BigBlue

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NormAtNite Tops 6000 listeners.......

How did the Apple guy know................

"Apple of My Eye" - an iPhone 4 film from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.

PG County Blues at the Zoo Bar

Another great night at the Zoo bar after eating Cod Head and several other interesting courses at a Korean Resturant in Alexandria on Duke Street.

Thing 2: Web 2.0 and My $.02 | Stories to Tell

Thing 2: Web 2.0 and My $.02 | Stories to Tell

Marc Prensky talks......

I have been very engaged with the work of Marc Prensky since I read Digital Game Based Learning a few years ago. Here is great interview with Prensky which highlights the core values of his thought over the years. He is much more accomodating to other viewpoints now a days without retreating from his positions. A kinder, smoother Marc........

A remixed Hamlet

Here is link to my friend Stephanie Blog Stories to Tell.

A Yeats Poem

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
by William Butler Yeats

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

Another Sookey Song from the ZooBar!

Friday Night at the Zoo Bar

On Friday night, driving home from work I decided to call my friend Paddy and see if he wanted to go out and have a few beers. I liked this blog a lot more when Paddy actually contributed to it but he has become rather existential of late, and longs to leave this modern madness for the wilds of Alaska. As much as Paddy talks about 2 foot trout and salmon he still enjoys an imperial pint of Guiness, so we treked off to the Zoo Bar across from the Connecticut Street Zoo in Washington, DC. The Zoo Bar has some of the best blues music that I have ever heard. It harkens back to my college days when I frequented the Bueno Vista Cafe on Hertle Avenue in Buffalo, New York.

The Zoo Bar is a throwback, of that there is no question. It is full of older folks like me who are gray at more than the temples. Those folks however are real characters with genuine life experiences. I tip my hat to Cliff and his lady friend who I met at the bar and engaged in real conversation with.

The second Friday of the Month the Sookey Blues Band fills the Zoo Bar with extraordinary delta blues and coastal rock and roll. I try to get to the Zoo every time they play. I was driving home this Friday but somehow I made it to my stool at the long wooden bar across from the zoo. It was so worth it. Though they seldom play country, SBB banged out a wonderful rendition of Orange Blossom Special which is still ringing in my ears.

Though the sound is not the best (I was too close to the band) here is that song. Friday night I was in "the zone" at the Zoo Bar. Make it out there whenever you can.

History Matters

On another web site (Teachpaperless) I am involved in a discussion that centers around the idea of the internet as our repository of facts and memorization. The discussion centers around whether or not prior knowledge is internal or external. A commenter brought up William Jennings Bryan's 1896 Cross of Gold speech to the Democratic convention. He referred to its bibical allusions and remarked that you could not look those up on the internet unless you knew the bible.

That reminded me of an Declaimatory oratory contest that I was in at Canisius High School in Buffalo, New York where I declaimed Jennings Bryan's speech. Though this recording of the speech by Bryan himself existed in 1968 I never listened to it because I did not know about it or found it in my research on the speech. I found it in 30 seconds with an internet search. That is power. That is why history matters!! Read the speech and listen to the recording. It connects you in ways that memorization cannot.

Tom Dew's Singing away................

My friend and former colleague at STA singing on YouTube.....

Happy St Patricks Day--And a Ted Talk by Jane McGonigal

Wish I was in a pub listening to this right now.....ah for the old Nanny's!!




Here is a wonderful talk by Dr. Jane McGonigal about the power of gaming.

Sookey Blues Band at the Zoo Bar

I love the Sookey Jump Blues Band and the Zoo Bar in Washington DC.



Here is another Zoo Bar regular band, Big Boy Little.



Here is another Big Boy song.



Conrad Oberg at the Zoo Bar

Another idea becomes reality---by someone else.

Many years ago I imagined taking a trip across Russia traveling from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok on the Siberian coast on the Trans Siberian railroad. The Trans Siberian Railway actually runs from Moscow to Vladivistok. My dream had me getting off the train where ever I felt like and meeting the local residents and playing chess at the local chess club. I also thought I would record the entire trip over the Internet before it was fashionable to do such things. People thought I was crazy. I actually started learning Russian, but like so many ideas I have, I never really did anything about it. To be honest I was afraid.

Well, Google has done it. Check out the following link: Virtual Tour on the Trans Siberian railroad. Though the chess is missing the railroad trip is here. Enjoy!

Here is a segment:





Bobby Fisher playing at the Moscow Central Chess Club in 1957

NSA and Google together--Scary!!

This is scary. It was reported today in the Washington Post that NSA and Google are joining forces to fight cyberterrorism and industrial espionage.

The world's largest Internet search company and the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity.

I find it very difficult to understand how NSA could do this at all without having access to the Google servers and search files. In order to find something you have to have access to the area where it is taking place. Given that idea I find the following lines in the Post hard to believe.

the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google's policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans' online communications. The sources said the deal does not mean the NSA will be viewing users' searches or e-mail accounts or that Google will be sharing proprietary data.

I do not think that this is a good idea for the privacy of the American people and is just another attempt by the NSA to use fear to gain another entry point into the lives and thoughts of Americans. I mean why is it any less outrageous for American spy agencies to have access to Google files than it is for Chinese spy agencies to try to examine them to search for dissidents. Does anyone think that the NSA will not examine those same files for intelligence on those same dissidents and on American dissidents? I will be talking about these issues on NormAtNite next Tuesday night. Tune in if you have ideas on this issue.

We made a mistake after 911 by allowing NSA to begin spying on Americans without warrants. In my view, we are now compounding this error by not screaming bloody murder about this potential alliance between Google and NSA. As written in the Post,

But achieving collaboration is not easy, in part because private companies do not trust the government to keep their secrets and in part because of concerns that collaboration can lead to continuous government monitoring of private communications. Privacy advocates, concerned about a repeat of the NSA's warrantless interception of Americans' phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, say information-sharing must be limited and closely overseen.

I am not sure it can be overseen. Call in next Tuesday and let me know.

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On another issue. We will be asking the question Is Internet access a civil right? This question was raised in a blog I read, and recommend to everyone called TeachPaperless. Teachpaperless believes that Internet access is a civil right and makes a solid case for it. We will talk about this on NormAtNite for 15 minutes on Tuesday also.

An Animoto Video Experiment

I created this ANIMOTO video 5 minutes after I went on the site for the first time. I like the tool a lot.

Virginia kills this man at 9:00 pm

The Commonwealth of Virginia will kill John Allen Mohammed at 9:00 PM this evening finally fulfilling our blood lust for him. Once he takes his last breath we will never be able to try and figure out why he did what he did and learn something about ourselves that may help us prevent a rampage like his in the future. What possesses a human being to do what he did? We will never know now....and our blood lust will be satieated. Where are all of the Pro-Lifers tonite? Maybe Mohammed's mother should have just aborted him....now the state is taking over and aborting his life. Maybe everyone he killed will come back to life when he breaths his last.

Virginia steps back in time....

Congrats to Bob McDonnell. He carried Virginia handily in yesterday's election. He also made me very happy that my daughters live in Maryland where their contributions to society will be expected to be more than working in the kitchen and taking care of the family. I hope everyone thinks back 20 years and considers what made up the basic fabric of your thought.

If you are a woman who is working outside of the "Home" Mr.McDonnell expects you to turn in your notice and move back into the house. I hope everyone does it slowly so you can be replaced gradually with all of those unemployed men. Thanksgiving dinner in the Commonwealth should be much better this year with all of the women back in the kitchen safeguarding family values. Heck, why do women even need to vote? Pass the squash please!