Friends
Facebook gets a Facelift Tuesday, 5 August 2008, 1:58 pm
I love the new Facebook interface. It’s amazing how subtle changes can so dramatically improve the user experience. Login to your own Facebook account and click on the “Try the new Facebook” link on the top left. I just heard from an old college roommate on Facebook… she has 4 kids. I’m a bit behind, but I am on my third dog… does that count?
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
Interesting... Tuesday, 5 August 2008, 8:38 am
Don't know that I've ever heard this story, but it rings true.I think there will always be a mix of natural talent and work, but talent will never make up for a good work ethic.
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Indulgences morph to Outsoucing… Monday, 4 August 2008, 10:20 am
Ever feel like you are lagging a bit spiritually? Like the luster you long for is just out of your reach? Well, Justin Ball has developed a product that may be just the thing for you.
In this United States land of box stores, outlets, big cars, and urban sprawl we get what we want. I am simply unwilling to accept that I can’t have it all so starting today I will be outsourcing all my religion. Call my effort modern day indulgences advanced. Instead of just buying away sin I will be having various kind hearted souls in foreign lands deal with my volunteer work, salvation and other spiritual matters. I even plan on offering this service to others so that they may reap eternal rewards while sleeping in, reading the paper or just enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the park.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
Introducing Izzy the wonderflop Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 9:40 am
I’ve been admonished by the lovely lady Corrine that I am excruciatingly behind on my blog. So, here’s the news… We moved to a new house. We love it. It’s out further in the country with a barn. The dogs LOVE digging up sheep tails (did you know they put an elastic band around the tail to get it to fall off?), which makes me want to vomit a little, but they are having a grand time. They’ll bounce through the hayfield next to the yard, disappearing briefly under the long hay before gloriously re-emerging with a spring I’ve never seen before. They love it. We need to fence the yard so I can start loving it as much as they do. Jolee keeps running off to go visit the horses and dogs that live across the street. As you may have read, we lost our sweet Jasper dog on July 4th (happy Independence Day Shelley). After lots of thought (about 10 minutes, really), we decided to find a new puppy. Izzy has now joined our family from a rescue in Roosevelt.
Izzy the wonderflop
Izzy lets Jolee dominate, even though Jolee is half her size. She’s nearly 4 months and is very sweet. She is also very floppy. Her back legs were pretty weak when she first came to us. I don’t think they had the opportunity to develop while she was in the shelter. So she’ll try to jump up on something and just flop over like a rag doll. It’s pretty funny. But she’s getting stronger, her romps through the hay field will soon beef her up. Right now Jolee runs circles around her.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
Running... Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 9:34 am
If you had asked me last night what I thought of running, I would have spat. Then I would have shaken my fist in the air, and then just for good measure, I would have spat a second time. And if I had gotten spittle on you I wouldn't have apologized, because, after all, you were the one to bring up the topic.However, my wife has been running for a few months now. In fact, she just ran a 5k out to the American West Heritage Center (who is that family on their site?!). It was fun to watch her, and she has said she has been having fun in the morning. She sent me this site which basically tells you how to go from the couch (what a lovely place to be), to running a 5 k in just 9 weeks.
I was unconvinced, but thought I'd give it a go. I downloaded a podcast that tells you when you should be running and walking, I woke up this morning at 6:45, and we headed out.
And it was cake.
I mean, come on. First you walk 5 minutes. Then you run for 60 seconds. I run that long trying to chase down one of my kids to give him his what have for. Then you walk for 90 seconds, and repeat. You only do this for a total of 20 minutes.
My legs are a bit sore, but you only do this 3 times a week. I actually enjoyed it. I'm going to give it a shot again on Friday, and then try the next week on the schedule.
Who knows, maybe I'll try a 5k before this is all over. But if not...I'm also fine with going back to the couch. The couch is such a nice place to be. You can sit on it. You can sleep on it. You can even eat on it, if nobody is watching.
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Quote of the day... Sunday, 27 July 2008, 7:45 pm
The setting for this quote is important. We were sitting in church, and it was the quietest part of church. Nobody is talking. Everybody is lost in their thoughts. They are thinking about the meaning of life, their relationship with a higher power. Complete silences hangs over the meeting house like heavy drapes. Then my son shatters this peaceful moment for everybody...Jared: "Hey Isaac! Pull my finger!"
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Camping at Tony Grove Monday, 21 July 2008, 8:18 pm
Last week our family camped at Tony Grove Lake up Logan Canyon. The wildflowers were amazingly diverse and beautiful including these that Meghan spotted growing on a boulder in the lake.
After morning hikes we swam in the lake which was surprisingly pleasant.
The older kids and I explored polygamy cave.
My Dad and I backpacked into White Pine lake where we ran into beaver. One beaver (I’m assuming the mother) made quite a show repeatedly slapping her tail on the water. 
Seth made a compass course for those of us who are directionally challenged.
Good times. Now get back to work!
Source: undesigned | joel
Scout Quote of the day... Monday, 21 July 2008, 12:12 pm
Scout 1: "Did anybody bring face cards?"Scout 2: "Keegan did, but they're all nines."
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Finished! Saturday, 19 July 2008, 9:37 pm
The final chapter of The Super Trio is up. You can now listen to the entire book at http://thesupertrio.comI've had a lot of fun doing this, even though my reading skills leave a lot to be desired. If you know of a little person, between the ages of 5 and 12, please send them my way. The book is free. There are no ads. It's just a whole lot of fun.
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Why you should believe what they say about dirty money... Saturday, 19 July 2008, 1:41 pm
People have always said, "You should wash your hands after handling money, you never know where it has been."Well, here is one possibility. Perhaps this woman is vacationing near you?Source: 
Scout Quote of the day... Friday, 18 July 2008, 12:11 pm
Scout: "You don't look like an American."Camp Staff: "But I am an American."
Scout: "You look like you could be a French Canadian with a tan.
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Scout Quote of the day... Wednesday, 16 July 2008, 7:25 pm
I just got back from scout camp, so the next three quotes of the day are in honor of my blessed time up in the woods with a fine, fun, and wonderful group of heathens.---------
Scout Master: Go brush your teeth.
Scout: I can't brush my teeth. I don't know where the bathroom is. That is why I have been pooping in the bushes.
Assistant Scout Master: Ha ha ha...wait...you're joking, right?
