Instructional Technology Innovations

Security risk of short URLs

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:35:38 GMT

From Windows Secrets issue 266a (2010-11-25) email letter :

The compact URLs produced by services such as TinyURL, bit.ly, is.gd, and many others are convenient and save space, but they can also be used to hide the identity of malicious sites.

Fortunately, there are several ways to peek behind a shortened URL to see exactly where the link will take you — before you click it!

In fact, every URL-shortening service I'm aware of offers one or more ways to preview the real destination of a shortened link.

For example, here's a typical bit.ly URL that I created. All it does is take you to the windowssecrets.com home page, but there's no way to know that in advance — it's a blind link:

http://bit.ly/10Sjt

Let's say that (gasp!) you don't trust me, so you want to see where the link really goes before you click it.

It's easy: all you have to do is copy the link, paste it into the address bar of any browser window or tab, and add a plus sign to the end, like this:

http://bit.ly/10Sjt+

Adding a plus sign to the end of any bit.ly URL brings you to a special bit.ly page that shows you information about the link, including the full, expanded URL. Using the information on that bit.ly page, you can decide whether the link is safe and worth following.

TinyURL has a similar option. But instead of adding a plus sign at the end of a link, you prepend the word preview. For example, here's a regular TinyURL link to the Windows Secrets home page:

http://tinyurl.com/6u5ba

Copy that link into the address bar of your browser and add the word preview:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/6u5ba

Now the link will bring you to a preview page that displays the full, expanded URL. (See Figure 1.)

TinyURL preview feature
Figure 1. Like all the other major URL-shortening services, TinyURL offers an easy way (circled in yellow) to preview the true destination of a shortened link.

TinyURL also offers a cookie-based option that makes previewing automatic for every TinyURL link you click. To set the (harmless!) preview cookie on your PC, click here:

http://tinyurl.com/preview.php?enable=1

All the major URL-shortening services have similar ways of letting you preview what's behind their URLs. Security researcher Joshua Long has compiled an excellent free guide, "How to preview shortened URLs (TinyURL, bit.ly, is.gd, and more)."

Of course, if you're checking lots of links, it can be clunky to manually copy, paste, and edit URLs. Several sites offer automated scripts to make things a bit easier. For example, when you encounter a suspicious short URL, you can click to Longurl, ExpandMyURL.com, or Long URL Please.com.

Paste the suspect short URL into these sites' dialog boxes, and they'll show you the full, expanded link.

You also can Favorite or Bookmark those sites to further automate the process of link-checking.

Going a step further, Firefox users can install the bit.ly preview add-on (download site) to allow previewing of short URLs without needing to leave the page you're on. Despite the name, the add-on works for many URL-shorteners — not just bit.ly.

Chrome users can download (page) a similar extension for that browser.

I know of no fully automated preview tools for Internet Explorer, although several URL-shortening apps are available in the Microsoft IE Add-ons Gallery. Just type url into the search bar.

Note that this level of link-checking usually isn't needed when you're clicking on normal links from sites and people you know and trust. But it's smart to be wary of suspicious links or links with unknown provenance.

When in doubt, check it out!

Sabbatical lnks

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:44:00 GMT

Dimdim Feature and Benefits

VideoANT

Reference:

VideoANT: Extending Online Video Annotation beyond Content Delivery
TechTrends
Volume 54, Number 3, 45-49, DOI: 10.1007/s11528-010-0402-7
Bradford Hosack
link to reference

To Do

Email Bradfors Hosack directly and ask hime:

use MediaMill?
If not what are the requirements for video to be annotated. Size - wxh, H.264,bit rate, frame rate, key frames, etc.

Copy/paste with vim

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:28:00 GMT

From http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/219/copy-and-paste-text-with-vi-or-vim/

The ability to duplicate text in an editor can be handy. vi and vim have several useful copy and paste commands.
The command ‘Y’ or ‘yy’ copies (yanks) one or more lines. To copy one line, two lines, 10 lines, and all lines to the end of the file, respectively:

Y
2Y
10Y
yG

To paste the text contained in the buffer above (uppercase P) or below the current cursor position (lowercase p), respectively:

P
p

It is also possible to yank text within a line. The following commands yank text from the current cursor position to the end of the word and the end of the line, respectively:

yw
y$

The same commands paste the text within a line. Lower case p pastes after the cursor position and upper case P pastes before.
Paste will also work with deleted text, either lines or parts of lines. Be careful not to execute any other commands prior to pasting as this will empty the buffer.

