PolyWogg.ca – Page 5 – The writing life of a tadpole

Articles I Like: Five Changes Facing Public Employees When They Return to the Office – If They Do

May 22 2020

As a public servant, and similar to every other industry, there is a lot of speculation about what post-Covid workplaces will look like. Many of our operations can be done well-enough from home, and the challenges we have now are mostly about IT infrastructure, home office solutions, and privacy. Much of our work is digital and email-enabled, so it’s not a giant leap to work from home. We just traditionally haven’t done that transition for all the usual pressures related to remote workers and supervision/monitoring, and some unique pressures related to privacy, taxpayer dollars, and supporting Ministers in person.

Paul Taylor over at Governing.com wrote an article about five changes he sees coming to the public service post-Covid. Here’s an excerpt:

Your Cubicle. Our Conference Room. Where Did They Go? Your space may get bigger as facilities staff reconfigure space to conform with the 6-foot separation requirements. Coupled with limits on group size, that is likely to grow cubicle row into what were once conference rooms.
…
Beyond the Point of No Return. Social distancing is bound to spread employees across more square footage than agencies have to reconfigure to handle everybody at work. What’s more, as governments confront the need for budget cuts in the tens and hundreds of millions, the public-sector layoffs announced to date are likely to rise exponentially as the tax base shrinks.

… Read the rest

Lynda.com: PowerPoint 2013 Specialist – Lesson 03: Working with slides

May 14 2020

While Lesson 03 is only 14.5 minutes long, I started following along with the video and pausing it here and there so I could do the steps myself. It drastically increases the training time, but it really helps with learning the new stuff that goes beyond the simple basics of Lessons 1 and 2. This lesson is about working with the actual slides, managing their order for example, and so it includes adding and removing slides, changing the slide layout, organizing slides into sections, and simply rearranging slides.

I confess, as I mentioned previously, I was pretty confident that I could do most things I needed to do in PowerPoint. Which is apparently not the same as doing them the RIGHT way, which is way faster than my hacked techniques. Take for example where I’m really not sure how I want a slide to look, so I might start with a slide with dual text box layouts. Then, half-way through the slide, I might realize that it would be better for it to be in a table layout for more understandable visuals. So I would then add a table, resize it and play around with it, and make it fit. Not according to the default slide-with-table layout, just me doing it manually.… Read the rest

Articles I Like: The Best Mentors Ask These 8 Questions

May 12 2020

Because of my interest in helping people with HR processes, and learning techniques to be a better manager in general, I am frequently attracted to articles about mentoring. I’m also frequently disappointed with those columns that advocate a “one size fits all” closed approach to mentoring.

So colour me surprised when I saw an article on Pocket recently about questions that the best mentors ask, written by Gwen Moran (and originally shared on Fast Company). Some of them are pretty common-place in my view:

What does success look like to you?
What do you want to change? (usually as “where do you want to be in 3-5 years?”)
What options have you identified?
What are you reading? (not usually as a mentoring question, often more for interviewing)

But she also includes some more interesting open ones:

What does success look like to you? (a better phrasing than asking about their goals as it often leads to both visioning of ST and LT outcomes)
What are the obstacles you’re facing? (great starter)
What can you control? (now that’s getting a little harder-edged, I like it)

However, the one I like the best is asking what outcome the person wants, which is far more immediate than lofty goals.… Read the rest

So what exactly did I want in an observatory?

May 5 2020

A few people have asked, quite surprisingly to me, what kind of observatory I was “letting go” from my long-term goals. Most plebes think an observatory is simply a place to put your scope and observe the sky, and while they are not completely wrong, it is much more complicated than a simple “location-based” definition.

So, let’s start with what I have as a scope:

That set-up is made up of nine things:

A physical site:
1. A location to do the viewing, preferably with dark skies (this picture is taken at the inlaws’ cottage in front of a lake and big open skies to the west);
2. A flat platform for the equipment all to rest upon, along with vibration suppression pads under the tripod legs; and,
3. Some sort of limited area around the space;
Observing mechanics:
1. An optical tube — the orange part, which is a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT) design;
2. A mount — the small black base with a computer in it and an arm that rises up from just below the tube to attach at the far side of the scope; and,
3. A tripod — the silver part, with the three legs fully extended;
Accessories:
1. An eyepiece (black with green banding at the top back of the scope);
2. A power source, which is a portable power tank (this model is very similar to a car battery); and,
3. A place to hold accessories, which is a flat area just below the black mount, very hard to see in the photo although there is also a table out of range of the camera;

For most observing, the parts are inter-related.… Read the rest

OPL resources: Language tools while working from home

March 23 2020

For those who are in language training, or who simply want to take advantage of some extra time to work on their language skills, the Ottawa Public Library has some language resources available. You’ll need an active OPL library card for it to work, and if it prompts you for a PIN you don’t know, it is probably the last four digits of your phone number. If you’re not in Ottawa, your local library likely has similar setups.

