Random thoughts

2006-10-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Zhang Haoran

greetings from zhang haoran

Random painting

2006-10-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Mrpicassohead

2006-10-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

white paper: top 10 lists in elearning

2006-02-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

Top 10 lists: Twenty Top 10s in e-learning

Free Wi-Fi?

2005-12-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

Source: "Google has offered to blanket the city of San Francisco with Wi-Fi, according to News.com. The proposed broadband service would be freely available throughout the city and would pay for itself through advertising. Could this be the beginning of a paradigm shift in the Internet access business, changing broadband delivery from a subscription-based model to a broadcast advertising model akin to television? Despite recent ISP lobbying efforts in Washington to restrict municipalities from providing free broadband access, a handful of cities and community organizations have already constructed Wi-Fi zones that offer residents, traveling professionals, and tourists free Wi-Fi connections to the Internet. What better way is there to bridge the digital divide than to make broadband freely available? "

The Sky(ke) is falling?

2005-12-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

There is a time when skeptical people worry about the security problem of VoIP (Voice over internet protocol). An interesting article on Skype flaws, but the quick response and patching by the company is highly appreciated. The Sky(pe) is falling?

Using Electronic Communication Tools for Language Learning

2005-11-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

Source: wwwtools for EducationThe November 11, 2005 edition of wwwtools for Education highlights several resources which may be of interest to language teachers. IM, Chat, and Education:- Teresa Almeida d'Eça's Online / Virtual Learning Environments: annotated entries for resources involving Chat, SMS and Instant Messaging, related to ESL and other language-related disciplines- eTandem offers a free introduction service for people who want to learn a foreign language through communication with a native speaker; tips for teachers also availableExtra Reading:- Online Communication (Mark Warschauer / in R. Carter & D. Nunan eds., The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages , pp. 207-212: Cambridge University Press)- Online Communication Tools That Promote Language Learning And Foster Professional Development (Teresa Almeida d'Eça)

Read this issue of wwwtools for Education at Tools for Communication: Talking and Messaging.

Forest or trees

2005-08-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Came across this intersting article on USA Today: Asians, Americans see world differently
Do you see the forest or the trees?

Chinese government blocking unregistered websites and blogs

2005-06-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Reporters Without Borders issued a release on June 6th: Chinese Authorities declare war on unregistered websites and blogs:
"Chinese government's announced intention to close down all China-based websites and blogs that are not officially registered. The plan is all the more worrying as the government has also revealed that it has a new system for monitoring sites in real time and spotting those that fail to comply. "
Night Crawler System is used by the government to block unauthorized access to unregistered websites. For more reading, check out Steven Cherry's Net Effect and Joho the Blog

From Kaifeng to New York, Glory is ephemeral as smoke and clouds

2005-05-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

"As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China." Nicholas Kristof

quote of the day

2005-05-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

[NYTimes, May 15, 2005] "Being born in the elite in the U.S. gives you a constellation of privileges that very few people in the world have ever experienced. Being born poor in the U.S. gives you disadvantages unlike anything in Western Europe and Japan and Canada." DAVID I. LEVINE, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

When I read the quote, I just can't help thinking how suitable the quote is for the situation of China. On a second thought, I have to admit the narrow perspective of Americans. As the richest country in the world, from when could its people and experts of economics start to adopt the global perspective, look beyond the 'America', and look outside the box.

Game-playing kids read more?

2005-04-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

An interesting read from "Generation M: Reports on Kids and Multimedia": Young people today are media-saturated, spending an average of 61/2 hours a day with all kinds of media, especially multimedia. "Heavy video game use does not mean less reading - in fact heavy game players seemed to read more and spend more time with their parents (see full report for details of this)- but there seem to be some mixed results. Children with the poorest grades, had the lowest times spent reading (no surprise), but also spent more time each day playing video games."

Education goes global?

2005-04-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Read and like Owen Hembry's article "Education goes global". His opening remark of "Collaboration among institutions and a shift to student-centred learning using the internet are the future of tertiary educatio" sounds very old cliche, but IT IS TRUE. And the lack of awareness of the challenge that higher ed is facing is startling. The real challenge for higher ed and its faculty is the total mindset change from the chalk-and-talk to different learning styles, learning opportunities, learning experiences and the exploding learning interaction.

