Teach Me Something New

one of the illusions of life

2005-02-23T17:51:00.000-05:00

One of the illusions of life,
is that the present hour is not the critical,
decisive hour. Write it on your heart||
that every day is the best day of the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (via matt crighton)

discretion

2005-02-21T19:56:00.000-05:00

"At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." -- Menander

small beginnings

2005-02-06T13:05:00.000-05:00

"Small beginnings can lead to great things."

what linus has to say

2005-02-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

"We want to be able to provide the world with free high class, high quality, highly innovative software products that really empower the users and offer the best and only real chance to narrow the digital divide."

Linus Torvalds & Alan Cox,
from an open letter to the European Parliament, Sept. 21, 2003

via Community Free Software Group

establishing lasting peace

2005-02-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

"Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war." - Maria Montessori (via chris lehmann, beacon school, new york)

the truth of theories

2005-02-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

"Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true." --Niels Bohr

curiosity

2005-01-31T23:56:00.000-05:00

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education" -- Albert Einstein

thoughts from lev gonick at OneCleveland

2005-01-30T09:23:00.000-05:00

"We are not so idealistic or presumptuous to assume that OneCleveland is the solution to Cleveland’s war on poverty. However, there can be no sustainable and meaningful future for Cleveland without an engaged and integrated strategy for leveraging technology to beat the culture of poverty and form the foundation of a culture of innovation, creativity, and hope."
lev gonick

note - cleveland is the location of the june, 2005, national CTCNet conference.

cleveland rocks.

being an enzyme

2005-01-30T07:01:00.000-05:00

there are lots of different ways to be an enzyme.

strategic investment

2005-01-30T06:46:00.000-05:00

strategic investment in the right combination of words placed in the right place can lead to lasting social change.

the three questions

2005-01-30T06:34:00.000-05:00

"There are three great questions which in life we have to ask over and over again to answer:

Is it right or wrong?

Is it true or false?

Is it beautiful or ugly?

Our education ought to help us to answer these questions."

John Lubbock, 19th century astronomer, via doug johnson

ebay and community development

2005-01-30T04:10:00.000-05:00

frank odasz's new article about ebay and community development is thoughtful and penetrating. i learned about this article via the digital divide network community.

what to do

2005-01-28T16:27:00.000-05:00

"in matters of style, swim with the current. in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - thomas jefferson

there's so much more creativity and genius out there

2005-01-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

"There's just so much more creativity and genius out there than
our media currently reflect." FCC Commissioner Michael Copps

technology fluency in the inner city

2005-01-26T19:22:00.000-05:00

interesting ideas in technology fluency in the inner city

what is needed

2005-01-26T19:19:00.000-05:00

Without materials nothing exists

Without energy nothing happens

Without information nothing makes sense

Albert Boekhorst

member of the Digital Divide Network

community technology review

2005-01-24T21:15:00.000-05:00

the new issue of Community Technology Review is out.

exclamation marks run amuk on the internet

2005-01-19T22:05:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or have exclamation marks run amuk on the Internet? Every day I receive email with exclamation marks scattered all over the place. I get so alarmed and startled, it takes me hours to settle down. Twice I have had to increase the dosage of my blood pressure medication to handle all those exclamation marks. (Only kidding.) What turns my stomache is that web sites are using exclation marks all over the place -- in a "have-a-good-day" kind of frenzy. Do people have no decency, forsake?

We must bring these rampant exclamation marks under control before this gets completely out of hand. The world is wound up enough as is to be winding it up even more. Thanks for doing your part to rein in exclamation marks. I offer you my heartfelt and unpunctuated thanks.

(I would pay good money to have an email program or web browser that lets me filter out all exclamation marks.)

what i'm reading - "how full is your bucket?"

2005-01-17T04:15:00.000-05:00

how full is your bucket?

next up on my reading list - blink

is spelling important?

