Phil Shapiro
Phil Shapiro delivered the keynote address at the annual Computers in Adult Literacy conference in Philadelphia in 2000. He blogs on the group blog, Community Voices, at PCWorld.com. He has worked for the Arlington Public Schools as an Instructional Technology Coorinator. Please see the complete bio for more information.Tips for Paddling Across the Panama Canal in a Canoe
Many canoeists think paddling across the Panama Canal is a piece of cake, but that’s just not true. To successfully cross from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic in a canoe requires planning.
First you’ll need a laptop with wireless Internet to carry along in your canoe. Why? So you can communicate with the people who [...]
The Story of Louis Braille
There was a time, not long ago, when most people thought that blind people could never learn to read. People thought that the only way to read was to look at words with your eyes. A young French boy named Louis Braille thought otherwise. Blind from the age of three, young Louis desperately wanted to [...]
They Forgot to Plant an Acorn on the Moon
The surface of the moon looks a lot like a desert. It’s dry, rocky, and sandy. There are no plants on the moon. Not even a small cactus.In the year 1969 human beings from planet Earth first stepped on the moon. They walked around a bit and collected some moon rocks to take back with [...]
Marketing Freeze Dried Water
I first thought of the idea of freeze dried water while on a camping trip with a friend. We had just hiked about eight miles along a mountain trail, and had found a nice clearing in the woods to pitch our tent. My friend had brought with some freeze dried beef stew and some freeze [...]
The Invention of the Steam Engine
It’s common knowledge that modern civilization was forged in the factories of the industrial revolution. And these factories themselves were powered by the steam engine.
Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that steam engines ushered in the modern age. But where did the steam engine come from? Who was the inventor of this “mover of [...]
Driving on Ice
In many northern states the winters are so cold that the lakes freeze right over. In Minnesota, Michigan, and Maine, the ice in these lakes can freeze two to three feet deep.
When the ice is that thick it becomes possible to actually drive a car or truck across the ice. While driving on ice sounds [...]
When the Clock Got Sick
Once upon a time, in a land not too far from where you live, there was a bank whose outside clock was the talk of the town. Clocks usually don’t cause people to talk about them, unless they’re not working right. This clock wasn’t working right at all.
The clock was a digital clock, meaning [...]
Ellen the Eagle Needs Glasses
Ellen the eagle first suspected that she needed glasses the day that she swooped down out of the sky and grabbed a small lawn chair to carry back to her hungry children. When she arrived back at her nest, perched high atop a cliff, her oldest son said, somewhat sarcastically, “Great. Another lawn chair for [...]
Patty the Pigeon
Patty was the type of pigeon who always had a sense of adventure and an active curiosity. She lived in a brick hole near the top of a building near Union Station, in Washington D.C. Patty loved watching the trains come in and go out of the station. She loved the clackety-clack sound of the [...]
An Ordinary Mother
Katrina Katrinka was like any other ordinary mother with two kids, a stationwagon, and a 6O foot tall crane in her back yard. The crane just showed up one morning. A construction company was building an apartment building down the street. One day the company went bankrupt, and left their crane in Mrs. Katrinka’s back [...]
