Month: December 2009

Geoffrey Canada is my hero

On By Rick McIn education, government, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone is one of the few success stories I’ve heard in American education.

The USA made the mistake of not offering children an equal chance of success by inventing a system where some schools are good. Some are bad.

No wonder the USA has the world’s highest percentage of prison inmates. China ranks second with only about 18% of the US incarceration rate.

… Is that too big a leap? … Bad schools mean more kids will fall into crime?

Geoffrey Canada it trying a radical approach. He has 1200 inner city students and guarantees ALL of them they will go to College. Though it costs $5000/yr/student, his school is free to the kids.

Is that expensive?

Prison costs $60,000/yr. Reform school $100,000/yr.

Watch The Harlem Children’s Zone from the December 6, 2009 edition of 60 Minutes. Canada is a man who simply will not be denied.

60 Minutes also posts a text version online. It’s titled Harlem’s Education Experiment Gone Right.

Christmas Lights Guitar Hero (video)

On By Rick McIn humourLeave a comment

What do you get when you mix a Christmas Light show with Guitar Hero? Christmas Light Hero! A real game you play with a wii wireless guitar controller.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Merry Rockin’ Christmas.

This is the brainchild of Ric Turner, a former Disney ‘imagineer’ and special effects specialist.

why oh why do humans live in Canada?

On By Rick McIn bad news1 Comment

Nine Alberta communities had record-breaking cold temperatures on Monday morning, including Edmonton, Sundre and Rocky Mountain House, which all recorded temperatures of about –41 C. Much of Alberta was under a wind chill warning, with Environment Canada expecting “bitterly cold temperatures and brisk winds.”

Overnight Saturday, Edmonton recorded the lowest temperature in North America when it reach –46 C. To put that into perspective, Siberia reached a low of –49 C that day, said CBC Calgary weather specialist Danielle Savoni. …

CBC

It’s not even making me feel Christmassy.

Robert Heinlein – Red Planet

On By Rick McIn books, product endorsements1 Comment

Robert A. Heinlein is perhaps the greatest writer in SciFi history.

… popular, influential, and controversial …

Rockin’ recommended I revisit one of his “juvenile” classics, Red Planet (1949).

Jim Marlowe is a youngster living on Mars, and he has a “pet”-friend named Willis. Willis is a “bouncer,” a furry little guy of some intelligence whose most amazing quality is an innate capability to reproduce exactly anything he hears. Jim takes Willis with him when he and his friend Frank go off to school. The new headmaster makes life miserable for all the boys with his military discipline, and he has the audacity to take Willis away from Jim and lock him away in his office.

A bold rescue attempt by the brave lads manages to recover Willis before the headmaster sells him off to the London Zoo, but the friends’ joy soon turns to surprise when Willis plays back a conversation he overheard about the Company putting an end to the seasonal migrations on Mars. This means that Jim’s family in the South will be forced to remain where they are all winter, where the temperature easily falls below one hundred degrees freezing. Now it is up to the boys to escape from the school and somehow find their way back home (hundreds of miles away) and inform their families of the Company’s intentions. Only their bravery and a little help from Mars’ unique native inhabitants give them a chance to save the day.

The Martians are fascinating in and of themselves; needless to say, they are something entirely different from little green men. …

Good stuff. Entertaining and thought provoking.

Related …

I took a couple of dozen Isaac Asimov novels (audio) on my last long road trip. I must admit Heinlein is a far more nuanced and sophisticated writer than Asimov.

In fact, I was mostly disappointed with Asimov’s Robot series of books including I, Robot.

Two characters will stay with me, though, R. Daneel Olivaw and his human detective partner Elijah Baley. Brilliant fictional creations. Jehoshaphat!

shout out for 30Rock

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, TVLeave a comment

The only two TV shows I try to watch regularly are Colbert and Glee.

… But I could add 30Rock to that list.

It’s smart. And getting better each season.

Too bad 30Rock is not more of a ratings hit.

30 Rock has been a critical success, winning several major awards (including Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2007, 2008, and 2009), and achieving the top ranking on myriad critics’ year-end best of 2006 and 2007 lists.

On July 14, 2009, the series was nominated for 22 Emmy Awards, the most in a single year for a comedy series.Despite these accolades, the series averaged a low 5.8 million viewers in the United States during its first season, according to the Nielsen Ratings system, and ranked 102 out of 142 television series.

Brad Paisley – Welcome To The Future of Music

On By Rick McIn music, product endorsements1 Comment

Growing up in Western Canada, a Country and Western mecca, I’ve always avoided and denied Country music.

I lost my girl. I lost my truck. I lost my dog.

Country music has some wonderful talent (Shania Twain jumps to mind) … but I still see it as the preserve of dumb white people. Simple minded closet racists all endorse both kinds of music, Country and Western.

But times are changing …

… While album sales of most musical genres have declined, country music experienced one of its best years in 2006, when, during the first six months, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36 million. …

… I keep hearing about this guy named Brad Paisley. One of my favourite critics calls his most recent album – American Saturday Night – the best of the year.

The second radio single is “Welcome to the Future” which Paisley said is his favorite song on the album.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I love it. Paisley played it at the White House for President Barack Obama. In fact, he was inspired to write this song by Obama.

Finally a Country star who can sing about big, modern issues. Technology. Racism. People who aren’t descended from Hillbillies.

This song could be covered by U2 or the Black Eyed Peas.

Paisley has signed to join a new hour-long drama TV series called Nashville. If that show is a hit, he’ll have crossed over to yet another huge market.

As Ron and Kate often urge, perhaps it’s time I give Country Music open minded consideration.

Hip Hop and neo punk are in decline.

How many Beyonce clones can I listen to?

I should be at two with myself

On By Rick McIn foodLeave a comment

… from Rockin’ on Facebook:

Kate, upon walking up a mountain near Tapei, shares some Zen wisdom:

“With all the eating I’ve been doing, I should be at two with myself.”

… I feel the same way here at the multi-sport complex in Bangladesh. We are fed constantly. I often have 3 kitchen boys watching my every bite. “Foreigners” are fed special food at each meal.

… from Bangladesh

On By Rick McIn gymnastics, travel1 Comment

My first day in Bangladesh was most interesting. Everything is great.

… The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative calm and economic progress.

Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country and is among the most densely populated countries in the world with a high poverty rate. However, per-capita (inflation-adjusted) GDP has more than doubled since 1975, and the poverty rate has fallen by 20% since the early 1990s. The country is listed among the “Next Eleven” economies. Dhaka, the capital, and other urban centers have been the driving force behind this growth. …

Due to the terrible traffic, I’m moving tomorrow from the 5 Star hotel into the National Sport Training Centre residence where my gymnastics course is being hosted. I may have limited internet access there, however.

It’s the dry season. Water level is low, low, low.