eLearning Course:
Microsoft Learn course on the art of Power BI report design:
https://learn.microsoft.com/training/modules/power-bi-effective-reports/
Writing sample:
Inclusive language, 1978 vs. today:
https://heyrob.net/2024/08/19/inclusive-language-1978
Instructional graphics:
Photo Tip #51 | Expand/collapse in OneNote
Oyster Cylinder Solution
Sometimes, one problem cancels out another. As the tribal biologist for the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, our oyster growing team was obliged to work under the strictest environmental restrictions. Most commercial oyster growers spray pesticides on the mud flats to help control ghost shrimp that can turn the firm oyster beds into quicksand. Half-shell oysters are grown in mesh bags on metal racks.
So here were our challenges:
- We had to continually pull the metal racks from the soft mud with electrical winches,
- We could not spray pesticides,
- We had to fight violent 15-foot tides,
- To separate individual oysters, we had to turn the bags over every two weeks (across 700 acres).
I was brainstorming with the farm manager, a tribal elder, a welder, and a fisherman when we realized that the forces behind our various problems canceled each other out. So I suggested welding crab rings into a large metal cylinder, wrapping the cylinder in fish netting, sticking each end of the cylinder into one of two inflated truck tires, and anchoring these contraptions to the beds. We called them MacGyver Oyster Cylinders.
We did this. As a result, the tides rolled in twice per day and lifted the cylinders from the mud and gently rocked the half-shell oysters like a rock tumbler. In the end, we produced cleaner and higher-quality oysters with less effort and without pesticides.
Simple grassroot videos:
How to mine gold from stupid ideas
Multimedia Interactivities for Encarta Encyclopedia
Problem: Encarta Encyclopedia wanted to illustrate concepts that are difficult to describe in words or static pictures.
Solution: I proposed and designed (but did not build) several Flash interactivities to illustrate complex biological and mathematical concepts.
Nautilus Anatomy: The nautilus is a complex animal that moves into increasingly larger chambers while abandoning the old chambers for buoyancy. What does that mean? This interactivity allows students to adjust the transparency of the external shell, external body features, internal organs, and the internal shell chambers. (Bragging note — this one ended up on the Encarta 98 box.)
Probability: Why don’t casinos ever go broke? I used the game of craps to illustrate the predictability of random events. The student can set the computer to roll a pair dice 6 times and view the results. With a sample size of 6, the distribution is scattered without a visible pattern. When they choose 60, 600, or 6000 random rolls, the predictable ratios became more obvious and thousands of kids gained an insight.
The Elements of Simple 