4th Anniversary of Real World Math

Real World Math had its Fourth Anniversary the other day.  Not sure if it seems longer than that, or if time has flown by, but I'm certainly glad the site is still reaching new people.  I'm sorry that I haven't been as diligent with adding new activities.  For months, I've been bogged down with a colossal lesson for RWM.  I literally have a crack team of experts from around the world helping me with it, so I am anxious to see its completion.  Beyond that I can certainly promise that you'll see some activity on the site soon.

First, you'll notice some changes in the Tutorial section.  I've added some tutorials for editing Google Earth placemarks with HTML.  I think this is a great addition because I've always wanted to have other teachers contribute lessons to Real World Math.  In the this section you'll find specific examples of HTML formatted placemarks that will help you to create your own Google Earth tours and activities.  All you'll need to do is copy the HTML code, enter the content information you want, and paste it in the placemark's description box.  Designing your own placemarks will be much easier now.  So start creating and share your lessons with all of us!

Otherwise, I've been surprised with a few Google Earth features in the past week.  First, I hadn't noticed the Add Image... button and Add Link... buttons in the placemark editor.  I suppose it came as part of the most recent update of GE, - funny that I didn't notice it.  The other surprise came this evening; it finally dawned on me to view RealWorldMath from within Google Earth's browser.  It turned out to be quite convenient because I found that I could download the RWM files directly into Google Earth without going through any middleman.  Is this how you use the site?  Funny that I never considered that.

Not so funny was viewing some of my older activities.  One of the problems with using web-based resources is that they sometimes disappear.  You may have noticed in my materials some dead-end links or images that won't load.  This is because the sources that I used no longer exist or they've changed their web address.  Very frustrating.  I have a lot of material to go through so it would be helpful if you could send me a kind email if you ever encounter some dead links in RWM lessons.

Finally, I have a lot of work in store for me to prevent Real World Math from becoming a dead link.  Apple is discontinuing their MobileMe web hosting services this summer, so that means I have to find a new hosting solution.  Either I migrate to iCloud or I need to publish with another service (any suggestions?).  Rest assured that all is safe.  I own the domain name so wherever I end up you will still reach me at RealWorldMath.org.  Hopefully the next four years will be as satisfying as these.  Thanks for all your support.

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