Category Archives: Micro

Posts that go to to micro.blogs/johnjohnston

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Meet the new BBC micro:bit | micro:bit

Now with speaker and microphone!
Same great features, easier ways to use sound and touch to get creative in the classroom

More features, including easy ways to take AI and ML into the classroom, will be released throughout 2021. Watch this space.

More details:
Working together on the latest BBC micro:bit

I’ve been using micro:bits for a few years now and these look like great additions, especially the sound in and out.

Given we have a good number in school already I doubt we will get new ones so having a bit of latest kit envy.

The illustrations on the page make the boards look gigantic.

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Scots Pine

We went for a walk over the Kilpatrick Braes to Loch Humphrey this morning. Arriving at the car part around 9am it was already pretty full. Covid has multiplied the number of people out and about.

Fox PrintsUp the road, a bit before we turn off to the fields and braes, a fox came out, gave us a look and pogoed up the road in quite a peculiar fashion. It left a trail of wet prints that dried in a moment. There was a heron close by moving around a boggy bit of field.

A bright sunny day with a slight breeze. Up the hill what must be the last butterfly, a red admiral I think, blew past. On the moor we saw a few grouse and heard the go-back, go-back, go-back call. We hardly saw another person until we rejoined the road to the loch.

We did see a bunch of young crows dipping and diving in the uplift in a joyous fashion.

The road was pretty busy, so we returned via the muir and woods rather than the road. Now a bit busier , mostly mountain bikers.

When we got back to the car park it was overflowing, I don’t think I’ve seen the place so busy before.

A few more photos on flickr

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Microsoft Thinks You’ve Been Missing Your Commute in Lockdown – WSJ

Teams’ morning commute experience hasn’t been finalized, but will involve asking users to write a short list of things they want to accomplish that day, Ms. Janardhan said. It also will ask how users are feeling before they start work. If they say they are feeling overwhelmed, the virtual commute assistant will ask if they want to block time off in their calendars to focus on work or de-stress.

John Naughton though this was a spoof.

I’d love to block out some time in my calendar to de-stress but I don’t think this one is aimed at a school day.

The last thing I want to do in a commute (real or virtual) is “write a short list of things I want to accomplish that day”.

I’ve spent the best part of 40 years commuting in one way or another, mostly on trains and latterly by car, so I have experience.

Driving to work I listen to the radio, or podcasts or music. I keep an eye out for the seasons, nature & roadkill. I think, let my mind drift. I might write, in my head, a haiku.

Occasionally I might think about school if I realise the days plan is flawed, or I worry about need to get something done. Wondering how I’ll manage that between 20 to eight and the bell at nine.

I might have a great idea or notion about something I could teach, and work out how to fit it in.

I do not want to systematically want to go through the day taking more time up with routine or timetables, I want this slack time for myself & serendipity. If I am locked down again, or get into a position where I work from home, I’d rather manage my transition from breakfast to work without a piece of software asking me questions.