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You may have noticed I have been posting more reviews lately. The reason being, I am now a Dictator for a website called SugarBomber.
"SugarBomber is the go-to guide and lookbook for admirers of all things sugary. Whether it's a foie gras cupcake or red wine truffle, fellow sweet teeth unite for a common goal: scour local neighborhood restaurants and bakeries across the country to find and photograph great cavity-inducing delights."
If that did not sell you then you should just go over to the site and check out all the great photos.
As you can imagine, I jumped at the opportunity to review sweets around town. So when I was on vacation last week I had a few extra desserts just so I could review them. One of the places we went was Signe's Heaven Bound Bakery and Cafe on Hilton Head Island, SC. If you ask me, Signe's is really an island tradition. My family has been visiting them since I was a little girl for brunch of to get a few cookies. This past trip I got the whole wheat waffles which were crispy on the out side and light on the inside. They were delicious and I definitely cleaned the plate! My friends and I also shares a Pecan Sandie and an Almond Sandie on this trip. These cookies were heavenly. They were sweet, nutty, light, and big enough to share. The almond sandie had more of a shortbread texture and the pecan sandie had all the flavors of Pecan Pie. If you are not a fan of nuts, they bake 11 types of cookies daily and each one is as delicious as the next. I am sure I have tried them all over the years. Don't fret if you are not going to be in Hilton Head any time soon. Signe's ships there baked goods!
(Almond Sandie on Left, and Pecan Sandie on Right)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Signe's Heaven Bound Bakery and Cafe, a review


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Contact Ray's at Killer Creek
Drop Us a Line
Our goal at Ray's is to make your experience a truly memorable one. We'd love to hear about your experience or how we can help you.
For reservations or questions about private events, please contact the restaurant directly, at 770-649-0064.
For media or public relations inquiries, please contact Melissa Libby, firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you are inquiring about a private event, please include your event date, estimated number of guests, and whether this event is for lunch or dinner.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (BEAT) held a protest at Taman Jaya in Petaling Jaya yesterday (The Star – Group wants aerobridges at KLIA 2 – October 24, 2011) against the omission of aerobridges at KLIA2. BEAT is a cross-disability coalition with representation from disabled persons organisations (DPO) based in the Klang Valley. According to the group, the protest was "to reaffirm our call for aerobridges to be installed at KLIA2 for the safety, security and comfort of all passengers including disabled persons, elderly, children, pregnant women, parents with children in prams." The first protest on the same issue was held at Bangsar LRT station on August 20, 2011.
I wholeheartedly support the call for aerobridges at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2). Currently, people with mobility limitations board aircrafts at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT-KLIA) using passenger boarding lift (ambulift) or have to be carried up the boarding stairs. AirAsia passengers who need to use the lift have to inform the airline 48 hours in advance failing which boarding could be denied. There is only one such lift at the LCCT-KLIA for this purpose.
The passenger boarding lift may not be available at all times. It could unavailable because it is being used for boarding at another aircraft at the same time. It could also be due to breakdown or maintenance. When this happens, disabled passengers have to be carried up the boarding stairs via the side-by-side two-person lift method. In my experience, this is not a safe way to board the plane or disembark from it. The steps of the boarding stairs are narrow and slippery. There are many things that could go wrong. The lifters may not have the skills for such lifting. They could lose their grip or lose their footing on the steps. One of them could lose strength on the way up.
I have been carried three times up and three time down like this and each time the fear of the three of us falling off the stairs overwhelmed me. There was one time when I was nearly dropped. The lifters, after hauling me up the stairs and into the aircraft, could not find a place to sit me down. They were exhausted and were fast losing their grip. Fortunately, a cabin crew quickly directed them to use the jump seat. Experiences like this are really not a good way to begin or end the journey with.
The aerobridge or passenger boarding bridge or jet bridge, is safe, convenient and comfortable to board and disembark from aircrafts. They protect passengers from the element, be it rain or shine. There is no need for passengers to huff and puff up the stairs with their luggages, children in tow or baby prams. The aerobridge makes it convenient for children and senior citizens without them having to climb up the stairs. It is a good example of universal design of facilities that benefit everyone.
The decision by Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) not to install the aerobridges stemmed from AirAsia's resistance in using them. The budget airline's business model requires a quick 25-minute turnaround time for its aircrafts and no-frills service. Using aerobridges would purportedly increase the turnaround time and increase the airfare.
MAHB has revealed that it charges RM85 for the use of each aerobridge. Based on the full load of an Airbus A320 with 180 passengers, this translates to a mere 25 sen per passenger for an arriving and departing flight. MAHB stated that the design of the KLIA2 has provisions to accommodate the installation of aerobridges at any time when required AirAsia or other low-cost carriers (LCC).
While I support BEAT's call for the installation of aerobridges at the KLIA2, I am of the opinion that the protest against MAHB was misdirected. True, MAHB is bending backwards by giving exemption to AirAsia for not using aerobridges. MAHB should be faulted for this but looking at the big picture, AirAsia is ultimately the source of this issue.
AirAsia and AirAsia X are the major airlines using the KLIA2. It makes no business sense for MAHB to install the 80 aerobridges at the cost of RM104 million if they are not going to be used. Each aerobridge costs RM1.3 million. It must be noted that AirAsia and AirAsia X are compelled to use aerobridges in foreign airports where no exemption is given for them not to.
BEAT has established a working relationship with AirAsia after the protest at the LCCT-KLIA in 2007. Its members conduct regular trainings for the airline's cabin crew and ground crew in support and services for disabled passengers. BEAT also holds dialogues with the management of the airline on related issues. Therefore, BEAT should use its relationship and influence to advocate to AirAsia on the pertinent need for aerobridges at KLIA2.
In fact, I was involved in a five-day Training of Trainers for AirAsia Disability Equality Training (DET) and Disability Related Service Training (DRST) at AirAsia Academy that concluded last Friday. This five-day course was organised by BEAT under the auspices of AirAsia to equip disabled trainers from Indonesia and Thailand with the same methodology and modules for them to train AirAsia staff in their respective countries. To AirAsia's credit, it is expanding the training for the ground crew and cabin crew in countries where it has a presence in order for disabled passengers to be better served.
On the contrary, in deciding not to use aerobridges at KLIA2, AirAsia has taken several steps backward. It is a shame that the most modern purpose-built low cost carrier terminal that costs more than RM2 billion will require passengers walk out on the tarmac and use boarding stairs. Even the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) and the Board of Airline Representatives were of the view that KLIA2 neeeds to have aerobridges, as reported in The Edge (Provisions made for aerobridges at KLIA2, Dewan Rakyat told – October 17, 2011).
Instead of taking AirAsia to task over this matter, BEAT has chosen to demonise MAHB instead. The root cause of this issue is glaringly not pointed out. There was little mention of AirAsia in the two protests. Why is BEAT playing tai chi here? Why is BEAT not grabbing the bull by the horns? Why is BEAT beating around the bush? Why has BEAT failed to advocate effectively to AirAsia on the need for aerobridges? These are questions begging answers.


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IOC leaders are meeting this week to decide which sport to drop from the Olympic program and how to deal with the fallout from the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
At a two-day IOC executive board meeting opening Tuesday, the IOC will also review preparations for the Winter Olympics in Sochi — less than a year away — and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, as well as select a short list of finalists for the 2018 Youth Olympics.
Modern pentathlon, a tradition-steeped contest invented by the founder of the modern Olympics, is expected to face close scrutiny when the board considers which of the current 26 summer Olympic sports to remove from the program of the 2020 Games. Taking out one sport will make way for a new sport to be added to the program later this year.
The executive board will review a report from the IOC program commission assessing each of the sports contested at last summer's London Olympics.
The report analyzes more than three dozen criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity. With no official rankings or recommendations contained in the report, the final decision by the 15-member executive board will likely be influenced by political, emotional and sentimental factors.
Among the sports considered the most vulnerable is modern pentathlon, which was created for the Olympics by French baron Pierre de Coubertin. It has been on the program since the 1912 Stockholm Games, where George S. Patton — the future U.S. Army general — finished fifth.
Modern pentathlon combines fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting — the five skills required of a 19th century cavalry officer. The sport's governing body, the UIPM, has been lobbying hard to protect its Olympic status.
UIPM President Klaus Schormann said his sport has broadened its appeal with a one-day format while also upholding the traditions of the past and the legacy of De Coubertin.
"The Olympic movement always needs history," he told The Associated Press. "You cannot just say we look only at the future. You can have a future when you are stable on the basic part of history. We are continuing to develop, to renovate, to be innovative and creative. We are very proud of what we achieved so far and want to deliver this as well for the next generations in 2020."
