A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
The symbol of a river figures prominently in religious iconography, Crossing over Jordan, etc. The concept of baptism also figures strongly in this symbolism. Instead of going to church on this lovely Sunday, I decided to explore these symbols directly, with a paddle down the Green River. Bob Donnan and I rendezvoused at the take … Read More “Down to the River to Pray” »
When I knew that Laura was going to be out of town this weekend, I contacted a couple of my Chorale/Furman friends to see if they would be interested in a photo safari. Ken Cothran took me up on the challenge, so early Saturday morning I picked him up at his place in Clemson and we headed out.
Our first stop was the town of Pendleton. Once the major city in the Upstate, the whole area is now on the Register of Historic Places. We walked around the little town square and took a few shots.
Conditions were ideal for a photo trek. I had a day of vacation I needed to use before the madness of summer system installations started up. Laura had left town for a conference, so I was on my own. And I had gotten new information about an interesting place to visit. My main target for the day would be the old railroad trestle that crosses the Broad River near Peak, SC.
Jay Hope had e-mailed me earlier in the week with a link to a story in The State newspaper about completion of the aforementioned bridge and opening of a new section of the Palmetto Trail. Jay’s family has been working to restore the nearby Hope School, which is one of the historic Rosenwald schools. The trail passes through Jay’s family land and close to the school, and he knew that I had an in the area, so he tries to keep me informed. I followed up on his suggestion, and after getting Laura off to the airport, headed south.
Google has made it easy to add cool stuff to your website with the release of Web Elements. Each of these elements have been available for some time now, most with embed codes or API’s readily available. Web Elements is a collection of eight tools in one easy-to-find place, each with a simple interface and … Read More “Google Web Elements” »
As I stated in my last post, the i-GotU GT-120 was a pleasant surprise. The unit functions much better than the GT-100 that I purchased and returned last year. It geotagged images accurately from my little Nikon S50 camera. However, in my last tests I ran into some puzzling problems – not with the GT-120 … Read More “i-GotU GT-120 Final Thoughts” »
A little over a year ago I tried out the i-GotU GT-100 GPS tracker from Mobile Action. At the time I was looking for a simple tracker for photo geotagging, and the GT-100’a small size and price ($49 from Amazon) were very appealing. I put the unit through a series of tests, and found it to be completely useless for geotagging, and wrote up two reviews to that effect (Test Driving the i-GotU GPS Tracker, and i-GotU GPS Tracker – Summary Review.) Those two reviews generated lots of hits and comments for this website, both for and against the GT-100.
Subsequently, I was contacted recently by Mobile Action and asked if I would be willing to try out the new GT-120. The unit arrived Saturday and I’ve been putting it through the same tests that I did with the GT-100. So far, I’m impressed, and pleasantly surprised. This unit appears to work much, much better, and geotags images like a charm.
Summer blockbuster season is upon us, and is in full swing. After a dearth of movies, the theaters seem filled with films I want to see. So much so that I did something unprecedented – three movies in the theater in one week. Tuesday Night – 2nd viewing of Star Trek Since I’ve already given … Read More “Three Movies in One Week” »
Been a busy week, so this is the first of three quick posts… Wednesday night Karen Buchmueller’s husband, Herman, and Laura had a meeting with the American Chemical Society, so the two of us decide to do a photo walk downtown, starting at Falls Park. We spent some time right at the entrance to the … Read More “Photo Walk with Karen B” »
This past week I was asked to advise on guidelines for teacher-student interactions in social media settings such as Facebook. Essentially, we’re recommending caution. The new guidelines will be posted in faculty handbooks, and read as follows:
Faculty/Staff members should maintain professionalism in their relationship with students at all times. Activities/behaviors in which faculty/staff members should not participate with students include, but are limited to the following:
1) Posting student pictures on web-based social network sites (Facebook, MySpace etc)
2) Exchange cell phone numbers with students
3) Participate in inappropriate text messaging with students
4) Participate in inappropriate e-mail correspondence with students
The key word here is “inappropriate.” Unfortunately, no definition is given as to what might be considered inappropriate. There are the obvious reasons – the unfortunate ones that make headlines. However, is ANY contact via e-mail or text messaging between teachers and students appropriate? Our paranoid society would cast suspicion on any of these activities.
This week RandomConnections.com was the spotlight blog for Sound Off South, a website from WYFF-TV that showcases blogs from Upstate South Carolina. Early this morning I headed down to the WYFF studios for a live interview with Kelly Coakley for the 7:00 am Sunday morning newscast. I would be doing two short segments, one during … Read More “Sound Off South” »