Animate this...

Pivot Stickman Animator

This evening's SCC (Computer Club Lesson) was a great hit. Loads of fun and very interesting. It gave us an idea of just a fraction of the work involved in the great animation movies we see on the big screen nowadays.

But first the agenda:

• Take register
• SCC badges
• Welcome new members
• Easter Eggs
• Japan Disaster
• Lesson

SCC Badges
Almost all the members are now proudly wearing their new Sunridge Computer Club badges on their school uniforms and it has been the source of much envy from non-members.

Welcome new Members
The SCC is boasting 10 new members, they are: Michelle, Frans, Daniel, Jessica, Francois, Cameron, Minette, Chloé, Sebastian, and Alex. (In line with adopted internet safety policy, I have left our learners' last names out.) The Sunridge Computer Club welcomes you. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time, learning interesting things in a fun and relaxed environment.

Easter Eggs
With Easter around the corner, I thought it was a good idea to hand out some Easter eggs. Sorry mom, for spoiling your child's appetite.

Lesson
We had lots of fun with Pivot 2.2 (created by Peter Bone) tonight. This little application is - as far as I can tell - free to use and share. I made it available for the computer club members to download from the computer club's folder on one of our school's shared drives. You're given a stick man with pivot points on its joints, at the head, neck, elbows, hand, knees, and feet which you can use to move it's limbs and the entire man around. You then capture the frame before making small adjustments and capturing the next frame. If you do it right, you'll end up with a short animation of evenly flowing movements. This takes some skill. You need to plan ahead and anticipate how a person would move in order to imitate the movements in a realistic way.

Japan Disaster
I found this neat website which truly shows the devastation in Japan. We had a quick look at this and although it is not part of our lesson I thought that its worth a mention on here too. It shows numerous NASA photographs for specific areas in Japan with a slider which reveals the before and after pictures of that specific area. As you slide the slider from "before" to "after" you can actually imagine the wave reach in over the land. You may click here to view these revealing photographs.

Thank you
Thank you to all the computer club parents for dropping your children off on time and collecting them again afterwards. The computer club would not be as successful without your help and the dedication of your children.

Diary
Our next club meeting will be on Monday, 28 March 2011 at 17:15

Until next time...

Safety and Privacy online as indoors!

Keep it Private...

Do you chat on online or on MXit? Do you use Facebook, MSN, or Twitter? Do you trust the person you are chatting to? Are you sharing personal information about yourself, your family, or even your best friends? There is a good chance that you are being careless. This was the focus of our lesson tonight.

But first the agenda:

• Take register
• SCC badges
• New club members
• Lesson

Badges
The SCC (Sunridge Computer Club) is boasting its own spunky badge to be worn on the club members' school uniform (see the previous blog post). These badges are being sold to the SCC members for R25.00 and are compulsory. Old club members who were in grade 7 last year are also welcome to purchase a SCC badge as a keepsake.

Surprise
There was a little surprise waiting for the club members in the form of freshly baked cake.

New Members
I am in the process of accepting new club members into the SCC. These new club members are all from grade 6, as well as the new grade 7 learners who joined Sunridge Primary this year. Prospective new club members were invited to email me with their application, motivating their reason for wishing to join. I checked their marks from last year's June and December computer literacy assessment and am currently interviewing the shortlisted candidates. Some learners have been notified of their successful application but a complete list will be published soon as soon as everybody has been notified of the status of their application.

This evening's lesson: Online Safety and Privacy
I specifically did this lesson now before the new grade 6 members join us as the club is currently made up of grade 7 learners only and this lesson pertains to the web design course our grade 7s are doing this year.

Statistics have shown that 79% of teenagers using the internet are not careful about sharing personal information. That is a scary thought.

Safety and privacy includes not publishing your telephone number, address, email address, or even your surname online. It is these same measures we'll be enforcing this year with our web design. By being careless with personal or contact information, you are not only putting yourself at unnecessary risk but also your family and friends. We watched a few educational cartoons which explained the problem very clearly. One eye-opening video in particular can found on YouTube by clicking here.

Online anonymity is not only an advantage but also a problem. Everyone can be anyone on the internet. Thus, learners need to apply sound judgment when engaging in chat rooms, FaceBook, MSN, Twitter, Skype, MXit, etc. The golden rule is to not accept friend requests/invites from somebody you don't know in real life.

Remember that a stranger is someone you don't know. Just because you've been chatting to someone online for months, and seen many photographs of them and their family doesn't mean that you know them. It could all be lies meant to deceive you. Be smart - don't be fooled.