Taekwondo, the Korean martial art that has been in the Olympics since 2000, has also been mentioned as being among the sports in potential danger. The sport introduced a new scoring system in London to eliminate judging controversies and the gold medals, previously dominated by South Koreans, were spread among eight different nations.
The future of wrestling, badminton and table tennis have also been the subject of speculation.
The last sports removed from the Olympics were baseball and softball, voted out by the IOC in 2005 and off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games. Joining the program at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro will be golf and rugby.
Baseball and softball have combined forces to seek inclusion in 2020, competing against karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. Whichever sport is dropped Tuesday will join those seven vying for the single opening in 2020.
The IOC executive board will meet in May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020 inclusion. The final vote will be made at the IOC general assembly in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This week, the IOC will also discuss the crisis in cycling following the doping revelations that led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from elite sports. Armstrong was also stripped by the IOC of his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Games, though the medal has not yet been returned.
The international cycling federation, the UCI, has been in open conflict with the World Anti-Doping Agency over the terms of any "truth and reconciliation" process offering amnesties to those who come forward with information. UCI President Pat McQuaid has written all IOC members seeking their support. He also is reportedly seeking help to fund the process.
The IOC appears unlikely to get directly involved, seeking instead to encourage the UCI and WADA to work together.
"The IOC could maybe play a role as a kind of facilitator," IOC vice-president Thomas Bach told the AP.
On another matter, the IOC will reduce the field of candidates for the 2018 Summer Youth Games. The five bidders are Buenos Aires; Glasgow, Scotland; Guadalajara, Mexico; Medellin, Colombia; and Rotterdam, Netherlands.
At least two are expected to make the list of finalists, with the winner to be announced in June. The first Youth Olympics were held in 2010 in Singapore, with the 2014 edition taking place in Nanjing, China.


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The winner of last week's $337 million Powerball drawing has come forward and contacted Michigan Lottery officials.
The winner's name and where they are from has not been released.
The winner has one year to claim the prize.
The ticket was sold at a gas station in Lapeer, Mich., a city with a population of about 8,000 people, 60 miles north of Detroit. If the winner is a Lapeer resident, the city would receive some $2 million in tax revenue.
The winning numbers from the Aug. 15 drawing were 6, 27, 46, 51, 56 and Powerball 21.
The winner has the option to receive their money in lump sum or annuity payments over 30 years.
Previous report: Mystery jackpot winner leaves Michigan town abuzz
Andi Brancato of the Michigan Lottery Commission said no details about the winner will be released.
The last big Powerball jackpot was won in February by Louis White of Rhode Island. That prize was worth $336 million and was the third largest Powerball jackpot in history.
More content from NBCNews.com:
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- Air Force rules limit size of tattoos, role of gospel
- Tropical Storm Isaac could threaten GOP convention in Tampa
- Satirical website The Duffel Blog dupes news sites with bogus stories
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Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


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Established in 1982 in Richardson, Texas, First Chinese BBQ was one of the first restaurants
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The Shabtai Zvi Star of David Symbols
In the explanation of the exhibition Nechama Lvendel - Nadav Bloch "Dönmeh - Following Shabtai Zvi" at the "Tova Osman" gallery in Tel Aviv it was written that the municipal gallery of Ulcin (Monte Negro State, formerly part of Yugoslavia on the border with Albania) has a a niche on the third floor surmounted by two Star of David symbols carved in stone. According to locals this place was a gathering place of Shabtai Tzvi and his followers. Shabtai Zvi was exiled to Ulcin and had been buried there. His grave is located indoors and is considered a holy place.
Copyright: Nechama Levendel and Nadav Bloch, Israeli Artists.


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Play the limited-edition Video Bingo Deluxe: Clover Quest for free!
Activate Lucky Daubs, collect shamrocks, and travel across the map to help our leprechaun friend find his clothes. You can pick up over 500,000 free Tokens along the way, plus there's another 1 MILLION Token JACKPOT at the end of the rainbow.
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Main V-ring functions
V-rings are suitable for both grease and oil lubricated applications. For sealing grease lubricated bearing arrangements and protecting against contaminants, the V-ring should be arranged outside the housing cover or housing wall. Dust, water spray and other contaminants can be excluded in this position (fig 1). The V-ring can also act as a grease valve, where used grease or excess new grease can escape between the counterface and the sealing lip (fig 2). The installation of two opposing V-rings can be used in applications where lubricant retention and contaminant exclusion are of equal importance (fig 3).
If V-rings are used to retain oil, they should always be located axially on the shaft on the lubricant side (fig 4).
V-rings should not be submerged in the application medium.


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1 whole chicken,cleaned and removed all the cavities,set aside about 3-4 lbs
Hmmm...looks really yummy!!! Wonder if it would work with rottisserie??
I like it! Yummy.
Love this! Must be flavorful and crispy!
wahh.. the chicken looks good!!
This type of chicken reminds me of 'kai fun' from the hawker stall where the fried the chicken this way. Crispy skin and very flavorful.
oh man. It's a childhood classic!!
Thank you for dropping by ☺ ..yes you can use oven or grill to cook it ..
Thank you dear ☺
Thank you..yes it's
thank you ☺
Yes!!! this kind of chicken use for "kai fun" at hawker stall.remember when we was at "Hor Mei" restaurant in Elmhurst,I requested for fried whole chicken and the server told us they didn't sell it anymore..I think they change owner as well as menu..too bad..if not you can taste their fried whole chicken too..
Yes!! the famous hawker stall chic rice chicken!!
I think five spice rally adds depth and flavour to roast chicken too! love it!


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High quality hot tub covers which are constructed with the best materials available for hot tub covers.
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So, Orange County spa owners – give us a try, you'll be happy you did.
Here is a link to our new Orange County Spa Cover and Hot Tub Cover Page
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Tags: hot tub covers, jacuzzi covers, spa cover, Spa Covers, spa lids


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By Atmabir Kaur/Victoria Lynes
Do you schedule in your yoga class right next to dental appointments, servicing of the car, work meetings and dinner with friends?
Or is it just wafting around loosely in the back of your mind, "Perhaps if I have time after…(insert 101 duties, chores and responsibilities here)…I may be able to fit in a yoga class?" Fit in a yoga class. Would you fit in a mammogram if you felt a lump? Would you fit in a dentist appointment if you had an aching tooth? No—you would just schedule it, and go.
But that is different, I hear you say. I say it is not at all. We all know that yoga is super good for us on so many levels—that yoga can prevent so many ailments which in the future will spare us from appointments with a whole gamut of healthcare practitioners. (This, is turn, will give us more time for more yoga, or other things that make us feel good! See how this works? More yoga = more time for you!) But sadly, it still seems that many women have a habit of putting themselves last on their busy to do lists. Why is this?
I teach many different classes around the city where I live. Most of my classes are filled with women. No surprise. Yoga attracts more women than men—we all know that. And Kundalini Yoga specifically has a magnetic effect on women who are drawn to it. I love to see new students come to class for the first time.
It is an interesting position to be in—as a teacher, sitting facing all your students, watching and monitoring their movement, gestures and energy through the exercises, breath work, chants and meditations we do in Kundalini Yoga. I can often tell by the end of the opening chant and after the first pranayama whether she will be back. There is a certain look that comes across her face and settles into her body—a sense of release perhaps, the melting away of all that she has brought to the mat. And let's face it—when we do get to class, that is often a whole lot of stuff!
The busy lives we as women lead these days—juggling work, home, family and everything in between, is exhausting and depleting. We NEED yoga now more than ever. I see it on the faces of some of my students as they rush into class, fresh from their lives, often stressed, often tired, carting a small, heavy aura. "I almost didn't make it," they announce, quickly rolling out their mats, settling in to their spaces, sporting a look of "Ok, bring on the serenity would you?"
Have you noticed that when you ask the simple question, "How are you?" to your women friends, it is all too often answered with, "Oh… so busy… really, really busy." And this is usually followed up with, "I just don't have any time…" Many of us are run-down, numb and only mildly happy.
Yogi Bhajan taught that women are 16 times more emotional than men, which if not channeled through some form of uplifting practice, like Kundalini Yoga, can be our downfall. We can so easily become victims of our own insecurity and emotional commotions, creating much pain and misery for ourselves and others around us.
And as we get older, if we do not have our inner intelligence tuned up and our inner light on high beam, subconsciously we can feel like we are losing something. Our bodies change, things begin to sag and often our mentality does the same. We are often our own worst enemies and the funny thing is, is that we know this about ourselves—but keep doing it anyway!
