Small Miracle

This is the new promotional video. Nice......

Angels to the Rescue

I have a good excuse for taking a break from blogging all week: VBS. I guided a class of eight to ten--depending on the day--fifth and sixth grade girls, and it was more exhausting than herding cats. The sweetest moment occurred AFTER it ended. I was cleaning up my classroom while Pamela waited for me on the couch. Since I had no back-up plan for Pamela if she became unglued, I did not push her into anything. Whatever she did (usually, music and snack) was completely volunteer. Two girls from my class helped me clean up my room and then headed out into the hall, where other kids and adults were taking colored bulletin board paper off the walls.

Suddenly, Pamela jumped up and offered to help. I joined her, and we worked together to figure out what decorations to keep and what to rip. I started getting her to take tape off the wall and make a tape ball. She loved that, too. Then, she began helping the other kids take the paper off the wall, and I remembered my camera. I ran back to my classroom and grabbed the camera to capture her in action. The best moment of all was when she saw a girl jumping up to pull paper from above the doorway and Pamela tried a little problem solving! She gave the girl a boost, and even though her plan did not pan out, I was exhilarated!



Here is the coolest thing of all. The VBS coordinator had been talking to a friend on the phone saying, "I'm just going to come back on Sunday and clean things up. I am just way too tired to deal with it now." Five minutes later, the Holy Spirit called some angels into action. They eagerly and cheerfully took everything down and stuffed four large trashbags full of paper. The coordinator smiled with joy and relief as a living picture of "many hands make light work" unfolded before her eyes. Their zeal inspired her to join in and wrap up things very quickly.

The most important thing about VBS is not crafts, music, Bible lessons, memory verses, money, snacks, etc. What I cherish most is the relationships formed between all involved. Some warm memories I have:

• One cheerfully joined our group every day even though she was a year older and spent more time at VBS preparations because of her mother's volunteerism.
• Another wrote a sweet note to the new girl who came from out of state to attend VBS.
• Pamela could not catch a toy during the toy toss and one who had two things gave the stretchy lizard to Pamela.
• One quickly formed friendship with the girls from out of town.
• Another helped these girls make the map for our poster featuring the Compassion International child my family sponsors to whom the class wrote letters.
• One came back even though she skipped a day because of a sleepover.
• Another livened up every moment with her energy and chatty nature.
• One said her favorite moment when the class, on the spur of the moment, decided to make a craft for the kids in the nursery.
• Another came for only one day and nursed a cold the rest of the week, so we signed a card for her.
• One memorized verses effortlessly but did not mind sharing the limelight with others when the time came to recite for the assembly.
• A boy joined our class for a day and managed to blend in well with the group without the typical boy-girl rivalry.

Every day ended with the exciting moment when three boys, representing each team (every class was divided into three colors), raced to the top and won according to the team points (based on points awarded according to their trail journals). I am amazed that our church goes through so much effort to make VBS unforgettable.



The final cool thing: the kids collected over $300 for a children's home in the area that takes in children with family issues.

Smartbooks Revue, Voila !

Latest from the final frontier

Samsung / LG readies Smartbook ?

Qualcomm is hoping to boost the processing speed of more mobile devices after it announced it will be bringing a smartphone and smartbook based on its superfast Snapdragon chip.

For those that don't know / don't care about the smartbook category, it's a device that bridges the shrinking gap between a smartphone and a netbook, so basically high performance in a smaller package. (And yes, we hate the name too).

Compal's Snapdragon-powered smartbook

As if it wasn't clear already, smartbooks are one of the big trends (if not the biggest) to emerge out of this year's Computex, be they Snapdragon or Tegra-powered. Just as interesting as the devices themselves, however, is the fact that a number of manufacturers are looking at using Android as an OS for 'em, including big players like ASUS, and now Compal. While's ASUS' Snapdragon-based offering was impressive enough, Compal looks to have slightly outdone it by adding a customized interface at start-up, which is apparently just a taste of further "optimizations" to come

Nokia and Intel in a partnership that will define smartbook market ?
The companies will work on a new class of devices for the emerging smartbook or MID space


4 companies leading the mobile revolution. Qualcomm is one of them

QCOM is bridging the gap between smartphones and notebooks by creating a device called a smartbook. Smartbooks are mini-laptops that are similar to netbooks, but differ such that they operate on mobile phone chips (thus QCOM chips) as opposed to PC microchips, such as Intel’s (INTC) Atom microprocessors. This device will have “the portability and intuitive feel of a smartphone combined with the versatility and capability of a notebook.” Smartbooks will come in various forms “from larger, sub-notebook designs to compact, touch-screen tablets.”

