Went to a blacksmith shop while visiting Tennessee and picked up this beauty as a souvenir. It is made from a railroad spike and I thought it looked pretty cool. The craftsmanship of the knife and the leather sheath was very nice.
Most students are using AI to enhance learning, not outsource it, research shows
Contrary to alarming headlines suggesting that “ChatGPT Has Unraveled the Entire Academic Project” and “AI Cheating Is Getting Worse,” we discovered that students primarily use AI to enhance their learning rather than to avoid work.
Despite this article having a limited sample size, it does seem to add to other research showing that students are not just using AI to “cheat” in school, but to enhance their learning by filling in knowledge gaps they may have. As an educator and a parent of two wonderful high-schoolers, I can vouch for this type of behavior. In my experience, most students want to do well in school and learn everything they can, and if AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and others can help them do that, I am all for it. It is up to us—parents, educators, and other community members—to help them navigate this world of ours and teach them to develop critical thinking skills so that they may discern what is fact, fiction, and everything in between. Question everything and find the source(s) of truth. In other words, trust, but verify.
I cannot believe that one of my favorite sites, ScreenCastsOnline, is 20 years old. I have been with them for most of that time. Although it has gone through some changes lately, it still remains great at what it has always offered… high quality tutorials for lots of apps and services. Thank you ScreenCastsOnline team! Keep it coming.
Check out Lee (current SCO owner) interview Don, the man who started it all back in 2005.
SIGN UP for a 7-day ScreenCastsONLINE trial membership TODAY and get access to our WHOLE CATALOG of over 1,460 videos.
New ARRL Book Release: Stealth Antennas for Ham Radio
Stealth Antennas for Ham Radio is full of antennas to get you on the air no matter where you live. Even radio amateurs who live with antenna restrictions or covenant limitations will find solutions in this book.
Home Owner’s Associations (HOA’s) are such a nuisance for Amateur Radio operators (a.k.a. hams), that the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) has produced an entire book to offer options on how to hide your antennas in these restricted communities. I wonder how these people will feel when a natural disaster hits and they rely heavily on the knowledge, expertise and dedication of these hams to bridge communications between them and the authorities in the area or around the world, so they can get the help they may desperately need.
Thirty-three years ago today, I was a young teenager living with my family in South Florida. That August, right before the school year started, we decided to go on vacation for a week, completely disconnected from any news. Our sole focus was enjoying our time away. Then, on the way home, we turned on the radio, and between songs, a news broadcast announced that Hurricane Andrew was headed straight for South Florida, including our home.
My dad, who worked at a hardware store, immediately called his workplace to ask them to set aside some plywood, as we didn’t have any shutters. But wood were already sold out. He started calling around and finally found a supply of plywood in various pieces that we had to make do with. We bought everything we could and then began securing them to our windows. I remember drilling holes and putting them up with my dad, using tapcons, as the rain started. The outer bands of Hurricane Andrew were upon us, and we had to push through to secure the house.
With family visiting, we also had to stock up, preparing for potential losses of power, water, and other necessities. My mom, aunt, and sister went out to buy everything they could, but the supermarket shelves were virtually empty. They grabbed whatever they could find – Vienna sausages, Spam, and other foods we normally wouldn’t touch – knowing they would sustain us if we had to endure.
The storm hit overnight. We all gathered in our family room, as far away from the windows and French doors as possible, despite them being mostly secured with plywood. We truly didn’t know what to expect; it was our first hurricane ever. I remember hearing the gusts of wind and the rain, the barrel tiles flying off our roof, breaking onto the driveway, and hitting our cars. I don’t recall hearing any trees fall, but I vividly remember seeing them all leaning or lying flat on the ground, their root systems completely exposed.
Being inexperienced, I remember we went out during the eye of the storm. It was so calm, and we thought it was over, but then we heard it wasn’t, so we ran back inside. It was super eerie to hear such silence after hours of prolonged howling. We were among the lucky ones; our house sustained only minor damages, unlike others a little further south whose homes were utterly destroyed.