8 June 2010 Phrases to use

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:00:00 GMT

low cognitive friction

Possible drives

Tue, 11 May 2010 21:58:00 GMT

Drives for Moodle production server?

HITACHI Deskstar 7K2000 HDS722020ALA330 (0F10311) 2TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$140 each. Free shipping.

Idea for F-K project

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:25:00 GMT

Find out when applications have to be in
Propose project with Biol/other Science faculty

Multimedia Presentations : the whats and hows

Introdiction

Students wanting to do different types of presentation. Can only think 'powerpoint'
Objective : Research a range of OS / cheap / accessible presentation options, build documentation and case examples for each

photos + audio commentary
photos and movie clips + audio commentary

present in class
display on web — how and where

Q'n'D slide shows on web (Quick n Dirty)
archive on CD / DVD — covers and such

— end product polished examples of presentations and detailed instruction of hoiw to go about creating these.
— screencast the how to process
— use Mac / Windows platform

Collaborative approaches — how to make a truly collaborative presentation

How

need content
either have science students who are about to present or/and contact faculty and ask for examples to work with.

Focus : Sciences? Humanities?
not interested in — creating movie clips pre se rather incorporating clips from movie camera or still camera into presentation.

Student requirements:
Not prior experience but technically adept and willing to focus and experiment.

Nikon Shooting techniques

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:58:00 GMT

Very useful stuff here including effect of White Balance
http://www.nikonusa.com/Learn-And-Explore/Photography-Techniques/Shooting-Techniques.page

Richmond Music Events Calendar

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:49:00 GMT

Just got back from Dan Graves' 'Live Music in Richmond' presentation.
People are very interested in having this information made public. As a first step allow Guest access to the Moodle site.
But really we need to extend this to make a public web events calendar & database.
Google search on "open source performance calendar database" reveals the following:

List of potential OS options
UltraApps VCalendar. Php/MySQL latest version June-13-2006
WebCalendar about info
WebCalendar can be setup in a variety of ways, such as...
- A schedule management system for a single person
- A schedule management system for a group of people, allowing one or more assistants to manage the calendar of another user
- An events schedule that anyone can view, allowing visitors to submit new events
- A calendar server that can be viewed with iCalendar-compliant calendar applications like Mozilla Sunbird, Apple iCal or GNOME Evolution or RSS-enabled applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, RSSOwl, FeedDemon, or BlogExpress.
Kronolith Calendar App version 2.3.3 15-Dec-2009. Still in development with a Roadmap for v3. Encouraging.

Horde Wiki
Use Turba contact manager for Musician data and Venues?
Use Ansel photo manager for live music photos???

Using Horde git
theUpstarisRoom is a very useful blog with a downloadable theme!

Essential new TiddlyWiki stuff

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:08:00 GMT

The Tiddly* Universe Leading Up to TiddlySpace
12 days of TiddlyWiki
Day 1 : TiddlySlidy — brilliant slideshow presenter.
TW stuff on YouTube
http://lewcid.org/tiddlywiki-bookmarklets/
http://tiddlywiki.com/

More Tiddlyweb

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:50:00 GMT

TiddlyWeb in active development.
Chris Dent -- peer pressure
Example of tiddlyweb

Tagsplorer

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:48:00 GMT

Tagsplorer macro released
Looks interesting
demo site

TW 2.6

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:47:00 GMT

Just released!
News here

Charts on TiddlyWiki

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:31:00 GMT

Great example of charts at PrinceTiddlyWiki

Also http://visifire.com/learn_silverlight_charts.php
Ubercool

Thought occurs to use this with php (see this reference) to display live data from moodle. There is a reporting package out there but it looks hard to set up.
Question: What data would best show the way Moodle is used for learning?
Point : In fact because we can get a dump of the mySQL database we don't neccessarily have to extract data in real time.

Tiddly Mind Map

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:31:00 GMT

See http://tiddlytagmindmap.tiddlyspot.com/
Rather fun I think!

