Sunday, December 26, 2010
Another Version of the Christmas Story
This is a classically wonderful Nativity, performed by children from St Paul’s, Symonds Street, Auckland, New Zealand. Thanks to Penny Nash
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Does Jesus believe in God?
Taken from
Does Jesus believe in your god, my god or our god?
Which version of God does he believe in or follow?
He didn’t seem to believe in the god of the Pharisees
He didn’t believe in the god of the Old Testament
He doesn’t believe in a patriarchal god or a dualistic god
He didn’t believe in a top-down god
He didn’t believe in a god out there
He didn’t believe in a distant or separate god
Would he believe in the God that many people worship today?
He appeared not to be interested in the finer aspects of the law
But moved people from an exterior code of conduct
To an internal consciousness and responsibility
He dumped dogma
He moved us from the be-liefs to the be-attitudes
He didn’t promote a god who is set apart
But a god who can be with me, in me, part of me
Be at-one with me
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Christmas Poem by Benjamin
Making cards and wrapping gifts
Endless fun
Ring goes the bells
Riding their cars to the mall
Young people waiting for their parents to get their coffee or tea
Christ was born this day
Holidays
Rest time
It's a merry time of year
See your family
Time goes fast on this day
Movie time
A time for giving
Santa comes
By Benjamin Philip Schonken (aged 8)
Monday, December 13, 2010
Fantastic Post Match Interview
Being tired of all the critism that he gets for speaking him mind, Brendan Venter tries a new approach.
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Ten reasons Linux is the best choice for kids
written by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic
"The problem with working in IT is that when we go home, our job often continues. Sometimes, keeping our children's computers running can be a bigger challenge than sorting out the adults at work.
But if you install Linux at home, you can avoid the headaches. That's because sound reasons exist for migrating young users from other operating systems."
He gives the following reasons...
1. Viruses and malware
2. Security
3. Cost effectiveness
4. Age-specific tools
5. Netbooks
6. Agile learners
I know that my two (8 & 5) are loving their uBuntu Netbooks.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Quote of the Day!
"Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability." - John Wooden
Monday, July 26, 2010
Storytelling, I want to be better...
Stories are important. They have a power to change things. Stories are how we learn. They pass knowledge on. They explain things we don’t fully understand. They inspire us.
They touch us. They stay with us. They can sometimes alter our very course in life.
A great story will tell us important life lessons. About determination, about sacrifice, about sheer bloody drive. It will tell us about the pursuit of trying to find a better way and the inevitable obstacles that stand before it. And a great story will tell us the importance of an idea, that new remarkable way of seeing the world that leads to a change in our behaviour.
Just Remember...
The next time you feel like God can’t use you, just remember… Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Sampson had long hair and was a womaniser
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer…
AND
Lazarus was dead! What do you have that’s worse than that?
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Sampson had long hair and was a womaniser
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer…
AND
Lazarus was dead! What do you have that’s worse than that?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Things to Do this Summer
Now that the kids have finished their term and start their summer holiday tomorrow, I have to plan a couple of things to do. Here is a list of ideas...
- Watch a sunset - This will mean keeping them up very late, but might do this while camping in August.
- Catch our own supper - There’s plenty to eat out there in the wilderness, but I need to know what to look for and where to look for it. www.wilderness-survival.net will show me what’s edible and what’s not.
- Cook on a real campfire - Is this like a braai, or more rustic?
- Make our own ice lollies - I am sure this will be a hit on those hot afternoons. www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes
- Sleep under the stars - This is probably another thing to do while camping.
- Get some sand between our toes - www.goodbeachguide.co.uk is an online guide with a description, photo and map for each of 1,200 beaches in the UK and Ireland.
- Swim in the sea - Nothing like a dip in the ocean to cool down on a hot summer day.
- Go out all day and don’t come back until it gets dark - More daylight = more time outside.
- Pick some wild fruit and make a pie - Now is the best time to go find all those great British berries and make a delicious pie. www.edenfoods.com has recipes for all the best summer desserts.
These should keep us busy for a couple of days then.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
After WC 2010, what can you use the vuvuzela for?
Thanks to Zapiro for the ideas...
Monday, June 21, 2010
Why we put things off
- Change is difficult for us. Staying as we are is often easier.
- We don’t like the unknown. We prefer known comfort zones.
- We worry about failing. We imagine the risk more clearly than the reward.
- We are too busy. And we aren’t disciplined with our spare time.
- We look for excuses to make us feel better about not trying.
- Change needs a catalyst so the pain of change is less than the pain of staying the same, and we tell ourselves it hasn’t happened yet.
- We talk about change but for some reason we are not prepared to give the words the action that they require.
- We let the scale of what we need to do prevent us from taking small steps towards change.
- We are not willing to sacrifice or go without in order to change something.
- The dream isn’t powerful enough in our heads to lead us to want to do something to make change happen.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The purpose of Education
“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one” - Michael Forbes
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
You Are Remarkable.
Remember your mum whispering in your ear at bedtime ‘how special you are’. And you thinking at the time, just how perceptive she was? Way before you knew what perceptive even meant.
Remember when you fell off your bike that time? Did you ever think about not getting back on? Nope, not for a nano second, right?
Remember running your first marathon? Of course, you wanted to quit. Like, really-really wanted to jack it in. But you didn’t, did you?
And remember all those times that you trusted people and they let you down, badly so. But you didn’t let that stop you believing in people. No way, you still think its better to trust than to be a cynic.
You’re made of tough, amazing, brilliant stuff. But even so, from time to time you can forget how remarkable you are.
Time can do that. Life can do that. Just being busy can do that.
So sometimes, you just need reminding of your utter specialness.