Many of my beginning students ask me how they can better "perform" the exercises we do in class. "I wasn't able to move my body that way," or "I couldn't pump my arms up and down for more than 20 seconds!" or "I just can't clear my mind at all…I will never be good at meditation." And so on. They work so hard to just get themselves to class, then sit there the whole 90 minutes, berating themselves for the no good person they are.
Of course, there are many responses I can give to these challenges the women are having. I want to say, "Just stop! Stop criticizing yourself, judging yourself, telling yourself you are not good enough. Look at your life and all the things you do! Look at all the things you juggle and all the people you take care of. Write it down one day—what you fit into 24 hours. You are incredible, strong, unselfish, kind and giving! You just don't know it, so you don't feel it."
But I don't often say these words. But my goal is always to encourage them to continue to come to class, and more often—that the teachings will work their magic and that they will one day arrive to class, unrushed, sit on their mat and the first things they will say to themselves will be positive. "I am grateful to be here." "I have done my best today." "I love and accept myself today."
Yogi Bhajan said: "Strength and weakness follow each other. The question is, which side are you on? The question is not what the calamities are that you are going to face. Everybody has got to face that. The question is not whether misfortune is coming or not. The question is, how are you going to face it? If you face anything head on, it will go away."
I often tell my students that by committing to coming to class each week, they are facing everything head on! Because these extraordinary teachings do this—they challenge us physically, mentally and emotionally, and force us to confront our neuroses—our inner commotion. They force us to focus on what is important in our lives and strive for that. And I often tell them too, that sometimes, just by getting to class, they have done half the work!
So please—if getting to class is often a challenge for you, even if you want to with every fiber of your being, schedule it into your day planner. Don't try to just fit it in only if you have time. Make the time. It should not be a luxury, your yoga is as important as everything else you do—the up side being that if you get to class, then all those other things that you do will be done better!
Finally, a beautiful quote by Yogi Bhajan in celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th:
"You do not understand your features. Your features are not your beautiful nose, your beautiful cheeks, beautiful lips, and so on. These are not your features. Your features are your beautiful behavior, your beautiful character, your beautiful health, your beautiful spirit, your beautiful advice, your beautiful wisdom, your beautiful inspiration."
-August 21, 1978
Victoria Lynes/Atmabir: "I have to say that to teach has always brought me the greatest of pleasures. When I am teaching I feel the most connected to my truth - my "Sat Nam" - when I sit on my mat and gratefully share the joy and transformation of yoga with students from all walks of life. When I discovered Kundalini Yoga several years back, I resonated instantly with this powerful and profound practice. Having a busy life and being a mother of 2 growing boys, I was astounded at how a sense of peace, neutrality and strength quickly permeated so seamlessly into my daily life with the regular practice of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation."
Internationally Certified KRI Kundalini Yoga Teacher
Level 2 Radiant Child Yoga Teacher
IKYTA/YA Member
International Women's Camp


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International Institute for Diversity & Cross Cultural Management
The demographic shift in the workplaces, workforces and marketplaces of today has generated significant challenges and opportunities. The graduates of the Bauer College of Business are entering workplaces that have to create strategies that management and leverage:
- The Workforce: Some studies by the U.S. Department of Labor have indicated that over 75% of people entering the workplace today are either women, immigrants or people of color. Becoming diverse is inevitable; the real challenge is to become inclusive and culturally competent.
- The Workplace: With the changes occurring in most workplaces; there are multiple generations, gender changes, differences in communications styles, thinking styles, leadership approaches and more. Creating workplaces where employees feel valued and respected is a requirement to increase employee engagement and productivity.
- The Marketplace: Customers are often as diverse as the changing employees in most organizations today. Organizations that are (B2C- Business to Consumer) have long understood the marketplace implications for creating a comprehensive marketplace diversity strategy.
A significant area of focus for the International Institute for Diversity & Cross Cultural Management (IIDCCM) involves the importance of understanding how "culture" affects an organization. Culture has many different implications including but not limited to:
- Corporate Culture
- Global Dimensions of Culture
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Prof. George Gamble
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Vormetric Transparent Encryption for SAP HANA
Vormetric Transparent Encryption provides a proven approach to safeguarding SAP HANA data that meets rigorous security, data governance and compliance requirements. The solution can be quickly deployed, requiring no changes to SAP HANA or the underlying database or hardware infrastructure. With the solution, organizations can encrypt SAP HANA data and log volumes, and establish strong governance and separation of duties.


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Special seals
SBD plummer block housings and THD take-up housings are available with taconite heavy-duty seals. Taconite heavy-duty seals are grease filled labyrinth seals that include a V-ring. They can seal against taconite, a very fine-grained mineral which is extremely difficult to seal against.
Taconite seals require a modified housing, designation suffix /VZ335. For additional information, contact the SKF application engineering service.


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A couple weeks ago my friend Ellen and I had another one of our get togethers where we make delicious treats. This time we made Sea Salt Caramels and Pralines. I always assumed that candy making was much harder than it actually is. I will post the pralines for a later day and will stick to the caramels for now (did anybody else just see my pun?). These caramels were delicious! I can't say enough about them. They are sweet, salty, chewy, and everything you want a caramel to be. We each made our own pan and it made a ton! We did not count, but each batch made at least 50. The only thing I did not like about these caramels was rolling them individually in parchment. You really can't skip this step because they will stick together, but it is worth it!
Check out Ellen's post where she has more step by step photos here.
Vanilla Bean Sea Salt Caramels
recipe adapted from Ina Garten
Vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 - 1 vanilla bean (depending on size)
Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing it to drape over 2 sides, then brush the paper lightly with oil.
In a deep saucepan (6 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches deep), combine 1/4 cup water, the sugar and corn syrup and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until the mixture is a warm golden brown. Don't stir -- just swirl the pan.
In the meantime, in a small pot, bring the cream, butter and 1 teaspoon of sea salt to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat and set aside. Skim off any excess milk solids and discard.
When the sugar mixture is done, turn off the heat and slowly add the cream mixture to the sugar mixture. Be careful -- it will bubble up violently. Stir in the beans from the vanilla bean with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until the mixture reaches 248 degrees F (firm ball) on a candy thermometer.
Very carefully pour the caramel into the prepared pan and refrigerate, until firm.
When the caramel is cold, pry the sheet from the pan onto a cutting board. Cut the square in half. Starting with a long side, roll the caramel up tightly into an16-inch-long log. Sprinkle the log with fleur de sel, trim the ends and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. It's easier to cut the caramels if you brush the knife with flavorless oil like corn oil.
Cut glassine or parchment paper into 4-by-5-inch pieces and wrap each caramel individually, twisting the ends.


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The United Nations General Assembly is considering a draft resolution declaring safe and clean drinking water and sanitation a fundamental human right. The draft was presented by the Bolivian government to the General assembly on June 17 and will be developed by member states over the next several weeks. The final text will be presented to the President of the General Assembly for consideration by the end of July.
Maude Barlow, founder of Blue Planet Project, urges the swift passage of this resolution in a letter written to all UN ambassadors. Barlow claims that "this would be one of the most important things the UN has done since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
Is this really what it's going to take for everyone across the globe to get safe, clean drinking water and sanitation? A formal, written declaration? Barlow states that "it's time politics caught up with reality." But this declaration clearly shows that politics makes reality. In order for something that should already be a reality to become one, a group of world leaders must first agree to it and sign it into practice. Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?.


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The National Football League unveiled Wednesday its 2013 preseason schedule, which has the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opening at home against the defending Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens before hitting the road for two weeks at the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins, and then closing the preseason slate hosting the Washington Redskins.
The Bucs will welcome the Ravens to Raymond James Stadium during Week 1 (August 8-11), marking the club's first preseason opener at home since 2007 and first time in franchise history to open preseason play against a defending world champion. The Buccaneers face an uncommon opponent in the Ravens, as the game will be the first time that the two teams have met in the preseason, and only the fifth time matching up against one another overall.
The following week, in a preview of one of their 2013 regular-season games, the Buccaneers travel to the northeast to battle the Patriots. The game will be nationally televised by FOX on Friday, August 16 at 8 p.m. ET. Tampa Bay holds a 7-2 advantage in its preseason series against New England, including a 1-0 lead when playing in Foxborough, having won its lone game as the away team, 31-21, in 2000.
Week 3 (August 22-25) finds Tampa Bay at Miami in an intrastate matchup that continues the Buccaneers' longest-running preseason series. The game marks the 13th consecutive season and 28th time overall that the two clubs have faced each other in preseason play. Miami leads the overall series, 16-11, but the Buccaneers has bested the Dolphins in seven of the last 11 preseason bouts, including a 17-13 victory in 2011 and a 20-7 win in 2012.