We saw trees twisted into corkscrews, and we were told it was due to tornadoes. People’s boats were found in other houses down the block. A friend of mine even had a boat on her property, and she had no idea who owned it. Nobody ever claimed that boat, and it was eventually taken away. I remember street signs lodged like Chinese stars into the sides of trees. I remember entire apartment buildings exposed, their windows, French doors, and sliding glass doors simply gone.
I remember houses with no roofs or windows, looking gutted from the outside in. I remember areas completely flooded, making driving through them impossible because you didn’t know what lay beneath the water. At best, it could have been debris; at worst, downed power lines or God knows what else. The streets were impassable due to fallen trees.
My dad and I, after ensuring our house was secure and clearing as much debris as possible, went down the main street next to our house. With machetes, we started cutting branches and moving them to the side so traffic could flow. Our thought was that an ambulance or fire truck would struggle to get through with all that debris on the road. I don’t know if it was the smartest thing to do, but it was the only way we felt we could help.
I can’t believe that 33 years later, I’m still remembering all this, and it’s all coming back to me. I think that’s the case for most Floridians who endured Hurricane Andrew. All you have to say are those two words… Hurricane Andrew… and they are immediately transported back 33 years, remembering even the smallest details that might seem insignificant to the overall event, but are just lodged in our memories forever.
I haven’t been a fan of Facebook (Meta’s child company) since it was a standalone website back in my college days. Even then, that experience was short-lived. However, for the first time since, I paused to consider setting up a “burner” Meta account. My sole reason? To try out the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses with Be My Eyes and see what they offer the visually impaired community.
Apparently, people with vision loss are doing some pretty interesting things with this combination, gaining more freedom in their daily lives. For example, they’re using the Meta glasses to call up a volunteer for help with tasks like:
All of these possibilities are extremely enticing to me. My only real drawback to jumping on this technology right away is Meta.
Then again, I recently read about another similar pair of glasses that aren’t released yet—not until October, if memory serves. These are the Ally Solos Glasses, a product of the Solos and Envision partnership. Given Envision is a known assistive technology company, these glasses might be more tailored to visually impaired users, as Envision has extensive experience in that area.
Maybe I just talked myself into a solution that will work for me? I’ll definitely look more into the Ally Solos Glasses. If I like what I see, I may just pre-order them to see how they work in practice.
I’ve been using Obsidian for a few years now, and it’s where I keep all my important notes. I’ve even adopted the popular term “2nd Brain” to describe it. While it’s my primary storage for all important notes, it hasn’t been my daily go-to app recently. Instead, I found myself using Bear, BBEdit, Runestone, or pretty much any app I have handy. I’d then move anything I want to keep into Obsidian.
Well, I decided to give Obsidian another serious look and put aside all my other apps for the time being. Now, I’m using Obsidian exclusively for everything daily. By “everything,” I primarily mean my daily notes and any reference material I want to save for future use.
As I explored it more, I really got back into it, and I’m genuinely enjoying using it on both my desktop and iOS devices. This is ironic, as I had recently advised others to switch to apps like Bear, citing their superior aesthetics. And don’t get me wrong, Bear is indeed more beautiful, but Obsidian, I’m rediscovering, is simply wonderful and is consistently getting better.
As I use it more and more, uncovering its intricacies and utilities, I think I’m going to stick with it as my daily driver, at least for the foreseeable future. Especially since I discovered Bases. This has truly leveled up my Obsidian usage! I’m now taking numerous notes and adding properties to them, which I can then filter using my new Bases setup.
That said, I’m still new to it, so I’m sure there’s much more to learn, and I guarantee I’m only scratching the surface. My plan is to learn everything I can about it, customize it to suit my needs, and work more efficiently. Let’s see how it goes.
If you want to learn more about Obsidian, there are many YouTubers who do a much better job explaining it. Here’s one video you might find helpful:
