[Edu-sig] random fragments (pre May PPUG meeting)

[kirby urner]

So does the new turtle canvas save to a PNG, using PIL maybe, or do we
still need to hack that?

I think wxPython's canvas has PIL output, but it's been awhile.  Robin
Dunn's work was a topic with Synovate for a thread, me bungling the
answer about EMF files, Patrick getting it right (he's the master, I'm
the stoopid noob in a qyoob).

The reason I ask is we're wanting 7-circuit labyrinth drawings for
Junior Friends (youngish Quakers), meaning we can't get federal
funding exactly, but FOSS to the rescue maybe.

I could see turtles for drawing and turtles for walking.

A labyrinth isn't a maze by the way, has only the one path.  What's
important is to get the classic curves, although you'll find many
variations and I'm not thinking to squelch ethnic diversity (on the
contrary).

http://www.hypnosis.org/catalog/images/ClassicLeftHanded.gif
http://www.labyrinthcompany.com/view_series.php?category_id=1&series_id=5

Anyway, if anyone runs across the right Logo (I could translate to
.py)... or I might get to it.  My wife led workshops on this topic, at
Annual Session in South Africa for example, using chalk and/or lime on
the grass -- the stuff used for soccer fields and like that.  Did I
mention how excited Archbishop Tutu is about the World Cup coming
there?  He was in Portland the other night, blogged about it.

http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2009/05/time-for-reconciliation.html

Putting on PSF cap:  I got to watch the process wherein NiceTime came
through for a second look, this being a UK based initiative to use
Python directly in maths teaching, but with a lower age range in
focus.  It didn't go through, could post mortem ad nauseum but from my
angle had to do with low name recognition on Gattegno, especially on
this side of Atlantic, as confirmed by this card catalog lookup:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/3522646219/

Sea turtles in VPython, other OpenGL, remain of interest, i.e. we'd
like to draw Icosahedra with turtle commands.  I've done a lot of this
work on my own, publishing through Oregon Curriculum Network, e.g. the
L-system stuff.  Although I've not had time to get back to it, I know
we have another generation looking for ways to cut teach, and 4D Logo
is one way to go (4D is a brand, though we could also talk dimensions
sometime, on another list maybe).

http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/numeracy3.html  (scroll down for
L-systems, turtle-based)

I've had some followup threads with SAO (an Oregon industries lobby)
plus all three invoices out the door today were Python related, so I
feel good about our ethnicity today, like being a Pythoneer (yes,
Pythonista is starting to default to female gendered, fight it if you
like but Latin carries a lot of inertia -- discuss?).

Does anyone else like "goose typing" for "even more loosey goosey than
duck typing"?

Meeting of Portland Pythonistas tonight (...fighting back).  Our
topic:  distributing version control systems, woo hoo (love that hg).

Is that Litvins' book cover too scary?  I said I thought it might be
in one email, as many people are already afraid of math, so adding a
snake on the front maybe doesn't help matters?  Looking at it again, I
take it back.  More like southwestern American bead work, showing of
"geometry in nature" (a well-known meme in math circles, so students
should embrace it, not run from it).

http://www.skylit.com/mathandpython.html

Snakes (including ours in particular) connote intelligence and wisdom.

Athena has a Python familiar / friend per Nashville HQS -- one to
remember I think, good for our brand:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/3526413823/ (photo by Mary Welchance)

Kirby
4D