Anyways here are the tidbits from Cliff Fletcher with Greg Brady and Bill Watters:

Watters still believes Burke coming soon

Cliff on McCabe: Discussion are on going with Ian Pulver - he believes the situation can probably be resolved in early Sept.

Watters says to Cliff even if Cliff gets a list of 5 teams, Watters thinks it is still possible no deal will be made, as the teams listed may not want McCabe.
Cliff: I am not going to get into that. Bryan needs to decide first and foremost if he wants to play- and i believe he does. I believe he will feel that it will be in his best interest to move on from Toronto. Then we have to do what we can to make sure it is satisfactory to him. I am fairly confident we can do that, both parties will be happy and we will move on. Nothing will happen in the next 2-3 weeks but it will well before training camp.

Watters presses again, What are obstacles if you don't resolve it by then, you don't invite McCabe to training camp and you still DO pay him?

Cliff responds: I have no idea, we don't operate that way, at least I don't anyway. I have been in the business too long to get into a situation like that. Bryan is a good person, he was a good Maple Leaf and there will be resolution in some form.

Watters asks, yet again, If you are unable to agree will he be playing for the Leafs on opening night?
Cliff responds: yes, I have never operated that way.

Brady asks, that given the lack of interest in McCabe in February, has Bryan's value decreased?
Cliff responds: No, in February, Bryan said he didn't want to move, so we didn't bang our heads against the wall. At that time teams were concerned about his health as he was just back from an injury. That isn't the case now so his value has gone up.

On an unrelated question, I believe about Sundin, Cliff says, "We just need a few more weeks and then there will be no more issues with McCabe after that"

Watter then asks is there a scenario where both Sundin and McCabe are in the opening night lineup?
Cliff responds: I guess anything is possible and we have loads of cap room if needed.

Cliff responds to a question about Jonas Frogren: We liked him in the World Championships in Quebec, he doesn't get into trouble in his own end and based on our play of late he will be a big help.

Cliff gets asked about a rotating captain and responds that he thinks it can work, but if Sundin is back its a moot issue as he will be captain

Watters then says he is beginning to think that Sundin will be back.
Cliff responds: I look into my crystal ball every am and still there is nothing there.

Cliff then debunks Eklunds theory on a no movement clause holding this up by stating that he has never talked about anything other then an annual salary with JP Barry, and that should Sundin want to come back those issues will all have to be negotiated. He adds that he talked to JP Barry last week, that the rumors of Mats not training are BS, he is training as usual and he started to skate today.

On numerous occasions Cliff said he thinks this will be resolved in 2-3 weeks. You have to wonder why then? What is he not saying? Does an interested team need to dump salary? Is there another shoe that has to drop first? Something is up, Cliff knows something, he seemed to convinced that in 2-3 weeks this will be resolved.

The more I listened to the interview the more comfortable I became with the notion that Cilff is the right guy for the time being. After what Leaf fans have been through, I get the impression he has a plan. Even more so, I am more convinced that Berger is off his rocker on the McCabe issue. Cliff has dealt with and will continue to do so in a professional manner. Problem for Howies is nothing left to bitch about.

If you want to listen to the interview you can do so here flecther with wilbur and brady

The students coming through our doors were born in 1990 and will be graduating in 2012.  Beloit College has published an incoming profile of freshman "mindset list" since 2002.  They haven't yet updated their list for this year, but here is a link to the 2011 list.  Highlighted in this list are things like:

• They’re always texting 1 n other.
• Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
• Fox has always been a major network.

The reason I thought I would bring this up is because I believe it's important to know, connect with, and understand the students that are coming to our institutions.

While listening to a keynote from New Media Consortium by Diana Oblinger, the president of EDUCAUSE.  It occurred to me, that it is becoming increasingly important to take a step back and place ourselves in our student's shoes.  It's time for educators to dive into the technology realm to better understand our students.

Attention faculty... if you haven't yet, it's time to create an account for yourself on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, at the bare minimum.

Here are a few notes I took while listening to Diana Obliger's opening keynote "Technology and the Global Commons" at NMC:

• Context in which we teach has changed drastically.
• Contextual constructivism learning is intertwined within the context in which we learn.
• Community. We know our students are social learners.
• We cannot overlook the fundamental differences we have between them (students) and us (faculty).
• Today's students are experiential learners, however, they are often not world-wise...
• Assumptions can get you in trouble.