Scout: No, I had to poop in the bushes. There was corn in it.
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I WWWove You, Office Friday, 11 July 2008, 5:12 am
Andrew and I are addicted to this show. Maybe more me than him, but not by much. It makes me feel like I'm connected to the US even though I'm surrounded by english land, people and accents.So it was a nice find today to see these additional scenes and episodes on the nbc site. Too bad that I can't watch the new webisodes, because I'm using an English internet and NBC doesn't want me to feel atSource:
How fun is that! Friday, 11 July 2008, 12:08 am
Source: undesigned | joel
Good News! Thursday, 10 July 2008, 1:43 pm
I've received permission from my publisher to 'podcast' at least part of my first book, Chickens in the Headlights. I'm very excited. I am hoping that I will be able to post the entire book. I wrote my first book with two goals in mind. First, I wanted to share my book/experience with the entire world. Second, I wanted to make gobs of money.Well, I didn't make gobs of money, but that's ok. I've realized that it was the first goal that is the more important one. And I hope that this announcement is a step in the right direction. Anybody will be able to come to my site, listen to the book, and share the chapters with their friends.
So, I will likely start after The Super Trio is complete (another few weeks), around when school starts back up. So, if you want to listen in, drop by http://chickenarmpits.com
See you there!
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Specialization... Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 2:12 pm
The beauty of technology is it allows for levels of specialization never before seen. For example, on the way to work I listened to a 'program' about boardgames. Not just any boardgames, but wargames, in particular. That's right, there are a couple of guys that do a very nice podcast about wargames, and I like to listen to it.This program would never make it on regular radio, but with the broad distribution models now available to anybody with a mic and connection, we're seeing specialization like never before.
That being said, it's funny when you see a program about somebody else's interest, when you have none. Today I took my son out to eat, and they had Animal Planet playing in the background. I don't know what program it was, but animal planet is an example of specialization on TV. You'd never see these programs on mainstream television, but on a cable network that doesn't need to attract a large number of viewers, they get away with it.
This particular program was about...wait, let me present it like they presented it.
This is a serious situation! We have a black wolf, - an old black wolf - with matted hair. This matted hair can lead to a life threatening skin condition! We must hunt her down (with a tranquilizer dart), bring her back to the office, and give her a haircut! It's so intense! If we give her too high of a tranquilizer dose SHE MIGHT DIE! But if we don't give her enough, SHE MIGHT WAKE UP ON THE BARBER'S TABLE AND MAUL US! Think of the tension! Think of the anxiety!
In the end, they couldn't get the dose right, they decided the wolf had suffered some pretty severe stress, and so they trashed the idea. If I was writing the tagline in the TV guide, it would go something like this.
Vets think about giving a wolf a haircut, then change their minds.
To me, this isn't riveting television in any stretch of the imagination. But to others...it's programming at it's best. The people who watch and enjoy this will also likely enjoy Greatest American Dog, which is exactly like American Idol, but you're voting on who has the nicest dog.
I'll stick to my podcasts, thank you.
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Quote of the day... Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 1:23 pm
Dad: "Good morning sweet pea."Jared: "Good morning sweet poop."
Dad: "What?"
Jared: "You said sweet pee, so I said sweet poop."
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Teacher Authoring and Metacognition at the PSLC Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 12:43 pm
JCDL 2008 trip continued: On my way out of town I couldn’t resist stopping by the PSLC to attend a lunch meeting where Turadg Aleahmad and Ido Roll were giving practice talks for ITS2008. Turadg presented on an online authoring tool designed for teachers to use to create worked example math problems. I was surprised to hear that he had over 500 different users submit problems. That is until I heard that he posted an invite on a website offering $10 for each submission. Most of the submissions were unusable.
This vision of providing tools for teachers to create online content is similar to what I envisioned for my dissertation work which led to the eNLVM. My eyes were soon opened to the fact that most teachers do not have the time or skill to create online content, especially from scratch. I suggested to Turadg that if he wanted to encourage better and more problem submissions that they could provide example problems from which teachers could base similar problems. I also pointed out that there is already a massive supply of math problems in textbooks that could be tapped. He and others present mentioned concerns about copyright. To me, this is not a problem. By looking at a math problem you can extract the essence of the problem or it’s “problem type” and use that to easily generate many more of the same type of problem with different cover stories and values. Of course, until you solve a problem it can be difficult to know that the problem has similar solution structure as another. This is the basis for a project I would like to do some day: a library of math problem generators coupled with math test generators that leverage the problem generators and their alignments with standards and textbooks.
Ido presented a study that measured metacognition, specifically help seeking behavior. He began by flaming simple recall as a learning outcome, showing the example of the YouTube video of the child who can point to the names of the countries that her parents name. He did this probably because a PostDoc sitting in the presentation focuses on fact learning (Chinese). Ido’s study compared a new measure to the “assistment” measure used by Carnegie Learning’s tutors as predictors of learning. It seems to me that they pretty much measured the same things, and both are somewhat good predictors of learning.
This is an interesting area. Information seeking is a metacognitive skill: knowing when you know enough to proceed and when you don’t. Having the will to not take the lazy out when you know enough. Knowing where to go to find information you need. The picture is actually much more complex than this. When you are first learning something, or solving a novel problem, it is expected that you would need more information. Better problem solvers and learners recognize this and seek the needed information effectively. As you learn more in an area, you don’t need as much help and so you should stop relying on it. In a situation where making a wrong decision could cause someone to die, the good problem solver relies on additional sources to verify that what they think is a good decision is actually one :-).
Measuring information seeking behavior is an important way to measure problem solving ability. Unfortunately, school, and even worse, school testing situations, are very unnatural problem solving situations where information seeking behavior is called cheating 
Source: undesigned | joel
Visiting the Entertainment Technology Center Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 12:42 pm
JCDL 2008 trip continued: 
I’ve watched Alice with interest for a number of years and my children and I have played with it. Naturally, Randy’s last lecture renewed my interest. Wednesday morning I visited Drew at the Entertainment Technology Center that Randy co-founded. Drew was very kind to give me a tour of the place, including robot hall of fame and design rooms, while describing the amazing program and projects they do there.
