Sometimes I can’t remember how to do things that I don’t do frequently. The latest example is: How do you do Chroma Keying in OBS?

I searched online and found this nice tutorial that explained the process. Since websites come and go, I will put the basic steps below in this post.

• Set up a chroma key (green screen) background.
• In OBS, right-click on your video source and select “filter”.
• Click the + symbol, add a Chroma Key filter
• adjust the Similarity (300-400), Smoothness (20-80), Key Color Spill Reduction (20-200).

You know, at work we are not supposed to dispose of batteries in the regular trash. Evidently a pair of dead AA batteries could get us into hot water with the EPA if you don’t use the correct hazardous waste disposal.

A while back I replaced the battery in my Kindle 3 e-reader. While I was pleased to keep my antique e-reader going, the label on the old battery said not to dispose of it in the garbage because it could start a fire. (I pictured the truck of my poor trash man engulfed in flames.) And wasn’t there an incident a while back where people were getting injured by the exploding batteries of their laptops?

No one in the media seems to be predicting any of the bad stuff that’s going to happen when America’s millions of automobiles go electric. What’s the anticipated life expectancy of those batteries? What will it cost to get your batteries replaced?Will we just throw the car out when the batteries wear out like we might do with a rechargeable flashlight? Will anyone’s car ever spontaneously burst into flames going down the road? And what about accidents? No one ever gets into wrecks on the road, do they?

We always adopt technology with its potential benefits in mind. We always underestimate the downsides of new technologies. We are horrible at accurately predicting the future when it comes to technology.

We are using the theme of survival for our Digital Literacy online course this fall. It didn’t take too much searching around on YouTube to be reminded of the Survivorman series.

As contrasted with the Survivor series, which is more of a survival game show with contestants, the Survivorman show is more about the concept of man versus nature. Of course, all media are created and the same holds true of these two programs, even though one appears to be much more realistic with the scenarios than the other.

The above video clip was added to this post by using the “embed” code that YouTube provides with every video that permits the practice of embedding. Not every content creator wants their videos to be made available on every website.

https://annerallen.com/2022/09/how-to-write-short-story/

https://m.facebook.com/229957530532447/

Undo the Damage of Sitting https://www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/fitness/undo-the-damage-of-sitting/

University professors from institutions in the USA and Dubai hosted an online workshop in creativity and design thinking called “Sketchy People” for their students. We hoped to learn how to engage our students beyond their respective institutions and classrooms by connecting them with students from other institutions who have similar educational goals and interests.

Using the online collaboration website Miro.com these students from different geographic locations completed lessons in drawing, creative writing, and typography together in real time in a virtual design studio setting. Just as they would in a physical design studio, students were able to see how others responded to different writing and drawing prompts and provide each other support and feedback.

Breaking outside of institutional boundaries with online technology for this event resulted in an extraordinary outpouring of creativity and engagement. Drawing inspiration from artist and author Lynda Barry’s book “Syllabus,” these students wrote and read aloud original stories as well as made drawings based upon the stories that they heard each other tell. In under two hours each student participant produced numerous drawings along with several written pieces and typographic examples.

This “Sketchy People” online learning event permitted colleagues separated by distance to reconnect and work with each other’s students through an innovative team-teaching approach while enabling their students to meet new people and see new ideas in action. Because the methods and communication tools utilized in the workshop are freely available to educators, future virtual workshops are easily scalable and replicable