2005-01-16T04:58:00.000-05:00

"F. Scott Fitzgerald once handed in a manuscript with seven consecutive misspelled words."

gratitude

2005-01-15T01:27:00.000-05:00

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." - Cicero

journey

2005-01-15T01:25:00.000-05:00

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single mouse click." Lao-tzu

consistency

2005-01-15T01:22:00.000-05:00

"A racehorse that consistently runs just a second faster than another horse is worth millions of dollars more. Be willing to give that extra effort that separates the winner from the one in second place." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

healing

2005-01-15T01:19:00.000-05:00

"One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories." Rebecca Falls

both

2005-01-15T01:14:00.000-05:00

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both." - Zen Buddist text

small is

2005-01-09T07:40:00.000-05:00

small is big.

step one

2005-01-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

step one - find the right way of making your needs known
step two - everything else will follow accordingly

other

2005-01-08T11:53:00.000-05:00

Other

if you're a poetry expert, i'm interested to know your favorite prose writer.
if you're a macintosh enthusiast, i'm interested to know your favorite windows program.
if you're a golfer, i'm interested to hear what skis you recommend.
if you like cooking, tell me what historical figures you admire.
if you're a cat lover, tell me your favorite breed of dogs.
if you're a dog lover, which sports figure intrigues you?
if you like snorkeling, which mountain hikes do you like?
if you're a democrat, which republicans grab your fancy?
if you're a republican, which democrats have appeal to you?

if i were a carpenter, and you were a lady.
would you marry me anyway? would you have my maybe?

public librarians as CPU's of their community

2005-01-08T04:21:00.000-05:00

in many communities, public librarians are the CPU (central processing unit) of the community, accepting information from many sources and directing it where it needs to go. are you giving librarians the information they need to hear? are you listening to the information they have to give you?

if you're not talking regularly with a librarian, you may be out of the loop. librarians are the closest thing to omniscience here on earth. knowledge can come in handy. omniscience can be a great ally.

Technology is not consolidating power

2005-01-07T21:42:00.000-05:00

Technology is not consolidating power into the hands of the very few. The opposite is happening. Everyone is getting in on the action. Technology is opening the doors like never before. And so we are building an architecture of participation that enables. Source

success begins with venue

2005-01-06T17:20:00.000-05:00

success begins with venue. for something to happen, you first need a place (real or virtual) for that something to happen.

the closest distance

2005-01-06T17:12:00.000-05:00

"the closest distance between not knowing something and knowing something is asking." doug mitchell

the voyage of discovery

2005-01-06T08:19:00.000-05:00

"The voyage of discovery is not about seeking new landscapes, it's about having new eyes." Marcel Proust

wisdom too often overlooked

2005-01-03T18:38:00.000-05:00

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted
counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

how to criticize

2005-01-03T18:35:00.000-05:00

"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo (via Taran Rampersad)

blogs are built on speed and trust

2004-12-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

""Blogs are built on speed and trust, and the mainstream media are very slow and very distrusted." - Hugh Hewitt (via Instapundit)

how you see

2004-12-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.

the art of living well

2004-12-25T10:30:00.000-05:00

The art of living well is really just the art of discovering, creating, holding onto, and taking advantage of opportunity. James Branch

are you?

2004-12-24T23:21:00.000-05:00

are you asking yourself questions?

how wealth is created

2004-12-24T23:20:00.000-05:00

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.

-- George Bernard Shaw

cross pollination

2004-12-23T15:48:00.000-05:00

cross-pollination is the path to success. are there communities you know who need cross-pollinating?

one person

2004-12-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

One person is seldom as effective as a group.

editorial - the internet's biggest foe

2004-12-15T11:01:00.000-05:00

editorial - the internet's biggest foe.

Asked about the "digital divide," a term used to describe people of color, poor and rural communities' relative lack of technological access, Powell retorted, "You know, I think there's a Mercedes divide. I'd like to have one; I can't afford one" (Chicago Tribune, 2/7/01).

how paul simon writes songs

2004-12-14T13:31:00.000-05:00

Singer/songerwriter Paul Simon was asked how he writes songs. Here's his reponse. "I stand in my living room and bounce a rubber ball asked the wall. Ka-dunk. Ka-dunk. Ka-dunk. I take the rhythm of the ball bouncing and create songs from that. (He pauses, and then smiles slightly.)

I'm allowed to throw a ball in the living room because it's _my_ house."

intelligence is

2004-12-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

"Intelligence is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do."
--John Holt (via Fred Mindlin of Watsonville, California)

the challenge is

2004-12-05T01:09:00.000-05:00

"There is nothing in man's plight that his vision, if he cared
to cultivate it, could not alleviate. The challenge is to see
what could be done, and then to have the heart and the
resolution to attempt it."