The Masters in Entertainment Technology (MET) program brings together people from multiple disciplines to work together on intensive entertainment technology projects. He said that this is the head fake; the MET program is designed to help people learn to communicate together and work as a team. It only made me wish I could be back in school doing their program! Now if I can just convince Julianne
Drew explained that they Randy likes research and had pretty much moved Alice and his group back to the CMU campus for some time even before the last lecture. While Alice is a good tool for introducing programming to novices, it is not the tool of choice for developing production quality 3D games. The ETC now uses Panda3D heavily with Jesse Schell one of the primary contributors on staff. Panda3D is the open-source, python programmable, game engine used by Disney to develop games such as Toontown and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Very cool! I could have kicked myself when standing outside waiting for the bus I realized that I failed to take out my camera during my tour of the ETC.
Source: undesigned | joel
Measuring the Wrong Things Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 12:42 pm
JCDL 2008 trip continued: In Education and NSDL: Past, Present and Future, David McArthur presented the future of the NSDL as a platform from which to build. This is the right direction to head… hopefully not too late. The NSDL should provide additional services beyond search, it should provide web services, architectures, and tools that make it easy for people to develop learning resources and communities. Those services should provide simple and powerful ways for member collections to play together. Needed services include authoring, collaboration, adaptation, recommendation, student tracking, and teacher publishing. It was also neat to meet Kim Lightle and David Yaron who I had never met before.
I resonate with David Yaron’s concern that we teach the wrong things in High School and introductory College courses, focusing on teaching students to follow mathematical procedures rather gain a conceptual understanding of the content. I shared my theory a cause:
- We emphasize in our teaching what we test
- We test what is easy to test
- Testing simple recall and procedure following is easy
- We emphasize simple recall and procedure following in our tests
- We emphasize simple recall and procedure following in our teaching
The remedy is to develop automated measures of higher level thinking: conceptual understanding, problem solving, design. He agreed in part but challenged that we don’t know or agree what problem solving is and have an even harder time measuring it. I agree in part, but think we do know something and can begin heading in the direction of trying to measure problem solving and higher level thinking.
Problem solving is what we do when we don’t know what to do.
Problem solving involves recognizing and defining a problem, searching for relevant information, forming appropriate subgoals, selecting appropriate strategies for accomplishing subgoals, executing procedures, monitoring progress and redirecting efforts when appropriate, recognizing when satisfactory solution has been arrived at, and interpreting the results of problem solving efforts. Interestingly this relates to the conversations I had at the PSLC later in my trip.
Yaron, who sits on the AP Chemistry board, also indicates that even if we had good automated measures of higher level thinking it would take a long time for them to be widely adopted and that a revision approach is more likely to succeed than a revolution approach.
Source: undesigned | joel
Aligning Content with Standards Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 12:41 pm
JCDL 2008 trip continued: I talked with Bryan Chapman about aligning content with standards (see his paper Exploring Educational Standard Alignment: In Search of ‘Relevance’). He pointed me to the CNLP’s Curriculum Assignment Tool and to the Teacher’s Domain cross walking service as potential sources of tools and providers of standards alignment. I have the idea that if we could create a backbone set of standards that was as superset of all of the state standards and then align content with that set of standards, then it would make it dramatically easier to provide answers to a teacher’s query for resources relevant to what they are teaching.
Bryan believes that it is nearly impossible to develop effective crosswalks between the standards. Different standards focus on different levels of detail and address different levels of outcome. They use the same words to mean different things and some standards assume the context of their location in an hierarchy rather than restating it. This still seems like an interesting problem to try to solve, maybe even something that recommender technology could be applied to.
Source: undesigned | joel
JCDL 2008 Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 12:41 pm
I recently attended JCDL 2008 to present a poster on OER Recommender with Brandon. As usual, the interactions with people were the best part of the conference. Monday night I enjoyed good dinner with at Lidia’s with David Tarrant and Max Wilson, PhD students from the University of Southampton England. Max’s dissertation work is on co-citation as predictor and measure of article impact. Co-citations being the other citations that get cited in articles that cite your article. His research indicates that it converges more quickly than just citation count. Interesting.
Tuesday morning I got in a run along the Allegheny and saw up close a few of the 466 bridges of Pittsburgh as well as the inclines.
Source: undesigned | joel
Jasper, the friendly dog Monday, 7 July 2008, 2:07 pm
My sweet Jasper Dog died on July 4th. Jasper was an Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix with the sweetest temperament possible. Jasper had a freckle belly, golden eyes, and a paw shake that could knock me over. Her best (and pretty much only) trick was shutting the back door… a trick we taught her because we got sick of getting up from the TV to close the door after she’d been outside. She knew the words “toy”, “trip”, “dinner”, “get down”, “Jasper”, and “Jolee”. Jasper’s breed are herders, and she could stop just about anything that moved… cows, soccer balls, you name it.
Rob called her “frog” because her perpetual happy pant left her tongue continuously drooping. Jasper was high energy so we got her a companion dog, Jolee. The two of them romped and played whenever they weren’t piled together napping. She would curl up at my feet every night, causing me to sleep in an awkward crouch, and shake her collar a million times in the morning to get me to wake up. After waking me, she’d lay on my lap (not a small dog, mind you) to get some attention and love before being fed.
If it wasn’t for Jasper, we probably would never have thought to move deeper into the country. She helped me break away from suburban life and plant myself firmly in the country. I am sad she will never get to herd the goats we intend to raise after moving.
She knew when I was sad. When I was home, she never left my side. She’d follow me from room to room thinking something exciting was about to happen. Jolee never did that until now…she was always content to stay on the couch or bed watching us. Now she follows me too. I haven’t been able to put her down. I can’t tell who is more clingy…Me or Jolee 
I had to put her down to go to church yesterday and it just about killed me. It was the first time she’d ever been alone.
I love my Jasper Dog and will miss her every day. We hope to find a new doggie soon. It’s just way too quiet around here.
Jasper was a year and a half old. She and Jolee were out in the Cutler Marsh, romping and playing. She’d just been swimming in the canal and was chasing the truck, one of her favorite things to do when she got caught under the wheel. She died instantly. She was buried under a cottonwood tree in a place where two rivers meet. She will always be the doggie I love the most.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
Socialight Monday, 7 July 2008, 9:06 am
The beauty of the internet is that when you write about things you're interested in, you get to meet other people interested in the same things. A few days ago I wrote a few thoughts about geocontent. deprimer commented on my article and pointed me toward Socialight.Socialight is probably the closest thing yet to what I've been writing and talking about for years. It's a site that allows you to easily link content to a specific geographic location. Within 3 minutes of arriving on the site, I had an account, and had created my first 'sticky'. A sticky is a way to say, "Hey, this content is useful to this location."