TabTimeline

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:07:00 GMT

29 November 2010
Security risk of short URLs

17 September 2010
Sabbatical lnks

30 July 2010
Copy/paste with vim

8 June 2010
8 June 2010 Phrases to use

11 May 2010
Possible drives

29 April 2010
Idea for F-K project

7 April 2010
Essential new TiddlyWiki stuff

5 March 2010
Windows 7 optimize

24 February 2010
Macbook Pro request

23 February 2010
Math Education

22 February 2010
Cell phones vs Clickers

18 February 2010
Tiddlyweb#2

12 February 2010
Stunning new TiddlyWiki application

10 February 2010
Permissions

25 January 2010
Exciting TiddlyWikis

22 January 2010
Web host
Thingumablog

21 January 2010
Jmol stuff

14 January 2010
DefaultTiddlers

4 January 2010
ls options

22 December 2009
Scanning_slides

2 December 2009
new Tiddlywiki coolness

1 December 2009
Webhooks

25 November 2009
Steeple

27 October 2009
Web Development FF plugins

18 September 2009
Magnolia

15 September 2009
comments to Stan Stanier

7 September 2009
Blog

26 August 2009
TikiWiki

6 August 2009
Moodle: link for large uploads

30 July 2009
30 July 2009 Upgrade Frumentius

16 July 2009
Gzip in Apache

13 July 2009
Acrobat issues

8 July 2009
Further diff

17 June 2009
Make Antiword

27 April 2009
Collective Access

7 April 2009
7 April 2009 : mysql not starting

3 April 2009
git go
More git stuff

2 April 2009
ResourceSpace

1 April 2009
Backup Jail

18 March 2009
18 March 2009 : zip & gzip

4 March 2009
URLs for Tiddlywiki permaview

26 February 2009
Zoom H2 repair

23 February 2009
Open Source Digital Music Library Software

20 February 2009
Dimensions for screencast recording

17 February 2009
Firefox life savers

12 February 2009
Apache and SSL
12 February 2009 : php operating
Useful Unix sequences
5 January 2009 -- more BSD configuration