TIME SPENT IN THE CLASSROOM VS SOCIAL NETWORKS
Are students learning in class?  How much time do they spend in class?

• ONLY 7.7% of students time is spent in formal learning environments.
• So who are the teachers?  And where are they?
• If you look at the behavior of students most of them are learning through their social networks.  They are using MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, etc.
• Students are learning in these environments, so as we look forward we need to look at these Web 2.0 spaces for awareness, examples, and ideas.

GAMING

• Games offer an opportunity to be part of the learning.
• By college 100% of students have experience some type of electronic games.
• There are over 710 million game players worldwide.
• 5 hours is the amount of time an 8th grader plays video games per week.

MEDIA CREATORS

• YouTube
• Finding things, creating things, mashups,
• 57% of teens are media creators (blog, web, art, photos)
• 33% share what they create online
• 22% have their own web site
• 19% have their own blog

AMATEURS AS AUTHORITIES

• wikipedia.org
• Everyone contributes their expertise!

PARTICIPATORY CULTURE

• We don't just receive information we learn by contributing.
• Collective intelligence: everyone has something to contribute.
• Knowledge is created not possessed.
• Shift in emphasis that knowledge is a process not a product.
• Social connections are important.
• Needs include "skills for participation" not just individual skills.
• "How does this relate back to how we design our learning experiences and structures for our students?"
• Keep this new way of learning and participation in mind.  Focus on context.

TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT

• Broadband is required...
• The US is behind on broadband speed which negatively impacts education, health, economy.
• The US doesn't have a broadband policy/fund.
• The environment is much more than databases and archives.
• We have a participatory web culture.
• Data deluge: data is doubling every year.
• Open education resources are becoming more available.
• Ubiquitous computing is a given.
• We can use collections of information that allow us capabilities we have never had before.
• Put learning first and infrastructure second.  Learning is based on students interactions with data and systems.
• Learning is influenced by context.
• The physical environment and space defines the context (lecture hall, movable furniture, group spaces, problem solving and team spaces).
• We have a spectrum of experiences from formal to informal.

DEFINITION OF LEARNING

• Experiences such as learning-by-doing may be more important than information.
• Knowledge is distributed across a community rather than held by an individual.
• Assessment through reputation, experiences, and accomplishments rather than tests.
• Self-direct, informal, web based environments are important.

CONTEXTUAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

• It is not possible to separate learning from context.
• Context is an interaction between the learner and the surroundings.
• Students build an understanding of context in context.
• Context is both embedded and interactive.
• Learning and context shape each other.

LEARNING INTERFACES

• World to the desktop provide anytime/anywhere access to information.
• Multi-user virtual environments allow interaction.
• Ubiquitous computing provides wireless devices in the real world.

EDUCATION 3.0

• Professors are the orchestrators of collaborative knowledge creation.
• Learning activities are flexible and focused on creating room for student creativity, social networking outside of traditional boundaries.
• Loose institutional affiliation and relations; regional and institutional boundaries breakdown.
• Students have a strong sense of ownership of education, co-creation of resources.

Here is a screenshot from the recorded keynote:

How can we better know our students and better design our learning environments, instruction, courses, services, and activities?

According to our stats the most used search term to find us was.....

Vodafone Logo with 38 hits

Interestingly enough the NEC P4 (an old analogue handset) scored 15

and

The Chailey Brickworks hit 4.

So here's the full rundown from top to bottom (cue Yellow Pearl by Thin Lizzy)

However, it is illegal for an unqualified, unregistered person to perform the role of a doctor or midwife during the birth.

Standards and resources
As part of their training, all midwives are taught that they must

• Work in partnership with women to facilitate a birth environment that supports their needs.
• Provide care that is delivered in a warm, sensitive and compassionate way.

The Midwives rules and standards states that a midwife

• Should respect the woman’s right to refuse any advice given

The Code states that

• You must listen to the people in your care and respond to their concerns and preferences

In addition, a recent report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) states that

• Women who choose a home delivery as their birth option should be supported in that choice, appropriate to the level of clinical risk.

Responsibility
In a free birth situation, the mother-to-be takes full responsibility for the birth of her baby.

The mother may choose to have any friend, partner or relative present at the birth.

They may support the mother emotionally but it is not legal for them to assist her in the birth or take any kind of responsibility for the successful outcome of the birth.

Midwives must respect a woman's decision to have a free or unassisted birth.