Are we ready for elearning?

2005-04-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

[Learning Circuits, April 2005] In this article, Karl Kapp proposes "an excellent method for pinpointing the needs of your organization and for developing an accurate list of requirements is to conduct an E-Learning Readiness Assessment". The learning needs of a corporation are assessed in five categories: business, financial, cultural, technological and learning. To read the original article: http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/apr2005/kapp.htm

10 places of my city - Eugene, Oregon

2005-04-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

University of Oregon Library: 很别致的图书馆,特别喜欢它的厚厚的铁门,很有历史感的那种。有很完整的东亚区藏书,在那里找到了我以前爱读的"小说月报"。
Starbucks Cafe on 13th near UO: UO 学生的集聚地，学习，会友，聊天。很喜欢沿街靠窗的那一排橘黄色的小灯。
Eugene Station: 雨津公交（LTD）的枢纽中转站，也是雨津嬉皮人士集散地。经常坐标36路车，可以看到很多所谓的“怪人”。这里是北美最Hippie小镇雨津的缩影。
Amazon Creek: 一直沿着亚瑪逊小溪跑步，散步。不知和www.amazon.com有没有什么关系。就象俄勒冈小镇Half在www.half.com的鼓动和赞助下该名为Half.com。
Spencer Butte: 雨津的最高峰，Hiking的好地方，在最高点可以看到Willimette River 和 Three Sisters。不过，要注意树林里的有毒Oak和rattlesnake。
Ｓkinner Butte: 在雨津Downtown, 离Ａmtrak很近，沿僻静的小路走上去，可以俯瞰小镇全貌。
Sweet Life: 在７街附近Monroe Ave 上的一家甜品店，很别致幽雅，它的Cheese Cake很好吃。
Ｗestmoreland Vegatable Garden: 从我们住的公寓客厅看出去，是一片菜地，据说很多中国学生承租了地种菜。很喜欢看到一家几口在菜地干活的融融景象。
Ｖalley River Center: 雨津downtown附近唯一的购物中心，那里有我喜欢的Barnes & Nobles 书店。
Saturday Market: 由于天转暖，一直在室内的周六集市有到了室外，在Lane County Courthouse 附近，可以看到hippies,　各种工艺品和世界各地的食物。

Technorati Tags: 10placesofmycity

making digital knowledge work visible

2005-04-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

[Enterprise System, March 29, 2005] Knowledge work was visible in the old-style process. In comparison, the digitalization of knowledge work has tended to execute it more invisibly. Is it necessary to bring visibility to the digitalized knowledge work? This requires a conscious effort in preserving/maintaining the visibility of knowledge flow when using technological tools.

This article addresses the issue by analyzing the causes of invisibilty, and providing solutions. A nice quote from the article: "The right starting point is to simply make the flow of work more visible." Read the original article.

LTD strike

2005-03-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

After a marathon negotiation, no agreement was reached between LTD (Lane Transit District) and union workers. March 7, 2005, starting from 12:01am, marked the first day of the first strike in LTD's 35-year history in Eugene, Oregon.

In loving memory of Hatoon

2005-03-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

It is been a week since Hatoon passed away. Hatoon is the name she gave to herself, meaning "mother of all people". She is in the hearts of many many people who know the University of Oregon. May she be happy up in heaven.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/03/03/a1.hatoon.0303.html

2004-09-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Marc Prensky has a great article in Strategy in Business on why oldsters (i.e. >25) must listen to the newer generation:

Why do I call these young computer enthusiasts and organizational activists “digital natives”? Think about the extraordinary cumulative digital experiences of each of these future leaders: an average of close to 10,000 hours playing video games; more than 200,000 e-mails and instant messages sent and received; nearly 10,000 hours of talking, playing games, and using data on cell phones; more than 20,000 hours spent watching TV; almost 500,000 commercials seen — all before they finished college. At most, they’ve logged only 5,000 hours of book reading.

