Saturday, July 23
*Introducing the Google+ Start-Up Guide* ...
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Introducing the Google+ Start-Up Guide
View or comment on Andrew Ungerman's post »I have been having the same conversation with many of the friends I invite over from Facebook. They are having a hard time figuring out how everything here works. Google+, I realize, is a concept that is a bit hard to grasp. It's a blend between Twitter and Facebook, private and public. There are no friend requests or even friends. Just people. People you circle and who circle you, and depending on what they think about you they share more or less with you. The end result, is a post that is more meaningful and relevant. You can scale a post based on what the appropriate audience is. You can share messages with a circle, multiple circles, or even people directly (or even emails). All this is new, and new things always scare people. Naturally we are people who are against change. We resist change because change requires energy, whether it be physical or mental. But as history can attest to, we need change. I have seen many guides out there that attempt to lower the learning curve but no one wanted to go read a multi-page article about how to use a social network. And so I decided to give it a try, with a short presentation instead, almost like an intro video. I have been spending the whole summer freelancing as a full time job and wanted to use my design and user experience skills toward a fun side project that would let me go crazy. I wanted to create something that tells you only the bare minimum of what you need to know to get started and something that is easy to digest. Over the past week, what started as a small side project became my main project. This presentation is my attempt at lowering the energy required for change. (Hope all the work pays off) I would love this guide to become "The Guide" all the new folks see. Let's make this this spread like wildfire! If you got improvements please send them my way and I will credit you in version 2. Cheers. +Cy :) P.S. I got the idea of using G+ as a slideshow from +Vincent Wong's awesome presentation.If +Guy Kawasaki or +Robert Scoble is listening, you guys would be rockstars for sharing this!
The Google+ project makes sharing on the web more like sharing in real-life.
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9 billion people+1 planet=?
This discussion explores the promise and perils of thenext 50 years. Can humanity, heading toward a population of approximatley 9 billion, advance economically without overheating the planet? Can food and water supplies be sustained without erasing what's left of wild nature?
Friday, July 22
Excerpt from Contact by Carl Sagan
Like doctors and lawyers, the vendors of religion rarely criticize one another's wares,Joss observed. But one night he attended services at the new Church of God, Crusader, to hear the younger Billy Jo Rankin, triumphantly returned from Odessa, preach to the multitude. Billy Jo enunciated a stark doctrine of Reward, Retribution, and the Rapture. But tonight was a healing night. The curative instrument, the congregation was told, was the holiest of relics-holier than a splinter of the True Cross, holier even than the thigh bone of Saint Teresa of Avila that Generalissimo Francisco Franco had kept in his office to intimidate the pious. What Billy Jo Rankin Brandished was the actual amniotic fluid that surrounded and protected our Lord. The liquid had been carefully preserved in an ancient earthenware vessel that once belonged, so it was said, to Saint Ann. The tiniest drop of it would cure what ails you, he promised, through a special act of Divine Grace. This holiest of holy waters was with us tonight.
Joss was appalled, not so much that Rankin would attempt so transparent a scam but that any of the parishioners were so credulous as to accept it. In his previous life he had witnessed many attempts to bamboozle the public. But that was entertainment. This was different. This was religion. Religion was too important to gloss the truth, much less to manufacture miracles. He took to denouncing this imposture from the pulpit.
"The theologians seem to have recognized a special, nonrational--I wouldn't call it
irrational--aspect of the feeling of sacred or holy. They call it 'numinous.' The term was first
used by... let's see... somebody named Rudolph Otto in a 1923 book, The Idea of the Holy. He believed that humans were predisposed to detect and revere the numinous. He called it the misterium tremendum. Even my Latin is good enough for that.
"In the presence of the misterium tremendum, people feel utterly insignificant but, if I read this right, not personally alienated. He thought of the numinous as a thing 'wholly other,' and the human response to it as 'absolute astonishment.'
Throughout the past hundred years a number of philosophers and social scientists have
asserted the disappearance of the sacred, and predicted the demise of religion. A study of the history of religions shows that religious forms change and that there has never been unanimity on the nature and expression of religion Whether or not man..."Sexists write and edit religious articles, too, of course." She returned to the text.
Whether or not man is now in a new situation for developing structures of ultimate
values radically different from those provided in the traditionally affirmed awareness of the sacred is a vital question.
"So?"
"So, I think the bureaucratic religions try to institutionalize your perception of the numinous instead of providing the means so you can perceive the numinous directly--like looking through a six-inch telescope. If sensing the numinous is at the heart of religion, who's more religious would you say--the people who follow the bureaucratic religions or the people who teach themselves science?"