10 February 2009
Problems with wget

14 January 2009
JAILs

12 January 2009
GIS Install instructions

7 January 2009
MySQL Frumentius
Php Configuration
31 December 2008 -- Install BSD 2nd attempt

6 January 2009
Camtasia s/n

23 December 2008
23 December 2008 -- install BSD

22 December 2008
Personal Development Opportunities

19 December 2008
Social Networking for academic growth

11 December 2008
Camtasia & Jing

30 September 2008
Open Meetings

12 September 2008
Adding users
More on Flash

20 August 2008
Tiddlywiki for Moodle docs

8 August 2008
copying over course backups

16 April 2008
New Faculty 2009

25 March 2008
SVN on Barnabas

13 March 2008
New in TiddlyWiki

10 March 2008
Unix Hosting

20 February 2008
Kevin Miles conversation: 20 February 2008

12 February 2008
Web Conferencing

8 February 2008
NITLE conferences

28 January 2008
Backing up ELS on Frumentius

24 January 2008
Frumentius DNS error

14 December 2007
Backing up Elgg

7 December 2007
Frumentius : ethernet driver

27 November 2007
Frumentius : install ToDo

1 November 2007
Jobs for Dylan

29 October 2007
MySQL access

18 October 2007
Diff command

15 October 2007
Create new 1.8.3 test moodle

27 September 2007
Fixing admin problems

13 September 2007
Searching logs

8 August 2007
8 August 2007 : Faculty using Elgg

2 August 2007
Switch off performance cache

27 July 2007
Install ldap into php5

25 July 2007
Playlist edit

17 July 2007
13 July 2007 -- Barnabas

12 July 2007
Install Moodle on Barnabas

19 April 2007
Project Management Workshop

17 April 2007
HoverMenu

16 April 2007
Moodle and Pandemic Planning

11 April 2007
Applications using CAS

6 April 2007
Handling Courses over Academic Years : RHUL

5 April 2007
WhatsNew
References

29 March 2007
CAS resources
Requirements for Digital Object Repository

15 March 2007
15 March 2007 -- Moodle issues for Welling Hall

14 March 2007
Structured Outline / Template

13 March 2007
Installing Lyceum

6 March 2007
Login As Moodle v1.7

2 March 2007
StyleSheetPrint

15 February 2007
Lilly Option 1

13 February 2007
Moodle Summit : Description

9 February 2007
SlideShowExample

5 January 2007
Support

4 January 2007
Jan 07 conversations

7 December 2006
Formatting lost on paste

29 November 2006
PMAL : Vectorworks

14 November 2006
Installing themes in WPMU

4 October 2006
Audio twists and turns

3 October 2006
Gradebook Excel format -- 3 Oct 2006

16 September 2006
IntelliTaggerPlugin SourceCode

7 September 2006
Forums and Groups

6 September 2006
Statistics of Moodle use Fall 06

5 September 2006
Listening to a Podcast

1 September 2006
Server hiccup? : 1 Sept 2006

23 August 2006
Changes

27 July 2006
FontSizePlugin

24 July 2006
JumpToTopMacro

9 June 2006
Media
StreamingVLC

18 May 2006
PodPress

15 May 2006
DrupalProbs

8 May 2006
HeadSet

5 May 2006
Academic Curricular Technology Working Group
NewMoodleModules1.6

1 May 2006
Blog Migration -- 10 April 2006

26 April 2006
IntelliTaggerPlugin

21 April 2006
PMAL Macs : summer 06

24 February 2006
GettingStarted

TiddlyCalendar

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:03:00 GMT

Metadata:

Name:	TiddlyCalendar
Description:	Tiddlers Calendar and Date picker
Version:	1.0.0
Date:	Nov 21, 2007
Source:	http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=150646
Author:	BramChen (bram.chen (at) gmail (dot) com)
License:	Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License
CoreVersion:	2.2.3
Browser:	Firefox 1.5+; InternetExplorer 6.0
Optional	DatePlugin

Usage:

<<tCalendar [year [month [count]]]>>
<<tCalendar [last [n] | next [n] {year(s) | month(s)}]>>
eg,
<<tCalendar>>,
<<tCalendar 2007 10 3>>,
<<tCalendar thisyear>>,
<<tCalendar last year>>,
<<tCalendar next 4 months>>
<<tCalendar lastModified>>

Revision History:

Version	Date	Note
1.0.1	Dec 20, 2007	Added parameter 'lastModified' control for showing the month calendar including the last modified tiddler
1.0.0	Nov 21, 2007	Initial release

Code section:

version.extensions.tCalendar = {major: 1, minor: 0, revision: 0, date: new Date("Nov 21, 200")};

//# Calendar object
function Calendar()
{
	this.styles = Calendar.styles;

	this.callback = {
		fn: null,
		fnEnable: false,
		option: null,
		params: {date:null, title:null, celldate:null, cellClass:null, dateFmt:null}
	};
	return this;
};

Calendar.locale = 'en';
Calendar[Calendar.locale] = {
	dates: {
		days: ["Su", "M", "Tu", "W", "Th", "F", "Sa"],
		yearFmt: "YYYY",
		monthFmt: "mmm YYYY",
		dateFmt: "MMM DD, YYYY",
		longHolidayFmt: "0DD/0MM/YYYY",
		shortHolidayFmt: "0DD/0MM",
		startOfWeek: 0, /* 0,1*/
		weekends: [true, false, false, false, false, false, true], /* Default: 0 (Sun) and 6 (Sa) are true*/
		holidays: [] /* using short (or long) holidayFmt*/
	}
};

Calendar.styles = '/*{{{*/'
		+ '\ntable.calendarWrapper {border-collapse:collapse; border:2px solid #c6dbff;}'
		+ '\n.calendarWrapper td {border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid #c6dbff; text-align:center;margin:0; padding:0 0.05em;}'
/*		+ '\ntable.calendar {border-collapse:separate; border:1px solid #c6dbff;}'*/
		+ '\ntable.calendar {border-collapse:collapse; border:0;}'
		+ '\n.calendar tbody, .calendar th, .calendar td, .calendar tr {border:0; text-align:center; font-size:1em; padding:0 0.1em;}'
		+ '\n.calendar th {color:#000; background-color:#c6dbff;}'
		+ '\n#sidebarOptions .calendar td {font-size:0.96em; margin:0; padding:0;}'
		+ '\n#sidebarTabs .calendar td, #mainMenu .calendar td  {padding:0 0.25em;}'
		+ '.calendar .naviBar select {border:0;}'
		+ '\n.calendar .today a {padding:0; border:1px solid blue;}'
		+ '\n.calendar .weekend {background-color:#deeeff;}'
		+ '\n.calendar .hasChanged {font-family:bold; background-color:#fe8; color:darkblue;}'
		+ '\n.calendar .holiday {font-weight:bold; font-size:1.06em; color:red;}'
		+ '\n.datePopup {background:#efffff;}'
		+ '\n.datePopup .isCreated {color:#df6300;}'
		+ '\n.datePopup .isExcluded {filter:alpha(opacity=60); -moz-opacity:0.6; opacity:0.6;}'
/*		+ '.viewer .calendarOptios {display:block;}'*/
		+ '\n/*}}}*/';