The Buccaneers close out their preseason schedule hosting the Washington Redskins in Week 4 (August 29-30). It is the first time since the 2002 season that Washington has traveled to Raymond James Stadium in the preseason.
2013 Preseason Schedule
Week 1 (August 8-11) BALTIMORE
August 16, 8 p.m. ET on FOX at New England
Week 3 (August 22-25) at Miami
Week 4 (August 29-30) WASHINGTON
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Friday, January 30, 2009
Spaced practice in learning - at last!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Games result in real learning
Friday, January 23, 2009
Dinosaurs do not give birth to gazelles
Like the Whiteboard fixation, it suits people who only believe that technology should only be used in the classroom. All of the Interactive Multi-touch Tables I saw (RM. SMART, VIPRO and Microsoft Surface) were expensive cons. They overhype collaborative learning and at a prohibitive cost. I couldn't even get my legs under one, as it was box-like. Spend your money on more teachers, books, netbooks, woolly hats....anything other than these expensive table-tops.
There was none of this nonsense at CES. What's was new there and how will it impact e-learning? First - realism. The future is tight, and we'll all have to squeeze our spending. But in recessionary times, some technology is timely. At CES the technology is smaller, lighter, smarter, greener and easier to use. It's wireless and more connected. But here's the killer – it's cheaper.
1. Netbooks - next big small thing
Sales of these tiny laptops are expected to triple this year, as dirt cheap as $2-300. The lovely Assus Eee PCs are an astonishing $269-699 with one model offering a swivel screen that turns it into a tablet. HP, MSI, Sony and others have an array of little wireless laptops that will slip into a sizeable pocket. With ubiquitous wireless this will allow mass market mobile internet access. These cheap netbooks and laptops work because of wireless.
2. e-books – it's about reading not 'books'
This is the first wave of a technology that will not go away. There's the Kindle, Sony Reader, Astak, eSlick and a few more with good feeds from publishers.The idea of having thousands of books on tap is mouth watering for everyone but those who 'just love the smell of books' (toxic bleaching chemicals).
For learning, we have Nintendo releasing 100 Classic Books for the DS at £20 and, of course, the internet projects such as Project Gutenberg, with over 25,000 free e-books available on the web. Their aim is to "to provide as many e-books in as many formats as possible for the entire world to read in as many languages as possible."
Apple still lead the pack with astonishing iPHONE and its wonderful apps, but Android has a growing developer community and a slew of Android phones will appear this year. There's a resurgent Palm, gesture enabled and LG in catch up mode. Coming soon is the ability to watch TV on your mobile. Two wackier variations on the mobile are the Watchphone, a mobile on your wrist with camera for videoconferencing (LG), and the mobile that's also a projector. Oh, and I nearly forgot, Google's voice activated search from Mobiles. Then there's the add-ons for mobile devices. Cinemiser – specs that plug into your iPOD to watch video, these are also 3D. I've tried these are they really are very impressive. Great for long flights. And microphones for iPODs, good for recording lectures to distances up to 45 feet.
From a learning point of view, it is the open developer environments and applications that are of interest. The Touch Physics game is a sign of things to come but it must surely be useful to use these devices for language learning and a host of other subjects. Everything points towards mobile devices being more learning friendly. You can record video, record audio, communicate, organise and project. It's simply a matter of integrating them into the learning process. The first step should surely be the universal recording of lectures for replay by students.
Furry pets that purr and spring into life when you touch them, iPOD singing furry animal speaker pods. Little chicks that chirp and wriggle. Facebank piggybank that it eats your money through a moving mouth. Then there's the more sophisticated literacy and numeracy toys.
I can remember selling headband controlled stress busting software in the 1980s! It's only now we're starting to see this creep into computer games and now, in an $80 blow football game from Matel.
Early days but one can see how this type of focus and psychological attention (a core problem in teaching children) could result in dramatic increases in learning and retention. We know that learning depends on attention and internal rehearsal. For some tasks this direct form of contextualised control could result in significant increases in understanding and retention. This could be a real breakthrough technology.
Computer consoles have become very powerful and relatively cheap. The Nintendo DS showed that there's demand for handheld consoles and demand for games beyond the traditional genres. Games design is now being seriously applied to learning even in the consumer games market, with the likes of Buzz and Brain Training.
Conceptually, there's a cloud coming in computing, which combined with cheap wireless laptops may truly put learning in the hands of learners at very low prices. We really do have to question the vast expense of VLE installation in schools when a cloud solution is around the corner. Why get every school to procure, install and maintain their own VLE when this type of service is available outside of the institution? Interesting security gadgets include physical security devices that scans everything before it enters your PC and identification devices like Yubico with their three factor authentication.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
People are our greatest asset (and liability)
It is not an immutable law, as there are many counterexamples, neither is it particularly useful as a rule of thumb for managers. It's too all-inclusive. The problem is in the formulation of the statement 'people are our greatest asset'. There's a category mistake at the heart of this simple sentence. It's the mapping of the word 'people' to the word 'asset'. People are both an asset and a liability in an organisation.
Other assets can matter more than people
Assets come in all shapes and sizes. The assets of an organisation may be cash, equities in other companies, intellectual property, brands, land, property, commodities and so on.
Cash can be an organisations greatest asset, at times in an organisation's growth. It can make the difference between death and survival. This is why capitalising a business often results in the decision to reduce the burn rate by losing unnecessary staff. In some organisations the cash pile can certainly be its greatest asset. If you have a company that is protecting itself against a fierce financial downturn, cash can certainly be a greater asset than people. This is also true of organisations that are vehicles for investment protection.
Intellectual property right are often an organisations greatest asset. Whether it's cats' eyes, a clever piece of engineering, high tech or a beautiful piece of software; patents can be your primary asset. Some organisations quite simply manage a single patent or patents. In many cases the only people gaining are the offspring of the inventor. This would be to equate an accident of birth with talent.
Brands can be more important in the long terms than the current crop of people in an organisation. This is especially true of brands that have been around longer than any current employee. Coca Cola may be a good example. There are plenty of others. The actual 'asset' as measured qualitatively or quantitatively may be greater than the intellectual or human capital at that one time in an organisation. Let me give another example. Many major universities have brands that go back hundreds of years. This is their core asset – their history, past reputation and now their current brand capital. A university's students come and go annually, their staffs come and go, it doesn't own the IP in its research, which is published by publishers in their journals. In short, its people come and go but its brand remains the constant.
Assets such as artefacts in museums, artworks in galleries, land and houses in the National Trust, archaeological sites in English Heritage and so on, may all value their assets as, in both the short and long term as greater than their people. Equipment, real-estate and property can also be classed as tangible balance sheet assets, which in some cases, may be of greater value than a relatively small number of employees.
People defined as customers can be your greatest asset. Most would agree that Facebook's greatest asset is its users, similarly with YouTube. Wikipedia has a tiny number of employees but tens of thousands of contributors. Its greatest asset is its massive content and contributors.
People can be an organisation's worst asset
There are organisations where the people are quite simply corrupt. Madoff, along with his fellow cronies and corrupt auditors, managed to siphon off $50 billion from investors. OK that's too obvious.
There are also organisations where the people are quite simply incompetent. I can think of innumerable private and public organisations that ended up stuffed with people who were just riding out their time to retirement. They were wisely closed down by their investors or politicians. Think of Carter & carter, UK Universities or the NHSU. There are charities where the employees milk most of the cash, leaving little for the cause.
There are organisations where the leadership have become self-serving and destructive. You see this in political parties, where those in power start to become self-righteous, lazy and ineffective. George Bush is an obvious example, but it happens to many elected governments after being too long in office. Family owned businesses often suffer from a sort of in-breeding of behaviour, leading to the downturn and extinction of an organisation. And there's possibly no better contemporary example than the banks, where overeager leadership training and greed allowed people to destroy the very basis of their trade.
In some organisation, people can become the primary barrier to progress. Imbued with old values, groupthink takes hold, and change becomes difficult, and in some cases impossible. One can encounter this in many private and public organisations. The 'Yes...but.. .' culture can be palpable, which is why change management is so difficult.
Organisations where management and union activity destroy the organisation is another species of the self-destructive organisation. In the automotive industry there were plenty of examples in the UK in the seventies, and arguably many now in the US, where both management and employees are poor assets. Excessive wage demands, top-heavy pension agreements and reactive management have led to the near insolvency of General Motors and Chrysler.
People may become a liability because of government legislation which increases the cost of hiring or retaining employees. There are examples of restrictive labour laws that have resulted in overvaluing people as an asset. Punitive penalties can stop employers from hiring the very people the legislation is meant to support.
