Category Archives: things getting better

in praise of bloggers

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My second and third favourite sources of information in 2011 are audio:

• Audiocasts
• Audio books

I pretty much always have an audio book or two in progress, buying most of those from Audible.com. … Sadly not every book I want is available in audio.

Audio podcasts are still quite crude. The most evolved, however, are superb: RadioLab, This American Life, CBC Spark, Economist Editor’s Highlights, and On The Media. Almost all audio podcasts are still free.

But my main sources of information … my most trusted … my most detailed and nuanced … are blogs.

The best are labours of love by passionate, often amateur writers. Most bloggers are unpaid, spending thousands of hours focused on a specific topic simply because they love that topic.

more photos of bloggers

For example, the best Apple blog is Daring Fireball. I don’t pay much attention to any other.

I do whatever I’m told by Michael Geist when it comes to Canadian government regulation of the internet. A big election issue right now.

There are 4-5 essential blogs on gymnastics, but if I only was allowed to read one blogger it would be Blythe Lawrence.

If you read Kraig Becker, you’ll know more about outdoor adventure than you’ll ever need to know for one lifetime.

… Those are just a few examples. Leave a comment if you’ve got a blog that I should follow.

(blogger photos via Spark)

things getting better – teenage girls

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As a gymnastics coach, I work with a lot of teenage girls.

Troubled teens, I’m oft to call them.

Over my lifetime I’m convinced that young ladies have gotten more confident, savvy and funny.

I first started noticing the trend in the mid-1990s. Teen girls were smart, organized and independent. Teen boys were … the same. Teen boys.

The internet, especially Facebook, has really liberated their creativity. I’ve seen stats showing over two thirds of the posts are by females. But the GOOD posts are about 90% female.

Facebook has not changed teen boys one jot.

Girls are better communicators than boys. And Facebook gives them the chance to really go crazy.

In this Facebook photo one girl is proposing marriage to another. She’s even offering a ring.

Hilarious.

… Am I wrong?

I’ve never had anybody else concur with my theory.

good day for Obama

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Congrats Mr. President.

Globe and Mail – Obama finding a way through the legislative ‘gridlock’

Though most of the positive press features DADT, I’m far happier about the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). A symbolic event, perhaps.

But if it ever comes to nuclear war, we need Russia and USA to stand together against the aggressor.

START is a step forward, supported by former President George H. W. Bush and all six former Republican Secretaries of State.

I want to thank the 13 Republicans who defied their party’s leadership, voting to ratify the treaty.

… Before we get excited that the USA has got their act together, check the latest misguided CIA initiative:

WikiLeaks Task Force = … WTF

Is there a brain in that organization? WTF ??

faint hope for USA politics

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I was close to declaring the highly entertaining American political scene dead to me.

A two party system constantly polarized is usually deadlocked.

Deadlocked in a fiscal death spiral.

Yet something happened:

… Eight Republican Senators voted in favor of repeal of DADT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell): Scott Brown (Mass.); Richard Burr (NC); Susan Collins (of Maine, and a co-sponsor of the repeal effort); John Ensign (Nevada); Mark Kirk (Illinois); Lisa Murkowski (Alaska); Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich of Ohio.

I’m impressed. Nevada. Alaska.

Those are politicians with guts. They could have taken the easy way out. As McCain did:

McCain’s vigorous opposition to the DADT repeal is not the first time he’s found himself swimming against the tide of history. As a congressman in 1983, he voted against the creation of a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — a vote he later regretted.

“On the Martin Luther King issue, we all learn, OK? We all learn,” he told NBC in 1999, discussing his vote. “I will admit to learning, and I hope that the people that I represent appreciate that, too. I voted in 1983 against the recognition of Martin Luther King….I regret that vote.” …

The Atlantic

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was not the most important issue facing the USA.

This was the right decision. Let’s hope they can move forward with more good decisions, rather than continue to stagnate.

teaching with technology

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Brian is in Education, training to be a teacher.

He disagrees that the future is dependent on technology. Especially gaming.

I’ll tell these kids to stop having so much FUN learning.

That’s from a Mashable post – 8 Ways Technology Is Improving Education

Teaching the old way in 2010 is like engaging in a basketball game, 30 players against 1 teacher. It could be that Kobe could make that an engaging class. … But there aren’t may Kobe’s teaching school.

in praise of Public Radio

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I never listen to NPR. Instead I subscribe to my favourite National Public Radio shows as podcasts in iTunes.

My favourites:

On The Media
This American Life
Fresh Air
Pop Culture
Story of the Day
World Story of the Day

Roger Ebert:

… I’ve written before about the disintegration of journalism, of the lowered standards everywhere in today’s media. As a nation we once said, give us the facts and we’ll make up our own minds. Now we say, spare us the facts and make up our minds for us. We have grown impatient, and the national attention span shrinks until even a 10-minute video on YouTube can seem unendurable. …

Midnight at the oasis

In that post Ebert explains why he loves Public Radio. It’s as good as ever, a font of smart commentary with a positive world view.

… Recently some have claimed it is leftist. That baffles me. No one ever seems to cite something they heard that offended them. They just believe in general that it’s left wing. …

Click PLAY or watch a charming NPR “Rap” on YouTube. (only 4min 30sec!)

on loneliness – Roger Ebert

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I’ve almost never felt “lonely”.

It’s a condition I know nothing about.

Film critic Roger Ebert, a bit of an internet shut-in himself, has read 80,000 comments on his blog. Many, he tells, are from lonely people looking for connection with strangers.

… For days I’ve been reading waves of messages from the lonesome, the shy, the alone, the depressed. Some who live as virtual hermits. Some who have few or no friends. Some who rarely speak with their families. Some who have never dated, or ever had sex. Some who consider it a good day when they never speak to anyone. Some who are sad to be alone. Some who are relieved. Some who can’t do it any other way. …


A meeting of solitudes

He reflects on loneliness in that post, and an earlier one – All the lonely people.

… After all that, Roger’s not sure whether or not the internet actually helps the lonely.

city of the future, Lisbon

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I visited impressive and sprawling “Parque das Nações” (Park of the Nations), a city of the future built atop the Expo ’98 site.

"Parque das Nações" (Park of the Nations), Lisbon, Portugal

"Parque das Nações" (Park of the Nations), Lisbon, Portugal

"Parque das Nações" (Park of the Nations), Lisbon, Portugal

"Parque das Nações" (Park of the Nations), Lisbon, Portugal

"Parque das Nações" (Park of the Nations), Lisbon, Portugal

It reminded me of all the “City of the Future” magazine articles (see more examples) I saw when I was a kid. This conception, for example, from 1964.

Thanks Paulo Barata, a new friend, gymnastics lecturer at the University here, for showing me this modern highlight of an ancient city. We had typical Portuguese lunch: cod, cod, wine, port, pastry, coffee.

(via Gymnastics Coaching)

average teen – 3,339 texts / month

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An American study …

… more than six texts per waking hour …

… 43% of teenagers now say texting is the #1 reason they get a cell phone.

… Teens are sending 8% more texts than they were this time last year …

… Voice usage has decreased by 14% …

Details via Mashable

d texting texter

Pranav Mistry – SixthSense

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Sam showed me this most amazing technology. It’s the future, for sure. Pranav Mistry will go down in history as one of the genius people who invented it.

Sixth Sense has been awarded 2009 Invention Award by Popular Science.

In 2010, he was named to Creativity Magazine’s Creativity 50. Mistry has been called “one of ten, best inventors in the world right now” by Chris Anderson.

Next step? … Pair SixthSense with Tan Le’s wireless headset that reads brainwaves!