Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Google Godin Apocalypse

If there is one thing that "The Walking Dead," "World War Z" and the slew of other zombie-related TV shows and films have recently taught us is that a person’s day can go from mundane to a post-apocalyptic nightmare in a matter of seconds.

As the media shows, most people are totally unprepared for the onslaught of flesh-eating undead and bands of armed surviving humans trying to survive in a crashed society.

Zombie Apocalypse: The film begins by showing the previous six months in flashbacks. In June 2011 a plague called the VM2 virus is first discovered in a French woman. Within the next 28 days, 83% of the population of Europe was infected. The virus becomes a global pandemic as it eventually reaches Japan and the United States. Six months later, the zombie plague has wiped out ninety percent of the population of the United States.

There are lots of movies with a similar theme: some “virus” (sometimes man-made) infects just one person, who infects others, who infects others. This summer’s hit Dawn of the Planet of the Apes continues on the theme of a bad virus causing bad things: trouble ensues.

What if getting infected by a virus was a good thing?

What if instead of a virus causing a strain of genius apes, or flesh-eating undead, a virus caused everyone to become empathetic, compassionate and sympathetic? If a virus can cause the entire planet to become a living hell, why can’t we have a virus that creates a heaven on earth? This was today’s blog from Seth Godin:

Go first. Before you're asked. Before she asks for the memo, before the customer asks for a refund, before your co-worker asks for help. Volunteer. Offer. Imagine what the other person needs, an exercise in empathy that might become a habit.

Seth Godin blogs daily. His blog is read (and then shared, and shared again) daily. I am guilty of helping to spread the Godin virus. When I cut and paste his words, when I re-tweet his blogs, when I post his links in Facebook, I am helping his words, his thoughts to spread. Fast.

Hollywood does a great job giving us a glimpse of a horrific, post-apocalyptic world. A nightmare world that in many screenplays, we created for ourselves. What if instead of the VM2 virus, the *SG3 virus became reality? What if instead of the virus causing genius apes or flesh eating zombies, it made everyone on the planet - a better person?

No more wars. No more terrorists. No more pain or suffering caused by greed or selfish behavior. No more crazy 1% wealthy or poor or homeless. The SG3 virus spreads, and spreads fast. It is perfectly cool to be a Billionaire, because they are revered for their humanitarian deeds.

A plague called the SG3 virus is first discovered in a Indian woman. Within the next 28 days, 83% of the population of Asia was infected. The virus becomes a global pandemic as it eventually reaches Europe and the United States. Six months later, the SG3 virus has changed the behavior of ninety percent of the population of the United States.

I don’t see why Hollywood can’t take a shot on a screenplay where being infected by such a virus is a good thing. I have seen enough flesh eating zombies and genius apes. If a virus can release such a terrible plague on humanity, why can’t such a virus be the cause of something wonderful?

And now I ask you: Is Google some form of a technology powered virus? It seems to have infected 7 Billion people to date, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. And if it is a technology powered virus - is it a good virus or a bad virus?

******

*SG3 is the Seth Godin Virus. It’s good for ya.

https://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/

Sunday, July 13, 2014

I'll be with you shortly

Snapple Real Fact #944: Napoleon Bonaparte was not short. At 5' 7" he was of average height for his time.

So, he has been getting a bum rap. Had I not picked Snapple as my beverage of choice yesterday, I would have continued to think erroneously about shorty. I don’t know what compelled me, but I then decided to grab my Nexus 5 and I said:

“OK, Google. How tall was Napoleon Bonaparte?”

Napoleon Bonaparte the French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe was 5’6” tall.

Snapple Real Facts vs. OK Google FIGHT!

The myth that he was short stems primarily from the fact that he is listed as 5 feet 2 inches tall at the time of his death. However, this is 5 feet 2 inches in French units. In modern international units, he was just shy of 5 feet 7 inches. Now I know you are saying “well that is still pretty short”. That is true by modern day standards in certain places in the world, such as the United States. However, at the time in France, the average height for an adult male was about 5 feet 5 inches in modern international units. So in fact, he was quite tall for his day.

Despite this fact, Napoleon is primarily remembered for two things; being a master tactician and being short. The so called “Napoleon Complex” named after him, describes men who have an inferiority complex or more aptly “Short Man Syndrome”.

Interestingly, there is evidence that Napoleon was already considered short at the time of his death, despite being above average height among his fellow Frenchman. This likely stems from the fact that his personal bodyguards were all very tall and broad; there being height requirements for his guard. So wherever he went, people saw him with his guards who were all much bigger than him and thus he looked small in comparison, earning him the nickname “Le Petit Caporel” or in English “The Little Corporal”, though in his day this was typically used as a term of affection for him and not as an insult.

This “more than I needed to know” post led me down the online learning Rabbit Hole:

All of the Snapple Real Facts are here!

