text:
So much for the Santa Cruz County record books. Soquel High running back Fabiano Hale just about blew them away this season.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior set the all-time single-season rushing mark with 2,452 yards on 234 carries -- an average of 10.47 yards per carry. The bulky back also scored a county-record 258 points this season, aided mostly by his 40 rushing touchdowns.
It was more than enough for coaches in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League to name him Most Valuable Player.
"He was the name on the board," said Soquel coach Ron Myers, said Soquel coach Ron Myers, whose Knights finished runner-up in the SCCAL and advanced to the Central Coast Section playoffs for the first time since 2005.
Hale helped steer the team to the postseason while running behind a veteran offensive line. Myers called the amount of returning experience a "perfect storm," as Soquel compiled a league-high 489 points this season.
"The kid did it in all three phases of the game," Myers said of Hale. "He was a shattering tackler on defense. He was a big-time punter, and then on offense, well, we knew he was going to have a big year."
Hale broke the previous rushing mark of 2,360 yards set by Harbor's Calvin Keyser-Allen in 2000 by 92 yards. The scoring mark of 182 points, set by Watsonville's Shawn Benjamin in 2003, was surpassed by a whopping 76 points.
Hale, who ran for 375 yards on 39 carries against Carmel on Nov. 16, fell four yards shy of adding the single-game rushing mark to his resume.
He is being recruited by San Jose State, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and others.
"The kid put it all together," Myers said.
Myers wondered how dominant an offensive backfield that included Hale, Scotts Valley's Ari Wargon and Aptos' Elijah Marta would be against opposing teams. The latter two backs were named Co-Offensive Players of the Year in the SCCAL.
Wargon ran for 1,420 yards and 13 touchdowns on 191 carries, while Marta ran for 864 yards and a team-high 12 touchdowns on 127 attempts.
Other league honors went to Soquel senior linebacker Kevin Kiff, who was named Defensive Player of the Year, while Aptos senior Alec Bonsall was tabbed as Lineman of the Year. Mariners quarterback Alex Joh, who finished with 999 yards and 11 touchdowns on 61 of 111 passing, was named Junior of the Year.
Doug Morris, who coached San Lorenzo Valley for 25 seasons before stepping down following the conclusion of the regular season on Nov. 2, was named Coach of the Year.
The longtime coach, who took over the SLV program in 1988, finished with a 189-82-9 career record, with 13 league championships.
Aptos earned the league crown this season after posting its second straight undefeated SCCAL campaign.
SCCAL coaches voted unanimously last year to move to a system that awarded the best players in the league, regardless of position. It is the reason why seven offensive linemen were selected for first-team offense this year.
The Mariners (10-3, 6-0) had five first-team selections in running backs Aaron McAnerney and Brodie Bennet, and offensive linemen Mitch Ocampo and Jon Sullivan. Linebacker Nick DeMoro was picked on defense.
Soquel (9-3, 5-1) had six first-team selections, including quarterback Lucas Cordoza; offensive linemen Matthew Sisco, Evan Zigman and David Salinas; and linebackers Caleb Fidiam and Elvis Plecq.
Scotts Valley (5-5, 4-2) garnered seven first-team nods. On offense, Peter Marigonda was selected as an offensive lineman, while Jack Lavery was chosen as a kicker and Jake Rehnberg was named utility player. On defense, Josh McKim was picked for the defensive line, Willie Johnston and Abe Alvarez were named as defensive backs and Ian Howard was chosen as punter.
SLV (6-4. 3-3) running back Derek Poetzinger and wide receiver Lucas Sinnott were chosen for first-team offense, while defensive lineman John Camacho and linebacker Robbie Biagiotti were named to first-team defense.
First-team honors were rounded out by Harbor (3-7, 1-5) running back Garrett Fonseca and defensive lineman Dakotah Francis; St. Francis (2-8, 1-5) offensive lineman Clancy Ryan and wide receiver Nate Ceballos; and Santa Cruz (1-9, 1-5) defensive linemen Armando Ortiz and Miles Keys-McKay.
Assistant sports editor Jim Seimas contributed to this story.
All-SCCAL Football
MVP: Fabiano Hale, Soquel, RB/DB, Sr.
Co-Offensive Player of the Year: Ari Wargon, Scotts Valley RB, Sr.; Elijah Marta, Aptos, RB, Sr.
Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Kiff, Soquel LB, Sr.
Lineman of the Year: Alec Bonsall, Aptos TE/DE, Sr.
Junior of the Year: Alex Joh, Aptos, QB, Jr.
Coach of the Year: Doug Morris, San Lorenzo Valley
All-SCCAL First Team Offense
QB: Lucas Cordoza, Soquel, Sr.
RB: Derek Poetzinger, San Lorenzo Valley, Sr.
RB: Aaron McAnerney, Aptos, Sr.
RB: Brodie Bennett, Aptos, Sr.
RB: Garrett Fonseca, Harbor, Sr.
OL: Clancy Ryan, St. Francis, Sr.
OL: Matthew Sisco, Soquel, Sr.
OL: Evan Zigman, Soquel, Sr.
OL: David Salinas, Soquel, Sr.
OL: Peter Marigonda, Scotts Valley, Jr.
OL: Mitch Ocampo, Aptos, Sr.
OL: Jon Sullivan, Aptos, Sr.
WR: Lucas Sinnott, San Lorenzo Valley, Sr.
WR: Nate Ceballos, St. Francis, Sr.
UTL: Jake Rehnberg, Scotts Valley RB/TE/LB/KR, Jr.
K: Jack Lavery, Scotts Valley, Sr.
All-SCCAL First Team Defense
DL: John Camacho, San Lorenzo Valley, Sr.
DL: Armando Ortiz, Santa Cruz, Sr.
DL: Josh McKim, Scotts Valley, Sr.
DL: Miles Keys-McKay, Santa Cruz, Jr.
DL: Dakotah Francis, Harbor, Sr.
LB: Robbie Biagiotti, San Lorenzo Valley, Sr.
LB: Caleb Fidiam, Soquel, Sr.
LB: Elvis Plecq, Soquel, Sr.
LB: Nick DeMoro, Aptos, Sr.
DB: Willie Johnston, Scotts Valley, Jr.
DB: Abe Alvarez, Scotts Valley, Sr.
P: Ian Howard, Scotts Valley, Sr.


text:
I started this thread in the general forum but no one seems to want to answer. Do any of you queen breeders know if bees move larva?
I made a 4-frame split Thursday evening, gave them Friday to realize the queen wasn't around, and went in this morning to make On-the-Spot cuts so they'd build queen cells there.
Pulled out a frame that had some old wax moth damage on it, and found this:
I didn't think the queen was even laying in that area--you can see the nectar and pollen being stored surrounding the cups, and there isn't ANY young brood on that whole side of the frame! Would the bees build a cup in a convenient area and MOVE eggs or larva into it?? (I mean, we do it with grafting...) Will they ever build a cup around a cell with no larva/eggs? I see three cups, with maybe the beginning of a fourth (right below the bottom right cup).
I hadn't ever heard of such things happening...
Practiced making some OTS cuts anyways. The bees' queen will probably hatch out first, but ah well.
Please chime in if you have any inputs on this! I'm quite confused!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
September 10, 2009
Affected Products
Affected Products
Problem Description
On September 8, 2009, Microsoft released the following security bulletins:
MS09-045: Critical
MS09-046: Critical
MS09-047: Critical
MS09-048: Critical
MS09-049: Critical
Cisco evaluates Microsoft security notices and updates for potential impact to Cisco Contact Center products. The qualification process results in the application of one of three categorical ratings to an update: Impacting, Deferred, or Not Applicable. These ratings are defined in the Cisco Customer Contact software policy for using Microsoft security updates on products deployed on a retail installation of Windows operating system bulletin. The cumulative set of security patches available from Microsoft—including those marked here as Deferred—are applied to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (current supported Service Pack) and/or the appropriate component prior to Cisco's testing of every release of the Customer Contact Business Unit (CCBU) products (major, minor, and maintenance).
For the security updates listed in the Problem Description section of this bulletin, Cisco has assigned them to the three categories as follows:
Not Applicable
Care should be taken in deciding which updates to apply to your systems. For additional information on the security measures to be considered in an ICM environment, refer to the Security Best Practices for Cisco Intelligent Contact Management Software Guide.
For the Security Updates categorized as Impacting, Cisco continues to test its products to determine if there are further potential conflicts.
Customers should follow Microsoft's guidelines regarding when and how they should apply these updates. Refer to the Microsoft website for full details of the potential exposure from the caveat, which is referenced on the Microsoft Security page.
Problem Symptoms
It is important to point out that Cisco Contact Center Support has not had any cases pertaining to these vulnerabilities recorded from our customer base as of September 10, 2009.
Cisco has assessed and, where deemed appropriate, validated the Microsoft security patches addressed in this bulletin along with any workarounds for the problems found.
Cisco recommends that Contact Center customers separately assess all security patches released by Microsoft and install those deemed appropriate for their environments. Cisco will continue to provide a service of separately assessing and, where necessary, validating higher severity security patches that may be relevant to the Cisco Contact Center and Self Service products. Visit the Microsoft website to acquire the fixes. Keep in mind that you should download the appropriate fixes based on the version of the Microsoft operating system deployed in your environment and service pack level.
Additional Information
If you require further assistance, or if you have questions regarding this Impact Assessment, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:
This document is provided on an "as is" basis and does not imply any kind of guarantee or warranty, including the warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular use. Your use of the information on the document or materials linked from the document is at your own risk. Cisco reserves the right to change or update this document at any time.