The Code and NMC Midwives rules and standards require midwives to be supportive and not be judgemental or critical of this choice.

If midwives have any concerns at all about the woman's decision, they must address them to their Supervisor of Midwives."

Further information
Free birth advice sheet [PDF]
The Code
RCOG Standards for Maternity Care [PDF] (external website)

Well, that's made it all very plain. I think! Support her choice, be non-judgemental, contact my Supervisor of Midwives if have any concerns about her choice. Ummm, if I'm supporting her and being non-judgemental then going to my Supervisor could be perceived by a woman as obstructive and judgemental. Oh well. All I can say is, as I said here, if you thinking about it then please don't just read the legal stuff and DIY sites on the web, there are a lot of sites out there with enthusiastic people who mean well but can be somewhat blinkered when it comes to the nitty-gritty. Talk to your midwife, see if a compromise can be reached, most of us don't want to be 'in control', we would just like to try and help you, and your baby, have a positive, safe birth.

I'm using Netmasterclass self-paced study. NMC have learning materials they call LEARNiT,  CIERSWB,  DOiT II,  Graded Labs,  CHECKiT,  Tech Library,  Written,  RoadMap. I reserved 10 graded labs (mock lab) to work on. I have not started any on these as of writing.

At first, I found it awkward in using NMC due to their "fancy" terminologies, but I'm getting use to it.

Their LearnIT Module has VODS for Frame-Relay, IPV6, Link-Layer Connectivity, IGP, BGP, Cat Qos.

I like the way they present these VOD's because they chopped it to a 10-20 minutes chunks of vital information, also the presentations are focus to the subject matter.  Btw, I wonder why their BGP module is still incomplete, I need to email NMC on this.

I like much the Frame-Relay VOD, it is very well presented, still half way to go on these VODs. IPV6 have dynamips scenario, I am able to simulate the subject at hand.

Trying to eat this elephant of CCIE studies in chunks... using "horizontal approach" I can concentrate per topic basis. I do not proceed to the next topic until I feel very comfortable to each subject matter.

I dont like much some interface like the Drill-It because its not a real router telnet but on a mere webbased access to a recorded router, but I think I can get used to it. Overall NMC works fine for me, but I still have some ? in mind about their PORTAL.

Overall, NMC's approach is very digestible to a student CCIE Pilot  like me, their teachings and approach is very practical and attainable.

It is now a matter of time on my flyt to CCIE.

The NMC Arts Lab is a sim devoted to experimental large scale installations, and currently features Husk an interactive installation by AM Radio.

AM Radio created the wheat field and this installation is another plot of land that evokes a mysterious cinematic set. Wandering about you immediately try and piece together a narrative not always successfully because I concluded that this was a place of possible narratives a bit like Second Life itself.

The build evokes a surreal nostalgia as it sets a scene that provokes thoughts about human (or avatar) loneliness and alienation.

To visit NMC Arts Lab use the SLURL :

http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Arts%20Lab/130/128/22

Having said that, did I miss the press release where the New York Rangers hired JFJ? Larry Brooks in his weekly Rangers/NHL article points out that the Rangers have gone against team policy and doled out a couple of them:

"Somehow, $8M over two years wasn't enough to get Markus Naslund to agree to come to New York, so what did Sather do? The GM gave Naslund, who will be 35 at the end of the month and is coming off two consecutive disappointing seasons in Vancouver, a full no-move clause.

Brutal."

Brooks is bang on. If JFJ taught us on thing it's that NTC/NMC are the death of a franchise. They should only be given out in extremely rare circumstances. We have seen through the collective bargaining process that the teams and GM's need protection from themselves, perhaps the number of NT/NM clauses should be collectively bargained down to 1 per team (with current ones obviously grandfathered.)

So here we are in July 2008 and one would think that ordering merchandise over the internet would be pretty easy. I know here in Canada things are a tad more difficult then in the US of A, but still...... I have to share my two most recent shopping examples. We are moving offices at work and I had to purchase some furniture and a couple of pieces of electronics. Should be simple enough to order from two national retailers, IKEA (sweedish for common sense!) and Future Shop/Best Buy right? No such luck.