History of DPS

The company now known as DPS has evolved from a combination of discovery, invention and collaboration. This rich history includes the very birth of the soft drink in 1783, when Jean Jacob Schweppe perfected the process for carbonating water and created the world's first carbonated mineral water.

Did you know this? Jean Jacob Schweppe is the Pop of Soda!

Hence the phrase Soda Pop?

The History of Soda Pop!

If Snapple Real Facts and OK Google came back with the same answer, I would have resumed eating my Sesame Chicken without any further incident. But this could not be left alone - the two oracles of modern day learning with differing “facts” - we must know who to trust! Or is it whom to trust?

OK Google: is it who or whom?

I think the next time I eat lunch, I’ll leave my phone in the car. And order water. Make that tap water. These distractions during lunch are giving me agita.

OK Google: what is agita?

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Teachers gotta teach

A Teacher is a person who provides education for students.

The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional qualifications or credentials from a university or college. These professional qualifications may include the study of pedagogy, the science of teaching. Teachers, like other professionals, may have to continue their education after they qualify, a process known as continuing professional development. Teachers may use a lesson plan to facilitate student learning, providing a course of study which is called the curriculum.

A teacher's role may vary among cultures. Teachers may provide instruction in literacy and numeracy, craftsmanship or vocational training, the arts, religion, civics, community roles, or life skills.

A teacher who facilitates education for an individual may also be described as a personal tutor, or, largely historically, a governess.

In some countries, formal education can take place through home schooling. Informal learning may be assisted by a teacher occupying a transient or ongoing role, such as a family member, or by anyone with knowledge or skills in the wider community setting.

Religious and spiritual teachers, such as gurus, mullahs, rabbis, pastors/youth pastors and lamas, may teach religious texts such as the Quran, Torah or Bible.

Some Synonyms for Teacher:

master
dry nurse
don

trainer
tutor
coach
governor

instructor
director
grinder
bear leader

institutor
Corypheus
crammer
governess

A Learner is a person who is learning a subject or skill.

Some Synonyms for Learner:

apprentice
tyro
eleve
inceptor
fellow-commoner
freshman
senior
questionist
remove
apostle

scholar
prentice
abecedarian
recruit
catechumen
debutant
junior soph
sophister
undergraduate
pupilage (learning)
proselyte

student
articled clerk
alphabetarian
novice
probationer
schoolboy
junior
sophomore
class
disciple
fellow-student

pupil
beginner
alumnus
neophyte
chela
fresh
senior soph
soph
form
follower
condisciple

Now, throw TECHNOLOGY into the mix. The technology of today has “flipped the script” as far as all of this goes. In today’s world, anyone can research, explore, investigate just about anything.

A student with a solar powered laptop in Africa can access information that just a few years ago required Ivy League campus access. If a “teacher” is doing their job (professional or volunteer) is it possible to teach any topic or subject without the teacher becoming the learner?

Instructors can hand someone a textbook (or video series, or eBook, or Podcast) and say “here you go” you should be all set. Anyone can host a webinar, or give a lecture. But the true teacher must flip the script. A true teacher must receive data and information BACK from the learner. The most successful teachers are both senders and receivers of information - constantly getting feedback FROM from the students. Just like flying a plane or steering a ship, constant course corrections are necessary. Get the pun - course corrections? Ahem.

When I went to college (Purdue, Rutgers) the professors gave lectures. Many times these same professors wrote the textbooks that we used in class. Then there were TAs or “Teaching Assistants” who were there to “help us understand” what we just heard in the lecture. Remember playing the game "broken telephone" where the true message gets distorted as the message goes from kid to kid? It was always so funny to hear a simple sentence get mangled. Knowledge flow: Professor > TA > Student. The "best" lecturer in the world is lucky to have 80% of the knowledge transfer. So, 80% of 80% is 64% if my math is right.

You could see the Professor during scheduled office hours, twice a week. But for a class of 300 or more (in a big school) it would be impossible for more than a handful of students to see their professor for one-on-one sessions. Information was “pushed” out to us, and it was up to us to catch it. If we did not fully comprehend the material, if we were getting it wrong, if we were lost, it was up to us (the student) to seek out the additional help necessary to pass the course.

We don't know what we don't know, and that is the problem. By the time you take the exam and get the grade, it's too late to go back and find out. Grades are posted, time to move on. Next!

College textbooks have now become eBooks read on iPads. Live lectures have become TED.com talks. Sprawling college campuses with dormitories like Purdue and Rutgers have become entities like the University of Phoenix.

In my humble opinion, teaching without receiving and processing the feedback from the students is not teaching. It might be presenting, lecturing, pontificating, promoting, or any other word that involves the pushing of data “out” to the world. Unless the teacher becomes the learner, seeking the feedback, looking for the clues, making the observations FROM the students back to the source for analysis and re-engineering, we might as well just Google it or watch a video on Khan Academy. To be a successful teacher in today’s world, you need to flip the script.