text:
Deputies release names of suspects & victim in deadly marijuana-related shooting
RED BLUFF, Calif. - The Tehama County Sheriff's Office has released the names of the victim and suspects in a violent robbery at a Tehama County marijuana grow. When it was over, one man was dead, and three men were facing a series of charges.
The man who was killed has been identified as Keo Oudone Vannarath, 37 of Redding.
The three men who were arrested are 31-year-old Roger Bounnhaseng, 26-year-old Alan Duane Doulphus Jr., and 23-year-old Chase Doulphus. All three men are from Fresno.
On Thursday, Tehama County Sheriff's Office deputies and officers from the Red Bluff Police Department responded to the AM/PM Market on North Main Street in Red Bluff regarding a report of a gunshot victim at that location.
The gunshot victim, later identified as Keo Vannarath had been transported to that location in a private vehicle.
The two other passengers of the vehicle reported they had been the victim of a robbery in the 15000 block of Hwy 36W, approximately 12 miles west of Red Bluff.
Vannarath was transported to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital via ambulance, where he was pronounced dead.
Based on witness statements, deputies determined the shooting occurred at 15800 Hwy 36W, Red Bluff where Vannarath and the two other individuals reside. Vannarath and the two individuals were involved in a medical marijuana growing operation and were in the process of harvesting the marijuana.
The witnesses reported they were approached by the three suspects who were armed with a shotgun, a semi-automatic type rifle, and a pistol. The intent of the three suspects was to take the processed marijuana.
Vannarath was shot during the robbery attempt, and the three suspects, and possibly a fourth individual, fled the scene in a sedan with a large amount of marijuana. Deputies immediately issued an all points Be on the Look Out (BOLO) for the vehicle and the suspects.
A short time later a CALTRANS worker reported that a vehicle and subjects matching the description drove through a construction zone traveling westbound on Hwy 36W toward Platina.
The California Highway Patrol, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, along with Tehama County Sheriff's Office personnel and the Tehama County District Attorney's Office personnel responded to the area.
California Highway Patrol officers, assisted by their helicopter, encountered the vehicle and a pursuit ensued. The vehicle crashed off the roadway at Clear Creek Road, west of Cloverdale in Shasta County.
Alan Doulphus and Chase Doulphus were taken into custody at the scene of the crash. Chase Doulphus was transported to a local area hospital for injuries he sustained during the crash.
A large quantity of marijuana was seized from the vehicle.
Roger Bounnhaseng and possibly one other individual fled from the vehicle after the crash. Deputies and officers conducted an extensive area search using CHP K-9 units.
At about 5 p.m. Thursday, Bounnhaseng was taken into custody by deputies from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office. He was then turned over to deputies of the Tehama County Sheriff's Office, where he was later booked into the Tehama County Jail.
Alan Doulphus and Roger Bounnhaseng were booked into the Tehama County Jail on charges of Transportation of Marijuana, Possession of Marijuana for sale, and felony fleeing. Their bail has been set at $2,000,000.
Upon Chase Doulphus' release from the hospital he will be booked into the Tehama County Jail on the same charges.
The shooting death of Vannarath is currently being investigated and an open count of murder is anticipated.
The Tehama County Sheriff's Office is actively seeking to identify a fourth subject whose role in this crime is unclear at this time.
Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said he believes the robbery was essentially an inside job, since Bounnhaseng had knowledge of the grow, and had even tended it.


text:
Mayor receives support from son
In reading Mr. Abler's letter in the March 13 edition of the Brainerd Dispatch I would like to say this:
Thank you, Dad! As your oldest son I thought I would publish my bias up front so my perspective is understood. I am most certainly proud of you. I witness Mr. Abler's letter as a sour grapes attack, from your opponent in the recent election for mayor of Crosslake, who lost without the support of his community.
Even though the implications of his statements could be refuted I choose not to do so as I believe your actions, Dad, will speak louder than his words.
I have learned, from you, that all challenges should be addressed straight forward, honestly and based on facts in order to move forward in a positive direction.
Although your challenges as mayor are unwanted, I know your determination to resolve them will prevail as it is consistent with your life-long devotion to improve each and every community for which you have been involved.
People of the community came forward and asked you to serve the city of Crosslake where for 45 years our family has vacationed and now call home.
You answered their call. Please stay the course. Stay on the right side of the issues. Crosslake is still the "Beauty Spot of Minnesota" and the world to our family. Love you, Dad.
Darrell F. Schneider Jr.,


text:
Kevin Clemmer and Derek Smith's neon orange safety vests aren't the only specks of color along North Carolina's highways. A vibrant sea of wildflowers also catches the eyes of drivers whizzing by.
Clemmer and Smith work for North Carolina DOT's (NCDOT) Roadside Environmental Unit, which protects and controls the hundreds of species of plants and flowers lining North Carolina's roadsides. The unit is extremely adept at managing the vast array of plants in the state's three major climate zones—coastal, piedmont, and mountain—which contain multiple cool- and warm-season grass species. The soil is sandy in the state's eastern coastal areas and clay in its mountainous western portion, providing growing conditions for a variety of weeds.
In the coastal areas, the DOTcontends with warm-season grass species, such as bahiagrass, centipede, and bermudagrass. The vegetation management team has two priorities in this region: suppressing bahiagrass seedheads, and converting bahiagrass to centipede.
Bahiagrass produces seedheads all summer. "We can mow it, but three days later it will sprout another seedhead," says Clemmer, a roadside environmental engineer for NCDOT's vegetation management team. "On average, these warm-season grass areas would require three to five costly mowings per year if we didn't apply herbicides."
The second component of the warm-season grass management plan in eastern North Carolina is removing bahiagrass from areas pre-planted with centipede grass, which produces fewer seedheads and requires less maintenance. If left unmowed, centipede grass grows to only 4 to 6 inches, making it a popular choice for rights of way. By switching to centipede, NCDOT only has to mow one to two times per year, instead of the previous three to five.
To maintain cool-season grasses—such as tall fescue—in western North Carolina, NCDOT uses a plant growth regulator program to reduce the height of the grass. While tall fescue is an ideal cool-season grass species for erosion control, it can grow up to 4 feet, hampering visibility of road signs and hazards.
Without a herbicide to regulate its height, fescue would require five to seven mowings per year. By applying a herbicide with imazapic in March or April, NCDOT has reduced the number of mowings to four to six a year.
"Any money we save on mowing can go toward other aspects of our environmental projects," says Smith, NCDOT's vegetation management supervisor. "Vegetation management is a dynamic science—there are always new projects to take on, but not always new money to fund them. We have to leverage our dollars as best we can."
One project that benefits from lower mowing costs is North Carolina's wildflower program. NCDOT initiated the program on 12 acres of roadside in 1985 to support native wildflower growth while discouraging invasive plant species.
"The first years were trial and error," says Smith. "There was no information on how to grow wildflowers from seed, so we had to learn which species would grow in North Carolina and what techniques would help them flourish."


text:
(002) Top location! Charming 2-room apartment.
Vendégek száma2
Hálószobák száma1
Méret47 m²
Floor No.6(with elevator)
- Családi / Gyerek barát
- Konyha
- Alkalmas rendezvényekre
- Lift az épületben
- Erkély/terasz
- Internet/WiFi
Accommodation summary
|Nollendorfplatz, 10777 Berlin, Németország
|Ingatlan típusa
|Ingatlan azonosító
|Acceptance rate
|< 50%
|Response time
|A few hours
|Calendar updated
|6 days ago
Full equipped kitchen with electric stove, fridge, cutlery, coffee machine and a toaster.
Eating space for four people with a fascinating view of Nollendorfplatz. TV, Midi-set, generous space for luggage and clothes.
Numerous shopping opportunities close to the lively cultural-, scenic- and night life directly before the door. A large and beautiful market (Winterfeldmarkt) very near by, reputed as one of the most interesting markets in Berlin.
All prices are shown in Euros and include VAT at the current rate of 7%. We charge 35 Euro for final cleaning. Please note that these prices are not valid during major events, public holidays and other holiday periods (please ask for an offer).
- Fairs and major events (IFA, ITB, ISTAF, Marathon, etc)
- Public Holidays (Easter, Christmas, German Unity Day, etc)
- Summer holiday
- New Year (27th Dec - 4th Jan)
Please ask us about prices for stays of more than one week.
|Weekly rate for 1 guest
|446 €
|Monthly rate for 1 guest
|1457 €
|Ár >1 vendégre
|11 € /fő/éj extra
|Érkezés legkorábbi időpontja
|Check-in before
|Távozás legkésőbbi időpontja
|Lemondási feltétel
A házigazda egyéb ingatlanjainak értékelései
We spent 7 nights in the apartment. The location is superb (not in the center, but nice and quiet neighborhood). Gabi was so kind and gave us the keys, even when we got there a bit late. Supermarket, U and S stations and bus, literally 1 min walking. The apartment is spacious for 2 people, clean, and with all the amenities you can need, including extra towels and sheets. The kitchen is big enough to eat in there, and very clean. Bathroom small but enough to feel confortable. The only bad thing I would say about the apartment is that the mattress is old and not so confortable (but we survived). No problems with the wifi and hot water. I would repeat without doubt...but more happily if they change the mattress.....XD
The apartment is great, big, clean and very good situated. Check in/out was very easy.
Thanks Martin!
The host cancelled the booking, this review is automated.
The apartment is right on Nollendorfplatz, overlooking the uBahn station. It was clean, tidy and well laid out. The sofa-bed in the living room was lacking covers. The kitchen was very well equipped despite its small size. It was particularly nice to find that tea bags and milk had been provided. The kitchen window was badly cracked.
The bathroom/toilet is also small and somewhat cramped. It was clean and tidy. The bedroom was sparsely furnished but entirely adequate. The bed was comfortable.
The living room was a bit to warm at times: despite it being Summer and pretty warm the radiators were warm in the evenings so the windows and doors had to be opened to keep the room at a comfortable temperature. The bedroom was much cooler.
The location is great. The area is lively and relaxed at the same time. Maaßenstraße is lined with bars and restaurants. Winterfeldplatz has a regular market with good fresh produce. There is a good, well stocked supermarket right below the apartment. One can be in the heart of the tourist areas in minutes.
As the apartment is on a busy street expect some noise at night: it was not a problem at any point. Just sitting on the balcony looking over the city was a nice relaxing to spend some time.
I would certainly book this place again were it available.
Great location. Appartment was very well maintained. The possibility to take a hot bath after a long day of sightseeing is very nice. We enjoyed our stay in Berlin! Thank you!
our stay in this flat was perfect. Location is excellent and the flat was really well equipped and in a very good state. its was also perfectly clean.
So I would definitely recommend it as the area is also great !
Thanks for welcoming us there.
the apartment is very good and the location too , is well connected and there are supermarkets nearby. the only problem was trying to let us know the owner of the apartment , we did not answer the phone in the 5 days we were .
The owner is friendly, location is good, the place is nice but could be better maintained. The dishes were extremely limited (1 wine glass and 2 water glasses are not quite enough even for a couple), there was only 2 small bath towels...and a leaky fosset in the bathroom made it hard to keep the floor dry... If these things were fixed i would otherwise highly recommend the place!
Great flat in a perfect location in Berlin. We have stayed for 5 nights and enjoyed the neighborhood
everything was fine
- Minőségbiztosított szállás
- Minden házigazda hitelesítésre került telefonon keresztül
- Biztonságos fizetés SSL titkosításon keresztül