Calendar.prototype.getLocale = function()
{
	var locale = config.options.txtLocale ? config.options.txtLocale : Calendar.locale;
	return Calendar[locale] ? locale : 'en';
};

Calendar.prototype.show = function(place, year, month, count)
{
	this.locale=this.getLocale();
	var y, m = new Date().getMonth()+1, c = 1;
	c = isNaN(count) ? (isNaN(year) && isNaN(month) ? c : (!isNaN(year) && isNaN(month) ? 12 : c)) : parseInt(count);
	m = isNaN(month) ? (isNaN(year) ? m : (isNaN(month) ? 1 : parseInt(month))) : parseInt(month);
	y = isNaN(year) ? new Date().getFullYear() : parseInt(year);

	this.dateFmt = (this.callback.params.dateFmt) ? this.callback.params.dateFmt : Calendar[this.locale].dates.dateFmt;

	for (var i=0; i<c; i++){
		var firstDate = new Date(y,m-1+i,1);
		if ((m+i)%12 == 1 || i==0){
			var wrapper = createTiddlyElement(place,'table',null,'calendarWrapper');
			var tbody = createTiddlyElement(wrapper,'tbody');
			if (c > 1 && m==1 && c%12==0){
				this.naviBar(wrapper,tbody,firstDate,true);
			}
		}
		if (i%3 == 0)
			var tr = createTiddlyElement(tbody,'tr',null,'monthRow');
		var td = createTiddlyElement(tr,'td');
		td.vAlign = "top";

		this.selectMonth(td, firstDate);
	}
	if (c>3)
		Calendar.dummyDateCell(tr,(3-c%3)%3,2);
};

Calendar.prototype.selectMonth = function(place, firstDate)
{
	var year = firstDate.getFullYear();

	var calElm = createTiddlyElement(place,'table',null,'calendar');
	var monElm = createTiddlyElement(calElm,'tbody');

	this.naviBar(place,monElm,firstDate);

	if (store.isDirty() || !Calendar.tiddlers)
		Calendar.hashTiddlers(firstDate);

	this.showMonth(monElm, firstDate);
};

Calendar.prototype.naviBar = function(place,monElm,firstDate,isYearView)
{
	var cal = this;
	var monthHeader = createTiddlyElement(createTiddlyElement(monElm,'tr'),'td',null, 'naviBar', null, {colSpan:7});

	var _selectMonthHandler = function(s,date,isYearView){
		if (isYearView){
			cal.show(s.parentNode,date.getFullYear(),1,12);
			removeNode(s);
		} else {
			cal.selectMonth(s, date,cal.dateFmt);
			removeNode(s.firstChild);
		}
	};

	var onchange = function(ev){
		var e = ev ? ev : window.event;
		var date=null;
		for (var i=0, options=this.options; i<this.options.length; i++){
			if (options[i].selected)
				date = new Date(options[i].value);
		}
		_selectMonthHandler.call(this,place,date,isYearView);
		return false;
	};

	var year = firstDate.getFullYear();
	var n = 3;
	var y = isYearView ? year - n : year;
	var m = isYearView ? 0 : new Date(firstDate).getMonth()- n;
	var c = null;
	var options = [];
	var fmt = isYearView ? Calendar[this.locale].dates.yearFmt : Calendar[this.locale].dates.monthFmt;
	for (var i=0; i<n*2+1; i++){
		c= isYearView ? new Date(y+i,1,1) : new Date(y,m+i,1); 
		options.push({caption: c.formatString(fmt), name: c});
	}

	var sel=createTiddlyDropDown(monthHeader,onchange,options,n);
	sel.selectedIndex = n;
};

Calendar.prototype.showMonth = function(monElm, firstDate)
{
	var year = new Date(firstDate).getFullYear();
	var month = new Date(firstDate).getMonth()+1; 
	var lastDate = new Date(year,month,0).getDate();
	var nextFirstDay = new Date(year,month,1).getDay();

	var offset = (7 + firstDate.getDay() - Calendar[this.locale].dates.startOfWeek)%7;
	var	dayHearder = createTiddlyElement(monElm,'tr');
	for (var i=0, ii=0, text=null; i<7; i++){
		ii = (Calendar[this.locale].dates.startOfWeek + i)%7;
		text = Calendar[this.locale].dates.days[ii];
//#		createTiddlyElement(theParent,theElement,theID,theClass,theText,attribs)
		createTiddlyElement(dayHearder,'th',null,null,text); 
	}