On the OPL website, choose Browse / Online Resources and then one of the following resources.

A. THE CANADIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA

While at first glance this may not seem like a “language resource”, it has lots of info about Canada and it is available in both English and French presented at a fairly junior reading level.

I already mentioned in an earlier post (OPL resources: Research tools while working from home) that the library has french and english newspapers and journals too. Other french resources include Encyclopédie Découverte and Encyclopædia Universalis.

B. CANTOOK STATION

In addition to a large number of french e-books available in the regular library catalog, this is a separate collection available as well.

C. FRENCH AUDIOBOOKS (Cloud Library)

For those early to studying, audio books are a bit of a challenge often because the language is more complicated and it is hard to sustain your interest for long.… Read the rest

OPL resources: Research tools while working from home

March 23 2020

If you are struggling to access decent resources while you’re working from home, here’s a quick overview of some of the resources from the Ottawa Public Library that might be of interest to you. You’ll need an active OPL library card for it to work, and if it prompts you for a PIN you don’t know, it is probably the last four digits of your phone number.

On the OPL website, choose Browse / Online Resources and then one of the following resources.

A. ACADEMIC ONEFILE

Many libraries offer access to online journal databases, and OPL has Academic OneFile. It is produced by GALE, and it is not a full replacement for what you might have from EBSCO or an academic library like Carleton or UOttawa. But it’s pretty good. Let’s work through a couple of examples.

If I search for something like “nudging”, the popular term for the more technical field of “choice architecture”, it finds:

Academic Journals (2,906)
Magazines (4,446)
Books (37)
News (14,843)
Videos (5)

Of course, some of those materials are going to be behind additional paywalls, but most will be accessible. The above search brought up this one from an academic journal:

Supiano, Beckie. “When a Big Idea Falls Short: New studies cast doubt on how well ‘nudging’ can work nationally.”… Read the rest

Government working-from-home in the time of pandemics

March 15 2020

I’ve been following the TBS announcements, as most government employees have been, trying to figure out if and when they will tell us simply to work from home across the board. Right now, managers are told to be as supportive as possible for people wanting to work from home. Yet we can’t even call it telework as most of them will have no “tele” options at all — many don’t have a connection or app to connect remotely, and for those who do, most networks don’t have the bandwidth or server power to handle EVERYONE logging in remotely.

On Reddit, one user started a thread and included the phrase:

Let’s be honest – in many cases we actually can work from home and should absolutely be doing so.
Thread | Reddit

I don’t know if they are a manager who has ever managed telework employees or are an employee who has ever worked from home more than a day or two, but the level of assumptions in that statement suggests to me that the answer is neither.

Most organizations, government or otherwise, are extremely “place-based” centres of work. Outside of coding, most companies and businesses require you to be onsite in order to sell stuff, deal with customers, serve food, work in a mine, drill for oil, etc.… Read the rest

Mental Health in the Workplace – My role as a manager

November 18 2019

Unless you have been living under a rock, you would know that one of the latest pushes in all management circles — public, private, C-suites, academia — is to figure out how to improve workplaces so that they are supportive of good mental health. But part of that push is recognizing that we are not there yet, and even if we were, life happens outside of the workplace too, and eventually, even the most awesome place to work is going to deal with mental health issues with its employees.

Analysis without resolution

Earlier today, our branch held a half-day management discussion on mental health issues and included a desire for us all as managers to make a personal commitment to what we would “undertake” to improve our support on mental health issues. Some of them range from the obvious (don’t look at your phone while you’re talking to someone) while others are more complex (how to manage performance when there is an undiagnosed but suspected mental health issue on display). As I look at them, I start to feel like I’m doing a simple analysis without resolution. But these are the thoughts that tickle my brain.