Joss was appalled, not so much that Rankin would attempt so transparent a scam but that any of the parishioners were so credulous as to accept it. In his previous life he had witnessed many attempts to bamboozle the public. But that was entertainment. This was different. This was religion. Religion was too important to gloss the truth, much less to manufacture miracles. He took to denouncing this imposture from the pulpit.
Joss argued that in ever religion there was a doctrinal line beyond which it insulted the intelligence of its practitioners. Reasonable people might disagree as to where that line should be drawn, but religions trespassed well beyond it at their peril. People were not fools, he said.
***
irrational--aspect of the feeling of sacred or holy. They call it 'numinous.' The term was first
used by... let's see... somebody named Rudolph Otto in a 1923 book, The Idea of the Holy. He believed that humans were predisposed to detect and revere the numinous. He called it the misterium tremendum. Even my Latin is good enough for that.
"In the presence of the misterium tremendum, people feel utterly insignificant but, if I read this right, not personally alienated. He thought of the numinous as a thing 'wholly other,' and the human response to it as 'absolute astonishment.'
Now, if that's what religious people talk about when they use words like sacred or holy, I'm with them. I felt something like that just in listening for a signal, never mind in actually receiving it. I think all of science elicits that sense of awe."
"Now listen to this." She read from the text:Throughout the past hundred years a number of philosophers and social scientists have
asserted the disappearance of the sacred, and predicted the demise of religion. A study of the history of religions shows that religious forms change and that there has never been unanimity on the nature and expression of religion Whether or not man..."Sexists write and edit religious articles, too, of course." She returned to the text.
Whether or not man is now in a new situation for developing structures of ultimate
values radically different from those provided in the traditionally affirmed awareness of the sacred is a vital question.
"So?"
"So, I think the bureaucratic religions try to institutionalize your perception of the numinous instead of providing the means so you can perceive the numinous directly--like looking through a six-inch telescope. If sensing the numinous is at the heart of religion, who's more religious would you say--the people who follow the bureaucratic religions or the people who teach themselves science?"
Thursday, July 21
Twilight festival: The Decemberists
The average depth of the Great Salt Lake is only 16 feet with a maximum depth recorded in 1987 of 45 feet. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Salt_Lake
Never let school get in the way of your education
"never let school get in the way of your education"-mark twain
I really like this quote and it's spirit of separating school from education and learning which is something that I think we too closely associate together these days. For me it encourages a more "can do" attitude for me, that if I truly want to lean something I am not bound by the limitations and walls of a classroom to learn it. I strongly feel that in todays hyper competetive and globalized world we must learn and progress with whatever means available (which I also believe are plentiful)
But at the same time it is saddening to come to the realization that, yes despite schools best intentions they do in fact get in the way of educationg and learning. I suppose this is a necessary trade off when leaning and educating moved into the educational instutions and classrooms of our day. I wish there was some way for schools to reconcile the true capacities and aptitudes of students while accomodating the diverse learning styles of students.
I really like this quote and it's spirit of separating school from education and learning which is something that I think we too closely associate together these days. For me it encourages a more "can do" attitude for me, that if I truly want to lean something I am not bound by the limitations and walls of a classroom to learn it. I strongly feel that in todays hyper competetive and globalized world we must learn and progress with whatever means available (which I also believe are plentiful)
But at the same time it is saddening to come to the realization that, yes despite schools best intentions they do in fact get in the way of educationg and learning. I suppose this is a necessary trade off when leaning and educating moved into the educational instutions and classrooms of our day. I wish there was some way for schools to reconcile the true capacities and aptitudes of students while accomodating the diverse learning styles of students.
Wednesday, July 20
Does Washington have a spending problem or an income problem?
historically high rates of spending and low rates of taxation have combined to produce a chain of deficits that are also the highest since WWII.
"Not since the enormous effort required to defeat Nazi Germany and Japan in WWII has the gap between Washington's spending and its revenues been so large, as a portion of the economy. Then, taxes were increased sharply to pay for the war, but spending increased even faster. In recent years, Washington has increased spending while cutting taxes"What has produced these huge budget gaps? Tax cuts and wars have been big factors, as have recessions and expanded spending for health care in both Republican and Democratic administrations. For example:
- Income-tax receipts are down sharply since the Bush tax cuts. In fiscal 2000, the year before the cuts began to take effect, receipts from the federal income tax on individuals amounted to 10.2 percent of GDP. That figure was down to 6.2 percent of GDP last year.
- Spending for the military and for homeland security has risen substantially since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Spending for national defense rose from 3.0 percent of GDP that year to 4.8 percent last year.
- Non-military spending also has continued to rise. President George W. Bush pushed through an expensive prescription drug benefit for seniors in 2003, the largest expansion of Medicare in its history. In the financial crisis of 2008, Bush also pushed for and signed for a massive banking bailout. In early 2009, President Barack Obama pushed for and signed an expensive stimulus measure, and after a long fight in Congress he signed another expensive plan, the health care law, in March of last year, aimed at expanding coverage for millions who lack health insurance.
