Monday 30 September 2013

WOW of the Week - Stoptober from The Wildern Wellbeing Group


The first of October sees the start of the Stoptober Campaign, which is a 28 day challenge to quit smoking by the NHS. 


Can you stop a bad habit for stoptober, whether it is smoking or something else that you could stop during the month of October to complete the 28 day challenge? The Wellbeing Group challenges you to give up a bad habit or take up something good for October? 

Pledge your Stoptober on the postcards in your registers and display it on your tutor room display boards. Remember to say if you are starting or stopping.

E.g.
Stop smoking
Stop eating lots of unhealthy food
Stop being lazy
Stop not wearing a helmet when on my bike
Stop handing homework in late by handing in on time

Start a new sport
Start eating 5 fruit and veg a day
Start being more organised 

Thursday 26 September 2013

How To Post Tall Pictures On Blogger


Posting large images (taller or wider than 1600px) is a bit of a challenge on Blogger. This is because Blogger decides to shrink them to 1600px. In practice, I do think there isn't much need in posting images wider than 1600px. However the same can't be said for images taller than 1600px. Infographics for example are almost always taller than 1600px.

As you may know you can choose the size for each image you post from five size options: Small (200px), Medium (320px), Large (400px), X-large (640px) and Original Size (full size with the cap of 1600px).
resize tall image

To post a tall/wide image your only option is to choose "Original Size". But "original size" here holds true only  for images no larger than 1600px. For larger images, they will be resized down to 1600px! No kidding.
Does that mean you might as well give up on posting your awesome 4000px tall infographic? No, that's not necessary because there is still hope. Checkout this post:
Notice how tall the infographic is? (It measures 466px x 2560px. Click on it to view an even larger image, which is the original size of 700px × 3,843px).
Here is how you can post your own tall image or infographic on Blogger:
  1. Upload the image and set it to "Original Size".
  2. Switch the post editor to HTML and locate the code for the image. The code should look something like this:
    <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y01_wo3dtXRsS4V62SZIl4z88qt0hjFGjtkMAEz7FqtKPCZhJnVAozHF8KJsUrq0V-9p7Zk0Q4x6U60SELml3BjeZTp_qdpRLQR-gke5wE0wr6NNTd4Ol69RN63n0RDi4lvcEV_-1YrY/s1600/How+Safe+is+Your+Website1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y01_wo3dtXRsS4V62SZIl4z88qt0hjFGjtkMAEz7FqtKPCZhJnVAozHF8KJsUrq0V-9p7Zk0Q4x6U60SELml3BjeZTp_qdpRLQR-gke5wE0wr6NNTd4Ol69RN63n0RDi4lvcEV_-1YrY/s1600/How+Safe+is+Your+Website1.jpg"></a>
    The second URL is the source URL for the in-post image ie. the image that appears in your post. The first URL is the hyperlink to another version of the same image, which is viewable separately upon clicking on the in-post image. 
    Notice that both URLs are exactly the same, and they are resized to 1600px tall, indicated by the size variable "s1600" (highlighted in red) in the URLs.
  3. Modify the hyperlink (first URL) so that it links to the original (full) size image. This can be done by replacing "s1600" with "s0". Setting the size variable to "s0" will get you the full size, no matter how big it is. This will let your readers see the full size version when they click on the in-post image.
  4. Next, let's fix the in-post image. To increase the height (thus making the image larger), you simply replace the size variable with a larger value. I know many blogs say that you can only resize up to 1600px, but they are wrong.You can actually resize it up to 2560px (s2560)! Say you want to resize the in-post image to 2000px, then simply replace "s1600" in the second URL with "s2000".
    (You don't usually use "s0" for in-post image because most of the time a full size infographic is wider than your post area.  Besides a  full size infographic takes longer to load due to it's large file size).
    So in the end your image code will look like this:
    (this is the actual code used for the infographic in the demo post)
    <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y01_wo3dtXRsS4V62SZIl4z88qt0hjFGjtkMAEz7FqtKPCZhJnVAozHF8KJsUrq0V-9p7Zk0Q4x6U60SELml3BjeZTp_qdpRLQR-gke5wE0wr6NNTd4Ol69RN63n0RDi4lvcEV_-1YrY/s0/How+Safe+is+Your+Website1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y01_wo3dtXRsS4V62SZIl4z88qt0hjFGjtkMAEz7FqtKPCZhJnVAozHF8KJsUrq0V-9p7Zk0Q4x6U60SELml3BjeZTp_qdpRLQR-gke5wE0wr6NNTd4Ol69RN63n0RDi4lvcEV_-1YrY/s2560/How+Safe+is+Your+Website1.jpg"></a>
  5. Preview your post before hitting the Publish button.
Enjoy!

