Can't wait to get up before the sun on Friday and go shopping? Here is a dandy little Excel file that some industrious soul created to make your life a little easier. Save it to your computer, open it up and sort to your hearts content. The guy must be a saint. A twisted, consumer oriented saint. SlickDeals.net has a constantly updated page with uploaded scans of all major Black Friday ads (located here), and the website also created a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet (located here) organizing all Black Friday items into one neat place, so getting a quick overview of items and prices won't require having to scan through tons of color ad pages. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ from a ZDNet blog http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1968&tag=nl.e623 Go ahead…Hang out on MySpace. Wait, what? Posted by Christopher Dawson @ 3:08 am The MacArthur Foundation just released a study suggesting that, not surprisingly, given the integration of social media into business and modern culture, the time kids spend with so-called new media, is generally neither wasted nor particularly harmful. In fact, as one of the lead researchers points out in the New York Times, "It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it's on MySpace or sending instant messages," said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, "Living and Learning With New Media." "But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They're learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page." I have an interview scheduled next week with a student creating a podcast on social media in education. As she noted to me, often young people don't respond to emails anymore; send them a message through Facebook and they respond immediately. What does this mean for business? It means that Intel is on the right track with its business-oriented social media development efforts. In terms of the study, the Times again pointed out an important piece of the research that is worth the attention of classroom teachers: "New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom setting," the study said. "Youth respect one another's authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults." The executive summary of the Foundation's whitepaper sums up the perspective nicely: Social network sites, online games, video-sharing sites, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones are now fixtures of youth culture. They have so permeated young lives that it is hard to believe that less than a decade ago these technologies barely existed. Today's youth may be coming of age and struggling for autonomy and identity as did their predecessors, but they are doing so amid new worlds for communication, friendship, play, and self-expression. Many of these technologies that are "fixtures of youth culture" are permeating business as well. Been on Twitter lately? Sure, there's plenty of garbage, but there are also important communities sharing ideas, business contacts, and developing their own brands (of course, there's another one of those new media buzz words, but it certainly fits). How about that election we just had? Barack Obama has almost 135,000 followers on Twitter. Again, a message from the study to administrators and teachers looking to integrate technology into the classroom: In the process, young people acquire various forms of technical and media literacy by exploring new interests, tinkering, and "messing around" with new forms of media. They may start with a Google search or "lurk" in chat rooms
to learn more about their burgeoning interest. Through trial and error, youth add new media skills to their repertoire, such as how to create a video or customize games or their MySpace page. Teens then share their creations and receive feedback from others online. By its immediacy and breadth of information, the digital world lowers barriers to self-directed learning.  Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH But, that said, there is this: November 4th, 2008 Posted by Christopher Dawson @ 9:43 am Categories: Education Technology I'm no luddite and I remember carrying an electric typewriter to a High School English class for a final so I can type faster in 1988 when barely anyone else typed anything at the time. However, computers were TOO much of a distraction for me personally because I'd do nothing BUT the computer and spend too much time on it instead of studying what I should have been studying. I have a lot of respect for George (he's forgotten more about computer networking than I'll ever know) and his educational background. As he's noted before, during the first two years he spent in primary school in a mud hut in rural China, he learned more math than he needed through the sixth grade when he came to the States. We had a fairly wide-ranging talk this morning about tech in schools, but particularly on my perspective that kids should be introduced to a variety of broad computing skills (from programming to social media) at a very early age. His take? To paraphrase, programming: possibly, social media: no. The question is, have I gotten this wrong? Was I off base to suggest that kids are better served by carefully (yet fully) integrated technology in the preK-6 classroom than they are to have the technology largely turned off in favor of more traditional education? George is certainly right in his assessment that computers can be, and often are, a distraction in class. What if, however, computers can be so woven into the fabric of instruction that they become a tool for a student just like pencil and paper, or just like computers in business? Computers can be a distraction for all of us, but what if we were taught to use them rather than play with them from the minute we hit primary school? When George and I talked about the use of social media, he had serious objections to kids using toys like MySpace and Facebook in school. While I couldn't agree more, maybe I've been reading Jennifer Leggio's blog too much. I'm starting to see social media not as MySpace (which a lot of kids will tell you is passe anyway) but as the sum total of collaboration tools that could make the educational space richer and get kids and teachers working together in new ways. The Classmate PC includes a robust software stack with teacher control of student PCs. Teachers