text:
UTSA Library staff member Marilyn Valentine (left) answers a question
for student Ruby Perez at the JPL reference desk.
UTSA $3.1 million library renovation begins soon
By Jan Kemp
Assistant Dean for Public Services, UTSA Library
(Aug. 29, 2008)--A $3.1 million renovation of the John Peace Library at the UTSA 1604 Campus will begin in September. The project includes an update of the John Peace Library Building second floor, the entrance level of the library. The renovation will make the library a more functional, attractive place to study and conduct research. The six-month project is expected to last from September 2008 through March 2009. The facility will remain open 24/5 throughout the renovation, and all services will continue to be available.
Today's headlines
- La Prensa Foundation is newest member of UTSA Lone Star Society
- UTSA alumna Jordan Kaufmann wins $50K for new stent-graft start-up
- UTSA begins new way-finding sign installation this summer at Main Campus
- USA Today: UTSA long jumper Tyler Williamson rescues three-year-old boy
Article tools
Teaching and learning have changed dramatically at UTSA since the JPL Building opened in 1976, and this renovation will update library facilities to support the needs of current and future students and faculty. The Bommarito Group, space planners and designers, worked with the library staff in 2006 to prepare the UTSA Library Space Study.
The first goal of the study was "to position the library so as to be more relevant to the entire campus. We would like to see it integrated into campus life, academics and student lives. We would also like to see it connect publicly and meaningfully with the academic programs on campus."
The second-floor renovation will feature updated lighting and ceilings, comfortable seating, colorful paint and fabrics, new computers and improved space for studying. The furnishings will incorporate colors of orange and blue, and will include outlets for laptops, a room where students can practice class presentations and flexible spaces for students to work in groups or individually.
A variety of new lighting and ceiling treatments will brighten workspaces and public areas. Display cases in the second-floor vestibule provide a preview of fabric samples and paint colors, photos of furniture selections and floor plans.
The first phase of the project took place in mid-August with the addition of 950 new study chairs throughout the library.
For updates on construction progress, before-and-after photos and other information, visit the UTSA Library Renovation Web site and the John Peace Library Renovation News blog.
As always, for more information or research assistance, call JPL Reference staff at (210) 458-4573 or Downtown Campus Library Reference staff at (210) 458-2446.


text:
In order to download "Free Fonts" (4,212 files, 275 MB), you need NeoDownloader v.2.8 or later to be installed on your computer.
Already have NeoDownloader installed on your computer?
Don't know what NeoDownloader is?
Spend just a few seconds to read more information about this fast and fully automatic image/video downloader (there is also a freeware version).


text: The producers of The View have had some bad ideas in the past, but bringing back Rosie O'Donnell is one of the worst. They tried this experiment before and it was horrible. Yes, Elisabeth Hasselbeck was on the show and a constant foil for Rosie, but no one wants to spend their mornings watching someone put down every morning. Gone is the Rosie from the early days of her talk show when she was fun and light and people loved her. Now it seems like she always has to be the leader and she has never worked well in a group. A show like this works best when everyone gets along and can banter and keep things light. I am all for discussions that are highly charged but do they have a place when people are getting ready for work? Save it for late night when talking heads try and scare you into watching them and fearing for your life if you walk out the door. This already failed once and a year from now the show will be a disaster and The View will wonder why they have dropped so far from their heights.


text:
What is the Best Version of Linux?
1. I need a Version of Linux that is easy to use and is a Windows replacement (Something that is an easy transition for the non technically inclined). I read that Fedora KDE is fairly popular, any thoughts?
2. A version of Linux that is a little more customizable for someone (like me), but is a good learning version as well. I read that GNU/Linux has a hardcore following
I read that Red Hat is a good version for businesses?
I have read many good things about Unbutu
What do you think is the best version and why?
Thanks, I know this is a Noob question.


text:
UTSA environmental science and engineering students in laboratory
Environmental sci department hosts Jan. 18 open house
By Kris Rodriguez
Public Affairs Specialist
(Jan. 15, 2008)--The UTSA Department of Environmental Science and Engineering will host an open house from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, Jan. 18 in the Biotechnology, Sciences and Engineering Building first floor atrium on the 1604 Campus.
Today's headlines
- La Prensa Foundation is newest member of UTSA Lone Star Society
- UTSA alumna Jordan Kaufmann wins $50K for new stent-graft start-up
- UTSA begins new way-finding sign installation this summer at Main Campus
- USA Today: UTSA long jumper Tyler Williamson rescues three-year-old boy
Article tools
Prospective doctoral students will have the opportunity to meet with faculty to discuss research interests, view research poster presentations, tour laboratories and attend a graduate seminar with an invited speaker.
Additionally, participants can attend a lunch to meet current graduate students and learn more about research projects in the department.
For more information, call Lisa Ramirez at (210) 458-4428.


text:
Plant broad beans for a later winter harvest, advises Justin Newcombe.
When I hear the phrase "eat your beans" I automatically have a suppressed choking reflex which was not always all that suppressed.
In the past I'd try to pep talk my way through this trial by legume with a few catch phrases like "grin and bear it". If I received a particularly cruel serving from my sadistic caregivers there was "if you can get through this you can get through anything" while saved for absolute emergencies was the ever-comforting "pain is just weakness leaving the body" in between mouthfuls. As I've "grown up" this has become a distant-but-not-forgotten memory, largely thanks to the virtues of salt, butter and gravy. Interestingly the picture in my mind when I hear the phrase "eat your beans" is not of the bean I was forced against my will to eat (they were runner beans). That accolade falls at the feet of the broad bean - which I happen to like.
Broad beans are now a seasonal preference in the autumn garden as they are fast and relatively easy to grow. They require a reasonably free-draining soil and plenty of water to get good results. Broad beans also like a sunny spot which is fairly sheltered from the wind and do better in rows of two.
Any more than this and shadow may become an issue, reducing the yield of the affected plants. Rows of two are also good because it is more efficient for the beans' primary pollinator, the bee. Other plants with a more open, softer flower can be pollinated by many insects, including flies, but the bee is one of the few pollinators strong enough to wriggle into the flower of the broad bean.
Seasonality of the broad bean and its relatively high yield are also encouraging reasons to propogate them. They grow through winter, taking about three to four months to produce beans. I like to plant mine in autumn and if the winter is a mild one - which, let's face it, seems to be the trend - I can hope to be tasting my first bean in late winter.
The thing I greatly admire about beans is that the plants reward your harvesting of beans with an even more vigorous profusion of beans. There seems to be some sort of panic reflex in the plant which realises someone has picked the seed so it needs to make up for the dilution of its chances to broadcast its genetic material into the world. The plants themselves are very vigorous, with soft green stems producing a profusion of foliage so will require some strong staking. It pays to be over-ambitious with staking, installing something that is too big rather than too small. Ideally you want to install the stake before you plant. Each plant should be at least 20cm apart with gap of around 40cm between rows. The seeds can be direct sown in trenches approximately 5cm deep. To speed the germination processes up, soak the seed in water overnight, and, all going well you'll soon have your very own bean crop to torture your children with.


text:
REGRIFTER (noun): someone who can spot a treasure in the trash, see its potential, get it for a song, spruce it up with a little bit of flair, and send it back out into the world, upcycled and ready for a new life.
In order to be a proper regrifter, one must at once be able to spot a bargain, see its potential and know they can upcycle and resell it, with enough time left over to bake a peach cobbler, and prop your feet up for a hot piping cup of Metalocalypse.
by regrifter January 13, 2011


