The consequences of swimming without a suit

Thomas Friedman has an excellent op-ed piece about the economic impact of raising education spending and increasing academic performance.  It takes money to make money, and education is an investment, a point Friedman clearly makes.  I highly recommend reading the article.

Well, it had to happen sometime

Instead of people crying into their beers, they appear to be crying into their computer keyboards. I could be wrong (a novel thought!) but this is one possible conclusion one may reach when confronted with the news that there are now more professional bloggers than bartenders.  Also, is it true that more five year olds are now saying, "I want to be a blogger when I grow up!" than those who exclaim, "I want to be a fireman!"?

I will say, though, that the temptation to start monetizing this blog has never been stronger.  Visit often, and link away, my friends!

Teh Facebook is for sucks

Oh noes!  According to new research and sited by a new article in Time, Facebook users generally earn lower gradepoint averages than their non-networking peers.

Dangit!  And I just posted this to my Facebook page...

Oh Noes!

My iPhone is broken.  It has really highlighted how much I rely on this device in my daily work schedule.  Yes, I'm bidding on a replacement as we speak.  

Even the CIA has gone Web 2.0

See?  Web 2.0's possibilties are endless.  And yes...I would like to take a peek at Intellipedia, but I'm not stupid enough to try.

The future of scientific discovery?

If this holds out, the name of our most important scientist may one day be named HAL.

Opportunity!

There is a silver lining, especially for new teachers.  It's never quite as bad as the doomsayers suggest...

Evernote

Evernote is another Web 2.0 service I've tried.  I even installed the iPhone app.  It's okay...I guess.  Perhaps I just don't know how to use the program to its full potential, or perhaps I simply don't forget enough stuff to require the use of an "external brain" (their marketing term, not mine).  For my purposes, I simply prefer DropBox.  

Want to see a quick rundown of the program?  See the link below:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dd4vs7jg_0hjftt6cd&hl=en

Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube

Most schools are blocking access to Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube.  In fact, the NEA even recommends that teachers refrain from using Facebook and MySpace entirely.  While there may be some merit to such a decision, I think there are some possible educational uses for these nearly ubiquitous sites.

Here's a link to the presentation:

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dggv4595_7dj8vg2cw&hl=en

DropBox

I've been using DropBox for a few weeks now.  It's been a great way for me to keep my data off of my computer, and make it accessible no matter what computer I'm using.  

For instance, I just had to have my computer's hard disk re-imaged because Windows was running rediculously slowly.  Despite the reassurances of my tech department that they would take a snapshot of my hard disk to "absolutely ensure nothing would be lost", I didn't want to leave anything to chance.  Anything I didn't want to lose, I simply dragged and dropped into my DropBox.  This way, the data was safe, and I could still access it while I was without my laptop for the day.

Below, you'll find a link to the presentation:

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dhskvwvx_1g4gg7m7p&hl=en