The IKEA story. I went to the IKEA website and suffered through the impossible task of actually putting together an order. Imagine my reaction when the nifty computer said I have completed my order without paying for my items. A tiny little note on my receipt informed me that they do not accept payment for internet orders that someone would be calling me within 48 hours to complete my transaction. How bizarre i thought.... Of course 48 hours passed and no call came. So I called the 888 number provided on my receipt and the story got worse. I was told I could pay for my order (how nice!) but, shipment would take 6-8 weeks. When I asked how that was possible, I was told that all shipments come from the Quebec office! When I asked if they could trasnfer the order to one of their several stores in the GTA, I was told simply "no". So in the end I had to endure a morning at IKEA and do everything on site.

The footnote to the story was that same day delivery cost $55 but next day delivery was $65. When I told them I wanted same day delivery they told me that the delivery would come between 4 and 10pm! What a great shopping experience...Thanks IKEA.

Now my friends at Future Shop/Bestbuy. Same story, I wanted to buy a TV online and have it delivered. This time I called the store. Confirmed that I can't do what I want to online but that I could do so online. I went to the store, picked out the TV and then was told that they can't deliver the TV I wanted because the central warehouse is sold out of the model I want!

Amazing stuff from 2 relatively large Canadian retailers.... Its time for e-commerce to really get easy. We have a long way to go.

I've just finished watching the channel 5 programme about unassisted childbirth and I feel many mixed emotions. As a woman I feel rather jealous of the three women shown freebirthing in the programme, especially the first one who really did appear to experience a non-traumatic, pain-free, dream of a birth, as a midwife I fnd that rather worrying. I mean, if I was swept up by the images and beauty of the concept why shouldn't a significant number of women, who are in a position to have a go at birthing by themselves, decide that they would like to experience an unassisted birth?  Would that be a problem? Not to me, no, but it may cause them an assortment of problems, some life-threatening. I am absolutely delighted that a went well for the three women, and babies, in the progamme but that is troublesome. Although the doctors warned about a couple of complications that could occur, this will just be perceived as the medical establishment 'shroud waving' and there are very real and dangerous problems which may occur during childbirth.

Why are more women considering this 'lone' birthing as an option? There will be a few who will enter into it due to a personal belief, or as an extension of a life-style but I believe that the majority will choose free-birthing as a result of a previous birthing experience. Perhaps they believe that the attendants were not sympathetic to their needs, or their choices were dismissed or ignored, whatever it is, the maternity services, midwives, doctors have failed them. I do place some, well quite a lot, of the blame here on promises, and hence expectations, engendered by government and built-up by the media. Women and their families are told that they have choice but this is never qualified by the reality of shortage of staff, resources and amenities. Some elements of the media and pressure and user groups paint a negative picture of attended childbirth, I would include channel 5 in this group. There are many images of midwife-attended, home, birth-unit or hospital maternity care they could have used which could have shown a woman in a non-medicalised environment. Instead the images shown were of a woman semi-recumbant, on a  hospital bed, with a doctor busy setting-up an intravenous infusion, complete with an electronic pump, hardly the most tempting alternative to the impression of a pleasurable birthing experience for the three women depicted in the programme.

I would urge anyone contemplating unassisted childbirth to do more than read-up about it and watch DVDs. Please, contact your local maternity unit then, if you are still unhappy with the options or choice offered, contact your local NMC supervising authority as they are there for women who are seeking help or support concerning the provision of their midwifery care.

Women and babies can, and do, die during attended childbirth in hospital and at home but, "while many factors contribute to maternal death, one of the most effective means of preventing maternal health is to improve health systems and primary health care to ensure availability of skilled attendance at all levels and access to 24-hour emergency obstetric care" and, "Because complications of childbirth too frequently cause neonatal death, skilled assistance is recommended for all deliveries along with access to the appropriate level of neonatal care when needed."

The NMC will now become a fully appointed council, rather than partially elected and elections for this year have been cancelled. In addition, the NMC's annual report would include a description of its arrangements for ensuring equality and the NMC would be given greater prescribing rights in an emergency and the ability to strike of registrants barred from working with children of vulnerable adults. The Royal College of Nursing is supportive of the need to change.

Responding, Conservative Shadow Home Affairs Minister Baroness Hanham expressed concern that the NMC was being reorganised and questioned the expertise of the Appointments Commission in appointing members of the NMC. She also questioned who else would be involved in making decisions of prescribing in the case of emergencies. There was also some concern over the decision to make the council fully appointed and the need to have representation from general nurses, midwives and community nurses on the Council

From a somewhat broad question of “what are students doing to help or hurt themselves” and a greater focus on the financial aspect of that topic, our story has come together rather organically out of our interviews and questionnaires: we asked these questions to as many students and faculty members as we could find. Their answers edified and surprised us.