text:
Cummings Headed Back to Maine to Run Good Will-Hinckley
Glenn Cummings, who has served as deputy assistant secretary in OVAE for the past year and a half, is leaving that post at the end of September 2010. Cummings will become president and executive director of Good Will-Hinckley, a 121-year-old organization serving at-risk youths in Hinckley, Maine. As noted on its website, Good Will-Hinckley has a history of providing "educational services to students in grades kindergarten through twelve who experience significant social-emotional and behavioral challenges." At the same time that the board of Good Will-Hinckley announced Cummings' appointment, it announced discussions it is holding with the Maine Community College System about opportunities for a "more contemporary" use of Hinckley's 2,400-acre campus. Prior to his federal service, Cummings was a high school teacher, dean at Southern Maine Community College, speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, majority leader and chairman of the state's Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, where he sponsored the bill to create the state community college system.
P/PV Outlines Approaches for Teaching Soft Skills
Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) has posted a review of programs that do a noteworthy job of teaching soft skills in Hard Work on Soft Skills: Creating a "Culture of Work" in Workforce Development, available free for downloading. The publication describes how four different organizations use strategies that infuse soft skills development throughout their programs by integrating them with hard skills training.
Innovative and Unique Programs in the Architecture and Construction Cluster
As part of the series to share noteworthy programs from each of the 16 career clusters, this fifth article focuses on the Architecture and Construction Career Cluster. Previous issues covered agriculture, STEM, transportation and education.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment growth is expected in the construction industry. Population growth, deteriorating infrastructure, aging buildings and the greening of the industry will generate projected job growth of 19 percent between now and 2018, according to BLS. The pathway defined by the cluster offers special ways for schools to collaborate with communities and opens non-traditional career opportunities for students. Following are descriptions of two programs that illustrate innovative approaches expressed within this cluster.
Texas's Brenham High School has a partnership with the Brazos Valley Affordable Housing Corporation and local businesses to support the goal of the Construction Technology classes to build a 1,320 square-foot-home that will be sold to an income-qualified family in the area upon completion. In their classroom experience, students learn safety, tool identification and usage, materials identification, materials calculation and usage, blueprint reading, and construction-related mathematics, as well as proper measuring and leveling techniques. In the lab, students use tools and materials and have hands-on experiences from which they develop the skills required to construct the house from the ground up. Finally, students have the opportunity to obtain an OSHA 10-hour Safety Certification, which may be valuable in seeking employment. A side benefit is that students learn about the impact they can have on the lives of others and the satisfaction that can come from a high level of engagement with the community. This Texas Program of Study includes courses such as Principles of Architecture and Construction, Construction Technology I, II and III, and a practicum in construction management.
The cluster also offers promise for women and girls who want to move to non-traditional careers. The Hard Hatted Women initiative in Ohio trains women for work in trades and technical careers—any job requiring a hard hat. In the construction and highway industries a woman can become a painter, pipefitter, electrician, carpenter, operating engineer or other tradeswoman. Or, she can become a project manager, technician, engineer or architect. There are many pathways towards these careers. Most trade careers begin with graduation from a registered apprenticeship program. Once a woman completes the training, she can get paid well to build upon her trade skills, while also earning college credit for the work.


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Apple is letting a video-game company offer its titles by subscription on the iPad, expanding the role of a feature typically used by magazine and newspaper publishers.
Big Fish Games, a Seattle-based game publisher, won approval from Apple to become the first to offer users access to dozens of titles for US$6.99 ($9.38) a month. Until now, games have been available only one at a time, requiring users to download individual applications.
When Apple introduced its subscription feature this year, Big Fish founder Paul Thelen saw it as a chance to offer an "all-you-can-eat" service.
That lets players jump in and out of different games without having to make a bunch of downloads. Although game-subscription services have a mixed record of success, Thelen said the popularity of the iPad and the easy payment method provided by Apple's App Store would make the offering attractive.
"This is the first time that the technology has matched the business model," he said.
The set-up is similar to Netflix's streaming application for the iPad. Subscribers can get unlimited access to games such as Mystery Case Files and the Mahjong Towers series from inside the Big Fish app.
Games played through the subscription service, which are streamed to a user's iPad from Big Fish's data centres, will initially require wi-fi access to play. Apple will collect a 30 per cent commission.
Thelen said Big Fish had designed the app so it could easily be modified to work on smartphones or tablets running Google's Android operating system and internet-connected TVs.
An Android version should be ready by the first quarter, he said.
As well as the subscription plan, Big Fish will offer a free version of its game service that limits play to 30 minutes a day and includes ads.
Big Fish, founded in 2002, generated US$140 million in sales last year, mostly from games downloaded to a personal computer or mobile device.
Thelen said about 75 per cent of its players were women over 30.
The company was in a position to pursue an IPO, he said. "We're at scale, have great momentum and remain in a position to pursue a public offering or any number of alternatives if the markets allow."
- Bloomberg