Monday, June 07, 2010
Dealing with haters - Tim Ferris
Tim Ferris, (Do Lectures talk back in 2008), author of The Four Hour Work Week went onstage at The Next Web 2010 event in Amsterdam and discussed how best to deal with haters. Originally blogged by Amy-Mae Elliott at Mashable, here are the 7 pieces of advice:
1. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many people do.
“It’s critical in social media, as in life, to have a clear objective and not to lose sight of that,” Ferriss says. He argues that if your objective is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people or to change the world in some small way (be it through a product or service), you only need to pick your first 1,000 fans — and carefully. “As long as you’re accomplishing your objectives, that 1,000 will lead to a cascading effect,” Ferriss explains. “The 10 million that don’t get it don’t matter.”
2. 10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it.
“People are least productive in reactive mode,” Ferriss states, before explaining that if you are expecting resistance and attackers, you can choose your response in advance, as opposed to reacting inappropriately. This, Ferriss says, will only multiply the problem. “Online I see people committing ’social media suicide’ all the time by one of two ways. Firstly by responding to all criticism, meaning you’re never going to find time to complete important milestones of your own, and by responding to things that don’t warrant a response.” This, says Ferriss, lends more credibility by driving traffic.
3. “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” (Colin Powell)
“If you treat everyone the same and respond to everyone by apologizing or agreeing, you’re not going to be recognizing the best performers, and you’re not going to be improving the worst performers,” Ferriss says. “That guarantees you’ll get more behavior you don’t want and less you do.” That doesn’t mean never respond, Ferriss goes on to say, but be “tactical and strategic” when you do.
4. “If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative.” (Scott Boras)
“This principle goes hand-in-hand with number two,” Ferriss says. “I actually keep this quote in my wallet because it is a reminder that the best people in almost any field are almost always the people who get the most criticism.” The bigger your impact, explains Ferriss (whose book is a New York Times, WSJ and BusinessWeek bestseller), and the larger the ambition and scale of your project, the more negativity you’ll encounter. Ferriss jokes he has haters “in about 35 languages.”
5. “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” (Epictetus)
“Another way to phrase this is through a more recent quote from Elbert Hubbard,” Ferriss says. “‘To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Ferriss, who holds a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive tango spins, says he has learned to enjoy criticism over the years. Ferriss, using Roman philosophy to expand on his point, says: “Cato, who Seneca believed to be the perfect stoic, practiced this by wearing darker robes than was customary and by wearing no tunic. He expected to be ridiculed and he was, he did this to train himself to only be ashamed of those things that are truly worth being ashamed of. To do anything remotely interesting you need to train yourself to be effective at dealing with, responding to, even enjoying criticism… In fact, I would take the quote a step further and encourage people to actively pursue being thought foolish and stupid.”
6. “Living well is the best revenge.” (George Herbert)
“The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you,” Ferriss advises. “That, and [show how much fun you’re having!” Ferriss goes on to say that the best revenge is letting haters continue to live with their own resentment and anger, which most of the time has nothing to do with you in particular. “If a vessel contains acid and you pour some on an object, it’s still the vessel that sustains the most damage,” Ferriss says. “Don’t get angry, don’t get even — focus on living well and that will eat at them more than anything you can do.”
7. Keep calm and carry on.
The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” was originally produced by the British government during the Second World War as a propaganda message to comfort people in the face of Nazi invasion. Ferriss takes the message and applies it to today’s world. “Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers,” Ferriss concludes. “Keep calm and carry on!”
posted by David Hieatt (link)
1. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many people do.
“It’s critical in social media, as in life, to have a clear objective and not to lose sight of that,” Ferriss says. He argues that if your objective is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people or to change the world in some small way (be it through a product or service), you only need to pick your first 1,000 fans — and carefully. “As long as you’re accomplishing your objectives, that 1,000 will lead to a cascading effect,” Ferriss explains. “The 10 million that don’t get it don’t matter.”
2. 10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it.
“People are least productive in reactive mode,” Ferriss states, before explaining that if you are expecting resistance and attackers, you can choose your response in advance, as opposed to reacting inappropriately. This, Ferriss says, will only multiply the problem. “Online I see people committing ’social media suicide’ all the time by one of two ways. Firstly by responding to all criticism, meaning you’re never going to find time to complete important milestones of your own, and by responding to things that don’t warrant a response.” This, says Ferriss, lends more credibility by driving traffic.
3. “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” (Colin Powell)
“If you treat everyone the same and respond to everyone by apologizing or agreeing, you’re not going to be recognizing the best performers, and you’re not going to be improving the worst performers,” Ferriss says. “That guarantees you’ll get more behavior you don’t want and less you do.” That doesn’t mean never respond, Ferriss goes on to say, but be “tactical and strategic” when you do.
4. “If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative.” (Scott Boras)
“This principle goes hand-in-hand with number two,” Ferriss says. “I actually keep this quote in my wallet because it is a reminder that the best people in almost any field are almost always the people who get the most criticism.” The bigger your impact, explains Ferriss (whose book is a New York Times, WSJ and BusinessWeek bestseller), and the larger the ambition and scale of your project, the more negativity you’ll encounter. Ferriss jokes he has haters “in about 35 languages.”
5. “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” (Epictetus)
“Another way to phrase this is through a more recent quote from Elbert Hubbard,” Ferriss says. “‘To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Ferriss, who holds a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive tango spins, says he has learned to enjoy criticism over the years. Ferriss, using Roman philosophy to expand on his point, says: “Cato, who Seneca believed to be the perfect stoic, practiced this by wearing darker robes than was customary and by wearing no tunic. He expected to be ridiculed and he was, he did this to train himself to only be ashamed of those things that are truly worth being ashamed of. To do anything remotely interesting you need to train yourself to be effective at dealing with, responding to, even enjoying criticism… In fact, I would take the quote a step further and encourage people to actively pursue being thought foolish and stupid.”