Tuesday 17 September 2013

"Reflektor"

Just something I stumbled across. Video for Arcade Fire's new single has been created with Google and other tech stuff to be user-controlled

"Reflektor" (which you can watch at justareflektor.com) takes user interactivity one step further, by having users effectively be the special effects editor for the video, using a mouse or a mobile device, and also using the computer's webcam. http://m.rollingstone.com/?redirurl=/music/news/inside-the-making-of-arcade-fires-interactive-reflektor-video-20130909

Info about the technology behind it is here, which can also be accessed when the video finishes (all 7 mins of it!)

Might be useful for something...

online poster creation

Good online poster creation website, year 7s liked it

Remove your social media from Google search


About to interview for a new job or just tired of your every thought landing in Google search results? Here's how to stop that from happening in the future.




(Credit: created on Wordle.com by Nicole Cozma/CNET)
Many social media sites offer options to help protect your privacy on the Web. You can make your profile private, which won't allow anyone you haven't approved to see your information, or you can remove your name from the account and use a different nickname that only friends would look for.
However, these changes will only affect your content moving forward, not the stuff you've posted in the past. So if you're just seeking a quick fix to get your personal thoughts and pictures of past and present out of the results, this is how you can do that.
First you'll need to copy the URL for your profile. Using my Twitter profile as an example, the link would look like this: https://twitter.com/c0z. Once you have the link you'll need open Google's Content Removal page -- you may need to log in to Google services again when you get there. Click the Create new removal request button and paste the link. On the next page that loads, you'll be able to remove cached content associated with the page you're having removed. In order for Google to allow this, you'll need to provide a piece of information that appears on the cached version but not the live version.
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)
After submitting the cached information (if necessary), you will see the status page load again detailing your request along with the date. You can also cancel the request if you've changed your mind.
There's no set time on how quickly the information will be removed, so if you need your information hidden from results because you're interviewing for a new job soon, submit your request as soon as possible. Also, Google notes that not all links will be removed from search (detailed here), so you may just want to be mindful of the thoughts and pictures you share on the Web if they will impact you negatively elsewhere.
Not enough separation of social media and search engine for you? Check out Dennis O'Reilly's five ways to depersonalize Google search results.

Wednesday 4 September 2013

pressure cookers, backpacks and quinoa, oh my!



It was a confluence of magnificent proportions that led six agents from the joint terrorism task force to knock on my door Wednesday morning. Little did we know our seemingly innocent, if curious to a fault, Googling of certain things was creating a perfect storm of terrorism profiling. Because somewhere out there, someone was watching. Someone whose job it is to piece together the things people do on the internet raised the red flag when they saw our search history.
Most of it was innocent enough. I had researched pressure cookers. My husband was looking for a backpack. And maybe in another time those two things together would have seemed innocuous, but we are in “these times” now. And in these times, when things like the Boston bombing happen, you spend a lot of time on the internet reading about it and, if you are my exceedingly curious news junkie of a twenty-year-old son, you click a lot of links when you read the myriad of stories. You might just read a CNN piece about how bomb making instructions are readily available on the internet and you will in all probability, if you are that kid, click the link provided.
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