	var d=1, dayRow=null, celldate=null, isWeekend = false;
	while (d<=lastDate){
		dayRow = createTiddlyElement(monElm,'tr');

		if (offset > 0)
			Calendar.dummyDateCell(dayRow,offset,6);

		for (var i=offset; i<7 && d <= lastDate; i++, d++){
			celldate = new Date(year, month-1, d);
			isWeekend = Calendar[this.locale].dates.weekends[(i + Calendar[this.locale].dates.startOfWeek)%7];
			this.showDate(dayRow, d, celldate, isWeekend);
		}

		offset=0;
	}
	var n = 7 - (7 + nextFirstDay - Calendar[this.locale].dates.startOfWeek)%7;
	if (n < 7)
		Calendar.dummyDateCell(dayRow,n,6);
};

Calendar.prototype.showDate = function(dayRow, date, celldate, isWeekend)
{
	var now = new Date();
	var dateFmt = this.dateFmt;
	var today = now.formatString(dateFmt);
	var cellClass = 'dateCell';
	var title = celldate.formatString(dateFmt);
	var day = celldate.getDay();
	var isToday = today == title;
	var isHoliday = this.isHoliday(celldate);

	if (isToday)
		cellClass += ' today';
	if (isWeekend)
		cellClass += ' weekend';
	if (isHoliday) 
		cellClass += ' holiday';

	var dateCell=createTiddlyElement(dayRow,'td',null,cellClass);

	var ymd = celldate.convertToLocalYYYYMMDDHHMM().substr(0,8);
	var callback = this.callback;
	var option = callback.option;
	if (!option){
		if (Calendar.tiddlers[ymd]){
			cellClass += ' hasChanged';
			option = 'popup';
		} else {
			option = 'displayTiddler';
		}
	}

	var params = callback.params;
	merge (params,{date:date, title:title, celldate:celldate, cellClass:cellClass, dateFmt:dateFmt});
	if (callback.fn instanceof Function && callback.fnEnable){
		callback.fn(dateCell, params);
	} else
		Calendar.optionHandler(dateCell, option, params, celldate);
};

Calendar.prototype.isHoliday = function(date) 
{
	return Calendar[this.locale].dates.holidays.containsAny([
		date.formatString(Calendar[this.locale].dates.longHolidayFmt),
		date.formatString(Calendar[this.locale].dates.shortHolidayFmt)]);
};

Calendar.dummyDateCell = function (srcElm,n,max)
{
	for (var i=0; i< n && i<max; i++)
		createTiddlyElement(srcElm,'td');
};

Calendar.hashTiddlers = function(date)
{
	if (date)
		var ymd = date.convertToLocalYYYYMMDDHHMM().substr(0,8);
	var isChanged = false;
	var tiddlers = {};

	store.forEachTiddler(function(title, tiddler){
		var modified = tiddler.modified.convertToLocalYYYYMMDDHHMM().substr(0,8);
		var created = tiddler.created.convertToLocalYYYYMMDDHHMM().substr(0,8);

//		if (modified.substr(0,6) == ymd.substr(0,6)){
//			var dd = modified.substr(6,2);
			var extraCellClass = '';
			extraCellClass += (tiddler.modified == tiddler.created) ? ' isCreated' : '';
			extraCellClass += tiddler.isTagged("excludeLists") ? ' isExcluded' : '';
			if (!tiddlers[modified])
				tiddlers[modified]=[];
			tiddlers[modified].push({title:tiddler.title, modified:tiddler.modified, ymd:modified, extraCellClass:extraCellClass});
//		}
	});

	this.tiddlers = tiddlers;
};

Calendar.optionHandler = function(srcElm,option,params,celldate)
{
	var fn = Calendar.optionType[option];
	var action = function(ev) {
		var e = ev ? ev : window.event;
			var fn = Calendar.optionType[option];
		if (fn instanceof Function)
			fn.call(this,e,srcElm,params);
		return false;
	};
//#	createTiddlyButton(parent,text,tooltip,action,className,id,accessKey,attribs);
	createTiddlyButton(srcElm, params.date, params.title, action, params.cellClass, null,null,params);
};

Calendar.optionType = {
	displayTiddler: function(e) {
		story.displayTiddler(null,this.title)
	},
	popup: function(e,daetCell) {
		var celldate = new Date(this.getAttribute('celldate'));
		Calendar.onClickDatePopup(e,daetCell,this.title,celldate);
	},
	pickDate: function(e) {
		Calendar.pickDate.call(this,e);
	}
};