can share, black out, message, and otherwise collaborate with their students in a controlled way. When students get home, they have plenty of time to work on computers in uncontrolled, often unsupervised, and generally unproductive ways. School, however, seems like the perfect place to teach kids to be really productive and innovative, even for youngsters. George's points are well-taken; however, watching my own first grader's literacy be greatly enhanced through the use of software that not only helped identify weaknesses for his teacher to address (a mild speech problem was affecting his phonetics), but allowed him to move ahead of his class at his own pace in areas where he was stronger convinced me of the value of software in early elementary education. No amount of hardware or software can replace a good teacher. However, I remain convinced that hardware, software, and well-thought out tools can help children learn in individualized ways and work very well within the context of solid classroom instruction. It's for this reason that I believe Intel's Classmate PC model can be really successful; it was designed to supplement classroom instruction rather than turn kids loose with a PC like the OLPC XO. A followup note from George, 11/5/08
George sent me an email tonight to follow up on our conversation. I wanted to include the text as I think it not only clarifies his position on the matter, but lends some additional insight to this conversation: Just to clarify Chris, I would NEVER oppose more computer science education at any grade level. I was just saying that there was some merit to the traditionalist arguments for not using them in every single classroom based on our current understanding of computerized pedagogy. But saying that there is merit in this traditionalist education point of view does NOT mean that I don't see merit in your point of view. I think we should explore paperless classrooms because I believe that education can always be improved, and I certainly don't want you to have the impression that I was opposing you. In fact in our conversation yesterday, we both agreed that there needs to be some real research on how to best put computers to work in the education environment so we agree a whole lot more than anything we might disagree on. Like I said, I've seen and lived through both extremes and I see the pros and cons of both systems. I just want to make sure we avoid the pitfalls of either systems while adopting the best of both worlds. I'm sure that's the holy grail that we're all after. Thanks, George…talk to you soon, I'm sure (check back on Friday for some more serious consideration of paperless schools). Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Here is the LU Libraries MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/harrisonlibrary $$$######3333333333####$$$ From the Mother of all Mothers Mother Earth News online:  Announcing the Encyclopedia of Life
After 250 years, scientists are just getting started naming all of the species on Earth — though they've collected quite a bit of information so far — and the Encyclopedia of Life aims to collect all of the information about life on Earth in one place. Find out how you can use and help build this terrific online tool.
****************** Also from Mother The other side of Environmentalism: Philosophy and farming with publisher Bryan Welch. 11/10/2008 4:33:03 PM  | | BRYAN WELCH | I would describe myself as a committed environmentalist. It's my passion and my work. I've covered our deepening environmental crisis as a journalist for 30 years and now I run magazines and Web sites dedicated to raising human awareness of environmental issues. My wife and I raise much of our own food on our little organic farm and we supply organic food to lots of other local families. Environmentalism is my passion, my career, my chief avocation. I've watched the environmental "movement," if you will, grow from a radical, tie-dyed clique into a mainstream global consensus. I don't think we, as environmentalists, can take much credit for that however. We have, for the last 30 years, been among society's least effective leaders and least pleasurable companions. In his 2006 essay, "Beyond Hope," Derrick Jensen claims that the most common words he hears spoken by environmentalists,everywhere,are "We're fucked." [1] He exaggerates, but he has a point. Our attitudes reek of Puritanism. We are, often, dour, strict and humorless. We're judgmental. Behind most of life's simple pleasures we see unnecessary consumption, which we ridicule. Because humanity is responsible for environmental problems we are, ipso facto, all sinners and we find little joy in being human. We portray the giant global corporations as occult covens, and we burn their representatives in effigy in our own reenactments of the Salem witch trials. When our neighbors seem too moderate or abstract for our tastes — as the Quakers did to New England's 17th-century Puritans — we whip them out of the colony, at least figuratively, and we're not above discussing executions. (The Puritan authorities hanged four Quakers for their religious beliefs in Boston between 1659 and 1661.) To say the least, we're no fun a lot of the time. Maybe that explains why we've accomplished so little in the past 30 years. After all, we were right all along. Why has it taken popular opinion so long to catch up? Well, for one thing, no one follows a pessimist. We've spent far too much time confessing our sins and assigning our scarlet letters. We've invested far too little time visualizing successful outcomes.
[1] Jensen, Derrick. Beyond Hope. May/June 2006 issue of Orion magazine. Excerpted from Endgame, published in June 2006 by Seven Stories Press. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& From: Reznews@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Reznews@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Larry Kibby
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 12:36 PM
DISCOVERY CHANNEL SHOW AN AFFRONT TO HAUDENOSAUNEE
Dear Friend of Ndakinna,
Last night Joseph Bruchac shared with the Ndakinna Board of Directors
a communication he received written by Doug George-Kanentiio, husband
of Joanne Shenandoah, respected Mohawk historian and featured speaker
at the Saratoga Native American Festival. The letter was directed to
the Haudenosaunee Nation Councils.