One of our conversations was around the type of mental health issue.… Read the rest

#50by50ish #49d – Write a novel [#NaNoWriMo2019 Feast or Famine, Chapter 04 (4441 words)]

November 11 2019

* Editing notes: Chapter 3 -> reduce belt colour for Ninja Kit

** Personae dramatis

– Carleton “Cal” Clarke, lead investigator;
– Marilyn (maternity) and Phil (appendix), investigators on leave;
– Five legal beagles;
– Harrison Matthew James III, founder and senior partner in
– Lila Matthews, James’ assistant
– Haggerty (1950s), McCleod (1960s), other partners
– Maxwell Jennings, father, divorced
– Maria Jennings, mother, divorced
– William Clarke, Cal’s deceased father
– Melanie Jennings, daughter, deceased (car crash) and goddaughter to James
– Michael Jennings, son, missing
– Detective Daniel Moorcroft, detective, Bayport PD
– Jim Peterson, drunk boyfriend in car crash
– Chris “Kit” Markle, patrolwoman, Bayport PD

START CHAPTER 4:

Before I left the parking lot, I phoned a friend who works as an insurance investigator at Garrison Fidelity. His office is in New Jersey, but he travels around quite a bit. Today he was up in Boston. He’s a bit unconventional, and when I explained all I wanted was to get copies of unredacted police files, he said it didn’t even count as a favour. He took down the particulars and told me to check my email or he’d call me if there were any problems.

I was just about to head back to the office when I got a email alert from one of the senior associates at the firm.… Read the rest

Stargazing 2019, outing #24 – Star Party at CASM

October 6 2019

The nights are longer and colder, but yesterday (October 5th) was International Astronomy Day so we set up for a night at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. It’s not quite as good as Carp as we can’t turn the parking lot lights up, but we set up a little farther away on the grass (I had thought we would set up on the pavement as we did one other time, but we were all on the grass and a clear patch of gravel). I was initially worried about dew but had no issues for the night.

One of the best parts of events at CASM is I don’t have to be the event marshal. 🙂 I just go and observe. I helped out on the social media side for announcements and promotions, but that was all. Chris in our group is the lead for liaison with the Museum and did solar observing during the day. But at noon, he had to make the call for GO/NO GO, and I emailed him with my views for what they were worth, but I was glad it was him making the call and not me. At noon, the forecasts showed clear for early in the night, but I was doubtful after 9:30.… Read the rest

Reading Michael Swanson’s “The NexStar User’s Guide II” – Chapter 07 – Connecting a PC, Mac, Tablet or Smartphone to Your Tablet

September 8 2019

For reviewing purposes, I skipped over the short Chapter 6, focused on Sky Portal operations, as I’ll do that chapter after I have a chance to connect to my tablet and test some of the operations. I thought of doing the same for Chapter 07, Connecting a PC, Mac, Tablet or Smartphone to Your Tablet, but it’s a short chapter, and easily dispensed with here.

Some of the highlights:

P.165 – Wired Connections for RS-232 Hand Controls…I knew that most of the wired connections used a USB to Serial adapter, and plugs in to the RJ-22 Jack (I thought it was an RJ-45, but apparently not!). However, one “new” thing in the guide is that there is a way to do a wired connection to a tablet or smartphone using SkyWire + Sky Safari with an iOS device. I had no idea there was an option for a physical wire connection. I might have skipped the dongle wifi if I had known that earlier, as there can be challenges maintaining connections.

P.165 – Wireless connections…As with the wired one, I didn’t know people had attempted doing it with BlueTooth but it sounds way more exciting than the wifi connection.… Read the rest

Reading Michael Swanson’s “The NexStar User’s Guide II” – Chapter 05 – NexStar and StarSense Hand Control Operations

September 7 2019

Chapter 5 (of Michael Swanson’s “The NexStar User’s Guide II”) is entitled NexStar and StarSense Hand Control Operations and you would be right if you assumed this was going to more like a software manual than a telescope manual. It is a highly specific reference manual for the use of the hand controller and reading it page by page is for the hard-core geek only. But it is full of fantastic info that I didn’t know enough about, even though I’ve worked with the hand controller for years. These are the highlights for me:

Pg. 128 – Adjusting slew rates…I knew how to manually adjust the slew rate (MOTOR SPEED then press 1-9 where 9 was the fastest). I really only use 3, 6, and 9 for rates though. 9 if I’m going a great distance, 6 if I’m adjusting for centreing, and 3 if I need very fine adjustments while doing astrophotography and looking at centreing something on the screen. However, I didn’t know that if you were slewing in one direction (say left) and also held down the opposite button (i.e., right), it would temporarily speed up to rate 9. I have no idea when I would ever use that, but it’s good to have.… Read the rest

Stargazing 2019, outing #22 – Outing to the AstroPontiac Observatory

September 6 2019

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that while I’m a member of the board of the AstroPontiac Observatory, last Saturday was my first outing for the year to the site. Observing nights are frequently high-demand days for me, given my role as the local RASC centre’s Star Party Coordinator, and just other commitments. But Jacob wanted to go, and Andrea was willing to go too with a hope for a small picnic and time to hike the opening of the Luskville Falls trail, so we set off.

