculum.

Links:

• Direct link to the file in Microsoft Access 2003 MDB format
• My Public Box with all my shared files
• topten.pdf [Version: Feb, 2 2006] (A source document formerly available from the FBI’s web site detailing the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives program and containing information on all fugitives prior to the year 2000. This copy is courtesy of the Internet Archive. Original location was http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/topten.pdf)

(Despicable) Menu Mind Games

Source: Author William Poundstone Dissects the Marketing Tricks Built Into Balthazar’s Menu — New York Magazine.

It’s amazing what lengths some restaurants will go to in order to make a buck. Oh, the greed!

This charming article exposes all the industry talk and how they make you fork over the dough.

New Vocabulary for the restaurant connoisseur:

• Puzzles
• Anchors
• Stars
• Plowhorses
• Menu Siberia
• Bracketing

Enc-Pk-JY Virus Screenshot

Rebecca, my wife, found this on a teacher’s computer at her school this morning. It looks nasty. I’m posting it here so that others can see what an infected computer could look like.

Forgotten Password (It’s not what you think!)

I snapped this on a student’s computer screen the other day. Needless to say he was confused.

Gotta love technology sometimes!

Importing Data Notes are Complete

I’ve included lots of examples for importing data generally into a database plus clear instructions specifically for Microsoft Access 2003. I am particularly pleased with the final version.

Data File Formats covered include:

• Comma-Separated Values (CSV)
• Plain Text (TXT)
• Spreadsheet (ODS, XLS)
• Tab-Delimited (TAB)

Visit http://www.box.net/shared/e81oxeyk43 to visit my online storage and download this new Powerpoint presentation for use with your Computer Applications I classes.

Shape Collage

http://www.shapecollage.com/

This is a very cool new web application. Very cool indeed. You supply the photos and it creates a collage of them in any shape you like – solid shapes, outlines, text, whatever.

If you ever played Nintendo games then click on the Nintendo Logo Collage above for the full version and reminesce! For other example collages visit the Shape Collage Gallery.

Fake Web Sites

I just found a new fake web site thanks to SciGuy Eric Berger. You’re gonna love this one.

• http://www.HurricaneFightingMachines.com/

I particularly love his comment about part #12 in the image.

For example, no. 12 is … wait for it … a casino. Which actually makes sense.

Because if you’re building one of these you’d better be prepared to throw your money away.

It’s right up there with:

• Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
• California’s Velcro Crop Under Challenge (1993)
• Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
• Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
• The Dog Island
• The Society for DNA Free Food
• The British Veterinary Voodoo Society

Know of any other good ones? Leave a comment and I’ll add them to this list.

Google Image Swirl

Source: Google Image Swirl.

Ever spent hours searching for that just-right image? Well, Google has a solution for you. It’s called Google Image Swirl. It’s a little hard to describe so you should simply try it out, but I can already see myself using it to quickly find that just-right image for whatever I’m doing.

So…

Step 1: Search for something.
Step 2: Click on a picture that resembles what you’re looking for.
Step 3: Repeat step 2. If you get stuck, backtrack by clicking a previous image.