A Moment in Radio History

Please check out the animation below.  Make sure that your audio is turned on (but not too loud!) and press the green flag and then the play button.  It's a flash animation so you may have to allow flash on your browser.  If it doesn't show up below, try this link.  If it still doesn't work, don't panic, we'll watch it in class.

Well This Is Confusing

If you read the previous post (here) you'll know that we left off with me waiting breathlessly to hear back from 'Theme! Theme! Theme!'  Well, I didn't have to wait for long.  A few days after filling in their questionnaire I received a letter with the following message:

DXJXVW 31VW, 2018

GHDU PV. WKRPSVRQ,
WKDQN BRX IRU FRQWDFWLQJ WKHPH! WKHPH! WKHPH!  EDVHG RQ ZKDW BRX WROG XV DERXW BRXU FODVV, ZH IHHO WKDW ZH KDYH MXVW WKH WKHPH IRU BRX, LW'V FDOOHG: 'WRS VHFUHW FRPPXQLFDWLRQ'
EHVW RI OXFN!
VLQFHUHOB,
SDW WKHPHRSROLV
WKHPH! WKHPH! WKHPH! DGYLVR



Yup, as clear as mud!  I tried to get in touch with the company, but when I went to their website, which I had been to just a couple of days earlier, this is what I got:

  

My first thought was "Great, I guess I'm on my own."  But now I realize that I'm not on my own -- maybe YOU can help me!  I've set up another form you can fill out if you have ideas about the message from 'Theme! Theme! Theme!'  Any ideas are appreciated!  Please note: I do not expect you to be able to solve this message!  The idea is to take some guesses as to what is going on. 
 









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Theme Conundrum

As returning students know, every year in the Gifted Program Classes we have a theme.  I often get asked what the new theme will be, but I always like to keep it under wraps until classes start.  I also get asked how I come up with the different themes.  Well, every year in the spring I start thinking about what the next year's theme is going to be. Usually I begin with a few ideas and I mull them over, just letting them percolate through my brain.  Along with the percolating I rework the ideas until I find something I like.  Usually by the start of the summer I have a pretty good idea of what the new theme will be, and then I start coming up with ideas for what we will do related to the theme.

This year was different though.  When summer started, I didn't have the foggiest idea what the theme would be.  I wasn't worried though, my process had worked in the past, it would work again.  But as July turned into August I still didn't have a theme that I was happy with!  As August was winding down I was beginning to get desperate.  Really desperate.  One night late in August I couldn't sleep -- the lack of a theme was making me crazy!  I crept out of bed and decided to go for a drive along the lake.  I rolled down all the windows on my souped up mini-van and turned on the radio.  After a few so-so tunes I heard an ad, an ad that was going to save my bacon!

You can listen to the ad below.



What did I do?  Well what do you think I did?!!!  I filled in the 'Theme! Theme! Theme!' online questionnaire and breathlessly awaited their response.  Find out what they suggested... in the next post.

Talking To Ducks

In my previous post many of you correctly identified that the beeping noise was some form of communication.  Gary Larson has this great Far Side cartoon that tackles the idea of communication:

It made me think about what languages I would love to be able speak; there are so many!  Being able to speak quack would definitely be handy.  It would probably be more effective than me yelling in Engish 'Stop eating my tomatoes!!!' to the duck that hangs out in my backyard.  I tried quacking, but I'm not a fluent quacker, and the duck just looked at me blankly as tomato dribbled out of her beak.

What languages do wish you could speak?  Let me know in the comment section below.

Welcome Back!

Hello Gifted Program students and families.  I hope the start of the school year is going well and that you are excited about our classes starting up soon -- I know I am! 

I recorded the video below as a little welcome.  Something strange happened when I was recording so there is a bit of a mystery to solve.



I thought it might help if you just had the beeping sound without my talking over it, so I've added it below.



And here's the form for you to send me your guess. 



Thanks for helping me to solve this mystery.  See you soon!


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