6. “Living well is the best revenge.” (George Herbert)
“The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you,” Ferriss advises. “That, and [show how much fun you’re having!” Ferriss goes on to say that the best revenge is letting haters continue to live with their own resentment and anger, which most of the time has nothing to do with you in particular. “If a vessel contains acid and you pour some on an object, it’s still the vessel that sustains the most damage,” Ferriss says. “Don’t get angry, don’t get even — focus on living well and that will eat at them more than anything you can do.”
7. Keep calm and carry on.
The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” was originally produced by the British government during the Second World War as a propaganda message to comfort people in the face of Nazi invasion. Ferriss takes the message and applies it to today’s world. “Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers,” Ferriss concludes. “Keep calm and carry on!”
posted by David Hieatt (link)
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
The Truth About What Motivates Us
Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.
What is Education for?
As kids, we walk into school with an open mind.We are innocent and naïve.
It's a time where everything is new. And where everything is possible.
We are the human equivalent of a living-breathing-back-pack wearing sponge.
We are barely knee high and yet we have reached a pivotal time in our lives.
We are going to meet our first teacher.
Luckily most teachers are brilliant.
The brilliant ones are that way Œcos they love what they do.
And as kids even if we don't always listen to the words they say, we can feel the passion with which they say them.
And passion, like negativity, is contagious.
But all teachers, no matter how passionate, have to follow a curriculum born of the last century.
And then teach that to kids from this century.
At best, it's a struggle for the teacher.
At worst, kids can't relate to it. And switch off.
Our educational system still thinks we have to sit exams to show how smart we are. And yet a test of memory doesn't always show our ability to think.
An exam doesn't tell teachers how creative you are, or how determined you are, or how prone to stress you are.
Can we learn as much about Maths by making things as counting things? Probably. Can sport teach us more about ourselves than almost anything? Definitely.
But the big question is does our educational system want to learn about the kids in front of them? Does it want to ask them what they are interested in?
The reason to ask them is simple: we learn better when we are interested.
Now the next big question is can a school learn? Can it adapt? Can it make itself more relevant? Can it change? Can it give education that connects to the kids in front of them? Or will it carry on giving them what it has prepared from the last century, regardless of how relevant it is to today. So that brings to the last big question: Love. We are taught the importance of finding a career but not the importance of finding our love. We have to change education to find out what they are interested in. Find their interest and you will unlock the floodgates of their learning.
So interest is key. If you are interested in something, you will be willing to toil away at it. Put the hours in without feeling like it is a chore. If you are interested in it, it will become your passion. And in the end, it will become your love.
And as you walk out of school and into a job you love, then work will feel more like play, the clock will never go slow, and because you love what you do, the chance are you are going to pretty good at it. And it will be a bunch of fun too.
So I guess getting schools to come into this century is pretty important.
taken from Do Blog (link)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
I love this quote...
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.- Plato
Monday, April 26, 2010
Lithuania set new Rugby World Record
taken from hereLithuania have written their name into rugby's history books after beating Serbia 77-5 on Saturday to record an 18th consecutive test victory and surpass the previous record in the men's Game held by New Zealand and South Africa.
A nation of three million people, Lithuania's run began on 27 May 2006 with a 23-17 away win over Hungary in Esztergom and has now seen them beat 12 different countries across Europe with only four matches decided by a single score.
Lithuania have already secured the Division 3A title and promotion to the third level of the European Nations Cup, but the record provides a confidence boost ahead of their Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifier with Ukraine on 8 May.
Victories over Israel (19-3) and the higher ranked Netherlands (6-3) have earned Lithuania the play-off with Division 2A champions Ukraine, the winner of which will face Romania home and away to determine Europe's representative in the cross-continental play-off for the 20th and final place at RWC 2011.
"It's great to achieve 18 successive wins and be the record holders, but we haven't yet achieved our goal," captain Mindaugas Misevicius told AFP. "We want to qualify for the World Cup in New Zealand."
Lithuania scored 13 tries against Serbia, centre Gediminas Liutrus and flanker Andrius Martinskas grabbing hat-tricks with Tomas Zibolis, Justinas Vasiliauskas, Egidijus Detronis, Edvardas Zilius, Kestutis Marcijauskas and Marius Andrijauskas the other scorers in the record-breaking win.
The All Blacks had set the record of 17 consecutive test matches between 18 September 1965 and 6 June 1969, a sequence ended with a 17-6 loss to South Africa in Pretoria in July 1970.
The Springboks, then world champions after their success at RWC 1995, equalled this run between 23 August 1997 and 29 November 1998 with England's 13-7 win at Twickenham a week later denying them the record outright.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
10 Amazing Life Lessons You Can Learn From Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein has long been considered a genius by the masses. He was a theoretical physicist, philosopher, author, and is perhaps the most influential scientists to ever live.Einstein has made great contributions to the scientific world, including the theory of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the prediction of the deflection of light by gravity, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation, to name a few of his scientific contributions.
Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”
He’s published more than 300 scientific works and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein is considered the father of modern physics and is probably the most successful scientist there ever was.
10 Amazing Lessons from Albert Einstein:
Follow Your Curiosity
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
What piques your curiosity? I am curious as to what causes one person to succeed while another person fails; this is why I’ve spent years studying success. What are you most curious about? The pursuit of your curiosity is the secret to your success.
