TED Talks: “Education System Should Nurture Creativity” & “One Laptop Per Child”

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for
creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than
undermining it.

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop Per Child program, outlines some of the challenges of getting the $100 laptop produced.

Wedding Day Meltdown Video

This YouTube video is beyond description, but an absolute MUST SEE.

After watching it, two things may occur to you:

1. "That was SO worth watching [one anonymous bride's horrific wedding day melt down] !"
2. "Was it for real?"

In this day and age of Web 2.0, one may either ponder the "truthiness" (to appropriately borrow a Colbert Report term) of videos like this, or just have fun watching them. Which one are you?

[Update: This was professionally produced, after all. Shocking.]

Canada To Get iPhone

Gizmodo confirms that Rogers is working to be the sole provider for iPhone service in Canada. Sweet!

Streampad

You’ll notice a new addition to the right-hand column. Streampad is an online music app that allows me to stream music/podcasts from home and share them with you. So look for some interesting stuff in the future.

2 Questions

Malcom Gladwell lists two questions that he finds many people answer most easily:

1. How does this work?
2. What do you think?

[Stop. Reflect. Repeat.]

“Round TUIT” (A New Year’s Post In Three Parts)

1. Conclusions From A Recent Procrastination Study:

"Is procrastinating an issue for you, too? For me, I find that I have
absolutely no trouble with doing the important things in a timely
manner. Give me a deadline, and I’ll stick to the schedule without
fail. It’s the less important items with open deadlines that I struggle
with.

A study by Dr. Piers Steel, ten years in the making, was recently
published in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological
Bulletin to address this very issue that the world has been putting
off. The study is entitled, “The Nature of Procrastination: A
Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory
Failure.”

According to Science Daily, Dr. Steel has concluded that:

  – Most people’s New Year’s resolutions are doomed to failure
  – Most self-help books have it completely wrong when they say perfectionism is at the root of procrastination, and
  – Procrastination can be explained by a single mathematical equation

One area the article cites as a factor is technology (“Minesweeper: that stupid game has probably cost  the economy billions of dollars!"), but technology could also be part of the solution.

2. The Procrastinator’s Clock: A Partial Solution:

If you’re a procrastinator, you don’t need a mathematical formula; you
know who you are. Worse, the people who work with you know, too. We’ve
all tried the trick of “setting the clock ahead 10 minutes”, but it
never works because we *know* that always have that extra 10 mins. If this sounds like you, then perhaps you need David Seah’s Procrastinator’s Clock.

Guaranteed to be up to 15 minutes fast, it speeds up and slows down unpredictably, so you never know just how fast it really is. (But also guaranteed not to be slower than actual time.)

3. "Round TUIT": A Childhood Story

"When I was a kid, I was such a bad procrastinator that my mother actually cut a
circle out of a piece of paper and wrote T U I T  in big letters on it.

She said, “Alright already! Here’s your round Tuit and there’s your room. Now it’s time to get around to it!"

[Happy new year.]

Jewel In The Jungle Premiere

The premiere of Jewel In The Jungle
was extraordinary!

The general consensus of the audience’s reaction was a cross between being stunned by the high level of quality of the
professional production, and of being overwhelmingly joyous that a true treasure was
created for them to (finally) share with their friends and family; a
project of this magnitude seemed to be long overdue.

The work of the entire crew, which volunteered long days and even longer nights, was well received and well rewarded. So many people continuously streamed by our sales stand and just had to tell us how it affected them.

We sold out of every available DVD copy (including the display
copy), generating a great amount of proceeds for the orphanage. Our
next
DVD run will be three times as large to fulfill the current demand.

The quote of the day was "and by the way, give me an extra DVD for my friend, too"!

To our delight, Jewel In The Jungle is expected to become a permanent staple of fundraising efforts. Additionally, independent screenings are being held to increase awareness and donations. Furthermore, we are researching the requirements of all film festivals and will submit ours for selection to any and all that are applicable.

Our California Vacation

Jake and Sarah came over to see the coast and screening that weekend, too. So we all drove down the coast to Big Sur on an awesome California sunny day.

Then we all gathered at Nepenthe and then we went down for stroll at Julia Pfeiffer’s beach.

Good food, good drinks, and great company. There’s not many days that are better than that. It’ll definitely be remembered as one our many "Good ‘Ol Days".  (See the slideshow!)

Our Phoenix Vacation

Cindy’s family had a great get together for Ryan’s Bar Mitzvah, and played wonderful hosts to a huge crew. It was a jam packed weekend, but a good get away.  (See the slideshow here.)

(Clockwise)  Steve, Kenny, Eric, Ryan, Evelyn, Doreen.

Ryan turned out to be quite the ladies man.

Here’s a nostalgic shot of our house on Bloomfield Road; times sure have changed it.

Rugby World Cup Schedule is Released

After four long years, RWC ‘07 will finally soon be upon us. This year France will play host as 20 qualifying nations contest in 48 matches throughout the country over 44 days spanning Sep and Oct for the glory of the Webb Ellis Cup. (A quadrennial of international bragging rights included.)

The Canadian Rugby Football Team has placed well, as usual, but this time they face fierce competition in their Pool B against Australia, Fiji, Wales, and Japan. This year will really test their mettle. Go Canucks!