In her experience many students either do not correctly understand the process or don't contact their offices until they are already in dire financial conditions. "Poor planning" can lead to catastrophe later on, Brady-Glassman said. The office sees its biggest volume the first week, which is often too late for very much to be done as deadlines for various applications to financial aid programs are handled in advance of the academic term.

Financial concerns are becoming a greater issue in no small part because, while costs of higher education rise, the financial aid itself is not increasing. Also difficult is the summer term, as aid is allotted to the main year, with summer being the 'leftover'. In regards to the new student debt policy, Brady-Glassman noted that federal aid can only be used for the current term and not for debts from past terms.

Many students contribute to their financial issues with their spending habits, without fully grasping the "concept of a budget," Brady-Glassman said. This can be especially bad for students whom receive aid at the beginning of a term and find themselves very short through the winter break.

Students whom want to support themselves with a job rather than entirely through aid or their parents don't have it easy, either. Young adults in the 18-24 age bracket with no credit history or work experience can find it exceedingly difficult to find employment, especially in a smaller college town like Corvallis.

In Brady-Glassman's 19 years of experience in the Financial Aid department she has notice that "students seem to be a lot more stressed out" then before. Rates of student depression are much higher. "...money is a stressful topic" to begin with, so students can go from being upset to either angry or relieved depending on what support they may or may not be eligible for.

Family support has radically changed as well. Parental coddling in terms of finances becomes an issue as well, since it deprives their offspring of responsibility towards their own finances that they necessarily must face, not only in college but life afterwards.

It's not entirely negative an outlook, however. Returning students meeting deadlines suggest a greater awareness for some. Brady-Glassman said that offering information through the website has helped lower their rate of phone calls, and that the Financial Aid office is "always trying to improve communication."

As for use of new/social media to help with this goal, Brady-Glassman explained that the Financial Aid office simply lacks the staffing for such an undertaking. However the OSU Admissions Office does have a blog, through which they direct relevant Q+A to the Financial Aid office.

Awareness of the Financial Aid office's location was not perceived as a problem to Brady-Glassman. Students often don't come to Financial Aid until they are dire need of its resources, and even then most do not know how much they can or can not be helped. Brady-Glassman pointed out that there are many "misconceptions about aid" arising from anecdotal information of acquaintances. Such information is both confidential and often a very different circumstance for each student, and as such cannot be relied on for a reasonable expectation.

Financial Aid's primary method of communication is email. Students who don't check their ONID accounts regularly may miss out on opportunities with a strict time limit, costing them an opportunity for more funds.

Brady-Glassman urged students to become more educated about federal aid because it is very limited. The idea of a mandatory class on how to balance a budget for students is a popular one in theory but not so much in practice. Financial responsibility is a "dry, boring topic," Brady-Glassman said, and very seldom are students "on the ball".

When it comes to finances, students are "so hand-held out of high school," said Brady-Glassman. By sophomore year there is a significant drop-off in students coming in to the Financial Aid office.

Bennett believes the biggest problem is education - when it comes to financial responsibilities most students "have no idea," she said. On a scale of one to ten, Bennett would rank students' awareness of their financial aid options as a "4 or 5," depending on their academic major - an economics student might have an advantage in this regard to a liberal arts student, and so on. When it comes to stress, Bennett also observed that students whom are finally seeking out help are most likely "higher than average" in their stress level.

What students can do about this is to be "proactive," Bennett said, attending informational presentations, and doing their own research into possible scholarship opportunities.

Bennett noted that one thing students are very aware of is their long-term financial goals, such as their savings, retirement plans, or social security. Even if they don't know how to accomplish these things many students are aware of them, perhaps from observing their parents' struggles to meet similar goals of their own.

Bennett, whom has worked continuously through college up to this term, her last before graduation, agrees that starting the job process can be "rough" without any experience, and considers starting a savings account set aside for future goals to be a personal financial success.

She hopes the new student debt policy "will motivate students" to be more aggressive about managing their finances.

Financial aid problems can lead to credit issues quite quickly. While financial aid is a considerable stressor it is not the only "issue," Bamba said.

Bamba believes the biggest problem for students is management of funds and lack of aid. Students often try to find jobs during the summer term. Contributing problems might include irresponsibility or online gambling, which can both be quite detrimental to a student budget.