Perseverance is Priceless
“It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.”
Through perseverance the turtle reached the ark. Are you willing to persevere until you get to your intended destination? They say the entire value of the postage stamp consist in its ability to stick to something until it gets there. Be like the postage stamp; finish the race that you’ve started!
Focus on the Present
“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”
My father always says you cannot ride two horses at the same time. I like to say, you can do anything, but not everything. Learn to be present where you are; give your all to whatever you’re currently doing.
Focused energy is power, and it’s the difference between success and failure.
The Imagination is Powerful
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Are you using your imagination daily? Einstein said the imagination is more important than knowledge! Your imagination pre-plays your future. Einstein went on to say, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” Are you exercising your “imagination muscles” daily, don’t let something as powerful as your imagination lie dormant.
Make Mistakes
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
Never be afraid of making a mistake. A mistake is not a failure. Mistakes can make you better, smarter and faster, if you utilize them properly. Discover the power of making mistakes. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, if you want to succeed, triple the amount of mistakes that you make.
Live in the Moment
“I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.”
The only way to properly address your future is to be as present as possible “in the present.”
You cannot “presently” change yesterday or tomorrow, so it’s of supreme importance that you dedicate all of your efforts to “right now.” It’s the only time that matters, it’s the only time there is.
Create Value
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
Don’t waste your time trying to be successful, spend your time creating value. If you’re valuable, then you will attract success.
Discover the talents and gifts that you possess, learn how to offer those talents and gifts in a way that most benefits others.
Labor to be valuable and success will chase you down.
Don’t Expect Different Results
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
You can’t keep doing the same thing everyday and expect different results. In other words, you can’t keep doing the same workout routine and expect to look differently. In order for your life to change, you must change, to the degree that you change your actions and your thinking is to the degree that your life will change.
Knowledge Comes From Experience
“Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”
Knowledge comes from experience. You can discuss a task, but discussion will only give you a philosophical understanding of it; you must experience the task first hand to “know it.” What’s the lesson? Get experience! Don’t spend your time hiding behind speculative information, go out there and do it, and you will have gained priceless knowledge.
Learn the Rules and Then Play Better
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
To put it all in simple terms, there are two things that you must do. The first thing you must do is to learn the rules of the game that you’re playing. It doesn’t sound exciting, but it’s vital. Secondly, you must commit to play the game better than anyone else. If you can do these two things, success will be yours!
Sunday, March 07, 2010
What If?
What if I can achieve more than I dream?What if I can do more than I believe?
What if I am better than I think?
What if I aim too low?
And what if I only ever achieve what I aim for?
What if the world never sees what I really can do?
What if I never see it, either?
What if my ideas never leave my head for fear of failure?
What If my biggest hurdle to jump over is me?
What if I never fly because I don’t believe in my wings?
Before you can change the world, you have to change your own.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Your Personal Memory Device.
It will happen some day. It is inevitable. In the near future, someone will decide to record every moment of a human life from birth to death in digital storage. This will be more than an extreme reality TV stunt. It will mark the era of personal memory offloading, an adaptive memory technology that records and indexes every single moment of your life. Offloading personal memory begins with a personal memory device, or a PMD. The basic PMD would be no more complex than a small video and sound recorder that captures your every experience. A PMD could be easily fitted shortly after birth; the least invasive option would be like a Bluetooth headset worn over the ear connected wirelessly to a local device no larger than a cell phone. Once installed, the PMD would capture and upload all first-person memories to a centralized database for indexing, search, and recall.
Data captured by the PMD would be linked over the internet into distributed software services like GPS, Google Maps, facial recognition, speech/text recognition, brainwave analysis and so on. It would create an ongoing record of the people, terrain, and objects in your vicinity. Contextual memory stored in the PMD’s back-end database would be total, like tracking your avatar moving through the World of Warcraft or Second Life, except plotting actual data from real life in real time. Whatever you do will be captured by the PMD for later playback and recall. Your PMD will remember every place you visit, every person you meet, every conversation you have, every object you look at, every movie you watch, every meal you eat, every page you read, every email you write, everything.
Would the PMD remember where you parked? Always. Will it warn you when you are about to walk away and leave your hat and sunglasses on the bench behind you? Totally. Will it send you birthday reminders, schedule your meetings, remind you to pick up your dry-cleaning and let you program your DVR with voice commands? Yes. Will it find your car keys and remote control for you? Maybe. Will it record your innermost thoughts? Probably not. It won’t always be perfect, but it will greatly extend your normal range of memory, and over time it will become like an indispensable part of your brain.
Brain on motherboardExternal data is easy to record and index, but internal memory such as feelings, thoughts, ideas, and dreams present some engineering challenges. The PMD could be fitted with an invasive brain implant to extend functionality, but to keep things simple, let’s consider some cheap, non-invasive solutions. Biometric data such as temperature, galvanic skin response, brainwave activity, pulse, respiration rates, and perspiration levels can monitor mood, arousal, activity levels, and so on. This biometric data, no matter how spotty, can be used to generate a dynamic emotional profile for any individual as they move through their day. Speech and behavioral analysis can also track levels of focus and activity to indicate mood and engagement in reality. Facial gestures and voice pitch can be tracked to sense subtle emotional reactions to stimulus. There could be a service that monitors your diet and daily routines to see if you are acting in healthy or unhealthy ways. If environmental data capture is complete, filling in emotional data from biometric analysis would be a simple software task.