There are several things Socialight is doing right. You can mark information public or private. It's very simple and intuitive to use. There are 'channels', which allow you to create or find stickys related to a certain topic. And of course there is the social side built into the site, you can follow other people's stickys or channels, rate stickys, and tag them.
I've just played with the web side of Socialight, but they have a JAVA and WAP version that apparently works on almost any phone.
As far as what Socialight might be able to improve upon...Currently you can only add text and images. I'd love to be able to add audio, video, or a link to relevant content already on the web. I know that there will be some issues involved with bandwidth trying to pull down video over a cell phone, but ultimately this is the goal. I also wonder if there might be a way to sync up stickys before you leave on a trip. You could pull down the audio and video on your broadband connection, and then sync them up with your cell phone.
I'd also love to see Socialight automatically sync up all of the wikipedia articles that have GPS data already built in. This would probably be a time/effort intensive project up front, but once completed, would prove invaluable. Many articles already have GPS coordinates or street addresses, so it would merely be a matter of downloading wikipedia, stripping out all the articles that don't have this information, and slapping them all up on the map. Of course, there are some articles that don't have GPS data that would still be useful to link up. The article on George Washington, for example, could be linked to the place he was born, where he is buried, where he lived, etc.
And while I mentioned the site was very easy to use, and intuitive, I did find there were a few user interface issues that seemed a bit clunky, but they are almost not worth mentioning.
Finally, I think there is one other thing I'd like to see, but I'm not quite sure how best to describe it. I think Socialight is a great step toward seeing geocontent really take off, but it needs something more. As I've thought about what that more is, I asked myself why I'm not anxious to go and add a bunch of stickys. Finally, I have a site that does just what I've wanted a site to do, so why am I not online creating a bunch of geocontent?
I think the answer lies in ownership. When I create a web site, I own the content. I know that I can take my files from one hosting service to another. I know that if Bluehost goes down, I've got the files and can put it up somewhere else. While I may put my pictures on Flickr, I've also got them on my hard drive, and can put them up on Panaramio, or Picassa online. For me personally, when I create these geocontent items, I want to keep them. I want to be able to put them on a disk and give to my kids, or friends. I want to be able to use them in one program or another, just like a .html file can be opened with dreamweaver, a browser, or even notepad.
Maybe that is what I want, is a file with an extension that can be read by Socialight, by an application on my desktop, or on my phone. While I will very likely use programs like Socialight to share my geocontent, for me I also want to have a backup just in case. Because I feel like a lot of the content I will be creating will be something I'll want to pass down to my kids. And to just put them up on a website doesn't seem secure enough. If I interview my father about the town where he grew up, I don't want that information lost.
And if the platform is 'open', meaning people can take and tweak what can be done, then you start to get a whole slew of really cool applications start to evolve.
I don't want to end on a negative note. I think Socialight is very slick, and you really should go check it out. Add firemeboy to your friends list, and let me know if you set up an account. I'm looking forward to the many cool things that are going to happen as we link up content and location.
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Quote of the day... Sunday, 6 July 2008, 1:22 pm
Steven: "I can't wait until I'm 16."Dad: "Why is that?"
Steven: "Because then I'll have a pop belly."
Dad: "What?"
Steven: "Yeah, then I'll have a pop belly, and have energy if I miss a breakfast."
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Misinformed... Friday, 4 July 2008, 5:14 pm
The problem with the internet is that any whacko with an connection gets to throw out his/her opinion, however wrong it may be. The internet's saving grace is that other whackoes can point out just how wrong the first whacko is.Charlie Barratt wrote an article over at Games Radar in which he points out that wikipedia is nothing more than a haven for nerds. Sure, there may be millions of articles, but they are all about nerdy things. Wikipedia lacks real meat.
Well, Mr. Barratt is either completley oblivlious, or just likes to poke fun. In the very first 'example', he points out that the Call of Duty video game has more words than the entry for World War II. Ha ha, very funny, but does he have any idea that Wikipedia has length guidelines? There are hundreds, if not thousands of articles related to World War II, Barratt just didn't bother to find that out. He combines the articles for all of the Call of Duty video games, but doesn't bother adding up the hundreds of articles for World War II.
Wikipedia seems to be everybody's favorite whipping boy, but rarely do folks stop to take a good look at just how remarkable a resource and phenomenon it is.
Think Wikipedia is a second rate web site? Go ahead, try to write an article and get it to featured status. It's probably easier to write a dissertation (thought I can't say for sure, since I've never done either).
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Making Strides Wednesday, 2 July 2008, 3:42 pm
It's been almost one year to the day since I posted my article on TechConsumer.com about why web 2.0 wasn't enough, and how geocontent might just well be the next big thing.I've yet to change my opinion.
During the past year I have seen many strides taken by many companies, in the effort to link content to location. Google is interested, Yahoo is interested. We all know the latest iPhone will have GPS. It is no longer a question of will this happen, but when will it happen. And who will be the big winner?
I've noticed that there are several companies trying to get their foot in the geocontent arena by hopping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. Take Loopt, for example, or ByNotes. Loopt says they are connecting people and places. ByNotes looks to be a twitter/blog/GPS mashup. But these companies are working on geo 2.0 before geo 1.0 has been built.
Look at how the internet came to be. First there was nothing. Then there was a little bit of content. Then there was a boat load of content. Then there was so much content we couldn't wade through it all. At that point, Web 2.0 suddenly makes sense. We now need social networks, other humans, to help us sift through the billions of blogs to find the really good stuff (think reddit, Digg, etc.).
But the geocontent arena hasn't hit this critical mass. We don't have massive amounts of really good content yet. We don't have a way for people to create interesting content around locations. Or even tie exisiting content to locations. Until this happens, geocontent 2.0 will likely take a back seat as a sparkly bobble. Something fun to look at, but not as important.
It is my prediction that somebody, somewhere will come up with a very slick and easy way to tie content to a location. It will need to be easy to do with a phone, or at a desktop. It will need to be easy to access from a phone, or at a desktop. Once this happens, prepare to see an explosion of all sorts of wickedly cool apps.