The letter outlined Mr. George-Kanentiio' s connection with the
creation of a program "entitled First Nations which [was] supposed
to tell the story of the founding of the [Haudensaunee] Confederacy. "
After much of the project was completed, the CEO who had approved the
film was fired and a replacement brought in who hired a new editing
team from Half Yard Productions and a non-Native script writer whose
changes fundamentally altered the project's original vision. Indeed,
Mr. George-Kanentiio' s states that "this person destroyed the story
and in its place created a film which is full of distortions, lies
and violence." The original producers of the show resigned in protest.
Mr. George-Kanentiio showed the film "to Oren Lyons and a group of
filmmakers and media professionals at Syracuse University .. . They
agreed this was a bad film. Dr. Robert Venables also reviewed the
film and told the producers he could not recommend that the episode
be shown to anyone at anytime since it was a disaster in every way.
They have ignored his counsel."
Mr. George-Kanentiio' s letters to the current producers were ignored
as was his request that they meet with the Haudenosaunee to discuss
the episode. He has requested that his and Joanne Shenandoah's names
be removed from the credits.
This travesty will air on the Discovery Channel Saturday, November
22, at 9:00 pm.
Contact information:
First Nations producer for The Discovery Channel: John Ford (202) 662-
2862
Abby Greensfelder, President, Half Yard Productions (240) 223-2300
Please forward this to anyone you know who is as concerned as we are
about the accurate and respectful representation of Native American
culture in the media and popular culture in general.
Peace,
Michael Lambert
For the Board of Directors
The Ndakinna Education Center
23 Middle Grove Road
Greenfield Center , New York 12833
(518) 583-9958
www.ndcenter. org
&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*& The Onion takes a stab at religion: I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians
By Janet Cosgrove
Christian
November 19, 2008 | Issue 44•47 Like me. I may be a Christian, but it's not like I'm one of those wacko "love your neighbor as yourself " types. God forbid! I'm here to tell you there are lots of Christians who aren't anything like the preconceived notions you may have. We're not all into "turning the other cheek." We don't spend our days committing random acts of kindness for no credit. And although we believe that the moral precepts in the Book of Leviticus are the infallible word of God, it doesn't mean we're all obsessed with extremist notions like "righteousness" and "justice." My faith in the Lord is about the pure, simple values: raising children right, saying grace at the table, strictly forbidding those who are Methodists or Presbyterians from receiving communion because their beliefs are heresies, and curing homosexuals. That's all. Just the core beliefs. You won't see me going on some frothy-mouthed tirade about being a comfort to the downtrodden. I'm a normal Midwestern housewife. I believe in the basic teachings of the Bible and the church. Divorce is forbidden. A woman is to be an obedient subordinate to the male head of the household. If a man lieth down with another man, they shall be taken out and killed. Things everybody can agree on, like the miracle of glossolalia that occurred during Pentecost, when the Apostles were visited by the Holy Spirit, who took the form of cloven tongues of fire hovering just above their heads. You know, basic common sense stuff. But that doesn't mean I think people should, like, forgive the sins of those who trespass against them or anything weird like that. We're not all "Jesus Freaks" who run around screaming about how everyone should "Judge not lest ye be judged," whine "Blessed are the meek" all the time, or drone on and on about how we're all equal in the eyes of God! Some of us are just trying to be good, honest folks who believe the unbaptized will roam the Earth for ages without the comfort of God's love when Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior returns on Judgment Day to whisk the righteous off to heaven. Now, granted, there are some Christians on the lunatic fringe who take their beliefs a little too far. Take my coworker Karen, for example. She's way off the deep end when it comes to religion: going down to the homeless shelter to volunteer once a month, donating money to the poor, visiting elderly shut-ins with the Meals on Wheels program—you name it! But believe me, we're not all that way. The people in my church, for the most part, are perfectly ordinary Americans like you and me. They believe in the simple old-fashioned traditions—Christmas, Easter, the slow and deliberate takeover of more and more county school boards to get the political power necessary to ban evolution from textbooks statewide. That sort of thing. We oppose gay marriage as an abomination against the laws of God and America, we're against gun control, and we fervently and unwaveringly believe that the Jews, Muslims, and all on earth who are not born-again Pentecostalists are possessed by Satan and should be treated as such. When it comes down to it, all we want is to see every single member of the human race convert to our religion or else be condemned by a jealous and wrathful God to suffer an eternity of agony and torture in the Lake of Fire! I hope I've helped set the record straight, and I wish you all a very nice day! God bless you!  #################### |
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