- Diplomat and historian George Kennan, writing in 1993.

a video tribute to a favorite teacher

2004-12-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

i've posted on the web a video tribute to a favorite high school teacher of mine. this teacher, mr. cappucci, watched this video from his home using his cable modem. the video file is 15-minutes in duration and 75-megabytes in file size.

i created this video for him a few months ago. it occurred to me it might do some good to alert others to it.

if you cannot view this video, you might need to download the latest version of quicktime

this video is best viewed using the safari or firefox web browser.

newspapers are changing -- but very slowly

2004-12-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

(the blog entry below is from an email i sent to the digital divide network email list. this email list has several thousand subscribers from around the world sharing ideas and resources for bridging the digital divide. this email list includes reporters from newspapers who care to stay informed about such things.)

i was very happy to see that the email address of the nun in san francisco was included at the end of the article. a few years ago newspapers were very reluctant to do that.

back in 1998, a reporter at the washington post was writing a feature article about a colleague here in washington dc. the reporter contacted me for background information about this person as i had volunteered at this afterschool program for elementary school children for about 8 years.

when i suggested to the reporter that she find a way to include this person's email address in the article, the reporter snapped back rudely, "we don't do that."

i paused a moment, and asked in a polite, friendly way, "don't you think this is a good time to start?"

this same reporter asked me what my profession was. when i told her, "i'm a technology access activist -- it's a branch of civil rights activism," she told me, "i'm sorry i can't write that in the article. my editor won't let me."

my response: "you let your editor tell you what's true and not true in this world?"

i've seen very little progress at the washington post since 1998. other newspapers appear to be doing better.

incidentally, i find little fault with the reporter in the above situation. her managers required her to behave as she did. her talent as a reporter is outstanding. given her druthers, i imagine she would not have acted in the way she did.

-------

for ongoing news about the how the news media is changing from a lecture to a conversation, there is
no better web site than dan gillmor's "we the media" book and web site.

you can be the architect

2004-12-03T07:50:00.000-05:00

""You can be the architect of change or the tenant of its results." - Jim Ley (via Brenda Trainor)

computers as easy to use as a telephone

2004-11-29T10:24:00.000-05:00

"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use
as my telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how
to use my telephone."

- Bjarne Stroustrup, inventor of the C++ programming language.

on the kindling of sparks

2004-11-21T01:27:00.000-05:00

"Some of my critics have amused their readers with the wildness of the schemes I have occasionally thrown out; and I myself have sometimes smiled along with them. Perhaps it were wiser for present reputation to offer nothing but profoundly meditated plans, but I do not think knowledge will be most advanced by that course; such sparks may kindle the energies of other minds more favorably circumstanced for pursuing the enquiries." - Charles Babbage

let yourself be open

2004-11-14T22:55:00.000-05:00

"let yourself be open and life will be easier." Siddartha Gautama

thousands of candles

2004-11-14T22:52:00.000-05:00

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Siddartha Gautama

to live a simple life

2004-11-14T14:25:00.000-05:00

"to live a simple life one must understand many complex things." - Cree saying

stillness and listening

2004-11-14T14:20:00.000-05:00

"...in your stillness, you hear what might be heard anywhere." - Scott Russell Sanders

design

2004-11-14T01:51:00.000-05:00

design is anticipation.

You only learn when

2004-11-11T05:52:00.000-05:00

You only learn when you change your mind.

teachers

2004-11-09T09:27:00.000-05:00

"The mediocre teachers tell. The good teachers explain. The superior teachers demonstrate. The great teachers inspire." - William Arthur Ward

great ships

2004-11-07T18:16:00.000-05:00

"When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. Bu that is not what great ships are built for." - Clarissa Pinkola Estés

social fabric

2004-11-06T23:35:00.000-05:00

social fabric is woven one blog link at a time.

the greatest gift

2004-11-05T19:01:00.000-05:00

"The greatest gift is a portion of thyself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

teaching the infinite game

2004-11-03T10:27:00.000-05:00

"In a finite game, they pointed out, winners exclude losers. In an infinite game, winners teach losers better plays.

In a finite game, the winner takes all. In an infinite game, winning is widely shared.

In a finite game, rules are fixed in advance to guarantee a single winner. In an infinite game, rules are changed along the way by agreement.