Students, if they are dependent, might be embarrassed to speak to their parents about their financial issues. "Parents are a lot more involved in student's lives...not just [in] K-12 but college" as well, Bamba said.

Because of this increased level of parental guidance, when students are left to their own devices, they may quickly find themselves out of their depth and without an idea of what to do or even what questions to ask regarding financial management.

Among the students Bamba counsels there is a low awareness of financial options, and a need for information. The counselor insists, however, that students are always "open to hearing" about solutions.

Concerns that were common among many of these students included credit card debt, the stresses of trying to balance between school and either employment or the job search, and almost unanimously a call for more information and education on financial options.

The rising cost of not only tuition but books, gas, and other expenses of living did not go unnoticed. 22-year-old Brittany White pointed out that "most students are unable to work and attend school full time, while trying to meet their financial needs."

Accounting major Ben Mathias thought that "most OSU students are actually confused about their financial options." Biochemistry & Biophysics major Kevin Dunn, 19, disagreed: "I'd say students are pretty aware of their financial options...but most students don't understand what they do and do not qualify for, and therefore miss out on valid opportunities."

Surprisingly, many of the students surveyed were not aware of the Financial Aid office's location or had ever even been there - their exploration of their student aid options often being done exclusively online.

Lily Lin, a 19-year-old Business Administration major, said that "the internet is a great way to spread financial [advice] to students." The concept of using new technologies to disseminate financial education was one that many students seemed to find very convenient. Carrie Fox, a 35-year-old Accounting major, makes the case that use of social media "can educate people at a much larger rate than just relying on printed material to do it."

22-year-old Blake Seabough agreed. "Awareness would be the best financial advice."

***

Theodore Mintesnot is a current student of Oregon State University. He hails from Northeast Portland, his hometown, and currently remains undeclared of an academic major.

Location: In the classroom

Feeling: Enticed 

We finally got to speak together as a group, and I think we’ve got a great project on our hands.  We’re going to put together a documentary about student reactions to the war in Iraq.  We’ve got some good ideas for interviews, like current students that already have done a tour in Iraq, or that will be re-enlisting after school (we’re lucky to have Nick on our team who is actually involved with the military so he can help us get an inside perspective).  Also we’ll be talking to students on campus about what they think of the war and if they’ve considered the age similarity between their peers and soldiers, if they know anyone in the military and why they think someone their age might join the military.  Jenna has got a great lead for a profile about a girl who’s fiance will be going to Iraq, so I think we’ve got some good material. I’ll be putting my video skills to work and Nick is skilled as well in those matters, Jenna is eager to learn, I’d say we’re going to make a nice documentary.

Location: In the classroom

Feeling: Enticed 

We finally got to speak together as a group, and I think we’ve got a great project on our hands.  We’re going to put together a documentary about student reactions to the war in Iraq.  We’ve got some good ideas for interviews, like current students that already have done a tour in Iraq, or that will be re-enlisting after school (we’re lucky to have Nick on our team who is actually involved with the military so he can help us get an inside perspective).  Also we’ll be talking to students on campus about what they think of the war and if they’ve considered the age similarity between their peers and soldiers, if they know anyone in the military and why they think someone their age might join the military.  Jenna has got a great lead for a profile about a girl who’s fiance will be going to Iraq, so I think we’ve got some good material. I’ll be putting my video skills to work and Nick is skilled as well in those matters, Jenna is eager to learn, I’d say we’re going to make a nice documentary.

Laurence is Chief Executive Officer of the New Media Consortium (NMC), an international consortium of more than 200 world-class universities, colleges, museums, research centres, and technology companies dedicated to using new technology to inspire, energize and support learning. The NMC produces, as part of its Emerging Technologies Initiative, an annual Horizon Report which charts the landscape of emerging technologies.

Laurence's presentation explored emerging patterns from five years of Horizon Reports and it's now available online. The 2008 Horizon Report is also available in HTML and PDF format.

Location: Valley Library Quad

Feeling: Confident

Nick and I agreed to meet up a the library to shoot some reactions and environment shots of an Iraq war death toll display where small flags represented a certain amount of deaths in Iraq.  The flags were spread out all over the quad, and the display definitely made you think. BUT, what do you know, the display had been taken down earlier that morning. Total bummer.  Well, Nick and I printed out a few of the surveys we made up to hand out to students, went over again our other sources and content and tried to think of some alternatives to fill in for the flag display.  We thought of talking to the protesters that demonstrate outside of the court house regularly.  I think their ideas will contrast compellingly to the interviews we get with recruiters and military personnel, and of course the everyday student perspective.  All is not a lost, I feel we've got enough content ideas to put together a nice piece. 