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Sunday, July 30, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Inter-Institutional Academic Networks
Bogota, Colombia, July 26, 2006
Bounded conditions to talk:
- I assume the internet is a given
- I know that e-learning is a big challenge
Will report on two projects from central Europe and will show they have an impact on modern learning
Bologna Declaration - common approaches for online learning in Europe
Diagram: implementation of layered study structures in Europe
- implementation in progress, some European countries more advanced than others
- reduction of study length observed, more course offerings
- but testing and administration efforts needed
- teachers have an aversion to using 3rd party e-learning resources; solution: - new method - inter-institution networks
- also, smaller institutions have trouble offering specialized resources; solution: - again, use inter-institutional networks
- also: problem of maintaining high-quality 24/7 access; solution - you guessed it.
Example 1: Swiss Virtual Campus
General strategy:
Support change and not status-quo
Focus on need-to-have, not nice-to-have (eg Internet 2 is nice, not needed)
Conduct development and not research
Practice sustainability and not experimentation
Selection criteria:
- based on there being a network of 3 institutions
- pedagogically correct implementation for use as a substitution for in-class teaching
- clear concepts for quality
- 50% matching funds
- must comply with Bologna declaration
SVC's preferred approach:
- mostly blended learning
- tutor, etc., support
(Some course examples provided)
Assessing Course Implementation of 50 Projects, 200 programs
- the ones that used commercial platforms had much more time to focus on content, and developed better courses
- open source - they forgot to transfer knowledge on the content level
"Altogether these open source programs performed quite a bit less well..."
If you want to run e-learning modules, you have to have cross-institutiona compatibility - we came to the decision that we would like to establish a national e-learning platform of CMS based on WebCT Vista - this was based on
- modern architecture
- academic user model used
- institutional branding
- offers open APIs and standards
- multi-language user support
Example 2
The Bavarian University e-learning Network
- provides full e-learning courses (not blended)
They have institutionalized an e-learning brokerage service based in a city called Hof
The professor develops the course, the broker administers the course and signs students up; profs and students from 25 Bavarian institutions. They get access to tutors and to the professor.
The number of students is growing, new courses are being offered, and by 2002, there were 5000 students, expect 50,000 by 2008
The broker organizes an examination through the professor, the student travels to the institute and takes the exam.
- any academic teacher of a Bavarian university can apply to create a course
- currently 160 course offerings
- currently 10,000 students (more females than males)
- creation of e-learning awareness in Switzerland and Bavaria
- in education and learning, content is based on previous content
- refinement is an interdisciplinary and social process
- content development is not complete until is is disseminated
- not all e-learning resources stand gainst important criteria, eg. pedagogic shortcomings, copyright, etc.
Perception of E-Learning in Central Europe
- educators have difficulty moving away from the status quo
- the students are generally in favour of change, but oppose reductions in classroom offerings
- institutions have limited budget
- industry thinks of e-learning as an important qualification, all news, etc., is delivered via e-learning
Content, implementation, quality, reliability, availabilty: all are key. You need inter-institutional academic networks. Powerful tools support resource and learning development processes. And while there are many bottom-up initiatives, a go or no-go decision must be taken at the administrative level.
Internet 2: Educational Uses of Advanced Networks
Program Coordinator, International & Infrastructure Related Activities
Internet 2, Bogota, Colombia, July 26, 2006
I try to bring together collaborators from around the world.
Internet 2:
- 10 years old
- today more than 200 universities who are members of I2
- partner with 36 states with K12 networks connected
- 112 medical schools, etc
(Map of Internet 2)
- institutions connected to RENATA today can connect to Internet 2
Why Advanced Networking?
- to support virtual collaboration, learning experiences
- to access shared resources - eg. immersive experiences, digital libraries, scientific equipment
- optimize the network for research and teaching
- build communities of interest - common platform to develop new uses
Why Faculty Participate
- increasingly specialized information
- access to expertise at remote locations
- multiple learning modalities
- access to resources not otherwise available
Learning Through Experiences
- eg. K12 students exploring underwater at Monterey Bay
- live surgery
- international musical instruction
Sharing Learning Materials
Access to resources:
- United Nations - el ciberbus escolar (cyber schoolbus)
- MIT OpenCourseware
Research Channel
- Consortium of 30+ universities
- HDTV over IP experiments - 200 programs available on-demand
- access to remote electron microscopes
Data Transportation
- eg. Color MRI of a brain - 4.5 petabytes (Arthur Toga, UCLA)
High-Speed Connectivity in Spain and the World
I advise you to maintain your RENATA network (as contrasted with private networks)
Comparison between the oute maps of the colonizers and the rout map for connections to South America.
'Know the User' - power law graph of users:
type A - ADSL - limited needs, many users
type B - need vpn servces
Type C - need great bandwith, very few users - "Need very fat pipes"
GLIF (Global Lambda Intgrated Facility) - switching from extreme to extreme, of many to few, is very important - so we want to connect those high-bandwidth users to the genral grid --> regular IP for everybody, but allocates dark fibre for special experiments
e-Ciencia what Spain's evolution will be. (Ack! pfft. middleware)
You totally change your wa of researching - eg the possibility of having virtual centres, with resources distributed.
Supercomputers - one of the elements in a network that a network needs. Eg. MareNostrum en BSC. There are things we were not able to do (snazzy graphics pictures shown) that we are now able to do. Analyzing tapes that would take months to analyze.
- Auger Access - (Argentina?) - so that cosmic rays can be seen
- Also, Astrophysical virtual observatory - astronomer has no need to travel to see personally
- Virtual reality applications for immersion situations (eg. Tsunami relief, people who have phobias are surrounded by cats, chemical compositions)
- Virtual Room Videoconferencing System http://www.vrvs.org
- Access Grid (we have one in Moncton) http://www.accessgrid.org
- IRIS www.rediris.es - development of a distribution list - vs. spam
- Movilidad - eduroam - allows for mobility of teachers & students - allows them to access the wifi system - a series of networks based on mutual trust
- digital libraries - the content stays in the network - using P2P artichetures
- Gridlab
- Diligent - middleware to operate info in the network between different institutions - the reserach group creates its own digital library for public info, library info, our own software (??) - all this works in a dedicated fashion
- Tele-education - Isabel - http://isabel.dlt.upm.es - chat, presentation, video, etc
- ADA-Madrid - http://adamadrid.uc3m.es/campusvirtual/FHome.aspx
- Ibertel - tries to distribute resources of a given volume using land and satellite routes
- Sakai - http://www.sakaiproject.org and http://sakai.webs.upv.es/
- Clio - http://clio.rediris.es
- remote opera classes - Proyecto Opera Oberta - need greater sound quality, so we use better systems
ICT in Education in Colombia
June 26, 2006, Bogota, Colombia
26 percent coverage in HE in Colombia (about midpoint in Latin America)
Revolucion Educativa
- 350,000 new seats in education (target
- time & effort required
- use of new technologies in HE
- goal was to contribute to develop competencies
- system for quality assurance
1. content
2. use & appropriation of technology
3. access and technological infrastructure
- production of quality content - bank of LOs - to be able to make them readily available, so they don't have to begin from scratch - the academic world have been developing these objects - good way to go by promotong the sharing of these learning objects. Last year, held a contest, over 300 were submitted, they're all in the object bank, which can be accessed through the portal
- upper education desktop & portal - developed in May 2004, 186,000 users registered; 125K visits per day
- promoting the use of IT in schools - national centre of education - state of the art distributed system, each institution has its own local administrative zone, and it collects all the information for statistics
- evaluation of objects: we could have put everything in the bank, but they are not assessed, but we prefer to load only objects that have been evaluated, so users can trust the object
- portal - Colombia aprende
- needs assessment
- tutor network (red de tutores)
- teacher training in the learning environment
- studies in the use of new technologies at the management level
- institutions should have a development policy to use the new IT
- it should become a clear fundamental axis for these institutions - so we have worked on a managers' network in the field of new technologies
- we need infrastructure, but it is not enough in itself
- we have to have it very clear what we are going to do, that is why we have to have the content
- high speed network - RENATA - Columbian high-speed network for education, 6 cities connected now
- launched videoconference service through the network
- the policy behind RENATA is that it has to be based on the regional and institutional initiatives
- research network - COLCIENCIAS
- expand access so there is access in all cities of Colombia - want 100 regional centers (so far have 65 centres already created) - these centres have the function of giving access to students, esp. for regions that are marginal
These IT process should be available in all training, and teachers and students must know how to access and take advantage of these new technologies. The interactivity and collaboration spaces are also great; they facilitate teamwork & the redefinition of the teaching process. It's a question of taking the content of a regular class and defining it so it can be downloaded into the network. But the tools are much more powerful now, everything has changed, the pedagogical means as well.
We commissioned a study to give us reliable information. 171 institutes of HE participated (63 percent of total, 40 of 74 universities, 52 of 90 higher ed institutes, etc). Public as well as private institutions. Classified into 4 groups, based on use of IT, increase in use, courses using e-learning or ICT, attitudes of the administration, etc, and the cooperation existing at the institutions & in business.
- vanguard
- cooperating
- self-sufficient
- sceptical
50 percent of institutions have IT policies - this is a serious problem, there must be an institutional policy so it becomes a sustainable strategy
82 percent of universities use tech at the organizational level; 90 percent of universities have or are building an intranet; 67-74% of universities report online; 65 percent of universities have registration online (only 19 percent of technical institutions). All these stats lower for the other types of institutions.
Access to PCs - practically all administrative personnel have access, teachers 96 percent in universities (numbers range 8% and up). Student access - 20 students per PC - about the same at every level. This is a high number compared to international standards. But middle and lower education, 0 to 1. So it's better.
Use in Education
55% of institutions in study do support teachers in use of IT, but 45 percent do not, and this support is very important. Technologies are used fo: online courses on the use of new technologies, teaching using e-learning (47 percent have active courses, 24 percent in development, for univrsities - lower for others). It is more a support function, not the main methodology of delivering a course. And sometimes there are no strategies for ensuring the quality of the course.
There is a weakness in this respect; very few institutions use these to work in a network or collaborative manner, both in material production or design of new program. None is over 35 or 40 percent. International cooperation - the figure is very low, it is only 16 percept that offer international courses. The use of these tchnologies is low in cooperative work; we hope with the use of RENATA perhaps this will improve to some extent.
vanguard - 13 percent
cooperating - 13 percent
ss - 37 percent
sceptical - 37 percent (these are institutions that do not believe in this)
Characteristics of Vanguards
- they have an IT plan
- online registration for courses
- integrated in teaching significant number of courses related to basic and supplementary training
- they have their own allocation of resources for technology
- strategic cooperation with national institutions
- most are universities, and most are private
- 89 percent have an intranet
- 58 percent have an IT plan
- they have some digital servics, such as registration
- technologies are used less, but there is a positive attitude
- they are interested in cooperation with national agencies
- 30 percent would like to offer e-learning, etc
- 64 percent have formal plans
- ITC integrated in teaching
- limited number of e-learning
- positive attitude to ITC
- very littl strategic cooperation with institutions or abroad
- not so much use in teaching, more at the management level
- if these institutions open up, they will probably be vanguard
- limited number of virtual courses
- little cooperation with other institutions
- mostly small institutions, so they have staff and financial problems
- many of these are public institutions, this requires working with the sector
- 14 percent have IT plans
- few have an intranet, few provide access to staff and students
- no online registration, no e-learning
- 25 provide tech support to teachers
The use of IT in education is not something that should be voluntary. It is essential. Using these ICTs the students will become the actor in training; while there is a formal lecture the students may sit and daydream, but when students use ICTs the students will participate. Not to mention the self-discipline which is promoted, which is very useful in the later life.
1. Create a national bank, including institutional banks, with clear quality standards. So they will use these learning objects; they need to reach agreements and promote cooperation.
2. We have to keep teaching teachers, so we can have an education that is not only virtual but all the modes and means. And developing competencies in students, use of these tools as part of their professional development in other schools.
3. A permananent administrative approach, including a plan.
4. Access to infrastructure, including cosolidation of RENATA. We have to broaden access to RENATA within the institutions.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Lets ask for peace in the Middle East!
Jocavc writes: "Its enough of war! Nobody understands that everlasting conflict! Lets all ask for peace!EDIT: I do not live in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine or even in the USA! I am NEUTRAL! Just want peace. Dont perpetuate those conflicts!EDIT II - Send me a video response (or a pic) asking for peace or supporting peace and i will publish it!Just for fun you can also write the word "peace" in a part of your body and send it to me, i will publish those as well. No "erotic" or PORN stuff..."
Author: jocavc
This is my first test post using Flock. Seems like a good one.
Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit
|The video by nirvana that started the grunge era. Just because.
Friday, July 21, 2006
The Cause of the War
Gaza, itself, the latest phase, began on June 24. It was when Israel abducted two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother. We don't know their names. You don't know the names of victims. They were taken to Israel, presumably, and nobody knows their fate. The next day, something happened, which we do know about, a lot. Militants in Gaza, probably Islamic Jihad, abducted an Israeli soldier across the border.This little bit of information, of course, is not reported anywhere. It's much easier to assume the terrorist Hezbollah started the war, because they always do. Or at least - we are always told they do.
p.s. Coverage of the Israeli kidnappings, in case you think Chomsky's making it up.
And while we're at it, from Fairness and Accuracy in Media:
In reality, however, since the pullout and before the recent escalation of violence, at least 144 Palestinians in Gaza had been killed by Israeli forces, often by helicopter gunships, according to a list compiled by the Israeli human rights group B'tselem. Only 31 percent of the people killed were engaged in hostile actions at the time of their deaths, and 25 percent of all those killed were minors.I am uncertain how killing children fails to count as a provocation, but that the Palestinian response does, but perhaps I'm just not reading the media closely enough.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The Space Between the Notes
We turn clay to make a vessel; but it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends. - Tao Te Ching
An old insight, often forgotten.