This generation is better than any before at absorbing information and making decisions quickly, as well as at multitasking and parallel processing. In contrast, people age 30 or older are “digital immigrants” because they can never be as fluent in technology as a native who was born into it. You can see it in the digital immigrants’ “accent” — whether it is printing out e-mails or typing with fingers rather than thumbs. Have you ever noticed that digital natives, unlike digital immigrants, don’t talk about “information overload”? Rather, they crave more information.

Remember at one Technology-focused exposition, one invited guest speaker asked the audience a series of questions:
Q: How many of you have cellphones?
A: more than half raised their hands.
Q:how many of your have one email account?
A: almost everyone raised their hand.
Q: How many of you have more than one email account?
A: more than half of the audience raised their hands.
Q: How many of you use Instant Messenging?
A: Less people raised their hands, some even asked what Instant Messenge is.
Q: How many of you use mobile technology?
A: evern less hands up.
Q...
A...

What generation do you belong to at this info-rich era?

That is what we do

2004-09-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you brought someone from another planet and the person went back and wrote a report of our planet-earth, the report would be like this: People on earth move around, give papes and receive papers. End of the story. That is what we do. The higher you get in society, the more peper you give and the more papers you receive and the more papers you read. Say a university professor. His/her students slide their papers under his/her office door. In the evening, the cleaning lady comes into the office building and open the professor's door, and the lady knows exactly what papers to put into the trashcan and what papers on the professor's deak for him/her to read when he/she comes in tomorrow.

Another fact of our simple life is that we always try to label things with numbers: a seemingly mutual numerical designation. For example, when you go into a sportswear section of a department store and ask to see a, say sport jacket. The saleperson would ask "what is your size?". And don't we always know out shoe size, hat size, shirt size, etc. Don't we number everything? Even computers use the numbers 0 and 1.

New Semester

2004-08-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

New semester starts with taking a friend to the outlet shoppong mall. Good thing about this is that I avoided going to school, especially the pain in the behind problem of parking.

What is RSS

2004-08-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

Dan Bricklin writes a nice piece on RSS.

What can teens wear?

2004-08-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

20/20 yesterday evening was focusing on Teen culture, or to be more exact, teen fashion in America. One snapshot was VERY impressive: a junior high school gal was telling the reporter that the school was asking students to wear shorts at certain length, but she could not find any of those in the mall because shops just don't carry non-short shorts. Sounds weird, but it is the reality. Browse websites and magazines and TV screen, what is showing in front of teen's eyes is the less clothes, the more fashionable. One parent asks a good question: how much skin should you expose? A good questions for not only teenagers. The whole entertaining industry is catering for a wide age groups, including teens with super mini-short skirts, underwears as outfits, body piecing, skin exposing, all the so-called being sexy. What the heck is going on with those role models for teens? No wonder the juvenile depinquency is rising, no wonder teens complain about not finding their true north, no wonder pants are down at the crack, no wonder high school drop-out rate is rocketing.

It reminds me of Bill Cosby's speech given to the NAACP in the commemeration of the 50th Anniversary of Brown vs Board of Education at DC in which he commented on the black community, seriously and relently criticizing some black parents are simply not parenting. Powerful remarks by the American grandfather comedian, not only for the black community, but also for other peoples.

How far could the teens go? Where could they go?

Tom's persepective on Hurricane Charley and its aftermath

2004-08-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

Like to read Tom's perspective on Hurricane Charley.

NBC coverage of Olymptics

2004-08-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

The coverage of olymptics by NBC sucks. Let alone the non-spontaneous coverage, Michael Phelps takes a lion's share of the total air time. I am not auguing against his super swimming skill, but the TV coverage reflects somewhat the American perspective converning an global event. Where stands America in the globalization? TV channels seldom braodcast world news, Radios seldom air what's going on in other parts of the world, music stations seldom or never represent foreign music. One simple reason, not many americans care about other peoples and other corners of the globe.

