Deez Steeles

Fun Daddy/Daughter Day

Taly asked to go for a bike ride this morning (by getting in the Burley and starting to put on her helmet).  So we went to play in a local park.  She wasn't really into the merry-go-round spinny thing, or the four-way teeter-totter thing.  But she did want to swing. I put her in the swing, and started her going.  Then she would say, "Daddy..." and point to the swing next to her. 

All she wanted was to swing, and to have daddy swing next to her.  So we swang (swung?) for about 15 minutes. 

So that was pretty much the best morning ever.

Tags: sahd, stay at home dad, father, daughter, park

2008 Flooding will increase 2009 Food Prices

I was wondering when we'd find out some information about how the recent flooding will impact already inflated food prices.  They're estimating farmers have lost between $2.7-3 billion (with a B) dollars in corn and soybean profits; we may lose 15% of the corn grown in Iowa, and 20% of soybeans.

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

With more than 75 percent of processed foods containing corn either as starch, sweetener or protein, "you are going to feel that at the grocery store, especially with skyrocketing transportation costs," Mohling said.

With processed food prices going up, maybe we'll start to see it being more cost effective (or at least no more expensive) to eat organic, non-processed, locally grown food.  If there can be any good outcomes from this disaster, maybe people will begin to spend valuable food dollars on more healthy and wholesome food?

A Letter to the Iowa City Council

I'll let you know if I get any response:

To: Iowa City Council

RE: Burling Street Redevelopment: Please Reconsider Bicycle Lanes

To Whom it May Concern:

I reviewed the Burlington St. Redevelopment study presentation by Anderson-Bogert on June 2, which is posted at http://www.iowa-city.org/weblink/docview.aspx?id=165208.  I am encouraged that the City is taking the opportunity to investigate options on making Burlington Street a more safe and efficient throughfare.  I am concerned, however, that the plan does not do enough to ensure safe and efficient transport for bicyclists.  I ask that the Council reconsider the use of bicycle sharrows and/or bike lanes as part of the Burlington St. redevelopment efforts.

As I understand the presentation, the Redevelopment plan presented focuses on adding a wide median on Burlington St, for the purposes of 1) slowing traffic, 2) discouraging left turns into alleys and driveways, 3) discourage mid-block pedestrian crossing, and 4) cosmetic improvements (trees, illuminated planters, etc).  Assuming I have understood the recommendations correctly, would you please help me understand the following:

1) The plan recommends a 5' median (p15).  Would it be possible to use this space for bike lanes instead?  The presence of a dedicated bike lane, actively used by bicyclists, would also tend to slow traffic (by giving the perception of a narrower driving lane, similar to having a median).  This also meets the first goal, slowing traffic.

2) Since the plan reduces left turns to local business driveways, what will be the likely routes to approach these businesses? How much will traffic increase on connecting streets in order to enable entering these businesses via right turn?  What impact will the increased traffic on parallel routes have on bicyclists?

3) What is the annual cost for the city, and for taxpayers, for the maintenance and upkeep of the trees, illuminated planters, and other cosmetic improvements?  How would this compare to the annual maintenance   costs of a bike lane or sharrows on Burlington St?

Furthermore, the presence of clearly marked accommodation for bicycle traffic on arterial streets like Burlington St. would align with the City's Complete Street policy, encourage citizens to more active lifestyles, and more environmentally sustainable transport.  Clearly marked bicycle lanes and/or sharrows would allow for more free traffic flow for cars, bikes, and pedestrians.

Thank you for your time,

Fitzgerald Steele

Tags: bicycling, iowa city

United States Patent: 7350190

Look who has a patent!

United States Patent: 7350190

Google Treasure Hunt 2008

Google Treasure Hunt 2008

I don't know how I totally missed this when it was live.  Some fun little math/programming problems from Google.  Anyway, spent a fun few minutes doing the 'zip' problem. 

Make sure you read the problem instructions carefully.

Tags: google, programming, math, challenge

I don't like to toot my own horn...