Finite games focus on how they end. Infinite games focus on how they continue."

Computers-in-the-Home project

2004-10-30T21:14:00.000-04:00

I've dashed off some notes about the Computers-in-the-Home project I was involved with between 2000 and 2002. There's some rich media links at the end of the notes.

passions are the wind

2004-10-30T07:05:00.000-04:00

"Passions are the winds which fill the sails of the vessel; sometimes they sink it; but without them it would be impossible to make way.. "

-- Voltaire

jeff jarvis' laws

2004-10-27T09:20:00.000-04:00

via instapundit

Jarvis' First Law: Give the people control of media, they will use it. The corollary: Don't give the people control of media, and you will lose. Jarvis' Second Law: Lower cost of production and distribution in media inevitably leads to nichefication. The corollary: Lower the cost of media enough, and there will be an unlimited supply of people making it.

the hardest thing to do

2004-10-27T01:50:00.000-04:00

"the hardest thing to do is to stick together." - bono

wisdom from the wise

2004-10-27T01:01:00.000-04:00

"We can…and we’ve got to…do better than this." - Dr. Seuss

99 percent of interesting people

2004-10-24T21:40:00.000-04:00

99 percent of interesting people in this world are not celebrities.

history is a race

2004-10-19T11:18:00.000-04:00

"History is a race between education and catastrophe." -- H.G. Wells
(via harry hanbury)

the future shape of public libraries

2004-10-17T09:24:00.000-04:00

Public libraries that are being rebuilt (or are being designed new), should probably have flexible space use incorporated into their design. We cannot know what libraries will be used for over the next 20 years, but we do know that they'll be more than "book places."

In what ways could a library be designed more flexibly? The books could be placed on rolling carts, so that they can be rolled out of the way when a larger community space is needed.

Libraries need to be open 7 days a week, so they should be designed with that in mind. Perhaps the books-on-carts need to have locking covers so that the library can be opened, but without access to books. Yes, community volunteers need to have some role in keeping the libraries open beyond the days that paid staff are available.

Libraries are learning spaces, and so more meeting rooms will be needed in future libraries. Meeting rooms should probably have an outside door exit, so that they are accessible at times that the library is closed. Various communities leaders would have keys to access the meeting rooms at times the library is closed.

For future uses of the internet, libraries should probably have a server room of some sort, where internet equipment of various kind can be located. This room needs to have the kind of dedicated cooling that server rooms usually have.

Llibraries of the future should probably be designed to be as energy efficient as possible (within the realm of feasibility.)

Most importantly, design for future libraries need to be flexible. Our communities will only know how these buildings will be used at a time after the libraries have been built. Our communities need to have libraries built for flexibility. Designing a library flexibly is no easy task. The task starts with asking community members to imagine any and all possible uses of their community library over the next 20 years.

Consultation should extend beyond the immediate community to gather thoughts from the library profession, scholarly publications, and other communities.

Listening to allies of public libraries such as public access television stations, community technology centers and computer user groups is probably a good idea. The rise of community media needs to be taken into account, too.

glenn reynolds could use a new laptop

2004-10-14T22:56:00.000-04:00

glenn reynolds, of instapundit fame, is using a laptop that's on its last legs. he could use a new laptop, and many of us who are enthusiastic readers of his blog would love him to have an excellent new laptop.

so i'm proposing to glenn that he mention that his fan base would like to send him small donations ($5 or less) for him to purchase a new laptop. with the number of fans he has, he would have a new laptop (and more) by morning.

surplus funds could be channeled to a charity of his choice (or a charity of instawife's choice).

in many ways glenn reynolds has defined a new literary genre with his blogging. put me down for $5. it's a small way of saying thanks.

- phil shapiro
arlington, virginia

award from HP's david packard

2004-10-14T06:53:00.000-04:00

"When Chuck House wanted to develop the oscilloscope for HP, David Packard told him to abandon the project. Chuck went on vacation” and came back with $2MM in orders. Packard later gave him an award inscribed with an accolade for 'extraordinary contempt and defiance beyond the normal call of engineering.'"

Source: http://jurvetson.blogspot.com/

a grateful mind

2004-10-11T18:25:00.000-04:00

"A grateful mind
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
Indebted and discharg'd."

- John Milton, Paradise Lost IV.

everything is germane.