This lesson is not meant to scare you. It is intended to inform you. The internet is a wonderful resource. You must just apply some good common sense.

Other things we looked at were:

• Staying away from inappropriate material
• Gauging whether information is factual, or opinionated
• Making threats / law breaking

Diary
Our next club meeting will be in 3 weeks, not 2 weeks, due to the upcoming public holiday. We'll meet on 14 March at 17:15.

Until next time...

You AND me OR that's NOT so

2011 Is here and the Sunridge Computer Club is wasting now time getting started. If you haven't figured it out from the tittle of this blog entry - this evening's lesson is thanks to a clever British mathematician named George Boole.

But first the agenda for tonight:

• Welcome
• New Secretary
• Code names
• New logo
• Grade 6 members
• Information sheets
• Lesson

Our new logo
The Erasmus family was kind enough to help us out with the design of our new "hip" club logo which will also be used on our Sunridge school uniform. I think that this new logo represents the SCC (Sunridge Computer Club) well by clearly stating our involvement with computers yet also hinting towards the fun side of the club by means of the winking emoticon. The logo has proven to be very popular with everyone who has seen it so far.

Secretary
A new year means a new club secretary. This position went to Dewald Pretorius who did not hesitate to step up to the job. Congratulations Dewald. Dewald will be working closely with me with regards to the running of the club and the reading of the agenda.

Code names
We decided to do away with the code names as we did not really use them as much as was initially intended. The purpose of the code names were to level the playing fields a bit between teacher and learner in order to create a relaxed environment. Well, whatever the cause may be, the computer club is a very relaxed environment where we can talk as equals.

Lesson - Boolean Search Terms
We have all experienced this problem... You type a word into Google, hit the Enter key, and it returns MILLIONS of search results - most of which do not even vaguely relate to what you are looking for. Internet users often complain that there's so much information on the internet that one can't find anything. Thanks to Boolean terms we are able to narrow down our searches and focus on just the information we want. Basically Boolean terms govern the way we search data in a database. And what is the internet? It is a huge database. So it only stands to reason that we should apply these same principals to searching the net by using operators like AND, OR, and NOT.

We started our lesson with a fun activity to prove how using the words AND, OR, and NOT can include and exclude certain results. And what would an activity be without a prize? A packet of chocolates was up for grabs but we ended up sharing it between the members since everybody was so sharp. :-)

We then moved to the computers and put this theory to practice. We first looked at how a Google search returning almost 3 billion results could be narrowed down to just a few relevant websites. The members then tested each other's Googling skills.

Next club meeting
Our next club meeting will take place on Monday, 7 February 2011 at 17:15.

Thank you
Thanks once again to the moms and dads for dropping your kids off on time.

Until next time...

Feast (your eyes) on this...

I apologize for the layout of the blog up front. I've been trying to fix it for the past two hours but, its getting late. It would seem that putting 2 pictures next to each other causes it go all crazy.

**********************************************

Allow me to quote the vultures from Ice Age 2: "Food, glorious food".

It was the land of plenty at the 1st Sunridge Scout Club which was the venue for Sunridge Computer
Club's year-end function. We had sosaties, wors, cheese grillers, rolls, pasta salads, potato salad,
ice cream with chocolate sauce and sprinkled nuts, chips, cooldrinks.

We watched as Arné gulped deserts away equal to his own body weight, Dewald who ate one sausage for each of his fingers excluding thumbs, and myself who dug into the pasta and potato salads as if there was a treasure hidden. There was more than enough for everybody. I know that I can safely skip dinner tonight.

The paintball target shooting was a definite winner. The initial reluctance quickly gave way to multiple competitive firing squads. I thought that this would separate the boys from the girls but the girls firmly stood their ground.

Thank you

Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock from Adventure Catering for supplying the venue, all the meat, rolls, and desert.

And a big thank you to all the other parents for supporting this event with money, cooldrinks, chip, and salads.

Thank you to all the moms who so diligently picked up their kids at the arranged time.

Conclusion

I think this year-end function was a great success. But, as with every single club meeting, it couldn't be done without the help the parents and the dedication of our club members.

Merry Christmas.

I'd like to wish the Sunridge Computer Club, it's members and their parents a very merry Christmas, a wonderful and safe holiday with your loved ones, and a happy New Year.

This is Motherboard signing off.

Sci-Fi meets Today...

Technology, computers and our changing world


We were amazed by some jaw-dropping facts, and were sure given a thing or two to think about tonight and for a long time to come.