- Two economic recessions have had their effect. The recession of 2001 began in March and lasted until November. And the worst downturn since the Great Depression began in December 2007 and continued until June 2009. In both cases unemployment remained high for long after business activity began to recover, holding back both wages and the taxes that jobless workers would have paid on them.
We won't attempt to assign blame to one party or the other for the deficits. There is plenty of blame to go around, some of which rests with an American public that won't accept cuts in the largest categories of public spending, and also resists tax increases on anybody but "the rich."
fotonica - flash game
this game embodies a design and style that is rarely seen in games to day , and as far as flash games go this one is superb in its highly stylized GGI wireframe world. This games highly stylized design may be distracting at first but really shines through when you realize that many games these days rely upon highly detailed graphics, this game bucks that trend in gaming and returns to the "more is less" thought pattern that has been so lacking in games. The idea of simplicity in the game runs even deeper than the graphics, you only control the game with one button, which at first seems far to simple but works and allows a more immersive gameplay than a gamepad with two joysticks or 16 buttons. check it out and here is hoping it makes it onto mobile platforms
demo found here
demo found here
The future of education: "flipping the classroom"
Sal (the main guy behind Khan Academy) really presents a solid case for the future of education. a future where students are learning at their own pace and become empowered and inspired by their own progress. a future where teachers can actually teach and intereact with students individually instead of standing in front of a chalkboard. This really is the future of education, a virtual classroom that is free for all to use.
I have registered into Khan Academy classroom and have already ranked up 2 merit badges and 2,908 points, wanna join and see if you can beat me?
What the web needs to be about
I have been taking a remedial math class for the past couple of weeks and have been poking around on the web for some useful resources to help me learn. One of these incredible assests that every single user of the web has access to is Khan Academy, this is probably one of the most useful websites I know of for learning as it covers topics ranging from basic addition and subtraction to calculus and even the recent finacial crisis. Each topic is carfuly and slowly explained in a way that really invites you to take a part in the learning. and has even implemented a sort of virtual classroom that will test and present excersizes that you need to lean and ranks you progress with a points system which I can see as an excellent way to encourage students to engage with material.
I think this website is some of the best examples of what the web needs to be about: open, free, skill/knowledge based. While I can see the importance of social media such as FBook and Twitter as important parts of the web (this is witnessed by the indispensable use of twitter in organizing protest in Egypt's uprising/Arab spring). But with sites like Wikipedia, TED, Youtube, and Khan Academy you really get the sense that the web has allowed for more democratization of the world and allows you to expose yourself to beneficial material. I see sites like these really working to make change and opportunity in the world and makes me wonder how as these websites grow in importance to the world what impacts will they begin to have on our day to day lives. But as our oppoutunity to access this material grows it is important to note that there are still those who do not have the same access to this information as we do and makes it all the more important to close the "digital divide" This is truly an amazing time to live in
the web is something that I believe in, I believe in its amazing capacity to connect us with information ,people (but let me be clear: the web does not replace person to person social interaction),cultures and viewpoints. The web is a place for information and ideas to spread at a rate never before seen or comprehended and this I believe is important to protect and cultivate as we move forward
I think this website is some of the best examples of what the web needs to be about: open, free, skill/knowledge based. While I can see the importance of social media such as FBook and Twitter as important parts of the web (this is witnessed by the indispensable use of twitter in organizing protest in Egypt's uprising/Arab spring). But with sites like Wikipedia, TED, Youtube, and Khan Academy you really get the sense that the web has allowed for more democratization of the world and allows you to expose yourself to beneficial material. I see sites like these really working to make change and opportunity in the world and makes me wonder how as these websites grow in importance to the world what impacts will they begin to have on our day to day lives. But as our oppoutunity to access this material grows it is important to note that there are still those who do not have the same access to this information as we do and makes it all the more important to close the "digital divide" This is truly an amazing time to live in
the web is something that I believe in, I believe in its amazing capacity to connect us with information ,people (but let me be clear: the web does not replace person to person social interaction),cultures and viewpoints. The web is a place for information and ideas to spread at a rate never before seen or comprehended and this I believe is important to protect and cultivate as we move forward
Tuesday, July 19
The state of the blog
(the following was written on my phone so there are invariably many mistakes and misspellings, you have been warned)
I feel pressed at the moment to address some ideas and feelings that I have about this blog.
For the past couple of months I have be make an effort in earnest to try and post something no matter small every day and to this task I feel as though I have done so but I have come to realize that while I have made a strong effort to post everyday I have done so at the detriment of content that is important and interesting to me and others. In particular I have come to the realization that posting links and web content is interesting and relevant does not fulfill the scope I would like to see here.