With your PMD you would be able to say, “Remember the time I did (activity) with (person) at (location)?” and your PMD would search your memory database and stream the audio, video, and emotional rendering of the experience to your cell phone. Or you could ask, “Remember that book I read on chimpanzees? Who was the author?” Multiple memories may fit your query and be returned as a basic search list with text, video, and audio links. Similar memories with substituted variables might be offered up as tangents. Your request may provide you with “links” to other activities at that same location or to other books you have read by the same author. Beyond that, you could watch yourself relive important memories, or if friends and family members had similar devices, you could share personal events and watch group memories through multiple perspectives. Human memory integrity need no longer rely on lossy neural compression and the unreliable he-said/she-said narratives that compose written history. It would all be a matter of public record stored in time-stamped relational database tables for all of history. At the very least, it may save a few arguments between married couples.
Brain resoucesThe PMD sounds like science fiction, but the technology for creating it exists today. It could be an iPhone app. The engineering hurdles would be the physical disk space and CPU cycles needed for daily storage, compression, and indexing of video and audio data for every person with a PMD. Let’s assume storage and CPU cycles are solvable problems and that indexing and compression of video and speech data will only get better and faster over time. So pretty soon, for a moderate monthly fee, you could get a PMD system bundled with your cable, cell-phone, or internet bill. With a pocket or desktop unit, your daily memory will be locally stored and indexed. The relevant data points would then be uploaded to a central server for global storage and cross-indexing with other personal memories and digital records over the course of your lifetime. Like a Tivo, your PMD would be able to predict which memories you want to save, which memories your friends and family will like, and which memories are private, redundant, or expendable. It would be easy to customize these features for each individual, making indexing personal memory an intuitive task that would involve automatically setting user preferences based on daily routines; mirroring actual learning and memory networking in the brain.
Engineering a PMD is a relatively simple challenge, but the ramifications of such a device go far beyond personal memory storage. If a smart device is tracking and indexing your personal memory, every aspect of your life can then be recreated in virtual space and reviewed from any angle. Each night, our personal memory would be indexed and compressed while we slept. This would be a sort of “digital dreaming” — our digital dreams would naturally grow over time to mirror our personal dreams. Your digital memories and preference files from any period in your life could be assembled to create a virtual avatar that looked, talked, and behaved just like you. You could have a digital ghost that acts out probable behaviors in hypothetical scenarios, like a dream projecting itself into a videogame future. This digital version of you would exist long after your physical body was gone. People in the future would be able to log on and meet you, relive your memories, or place your avatar into a virtual simulation. It is not immortality, but it beats a MySpace page by a long shot.
Will it warn you when you are about to walk away and leave your hat and sunglasses on the bench behind you? Totally.
Most interestingly, the PMD can be used a social memory or cloud memory device. If you select the social memory networking option, then your public memories can be shared with anyone who shares overlapping memories with you, making shared social memory (the collective consciousness) an instantly accessible reality. This raises some privacy issues, but cell phones already track our location and capture audio and video; capturing every moment of environmental data for cloud-memory rendering is merely the logical endpoint of this technology. You could jump in on a friend’s memory stream and share their experiences over the internet; you could watch a rock concert through the eyes of the guitarist, lead singer, or anyone in the crowd. Then you could replay that concert over and over from different angles. With environmental data capture from multiple PMDs, recreating any event in virtual space becomes a matter of video crunching and graphics rendering. Rendered PMD cloud data could recreate crime scenes or accidents for review in court; create virtual classrooms and training centers; or make vacation memories available to friends on Facebook. You would never again have to ask, “Remember that time…?” All you would have to do is send a link to their PMD. They will remember.
taken from Your Personal Memory Device. You Could Have One Today | h+ Magazine
Sunday, February 28, 2010
To the crazy ones
Steve Wheeler wrote this on his blog (link here) and I think it makes me think:
"Are you considered a little crazy? Are your ideas looked on with scorn, or with mild amusement? Well, don't give up. Twice I have come across the same quote today, in two different versions, and I now think that someone, somewhere is trying to tell me something. So I share it here with you. I'm not sure whether this is even the complete quote, but it's one that really inspires me, and the words also turn up within the amazing portrait by Dylan Roscover of Apple guru Steve Jobs (link):
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
And here's the 'Think Different' video"
"Are you considered a little crazy? Are your ideas looked on with scorn, or with mild amusement? Well, don't give up. Twice I have come across the same quote today, in two different versions, and I now think that someone, somewhere is trying to tell me something. So I share it here with you. I'm not sure whether this is even the complete quote, but it's one that really inspires me, and the words also turn up within the amazing portrait by Dylan Roscover of Apple guru Steve Jobs (link):
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
And here's the 'Think Different' video"
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
A Teacher's Guide to Generation X Parents
Susan Thomas writes an excellent article here [link] on how to work with well-meaning but demanding moms and dads. She use the generational stereotypes to explain behaviour of parents that teacher might and do face.
She also offers some advice, which I think is rather useful...
Listen to Us
As insufferable as we can be at first contact, listen to us first. We may look and act like adults, but there is a part of us that still feels like a neglected kid inside. Paying attention to our concerns may be a little more time consuming, but the effort will pay off. We're loyal allies, and we love to be helpful.
She also offers some advice, which I think is rather useful...
Listen to Us
As insufferable as we can be at first contact, listen to us first. We may look and act like adults, but there is a part of us that still feels like a neglected kid inside. Paying attention to our concerns may be a little more time consuming, but the effort will pay off. We're loyal allies, and we love to be helpful.
Include Us
Invite us to teach in the classroom for an afternoon. Or assign students free-choice homework one night a week, to be completed with a parent. Many Gen Xers are genuine intellectuals with interesting ideas and hobbies. We'd love to share them!
Put Us to Work
We share your passion for making schools more successful learning environments. Besides letting us help you in class or share a homework assignment with our kids, harness our energy by asking us to help plan a field trip or do background research or otherwise help you prepare a class project.