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The power of a good documentary... Tuesday, 1 July 2008, 10:21 am
A documentary is good if it makes you think, or increases your interest in a certain topic. A good documentary is anything but boring. Take Riding Giants, for example. I've never had an interest in surfing, but after watching that movie I was ready to ditch my job, buy a board, and move to Hawaii.I didn't.
Anyway, last night I watched a documentary called Spellbound. It's not very new, and the subject matter sounds...boring. It's basically a documentary about 8 children who were in the 1999 National Spelling Bee.
It's a great show, and while I have always hated spelling bees, and can't spell to save my life, the show was incredibly intense. Each time one of these kids got up to spell I found myself gripping my pillow (I was in bed at the time), hoping they survived to the next round.
I think the most endearing kid is the boy who starts the movie. He is trying to spell 'banns'. The anguish on his face, his attempts at spelling it...priceless.
Anyway, if you're looking for a good documentary, I highly recommend it.
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Fidelity Realty Sucks Monday, 30 June 2008, 10:36 am
If you live in Utah, and think you might want to get your home listed on the MLS but don't want to hire a Realtor, stay far, far away from Fidelity Realty. They stinketh.They took almost a week to get my home listed, and then when they did list it, it was $10,000 more than I had told them. No wonder I wasn't getting calls. Because of their snail's pace, I missed memorial day weekend traffic.
Then last week when I tried to cancel I was promised it would be down within 24 hours. It is now 6 days later, and I'm still listed with them. I can't get it up with another Realtor because you can't have a double listing. I have been strung along, and given false promises. I'm at the point now where they won't return my calls.
So, there you go. If you're thinking of listing your home on the MLS, if you come across Fidelity Realty, beat them with a 10 foot pole for me.
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Last day in Utrecht Saturday, 28 June 2008, 10:51 am
Today mom and I went to the flower market that was just outside our hotel. I’ve never seen so many lovely blooms in one place. Did you know there are dark red hydrangeas? And here, you can get an amazing arrangement of roses, lilies, and astilbe for 12 euro? In the states, that same arrangement would cost nearly $60. It was lovely. We moved from there to the “clothing” market, which was just fabric… lots and lots of lovely lovely lovely fabric. It was wonderful. I found the fabric for my new kitchen curtains that my mom will likely have to make. From there we went to the church where a choir and orchestra was practicing a Bach concert. I’ve never heard lovlier music.
This morning I met with Paul Kirschner (a.k.a. angel of mercy) who has helped me come out of my dissertation writing funk. In a true display of cognitive apprenticeship, he intends to help me actually wade through the last bits of my PhD work (or, if you want to look at things differently… through the REAL bits of my PhD work). For the first time in months, I feel unblocked and free to write away. I intend to start as soon as I get home.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
New Old Kids on the Block Friday, 27 June 2008, 12:03 pm
As a fifth grader, I loved these guys. As a 11th year university grader my affection has changed. Yep, the New Kids on the Block are out with a new song "Summertime". Check out the video on itunes and feel young (and weird) all over again.Source:
Quote of the day... Friday, 27 June 2008, 7:36 am
Dad: "Come on Spencer, get out."Spencer: "In a second!"
Dad: "You've been in there for 45 minutes, Steven has to go."
"Spencer: "I'm trying!"
Dad: "New motto for our house, If IT's not coming out, then you come out."
Spencer: "DAD!"
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I'm thinking that motto would look pretty good on a cross stitch, hanging over the toilet.
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Social Newtork Sites… everyone is doing it Friday, 27 June 2008, 3:17 am
A new study by MarketingVox found that 1 in every 4 online users are using social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, etc… About half of those log on every day. Let me repeat that… every day. Now that is some “stickiness.” These folks come back daily to engage with their friends and colleagues, by playing games, joining groups, finding and sharing resources, and build out their online identity and reputation. If only educational software had such stickiness. Really, can we please start leveraging these systems to support teaching and learning? Please?
Let the fear of online predators in MySpace be gone, or at least be managed in a less reactive manner. I can’t tell you how many teachers and administrators I’ve spoken to who just see these environments as the devil… unable to see their potential for teaching and learning.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
Cranky Old Freaks... Thursday, 26 June 2008, 10:25 am
It is an older person's right to be cranky. They've lived their life, they put up with crap, and now they get to kick back on a porch somewhere, wave their gnarled cane, and mutter. It's a circle of life kind of thing. I fully support old people being cranky.However, here in Logan we have a whole mess of 'snow birds' living in USU Housing. These snow birds are far more cranky than they need to be, and right now I'm thinking they should all pack their bags and just go home. Let me tell you two stories, both of them true, both happened to me and my wife.
We used to live in the trailer park on USU's campus. My oldest son Spencer was 8 months old at the time. We'd gone over to do a bit of research in the computer lab. The married student computer lab. Where married students go, often with their small children. There were a bunch of these snow birds in the room, and my son Spencer was making gurgling noises. He wasn't crying, he wasn't yelling, he was making baby noises. An old woman suddenly got up, walked over to my wife, and said, "I'm sorry, all of us here in this room have already raised our children, and we don't really want to have to listen to yours".
No, I kid you not, that is exactly what she said. I wanted to smack her, but refrained.
Fast forward to yesterday. My wife is on the bus with our kids, and is holding our 18 month old son. He's on the bus, he's seeing new things out the window so he is pointing and 'talking' to my wife. He is not crying, he is not screaming, but he is also not talking in a hushed whisper.
Well, at one stop, an oranged-hair snowbird gets up to get off the bus. She walks over to my wife and puts her face right into my son's face. My wife thought she was going to make cute goo goo noises at him.
Instead she screams right into his face. That's right, she screams at him. No words, just a cranky, brainless bellow. Then she throws my wife a dirty look, and gets off the bus.
I tell you what, in my youth I was able to refrain. But I think now I'm old enough, and cranky enough, to start slapping.
So, if you're a snowbird, living in Logan, watch out. Some of us locals are cranky too.