Calendar.onClickDatePopup = function (ev,detaCell,title,celldate)
{
	var e = ev ? ev : window.event;
	if (store.isDirty())
		Calendar.hashTiddlers(celldate);

	var ymd = celldate.convertToLocalYYYYMMDDHHMM().substr(0,8);
	var tiddlers = Calendar.tiddlers[ymd];
	var popup = Popup.create(detaCell,null,'datePopup popup');
	createTiddlyElement(popup,'br');
	this.optionHandler(popup, "displayTiddler", {title:title, date:title});

	if (tiddlers){
		createTiddlyElement(popup,'hr');
		for (var i=0; i<tiddlers.length; i++)
			this.optionHandler(createTiddlyElement(popup,"li"), "displayTiddler",{date:tiddlers[i].title, title:tiddlers[i].title, cellClass:tiddlers[i].extraCellClass});
	}
	Popup.show();
	e.cancelBubble = true;
	if(e.stopPropagation) e.stopPropagation();
	return false;
};

Calendar.pickDate = function(ev)
{
	var e = ev ? ev : window.event;
	var inputId = this.getAttribute('inputId');
	if (inputId){
		var input = document.getElementById(inputId);
		if (input)
			input.value = this.title;
	}
	return false;
};

Initialize Calendar

config.shadowTiddlers.CalendarStyle = Calendar.styles;
config.notifyTiddlers.pushUnique({name: 'CalendarStyle', notify: refreshStyles});
var calendar = new Calendar(); /* Create global Calendar object */
var datepicker = new Calendar(); /*Create global Date picker */

Macros

config.macros.tCalendar = {
	init: function(){
		var fnEnable = config.options.chkCalendarCallback == undefined ? false : config.options.chkCalendarCallback;
		calendar.callback = {
			fn: this.showDate,
			fnEnable: (window.showDate instanceof Function && fnEnable),
			option: null,
			params: {date: null, dateFmt:null, celldate:null}
		};
	}
};

config.macros.tCalendar.handler = function(place,macroName,params)
{
	this.init();
	var mode = params[2] ? params[2] : (params[1] ? params[1] : params[0]);
	var modeType = params[0];
	var modeCount = isNaN(params[1]) ? 1 : parseInt(params[1]);

	var now = new Date();
	var y = now.getFullYear();
	var m = now.getMonth()+1;
	var c = isNaN(params[1]) ? 1 : parseInt(params[1]);
	switch (mode) {
		case 'month':
		case 'months':
			m = modeType == 'last' ? m - c : m + 1;
			break;
		case 'thisyear':
			m = 1;
			c = 12;
			break;
		case 'year':
		case 'years':
			y = modeType == 'last' ? y - c : y + 1;
			m = 1;
			c = 12 * c;
			break;
		case 'lastModified':
			var lastModified = this.getlastModified();
			y = lastModified.getFullYear();
			m = lastModified.getMonth()+1;
			c = 1;
			break;
		default:
			y = params[0];
			m = params[1];
			c = params[2];
	}
	calendar.show(place,y,m,c);
};

config.macros.tCalendar.showDate = function(dateCell,params)
{
	var isWeekend = (params.cellClass.indexOf('weekend') != -1);
//# For co-working with showDate() of DatePlugin
//#	showDate(place,date,mode,format,linkformat,autostyle,weekend)
	window.showDate(dateCell, params.celldate,'popup','DD',params.dateFmt,true,isWeekend);
};

config.macros.tCalendar.getlastModified = function()
{
	var tiddlers = store.reverseLookup("tags","excludeLists",false,'modified');
	return tiddlers[tiddlers.length-1].modified;
};

config.macros.datePicker = {
	onClick: function(ev) {
		var e = ev ? ev : window.event;
		var inputId = this.getAttribute("inputId");
		var dateFmt = this.getAttribute("dateFmt");
		dateFmt = dateFmt == 'null' ? null : dateFmt; /* For Opera */
		datepicker.callback = {
			fn: null,
			fnEnable: false,
			option: 'pickDate',
			params: {inputId:inputId, dateFmt:dateFmt}
		};

		var popup = Popup.create(this);
		datepicker.show(popup);
		Popup.show();

		e.cancelBubble = true;
		if(e.stopPropagation) e.stopPropagation();
		return false;
	}
};

config.macros.datePicker.handler = function(place,macroName,params)
{
	if (!params) return;
	var id = params[0];
	var dateFmt = params[1] ? params[1] : null;
	var pickParams = {inputId:id, dateFmt:dateFmt};

	var inputElm = createTiddlyElement(place,'input',id);
	var btn = createTiddlyButton(place, '?', 'Date Picker', this.onClick,'datepicker',null,null,pickParams);
};

