While searching Wikipedia to check for how accurate the site is, I looked at some things that I know quite a bit about. Two Harbors, Minnesota was one of the items I checked the entry for. I spent several weeks each summer wandering the woods and rivers near this town. During those 30+ years of vacations, I learned a lot about the area by listening to the people who lived there. One of those people was Walter Sve who owned and operated the Split Rock Cabins, where my family usually stayed. Walter was a commercial fisherman and carpenter who augmented his income through the operation of a resort that his son operates today. However, due to pollution of Lake Superior by the taconite mining industry, the commercial fishing industry as well as the fishery of the lake were nearly destroyed. A link to the legal battle to stop the pollution can be found here. Here is a short video detailing some of the trials and tribulations of commercial fishermen on Lake Superior.
We also were working on mini-blogging (aka using Twitter). I have a feeling that I might get addicted to this. I hope that it does not overtake other pursuits that I have at this moment though. But, with currently 0 followers, I guess I won't have to worry about getting a big head by having lots of people wanting to know what I say :).
Editing this Sunday evening ~7pm. Thanks to Twitter I found some neat new sites we might be able to use. The first is an image hosting site. http://imgur.com/
The second is an open source security software:http://preyproject.com/
This software allowed a guy to recover his laptop when it was stolen and he had gone out of the country. Link to that is here: http://storify.com/hawaii/sean-powers-laptop-recovered?awesm=awe.sm_5J8w5&utm_content=tweetdeck&utm_medium=awe.sm-twitter&utm_source=direct-awe.sm
Mike---
ReplyDeleteI liked the fact that you picked a topic that you not only knew a lot about; but had a personal connection to. This certainly should give you a better indication to the validity of wikipedia's summation. Would did you find when looking up the location on wikipedia?
I found that the info on Two Harbors was pretty accurate. I was pleased to find more info out from that site that I was able to verify elsewhere. For example, 3M was started by some people from Two Harbors. They then moved their headquarters to Duluth, then St. Paul.
ReplyDeleteI found your knowledge of Two Harbors very interesting and almost mesmerizing. To be honest I thought, “Who would want to watch a ten-minute video?” But I found myself watching and intrigued the whole time. You are very lucky to have such a close relationship to this little piece of the world that you know so intimately. I hope you are able to pass on these experiences and memories with your children and students. Many students that have not ever been out of the city cannot even imagine a place like Two Harbors - many would love to learn more. When you go back to Two Harbors – They could follow your blogs and tweets about your experiences, giving them a connection, though be it long distance. You can be the expert, not Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to see how twitter can be used professionally. I was originally against it because I am not that into social networking. Now I can see the positives of connecting with other teachers. Has your view point changed at all since you have started to use it?
ReplyDeleteWho are you subscribing to in twitter (following)? Why them?
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to hear about Twin Harbors, but it seems like you are pretty up on the legal fight to keep fishing viable in superior. Is there anything that we can do to support the town?
ReplyDeletePart of the problem that is faced in Two Harbors is that changes to regulations need to be agreed upon by the Canadian government as well as the U.S. Federal government. I will try to attempt to contact Walter and Eric Sve to see what they think might be helpful for people outside of the area to do to help those in the north shore. With the economic problems that are in the area, and now the major forest fire that doesn't seem to want to die, I am sure they might be able to send some ideas.
ReplyDeleteFor Twitter, I am following: members of this class, the Green Bay Packers, MPS, TedTalks, NASA, Bill Nye, CPUMag, MaximumPC and the UW Badgers. For the cohort people, I am always interested in seeing the perspective of others who are in the same courses as I am. MPS due to working for the district, UW b/c I am an alumni, the pc magazines b/c I want to learn more about building, and modding pc's
btw, can you tell I miss the North Shore? When looking at the video, I flashed back to my dad and I on the beach skipping rocks on the lake. This is something I need to get back to so my kids can experience it. I hope my wife loves it as much as I do.
ReplyDelete