We stopped at the Subway near us to get some grub for the picnic and by the time we were at Luskville and finished our meal, it was already starting to darken a bit. Andrea and Jacob did a quick walk down the first part of the trail, but it wasn’t inviting at that time, and they came back.

Our leader, Stephan, showed up a bit later, and we drove out onto the field to get setup. Another volunteer, Michel, was there to operate the big outside scope, Stephan could operate the inside scope, and Jacob and I would set up our two scopes too. There were a few visitors, but mostly we were left to our own devices.… Read the rest

Reading Michael Swanson’s “The NexStar User’s Guide II” – Chapter 04 – Alignment

September 3 2019

Chapter 4 of Michael Swanson’s “The NexStar User’s Guide II” is entitled Alignment and is the chapter that made me want to buy the book and read it cover to cover. Readers of the blog know that I struggled with alignment for my NexStar 8SE (Solving alignment problems with the Celestron NexStar 8SE) and Michael’s online resources were helpful in resolving some of them, or at least narrowing the problem. I even held off buying the book because he said Guide II was coming and I should wait over Guide I. Then I managed to solve most of the alignment issues, and so when his book arrived, I didn’t devour the whole book right away. I just cruised through the Alignment chapter. Then this past summer, I went back and re-read everything in order.

Here are some highlights from Chapter 4:

Backlash compensation (P.87): A great element for those of us with slightly older scopes whose mounts are no longer “factory fresh”. My son’s new 4SE? Dead tight regardless of the direction I’m slewing. My 8SE? There’s a bit of a lag. I tried adjusting this 3 years ago and just got confused. The new guide has it very clearly laid out, and I’ll be attempting a fix later this month.… Read the rest

Starting a new PolyWogg Guide…about astronomy

August 31 2019

Over the last few years, I have been surfing and reading a LOT on astronomy, making notes here and there, etc. On a not infrequent basis, I find that the info I’m looking for is spread across multiple sites and books.

Take exit pupils for instance. I read the RASC Observer’s Guide section on exit pupils more than once, and didn’t get it. I also read several other websites and books, and didn’t get it. Then I read Michael Swanson’s Celestron NexStar User’s Guide II, and it clicked. All the little pieces suddenly meshed. And I immediately wanted to share that info with others in the way that made sense to me…partly as I found the other descriptions lacking.

Not that the other writers were wrong, or that they didn’t do a good job, it was just that it didn’t resonate with me. Which makes me wonder if others are in the same boat. And based on how many people read my post about good alignment with the Celestron NexStar 8SE, there are others who like my take on how to explain things.

So, just as I have done with my guide to government competitions, I started thinking about another guide in the same vein — A PolyWogg Guide to Astronomy (Completely Unofficial and Totally Unauthorized).… Read the rest

Reading Michael Swanson’s “The NexStar User’s Guide II” – Chapter 03 – Overview of Celestron’s Alt-Az Computerized Telescopes

August 30 2019

I like to blog about non-fiction books as I read them, as it helps me both synthesize and retain the info. Chapter 3 is a general overview on all the computerized scopes in Celestron’s arsenal, and I found myself liberally highlighting as I read it. Here are some highlights:

P.57 — a great overview of the different processors in the mount, including some of what the processors in the mount do (drive the motors) and the hand control (determining the correct tracking rate)…I was initially confused about something in the manual, as it said the hand controller sends the update to the mount every thirty seconds. I wasn’t sure if this meant it sends a “movement” command every 30s (as that seemed too slow) or a rate adjustment every 30s (adjusting the existing tracking speed), and the author confirmed the latter. Now rereading it, it was already clear, I think I just confused myself;
P. 69 — I was surprised to see that there are CPC mounts that are actually quite well-designed for accurate tracking and thus support astrophotography. Maybe something to aspire too, instead of going Equatorial some day;
P.78 — Good overview of the various types of hand-controllers, …I think I have the NexStar+ serial (Celestron button + RJ45-like jacks).