Listening to the recent talks from TED, all these speakers were roaring along at top speed, delivering a hundred words a minute. In my own talks, I speak more slowly (something I learned to do to facilitate simultaneous translation). Why would a professional speaker move so quickly, I wondered, when greater comprehension comes from more paced delivery?
Then I understood. A person who speaks quickly appears to be intelligent, appears to be worth listening to, appears, therefore, to be worth paying to speak. Every speech given by one of these speakers is an advertisement for the next.
It's the same with things, with objects. Greater accumulation conveys the greater appearance of worth. But the sheer mass of objects demonstrates that the only purpose of the one object is the obtaining of another.
In this way, the filling of space results in emptiness. When the purpose of obtaining the one is only for obtaining the next, then you can never have anything.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Word has gotten round to the anti-Israel coalition: the new talking point is "proportionality." ... The terms "proportionality" and its contrary adjectival "disproportionate" have precise meanings within the context of the classical law of war, meanings that won't get Israel's critics the result they wish, even if they engage in constant repetition.I don't think any 'talking point' was needed; I think it was pretty much a common reaction to think of Israel's response to the kidnappings as excessive.
One certainly wondered how firing rockets into government buildings and kidnapping government officials in Gaza would help find a missing (and presumed kidnapped) Israeli.
When I lost my keys the other day I thought about getting a handgun and shooting up my neighbours house. Fortunately, common sense prevailed, and I found my keys the old fashioned way: by looking for them.
Even more to the point, the innocent civilians of Lebanon - the four visiting Canadian schoolchildren, for example, killed in an Israeli air raid - must be wondering about jus ad bellum themselves.
After all, the Lebanese people being slaughtered by Israeli air raids are not the people kidnapping Israeli citizens or firing missiles at Israeli cities.
Since when has it ever been justified in military law to punish the actions of one group by attacking somebody else?
That's a lot like the other time I lost my keys. I spent the afternoon looking for them on the driveway. Someone asked me why I didn't look in the bushes where my keys had fallen. "Well, it's a lot harder to look in there," I explained, "and if anybody moves them across the driveway, I'll be sure to see them here."
The fact is, kidnappings by outlaws or otherwise autonomous groups over which a government has no control, or minimal control, do not constitute good reasons for going to war against those governments.
The principle of agency applies in all applications of the law. If country A feels it has reason to attack country B because of event E, then either (a) B must have caused E, or B must have been able to prevent E.
The victims of Israels attacks over the last few days manifestly fail both conditions. Therefore, they are innocent victims. Therefore, Israel is attacking and killing innocent victims in order to pressure third parties.
See also: Tim Bray, who writes, "To those people, and to anyone who wants to write me to defend, at any level or for any reason, the actions of an aggressor, here's my answer: Want to know the reason children are dying in the Middle East? Look in the mirror."
Hear, hear.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Merit Plan for Teachers
You can't really have it both ways; that teachers are the critical linchipin of successful schools and should be paid accordingly AND they aren't responsible at all if students aren't achieving.Sure you can; it's a phenomenon known as 'necessary but not sufficient conditions.'
For example, think about what a human needs in order to stay alive: food, water and air. Each of these is necessary. Without it we would die. But none of them alone is sufficient. We need all three to live.
Now imagine the quote, rewritten: ""You can't really have it both ways; that food is the critical linchipin of survival and should be paid for accordingly AND that it isn't responsible at all if people aren't surviving."
In fact, if you have the best food in the world, and no air, you will not survive, and it is not at all the fault of the food.
The same is the case with teaching.
I've seen study after study that shows that the main predictor of educational achievement is socio-economic status. Children of richer parents do better in school.
We could speculate about why this is the case. I've seen some people argue that richer parents have greater expectations. Others argue that richer parents provide access to books and computers. Still others say that children of richer parents have more free time (they don't have to work) and have fewer disruptions in their home lives.
That said, it does not follow that teachers are irrelevant to their learning. Children of rich parents, if they are not taught, are much less likely to learn. As things are right now, a teacher is the major conduit of learning for a child, no matter what their socio-economic status. This is why teachers are (or ought to be) provided to all children.
What could be said here is that factors both outside the school and inside the school are necessary for aducational achievement. Take one or the other away and learning does not happen. But neither, by itself, is sufficient. A student needs both.
Hence, it can be true to say that teachers are important to shaping student achievement. Without them, students will not achieve. But it can also be true to say that teachers are not ultimately responsible for outcomes. Other factors are essential as well, and teachers can do nothing about them. A teacher cannot, for example, ensure that his or her students have rich parents.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Bombing Lebanon
"Mr. Prime Minister, if a terrorist organization from inside England continuously bombed France and took French soldiers prisoners and England did not stop it, what would you do?" Even the Labanese admit they do not control the southern part of their country. Should the Israelis simply let Hezbollah bomb away?"I would think that if people in England were firing missiles at the French, bombing Parliament and Heathrow airport would be the last thing I'd want to do.
For one thing, the killing of innocent people in order to get what you want is wrong no matter who you are.
And for another, bombing a country is not a very good way of getting it to cooperate with you.
This is all the more the case if the people in Britain doing the bombing were originally from France, are there because of a French civil war, and aren't really liked by the British government.
France has outstanding counter-terrorist units (remember the 'Raid at Entebbe'?). I would address these kidnappings swiftly, silently and lethally, the way they can, instead of blindly strinking out against people I know must be innocent bystanders.
In this way, I not only get my people back, I avoid granting the kidnappers the widening of the conflict they are so obviously seeking.
The only reason I can see France would have for wanting to bomb Britain would be to use the spilled blood of innocent people to inflame passions on both sides, and therefore, to spread and prolong the conflict.
I would like very much to believe this is not France's intent. But I find it very difficult to reconcile with the civilian blood that is already on its hands.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Ralph James was the most popular kid in the class. He will always be my hero. Part way through my high school years, without explanation, he taught me to box. I thought we were just playing, but we'd strap on our hockey helmets and go at it.
A little later I encountered one of the bullies on the street. I realized by now that I could fight, and decided to stand up for myself. We confronted each other. I took a swing at him.
BAM! The blow to my left forehead stunned me. I had not even landed a punch, and was staggering in the street. I lurched to the side, and went away as fast as I could.
Failure. I could not defend myself against the bullies.
But there was a difference after that. Perhaps a tacit recognition around the town that I would fight back, that I would not allow myself to be pushed around. That though I may be bullied again, there would always be a price to pay. And slowly, the bullying faded away.
My boxing lessons carry another lesson as well.
A while later, Ralph and I were messing around in the barn with Dean, just jumping around in the hayloft. For some reason, I decided to fight Dean, and was able to beat him. Dean and Ralph both asked me to stop, but I wouldn't.
I went around Ralph's place after that, but it was never the same. And I saw the other side of it. The hurt and resentment. And though again it took me a while to sort this out, I realized how wrong I had been. A different sort of failure.
The question of how to get into the Zone is like that, it seems to me. How do I defend myself? How do I learn to fight by not fighting? And there is no easy answer.
It was just last year or so I went to my high school reunion. There was no sign of the four years I spent in that place; it was as though I had been erased from its history.
And from my class, exactly one person attended the reunion. It was Dean.
Dean is a beef farmer now, living on a farm just outside Metcalfe, in a place very much the same as those early days. He greeted me warmly, with fond memories. He was happy to see me. Sometimes you just don't know.
I left my high school reunion with a sense of bitterness, with a sense of loss. How could I have been erased from history? But as time went by, I realized, that the one thing I had really needed from that reunion had been there. That my one real failure had been erased.
The mark you make on history doesn't matter. What other people do - and whether you can succeed or fail in relation to them - doesn't matter.
Your only real failures are failures of character. And even in these, the world can be surprisingly forgiving.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Nikon Ads In The Classroom (2)
But there are so many, many red herrings that keep public awareness away from the fabulous learning open content that abounds online — and that diminish the incentives of deep commercial pockets to create great learning stuff.I don't see this as a red herring. I have argued consistently that commercial content and non-commercial content need to be equally accessible.
Promoters of commercial content try at every juncture to keep non-commercial content out of the marketplace. This is because for-profit content for profit cannot compete with free content.
You may say, the commercial content is free content. And it is true, the Nikon content is provided without charge to the students. But it is nonetheless for-profit. It is intended to sway students, at a minimum, toward brand loyalty, and more generally, toward purchasing cameras.
The 'Nikon sucks' example is probably an exaggeration, but again, a Nikon-sponsored site on photography would not be as attractive as an equally well-produced site which is not affiliated with any company. An independent review site produced by a government or a university, for example. Or by students.
Nikon - or agents operating along the same general principles as Nikon - will immediately seek to eliminate this site from the competition. "The government is wasting money duplicating resources," they would argue.
Or if it is student produced: "The students are not accountable," say the lobbyists. "They post inappropriate content. They leave the school open to lawsuits."
This is not a red herring. Look at Channel One, the commerial news service shown in classrooms. The presentation of the news (not to mention the advertisements) is not benign. It is a controlled voice, a controlled message.
Why, one asks, could the school students themselves not produce their own Channel One? What chance has this of happening in any school already subscribed to the service?
Let me be clear. I am not opposed to commercially sponsored educational content. Indeed, as has been correctly pointed out, I have spoken of this and endorsed this in the past. It is an excellent way of meeting educational needs.
But I am at the same time aware of the risks. When a student is suspended from school for wearing a Pepsi shirt on Coke day - as has actually happened - then the opportunities offered by free learning have turned into corporate control.
Yes, corporations may have less incentive to contribute under such conditions. They would like to co ntrol the message. Or at best, they don't care whether or not students and others have equal access. But they'll contribute nonetheless; there is incentive enough. Because their competition will be there.
Indeed, the smart corporations will turn this to their advantage. Once they give up the idea of controlling the message, they will learn to help schools help their students and others make their own message. Look at what Lego is doing that with its Mindstorms project, opening up the source and allowing students to hack the system. Contrast that with Microsoft, which responds to attempts to play non-compliant content on the Xbox with threats of lawsuits.
When we open the schools to corporate content, we need to ensure that we open the schools equally to other points of view, including those of the students. Freedom of speech is something with which schools have difficulty. They will need to learn to adapt.
p.s. My Coolpix 4300 has been with me since 2003. I haven't really treated it well, taking pictures in the rain, at -40 degrees, in the Australian desert, passed around in pubs... it has never broken down and still delivers very sharp high quality pictures, good enough to print and frame and post on my office wall. But yes, I see a D200 or some such in my future.
And All That Stuff
To dislike a country as diverse as America is misanthropic: America, more than any other state, contains the full range of humanity…
Sounds reasonable, but…
"I'm Joe Smith, I live in Brooklyn, and I'm invading Iraq?"
Nope. It doesn't work. The fact is, there is an entity called the United States, it does often act as a single entity, and it does things - like invading Iraq - than can be disliked or even hated.
To be sure, stereotyping and prejudice based on nationality or culture would be narrow-minded. I'm sure I need tell no American that!
But this does not render impossible criticisms of the nation as a whole. And when someone posts explicitly defending the nation as a whole, it seems to me, it leaves one open to just such a response.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Nikon Ads in the Classroom
Should the NikonNet website here be off limits for students to use to learn photography?Sure, this site is no problem - however, things get trickier when we start asking about sites that criticize the products. Should students be allowed access to a 'Nikon Sucks' page? Should they be allowed to create one and store it on the school server? How about anti-commercial advocacy sites, like AdBusters?
The problem is, without this balance, then the only messages students see are those posted by companies like Nikon, and this creates a commercial bias in their learning materials. And it is not clear that schools are willing to allow more open content posting - notice that sites like Blogger and MySpace are already banned by most schools. And think about the sorts of legal pressures large companies like Nikon can place on schools over the posting of critical comments, images, or even the name 'Nikon'.
So it's not quite so simple as opening the door. Opening the door is kind of like letting a bull elephant into the playground. Yes, kids love elephants. But there are risks.
p.s. Just for the record, I really like Nikon cameras, I own one now, and my next purchase will be a Nikon.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Stephen Hawking Asks...
I cannot believe you will have the time to read more than 17,000 answers in order to get to this one, but I answer it nonetheless.
Because in posing the question, you have also pointed to the answer.
We know that in order to survive we must reduce our use of resources, we must refrain from global war, we must protect the environment, we must manage in the face of global plagues, and then, if we're lucky, we'll make it.
We are not going to succeed working against each other. We are not going to succeed when we in the west think of China and India as the 'competition' that we have to outperform in order to preserve our way of life.
We need to address the causes of conflict before they start. We need equitable distribution of resources, we need political and social systems that promote harmony, we need freedom and dignity for individuals.
So why do I think this question is important? Because 17,656 people - as of now, three days after the question was posted - have answered.
Because we're going to find (though perhaps only through automated extraction) a great deal of consensus and commonality in the responses.
Because it shows that we want to survive, even if we are not going to be here personally.
This gives me hope.
And that, I think, is where we need to begin. With the desire. With the belief. With the hope.
And then, as so many hundreds of people wrote, well muddle through. Somehow.
Thank you for asking this question, Dr. Hawking, and thank you for the unique opportunity of being able to answer.
Summary of The Metadata Enigma
Metadata is thought of as a system's data dictionary, capturing definitions of data entities and the relationships among them. But it is much more than this. It is a complex description of data. Here are six types of metadata:
- Infrastructure metadata, which the components of the system