We share your passion for making schools more successful learning environments. Besides letting us help you in class or share a homework assignment with our kids, harness our energy by asking us to help plan a field trip or do background research or otherwise help you prepare a class project.
Give Us Limits
"I let parents know that I'm always willing to listen to their concerns, but that there are certain issues that are negotiable and others that just aren't," says Shelly Wolf Scott, an administrator at Brooklyn's Rivendell School. Parents are not allowed to alter their children's classroom placement, curriculum, or administrative decisions.
They are, however, permitted to offer information about their child that the school might not know and that could assist in making such decisions. "This group of parents seems to respond well to those boundaries," she says.
"I let parents know that I'm always willing to listen to their concerns, but that there are certain issues that are negotiable and others that just aren't," says Shelly Wolf Scott, an administrator at Brooklyn's Rivendell School. Parents are not allowed to alter their children's classroom placement, curriculum, or administrative decisions.
They are, however, permitted to offer information about their child that the school might not know and that could assist in making such decisions. "This group of parents seems to respond well to those boundaries," she says.
Work with Us
"Parents don't seem to know how incredibly carefully all teachers and administrators think about their children," says Lynn Levinson, assistant director of Upper School (and a parent of two) at the Maret School, in Washington, DC. "I always reassure them that I know how many conversations have revolved around these children and their classmates, so I know that it's the right decision, even if I'm not happy with it as a parent."
"Parents don't seem to know how incredibly carefully all teachers and administrators think about their children," says Lynn Levinson, assistant director of Upper School (and a parent of two) at the Maret School, in Washington, DC. "I always reassure them that I know how many conversations have revolved around these children and their classmates, so I know that it's the right decision, even if I'm not happy with it as a parent."
Food for thought as I tackle a couple of parents' meetings in the next month.
Be a Doer
Set yourself a goal.Set yourself a deadline.
Define success at the start.
Make a plan to make it happen.
Build a team to help you.
Get the team to sign up, head and heart, to the plan.
Understand there will be hurdles, barriers. Accept them. But defeat them.
Work each day toward getting things done. A little can do a lot.
Keep the end goal in your mind at all times.
Understand the importance of your energy. Your stubbornness. Your persistence.
Half way through a project is always the lowest point. You are neither at the start, nor at the end. Energy dips, morale is low. Have a day off.
The next day remind yourself why you started it in the first place.
Focus. Focus. Focus. But focus on the most important thing.
Tell the world what you are doing.
Tell the world your deadline.
Celebrate progress. Any progress.
Never give up.
Look back at how far you have traveled. It will surprise you.
It will also tell you that you are closer to your goal than ever before.
Keep going.
Then one day, after many, many days, you will complete your goal.
You got there in the end.
Your words and your deeds are one. Most people in life are just talkers. But you are a doer. Well done.
written by David Hieatt from the Do Blog [link]
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What is 21st Century Education?
taken from 21st Century Schools and makes interesting reading (link)
Sunday, February 21, 2010
e-Learning?
Is there a new role for learning?Does e-learning differ from learning by more than the medium?
Can e-Learning be a combination of self-study, online resources, community/group projects, interaction with an instructor, assessment and transfer? or is this the same as learning?
Is e-learning about providing more than learning at specific times?
Is the provider's role to help individuals make the best of the learning that's available and to access it on-demand?
Is e-learning providing an environment in which people can work and learn almost seamlessly?
Is it more about managing the climate for learning than just the content for learning?
So many questions and so little time to research and experiment.
Friday, February 12, 2010
ICT and Education: 10 Trends
Taken from WorldBank Blog (link) and written by Robert HawkinsIn the spirit of the new year and all things dealing with resolutions and lists, I submit below my first blog posting for the EduTech blog (checking off a resolution) with a discussion of 10 Global Trends in ICT and Education for 2010 and beyond (joining the crowded space of lists in this new year).
The list is an aggregation of projections from leading forecasters such as the Horizon Report, personal observations and a good dose of guesswork. The Top 10 Global Trends in ICT and Education are:
Mobile Learning. New advances in hardware and software are making mobile “smart phones” indispensible tools. Just as cell phones have leapfrogged fixed line technology in the telecommunications industry, it is likely that mobile devices with internet access and computing capabilities will soon overtake personal computers as the information appliance of choice in the classroom.
Cloud computing. Applications are increasingly moving off of the stand alone desk top computer and increasingly onto server farms accessible through the Internet. The implications of this trend for education systems are huge; they will make cheaper information appliances available which do not require the processing power or size of the PC. The challenge will be providing the ubiquitous connectivity to access information sitting in the “cloud”.
One-to-One computing. The trend in classrooms around the world is to provide an information appliance to every learner and create learning environments that assume universal access to the technology. Whether the hardware involved is one laptop per child (OLPC), or – increasingly -- a net computer, smart phone, or the re-emergence of the tablet, classrooms should prepare for the universal availability of personal learning devices.
Ubiquitous learning. With the emergence of increasingly robust connectivity infrastructure and cheaper computers, school systems around the world are developing the ability to provide learning opportunities to students “anytime, anywhere”. This trend requires a rethinking of the traditional 40 minute lesson. In addition to hardware and Internet access, it requires the availability of virtual mentors or teachers, and/or opportunities for peer to peer and self-paced, deeper learning.
Gaming. A recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project per the Horizon Report found that massively multiplayer and other online game experience is extremely common among young people and that games offer an opportunity for increased social interaction and civic engagement among youth. The phenomenal success of games with a focus on active participation, built in incentives and interaction suggests that current educational methods are not falling short and that educational games could more effectively attract the interest and attention of learners.