People are both an asset and liability
Empirically, most boards do not believe this statement. They do believe that people are BOTH AN ASSET AND A LIABILITY. This is the right, and balanced, way to view an organisation. One has to look to the right balance between the two and sometimes get rid of poor performers and develop and hire better people. And don't come back with 'this is exactly what I mean by people being your greatest asset' argument. This is like the Marxist who explains everything in terms of class dialectics, or the religious fundamentalist who explains all in terms of the will of (their particular) religious beliefs. At times they can become a liability, especially when there's a rapid downturn or radical market change.
Beyond assets and resources
I should add that my own view is the people should not be equated with the word 'asset'. This is why I dislike the term 'Human Resources'. I don't like being seen as an 'asset' or 'resource'. The whole language of dealing with people is an outdated, industrial vocabulary that paints professionals into an uncomfortable corner. Remember how balance sheets work - they are the sum of your liabilities and other assets. You have to report on both, and people can be both an asset and a liability.
The problem with the word 'asset' is that it has a technical meaning related to the reporting on balance sheets. For balance sheets to work one must value assets including; liabilities (important), stock, earnings, etc. Then there are current, prepaid and deferred and intangible assets. The area of 'intangible' assets is notoriously difficult in terms of assigning value. In some ways this is exactly where things have gone wrong in our system. We have assigned value to things that had no value, or declining value. As we now see, this is a dangerous game.
Accountancy is a sophisticated system, designed to assign true value to an organisation. One could go down the route of assigning real cash value to human asset beyond their salary and other obvious pay and rations categories. This is not easy. In fact, one would have to accept the reporting of people as liabilities as well as assets. Only slaves and footballers can be bought and sold in this fashion. Best avoided!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Olympics: hubris of participation and education
The Olympics are a politician's wet dream – lots of pomp, free events, free tickets and worldwide publicity. Now if they were honest and simply saw the Olympics as a means to build some new sports facilities, hold a competition and have some fun, well maybe that would fly. But no, Seb Coe and company have to get transcendental about mass sporting participation, inspirational educational opportunities and young people fulfilling their dreams. In these difficult times at least some brave commentators are questioning the huge expense and hullabaloo of the Olympics and whether it has any real and sustainable effect on participation in sport, and education in general.
My gut feel is that it's turned into the Frankenstein of sport; something that was fundamentally good but now a huge, sometimes corrupt, sometimes drug fuelled, over-commercialised, nationalistic junket.
Olympics and politics
My earliest memories of the Olympics are from Mexico in 1968, where hundreds of students were gunned down in the Tlatelco massacre. Three Olympic cheers for education! It was also the games in which Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black power salutes. From then on I can remember lots of East German athletes of indeterminate gender throwing, lifting, jumping, running and generally behaving like the drug-fuelled brutes we now know they were. In 1972 we had the Munich massacre of eleven Israelis and three Palestinians, and two black 400m runners banned for life for acting casually during the Star Spangled banner. In Montreal 1976 most African nations boycotted the games after New Zealand rugby team toured apartheid South Africa. The Moscow Games in 1980 were boycotted by 60 countries led by the US, protesting at their invasion of Afghanistan. Boy did history repeat itself. After the massive cost overruns at Montreal only Los Angeles bid for 1984. They won! This time 14 Soviet bloc countries boycotted the games in a tit for tat move, proving that entire nations can behave like spoiled kids. Seoul in 1988 had only 7 countries boycott, but a Korean boxing coach attacked a referee, and although other matches were still going on in the other rings, Korean officers turned off electricity of the amphitheater and went home. 1992 saw Atlanta host hugely commercial games, selling their soul to coca Cola. It was also the scene of a bombing that killed two and injured 111 by a US citizen who was against 'abortion' and 'the homosexual agenda'. It attracts people of fine moral character, the games! Since Atlanta, with Sydney and Athens, we have seen games that swipe badly needed resources away from services that matter, leaving people to pick up the tab for years later, with little to show other than a clutch of poorly used sports venues. Beijing was the biggest PR exercise in history, a vehicle for a nondemocratic state to establish itself as a perceived world power.
Olympic impact on education
There are two separate arguments in relation to the Olympics and education:
1. That it significantly increases participation in sport
2. That sports' people are ideal role models
3. That it has a positive impact on other educational goals
1. Participation
What I witnessed at Beijing was the UK excelling at sports where we sit down. When it comes to sitting on a horse, bike, rowing or sailing boat we're fast as hell. In a cynical approach to funding we pour money into sports in which few actually participate, because few can afford the equipment. It's a wizard wheeze to exclude almost every developing country and compete in minimal participation sports, where there's a maximum number of medals and a minimum number of competitors. In practice, our participation in sport is falling, not rising, and the responsibility for the participation is splits across too many Government departments to be workable.
I live next to a large local park and deliver my kids to a sports centre four times a week. What I see is football, rugby, tennis, badminton, martial arts, basketball and a few runners. You need only look at the sports on TV to see that football, rugby, snooker and darts are our favourite spectator sports. The Olympics are, for some sports, almost the only reason they seem to exist, for few take any interest in them for the three years between Olympic events. What children have pictures of horse riders, velodrome cyclists, rowers, sailors or ever swimmers on their bedroom wall? I'm not saying these are not worthy sporting pursuits. I do question our winning medals as having much impact on overall sports participation. My own feeling is that the money spent on the Olympics would be better spent on the ground in community sports programmes and schools.
2. Role models
I also have my doubts about sports' people as role models. The behaviour of sports people is no more exemplary than most ordinary young people, and in many cases worse. Premiership footballers beating people to a pulp outside Macdonalds, fighting in nightclubs, crashing cars, even worse killing innocent drivers and pedestrians. For every Linniker there's a Gazza and Barton. In fact few would regard the often drunken antics of footballers, rugby players or cricketers with anything but predictable weariness, stalled in their teenage attitudes, they abandon their education early for a sport that dumps most of them in their late twenties.
Then there's the drugs. First there's the recreational Diego Maradonna cocaine snorting variety. Doping drugs have also been in regular use at the Olympics since 1904and the revelations of supposed athletes such as Ben Johnson, Nina Kraft, Justin Gatlin, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Jerome Young, Irina Korzhanenko, Dwain Chambers and so on, hardly make for healthy heroes. It's a cat and mouse game and everyone knows it's endemic. An amazing seven horses failed drugs tests in Beijing.
Our current Olympic medal winners have shown themselves to be quite feckless outside of their sport. Their appearance on Sports Personality of the Year showed that the programme is just one big oxymoron. Chris Hoy's ads on TV are as wooden as his head. This year's Christmas 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' was the subject of ridicule as our Olympic heroes crashed out on questions that a ten year old would have known. In one case, lampooned mercilessly by TV critics, two of our intrepid yachting medal winners failed to answer the early question, 'In what field is Ann Wintour known?' Now that ain't easy, but the empty headed yachtswoman in the chair said, 'I should know this as I had supper with her last night'. Now how vacuous was that social occasion! She got it wrong.
3. Olympics and education
The Olympics is not a major force for educational good. It's a blatantly instrumental, political event that barely manages to suppress the nastier side of nationalism. When sport is the only thing a person has it can be an ugly destructive force. Physical education is important and I'd hope that we can increase the amount of young people exercising or participating in sport. But many experience the downside of this push at school. They are pushed into physical participation when they are often too introverted or embarrassed to cope. Many look back at PE with horror at school.
The little girl who was deemed too ugly to sing? Is that the message we want to give our children? If actual talent takes anything away from this push towards physical perfection, it's censored.
I love sport. Tennis is the only sport I actually play, but I'm a sports fan and watch, in particular, football, tennis and basketball. My preference is for sports that develop outside of the Olympics, and let's face it, most of the world's major sports have a paltry Olympic presence. Some are not there at all. I'm for the Olympic but on a smaller scale with less of the participation, role model, educational hubris.
Friday, January 16, 2009
LearningPool – sink or swim
Sometimes you have an idea that is so simple that you can't see how it can fail. But in learning, being right is not always the quickest way to success.
In 2000 I came back from LearnTech in the US with an idea, which I wrote up on the plane. I think everyone who attends a conference should do a write-up with recommendations. Inspired with the success of Napster, which eventually changed the music industry forever, I wanted to apply the technology to a less glamorous sector. I had delivered a report to the IDEA, the Improvement and Development Agency for local government, showing that training in the 450 Local Authorities in England and Wales amounted to around was over half a billion a year (verified by an Audit last year at £540m), but about two thirds of this was duplicated. Read that again, two thirds of the spend was DUPLICATED – and therefore wasted. Training departments were mostly doing their own thing designing, developing and delivering their own DIY courses.
So I went to the IDEA Director who had commissioned this research and said, "I have an idea that could dramatically reduce this figure". He had worked in New York as a consultant for Deloittes, so was used to straight ROI talk. "Look, your 450 authorities are not competitors and desperate for efficiencies. Get them to share the design, development and delivery of training, freeing that back-end money for front-line work."