Location: In the classroom

Feeling: Enticed 

We finally got to speak together as a group, and I think we've got a great project on our hands.  We're going to put together a documentary about student reactions to the war in Iraq.  We've got some good ideas for interviews, like current students that already have done a tour in Iraq, or that will be re-enlisting after school (we're lucky to have Nick on our team who is actually involved with the military so he can help us get an inside perspective).  Also we'll be talking to students on campus about what they think of the war and if they've considered the age similarity between their peers and soldiers, if they know anyone in the military and why they think someone their age might join the military.  Jenna has got a great lead for a profile about a girl who's fiance will be going to Iraq, so I think we've got some good material. I'll be putting my video skills to work and Nick is skilled as well in those matters, Jenna is eager to learn, I'd say we're going to make a nice documentary.

Also:

Holy Fuck new on CBC Sessions. Dig dig dig this band. Wicked fun and who doesn't love a legit reasons to drop the F bomb on air? Crazy folk that's who. Check it HERE.

Also:

Take the CBC poll thing. Its a little like Grant Lawrence. Quick, concise and leaves you satisfied.

The Code, which was launched with events held in Edinburgh, Belfast, Glamorgan and London, is the foundation of good nursing and midwifery practice and a key tool in safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the public.  It has been updated to meet the ever changing requirements of today's nurses and midwives and aims to clarify expectations; setting out for nurses and midwives what is expected of them as professionals, and showing members of the public what standard of care they can expect to receive. The amendments made were agreed upon after an extensive review process, including consultation with nurses, midwives and members of the public. 

Rather than setting out pages of rules, which would be unsuitable considering the varied roles and individual patient needs, the pocket-sized Code provides a broad set of principles that nurses and midwives can apply to their own area of practise and the diverse environments in which patients receive care

Now, the proposal is in its final stages of the approval process. We're in the "home stretch"!

The GTBUP folks have added movie videos on Youtube! Scans of images are in [fast-forward] to give you more viewing pleasure.

We have also added a complete line of products that can be purchased with part of the proceeds helping to fund more surveys in the bay.

And, of course, our newly revised GTBUP webpage which will be rolled out very soon.

All this will be linked from our Home page and  we hope you enjoy the changes and additions we have made.

Tomorrow the CEO of the New Media Consortium, Dr Larry Johnson, will address congress in Washington in a Hearing on Online Virtual Worlds.  Larry's address is entitled:

“Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium”

A pdf copy of his testimony can be located here.

Of particular interest is one of Larry's key points:

The emerging landscape of virtual worlds represents as profound an opportunity, as profound a driver of changes in the way we think, learn, and work, as any other technology that has ever preceded it - and more so.

Larry makes some calls for action to the US congress which we in Australia would do well to take note - speaking to the need for programs and policies that would allow people, communities and institutions to take full advantage of the potential of virtual worlds.

Larry address also uses CommentPress, so if you want to comment on any aspect go and do so!

Twitter has been up and down since I went to the Toronto Raptors game last night. It's great to see that MSNBC had its highest ratings ever with Obama, Clinton debate last night. http://tinyurl.com/2ye7hu I understand that Twitter was expecting a huge amount of tweets last night relating to the debate and maybe that's what caused the outage.

I'm finding Twitter not very handy in a pinch with the service going up and down but here are my stories. I tweeted that I was at the game and the message obviously got out. I realized this morning that Stuart MacDonald had replied as he was at the game as well. Turns out he and I had talked last Saturday night at the Toronto Podcamp 2008. Stuart is the CEO & Founder of www.Tripharbor.com, former Founder Expedia.ca and CMO Expedia.com, and mesh Co-Founder.

When I walked down to Kipling Subway station to go into work today it was around 3:30 pm. I noticed a huge plume of smoke on the south side of the tracks. When I went by it on the train the smoke that looked more like steam was billowing in a huge cloud. The story at http://tinyurl.com/yvcuwt explains the fire and I gather that firefighters must have been dousing the roof when I went by. I immediately twittered noting the fire asking if anyone had information. My daughter responded by the time I surfaced and got telephone service at Old Mill and by the time I got to Yonge Station where I can pick up service Jason Theodor (http://thereisnobox.wordpress.com) had Twittered me with the details on the fire. Sweet...

