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An interesting experiment is being done in Tucson, Arizona with a high school bus. The bus is equipped with a wireless Internet connection and the students are able to complete homework and generally be more productive. The article, Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall, seems to indicate that the experiment has so far been a success.
Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared.
Shouldn’t these kids be doing homework the night before at home, not in the morning? If the kids are doing homework/assignments on their way home, that seems a positive use of time, considering they would just be texting, talking etc. Another thought; is insane productivity a good thing for kids? Isn’t it okay that they goof off on the bus and are not very productive?
Tagged as:
school bus,
wi-fi,
wireless
Snowboard halfpipe tricks done by professionals are so much fun to watch, I thought I’d share these informative videos with you from the New York Times website. While I used to be a good street skateboarder in my teen years, I only wish I could do half the tricks these guys are doing on snow. I went snowboarding in 2008 in Utah, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Being on a snowboard actually felt very much like a skateboard, except for having my feet attached to the board. Are you going to watch any of the events in the 2010 Vancouver Games?
Tagged as:
snowboard halfpipe,
snowboarding,
vancouver olympics
Considering that I am an early adopter of most technologies the fact that I have yet to try let alone embrace e-books is a bit strange. The thought of holding a thin piece of metal and plastic, and staring at a screen during my reading time has never appealed to me. Being plunked down in front of my computer part of the day for work probably plays a part in my dislike for the e-book idea. Therefore it is of little consequence to me that publishers are looking to bump up the cost of downloadable e-books. However, the difference between an actual book and megabytes on a screen seems drastic. A book affords a feeling of comfort, something tangible to underline, highlight or scribble in. With an e-book there is just text on a screen and once you have finished reading the “book”, it disappears.
In an article today in the New York Times they discussed the upcoming increases in e-book costs. There might be a blowback or even a revolt from some readers:
When digital editions have cost more, or have been delayed until after the release of hardcover versions, these raucous readers have organized impromptu boycotts and gone to the Web sites of Amazon and Barnes & Noble to leave one-star ratings and negative comments for those books and their authors.
Would you pay $14.99 for an e-book? I can’t imagine spending that much on a file that would sit on my iPad or Kindle instead of my shelf.
Tagged as:
e-book,
iPad,
Kindle
Haitian woman – Photo Source
Have you read the excellent article from last weeks New Yorker by Jon Lee Anderson? Entitled Neighbors’ Keeper, it’s a piece about Anderson’s experience on the ground in Haiti and his unexpected meeting of the Haitian woman Nadia François. In brief, she was bumped into twice while Anderson was driving around in Port-au-Prince and he came to find out that her and a few others were searching for food and supplies for several hundred other people:
She said that her name was Nadia François and she was from Delmas 75—a neighborhood five miles back up into the hills. She had come down, she said, in representation of some three hundred people there who were in need of help. She handed us a paper with a handwritten message that attested to her mission, signed and stamped by a Protestant pastor. Nadia had led her group down to the airport after hearing that the U.S. military was handing out food.
Aside from the generosity and incredible sacrifice shown by François, this story illustrated to me that a person with a checkered past (François was previously incarcerated in the U.S.) should not be dismissed or considered a hopeless case. I wonder how many more privileged people would be providing for their entire community in such a situation?
Tagged as:
community,
haiti,
journalism