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Wikis, formatting, and the second stimulus Thursday, 26 June 2008, 7:11 am
I attended several sessions about wikis and gaming in education so far at ICLS. I’ve noticed a couple of themes… First, I’m finally starting to see researchers using existing tools to support learning (second life, wiki software, etc). Perhaps the tools are finally in a stable enough state for the kinds of projects researchers are trying to conduct. Or, perhaps researchers decided to put their resources to better use and instead of building systems from scratch, modifying existing systems to fit their needs. Several of the wiki projects I’ve heard about did just that… they like the idea of wikis, but needed to modify existing software before it was useful.
Vanessa Peters from the University of Toronto used wikis to facilitate collaborative knowledge building among high school students. Two things were of most interest to me.
1)Students who participated in the wiki knowledge creation project scored significantly higher on assessments than students who did not - It’s nice to see an actual finding that supports what we’ve all believed since wikis came about.
2)On average there were 50 revisions before students got to the actual content creation on any given page. Things like changing the title, formatting, etc… before any content was added. This actually mirrors what it takes to get me working on any piece of formal writing. I will spend an hour getting the font right, choosing just the right words for the title, setting up my page numbers, etc. I’ve long since accepted this as an odd quirk I have, but maybe it’s not just me. Perhaps there is some value in that time spent “setting things up” that I’ve overlooked or taken for granted. Maybe I’m setting up the second stimulus that Yrjö Engeström talked about on Wednesday.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
testing 51Weeks again Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 2:17 pm
Really, you can disregard this message. Just testing to see if I’m going to be utterly humiliated or if this will work. 51Weeks was funded by soft money that has gone away. I’m relying on the charity of kind software engineers to see that this works for ICLS. Rock on soft money.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
ICLS 2008 Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 9:06 am
So the party has started. Tomorrow ICLS 2008 starts up, we’re planning on using 51Weeks to aggregate people’s blogs, photos, etc about the conference. This post is really just to test whether or not 51Weeks is aggregating posts. 51Weeks uses services like Technorati and Google Blog search to index the blogs, so popular blogs are indexed more quickly. I’m about to find out if I’m popular or not. If I am, my blog will be indexed quickly and show up on the site shortly. If not, it may be up to a week, I hear. I’m on pins and needles in anticipation.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
Bamboo in Genova and a lovely hotel in Utrecht Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 7:40 am
Well, I’m finally back in Utrecht after a week in the Cinco Terra. As we left the coast of Italy, I noticed something about how my mom and I are different. On a slow train from Vernazza to Genova, my mom pointed out all of the ancient castles on the hills. I was more interested in the bamboo. I grows wild with the fig and olive trees. I’m no naturalist, but I’d bet my right pinky finger that bamboo isn’t indigenous to that area. It must have been brought over from traders to the Orient, perhaps at the time that Columbus was planning his voyage over the sea. Those plants drew my mind back over the ages in ways that my mom’s castles didn’t. I wonder why that is? Maybe I identify more easily with the transient, nomadic plants.
So we arrived in Utrecht yesterday after 4 train rides, 2 metro rides, 3 buses and a plane. I did my best to enjoy the journey so I wouldn’t be cranky… but really, it was a long way to go to still be in the same time zone. We traveled 14 hours, and then were finally led to our lovely hotel in Utrecht.
Source: i'm sorry, i just don't know | shelleylyn
Still part of the "Youth Vote" Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 7:20 am
Today I registered to be an overseas voter. I was surprised to find out I'm still part of the "youth vote". Next year though, I'll have to forgo the hip stylish website and go with the vanilla corporate one. Ah well.I thought I'd share some links on how to find out information about candidates. This year I want to be extra informed and make a really good vote, despite the fact that no matterSource:
Congrats! Monday, 23 June 2008, 7:29 am
I am in a small writers group here in Logan, Utah. It's made up primarily of published authors, but a few that have not been published, but their work is very good.The other day, as it turned out, the only people to show up for the group was me and Amber Smith, who has not yet been published. She is a great writer, and has 4-5 books finished. She is diligently looking for somebody to publish her books. She seemed a bit discouraged, and I thought, "You know, if this was a movie, this would be the part where she has reached the end of her rope, she gives up, and then she gets a letter from some publisher wanting to sign her up.
But that only happens in the movies, right? Well, the next day I get an e-mail from Amber. She had just received a letter from Cedar Fort who will be publishing her book, The Priestess Prophecy. She has announced it on her blog.
So, a huge congratulations goes out to Amber, and good luck!
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Quote of the day... Thursday, 19 June 2008, 6:51 pm
The other day I woke up to this lovely exchange.Sue: "Are you listening to me?"
Jared: "Yes."
Sue: "We do not point our naked bums at our brothers, do you understand?"
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I'm a sucker for a good mashup... Thursday, 19 June 2008, 5:06 pm
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Web 2.0 Vs. LMS Thursday, 19 June 2008, 1:08 pm
Great discussion going on over at the Chronicle of Higher Education over the LMS vs. Web 2.0 debate. The comments are what makes it interesting. A few highlights:"Why should we, #4, “adapt to the learning styles of all the students”? Some “learning styles” are not very conducive nor adaptive to learning some kinds of things, concepts, skills, and ideas. Medical and Law Schools do not “adapt to the learning styles” of all the students. And the Courts those law students will have to practice in will certainly not so adapt.
Of course, if the job of most undergraduate colleges, especially Liberal Arts, and the like, is to warehouse late teens and young adults for four to six years, then we have to make them happy so as to promote “retention”. But some how, I dont think Wal-Mart or MacDonalds are going to “adapt to their learning styles” any more than the Courts are."
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"Students will abandon monolithic LMSs? Yes, in spirit they will, but as long as institutions are granting the credits and degrees, students [as always] will have to go with the flow."
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"I agree with John Thompson — it is not LMS vs Web2.0 that is the central issue. Unlike Matt (#4) who apparently sees the value of an LMS as something that “puts it all together”, I think the days of the cookie-cutter, monolithic LMS are limited. Why should we rely on, or wait for, a company like Blackboard to decide what functionality or tools to build in to their “product”."
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Comparing traditional higher education and web 2.0 is like comparing apples and red.
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Pray the end is near... Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 3:20 pm
Good news on the diamond front. Maybe finally the cartel will fall."Diamonds are a con, pure and simple. The topic is vast, so we won't discuss worker exploitation or for that matter "blood diamonds" used to finance African wars. Instead I'll focus on whether diamonds are worth the exorbitant sums charged for them. Answer: Of course not. Prices are kept high by a cynical cartel that preys on vanity and stupidity." -The Straight Dope
Good riddance.