I believe to be few among many to have the fortunate opportunity to interact and consume interesting knowledge and ideas. But in this age of constant consumption shouldn't there be an equal amount of creation and interaction? What does it mean if all I do is dissect and absorb all this information that we are so fortunate to have access to without in some way recognizing what I have learned by contributing my conclusions or ideas about a whatever interests me. While I accept that one does not "build" an argument or understanding without first understanding the constituent parts I am urged to put more effort into consruction some of my own thoughts and ideas. Which is why I write this, that moreover I have recognized that in order to more fully understand and internalize the many ideas and concepts that I interact with and investigate on a near daily basis deserves a platform to test out and hopefully presesnt new and interesting material from my original perspectives. Doing this will develop my skills as not only a writer but also a thinker and ensure that I have suffeciently understood the material I am presnted with at hand. I plan to do this not to assert some prideful individualistic know it all attitude but to show that if I am to take the time out of my day to learn something or better myself, I too should also set the time aside to write and share thoughts on an idea to better form and understand ideas. Doing so will also have the added benefit of allowing me a more accurate record of my daily doings than say link poted here would.
Which is why I will now make the concerted effort to not only post everyday but to also find something worth writing about and sharing it here
I feel pressed at the moment to address some ideas and feelings that I have about this blog.
For the past couple of months I have be make an effort in earnest to try and post something no matter small every day and to this task I feel as though I have done so but I have come to realize that while I have made a strong effort to post everyday I have done so at the detriment of content that is important and interesting to me and others. In particular I have come to the realization that posting links and web content is interesting and relevant does not fulfill the scope I would like to see here.
I believe to be few among many to have the fortunate opportunity to interact and consume interesting knowledge and ideas. But in this age of constant consumption shouldn't there be an equal amount of creation and interaction? What does it mean if all I do is dissect and absorb all this information that we are so fortunate to have access to without in some way recognizing what I have learned by contributing my conclusions or ideas about a whatever interests me. While I accept that one does not "build" an argument or understanding without first understanding the constituent parts I am urged to put more effort into consruction some of my own thoughts and ideas. Which is why I write this, that moreover I have recognized that in order to more fully understand and internalize the many ideas and concepts that I interact with and investigate on a near daily basis deserves a platform to test out and hopefully presesnt new and interesting material from my original perspectives. Doing this will develop my skills as not only a writer but also a thinker and ensure that I have suffeciently understood the material I am presnted with at hand. I plan to do this not to assert some prideful individualistic know it all attitude but to show that if I am to take the time out of my day to learn something or better myself, I too should also set the time aside to write and share thoughts on an idea to better form and understand ideas. Doing so will also have the added benefit of allowing me a more accurate record of my daily doings than say link poted here would.
Which is why I will now make the concerted effort to not only post everyday but to also find something worth writing about and sharing it here
this is a test post! I am currently blogging...
 | this is a test post! View or comment on Andrew Ungerman's post »I am currently blogging directly from google+! to do this you have to have the blogger setting that allows you to post via email. once you have this set up just merely make a circle with the blogger email that you set up in its own circle. once you find something you want to post from google+ to blogger just add the "blogger" circle and it will email it to your blog, simple as that! The Google+ project makes sharing on the web more like sharing in real-life. Join Google+ |
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Monday, July 18
plasma donation
been back donating plasma for the past week and a half or so and every thing has been going great except I have been having some pretty uncomfortable stomach aches that come on about an hour or two after the donation and last for a couple hours. I will plan on talking to them next time I go into donate (maybe wed or thurs?) hopefully this isnt something that would defer me from donating but I dont know if I would even want to donate if I keep getting the stomach aches. I suppose it is time to start looking for a real job...
Why I will never pursue cheating again
good write up on the state of cheating in higher education. This NYU professor has decided that pursuing cheating among his students is simply not worth his time
"My role is to educate and teach, not to enforce honest behavior. This is a university, not a kindergarten". Ultimately he came to the conclusion that
"Cheating (on a systematic level) happens because students try to get an edge over their peers/competitors. Even top-notch students cheat, in order to ensure a perfect grade. Fighting cheating is not something that professors can do well in the long run, and it is counterproductive by itself. By channeling this competitive energy into creative activities, in which you cannot cheat, everyone is better off."
"My role is to educate and teach, not to enforce honest behavior. This is a university, not a kindergarten". Ultimately he came to the conclusion that
"Cheating (on a systematic level) happens because students try to get an edge over their peers/competitors. Even top-notch students cheat, in order to ensure a perfect grade. Fighting cheating is not something that professors can do well in the long run, and it is counterproductive by itself. By channeling this competitive energy into creative activities, in which you cannot cheat, everyone is better off."