On the other side of the coin, like many other countries, media is heavily political on this piece of democratic land. recall a movie directed by Michael Mann, "Insider" featureing Al Pacono and Russel Crowe. In the movie, a giant news channel like CBS could not risk losing its market by airing an interview which reveals the inside secrets of tabacco industry cheating customers. Sense of responsibility and integrity proves the upper hand with Dr. Wigand and 60-minute producer Bergman getting the interview on everyone's TV screen finally stripping the dirty, cheating tabacco industry.

Wireless at Library

2004-08-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning, sitting in the favirite spot at the univ library, wireless online. Checking some of my favorite blogs, reading some good articles (happen to read one by Josh Bersin, principal at Bersin & Associates, talking about Rapid e-learning design as a breakthrough in instructional design), furling some cool websites such as TECH TIME: 50 Best Websites: News and Information, writing down some thoughts. Life seems pretty leisure before the new semester starts in a couple of days. Got to have some break before plunging into the academia.

Wolf Totem

2004-08-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

A good read--Wolf Totem. An epic about wolf. You would be amazed by the so many similarities between wolf and human being. Actually, you should not be amazed. The similarities have been existing for centuries.

Questions of Audience

2004-08-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Read a great post by Barbara Ganley on blogging and the questions of audience. When writing, in whatever forms, paper-and-pencil, on the computer, on the white or blackboard, at the bloggosphere or the wikipodia, there is always the questions of audience, who are we writing for, for what purposes, and why are we writing. As far as blogging is concerned, Barbara raised a couple of questions: "Who indeed am I writing for? Who are my students writing for? Why is it that people abandon their blogs--is it because no one is responding? Is it because the responsibility for saying something meaningful gets to be too much? What does it mean to have readers who do not respond or do not link but merely read our writing in a medium that is all about the linking, the commenting? How does public blogging affect our whole notion of classroom community, of what constitutes a viable mode of academic discourse?"

To some degree, I would like regard blogging as "conversation". some kind of conversation the blogger hopes to carry out with other bloggers or those who happen to peek into the blog, or sometimes to the blogger him/herslf. We don't always need an audience for our writing because writing is some monologue form, isn't it? However, as human interaction is optimized via the internet, known or unknown people abound in the cyberspace, we yearn for some real conversation, some real talk on some real things. Quoting Norm Kamikow, Editor-in-chief of CLO Magazine (Chief Learning Officer magazine) at his editorial address of the August issue of the magazine, he is thinking of "conversation".

The ultimate question about blogging might be that do we really care about whether people read our blogs and do we really cater for other people's appreciation and do they really like to make conversation.

Ditigal identity

2004-08-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

At Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) this year, Danah Boyd will be teaming up Michele Chang and Liz Goodman to organize a workshop called "Representations of Digital Identity.". They would like to bring together interesting people working on how people represent and manage identity in a digital environment. A workshop of this type is where people working on the same problems come together to brainstorm and tackle confounding issues.

This workshop will address the many ways by which online presentations of self have been — and could be — constructed. In the absence of the body as a source of accountability and social legibility, individuals project a sense of self through multiple layers of mediation, including email addresses, graphic avatars, "friend lists," and results from search engines. How can we use the body in a mediated world? Or alternately, how can we promote rich modes of interaction that do not rely on the illusion of physical presence?

Who are we?

China Bravo

2004-08-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Proud of my homeland, People's Republic of China. Pround of Chinese athletes at the Athens 2004 Olympics. Medal Rank.

Feel very different watching Olympics away from one's homeland. Something more exciting when seeing Chinese athletes winning gold medals at the games. Someone calls that patriotism, isn't it. I am not sure if that is the exact word to describe the feeling, though I do feel closer to the homeland seeing the Chinese national anthem chimed in at Athens.

Some Media coverage of Harricane Charley

2004-08-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 13, 2004. Hurricane Charley slammed Florida.

Jeneane Sessum blogged about Hurricane Charley.
WeatherBug Meteorologist Ryan Towell , a former TV meteorologist kept a blog also.
CNN news
BBC pictures news
Accuweather.com
someone's Mac homepage

Hurricane Charley Over

2004-08-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

It was very scary last week because of the coming of Hurricane Charley, especially it was predicted to hit Tampa Bay area. More than 1.9 million people were mandatorily asked to evacuate to higher grounds, leaving their beloved beach houses. It was a chaoes everywhere. I went to the grocery to get some water and food, but all the bottled water was gone when I got to the store about 7pm Thursday. Friends called me to ask me to go to orlando, blur, blur. Everyone was talking about Hurricane Charley, TV was on 24/7. ALl necessary steps have been taken to avoid possible destruction. Wait, wait, wait. Watching TV, getting online, calling the EOC center, talking to friends, everyone was monitoring the whereabouts of Hurricanes, where would it go. The question was whether it would turn at some point and leave Tampa Bay. There was a range of walbling left or right shown on the track on the TV screen. On the highway, cars were jammed as people move out of the lower seaside lands, while some people decided to ride it out staying in their homes though they were highly urged to leave. One of the reasons they were doing so was that they believe the hurricane would change track finally.

It was until 2pm Friday that we got to know the Hurricane Charley was changing its track a little to the Northeast, possibly missing Tampa Bay. Of course it was good news to the bay areas residents, but it was disastrous news to those not warned of evacuation in those areas now right on the track of hit by the hurricane. Emergency evacuation was carried out, people moving, cars running, helpers working, etc.

Hurricane Charley hit the land at Port Charlotte a bit northeast of Sarosota. Hard hit. A category III turning IV hurricane hit the port hard, 140 mph high winds, 12-20 ft sea tide. You could imagine the power of the hurricane. Flodding, fallen trees, highy winds, shattered houses, derooted roofs, flying debris. It was a mess, big mess. It was a chaos. big chaos.

Look at the aftermath of hurricane on TV was striking, frightening, shocking, stunning and saddening. People killed, striped of their homes, lost their relatives and pets, injuried, heart-broken, shaken, terrified, and... The Hurricane Charley has made a big mess of destruction in Florida. Mother nature is merciless in this matter.

Life is precious.

Teen Choice Award

2004-08-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

I was watching yesterday evening on FOX the "2004 Teen Choice Awards". I was amazed, I have to admit, as well as puzzled by what Americans teens like, music they listen, bands they appreciate, reality shows they are interested in, TV drama actors and actresses they love, etc. WOW, eye-opening experience into the teen culture. I feel I am OLD, and very distant from their reality. It didn't at all remind me of my teenage years back in China. What was I doing back then? There were no MTVs, CDs, not that many movies. What music was I listening then? "I have nothing" was popular then, I remember. Lots of stuff I can not remember now.

Watching those teen stars, teen presenters on stage, their young faces, their passion, enthusiasm for they are doing. Impressed. What a brand-new world they are holding in their hands, or should I say, a totally different one they are enjoying.

Read a biography of Sylvia Plath written by Paul Alexander "Tough magic". The title of the book was a quote from Shakespeare. It was a long time ago since I last read some shakespeare. Maybe I should take it up sometime. Paul is a beautiful writer of biography. A genius write as Sylvia is, she had her experience and insights and reflections of life, therefore she has the power to pour her thoughts into poems, stories, and novels. Her novel "Bell Jar' is fascinating, deeply influenced by Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye", one of her favorite book in literature. You have to admit the impact of family and society on one's growing-up and what kind of person one is to become. However, tragically Silvia killed herself at the age of 31 due to deep depression resulted from extranged marriage, family issues, inner struggle with litarary creation, and a whole bunch of unknown reasons. remember who said once that most of literary creators are more or less perverts or psychies.

Sometimes It just feels good to be an ordinary person.

Re-read "The Catcher in the Rye"

2004-08-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

I didn't feel like doing anything serious yesterday and took up "The Catcher in the Rye" for the re-read. The reading process was refreshing my memories of the first time I read this book in college some 10ish years ago. Feelings are different now, reflections are different, so does understanding and take-in of what J. D. Salinger was trying to express in this masterpiece. Salinger is a genius in conversation, beautiful dialogues in the novels, marvelous use of the English vocabulary, to borrow one of the words from the book, the language is "Grand". No wonder the book is still popular among people of various ages through the generations. Now I can better understand why that guy tried to shoot President Reagon in 1981, why the other guy shot and killed John lennon in 1980, etc. They all had one thing in common, reading "The Catcher in the Rye" numerous times and deeply influenced by the book. For generations anf generations, the book has been listed as a must-read in school reading literature requirement. You could feel the influence of Fitzerald and Hemingway in Salinger's writing. One thing which is still puzzling is that why Salinger became a recluse and refused to publish his writings after the big success in the history of literature as well as publishing, is it true as claimed by himself that he is till writing, just not publishing, or he was not writing because the "Cather" has been the peak of his literaty creation, or his age has stopped his interest in young people who are always the center of his writing. Got pretty a few questions, but no answer. Gotta to read some biographies about him to find out.

Hunger Map

2004-08-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Life is not so good for those suffering from hunger. Hunger Map.

back to Tampa

2004-08-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

After driving over 1000 miles from Tampa to New York and experienced a series of things on the road and in the air, I got back to Tampa. Hot and humid as usual. Realize every time when I get back from traveling or going out of town, I feel at home in Tampa. Can clearly feel the attachment I have developed with this city. Weird enough though it is true. Back to school, the new semester starts in a couple of days. Gotta work hard this fall.

YC

2004-08-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

NYC, NYC, the Big Apple. After I got off the train from Woodbridge, NJ to New York City Penn Station, I had a first glimse of the super metropolitan. I wasn't impressed as expected though, and weird enough, the first image coming to my mind is Shanghai. For one moment when I stand on the corner of 7th ave and 34th street I was wondering " Am I in Shanghai?". On the train, NJ and NYC gave me the impression of being old and heavily industrialized. The so-called Garden State of NJ is not at all a garden state along the railway, what you see is not gardens, but trash, deserted houses, scattered everything. What you also see is graffiti everywhere, one the wall, on the train, at the corner, on the roof. They are beautiful, ugly, political, hunorous, rude, hilarious and everything. The once-upon-a-time trash form is being accepted as a art form gradually and is moving into some high-level gallary. Heard that some evernts have been inviting graffiti artisits to design the background, concert hall, etc. Doesn't everything has its value to exist.NYC is a paradox. Fashion, but dirty; hign-scale, but noisy; center of art, economony, etc, but you see lots of marginalized people around you; hospitable (BTW, I myself experienced the typical NY hospitality when I was wondering around on 7th ave looking lost), but detached; changing, but stagnant; high-rises, but too much trash. Blur blur blue... This reminds me of two lines from a once-popular TV serial about a group of Chinese people striving for life in America (Bejing Ren in New York): if you love him, bring him to New York; if you hate him, bting him to New York.Impressed though by the huuuuuuge JFK internatioal airport. It is really huuuuge. However, my flight back to Floirida was delayed though we were checked onto the plane on time. The reason given was that the weather was bad, then the second reason for further delay was that something was wong with the plane. damn, why could't they check for sure the plane works before bording passengers. Don't they value the lives and time of passengers? Anyway, people are rather nice and patient and maybe are enjoying the Direct TV. Now many airlines offer this luxury now since the sluggish economy influencing every corner of the country. I got to watch the "Western & Southern Financial Group Masters Tennis Game". It was a game between Agassi and Fish, almost 12-year of age difference, but agassi still wants to say that he is still in his prime time for tennis at the age of 34. Fish was too young as for experience on the court compared to Agassi though he could use his power serve to get a couple of aces. Finally he was beat by the legendary figure Agassi with 1-2.Everyone was enjoying their favirote show, feeling like at home. I was checking the Mapquest to see how far we are still from my destination. Just at that moment, the place dived suddenly. I happened so fast, like 1 or 2 seconds, everyone was "wow" "woo" during the process, my eyes caught the ALT of the plane on the TV screen, "37035" changed to "36885". It was scary, really scary, everyone was stunned, scared, surprised, but there was not sound, no shouts, no complaints, etc after the plane became stable again. It felt like some dream or whatever, everyone was still watching TV and no explanation was given what so ever by the service crew. I was wondering what was going on with the plane. After about 15 or some minutes, the captain told us that the plane was hit by hurricane and that happened in a split second. And there was nothing he could do, neither could us. He warned of similar dives ahead due to the bed weather condition. Could see lightening just outside the window. What a bad day for flying.

