Japan enters a recession, some food companies downsize product packaging, and violent fighting rages across Congo. Less

Barbara Bray shares http://my-ecoach.com/ with us and describes its history and rich resources for educators. Special thanks to Jeff Lebow for helping Sharon with the streaming and archiving!    Chat Log read more Less

An avatar – young, tall and handsome, just like me! Image by Brian Gray/flickr. Today we visit Second Life, and we learn the English expression “to tell the difference”. My daughter likes chocolate cake. Last week I made a chocolate cake. I also bought a chocolate cake at the supermarket. I gave my daughter a little piece of each one. “Can you tell the difference?” I asked her. I meant, if you taste both bits of cake, can you say which one is mine and which one is the supermarket’s? So she tasted, and she said that she could tell the difference. The supermarket cake was much better. Oh dear! There was a story in the newspapers last week about two people who cannot tell the difference – the difference between real life and a fantasy world. Their names are David and Amy. They first met each other in an internet chatroom. Then they met in real life, and got married. After they got married, they started spending a lot of time on Second Life. I am sure that you know about Second Life. It is an internet programme which contains a virtual world – not the real world of your job and your family, but an imaginary world. You can go and live in this virtual world. You make an avatar, which is a sort of virtual you. You decide what your avatar will look like, what it will wear and what it will be called. You learn how to move your avatar to different places in Second Life, and how to make things, and how to meet other avatars and talk to them. There was a picture of the real David and Amy in the newspapers. The real David and Amy seem to eat a lot of chips and doughnuts. But, like a lot of other people, David and Amy chose avatars which are young, tall and handsome. They explored Second Life with their avatars. David’s avatar became a night-club owner who travels in a helicopter gunship. Amy’s avatar became a disc jockey. In real life, neither David nor Amy had a job. Perhaps they spent too much time on Second Life to be able to work. Then the trouble started. David’s avatar started meeting other women on Second Life. The real Amy was not pleased, but she gave David a second chance. Then David’s avatar met a young, tall, handsome lady avatar called Modesty McDonnell. They started to spend a lot of time together. The real Amy was furious. Now the real Amy and the real David are getting divorced. And now the real David is engaged to the real woman whose avatar is Modesty McDonnell. The newly-engaged couple have never actually met in the real world. This is because David lives in England while the real Modesty McDonnell lives in Arizona in America. But perhaps this does not matter. Perhaps the only important thing is that the two avatars love each other. So, there is a real world where real people live, eat, have children and die. And there are imaginary worlds like Second Life. Sensible people can tell the difference between them. David and Amy, it seems, cannot tell the difference. I once spent an afternoon in Second Life. I chose an avatar – young, tall and handsome, just like the real me, of course. Then I had to teach my avatar how to walk and to drive a car. He was useless. He kept walking into walls and into the sea. When he drove a car, he hit people and other cars. So I never went back to Second Life. But perhaps I should try Second Life again. Because last night something really terrible happened. The British television viewers – who cannot tell the difference between a beautiful woman and a baby elephant – voted the incomparably lovely Ms Cherie Lunghi off Strictly Come Dancing. My dreams are in ruins. So – Cherie – if you are listening, get an avatar on Second Life and meet me there, and we will dance together the whole night long. Exercise :: Answers :: File Download (5:32 min / 3 MB) Less

Our guest tonight, Rushton Hurley, share his NextVista video-sharing initiative for educators.   Chat Log read more Less

A lively discussion with Lucy Gray who introduces us to  Don Buckley, Karen Blumberg, Andrew Gardner of the innovative school, THE School at Columbia. Chat Log:   read more Less

Randi Weingarten, the newly elected president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), argues why funding for education is essential for American economic competition. Share This Less

energy, Internet, cleantech Robert Buderi wrote: In case you weren’t one of the 657,000 people who have watched it as of this writing, Barack Obama posted his first post-election YouTube address on Saturday, signaling a new stage in the evolution of presidential communications. The President elect, who plans to give weekly video addresses in parallel to the traditional weekly radio messages, touted a range of plans in his three-and-a-half-minute message (embedded below), most notably his ideas for getting America out of the current recession by rebuilding bridges, schools, and roads, providing affordable health care and high-quality education, and investing in the country’s long-term energy future. “It means investing $150 billion to build an American green energy economy that will create five million new jobs while freeing our nation from the tyranny of foreign oil and saving our planet for our children,” Obama said of his energy plans. Wade, our resident PhD in the history of technology, notes that Obama isn’t the first politician to use YouTube in such a manner. Hillary Clinton, for one, posted a series of high-quality Internet addresses and other videos during her campaign. Wade also notes (as have others), that there are historical parallels to be made here—starting with FDR’s use of radio, through which he pioneered the “fireside chat” format, which was later copied by Jimmy Carter on TV. Comments (1) | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less