We did it, dived in, branded it LearningPool, launched it in a bar in Soho, handed it over to the IDEA, and I lost track of its progress. To be honest I thought it had gone the way of most of these things- extinction.
Suddenly, years later , out of the blue, I received an email from two people who had bought the business in 2006 and are now doing what it intended to do all those years ago. They've built a successful business, www.learningpool.com, providing a pool of content and services to local authorities, police, housing associations, schools and universities, on the simple idea of sharing. They have 150 local authority customers and others in other public sector areas. It's a single pool in which everyone can swim to exchange solutions and solve problems.
For a very reasonable fee you get access to a large and growing library of e-learning courses, an authoring tool, access to the exchange and (the important bit) lots of support in selling and implementing e-learning. Rather than delivering endless classroom courses at a fixed cost every time, you distribute e-learning to all officers, councillors, school governors, or whoever. But it's the services in terms of being part of a national community that matter. It's so simple and so obvious that you may wonder why everyone in the public sector doesn't do it this way.
Duplication of effort, is the primary inefficiency in the public sector. This is especially true in education and training. Duplication in teaching is the norm. Every teacher is an auteur who designs, develops and delivers their own personal lessons and courses. Duplication in processes means that every local authority and school wastes endless amounts of time and money trying to find, amend or invent processes and policies. Then there's duplication in procurement, where things that should be dealt with at national levels are devolved down to the individual school or college or local authority. In e-learning, the advantages come from volume. It's a numbers game. Share, and for every pound you invest you'll get hundreds back.
Speaking to Andrew Pinder this week, who was Chair of BECTA, we both agreed that technology solution cannot be delegated down to individual institutions. The business model must look to solutions that lie above non-competitive institutions where the cost is shared, whether it's schools, colleges, universities, local authorities, charities, hospitals, GP surgeries, local government, police forces, government bodies and government departments.
This will need leadership from the National Audit Office, as well as others in government. It's possible, and with over 2.5 million learners through UFI (learndirect) I've seen it happen outside of institutions. A little joined up thinking and government could go a long way here.
It's time to stop splashing about in our own tiny, shallow paddling pools and go for a swim in a pool or better still the sea of e-learning.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Dark cloud ahead?
This is my new rule for web applications. All applications, pieces of software or media , eventually migrate upwards towards the cloud away from an offline or client seated environment – and they never come down.
My web mail is entirely in the cloud as is my calendar, blog, Facebook stuff and Twitter messages.
Microsoft are also promising Office in the cloud.
Games were bought on disc or cartridge and millions of players have now migrated online, some with plug-ins, but many now through shockwave and flash, truly in the cloud.
Video was on tape, then DVD then on-demand TV then downloadable through bitorrent and is now streamed from iPlayer or YouTube in the cloud.
With peer to peer file sharing the cloud is our own PCs. Millions are already creating the cloud.
The always-on, wireless-everywhere vision is starting to shape up. It really is useful to have a wireless device on you at all times, as there's enough lily-pad networks to make it worthwhile. In this sense wireless access is becoming a utility, like water, electricity and gas.
Heads in the cloud
When you have our heads in the cloud, you may find yourself experiencing unexpected blackouts. I experienced this in Egypt in December 08 when the whole country experienced a loss of internet access due to a severed underwater cable. It's frightening. We have to accept that we'll have utility blackouts when the service is down for technical or natural disaster-type reasons.
Clouds rain down
The cloud may also rain down on us mercilessly with thunder and lightning . We have an increase in crime, hacking and general maliciousness on the web. Phishing has become a massive problem along with spam, scams and malware. Nigeria, as a nation, is now best known for its online scamming merchants.
Clouds and dogfights
Then we have the danger of political dog fights in the cloud - cyberterrorism. The Gaza conflict has sparked a real online war between Israeli and Palestinian sides, taking down each other's sites and generally disrespecting Article 19 of the Declaration of Human Rights – the right to freedom of speech. This is now being routinely ignored by major governments.
The cloud is not benign
It hides all sorts of hidden dangers, and before trusting ourselves to a totally online world, we'll need to know what dangers lurk in this model. Perhaps a better analogy is the 'mist' or 'fog' which can hide all sorts of nasty phenomenon.
With Lord carter's announcing an intention to bring Broadband to everyone through an industry fund, these issues are closer than ever. Look forward to the full report in June.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Why the web is the real pedagogic engine
My suspicion is that the web has done more for pedagogy in the last five years than the entire output of academic educational departments and other institutions in the last fifty years. This thought was, curiously, sparked off by my visit to the Darwin Exhibition in the Natural History Museum in London.
Web – global test environment
The web is a global test house, where theories and ideas are put to the ultimate test (customer acceptance), on a grand scale. Who needs focus groups, pilots and trials, when you have a daily audience of hundreds of millions? Thousands of ideas are launched every day on this platform and many more fail than succeed. In this sense it is a Darwinian environment, in which the environment itself (medium plus users) determines fitness for purpose. Those that survive are 'fit' in the sense that they are rated, reused and recommended.
By contrast, recommended pedagogic progress in institutions has been glacial. Best practice is notoriously difficult to get dispersed and adopted so by and large there's still a preponderance of old practice. 'Chalk and talk' in education and training, and the 'lecture' in tertiary education, are still dominant. Shocking but true.
By contrast, recommended pedagogic progress in institutions has been glacial. Best practice is notoriously difficult to get dispersed and adopted so by and large there's still a preponderance of old practice. 'Chalk and talk' in education and training, and the 'lecture' in tertiary education, are still dominant. Shocking but true.
Web – evolution on steroids
Web – evolution on steroids
The web is like evolution on steroids. Great applications just take off and immediately compete with competitors in a race towards population spread. It is a huge habitat, or rather an ecosystem, with a series of habitats, as language and cultural barriers act like oceans, mountain ranges and rivers in keeping language-specific and culturally-specific habitats or applications apart. A good example is social networking where there are considerable linguistic and cultural differences. However, in this global ecosystem/environment, some applications can transcend these barriers to become almost ubiquitous, namely Google, Wikipedia, web mail services and so on.
We can talk usefully and analogously, I think, about the different levels of activity. In evolution we have the biosphere, ecosystems, habitats, communities, populations and individuals. Similarly, on the web we have the world-wide web as the ecosystem, linguistic and cultural habitats, communities of common interest, specific populations of users and individual users. It is not an exact parallel, but a hierarchical description is useful in both cases.
We can talk usefully and analogously, I think, about the different levels of activity. In evolution we have the biosphere, ecosystems, habitats, communities, populations and individuals. Similarly, on the web we have the world-wide web as the ecosystem, linguistic and cultural habitats, communities of common interest, specific populations of users and individual users. It is not an exact parallel, but a hierarchical description is useful in both cases.
Webdiversity – a Cambrian explosion
While biodiversity shrinks with the crash of wild animal populations (50% of mammal populations in decline, 36% threatened with extinction and 40% of all species threatened), webdiversity explodes. About 530 million years ago we went through the Cambrian explosion, where most of the major groups of complex animals appeared on earth. We are witnessing a similar phenomenon online, with the rapid appearance of many different species of interaction on the web. The explosive growth of the World Wide Web is, arguably, the electronic equivalent of the Cambrian explosion.
Pedagogy and survival
Pedagogy and survival
Of course the deep driver in evolution is the blind mutation of DNA producing variation leading to sexual selection and survival. On the web it is sentient beings themselves who create the mutations, which are then selected by users. It's not quite as clean and blind as evolution, as branding, partnerships, acquisitions, financing etc also play a role. Ideas are also sometimes selected by technical barriers such as bandwidth restrictions, plug-ins, browsers, client devices etc. This is rapidly disappearing as we move towards the world of open standards and the cloud. But on the whole, the web is an ecosystem that ruthlessly punishes applications that are slow, difficult to use, unfriendly, not useful or expensive.
My argument is that it is also ruthless with pedagogic ideas that are slow, difficult to use, unfriendly, not useful or expensive. Let me illustrate this by example.
My argument is that it is also ruthless with pedagogic ideas that are slow, difficult to use, unfriendly, not useful or expensive. Let me illustrate this by example.
Google – a pedagogic paradigm
Google has become the ubiquitous search tool because it was simple, fast, easy to use, powerful, useful and free. There is now a whole ecosystem of Google search applications that have similar qualities such as Google Earth, Google Maps and now Google Street. This is a global ecosystem in multiple languages. Other Google habitats include Googlemail, GoogleChrome, GoogleGroups etc. And sometimes this behemoth simply gobbles up another species; the most famous example is YouTube, now owned by Google. Interestingly, it also seeds the ecosystem with open development platforms such as Android, an interesting and newly learnt variation on web dominance.