Before I continue, here is the agenda for this evening:

• Take register
• Year-end function - donations, eats, and drinks
• Welcome and hand over to Mr. Wessels
• Thank you Mr. Steyn (tog bag and pens)

Our guest speaker for tonight was Mr. Jacques Wessels. Mr. Wessels works at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University where he manages around 6000 computers. He also runs his own Information Technology business and holds various degrees and qualifications.

He started off by explaining what the internet really is and the whole internet is connected. We were fascinated by the process involved in a simple Google search - all the way from the computers my lab, via some place in the middle of the country to the SEACOM landing point on the Eastern SA coastline, through a fibre-optic cable around Africa through the Suez Canal to Europe and then on to the United States of America, AND BACK, all of that within a second. That simple Google search doesn't seem so simple anymore, does it?

Mr. Wessels also taught us how the images on our computer screens are compiled and how the human eye interprets the three basic colours. He gave us a better understanding of a graphics card's refresh rate and why having a good graphics card is important when playing most computer games.

We were also told about many other uses of computers as used in the medical profession, and even warfare. What was term he used? ...ah, "soldiers of information".

Our guest speaker ended off with a really cool video on some amazing futuristic technology which we already are capable of. Things which were seen in Sci-Fi movies not too long ago and thought to be impossible are here! now!!! Can you imagine what will be possible even just two years down the line?

If there's one thing which our members really must take home from this presentation then it is that IT is moving fast and it moves even faster every year, so don't get left behind. Pay attention to what is said in the classroom, and pay attention to the technology around you.

Give-aways
And as if the presentation wasn't enough. Mr. Steyn (Nandie's dad) surprised us with some give-aways which consisted of a tog bag and two pens. Thank you very much for that.

More give-aways
You might have noticed that your child came home with a pencil case and pen last week. That was courtesy of Moore Stephens Chartered Accountants. Thank you to Mindie's folks for that.

Photographic Competition
The Sunridge Computer Club photographic competition was won by Shanon Schotlz for her photo of an apple held by two hands and surrounded by ice. It was not an easy decision. There were many beautiful photographs. Luckily I left it up to Beverly Darlow Photography to choose the winner. Bev handed Shanon's prize over to her last week. Thank you to everybody for your effort.

Sunridge Computer Club year-end function
Thank you again to the Whitlocks for sponsoring the club's year-end function with a braai and plenty of activities to keep the members busy. It was my idea to have a year-end function but the Whitlocks turned it into an event to really look forward too. Then to the rest of the parents who contributed so generously with money, cooldrinks, chips, and salads - thank you very, very much. Just like every club meeting, this event really cannot happen without your help.

Saying goodbye
Although the computer club still has the braai to look forward to, tonight was the last official club meeting. It is time to say goodbye to our grade 7 members, and goodbye to the year 2010 with all the good that it brought us with the World Cup.
It is strange how I sit down to write this blog right after I get home from every club meeting and wonder what all I could say. So I bring my dinner to my study and I sit and think, and type, and check, and post, etc. And then somehow, as by some cosmic rule, I always finish the blog just before midnight. ...yes, just like tonight...

Sorry
...Which reminds me. Sorry for keeping the members a bit late this evening. I think you'll agree that I have been very punctual so far, keeping in mind the moms who sit and wait in their cars for the duration of the meetings, and the dads who collect their children at the specified time. But, as I'm sure you're children have told you, tonight's talk was very interesting and although I kept rushing Mr. Wessels towards the end, I could not help but allow him to continue past the scheduled time.

Diary

Besides the club's year-end function on Monday, 6 December at 13:00, the next club meeting for next year's grade 7s will be on Monday, 24 January 2011 at 17:15.

This is Motherboard sighning off. :-)

Where does this go?

Have you ever watched the lions at Sea View Lion Park on a Sunday afternoon at feeding time??? Now replace the food in that equation with computer parts, and the lions with computer club members - and then you'll have a pretty accurate description of what happened at tonight's club meeting. :-)

But first, the agenda.

• Taking register
• Photo competition
• Next meeting's guest speaker
• End of year function ideas
• Lesson: Hardware one 0 one

Photographic Competition

It seems that all my begging paid off. I finally received all the entries for the Sunridge Computer Club Photographic Competition. There were some "ok" ones, some good ones, and then there were some truly fantastic photographs. I think I already have my favourite but, it is not my decision. I'll leave that for the expert. I will rename all the photographs with just a code to ensure a completely unbiased decision, and send it off to Beverly Darlow Photography for the judging by Wednesday, the 17th of November. Well done everyone!

Next Guest Speaker

Our next guest speaker is from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The date for that is Monday, 29 November 2010. But more about that later.