Personalized learning. Education systems are increasingly investigating the use of technology to better understand a student’s knowledge base from prior learning and to tailor teaching to both address learning gaps as well as learning styles. This focus transforms a classroom from one that teaches to the middle to one that adjusts content and pedagogy based on individual student needs – both strong and weak.
Redefinition of learning spaces. The ordered classroom of 30 desks in rows of 5 may quickly become a relic of the industrial age as schools around the world are re-thinking the most appropriate learning environments to foster collaborative, cross-disciplinary, students centered learning. Concepts such as greater use of light, colors, circular tables, individual spaces for students and teachers, and smaller open learning spaces for project-based learning are increasingly emphasized.
Teacher-generated open content. OECD school systems are increasingly empowering teachers and networks of teachers to both identify and create the learning resources that they find most effective in the classroom. Many online texts allow teachers to edit, add to, or otherwise customize material for their own purposes, so that their students receive a tailored copy that exactly suits the style and pace of the course. These resources in many cases complement the official textbook and may, in the years to come, supplant the textbook as the primary learning source for students. Such activities often challenge traditional notions of intellectual property and copyright.
Smart portfolio assessment. The collection, management, sorting, and retrieving of data related to learning will help teachers to better understand learning gaps and customize content and pedagogical approaches. Also, assessment is increasingly moving toward frequent formative assessments which lend itself to real-time data and less on high-pressure exams as the mark of excellence. Tools are increasingly available to students to gather their work together in a kind of online portfolio; whenever they add a tweet, blog post, or photo to any online service, it will appear in their personal portfolio which can be both peer and teacher assessed.
Teacher managers/mentors. The role of the teacher in the classroom is being transformed from that of the font of knowledge to an instructional manager helping to guide students through individualized learning pathways, identifying relevant learning resources, creating collaborative learning opportunities, and providing insight and support both during formal class time and outside of the designated 40 minute instruction period. This shift is easier said than done and ultimately the success or failure of technology projects in the classroom hinge on the human factor and the willingness of a teacher to step into unchartered territory.
These trends are expected to continue and to challenge many of the delivery models fundamental to formal education as it is practiced in most countries. It will be interesting to reflect back on this list at the end of the year to see which ideas have gained the most traction; and what new ideas will make a list for 2011….
Friday, February 05, 2010
Hunters and Farmers
I loved this post by Seth Godin on his blog (click here):
10,000 years ago, civilization forked. Farming was invented and the way many people spent their time was changed forever.
Clearly, farming is a very different activity from hunting. Farmers spend time sweating the details, worrying about the weather, making smart choices about seeds and breeding and working hard to avoid a bad crop. Hunters, on the other hand, have long periods of distracted noticing interrupted by brief moments of frenzied panic.
It's not crazy to imagine that some people are better at one activity than another. There might even be a gulf between people who are good at each of the two skills. Thom Hartmann has written extensively on this. He points out that medicating kids who might be better at hunting so that they can sit quietly in a school designed to teach farming doesn't make a lot of sense.
A kid who has innate hunting skills is easily distracted, because noticing small movements in the brush is exactly what you'd need to do if you were hunting. Scan and scan and pounce. That same kid is able to drop everything and focus like a laser--for a while--if it's urgent. The farming kid, on the other hand, is particularly good at tilling the fields of endless homework problems, each a bit like the other. Just don't ask him to change gears instantly.
Marketers confuse the two groups. Are you selling a product that helps farmers... and hoping that hunters will buy it? How do you expect that people will discover your product, or believe that it will help them? The woman who reads each issue of Vogue, hurrying through the pages then clicking over to Zappos to overnight order the latest styles--she's hunting. Contrast this to the CTO who spends six months issuing RFPs to buy a PBX that was last updated three years ago... she's farming.
Both groups are worthy, both groups are profitable. But each group is very different from the other, and I think we need to consider teaching, hiring and marketing to these groups in completely different ways. I'm not sure if there's a genetic component or if this is merely a convenient grouping of people's personas. All I know is that it often explains a lot about behavior (including mine).
Some ways to think about this:
10,000 years ago, civilization forked. Farming was invented and the way many people spent their time was changed forever.
Clearly, farming is a very different activity from hunting. Farmers spend time sweating the details, worrying about the weather, making smart choices about seeds and breeding and working hard to avoid a bad crop. Hunters, on the other hand, have long periods of distracted noticing interrupted by brief moments of frenzied panic.
It's not crazy to imagine that some people are better at one activity than another. There might even be a gulf between people who are good at each of the two skills. Thom Hartmann has written extensively on this. He points out that medicating kids who might be better at hunting so that they can sit quietly in a school designed to teach farming doesn't make a lot of sense.
A kid who has innate hunting skills is easily distracted, because noticing small movements in the brush is exactly what you'd need to do if you were hunting. Scan and scan and pounce. That same kid is able to drop everything and focus like a laser--for a while--if it's urgent. The farming kid, on the other hand, is particularly good at tilling the fields of endless homework problems, each a bit like the other. Just don't ask him to change gears instantly.
Marketers confuse the two groups. Are you selling a product that helps farmers... and hoping that hunters will buy it? How do you expect that people will discover your product, or believe that it will help them? The woman who reads each issue of Vogue, hurrying through the pages then clicking over to Zappos to overnight order the latest styles--she's hunting. Contrast this to the CTO who spends six months issuing RFPs to buy a PBX that was last updated three years ago... she's farming.