- Model metadata, or the data dictionary
- Process metadata, describing on how the data is generated
- Quality metadata, the assessment of the actual data
- Interface metadata, describing how users consume the data
- Administration metadata, which tracks data usage
First party metadata - production of the resourceContinuing with the summary:
- bibliographic metadata
- technical metadata
- rights metadata
Second party metadata - use of the resource
- sequencing and relational metadata
- interaction metadata
Third party metadata - about the resource
- classification metadata
- evaluative metadata
- educational metadata
When we think of how metadata is used, it is usually for things like search. As the author comments, "Metadata is likely to be useful in rational, data-driven, analytical decision-making scenarios." But what is not clear, he notes, is "whether it provides similar benefit in decision processes that are more intuitive or politically charged."
Various products exist to support metadata. But there are some industry-wide problems:
- Process and quality metadata are not well supported
- Little support for business metadata
- The use of relational or complex proprietary structures
- Metadata elements tightly coupled with one product or vendor
- Interchangeable metadata formats
- Metadata exchange and integration - "The market, however, is still split between two competing metadata exchange standards: the Open Integration Model (OIM) and the Common Warehouse Model (CWM). The Metadata Coalition, led by Microsoft, proposed OIM in 1999. At about the same time, the Object Management Group, led by Oracle, promoted CWM."
- Design paradigms - "An elementary choice is from among the top-down, bottom-up, and hybrid strategies"
- Metadata quality
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Blog Evangelism
I don't have a whole lot of patience with evangelists, at least not with those preaching doctrine with which I disagree. And so I tend to try not to evangelize over-enthusiastically myself.
That said, there is a distinction between criticizing the method - the persistent preaching that grates on everyone's ears - and the message, in this case, that blogs are good and should be used to support teaching.
Now let me be clear. The blog is for me only the most recent incarnation of what may in some senses be styled as 'user-generated media' and in other senses as 'micromedia' - and let's not forget that John Hiler was writing Microcontent News long before blogging per se was a gleam in anyone's eye.
But I sigh when I sigh as I did at the beginning of this article because of the exasperated lament over the excesses of blog evangelism, a lament less restrained than the putative advocate against which the argument rails.
I see no reason why supporters of blogs in learning should roll over before the critics in an effort to be reasonable. Because the criticisms are not reasonable.
Dave Cormier has it all.
Blogging (in its wordpress type form) is probably a transitional technology.
At the moment blogging allows for only a pretty rudimentary interactivity. There is one (or several) central characters, and then peripheral characters. You might argue that in the case of a classroom blog, everybody is a member and primary contributor, but i would say that a learning landscape is better technology for that.
Well yes, of course it is transitional technology. Name me one thing launched on the internet over the last ten years that isn't transitional technology.
The thing to ask with transitional technology is whether it is moving in the right direction. This criticism and response suggests that it isn't. "Blogging allows for only a pretty rudimentary interactivity." Well yeah, but it allows for a whole lot more interactivity than, say, plain ordinary web pages (aka shovelware).
Could it be more interactive? Sure, and people are working hard to make that possible. People, I might add, in the blogging community - and not their critics.
It can, very often, lack accountability
A very clear example of this is during the o'reilly debate some nefarious dude kept coming in and posting that o'reilly was a chaild mohlester. No name. no recourse. Also, people can start a blog on any number of blogging sites and remain anonymous and then slander people.
I find it so ironic (and perhaps intentionally so?) that Bill O'Reilly is used as an example here, yes, that Bill O'Reilly, the same man who pontificates with no apparent restraint on supposedly responsible (and accountable?) media. How many people has O'Reilly accused of being a child molester over the years?
It's pretty easy, and probably accurate, to say that blogs are not accountable. But the people who broadcast and write in traditional media are no more accountable, and they do a lot more damage when they abuse their trust.
It is not, by any means, a silver bullet
There are many situations where a blog won't suit the needs of the given person.
Actually, it turns out that not even silver bullets are silver bullets. I mean, isn't this a statement that could be made of anything at all? Of course. Which leads me to ask: where is that pundit out there who is actually saying blogs will satisfy every need of every person?
No one (at least not me) is suggesting that blogging should replace good teaching
Blogging, in and of itself, will solve nothing. It will neither make a bad teacher good, nor will it save terrible curriculum. It is one, potentially important or central, but still one piece of the puzzle.
God forbid that we should ever replace good teaching! Why, the earth would open up and swallow us up in fire and brimstone!
I mean, seriously, it depends on what we're trying to do, doesn't it? If my bicycle were broken down, I would in a minute replace good teaching with a good wrench. If I am trying to play a movie, I would trade in the best teacher in the world for a projector. If I'm trying to distribute educational materials around half a world, then I'd rather use the internet.
Blogging, in and of itself, will solve lots of things. It has, for example, already given millions of teen-age girls a place to share their stories with each other. This is a good thing.
The question is whether it solves the same problems good teachers are intended to solve, and whether it does so better than good teachers. For example, blogging gives aspiring writers a worldwide audience. This addresses issues of motivation. Do good teachers address issues of motivation? Sure. Do they give aspiring writers a world-wide audience? Well, no, not typically. So for 'motivation by creating a world-wide audience' we would certainly want to replace a good teacher with blogging.
The question that is really begged here, of course, is whether blogging - or electronic media in general, since nobody actually claims this of blogging per se - can replace good teaching entirely. As though this would be a bad thing.
But think about it. Suppose we could, just by launching blogging software, eliminate the need for every good teacher in the world. This would not merely be a good thing, it would be a great thing! Not because I have anything against teachers. But because teachers are really expensive, and the need for education worldwide is dire. If I could educate all of the Sudan merely by launching educate-me.blotspot.com well then I'd be coding that site in a minute.
The point is, we should be using highly skilled and individualized manual labour as sparingly as possible, in specific contexts, and only for applications that cannot be easily replaced by a machine, including machine artifacts such as blogs. And it puzzles me that anybody would be suggesting that any proponent of blogging would be proposing anything else.
But asking the question honestly would mean asking something like, will blogging replace bad teaching, or will blogging replace unnecessary teaching tasks? But nobody wants to ask those questions. No indeed.
OK, if we look at this then the ideal democracy tool is one that (a) creates universal access, and (b) ensures universal literacy. Looked at from this point of view we now need to ask, is anything an ideal democracy tool?
There are still a number of very important social justice issues around blogging that stop it from being the IDEAL democracy tool.One is access. Can't get to a computer, you can't blog. Don't have time? can't blog. The second is the requisite literacy set. If you can't understand Mr. Rosen's style of English, or don't understand the western conventions of argumentation, you can't play. No matter how much you want to.
Of course not. Not even democracy ensures universal access and universal literacy, and democracy is a pretty good tool. Small wonder then that the blog would ensure these things. But of course, nobody is claiming that blogging solves these problems. Nor should they have to.
Why not? Because the claim is, "If everybody had access to a blog, we would have a more democratic society." Right? And the response is, "But not everybody has access to a blog." Well, sure. But that's not a problem with blogs, that's a problem with society. To simply deny the antecedent of a conditional like that is to in effect ignore the proposition actually being made.
I mean, consider this statement: "If everybody could vote, then we would have a more democratic society." True, right? But how would we react if someone said, "But not everybody can vote." Does that somehow show us that voting doesn't lead to democracy? Of course not.
Hammers are not designed to address the problem of what you do when you don't have a hammer. No tool should ever be required to satisfy the condition of not having the tool. The same goes for blogging.
Yes. Many of the most vocal bloggers will probably one day work for major media corps.
Actually, if you look at the blogosphere today, most vocal bloggers came from the major media corps.
However There is blogging and there is blogging. Good blogging is bound into a community. A community where people aren't anonymous and are rewarded (read) according to the quality of their work. This is good. Also, it does mean that we have a media that is not controlled in its voice sense, by money. Nasty comments can be moderated out. And blogging can give voices to many people. It can, in its own way, contribute to a more democratic world.
True, blogging isn't the same as broadcasting. A broadcaster can almost ignore the community, or even try to shape and define the community, as he or she sends a one-way message out there into the world. And blogging doesn't work this way.
But good blogging doesn't necessarily bind to a community either. True, it is more likely that members of a geographically dispersed community will find each other if the members blog. But people may well find themselves members of a community of one. This happens. That doesn't make their blogs bad. It simply means that nobody reads them.
The big difference between blogging and broadcasting is that this doesn't matter. What makes a blog is not its audience, is not its market share, is not the nature or size of its community. What makes the blog is its relation to the author. The blog needs to be an authentic, open and honest representation of the person who writes it. That's what makes a good blog.
A lot of stuff follows from that. because authentic voices, speaking freely, can engage each other in a democratic society. They can advance social causes such as education and literacy. They can minimize the self-serving agendas of corporate broadcasters, big money, and big power.
They can do all of these things - but doing these things is not why we blog. We blog because what we want is a free and authentic voice. Because we want, at last, the freedom to be ourselves.
After we established these premises, we had a very productive conversation, and I might have convinced him of a situation in which blogging would be of use in his classroom. To some people telling them they need to do something like blogging, is tantamount to saying they aren't currently doing enough. We are all salespeople in the new media revolution. We need to be realistic about what we say the technology can do so we can keep encouraging those middle adopters to join the party.
Well, again, I don't really see myself as an evangelist. Now I can say why.
It is because I see something like blogging as being no different, really, from having a free and authentic voice. And what I've come to believe over the years is that you can't convince somebody of the need for this through argument. You don't get people to embrace freedom by forcing them to concede.
But, of course, it has always been that way. You cannot incite a revolution. You have to be the revolution. There is no other way.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Graham's Learning Network
What I have found over the years is that online writing, including blogging, can't be something special you set aside time to to, but instead, must be something you do as part of your everyday activities.
What that means, in practical terms, is that whenever I am reading - and I do the bulk of my reading online - I have a blog window open, ready for a quick comment of summary.
I find this is especially important for the type of blogging I do. The bulk of my posts are short item summaries and commentary. This is because my blog is also my resource library - if you look at my resources page you can find about 10,000 items I have posted over the years.
But for a summary to be accurate or a comment insightful, I need to remember, in fair detail, the item I just read. This means that the best time to blog about it is as I read it, or at the very least, as soon as I have finished reading it.
Over time, my reading and blogging time has fit into the routines of my life. For example, when I get up I like to watch the news and read my email while I have breakfast. This is done with a couple of blog windows open, one for my news blog and one for my regular blog.
Another big part of my method is that I do my other work online. For example, I write various research reports, essays and other articles as part of my day-to-day work. I post almost all of these online, and they become part of my blog. Or I'll post links I dig up doing the research, and they become part of the blog.
When I was learning Ruby on Rails, for example, instead of documenting my experience in a private or internal paper, I blogged it, turning my efforts into a four part article. This way I could describe my work, inform others curious about Ruby, and best of all, provide valuable feedback to the Ruby development community (some of whom were dismissive, but the majority of whom were appreciative).
Some of my most popular articles have evolved this way. When I was writing a background paper on RSS for a group of university and commercial partners working on the eduSource project, for example, I took my article and posted it on my site. An Introduction to RSS for Educational Designers.
Blogging isn't just about blogging. It isn't just about writing some stuff online. Blogging becomes most effective when it becomes a way of doing other things, when you take some of the hobbies or work you would normally do in the privacy of your home or office and share the writing - yes, in its raw, natural state - with the world.
It becomes, in this way, not an extra thing that I do, but rather, the way I do the things that I do.
This comment, for example, began as a comment, but is now a blog post. Why? Because I was reading my RSS feed after my evening walk and just before getting ready to listen to the ball game, Graham's post caught my eye, I found I had something to say, I took a few minutes to type it up, and now I have something to share.
It might be a little nothing. But then again, it might be just that something that inspires another article, a day's work, or a career.
Who knows? It has certainly happened to me.
(Oh, and in the best tradition of blogging, this post may be used for any purpose whatsoever - readers are encouraged to reprint, rewrite, repurpose, fold, spindle, mutilate and pass forward this bit of writing.)
Stop Corruption, Sure, But...
This was an interesting article, well written, and with far fewer flaws than TCS's usual fare.
It makes some points most people would accept - that there is corruption in the developing world, for example, and that there shouldn't be.
But it's quite a leap from this to the assertion that foreign aid should be terminated and that the United Nations should be shipped to Geneva.
Even if it is true that the U.S. has spent "trillions" on foreign aid, it has not been shown that this money was all wasted on corruption. Indeed, it is arguable that the vast bulk of it was actually spent as intended!
Moreover, the author hasn't shown that the bulk of the payments to corrupt officials originate from foreign aid or U.N. programs.
And in fact, the bulk of corruption comes from the very class least discussed in the article: the network of business, including U.S. based businesses, paying bribes to officials to ensure a friendly political and economic environment.
If there is any source of corruption equal to that conducted by the business community, it is that conducted by the U.S. government itself, which offers its client governments in other countries military support and secret bank accounts with which they may maintain their hold on power.
The author has a lot to say about corruption in the Philippines and Indonesia, but doesn't mention that these countries lived under dictatorships supported largely through American kickbacks and payments.
The author writes, "most American government and business officials hate corruption and would be delighted to expose the miscreants if there was a safe way to do it."
This would be nice were it true. But there's no evidence to support this contention, and with examples like Enron and Haliburton leading the way, plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
My Canada
For those who haven't seen it: My Canada.