2004-10-05T09:08:00.000-04:00

everything is germane.

david nunez likes drupal content management system

2004-10-04T01:00:00.000-04:00

david nunez likes drupal content management system. when i read his thinking about drupal, i can't help
but conclude that he is speaking truth from conviction. he makes sense to me.

those who wish to sing

2004-10-03T10:23:00.000-04:00

"Those who wish to sing, always find a song." - Swedish Proverb

macarthur awards

2004-09-28T13:21:00.000-04:00

Why I Adamantly Support and Adamantly Oppose the MacArthur Fellow Awards

When the first annual MacArthur Fellow Awards were announced in 1981 my initial reaction was, "Now, that's a good idea.... I think." A twinge of doubt existed even back then. Let me explain why I both adamantly support and adamantly oppose the MacArthur Awards.

I adamantly support the MacArthur Awards because in spirit they're a great idea. Walking among us are people whose talent rivals or exceeds anyone in the past. (Except Helen Keller and a few thousand other people.) What a joy it is to make their names better known inside and outside of the communities where they live. Some greater good comes of it, for sure.

The persons who invented these awards were thinking large. But were they perhaps thinking too large? Instead of offering 30 persons $500,000 each, why not offer 15 persons $1 million each? Or 5 persons $3 million each? Or offer one extraordinary person $15 million. "Here, bubba."

But you know what's neat about genius? It's not about the money. The public recognition is in many cases worth far more than the money. And I've always wondered about the names of the people that the MacArthur Foundation considered but didn't select. Would there not be value to list their names and fields of work right there on the web site underneath those who were chosen?

And let me share some ideas about the selection process they use with those anonymous scouts scouring the country. Such a 20th century idea to use anonymous scouts. While the process has worked for the past 23 years, the process has failed, too. Why has it failed? Because the most deserving recipients of these awards are probably also the most anonymous. And how can anyone be sure those few scouts are moving in the places where those deserving to be chosen live and work?

Round about the time the MacArthur Awards were becoming known, the rise of the ideas of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh were gaining hold. It doesn't take a genius to realize here are two good ideas that ought to meet and talk with one another. Meanwhile, the rise of the web suggests some way cool possibilities for the MacArthur Fellow awards. What if the MacArthur Foundation allowed anyone to nominate anyone else, right there publicly on the MacArthur Foundation web site? The cost? Almost nothing. The benefit? Immense.

Even if the MacArthur Foundation totally ignored the nominations, the benefit to our communities would be immense.

I adamantly support and adamantly oppose the MacArthur Fellow awards. The reasons I do are many, but primarily because truth itself is contradictory. Don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise.

Phil Shapiro
The writer is an educator and technology access activist based in Arlington, Virginia. He can be reached at pshapiro@his.com and http://www.his.com/pshapiro and http://mytvstation.blogspot.com

Below are the names of some the persons I'd nominate for the MacArthur Award.

Erroll Reese
Nettrice Gaskins
Randall Pinkett
Stephen Ronan
Kavita Singh
Shireen Mitchell
Tony Streit
Angela Stuber
Kenneth Wyrick
Njedika Harry
Felicia Sullivan
Hal Cauthen
Deb Roepke
Jim Lynch
Lauren-Glenn Davitian
Lawrence Guyot
Dirk Koning
John Stuhldreher
Kate Snow
Richard Jaeggi
Peter Miller
Bonnie Bracey
Rev. Joyce Brooks
Marcia Harrington
Jon Randall
Camille Cormier
Ryan Ozimek
Rev. Fred Williams
Laura Breedon
David Rosen
David Domenici
Al Browne
Jessica Alvarez
David Welsh
Janet Lathan
David Deal
Scott Pomeroy
Leni Gonzalez
Maureen Holla
Jeff Elkner
Gary Imhoff
Glenn Reynolds
Darrell Duane
Karen Zacarías
Steve Coleman
Dave Winer
Evan Williams
And pajama wearing bloggers everywhere.