So I'll let my students toot it for me. Here are the (positive) comments I received from teaching a first year programming course:

8. Please comment on the strengths of the course and its instruction.
-

• Jerry was great! He was very helpful and very easy to understand. I enjoyed going to his discussions. He also knew a lot about what he was teaching.
• Working on computers
• Gerry was a great TA. He knew his stuff and his discussion plans were helpful.
• This section of the course was more helpful than lecture; you get to see and "do" what you learn right away and that is more helpful than just listening.
• Jerry was such a good TA. He made the class very interactive and was so helpful when we had questions but also encouraged us to figure things out on our own. From what i have heard from other students, I think that Jerry was the best TA.
• The strenght is that I can see a use for it in the future which helps me to want to understand. The TA's and Prof's were all very kind
  showed concern for our understanding.
• jerry really seems to know what he's doing. maybe more so that some of the profs.
• The use of laptops was great.
• I liked how Jerry wasn't afraid to get to know his students. He was really good at involving the class and going over important things
  that we needed to know. I liked how he would go over the assignment after we had attempted it on our own.
• The course is both interesting and challenging. The instruction is very good, the instructor clearly knows the material.
• Jerry did an excellent job. He made the class enjoyable to attend and instructed with enthusiasm. He was also very helpful when I
  needed an explanation.

Another nice warm fuzzy! I didn't post the negative comments because they were all about the course in general, and not about me (seriously!). However, I am a PhD student, so I feel compelled to dig into the numbers and derive further meaning. =)

I taught two discussion sections of this course, about 70 students total. There was a pretty decent response rate to the survey: 39% and 34%. Of the students that responded, almost all expected to receive either an A or B, so its possible the responses are skewed positive. It would have been good to hear from more people that struggled a bit more, or didn't do as well. Its easy to teach to people that get it; I'd like to know how I can better reach people that have more trouble.

Many comments talked about how well I knew the topics. Fooled them, didn't I? =) I'm decent at programming in general, but I haven't done much with the programming languages we teach in this class (C, and MATLAB) since I took this course in 1993. Some of the basic stuff I felt pretty comfortable with. But in the 2nd half of the course I would usually read about what we were teaching an hour before class.

I'm glad some people felt I was enthusiastic, helpful, and personable. Programming in-and-of-itslef isn't always fun, and teaching/learning programming even less so. I'm glad these people felt it was worthwhile coming to class.

Students gave several positive comments on using laptops in class, instead of a regular stand-up lecture. Throughout the class students mentioned that they liked to learn by doing, not by reading/hearing. I think the College is looking at replacing the lecture component of class with time in the computer lab, so that should even get better in the future. I won't talk about the number of people I saw updating their Facebook page during class.

Overall I enjoyed the teaching experience, and I hope there will be opportunities to do more in the future. The difficult part is balancing teaching and research responsibilities. Class preparation took time away from working on my thesis...and this was an established course with 3 professors and about 13 TA's.

Nice comment...

Email from a student:

...and I also wanted to thank you for everything you have done this semester.  You have been really helpful in discussion and the best TA I have ever had.  Thanks

Aww...that was nice.  Happy birthday to me!

19 Weeks vs. 19 Months

I was reading the blogs of a couple of friends of mine who are new parents or parents-to-be and was inspired to post these two pictures and give a little update. 

We've made 19 months now.  Finished with all the immunizations.  She is in the 50th percentile for weight and height.  90th percentile for head circumference!  Look at the big brain on baby.  Can identify letters A, B, C, I, K, P, T, U, and Y.  Recognizes numbers 1-10, but especially loves the number 2.  Understands the concept of 2 really well actually.  Can identify colors and match shapes.  Favorite songs: "If You're Happy and You know It", and "The Iowa Fight Song".  Favorite foods: berries and anything with honey or syrup on it.  This is a change from anything with ketchup on it.  Loves to give kisses and
raspberries".Only wants to be outside--ever.  Just learned the sign for "airplane" and how to say the word "purple".   Prays for "kitties" daily.  Favorite person in the whole world : Fuzzy Cuzzy.

How Many 5 Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight

This may come in handy now that I'm subbing K-2.  :)  Just kidding!
22

ICWSM Recap

I'm back home from my trip to Seattle, and the International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media.  I had a great time, despite having my return flight canceled.  I liked Seattle, at least what little bits I got to visit. And I had a fun impromptu trip to Safeco Field to see the Mariners play the Rangers (Mariners won). 

This is the first academic conference I have attended in one of my core research interests.  It was pretty exciting to be able to interact with other people in academia and industry with similar interests, especially since there seems to be so few people at Iowa doing research in this area.  More about the conference after the break...(technical content ahead).

Tags: icwsm, icwsm2008