Newsmap

If you're like me, you probably wish that you could scan all the news headlines in a single visual glance and then decide what interests you. Most traditional news sites seem to have designed their online editions to map to their printed versions. Although this may insure a sense of familiarity, it's a model that bears exploration. A few years ago I fell in love with Google News, and that's been my home page since. Newsmap presents an interesting twist to the way we might consume news. Give it a shot.

Cool Lego Art

Click the picture for more.

The New New Math

We spent a nice Thanksgiving evening at our friends Gus and Shaz's - drinking, eating, laughing and talking. Surprisingly one of the most interesting topics of conversation was about education. Since Helen and I don't have children, we were fascinated by the discussions about how math is taught in grade school today.

Unlike the traditional algorithms our generation learned, today's math includes some new alternative methods and attempts to blend in foundational problem solving approaches. Concepts like clustering, lattice method, and partial quotients are being touted as new ways to teach basic math skills and comprehension. Among the revelers were a teaching assistant (and mother of 3) and a school librarian, so we got first hand insight to the new thinking and strategies for education.

Although I wholeheartedly agree with teaching problem solving skills, something bothered me about the fact that they don't teach rote methods like the multiplication table anymore. Granted that students benefit from understanding that problems can be solved in many ways and that thinking about how to solve a problem is a valuable skill, it seems to me that there's an equal benefit to following that up with teaching the most efficient methods. After all, there are times you need answers, and times when you need answers quickly.

It's certainly a ripe topic for debate, and I found a conflicting viewpoint offered by MJ McDermott:


All in all, an interesting evening of topical discussion, and certainly an appreciation of how much innovation and progress have come to education over the past 20 years.

Dear Patron of the Arts...

A hilarious post from the Best of Criaglist.

Mysteries of Stonehenge Revealed!

We've all watched the Discovery Channel specials about the mysterious origins of Stonehenge and how inexplicable it is that druids could build it without complex tools or huge numbers of laborers. Here's a video that shows how it could have been done with some simple ingenuity.

The business of dating

Check out this post and response found on Criagslist. Possibly one of the most hilarious social excerpts I've ever encountered!

Incredible halftime show

An argument for having kids

I want you back Jackson five cover by Castillo kids

Dancing Machine

I've been hooked on the Fox reality talent show So You Think You Can Dance. But those clowns don't compare to this dude.

You know you're living in 2007 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven’t played Solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12 You’re reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t#9 on this list

AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.

Go on, forward this to your friends. You know you want to.

Courtesy of Thought Mechanics.