Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Fast and the Awesomest!

So copy the following paragraph of this blog starting at the next paragraph.  Click the following link and paste this blog in the box, then hit the "spreed" button.  If there isn't a box you can paste in and only a video player, click the "new" link on the bottom and then paste it.  The link is HERE.

What you are experiencing now is speed reading.  I've always wanted to read this fast.  I tested this out on an e-mail that Holly Lang sent me about a baseball umpire who sucked.  If it is the same speed as what I was reading you are doing about 300 words a minute.  That means that you could read "Gone With the Wind" in its entirety in just under one day.  About 23 hours 54 minutes.  Which leads me to my next question.  If it takes that long to read it at 300 words per minute, how many hours were spent on my couch this summer between two women who read it?  Pam and Emily, I'm talking about you.  Anyway, if you didn't know about this tool before, be glad that you do now.  Emily, think about it, spark notes just got even shorter!  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I anticipate I will.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Stumbling Around

So in a roundabout way my sister-in-law Emily got me hooked on the stumble button. In short, it is a button next to my address bar that, when pressed, takes me to a web-site at random that it thinks I will get a kick out of. You can go HERE to add it to your Internet surfing repertoire.

So I gather it works like this. You get the button, fill out a 30 second form where you check all the boxes of categories that interest you. Then click.

In the past few days I've been introduced to some of the most amazing web-sites ever. BUT the coolest thing happened tonight.

I have a student in piano that I've been trying to teach scales, key signatures, major and minor triads, and other basic entry level theory stuff. I've been frustrated because he is pretty intelligent in a lot of areas, but isn't grasping this stuff that...to me...is SUPER easy. It makes me feel like a horribly bad teacher (which I am). ANYWAY, I was writing out a series of diagrams this afternoon for him to take home and study. Then, tonight, I got home from life group, Pam and I put the kids to bed, I checked e-mail, then I clicked the button.

THIS is what I came upon. It is the diagram that I was drawing out, but interactive. Anyone can play around with this baby and learn piano. AWESOME. Thank you stumble upon.