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Behold, the power of quantifcation... Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 1:00 pm
Today a couple of us were crammed into a truck on the way to lunch. Several of us have kids, and we ended up talking about how incredibly popular WebKinz is. Somebody said it was simply a training ground for games like World of Warcraft. As we were talking, I suddenly realized why World of Warcraft and WebKinz are so popular.Humans love to quantify things. It makes things so much easier. We're constantly trying to make the abstract have more meaning. We might say we want to 'get in shape', but when we get right down to it, we say things like, "I'm going to lose 10 pounds", or "I want to run 15 miles". Be honest, have you ever clicked on one of those ads for a free IQ test? You want to be able to quantify how smart you are. It's in our nature.
World of Warcraft lets you do just this. It's one thing to play a game, it's another to be able to say, "I'm a level 70 Shaman, my blacksmithing is at 297, my mining is at 282, and I have tier 5 armor. The higher numbers not only allow you to do new and nifty things in the game, but it's an easy way to tell/show your friends just how good at the game you are.
The game allows you to progress, but it gives you a quantifiable way to show that progression. Webkins is the same way. You run around and do things, and earn KinzCash. The Kinzcash is an easy way to quantify that. The more Kinzcash you have, the more of the game you can explore/purchase.
I have some more thoughts on this, and it actually ties into this post. But I'd like to think a bit more about it, so...stay tuned.
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Quote of the day... Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 6:50 pm
John: "You know what I want on Christmas day?"Dad: "What?"
John: "A bad dream."
Dad: "What? Why would you want that?"
John: "So I can wake up early! I hope it is one where Santa comes down the chimney with a shotgun."
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I guess they used to be analog? Tuesday, 3 June 2008, 10:40 am
Saw this the other day while I was online grocery shopping, so I took a screenshot (I didn't photoshop it, why would I spend time on a joke this lame?). I just had to share. Everything is going digital these days. Sadly, they don't sell these anymore (hence why I took a screen shot before it disappeared!).Source:
R. Shankar - Small Coincidences Friday, 23 May 2008, 11:46 am
After years of keeping them in boxes, I recently got out my University Physics and Math books and put them on my shelves. Just getting them out inspired me :-). This morning while testing the Open Yale Courses feed that I had added to OER Recommender, I ran across the Fundamentals of Physics course. This led me to R. Shankar’s home page, where I noticed an old friend,
Shankar’s book that I used in my quantum mechanics class at the University of Utah. I also smiled to see him list his
Most important contribution to physics
“Discovered a small parameter that justifies most calculations performed in physics: 1/ego, where ego is the author’s ego.”
Very clever. It is cool to see a self-deprecating physicist. The description of his other book shown there: Basic Training in Mathematics rang true to my experience. My love and interest while studying at the UofU was always Physics, but I ended up taking so much math that I decided to go ahead and major in Math as well. While doing so, I found that almost everything I learned in my Math classes I had previously learned in my Physics classes :-).
Source: undesigned | joel
Some Sweet Stamps Thursday, 1 May 2008, 5:57 am
Aren't these awesome? See the whole set. Although, I think it is strange that they credit the design of these to a human. ;)Source:
RIP: Student Loan Sunday, 27 April 2008, 11:40 am
This is one of my favorite images so far! :) Bye bye student loan!And, in 2019, Andrew's will be paid off too. Party pending. ;)Source:
Say Cheese: "Ossau Iraty" Sunday, 27 April 2008, 6:15 am
Since birth, I have been allergic to milk. Without getting into detail, milk and my body don't get along, and sometimes it puts me to sleep. But thanks to last year's revelation that my allergy is based on the milk of cows; the world of goats, and now sheep have opened new possibilities to me as never before! Which means cheese is no longer taboo! :)I went to a local cheese shop yesterday andSource:
Component Fluency Hypothesis Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 10:07 am
Math problem solving procedures are important tools in a problem solver’s toolbox. Fluency at using those procedures frees up cognitive resources for problem solving. This is the component fluency hypothesis described by van Merriënboer in his book Training Complex Cognitive Skills and in an ETR&D article. These algorithmic skills are not everything though. Common taxonomies of knowledge such as those described in Jim Cangelosi’s book on Teaching Mathematics in Secondary and Middle School include facts, concepts, procedures, principles, problem solving and application.
Problem solving is what you do when you don’t know what to do. Problem solving requires recognizing and defining the problem, selecting an approach, breaking the problem down into sub-problems, selecting procedures for solving those sub-problems, executing those procedures, evaluating and diagnosing progress, recognizing when a solution is satisfactory, and interpreting results. Note, if practice makes perfect, we better give students opportunities practice in all of these aspects of problem solving, not just simple recall and algorithmic procedures.
Common wisdom says that we should wait until people have developed the basics before we ask them to solve problems and do higher level thinking. I reject that notion. Higher level thinking may not so much be “higher level” as it is “different level”. Kids at the youngest ages can and need to be given opportunities to engage in real problem solving. Maybe, part of why kids learn to hate math is because we spend so much time focusing on “repeat what I just said” and “do what I just did”, to the exclusion of authentic problem solving.
Source: undesigned | joel
PSLC Theoretical Framework Wiki Opened Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 10:06 am
Recently the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC) opened public access to a wiki version of their theoretical framework which had previously only been available in PDF format. Kurt VanLehn, one of the PSLC directors, and a pioneer in the field of intelligent tutoring systems, serves as editor. The framework attempts to provide a cohesive structure for understanding and furthering PSLC research. Academics seem to insist on inventing their own theories and terminology. As Kurt quotes in his PSLC Summer School Overview presentation:
“Theories are like toothbrushes, everyone has a theory, but no one wants to use someone else’s theory”
This is true within a given field such as artificial intelligence / cognitive science in which the PSLC work is based. It is even more true if you look across multiple fields such as education (teacher preparation), cognitive science, instructional design, and math education. Each of these fields have something to say about learning and teaching math, but the languages of their literatures are as different as English, Urdu, Chinese, and Russian.