Windows 7 optimize

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:45:00 GMT

From developer Shed

My 7 is Slow: A Guide to Upgrading Your XP Machine for Optimum Performance with Windows 7 - Disabling optional features

(Page 4 of 4 )

Features in Windows 7 that you can turn off safely include:

* Games - Internet Games
* Internet Explorer 8
* Internet Information Services - FTP Server
* Internet Information Services Hostable Web Core
* Media Features
* Microsoft .NET Framework 3.51
* Services for NFS (Network File System)
* Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications
* TIFF IFilter
* Windows Gadget Platform
* Windows Search
* XPS Services
* XPS Viewer

And here's how to turn them off.

1. Open the Control Panel (All Items view), and click on the Programs and Features icon.
2. In the left pane, click on the Turn Windows features on or off link.
3. If prompted by UAC , click on Yes to approve.
4. Close the Programs and Features window. To Turn Off a Windows Feature, uncheck the selected feature.
5. When done, click on OK.

Macbook Pro request

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:07:00 GMT

Current machine

MacBook Pro 15" screen
2.16GHz Intel Core 2 duo
2Gb RAM
93Gb formatted hard drive
OS X : 10.4.10
serial number : W863702RVWZ

This had a new battery installed last year, otherwise it has been stable and well looked after.

Requested machine

Item	Educational price	Comments
13" MacBook Pro		I appreciate the portability and utility of the smaller form factor with the smaller screen
2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 duo
4 Gb RAM (standard)	1399
320 Gb hard drive	45	extra space needed for movie work
display - DVI adaptor	29	to operate external screen and projector
Applecare	183
Total	$1656

Comments

My current Mac, though reliable, is desperately short of hard drive space and lacks oomph to handle screencast creation and manipulating large graphic files. I purchased an external hard drive which I use at home but I cannot lug that around with me and I'm always missing important files. A 13" MacBook Pro would suit me fine; when using as a portable the smaller form factor is really an asset, when in the office I connect it to an external screen. I feel that I am well able to handle the present situation with OS X 10.6; it's inability to work with Samba does not phase me since I'm used to using FTP through Firefox (with the FireFTP extension) or SFTP via terminal. In addition, I can cope with the requirement to use 64 bit software — in fact I think that this would be a good testbed since I make use of quite a few Open Source applications on the Mac and can report on their operation.

Math Education

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:00:00 GMT

Conversation on Slashdot:
Math Anxiety Affects Skills As Basic As Counting

According to four Canadian psychologists, a study they have conducted shows that math anxiety, 'the feeling of fear and dread of performing mathematical calculations,' can negatively affect mathematical tasks much simpler and more basic than previously thought. In the study, participants were asked to count black squares on a white screen. The number of squares shown ranged from one to nine and participants were given as much time as they wanted before answering. When the number of squares was in the subitizing range (one to four), both math-anxious and non-math-anxious participants performed equally well, but when the number of squares was in the counting range (five to nine), the math-anxious group took longer and were less accurate. The University of Waterloo's news release about the study includes this interesting note: 'Previous studies have shown that a weakness in basic math abilities has a greater negative effect on employment opportunities than reading difficulties [do].'"

Comments:

Math anxiety is turning out to be a much more complicated phenomena than one might thing. For example, there also was a very interesting study by Sian Beilock at the University of Chichago. Beilock showed that young girls who were exposed to female elementary school teachers were much more likely to develop math anxiety themselves than those not exposed to such teachers. See http://hpl.uchicago.edu/Publications/PNAS_2010.pdf [uchicago.edu]. The exact consequences of Beilock's study are not clear. But combined with the study above, it seems to suggest that we need to do a better job with elementary school teachers. We need to either get rid of the school teachers with math anxiety or get rid of their math anxiety problems. Possibly some combination of both approaches may be in order: Improve the mathematical confidence of elementary school teachers whom we can effect and get rid of those we can't.

Cell phones vs Clickers

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:35:00 GMT

http://www.polleverywhere.com/

http://www.mobiode.com/