text:
|The Robert D. Ziff '88 Head Coach for Harvard Men's Ice Hockey
|Previous College:
|Harvard 1991
|13th Season
Following success as a player at the collegiate, professional and international levels, Ted Donato has begun piling up a long list of accomplishments in 12 years as head coach at his alma mater heading into the 2016-17 campaign. The former Crimson captain has guided Harvard to three 20-win seasons, captured ECAC Hockey and Ivy League championships, claimed four NCAA tournament berths, led his team to six league championship games, coached six All-Americans and 10 National Hockey Leaguers and set a new standard for wins by a Harvard coach in his first three seasons.
The owner of a 176-180-46 career record entering this season, Donato accumulated 56 victories in his first three years. He is the third Harvard coach to total 50 wins in his first three seasons, joining Bill Cleary '56 (51 wins), who coached Donato at Harvard, and Ronn Tomassoni (50).
Donato, who won an NCAA championship as a Crimson player, played in the Olympics and enjoyed a 13-year NHL career, was introduced as the Robert D. Ziff Head Coach of Harvard Men's Ice Hockey July 2, 2004.
For the second year in a row, the Crimson played in the ECAC Hockey Tournament championship game and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Harvard's 2015-16 team posted a 19-11-4 record, earned tournament titles at the Shillelagh (Notre Dame) and Mariucci (Minnesota) during the regular season. Donato also led a number of his players to individual accolades. Jimmy Vesey collected the program's fourth Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey, to go with first team All-America honors and the Walter Brown Award. Kyle Criscuolo, the ECAC Student-Athlete of the Year once again, garnered All-ECAC and Ivy League honors, as did linemate Alexander Kerfoot. Desmond Bergin and Merrick Madsen each picked up All-Ivy nods.
The 2014-15 season was a return to prominence for the Crimson, as Donato led Harvard to the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd time in program history after capturing the school's ninth ECAC Tournament title. Donato coached six All-Ivy League selections and three ECAC Hockey honorees, including the conference Player of the Year and Hobey Hat Trick finalist, Jimmy Vesey. Junior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo also had a breakout year under Donato's tutelage, finishing second on the team in points, while garnering the program's first ECAC Student-Athlete of the Year award.
Donato, a 1991 graduate, is just Harvard's sixth head coach since 1950. He is the eighth Harvard alum to serve as the program's head coach. The appointment is Donato's first coaching position.
He did not look like a rookie coach in his debut season behind the bench in 2004-05, leading the Crimson to a 21-10-3 record, runner-up finishes in the ECACHL regular season and tournament and an NCAA tournament appearance. Donato's 2005-06 Harvard squad followed with another 21-win season, captured the ECACHL and Ivy League championships and made another NCAA appearance. Donato is the only head coach to take Harvard to the NCAA tournament in each of his first two years.
Donato's teams have shown the tendency to come through in the clutch that was a trademark of his playing career. They have gone 28-6-5 in February home games. The 2007-08 Crimson closed the year on a 10-3-1 run, reaching the finals of the Beanpot and league playoffs. Harvard capped the 2008-09 regular season with a 4-0-2 spurt and then won seven of its final 10 games in 2010-11, winning a road playoff series for the second straight year.
Defenseman Noah Welch '05, goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris '05, defenseman Danny Biega '13, forward Alex Killorn '12 and forward Jimmy Vesey '16 have all earned All-America status under Donato. Welch, Biega and Killorn went on to skate in the NHL, as did forwards Tom Cavanagh '05 and Louis Leblanc and defensemen Dylan Reese '07 and Alex Biega '10.
As an undergraduate, Donato etched his name alongside Harvard's all-time greats. He finished his career 11th on the Crimson's career scoring chart (50 goals, 94 assists, 144 points) and remains 12th in that category. He earned All-ECAC and All-Ivy League accolades while serving as the 95th captain of Harvard hockey in his 1990-91 senior season.
Donato was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1989 NCAA Frozen Four, where Harvard downed Minnesota, 4-3, in overtime in the NCAA championship game. That contest, held in the Gophers' backyard (St. Paul, Minn.), saw Donato net a pair of goals, one that tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period and another that gave the Crimson a 3-2 lead with seven minutes to go. Donato scored three goals and added a pair of assists in the tournament.
He earned the Donald Angier Hockey Trophy as the team's most improved player in 1989 and accepted the Ralph "Cooney" Weiland Award for spirit and devotion to Harvard hockey in 1991.
A native of nearby Dedham, Mass., Donato was a member of seven United States national teams, including the 1992 Olympic team. He tied for the team lead in scoring with four goals and three assists in eight games in the Olympics and posted 11 goals and 22 assists in the pre-Games schedule. He also played in the World Championships in 1997 (4-2-6 in 8 GP), 1999 (2-6-8 in 8 GP) and 2002 (1-3-4 in 7 GP) and in the 1988 World Junior Championship (3-2-5 in 7 GP).
Donato was selected by the Boston Bruins in the fifth round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft (98th overall), and he signed with his hometown club in March 1992 following the Olympic Games. His 13-year pro career included stops in New York (with the Rangers and Islanders), Los Angeles, Ottawa, Anaheim and St. Louis. He returned to the Bruins as a free agent in July 2003.
His NHL career spanned 796 games, in which he scored 150 goals with 197 assists for 347 points. Donato had eight goals, 18 assists and 26 points in 58 career Stanley Cup playoff games. He scored 25 goals in 1996-97, becoming the first U.S.-born player to lead the Bruins in goals in a season.
Donato graduated from Catholic Memorial School as its all-time leading scorer. The son of Michael and Mary Donato, Ted and his three brothers were all active in athletics. Brother Michael played baseball at Princeton; Chris played hockey, baseball and football at Williams; and Dan played hockey and baseball at Boston University. Their sister, Paula, is a plastics engineer.
Donato is a resident of Scituate, Mass., with his wife, Jeannine, and their four children: Ryan, Jack, Nolan and Madelyn.