I recently presented on the PSLC and this framework at a recent USU Math & Stat Journal Club meeting (see my PSLC Theoretical Framework Trailfire Trail). In our discussion it was brought up that sometimes teachers object to the type of instruction that is typical of the PSLC model tracing intelligent tutors because it is not open-ended or exploratory. My reactions to this criticism is that the tutors are not meant to replace all instruction. This type of instruction is very effective at teaching procedural (algorithmic) skills consisting of a sequence of steps. It turns out that a lot of the math what we expect middle school and high school students to learn (and demonstrate on standardized tests) is of this nature.
Source: undesigned | joel
This is for Becca Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 5:21 am
British boy that Becca stole his soul and put into a camera.My friend Becca and I went on a pretty fun trip to Europe a few years ago, part of which involved hijacking a train. It's harder than you think.She recently put up a post about her habit of taking photos of strangers. I have the same problem, particularly people sleeping and strange outfits. Becca, I dedicate this post to you.ASource:
The votes are in Thursday, 27 March 2008, 11:54 am
Well, despite all of your efforts, my project didn't make it to the final 20 projects. Thanks everyone for your help, I'm sure I'll get this built one way or the other! I'll keep you posted!The good news is that I may be going to the USA vs. ENGLAND match at Wembley Stadium instead, so that should be fun!Source:
The internet is cool, once again Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 10:57 am
I am amazed by the people I am able to find through random online connections. Last week I got an email from pinkribbonsally asking if she could add my breast cancer website to her blogroll. Then, she wrote this post on her blog. Wow! Talk about motivation to keep going. After a while of working on my own, I do feel like a crazy inventor and wonder if I'm making something that really is useful.Source:
Winner announced tomorrow morning! Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 10:05 am
03/27/08:The top 20 Mashup Projects will be announced on March 27 at 9:00am Pacific Time and the winners will be invited to attend this year's NetSquared conference in San Jose, CA, scheduled for 5/27 and 5/28. Each of the top 20 projects gets an allowance for travel (including airfare to and from the conference, along with a hotel room for two nights). 05/27/08 & 05/28/08:At the conference,Source:
Voting extended Friday, 21 March 2008, 1:39 am
The NetSquared team has decided to extend voting until Monday March 24 at 5:00pm Pacific Time! Please notify your communities and encourage them to continue showing their support! The top 20 Featured Projects will be announced on Thursday, March 27 at 9:00am Pacific Time.Source:
Cold weather! Thursday, 20 March 2008, 10:46 am
Why is March looking and feeling like February? It is very cold don't you think? Still a foot of snow on the ground in my front yard, but it is beginning to melt. Should make a nice muddy wedding day. Any tips for not getting mud on my dress?Source:
How to vote for Breast Cancer Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 9:46 pm
I've made a mashup project for my phd breast cancer work and need votes to get it built by a group of geeks who feel democratic.If you have 5 minutes to spend, I'd really appreciate it if you could take the time to vote for it before Friday afternoon, here's the details:Ok. Let's rock the vote! 1. Please register and log in to the NetSquared site by Thursday, and pick a user name for aSource:
My Breast Cancer Map Thursday, 13 March 2008, 11:04 pm
A good opportunity has come up for my breast cancer project. A organization is granting money to the best web project that improves social change. The top 20 all get money with the top 3 getting a large amount of funding and the winner...$100K and resources to build their project. One of the people involved in the effort encouraged me to enter, so I have.Have a look at my project. Here is aSource:
Suzanne Tagged Me Thursday, 6 March 2008, 2:33 am
Okay, she tagged me a while ago, but I missed the post! Here goes:Here it is:1. Pick up the nearest book to you (one of at least 123 pages).2. Open the book to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people.Okay my book is "A Designer's Research Manual" and it says:They applied a multilateral research approach by using several differentSource:
See, I am addicted to starting blogs Thursday, 6 March 2008, 2:20 am
I am great at starting blogs. Keeping them filled constantly is another thing. But part of my resolution this year was to make a blog that I like, so for me that meant to start from scratch on wordpress (a service like blogger, but more customizable).If you would like to get the address to my blog, post a comment and I'll email you the address (just leave your email and I'll delete the commentSource:
The English Post Office (a rant) Thursday, 6 March 2008, 2:14 am
So yesterday I went to the post office to mail off some cards. I had stamps on everything except for one piece of mail for my brother in France. So I went to the post office to drop off the cards and get my one little stamp.Not so.The Post Office here is a brand, and is no longer owned by the government. There is the Royal Mail, which uses Post Office branches to operate. I'm not sure ifSource:
My first earthquake...in England? Wednesday, 27 February 2008, 3:22 am
So who would have guessed the first earthquake that I would experience would be in England?Last night just as I was drifting off to sleep, my bed started shaking. I was really annoyed. After a day of walking around London taking photos, I was exhausted and whatever was shaking my bed was not welcome. I didn't think earthquake, for some reason my tired mind thought it was that my bed was offSource:
One step closer to a pygmy goat Tuesday, 19 February 2008, 2:21 pm
There was a guy in my high school that had a pet pygmy goat. He had it on a leash and walked it around town. I was so jealous. The goat was a little bigger than this guy shown above. Little did I know just how much I would come to love goats.For years I've had to make decisions between cheesecake and its certain aftermath, or opting for the dairy-free crackers and tap water during dessert timeSource:
I've been tagged! Monday, 4 February 2008, 1:42 pm
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 fellow bloggers.10 years ago: What was I doing ten years ago?I was at Ricks College trying to figure out if I wanted to be a graphic designer or not, and feeling that perhaps I wasn't cut out to be a designer at all. School wasn't easy,Source:
President Hinckley Wave Tribute Thursday, 31 January 2008, 5:54 am
http://canewavetribute.blogspot.comCan you please spread the word about this tribute for President Hinckley's funeral? For those of you who are not near SLC (like me) I've come up with this idea, so people from around the world can participate:Hey, for those of us who don't live near Utah or the USA for that matter, how about we post a photo of us waving a white handkerchief or cane in ourSource:
President and Mrs. Bush Deeply Saddened by Death of Gordon B. Hinckley Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 12:10 pm
Here is a nice tribute to President Hinckley from the Whitehouse. Thought you'd like to see.Source:
President Hinckley Monday, 28 January 2008, 7:18 pm
This is a press release that I wrote for the UK media in London and my stake about President Hinckley's passing and thought I'd share: Worldwide President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dies, locals mourn "There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, if we have faith." Those were the words of President Gordon B. Hinckley, worldwide leader of The Church ofSource:
