Free Rice

From NPR:

Morning Edition, December 17, 2007 · John Breen, a computer programmer, developed the Internet game FreeRice.com to teach vocabulary and help fight hunger.

The Web site earns money from advertising and gives cash to the Word Food Programme. Some $100,000 has already gone to buy rice to feed survivors of a recent cyclone in Bangladesh.

• Play Free Rice
• Read more on NPR

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Charity, Education No Comments » January 2008

Experts Are Made, Not Born

I often tell my students that learning to be a great photographer takes a lot of practice.  To become an expert it generally takes 10 years.  In fact, it takes about 10 years to become an expert in any field. There is a fascinating article that’s posted at Scientific American.

“[Herbert A.] Simon coined a psychological law of his own, the 10-year rule, which states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field.”

The term “heavy labor” refers to practice.  Not just practicing the same thing over and over but continually doing something more difficult than the thing you just mastered.

“What matters is not experience per se but “effortful study,” which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one’s competence. That is why it is possible for enthusiasts to spend tens of thousands of hours playing chess or golf or a musical instrument without ever advancing beyond the amateur level and why a properly trained student can overtake them in a relatively short time.”

I’m often accused of being a bit to critical of myself and going a bit overboard trying to improve every little thing.  I rarely get to the point where I’m satisfied in my abilities.  Which may explain a few things.

“Even the novice engages in effortful study at first, which is why beginners so often improve rapidly in playing golf, say, or in driving a car. But having reached an acceptable performance–for instance, keeping up with one’s golf buddies or passing a driver’s exam–most people relax. Their performance then becomes automatic and therefore impervious to further improvement. In contrast, experts-in-training keep the lid of their mind’s box open all the time, so that they can inspect, criticize and augment its contents and thereby approach the standard set by leaders in their fields.“

Perhaps this is why Thomas Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”  He also said, “I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident. They came by work.”

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Education, Science No Comments » December 2007

TED

Thanks to my friend Bill I just discovered TED.  Here’s the scoop on what TED is and why it’s so cool.  This text is lifted directly from their website:

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 150 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

Our mission: Spreading ideas.

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. Over time, you’ll see us add talks and performances from other events, and solicit submissions from you, as well. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress, and you’re an important part of it. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.

The TED Conference, held annually in Monterey, is still the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend — indeed, the event sells out a year in advance — and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.

In recent years, TED has spawned some important extensions.

TEDGlobal is a sister conference held every other year, and in a different country on each occasion. The first conference was held in Oxford, England, in 2005; the second, in June 2007, was held in Arusha, Tanzania. The themes of the global conference are slightly more focused on development issues, but the basic TED format is maintained.

The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED Community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” After several months of preparation, they unveil their wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.

TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker “ideas worth spreading,” talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world’s most inspiring voices.

Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It’s a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Charity, Education, God, History, Humor, News, Photography, Politics, Science, TED, Useful Info No Comments » December 2007

NPR : English Is Misused, Abused and Poorly Punctuated

NPR : EnglishIs Misused, Abused and Poorly PunctuatedThis is a must see for everyone.  Diane and I are constantly chatting about thebad writing and punctuation we see (mostly mine) and I thought this was timely.

Posted by admin Posted in: Education, Useful Info No Comments » December 2006

Cool Teacher alert!!

Diane and I were surfing the web and found a very cool website, and a very cool highschool english teacher from Idaho.  Ms. Erin Daniels teaches a journalism classand has built a very impressive site.  I just wish all teachers were this cool. Oh well.Take a look at the website byclicking here.[I’m going to get a C- for this entry because I used “very cool” twice in the samesentence and didn’t capitalize “english”.  I’m such a failure!]

Posted by admin Posted in: Education, History, News, Photography No Comments » January 2004