Firefighters battle raging flames in parts of California, and the U.S. Army names its first female, four-star general. Less

A question I received: What specific, practical measures would you advise the governments to take to combat the crisis? My Answer: Kabbalah says that the world’s integrality requires that each person receive what is necessary for him to exist, and give the rest for the benefit of the society as a whole. This shouldn’t be done forcefully, like in the Soviet regime, but should come from people’s understanding that it’s necessary to carry out the law of nature that states: “All people are one family.” Every person will be rewarded for this with the sensation of eternal and perfect existence (outside of one’s egoism), just like all of Nature. The needed actions: In addition to establishing an educational organization, every person must be given whatever amount of money he needs to lead a normal existence. No one should be allowed to have more than this amount in his bank account. Everything else should go into the “common account.” The result: It makes no difference how much funds or resources there are for this. What’s important is the action itself, because it is integral, global, and harmonious with Nature (the Creator). Hence, it will evoke a positive reaction from Nature upon the society. Comment: 1. These actions must be carried out together with distributing powerful educational, explanatory material through all mass media channels (see my “Lecture in Arosa“). Bnei Baruch already has the material! 2. If humanity won’t act as described above, with understanding, willingly and voluntarily - through the study of Kabbalah, then nature will force us to do the same thing, but through a long and bitter path of suffering. The situation will be like a stubborn child who doesn’t want to do what his parents tell him to, and who’s only swayed by punishment into understanding that he needs to listen and do as they say. Only later will he come to realize how correct and good his parents were. Related Material: Transcript of my Lecture at the 3rd World Spirit Forum in Arosa, Swtizerland Share This Less

Sharon Shaffer, Ph.D., Executive Director, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC) Resources American Association of Museums, Department of Education Smithsonian: Central office of education Contact this show’s guest, Sharon Shaffer, 202-633-1394 or shaffers@si.edu Less

Do you know how many types of football there are in the world? There may be no definitive answer, but we’ll deal with 3 major sports: American football, soccer and rugby football, taking in hockey and cricket along the way. This Episode in MP3 format ::   Wikipedia Article about Sports in Britain :: Check out what the Brits like to play for sports Wikipedia Article about Sports in the U.S. :: And here you can find the fab sports in the United States File Download (3:53 min / 6 MB) Less

In this lesson, lesson 119, we need to have a specific service carried out, that is, to have a puncture repaired. But the expressions used could just as easily apply to a variety of services. Letâs begin with a role-play between Marie and a mechanic. Less

Welcome to An Empowered Walk Radio with your host Robin Hardy.  Today Robin is chatting with Sharon Fawcett Author of Hope for Holiness: The Spiritual Path to Freedom from Depression.  Sharon will share today her personal story with her battle with clinical depression and how medication & shock therapy did not work.  Sharon found her answer and was healed through her faith in Christ.  She will share about the spiritual roots of depression and 3 spiritual treatments that changed her life forever.  You will also learn 3 steps to maintain freedom from depression.  You can contact Sharon at www.SharonFawcett.com , if you have any questions, suggested topics or prayer requests email us at assistant@RobinHardy.net with Empowered Walk Radio in the subject line. Less

President Bush prepares to host a global economic summit, and a new Web site helps U.S. troops communicate with their loved ones. Less

Gaming, startups, Education Gregory T. Huang wrote: Microsoft announced today that it has helped launch an educational gaming startup called Sabi, which is based in Kirkland, WA. Sabi’s technology has its origins in Microsoft Research and was licensed through Microsoft’s IP Ventures program. The startup, led by Margaret Johnson, has launched its first interactive drawing and reading game, called ItzaBitza. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less

Gaming, startups, Education Gregory T. Huang wrote: Microsoft announced today that it has helped launch an educational gaming startup called Sabi, which is based in Kirkland, WA. Sabi’s technology has its origins in Microsoft Research and was licensed through Microsoft’s IP Ventures program. The startup, led by Margaret Johnson, has launched its first interactive drawing and reading game, called ItzaBitza. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less

The U.S. auto industry looks for help in a struggling economy, and a leading medical group warns against texting while driving. Less

