Archive for June 5th, 2008

SketchUp has incredible educational potential.  Using free tools available from Google, Disney has added a 3D layer over the entire Disney World property.  Every building, sidewalk and tree has been drawn in detail.  Above is a picture of the haunted house.  This is a must-see attraction at the Magic Kingdom.  As you enter the building, there are tombstones with funny names and one with a picture of a face with eyes that move.  Zoom in on Google Earth and you can see it below.  Click either picture for higher resolution images.

Think of the geography, mapping, history, architecture, engineering (the list is huge) projects that students could do with these free tools.  Students could recreate a 3D version of the local school, post office, court house and other significant government buildings.  Historical locations could also be added.

These locations would have to be researched.  Community officials would be interviewed.  Measurements would be taken.  Students would learn to use the construction tools available from Google and collaboratively place objects in correct locations.

Layers representing different time periods could be constructed.  Students could see what occupies spaces once used by historical buildings.  This could be a lot of fun… and a learning experience too.

Here is a short-cut that helps to solve a technical problem I have had for years.

There is no easy way to quickly create multiple folders.  Using the mouse requires a click on the New sub-menu and then selecting Folder from a long list of possibilities.  If you need to create multiple folders, it’s too slow.

Since the ’80s, the quickest way to make a folder utilizes the MD command.

md folder1
md folder2
md folder3

But the MD command requires the command prompt.  Before this short-cut, getting to the command prompt in a deep folder required a lot of typing. 

1 - go to the command prompt
2 - change to the desired drive
3 - CD to the correct folder

In Vista, a new Shift-Right-Click item has been added to Explorer.  From any folder a shift-right-click will give the option to open a command prompt in the current folder.

TSPY=2.29