Both groups are worthy, both groups are profitable. But each group is very different from the other, and I think we need to consider teaching, hiring and marketing to these groups in completely different ways. I'm not sure if there's a genetic component or if this is merely a convenient grouping of people's personas. All I know is that it often explains a lot about behavior (including mine).
Some ways to think about this:
- George Clooney (in Up in the Air) and James Bond are both fictional hunters. Give them a desk job and they freak out.
- Farmers don't dislike technology. They dislike failure. Technology that works is a boon.
- Hunters are in sync with Google, a hunting site, farmers like Facebook.
- When you promote a first-rate hunting salesperson to internal sales management, be prepared for failure.
- Farmers prefer productive meetings, hunters want to simply try stuff and see what happens.
- Warren Buffet is a farmer. So is Bill Gates. Mark Cuban is a hunter.
- Hunters want a high-stakes mission, farmers want to avoid epic failure.
- Trade shows are designed to entrance hunters, yet all too often, the booths are staffed with farmers.
- The last hundred years of our economy favored smart farmers. It seems as though the next hundred are going to belong to the persistent hunters able to stick with it for the long haul.
- A hunter will often buy something merely because it is difficult to acquire.
- One of the paradoxes of venture capital is that it takes a hunter to get the investment and a farmer to patiently make the business work.
- A farmer often relies on other farmers in her peer group to be sure a purchase is riskless.
New Pedagogies For The Digital Age
Check out this SlideShare Presentation by Steve Wheeler
New Pedagogies For The Digital Age
View more presentations from Steve Wheeler.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Test Your Awareness: Do The Test
Great on cycle awareness BUT also an interesting discussion starter regarding some theological and philosophical stuff.
Eyewriter - making IT work!
The EyeWriter project is an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people who are suffering from ALS with creative technologies.
It is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus & custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes.
The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Rethinking Teaching & Learning in a Networked Reality
View more documents from Alec Couros.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Bill McLaren's most famous quotes
Bill McLaren, the BBC commentator known fondly as the voice of rugby, has died in his hometown of Hawick, Scotland at the age of 86. Here are a selection of the quotes which made him such a beloved figure throughout the game taken from The Telegraph (link)On Phil Bennett: "They say down at Stradey that if ever you catch him [Phil Bennett] you get to make a wish."
On Jonah Lomu: "I'm no hod carrier but I would be laying bricks if he [Jonah L] was running at me."
On Grant Batty: "He plays like a runaway bullet."
On Gerald Davies: "His sidestep was marvellous – like a shaft of lightning."
Other favourites:
"It’s high enough, it’s long enough AND IT’S STRAIGHT ENOUGH."
"He’s like a demented ferret up a wee drainpipe."
"He’s like a raging bull with a bad head."
"That one was a bit inebriated – just like one of my golf shots."
"He kicked that ball like it were three pounds o’ haggis."
"The All Blacks that day looked like great prophets of doom."
"My goodness, that wee ball’s gone so high there’ll be snow on it when it comes down.
"He’s as quick as a trout up a burn."
"Those props are as cunning as a bag o’ weasels."
"A day out of Hawick is a day wasted."
*And it’s a try by Hika the hooker from Ngongotaha (Wales v New Zealand 1980).
"I look at Colin Meads and see a great big sheep farmer who carried the ball in his hands as though it was an orange pip."
"I’ve hardly ever had to pay to get in (the best thing in his view about 50 years of commentary at rugby matches)."
RIP the Voice of Rugby - we will miss you!
We need urgent action to improve our schools - The Conservatives
A future Conservative government would make schools in England test six-year-olds on reading and writing - and publish the results.Read all about it here (link)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Mobile Trends 2020
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Scrap staffrooms - real example, it works
No staffroom at Mossbourne
Michael Wilshaw has scrapped the staff room and, along with other measures, has produced one of the most successful state schools in the country - Mossbourne Community Academy. He has no central staffroom and teachers have to take tea and coffee in 'learning areas' around the school, "I wanted staff and students in close proximity at all times so that, at vulnerable periods such as breaks when you get bullying and vandalism, pupils don't all head in one direction and staff in another". And this guy is lambasted by the left for being a traditionalist!
Rather than being embraced by Labour, it's the Conservatives who have been parading him around and inviting him to their conferences. Just for the record, his school from being one of the worst in the country now gets 85% A-C (including English and Maths), despite its deprived, and non-selective, intake.
Why staffrooms are bad?
Rather than being embraced by Labour, it's the Conservatives who have been parading him around and inviting him to their conferences. Just for the record, his school from being one of the worst in the country now gets 85% A-C (including English and Maths), despite its deprived, and non-selective, intake.
Why staffrooms are bad?
When Malcolm Gladwell was asked what one thing would most improve education he replied, "Abolishing teacher staffrooms". He may have been right – a survey published in 2007 showed that teachers top the worst ‘gossips at work’ poll, with 79% talking about their colleagues behind their back. John Taylor Gatto, a National award winning teacher in the US gave up teaching quoting one of the reasons as he could no longer stand the culture of the staffroom.
Teachers may lose rank among their peer group if they don’t join in the gossip (Nias 1989) and, worse, may be subjected to rumour and gossip if they shun the classroom (Rosenholz 1989). These studies show troubled teachers, in particular, being at risk. Kainan’s 1994 study of staffrooms found that they were largely simple, colourless, monotonous, devoid of clear functionality and were often split into several cliques; veteran, novice, supply and student teachers. It was a clear hierarchy. Worse than this is the Hammersly study in (1984) that found conversation about students and their parents/carers, was largely condemnatory.
Is there a case for scrapping school staffrooms? No other professions have a ‘panic room’ just for managers to chill out, so why have school staff rooms?
posted by Donald Clark on his blog (link)
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