Things I Learned This Week – #31

You’re expecting me, I know, to talk about Google Teacher Academy UK. I learned so much in my time in London that to try and shoehorn it into this post would be foolish. Instead, I’m going to write a series of five (or so) blog posts over the next couple of weeks. I’ll stick to the usual format with this post! 🙂

http://delicious.com/dajbelshaw/TILTW31

Tech.

• Google Goggles now works with Google Translate. Which means no more foreign menu mishaps!

• There’s been some great posts over at Labnol.org this week, including President Obama creates a screencast, how to embed a YouTube video in both HTML5 and Flash, and a poster of 500 common passwords to avoid.
• There’s a new Amazon Kindle. Cheaper, better, and available for pre-order. I only got mine recently. Gah.
• Wolfram Alpha now has widgets. Useful for adding value to your blog/website?
• The New York Times has an article entitled I Tweet Therefore I Am. Some interesting points about reflexivity, but I can’t help but think the following is an example of over-analysis:

The fun of Twitter and, I suspect, its draw for millions of people, is its infinite potential for connection, as well as its opportunity for self-expression. I enjoy those things myself. But when every thought is externalized, what becomes of insight? When we reflexively post each feeling, what becomes of reflection? When friends become fans, what happens to intimacy? The risk of the performance culture, of the packaged self, is that it erodes the very relationships it purports to create, and alienates us from our own humanity.

Productivity & Inspiration

• Told you. Lifehacker’s got a post linking to research showing that cognitive activity is boosted by 30 minutes of exercise:

Almost every dimension of cognition improves from 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, and creativity is no exception. The type of exercise doesn’t matter, and the boost lasts for at least two hours afterward.

• Presentation Zen’s Be Like The Bamboo is a great post on learning from nature.
• Here’s a list of 50 things every man should be able to do. I really need to learn how to do number 11!
• Great point by Seth Godin: just about all ‘sabotage’ is self-sabotage.
• If these tips on productivity were good enough for Leonardo Da Vinci, they’re good enough for me!

Education & Academic

• Harvard have released their fork of Drupal called OpenScholar. It’s a “full-featured web site-creation package solely for the academic community.” I’ve found Drupal a bit complicated the few times I’ve tried it, so you could also try Jobrary which I also came across (but haven’t tried yet) this week.

• It’s great that Stephen Downes has a page where people can commit to supporting ‘free learning’. It’s just a shame he doesn’t explain on it what type of freedom he’s referring to…
• Want to cite a tweet in APA style? Here’s how.
• Will Richardson’s got 10 things we need to ‘unlearn’ as educators. I like this one in particular:

We need to unlearn the notion that our students don’t need to see and understand how we ourselves learn.

• Would you send your kid to this school? 😉

Data, Design & Infographics

• I’m going to keep even more of an eye on my good friend Paul Lewis’ blog now that he’s started playing about with Processing!
• The Cool Infographics blog has problems with calling this video an infographic. That’s because it’s kinetic typography!

• This is an interesting post on designing for the iPad and how it’s different from what’s gone before.
• I found this If browsers were women ‘infographic’ funny. Especially the entry about Internet Explorer… 😉
• Seen the film Inception? Here’s a great infographic overview of the four layers of ‘reality’:

Misc.

• If you’re going to go and congratulate the oldest man in your city on reaching another birthday, you’d better make sure he hasn’t been dead and mummified for 30 years first…
• I finished up my Google Teacher Academy session with this drive the A-Team van around Google Earth YouTube microsite!
• Best. Headline. Ever.

• Another reason not to drink Corona beer.
• This Dilbert cartoon is a bit like the sarcastic exchanges you’d often witness if you came by our house:

Quotations

The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it. (Confucius)

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. (Phillip K. Dick)

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. (Anonymous)

Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment. (Maxwell Maltz)

To see what is in front of one’s nose requires a constant struggle. (George Orwell)

Main image CC BY-SA Lisa Thumann