kathleen forden

Couldn’t have said it better – Thanks Hugh.

Ouch. This is one of those that you’d think, but never, ever in a million years say to someone.

Let’s face it, sometimes there’s just something holding you back. It’s not that you’re not in love. It’s not that you’re not compatible. It’s not that you’re not happy.
But on occasion, you see a side to someone’s personality that just terrifies you. It’s the monster that is scary enough that you take pause and think…..

I was just cruising the web and found Hugh MacLeod’s gallery again.  It’s been a couple of years since I first saw his work so finding it again last night felt like a new discovery all over.

I’ll share one of his “scribbles” with you here.  Check out all his recent work from SXSW 2010, I really liked the US map as I’m a true “yankee “but now live in what he refers to as the “boring” part of the states.  (I don’t disagree).

Check out his site here: http://gapingvoidgallery.com/

I just got home from a business trip to Seattle. I’m sorry I missed TEDx Phoenix tonight in Mesa. I’ve been a fan of TED for a few years now and was excited to hear about the Phoenix edition.  Here’s one of my favorite TEDs

<excerpt from Wikipedia> The stone is said to have been presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn;[1] popular legend holds that this was a piece of the Stone of Scone. This stone was then installed at McCarthy’s castle of Blarney. When the castle was rebuilt in 1446, Dermot McCarthy had the stone preserved in the new castle.

The proprietors of Blarney Castle list several explanations other than the Stone of Scone for the ancient origins of the stone, many of which suppose that the Stone had previously been in Ireland but was then taken to Scotland and returned to Ireland in 1314.[1] The theories listed include those that the stone:

* was part of the wailing wall in Jerusalam brought to Ireland during the Crusades.
* was half of the original Stone of Scone – presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn.[1].
* was the stone that Jacob used as a pillow, and was brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah.
* was the pillow used by St. Columba of Iona on his deathbed.
* was the Stone of Ezel, which David hid behind on Jonathan’s advice, while fleeing from King Saul, and may have been brought back to Ireland during the Crusades.
* was the rock that Moses struck with his staff to produce water for the Israelites, during their flight from Egypt.
* was related to the stone was known as the Lia Fáil or “Stone of Destiny” – part of the king’s throne, with mysterious powers.

None of these provenance stories account for why a stone of such significance and antiquity would be used in the construction of a fifteenth century castle, inconspicuously incorporated into an exterior wall and exposed to the elements. Apart from discoloration and wear caused by human contact, the stone is not readily distinguishable from its neighbors. </excerpt from Wikipedia>

Think Culture Europeana

Great interactive museum online with works of art from throughout Europe

Posted via web from kforden.com

This concept allows to you to experience immersion and effortless navigation in an Augmented Reality environment. New types of interactions involving near-to-eye displays, gaze direction tracking, 3D audio, 3D video, gesture and touch.

Through these new types of social linkages people will be connected in innovative ways between the physical and digital worlds.It’s hands-free and weightless compared to a tablet, no small screen problem as you have on a mobile phone – but is it truly useful?

Unlike most other AR apps we’ve seen lately, where the physical world is referenced by the AR – the two seem unrelated here. It takes all kinds, though, and who’s to say how AR will be used?(Also, isn’t this music a little creepy? It sounds bittersweet about the inevitable and yet slightly frightening future.)None the less, we’d love to get our hands on a prototype of this technology to test it – just as soon as it becomes real.

According to the New York Times Bits blog, a recent study funded by the US Department of Education (PDF) found that on the whole, online learning environments actually led to higher tested performance than face-to-face learning environments. “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction,” concluded the report’s authors in their key findings.

The report looked at just under one hundred studies that compared the performance of students in online learning environments (or courses with an online study component) to those who were given strictly face-to-face instruction for the same courses. What they found was that students who completed all or some of their coursework online tested on average in the 59th percentile, compared to the 50th percentile for those who received only classroom instruction, and that the results are statistically significant.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?hp