… Read the rest

Stargazing 2019, outing #21 – Outing to the Fred P. Lossing Observatory

August 29 2019

On Monday, August 26th, Jacob and I headed out to the Fred P. Lossing Observatory (FLO) in Almonte. The land is owned by the Mill of Kintail Conservation Area, but they let RASC Ottawa put an observatory there in slightly darker skies than we have in Ottawa. There is a gate with a lock, a warming room, and a couple of buildings with larger scopes in them. If you get trained on them and pay a small fee each year, you can use the scopes. Otherwise, as just RASC Ottawa members, you can use the grounds to set up your own scope.

While Jacob and I wanted to do some observing, my main reason for going was another member in the club. He and his son (J1 and J2) had bought a new scope, a Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ, and were struggling to see much through it other than the basics. They had not yet managed a polar alignment, nor figured out star-hopping, and were looking for an intro night from someone in the club. My first option of a would-be mentor didn’t work out for them, so I agreed to do it myself.

My willingness to take on this extra role for someone is driven by two things.… Read the rest

Stargazing 2019, outing #20 – A star party in Carp and Good Samaritan duty?

August 28 2019

Saturday, August 24th was the proposed date of our monthly star party, and I confess, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I might even confess to hoping we would get rained out. The dates were set way back in March, and revolve around the dates of New Moon. But while I am the star party coordinator, I had to make some changes this year so that I wasn’t automatically the default event marshal too…too much commitment, too many days. So we changed things so that we only book 2 days a month instead of 4, 1 for the Saturday before New Moon and 1 for the Friday after New Moon. A much softer load on the need for marshals, and for me. And up until this weekend, I have had marshals available to cover the events, even if I couldn’t make it.

But this weekend is the height of the summer, lots of people are on holiday, and more importantly, the date conflicted with the annual big StarFest up near Collingwood. So my normal marshals weren’t available, and this left me more or less on the hook for the event. Originally, I thought this would be no problem, but then I was up at the cottage and had no real desire to rush back.… Read the rest

Stargazing 2019, outing #19 – A sky tour at the cottage

August 28 2019

A week or two ago, my wife’s grandfather (D) asked me about an object he had seen in the sky that had been unusually bright. Given the time, clarity, and brightness, I quickly confirmed it was Jupiter and its four moons, but it got me to thinking. Given his recent interest, had he ever had the experience of looking through a telescope? We’ve had the scopes up at the cottage repeatedly, and my mother-in-law’s family has looked numerous times, but I’ve never had it set up when my father-in-law’s side of the family has been around. So I suggested if we had a good night, maybe D could come for dinner and see Jupiter and Saturn.

Monday to Wednesday were out, and Thursday was uncertain, so we aimed for Friday. D brought his friend Z and the weather held. I would have loved to hear more about a friend of his who had passed away that week…97 years old, had served in a gun turret in a tank in WWII and had driven it all over Europe. Lots of action, lots of experience. By all accounts, the type of man my father would have loved to have met and played cards with (cribbage or euchre, probably).… Read the rest

Stargazing 2019, outing #18 – Naked-eye and binocular viewing at the cottage

August 27 2019

I’m usually a “telescope-only” sky observer. But last Thursday, August 22nd, I was up at the in-laws’ cottage, and after a couple of previous nights of “no go” seeing, the night was still looking iffy. Clouds were rolling in from the West, and it wasn’t obvious if it was even worth setting up the scope. I’ve done the same before at the same location, and almost always, the clouds sock me in.

So I decided not to set up. Instead, I went and borrowed their simple terrestrial binoculars and gave it a go while sitting on the dock. I could see Jupiter and Saturn easily with the naked eye, but I couldn’t resolve the discs with the binoculars. While they are better quality design, they aren’t very strong (7 x 25 perhaps?), and they seem to be out of collimation. Everything I tried to resolve ended up having a skewed shape to it.

No problem, I did some playing around with a planisphere and picked out a few objects. The Big Dipper, Arcturus, Vega, the trapezoid / “Keystone” of Hercules, Antares, and I *think* I saw Altair but I wasn’t 100% sure.

Oddly enough, I was still seeing meteors. And the clouds shifted direction, so I could have set up, even though it was still kind of windy and a bit chilly.… Read the rest