PARENTS, Please Help

I thought it would be nice for the computer club to round off the year with a bit of a year-end function - something purely social. As you probably know, the computer club has no funding of it's own. What I'm asking from you, the parents, are any of the following: 1) ideas, 2) sponsorship, 3) venue; 4) transportation. Just something small. Maybe a picnic, or pizzas somewhere, perhaps braai hamburger patties and have hamburgers, etc. Some of the members suggested going to the beach. I'm concerned about safety and transport but if those two obstacles can be overcome then it is also an option. I will give you some time to think about this before I bug you with an email message on Friday asking you for help.

Lesson: Computer Hardware

I set up two long tables in my lab filled with computer parts and started the lesson with a "this does that, and that works like this" lecture. We discussed some of the main computer components like: hard drives; CD/DVD drives; memory chips; IDE cables; power supplies; CMOS batteries; circuit boards; ports; central procession units; etc. We looked at how they work together, the do's and the dont's, the "is" and the "was", and so on.

Then I allowed the members to disassemble and explore all the parts WITH ONE CONDITION - "you must be able to put back together what you take apart". Hehee Easier said than done.

It was obvious that everyone had great fun, and there was no lack of engagement. It became clear that my members were not content with just taking one or two covers off. They insisted on getting right down to the core of the object. I was amazed at how far the girls got with the CD ROM drive of an old laptop. Even an old keyboard was stripped down to the point that I hardly recognized it. Some of the boys basically took the whole computer box apart. One or two did a good job with taking their fingers apart too. Sorry about that Mom. But hey, what's a little blood and sweat in the name of science...

Putting it all back together again went better than I thought. Although, judging from all the spare screws I was suddenly left with, I think there was some cheating involved here. :-)

This lesson really should have come with a "Don't try this at home" warning.

Announcements

• Next club meeting = Monday, 29 November at 17:15
• Winner of Photographic competition to be announced before next meeting

This is Motherboard signing off.

Happy Database to you...

Celebrations are at hand as we celebrated my 28th... uhm 25th... I mean 21st birthday before moving 0n to our lesson on Databases tonight.

But first, the Agenda:

• Taking register
• ThinkQuest registrations
• Votes on Sunridge uniform badges
• Photographic competition
• Birthday party
• Database lesson

We had ourselves a little party, got sung Happy Birthday to (I think I know who's responsible for that) :-) and I was showered in birthday presents. Speaking of "showering" - I promised myself that I would not single out anyone but I really do have to thank Floppy Drive for the Body On Tap citrus burst SHAMPOO for greasy hair. As I've been shaving my head for the past 13 years, I never realized that shampoo now comes with "up to 45% more volume". If one's hair is measure in volume then mine must be on mute. :-)

Other gifts included loads of chocolates; a PC Pilot magazine (I don't know how she knew this but I'm a computer flight simulator freakazoid); yummy Woolies soetkoekies; a nice bottle of shiraz; some really weird finger, ear, and brain sweets; and a beautifully decorated coffee mug overflowing with the most amazing Woolies eats (which I'm digging into as I write this blog by the way).

Thank you everyone, you're the best!

Now onto business

Tonight the question was asked: "What is a database and what would the definition thereof be"? Some really good explanations were brought to the table and we came up with the following definition: A database is an organized collection of information which can be easily be stored, updated, and retrieved.

We listed some of the databases we would imagine our details to be recorded on. I should have known that with a clever group like this, this list would be a long one. We considered everything from banking details at banks; contact details on mxit; medical details at our doctors and dentists; personal details and detention at school (ask your kids about Scadsys); and libraries keeping track of the books we borrow. This list is practically endless.

Finally we looked at just three parts of a typical database and how they work together:

1. The Table where all the raw data is stored
2. The Form which we use to enter and update information into the table
3. and the Report which is used to retrieve just the required information in a user-friendly format.

We also compared computer databases to old filing cabinet methods of storing records. Hmmmm. No comparison.

Photographic Competition
I have, to date, only received six members' photographic competition entries. You have until the 15th of November to email your entry to glen@sunridge.co.za Of the entries I have so far, a couple of them look really good and it is clear that a lot of preparation and imagination went into it. Remember, there's a R550.00 prize to be won.

Last week's photo shoot
I received the photographs which Beverly Darlow took of us all with the last club meeting, and they look really nice!!! I will only release these photographs to the individual once I received his/her entry to the photographic competition.

Next Club Meeting

Our next club meeting will be on Monday, 15 November at 17:15.

Thank You

Thank you for our members' commitment and especially to the parents for getting everyone here on time. Thank you once again for all the wonderful gifts - you really made my day.

This is Motherboard signing off.