Here is the narration for Chapter 1 of Dr. Carolyn McCray’s new novel, Plain Jane, narrated by yours truly, Ben Hopkin.  I hope you enjoy it! Carolyn’s novel is available on Amazon.com and will shortly be available for download in its audio version on plainjanenovel.com. Next week’s podcast will detail some of the differences in pitch, timbre and cadence between the prologue narration and the narration of chapter 1.  Just by altering slightly some of those parameters in our voice, we can completely change the feel of the piece. Less

Some people do, they This op-ed in USA Today urges Barack and Michelle Obama to send their kids to Washington, DC public schools.  Recently Michelle Obama has been touring some of the country’s most exclusive private schools to find the best place to send their 2 children. Why should they send their kids to public schools?  Because Obama has extolled the virtues of public school throughout the campaign, praising teachers and their union as only needing more money to be able to give us the results they have failed to give us hundreds of billions of dollars ago.  He also opposes school vouchers for parents who, unlike him, can’t afford the best private schools in the country.  Since DC spends more per student than any other school district in the country (with one of the worst results), the Obamas can put their theory to the test first hand. That won’t happen.  They will claim security concerns, even though the Secret Service won’t have any.  Amy Carter went to public schools in DC, but no Presidential children since have.  Why not the Obamas? The ultimate bit of hypocrisy is when you deny others the right to a choice you exercise yourself.  When it is announced that the Obama children will be attending Sidwell Friends the media will gloss over the fact that it is the highest form of elitism. After all, if a child is a choice, why shouldn’t where a child is educated be one, too?        Less

Education, Politics, Software Susannah Malarkey wrote: Even with the economic downturn, plenty of Seattle area technology companies are going to be hiring new, highly skilled workers in 2009. These are high-paying jobs; the average annual salary plus benefits per worker in Washington’s technology-based industries is more than twice the state average. Too bad more of those jobs won’t be going to people who grew up here. Why? Because Washington State is not preparing its children to effectively compete for these jobs. It is projected that each year we will have over 1,000 more openings in engineering, over 1,000 more openings in the medical professions, and over 3,000 more openings in the computer science field than qualified in-state graduates, based on the current rate of production. Many people are surprised to learn that, on a per capita basis, Washington is 37th out of 50 states in producing four-year college graduates, i.e., people with bachelor’s degrees. Seattle is recognized as one of the most highly educated metropolitan areas in the country, and Washington ranks 9th among the 50 states in the percentage of residents age 25 years and over who hold a bachelor’s or higher degree. So, how do we end up with a comparatively high concentration of educated workers - workers who have fueled the growth of our software, life sciences, aerospace and other innovative industries and earned us a place among an elite group of technology-intensive states? We import them, of course; we draw highly educated people from other states and other countries to fill these high-wage jobs. The accompanying chart shows how we stack up against other states in the number of educated workers we import compared to degrees we award. Among all 50 states, only Nevada imports more educated workers than Washington! Who wants to be second only to Nevada in the disparity between our ability to educate our own kids and the opportunities our own economy provides? The upside is that we do have a robust economy and a quality of life that attracts top talent from around the nation and around the world (when they can get a visa, that is). Let’s keep that up, because, in the global economy, it’s a global competition for talent, and we will need the creativity, expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of the best and brightest from wherever they come. But how about providing more shots at those great jobs for Washington’s kids? The Technology Alliance, along with many other partner organizations, has worked hard for the last decade to increase state funding for higher education in Washington, particularly in the high demand, high impact areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, often called the STEM disciplines. I can say that some real progress was made over the past two biennia, when the legislature modestly increased funding for degree programs in these fields. Will we be able to hang on to these hard-won gains, or will the higher education budget get hammered in the 2009 legislative session? If history is a guide, we have reason to be extremely concerned. Whenever we experience an economic downturn in Washington, we get a double whammy-sales tax revenues decline just as demands for state services go up. How do legislators balance the budget? They cut the one big area of the operating budget they are not legally mandated to pay for: higher education. During the 2001 recession, higher education took a 7.8 percent hit in the 2001-2003 biennial budget. With a shortfall of $3 billion and counting staring us in the face, we can expect even deeper cuts this time around. We at the Technology Alliance believe that K-12 and higher education are the most important investments our state can make to grow and sustain a 21st century economy. To lose what modest gains we have made in the last couple of years-which just helps us stay out of the bottom 10 states in bachelor’s degree production-would be unconscionable, not to mention unwise. We really must invest in our future, especially during difficult times. Remember: the new economy is based on two key components - great people and great ideas. These are the products of higher education. We plan to be very noisy about this in 2009 and encourage all of Xconomy’s readers to do the same. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less