2004-07-29T05:13:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is moving to the north. Yesterday we went to the U-haul center near where we live and rented a U-haul truck. Unfortunately, just as he was back the truck out of the parking lot, he hit the rear bumper of another car, a nice-looking Acura. Bad luck, friend, though it was just a minor, barely noticiable scratch. Well, life is always playing some jokes on us, isn't it? What did we do? We left my friend's insurance contact to the couple who owned the car. I guess my friend's insurance premium will get an increase. careful driving always.

This reminds me of my car being hit by someone and it was a hit-and-run. Damn it. It was the right front bump, and a dent was created. However, after a couple of days, the dent was gone, though still leaving some scratches on the paint. I am not really blaming that guy now, maybe a little bit. Maybe he/she was driving in a hurry in the moring and didn't notice it. Anyway, there is always something you can make as an excuse. Life is that way.

The Johari Window

2004-07-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Another hot and humid day. Scattered showers caught me when I was sending one friend to the airport. Dunno what I was thinking when driving to the terminal or my friend was talking to me, we went to the wrong side (the Red one)of the terminal. However, a guy working at the airport pointed out a short-cut to switch to the right side (the Blue one), a really short cut. Never know of it before. Realized that it is always rewarding to ask someone else.

There is always something you don't know while others know, something you know while others don't know. The exchange of information also depends on how much we are willing to share. Don't we wish that we have had WiKi for a real long time. The social software makes it never so easy to share, collaborate and communicate.

This reminds me of the Johari Window. The four quardrants very graphically express how we communicate daily, how we interact with people, how we represent ourselves in the public domain, how much we know and how much we dunno about the world, and ourselves. We tend to be blind sometimes, don't we, especially about ourselves? Otherwise, we won't have so many nerd-headed ego-centrics. Well, it is interesting that Johari divided the four quadrants equally.
Jay Cross made pretty thought-provoking comments about Johari Window in his Internettime Blog.

reading for pleasure

2004-07-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Haven't done any serious reading this summer. Sometimes when i lie on bed thinking seriously, I start worrying about myself, worrying about the missing part of reading. Of course, I still read, read a lot actually, though not the reading in traditional sense. I still do reading for pleasure, now mostly online, plus a small portion of paperback bestsellers. Invevitabally I wonder about the reality of living in this info-rich era, when it is sooooo easy to access so much whatever you want to get access to instantly. However, kinda miss things like study groups, reading journals, blur blur blur. When I was a little boy, I used to be a fan of "shan nian wen yi"(a journal of essays in Chinese designed for youngsters to savorvarious literary genres). When I was a little boy, I used to read classics. I don't believe any younger people now still read classics, though some of them have been converted into e-versions. The NetGen are not interested in them or whatever, I am trying to find the reason, but always fail to figure it out. Aren't we promoting long-life learning in this e-world, and does learning include things that we should take up again. Anyway, what matters now is not how you learn things or how you are taught, but how you access and use the information available.

no rain

2004-07-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

It hasn't rained for over a week now in Tampa. Sort of weird in this lightening capital. It usually storms in the late afternoon this season of the year. When it pours, you kinda hate it, but when it does not rain, you kinda miss it. aren't we strange creatures.

Using blog in designing learning

2004-06-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Blog seems to be buzz word now in the cyber space, popular among ordinary people, business personel, learning professionals, etc. As Lev Grossman (Time Magazine, June 13th 2004) said: ""Why are more and more people getting their news from amateur websites called blogs? Because they're fast, funny and totally biased".

Read an interesting article at Australian Flexible Learning Community this morning. Author of the article peoposes a three-step model for using blog in designing learning: 1) intelligence gathering, 2) co-creation (design and development) and 3) facilitated engagement. Pretty impressive.