Learning Aloud

The NYTimes reports that Bill Gates and Eli Brand (prodigious contributors to educational causes) are going to invest heavily to make certain educational issues receive considerable attention in the 2008 political races. According to the article, the philanthropists feel giving money directly to schools cannot achieve their goals unless educational change become public and political priories.

The article indicates three issues will dominate:

•  a call for stronger, more consistent curriculum standards nationwide;
• lengthening the school day and year; and
• improving teacher quality through merit pay and other measures.

Look for the phrases “Ed in ’08” or “Strong American Schools” (I could locate only one blog as of this date).

Today was Earth Day 2007. Current concerns regarding global warming should prompt a great deal of attention to this event and the issues it is intended to highlight. Visit the web site.

One resource we found to be useful was a pdf that provided some concrete suggestions for what each individual can do to help. For example, by replacing three light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs you can reduce your carbon footprint by 450 pounds per year.

I am feeling much lighter already.

This week is the 10th anniversary of the Red River Flood of 1997. This post is for those who were there with us and for those who helped.

We left Grand Forks to stay with relatives in Hinckley, Minnesota until the waters retreated. There are many stories associated with the experience. Some of these stories we tell in the first chapter of the book we wrote about the Internet and education. The connection may not be obvious. The type of web applications we take for granted now were very new 10 years ago, but the opportunities to tell the stories of the flood and to communicate with colleagues and family we may have been forced to abandon in the middle of the night may have been the first time the Internet’s power became concrete for us (try this link – I wrote this content and took these pictures ten years ago).

I do have a little unfinished business. Our “relatives” have given us trouble for years about the way we describe our adventures following the flood in our book. It is true – we did not bother to reveal their names. So – Scott and Denise Ellingson – thanks for being the relatives in Hinckley.

Widgets offer a convenient way to add functions to web sites (and blogs). WidgetBox is a site providing access to a variety of widgets. If you want to add unique features to your blog, you might want to give widgets a try. The widget I have added offers the opportunity to search within my blog (I know you can already do that, but I needed something I could test). I also know that a search widget serves little use within a blog entry, but as they say on television – “This is only a test.”

I found a second example. I wrote about my fascination with the social music service Last.FM in a previous post. The following widget shows the music I have listened to recently as stored by this service.