So, Google has managed to produce several new pedagogic innovations (accelerators of learning) providing almost instant access to knowledge, answers to questions, location search (GoogleEarth, GoogleMaps, GoogleStyreets) along with efficient variations on communication by email (GoogleMail), browsing (GoogleChrome), media sharing (GoogleVideo and YouTube) and Collaboration (GoogleGroups). This has been a pedagogic paradigm shift.
So, Google has managed to produce several new pedagogic innovations (accelerators of learning) providing almost instant access to knowledge, answers to questions, location search (GoogleEarth, GoogleMaps, GoogleStyreets) along with efficient variations on communication by email (GoogleMail), browsing (GoogleChrome), media sharing (GoogleVideo and YouTube) and Collaboration (GoogleGroups). This has been a pedagogic paradigm shift.
Wikis and Wikipedia – a knowledge revolution
Who would have thought? A not for profit, multilingual encyclopaedia, created collaboratively by volunteers. There's no way such a project could ever have emerged and succeeded in academia or the print world. With its adjunct features, such as discussions around controversial knowledge, it has become a leading edge knowledge base, almost a news source. Its revolutionary method of production, editing model and vast usage put it among the elite knowledge bases in the world. Now publishing in 262 languages it is a truly global learning resource.
Wikipedia, and wiki production in general, has produced a truly original model for the production, management and access to learning resources. It is astonishing in its success, size and scope. Interestingly, its dominance has come through a symbiotic relationship with Google, where it regularly appears near the top on any topic search.
Wikipedia, and wiki production in general, has produced a truly original model for the production, management and access to learning resources. It is astonishing in its success, size and scope. Interestingly, its dominance has come through a symbiotic relationship with Google, where it regularly appears near the top on any topic search.
YouTube and media sharing – a multimedia revolution
YouTube has produced more content than all of the TV stations of the US in their entire history, and it's all user-generated. It's easy to upload, easy to view and it's free. ITUNES has had a similar effect in music and Flickr in photographs. Every medium now has a slew of useful media sharing services that have changed the way in which media is produced, shared and used.
In learning terms YouTube has shown us that the correct pedagogic model is not from TV with the tyranny of its 30 minute and one hour scheduling. On the whole YouTube videos are short and to the point, more importantly they're as long as they need to be to make the point(s) and not overly produced in terms of production values. Google images allow teachers and learners to draw on millions of images to improve content. Podcasting has had a similar effect in audio. All of this frees us from the stifling dominance of text in learning. Text is fine, but not in places where it's inappropriate and that includes huge areas of learning. Pedagogically learning has been freed from the constraints of the teacher+textbooks.
File sharing – a distribution revolution
It started with Napster and now there are lots of them, with turbo-charged Bitorrent providing extra power. This is the underbelly of the web, but no less powerful as millions use file sharing daily to their mutual advantage. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. The web showed that users understand the power of co-operation, leading to their mass use, completely reshaping several industries such as music and movies along the way.
This technology has the power to overcome one of the great shames in education and training – duplication of effort. I love the excellent Learning Pool, where users create content then willingly share it with others. In the public sector, this should be the norm. Sadly the opposite is true. Every schools, college, university, local authority and government department goes it alone in designing, developing and delivering learning. The cost and waste is unimaginably high. The pedagogic revolution here is to get sharing.
This technology has the power to overcome one of the great shames in education and training – duplication of effort. I love the excellent Learning Pool, where users create content then willingly share it with others. In the public sector, this should be the norm. Sadly the opposite is true. Every schools, college, university, local authority and government department goes it alone in designing, developing and delivering learning. The cost and waste is unimaginably high. The pedagogic revolution here is to get sharing.
Facebook, Myspace – a social learning revolution
Facebook, Myspace – a social learning revolution
Social networking came from nowhere. The middle ground of collaboration, where groups of friends keep in touch, has ballooned on the web; people you knew at school (Friends Reunited), people you know at school (Bebo), people you just know (Facebook), people you know in business (LinkedIn). Then there's Orkut, Cywold, Hi5 and so on covering every imaginable geographic group or community.
Social networking came from nowhere. The middle ground of collaboration, where groups of friends keep in touch, has ballooned on the web; people you knew at school (Friends Reunited), people you know at school (Bebo), people you just know (Facebook), people you know in business (LinkedIn). Then there's Orkut, Cywold, Hi5 and so on covering every imaginable geographic group or community.
Education and training promises social contact with fellow learners and teachers/lecturers/trainers. In practice this is often more of a promise than a reality. Social activity in classrooms can be as much of a hindrance as help in schools, where behaviour management is a problem. Sitting in rows in a lecture theatre or conference room is hardly a powerful social experience. In reality teachers, trainers and lecturers don't have the time or inclination to be social mentors to their students. True social networking thrives when users see the value and drive the phenomenon. This promises to be very powerful in terms of the social communication and cohesion in groups of learners.
LMSs, VLEs, PLEs – a learning management revolution
LMSs, VLEs, PLEs – a learning management revolution
Specific online learning systems include whole families of management software that cover, in varying degrees, everything from the design, creation, storage, delivery, management and tracking of content. Learning Management Systems are common in large businesses with large numbers of learners. Learning Content Management Systems tend to focus on repositories of content. VLEs tend to be systems that integrate online functions in schools, colleges and universities. Personal Learning environments tend to be used by users who just like to organise their own news, learning and tools feeds.
Now that everyone has a common platform, the web, education and training can use this to get the business end of learning organised. It makes perfect sense to have an online system that does what a small army of administrators (or teachers/trainers) used to do at great expense. The efficient use of these systems saves organisations huge amounts of money. Pedagogically, this has taken the pain out of learner and content administration. All parties, pupils, students, trainees, learners, parents, teachers, lecturers, trainers, managers and administrators can have access to one system.
Now that everyone has a common platform, the web, education and training can use this to get the business end of learning organised. It makes perfect sense to have an online system that does what a small army of administrators (or teachers/trainers) used to do at great expense. The efficient use of these systems saves organisations huge amounts of money. Pedagogically, this has taken the pain out of learner and content administration. All parties, pupils, students, trainees, learners, parents, teachers, lecturers, trainers, managers and administrators can have access to one system.
Authoring and capture tools – a content creation revolution
Authoring and capture tools – a content creation revolution
For centuries teachers have been designing their own lessons and left alone to deliver the content. This is magnificently inefficient. Media capture and sharing should be used for a portion of this effort, but the creation of good content, from simple learning objects, rapid e-learning, scenario-based e-learning up to games and simulations, good tool are needed to create good content. Tools have now emerged that make this task easier, from simple video and screen capture through to high-end 3D games and simulation tools (ThinkingWorlds).
This may not have created an army of teachers, lecturers and trainers who create content, as that was the promise. It has, however, allowed those with reasonable design skills and a knowledge of learning to create content in formats that can be shared online. Word doesn't make you a novelist and an authoring tool doesn't make you a learning designer. What we do have is the means to a glorious end – the creation of good, effective and powerful, reusable content.
This may not have created an army of teachers, lecturers and trainers who create content, as that was the promise. It has, however, allowed those with reasonable design skills and a knowledge of learning to create content in formats that can be shared online. Word doesn't make you a novelist and an authoring tool doesn't make you a learning designer. What we do have is the means to a glorious end – the creation of good, effective and powerful, reusable content.
Survival of the fittest
Ultimately this is a battle between the web and institutional inertia. The web, pedagogically has pushed, and continues to push, us towards more learner-centric models, that fit what we know about the psychology of learning. In evolutionary terms it's between the dynamic world of the web and the dinosaurs. It's between sharing and doing everything by yourself. It's between avoiding expensive duplication of effort and doing things at great cost. It's between, capturing the minds of young people, or boring them. It's between the past and the future. In the end it's about the evolution, survival and success of the fittest. I know where my money's going.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Education not a universal 'good'
Education is usually seen as a universal 'good'. But recent world events suggest that education is not necessarily a 'good' in itself, and may in fact, be a horrifically destructive force. An educational battle of titanic proportions is taking place in many parts of the world. It is rarely discussed but continues to have a profound effect on world history. I'm talking about the impact of fundamentalist Islamic, Jewish and Christian teaching and methods on the minds young people in theist schools, using religious texts as the ultimate authority.