Check out www.cmasas.com to see the future of "teaching" via technology.

Agree with me? Think I’m nuts? Either way, your feedback is welcome.

Email me: Tom@NYDLA.org or TCapone@USDLA.org. I reply to all emails.

Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices via TED.com

Sunday, June 15, 2014

The Father of Anything

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June, though it is also celebrated widely on other days by many other countries. Father's Day was created to complement Mother's Day, a celebration that honors mothers and motherhood.

For some animals, it is the fathers who take care of the young.

Darwin's Frog (Rhinoderma darwini) fathers carry eggs in the vocal pouch.
Most male waterfowls are very protective in raising their offspring, sharing scout duties with the female. Examples are the geese, swans, gulls, loons, and a few species of ducks. When the families of most of these waterfowls travel, they usually travel in a line and the fathers are usually the ones guarding the offspring at the end of the line while the mothers lead the way.
The female seahorse (hippocampus) deposits eggs into the pouch on the male's abdomen. The male releases sperm into the pouch, fertilizing the eggs. The embryos develop within the male's pouch, nourished by their individual yolk sacs.
Male Emperor Penguins alone incubate their eggs; females do no incubation. Rather than building a nest, each male protects his egg by balancing it on the tops of his feet, enclosed in a special brood pouch. Once the eggs are hatched however, the females will rejoin the family.
Male beavers secure their offspring along with the females during their first few hours of their lives. As the young beavers mature, their fathers will teach them how to search for materials to build and repair their own dams, before they disperse to find their own mates.
Wolf fathers help feed, protect, and play with their pups. In some cases, several generations of wolves live in the pack, giving pups the care of grandparents, aunts/uncles, and siblings, in addition to parents. The father wolf is also the one who does most of the hunting when the females are securing their newborn pups.
Dolphin fathers help in the care of the young. Newborns are held on the surface of the water by both parents until they are ready to swim on their own.
A number of bird species have active, caring fathers who assist the mothers, such as the waterfowls mentioned above.
Apart from humans, fathers in few primate species care for their young. Those that do are tamarins and marmosets. Particularly strong care is also shown by siamangs where fathers carry infants after their second year. In titi and owl monkeys fathers carry their infants 90% of the time with "titi monkey infants developing a preference for their fathers over their mothers". Silverback gorillas have less role in the families but most of them serve as an extra protecting the families from harm and sometimes approaching enemies to distract them so that his family can escape unnoticed.

Many species display little or no paternal role in caring for offspring. The male leaves the female soon after mating and long before any offspring are born. It is the females who must do all the work of caring for the young.

A male bear leaves the female shortly after mating and will kill and sometimes eat any bear cub he comes across, even if the cub is his. Bear mothers spend much of their cubs' early life protecting them from males. (Many artistic works, such as advertisements and cartoons, depict kindly "papa bears" when this is the exact opposite of reality.)
Domesticated dog fathers show little interest in their offspring, and unlike wolves, are not monogamous with their mates and are thus likely to leave them after mating.
Male lions will tolerate cubs, but only allow them to eat meat from dead prey after they have had their fill. A few are quite cruel towards their young and may hurt or kill them with little provocation. A male who kills another male to take control of his pride will also usually kill any cubs belonging to that competing male. However, it is also the males who are responsible for guarding the pride while the females hunt. However the male lions are the only felines that actually have a role in fatherhood.
Male rabbits generally tolerate kits but unlike the females, they often show little interest in the kits and are known to play rough with their offspring when they are mature, especially towards their sons. This behaviour may also be part of an instinct to drive the young males away to prevent incest matings between the siblings. The females will eventually disperse from the warren as soon as they mature but the father does not drive them off like he normally does to the males.
Horse stallions and Pig boars have little to no role in parenting, nor are they monogamous with their mates. They will tolerate young to a certain extent, but due to their aggressive male nature, they are generally annoyed by the energetic exuberance of the young, and may hurt or even kill the young. Thus, stud stallions and boars are not kept in the same pen as their young or other females.

Finally, in some species neither the father nor the mother provides any care whatsoever:

This is true for most insects, reptiles, and fish.

So, what does it really mean to be “The Father of…….” anything?

The following is a list of significant men known for being the father, or considered the founders mostly in Western societies in a field, listed by category. In most non-science fields, the title of being the "father" is debatable.

Jacques Cousteau…..The Father of Scuba Diving. (Developed the aqua-lung jointly with Émile Gagnan; popularized scuba diving as a research diver, writer, and film and television producer and personality.)

Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn…...The Co-Fathers? of The Internet. (Co-invented Internet protocol (IP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in 1973, the two original protocols of the Internet protocol suite.)