I would also have nominated Antonia (Toni) Stone, whose work was missed for 20 years by MacArthur Foundation's scouring scouts. They missed reading the May, 1988, issue of Ms. Magazine. (Article title: "Playing To Win.") Or the 50 other articles written about Toni Stone. Oops.

every great achievement

2004-09-22T13:03:00.000-04:00

"Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

thoughts about no-cost internet access

2004-09-21T13:07:00.000-04:00

remember back in the days of the internet bubble there were a few companies offering no-cost, advertiser supported internet access? it appears there's a company offering a similar incentive for persons here in the united states.

http://www.access-4-free.com

the first 10 hours of usage each month are no-cost. what i like about this service is that it supports mac and linux users, too. (although mac and linux users need to manually arrange their connection settings.)

by composing email offline and reading email offline, those 10 hours can add up to a lot of communciation.

i sure hope that this company has a successful business model and doesn't go under.

would it make sense, perhaps, for a 25 cent tax be added to the cost of every new computer to help fund such basic internet access? this company believes it has a business model that can succeed without that kind of public support. our communities need the peace of mind that this company's business model is successful -- and we need public moneys funneled to such companies to give us that peace of mind.

- phil shapiro
arlington, virginia

dave barry for president

2004-09-12T14:09:00.000-04:00

dave barry for president.

politics is choosing

2004-09-11T19:45:00.000-04:00

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

- J. K. Galbraith, Letter to Kennedy, 1962

all we need

2004-09-11T19:43:00.000-04:00

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."

- Einstein

russell sage foundation report on social inequality

2004-09-06T14:10:00.000-04:00

the russell sage foundation will be soon issuing a report on social inequality.

it's worth reading only if you care about such things.

interview with dotmac.info founder august trometer

2004-09-03T10:18:00.000-04:00

i've posted an audio interview with dotmac.info founder august trometer. the interview covers the origins, purpose and features of dotmac.info.

newbury open in boston

2004-09-01T09:58:00.000-04:00

i'm so impressed by this open wireless project in boston.

article - "how i use my ibook to teach guitar lessons"

2004-08-30T08:01:00.000-04:00

i've written a new article for the web site mac using educators.

every person and every entity has some great strength

2004-08-26T12:52:00.000-04:00

Every person and every entity has some great strength. If you look for it, you will find it. (Posted on the well-managed DC-area civic discussion list themail@dcwatch.com)

if stories are glue

2004-08-26T12:08:00.000-04:00

if stories are glue, then the organizers of storytellers are the glue that binds glue together.

price gouging at radio shack has got to stop

2004-08-26T11:52:00.000-04:00

price gouging at radio shack has got to stop.

to teach is to simplify

2004-08-26T10:43:00.000-04:00

to teach is to simplify. if you're not simplifying, you're not teaching.

what it's like being a reporter at the olympics

2004-08-25T06:20:00.000-04:00

But down here in the bowels of the stadium, a far more brutal competition is already underway -- a no-holds-barred body contact sport that is far too gruesome to be shown on TV.

In the mixed zone, the unruly battle the unwashed for a chance to hear the inarticulate utter the inaudible.

"It's nasty, it's smelly, it's stinky, it's rude, it's vile and a lot of the stuff that goes on here would get you arrested out on the street," says Bob Padecky, a veteran Olympics reporter for California's Santa Rosa Press Democrat. "Half the people in here, if they've ever showered, it's been a while."

Washington Post reporter Peter Carlson describing what it's like to be involved in press coverage at the Olympics.

The Paradox of Our Age

2004-08-15T20:52:00.000-04:00

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints." - Dr. Bob Moorehead

what makes for a successful blog

2004-08-14T13:33:00.000-04:00

what makes for a successful blog.

the value of transparency

2004-08-14T07:13:00.000-04:00

the value of transparency.

touch a thistle timidly

2004-08-14T06:59:00.000-04:00

"Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble." - William S. Halsey

making it idiot-proof

2004-08-13T20:19:00.000-04:00

Make it idiot-proof and someone will just make a better idiot
- Unknown

where to find guidance and wisdom

2004-08-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness." Dalai Lama (Hat tip: Dave C clean_rider@noblogyetbutstillwise.com)

2004-08-11T22:44:00.000-04:00

"Active communities become self-teaching entities where the total knowledge expands exponentially."

how far can we go?

2004-08-11T15:51:00.000-04:00

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - (Ascribed to T.S. Eliot and Abraham Lincoln) (Hat tip: Dave C clean_rider@noblogyetbutstillwise.com)

a great teacher

2004-08-10T10:27:00.000-04:00

A good teacher explains.
A superior teacher demonstrates.
A great teacher inspires.