New Media Gallery Launched At Ryerson University

I attended the launch of the New Media Gallery in the Image Arts School at Ryerson University. Ryerson has a terrific program in New Media. The School goes way beyond mainstream New Media and offers a very interesting program in Physical Computing as it relates to media production and exhibition. I think the students and faculty in the program believe that their program is not well known and the event occurred because the space was the first dedicated space specific to the program and in a University that is so space starved that was a reason to celebrate. My impression of the program is that it is as well known as New Media programs get. Amongst the countless things that I could get into about the innovation in the school, it's worth noting that Josh Raskin who was up for an Oscar last week for I Met The Walrus is an alumnus of the program http://www.ryerson.ca/news/news/General_Public/20080128_RaskinOscar.html

One last thought on the New Media program at Ryerson. I first heard about this Technology from Steve Daniels who is the Program Director of New Media at Ryerson. It allows plants to communicate with people. It's really neat and its the kinds of technologies that the students might experiment with in the New Media program. http://tinyurl.com/2pw282

Corporate or Publicly Owned Internet

According to portfolio.com Comcast admits that it planted people in a room at an FCC hearing into its practices. http://tinyurl.com/2cjn3c Wow! Begs the question.... Can we really trust corporations when it comes to network neutrality?

InfoComm 08

I really enjoyed the last two InfoComm's I attended. InfoComm 08 registration is now open and it's in Vegas this year. Infocomm 08 is occurring in conjunction with NXTcomm08. It's a network-enabled voice, video and data show. http://www.nxtcommshow.com. InfoComm 08 will feature a walking Las Vegas Digital Signage tour and a tour of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas that will include their state of the art the Casino Laboratory and the Casino Surveillance Lab. http://tinyurl.com/37kdm6

SMPTE Toronto Meeting March 11, 2008

The full details of the SMPTE Toronto meeting that I've been working on is online at http://www.smpte.ca. It's titled Green Media Computing - From Data Centre Cooling Through Production Technology Virtualization. Should be fun.

Ubuntu... Mobile Edition

Ubuntu Mobile is something that I was not aware of. http://www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile

NMC Launches Open Virtual Worlds Project

The New Media Consortium (NMC) announced a $250,000 two-year collaboration with Sun Microsystems to launch the Open Virtual Worlds Project. This effort is very welcome as the effort is aimed at making it easier to learn, work, and exchange ideas in virtual space. The project will develop a range of standards-based, portable open-source educational spaces, content, and objects, and use them to extend open source Project Darkstar and Project Wonderland virtual world platforms. http://tinyurl.com/3735qr

Random Thoughts

Zerofootprint Calculators

You'll find a number of Zero Footprint Calculators at http://tinyurl.com/3bafck

I read an interesting article where one of the new Mac Books was dissected. You can read all about it at http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3240 . It's quite detailed and it has a handy little chart that outlines the hardware differences..

Adobe's AIR

Adobe's AIR platform allows developers to create web applications that run on desktops without a web browser. http://tinyurl.com/ys9acb

Blu Ray

Blu Ray buyers guide http://dvd.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=310791

Launchy

Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes! http://www.launchy.net/

Online Bible 

Ever need a biblical quote? AskSam has the King James Bible online at http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/Bible/

Category : II
Qualifications : B.E./ B. Tech. (Mechanical/ Chemical/ Minerals Engg.) Or M.Sc.(Physics/ Chemistry/ Geology/ Environmental Sci.) or MCA with 55%. Or equivalent.
Amount of Stipend : Rs.12000/-
Maximum age as on 17.03.2008 : 28 Years

Candidate not fulfilling the aforesaid criteria will not be interviewed. If the number of candidates will be more than the interview may be held on 2nd day also & hence, candidates may come prepared to stay overnight, if required.

No TA/ DA will be paid for attending the interview.

Interested candidates should attend the interview on 17 Mar 2008 at 10.00 A.M. onwards at National Metallurgical Laboratory, Burmamines, Jamshedpur along with an application duly filled in all respect in the proforma only as available at our website http://www.nmlindia.org with recent passport size photograph pasted on it, original and copies of certificates and relevant documentary evidence in support of their date of birth, qualification and experience.

More Information about Application Form Download you can visit freshershome.com