Learning Process

Envirothon seeks Michigan high school students

Written on December 17, 2011 – 12:16 pm | by Christopher Tulloch

SAULT STE. MARIE — The 2012 Michigan Envirothon is looking for high school students to participate in the outdoor environmental competition.

The deadline to register for the event is February 8.  Regional competitions are held in March, with the state competition scheduled May 9 through May 11 at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie.

The event involves teams of five students who work with natural resources professionals, leading up to the various competitions.

The overall state winner will represent Michigan in July at the Canon North American Envirothon at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.

Tags: High School, High School Students, School Students, Students

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’tis the Season

Written on December 17, 2011 – 1:37 am | by Matthew Hovell

Christmas books. Shiny new green and red covers, and old scuffed favorites. It is a joy when a new holiday book arrives and I actually like it. Over the past few years, I’ve found some favorites that I always want to revisit. With Christmas books, my critical eye clouds over, and I just enjoy them for what they are – warm fuzzies wrapped in paper. My most recent find is The Money We’ll Save by Brock Cole, in which a big-city turkey named Alfred really stirs things up. Cole always spins a fine, silly yarn, and this is no exception.

You may think you don’t need another Twelve Days of Christmas, but Laurel Long’s jewel-toned Renaissance-inspired paintings make this one a worthy addition to Christmas book collections. And there’s Melrose and Croc: A Christmas to Remember by Emma Chichester Clark. Croc has ventured out to the big city to see the sights of Christmas. Melrose (a golden dog) has just moved to the city. He is decor

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SEO Scams and How to Avoid Them.

Written on December 14, 2011 – 4:54 am | by Imogen Fahey

Uneducated customers usually expect unrealistic results when it comes to SEO. This is mostly caused by some so-called optimizers who promise things that just aren’t possible. When it comes to SEO, you should always do your research before you hand over any money. This applies to every aspect of your business as do most SEO related techniques. It is always important to keep in mind that your SEO work is no more or less than another business expense. You should never fork over money until you have done your research and ensured that you will be provided with a quality product.

Basically, there are only a few choices when it comes to getting search engine traffic. You can use pay per click ads, or submit your site to the search engines and hope you get a good ranking. Instead of hiring some overpriced company who know nothing about optimizing your site, you should keep control of your site and save money by doing the SEO yourself. Another great resource is to find a site that you would like to post your ads and pay them for a static link.

These links are very powerful because they will increase your google page rank since they are permanent. T

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Tags: Seo, Seo Scams

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USF commencement clogging traffic around downtown Tampa

Written on December 10, 2011 – 4:14 am | by Christopher Tulloch

Traffic around downtown Tampa is a snarling mess this morning. Thousands of extra cars carrying about 10,000 people are aimed at the Forum to attend the first of three University of South Florida commencement ceremonies.

School officials had predicted that the 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ceremonies would cause extra congestion to already-clogged downtown streets at peak commuter times.

About 10,000 guests are expected for the 9 a.m. commencement, with 7,000 at a 1:30 p.m. ceremony. Another 5,000 are expected for the 6 p.m. graduation. Graduation is being held at the Forum while the on-campus Sun Dome is undergoing renovations.

“If you add a little extra time, it will make all the difference in getting a parking spot and minimizing the stress of where you’re going,” said Jean Dorzback, transportation manager for the city. “That will be very helpful for everyone. We’re hopeful that people will allow enough time for whatever event they are going to.”

Officials aren’t worried about a lack of parking, but they are concerned about what would happen if any of the graduations run long.

“Our concern is that they stay on schedule,” Dorzback said.

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Tags: Downtown Tampa, Tampa

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Palindromes and ambigrams

Written on December 8, 2011 – 4:06 pm | by Imogen Fahey

A palindrome is a fairly well-known term for a word or phrase that reads the same forwards and backwards. For example, Madam, Im Adam is a palindromic phrase, as is Go hang a salami. Im a lasagna hog.

Palindromes get trickier the longer they get: the longest palindrome I know is A man, a plan, a canal, Panama! though somebody with the aid of a dictionary and an algorithm has created the worlds longest palindrome, with 17,826 words that read the same forwards and backwards.

A variant of a palindrome is a semordnilap. Theyre like palindromes, but reading the words backwards creates different words, instead (semordnilap is palindromes backwards). For example, diaper / repaid, or stressed / desserts.

An ambigram, however, is different. An ambigram is something that reads the same when you look at it from another direction, orientation or viewpoint. That is to say, if you turn a word upside down, you can still read the same word.

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More pay issues at Calif. state universities

Written on December 4, 2011 – 1:50 pm | by Christopher Tulloch

Fearing violence, California State University trustees will cancel next week’s vote on salaries for campus presidents, they said Wednesday – the same day a state senator criticized the University of California regents for handing out state-funded raises of up to 22 percent to some of UC’s best-paid executives.

“Time and time again, rather than protecting the needs of students and California families, the regents and trustees line the pockets of their top executives,” Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, said Wednesday after learning that the pay raises were among the actions taken by the regents in a Monday teleconference protested by students on campuses around the state.

Yee’s assessment echoed that of thousands of student protesters who have joined the Occupy movement in recent weeks and likened university leaders to Wall Street fat cats for paying themselves more money even as they consistently raise tuition.

“While these public administrators are living high on the hog, many Californians are struggling,” Yee said.

On Monday, the UC regents gave a 9.9 percent raise to each of three vice chancellors.

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Tags: State, State Universities

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