Education, as practiced in fundamentalist Islamic, Jewish and Christian places of learning are, in my view, damaging, leading to intolerance and political conflict. Interestingly, in all three there is a similar focus on the powerful recitation and repeated readings of a basic book. This, the three Abrahamic religions have in common. We needn't be surprised at this, since the three religions are entwined with each other through their books. The Torah, five books of Moses, are included in the expanded Old Testament of the Christians and The Koran draws from the Torah, regarding it as the word of Allah given to Moses. The Koran refers to Mohammed as the prophet mentioned in the Torah.
Koran means 'recitation'. In Islamic teaching, everything stems from the pages of this one book. It was meant to be read aloud and endless recitation and memorising of the book, through repeated spoken readings, has always been highly prized in the Islamic world. But this comes at a price. This repeated repetition is massively effective in learning and results in the deep processing and retention of the text, and the unshiftable, dogmatic convictions that come with deeply held knowledge and belief. In short, it is an educational recipe for dogmatic fanaticism.
Torah means 'teaching', 'instruction' or 'doctrine'. Its 613 commandments, split into 365 negative and 248 positive moral imperatives. Again, like the Koran, it is believed to have been written by divine revelation, this time by Moses. Reading the Torah aloud is central to Jewish ritual. As with Islam and the Koran, the repeated and cyclical recitation leads to deeply processed knowledge and beliefs. Orthodox believers take every word literally, something they have in common with Islamic fundamentalist believers.
There is a deep split in Israel between orthodox and other schools and a battle currently raging to defend religious Torah-based schools. Half of all students in Jerusalem attend ultra-Orthodox 'heredi' schools. 70% of ultra-Orthodox men don't work as it interferes with their religious studies. This is a group that, like their Islamic and fundamentalist Christian believers abhor homosexuality and have been known to attack women who they deem to be improperly dressed. Unlike most secular countries, this religious power reaches right up into government, especially in the settler communities. The majority of the illegal settler communities are ultra-Orthodox or Religious Zionists, all driven by the belief that their land rights are given by God, as if he were some sort of racially motivated real estate agent. Land ownership is not a covenant from God.
It may now be possible to become President of the USA if you're black, brown, yellow or a woman. But if you don't believe in God, or more particularly, you're not a Christian – forget it. It will be interesting to observe whether Obama dares to avoid using explicitly Christian language in his inauguration speech.
This is not an exercise in Islamophobia, anti-semitism or anti-Christian. In fact the most extreme forms of these phenomena come from each of the sets of three fundamentalists attacking each other, not secular groups. I have spend more time travelling in Islamic countries than anyone I know (twice a year at least), and love the art, architecture, cultures and people. What I don't admire is the crippling effect of fundamentalist education. At its worst they kill school teachers and deny girls and women the basic right to education, but even at the moderate level it seems to deaden real inquiry and critical thinking. The fundamentalists may win because they understand that education is the key to long-term success. This is the clear strategy of the smarter political movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Hamas.
They, in turn, are reacting to the hideous beliefs of Jewish settlers who stole their land and confine them to fenced in camps. I have also been to Israel and witnessed the brutality of an occupying force towards people in Gaza and the West bank, people who did little more than resist when the land they had occupied for centuries was stolen. Fundamentalist Judaism is frighteningly racist.
My experience in the US is perhaps greater than that of the other two. I studied at a US Ivy League university, worked there and have travelled there more times than I can remember, over a period of thirty years. The televangelism, megachurches and obsessions with homophobia, abortion and creationism, still shock me. US fundamentalists funded and supported Bush in his maniacal support of Israel and firestorms in the Middle East. Let's hope that Obama keeps his ambiguous religious beliefs out of politics.
To conclude.....
Any school or teacher who professes belief in the literal truth ofreligious texts, revealed through divine revelation, is in my view, a danger. I believe in secular education and don't like religious schools in any guise. I was brought up in a highly divided society in Scotland, where segregated schools are still the norm, much to Scotland's shame. Watching today's events in Gaza is even more depressing and the US abstaining on the UN resolution, perhaps the last evil last gasp from Bush's cronies a matter of deep shame. Keep education secular.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Parodies of corporate logos (LOL)
Clever visual parodies on some very famous corporate logos. Here's a taster.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Libraries are barriers to reading
100 Classic Books on Nintendo
Who would have thought? I've just seen the '100 Classic Books' title advertised on prime time TV, just after Big Brother, for the Nintendo DS. Brain Training was a hinge product. It changed the entire games market. Nothing will ever be the same again. But this is even bolder.
Of course, the traditionalists will be waving their reading glasses in horror, as usual. But to turn books into a fetish is simply to deny learning and access by those who need it most. Real books are great, but let's not confuse the medium with the content. Just as journalists and newspaper owners fail to realise they're in the 'news' not the 'newspaper' business, so book fans and publishers fail to realise that this is about reading, not books. Books are simple a piece of technology. A damn good piece of technology, but one that has some strengths and lots of weaknesses. In time its weaknesses will outweigh its current strengths.
Books destroy trees, need to be expensively transported and stored in expensive libraries and retail outlets. Sure they're portable, but only one or two at a time, not a 100 or 1000? You can't search them, and they're difficult to bookmark, highlight, hyperlink or comment without defacing the product. In time, and it may be a long time, books will be read on screens.
Let's face it, 100 books for less than £20 is 20p per book and the advantages are portability, storage and bookmarking. William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, R L Stevenson, Jack London, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Jonathan Swift, George Elliot, Edgar Allen Poe, Lewis Carroll, Jules Verne and lots more, available on a games console. It's all good.
This is the shape of things to come, just a tiny glimpse of the possibilities in learning. Nintendo have taken a leaf out of Amazon's and Sony's book, with Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader both available with massive downloadable libraries. My brother-in-law, a busy man, who's always on the move, swears by the latter.
We can now see where this can lead us, or more specifically lead our children. Why lock up knowledge and the ability to learn in libraries and schools, when we can publish and distribute it at marginal cost to everyone. As long as we publish in open standards, the devices will just keep on coming. Leave the device design to the experts, like Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun, I believe that Moore's Law will produce $10 devices by 2020, possibly a lot earlier – we just need to focus on free content.
Fill their boots with books
In my book, this is a groundbreaking movement in education. It is not beyond the wits of government to be bold here and recommend an entire 'digital canon' for every child in the country.
Take 1000 or 10,000 books, all of the BBC Bitesize content (we the public have paid for it, surely we own it), lots of e-learning, at all levels, language learning, and give it away to every schoolchild for free. Just hand over the entire canon, all GCSE and A-level subjects and lots of juicy extras. The cost would be a tiny fraction of the overall education budget. In fact, I think it can be done at no cost at all.
Libraries as expensive warehouses
How? This may sound like a contradiction – encourage reading by closing the most costly libraries. There are lots of them. The cost of borrowing a book in some public libraries is greater than the cost of the book itself. This may be hard to believe, but it's true. Divide the actual cost of the library by the number of borrows per year – it's shockingly high. I don't mean all libraries or university libraries, just costly public libraries.
Public libraries are no longer encourage reading. In the age of digital abundance, and cheap books, they're an expensive obstacle to reading. Libraries spend inordinate amounts of time trying to fine people and recover books that people just find too inconvenient to take back. They stop reading from libraries as they criminalise readers. Librarians have become debt collectors.
My local library in Brighton is a beautiful, frightfully expensive, award winning building, but inside is a scrappy warehouse of cheap shelving and a very sparse book collection. Many libraries are just like this, more like bad second-hand book or charity shops. They can't hope to match the demand-led approach of a real bookshop.
What the planners had to do, to make the idea fly, was include a CD and DVD lending facility. In other words it had to become a Blockbuster to survive. This is the cul-de-sac that the modern library faces, as in the age of digital distribution and downloads; it's a service that is heading towards vanishing point.
It wouldn't be so bad if they actually took a business-like view of the world. This New Year I stepped into the local library in my parent-in-laws' home town, in Scotland. The library had fewer customers than staff, and I simply wanted to use the internet facility they advertised in the window. I was told that I had to be a local resident. Even the offer of payment was rejected.
Then there are the book wardens – sorry librarians. Let's be honest, they're mostly just warehouse workers ordering, stacking, handing out, taking in and stacking again. Yet they cost the earth. As graduates (in stacking?) they demand salaries way beyond what the job requires. And many are seriously deficient on the customer care side. The main cost of any public library is the inflated salary costs. This is why the borrowing cost per book in many libraries has become absurd.
OK, I'm sure there's a few tramps out there and those earnest parents who drag their children along every Saturday, when they'd much rather be playing football or playing computer games, who'll be seeing this as an affront to civilisation, so I'll try another tack.
Close down a whole swathe of libraries and encourage, even subsidise, the big bookshops, such as Borders or Waterstones, to expand their activities. They have all the best sites, good coffee, helpful and knowledgeable staff, and better book collections. Give us all some tax breaks on buying books.