New smartbook offerings coming this year on the wings of Intel / Nokia deal

"We would expect new netbook/smartbook offerings in coming months from other traditional handset vendors such as Motorola, Samsung, and LG. Intel announced a MID deal with Korean handset maker LG at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February of this year, with the launch of the first Intel MID by LG expected in 2010. In addition, we expect traditional PC players such as Acer, Asus, Dell, and HP to come forward with smartbook/smartphone like devices using applications processors from Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia in the next few months."

Nokia order Snapdragon smartbook

As for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset, that caused no small amount of fuss back at Computex for its role in the new ARM-based smartbook niche. A rival to Intel-based netbooks, smartbooks promise all-day battery life together with full wireless connectivity and HD media playback with HDMI connectivity.

After unhappy netbook users, there's place for happy smartbook users

The Linux segment is far from dead -- it's just getting started. But that's technically a "smartbook"..

The way you make me feel

Ever since I got the news of Michael Jackson's tour, I was always on the look out for a ticket. It was a dream to see him in action. I am sure it's a dream of everybody who enjoyed 80's music.

But it was a dream which was never lived to be true.

I woke up this morning to the news of his death. The man who lived in a world far far away from me made my heart sink for a while.

Now, I am not a crazy fan of MJ. I don't have his posters on my walls, not even have a single CD of him with me. But we grew up with him as kids in 80's

When we learnt to dance as pumped up teens, we tried to moon walk. Desperately tried to sing his songs imitating his unique voice in vein. Not to mentions the phrases of his songs we quoted to decorate our sweet love letters back then.

As most of the stars overwhelmed by wealth and fame would do, he also went crazy. MJ I saw as a teen, was not there anymore when I became a grown man. Nevertheless his talent and creativity stayed true to his reputation.

He was the greatest entertainer in our time. There may have been better singers and better dancers. But nobody could mix both talents together to entertain us like he did.He was a real genius of what he was doing.No matter what people say and how crazy he is, nobody can take that away from him.

To me he was a great ambassador of our time and a real music legend. When people label him as the King of the Pop I agree with them 100%. Sold 65 millions of copies of Thriller and stayed under the spot light for 45 years, out of his 50 living years ! That is enough to justify that title.

Michael Jackson, This little note is to thank you for what you have done for music and to bid you farewell. May you rest in peace !

Listen to the words of the man who lost his childhood........

Patriotism reborn ! Three cheers for Kumar

Apple Smartbook In The Pipeline Or Is It iPhone 4G ?

Wireless patent

According to some reports about new Apple granted patents, there's got to be something at Apple about unknown wireless electronic device:

The twist however, is that the patent is about a hybrid antenna consisting of one antenna for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth and the other for 3G data communications. When combined within the framework of a subnotebook that could run software such as an internet browser, voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, email applications and media playback applications, we are then presented with the classic definition of what a smartbook is.

Chat With Automatic Translation In 45 Languages

Google tech solved century-long problem. Tower of Babel doesn't exist anymore.



I like magic-like web services. BabelWith.me is certanly one of those. Just imagine having one of those pocket devices with something similar ( software ) just audio-based. Truly global !

BabelWith.Me is a new service which creates disposable chat rooms where you can have quick conversations. However, unlike many other disposable chatroom creators, it not only creates a disposable chatroom but also lets you chat with people knowing language other than yours by automagically translating your conversations into over 45 languages as per your selection.

The Chinese Astrology

I am a quite chinese typical minded person who would spend some of his free time reading on chinese astrologies, that is the compatibility of the 12 animals in the chinese calendar. Coincidently, a friend of mine (her name is Ka Ka) and I have discussed about this topic based on her understanding from the 'Tong Seng' (a book that provide thorough understanding of every aspects related to the chinese astrology). Here is what we found:


Caption: the 12 animals and its elements in the chinese calendar

The zodiac sign and birth time: I was told that the order of the zodiac sign were originated in the Han Dynasty (206 - 220 B. C.) based on the 12 animal-time periods in a day. The birth time is of important in the chinese culture where it determine the person's futuristic life (this is what I understand so far). On the other hand, some people would even match their birth time to choose their life-time partner. If it is not matching, then they are considered as not compatible.

1. If you were born between 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.: the time rats actively seek food;
2. If you were born between 1 to 3 a.m.: a time that oxen regurgitate;
3. If you were born between 3 to 5 a.m.: tiger hunt prey and display their fiercest nature;
4. If you were born between 5 to 7 a.m.: based on tales, the jade rabbit on the moon was busy pounding medicinal herb with a pestle;
5. If you were born between 7 to 9 a.m.: dragons were said to hover in the sky to give people rainfall;
6. If you were born between 9 to 11 a.m.: snakes start to leave their burrows;
7. If you were born between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: the day is flourishing, as vigorous as an unconstrained horse;
8. If you were born between 1 to 3 p.m.: it was said that if sheep ate grass at this time, they would grow stronger;
9. If you were born between 3 to 5 p.m.: monkeys become lively;
10. If you were born between 5 to 7 p.m.: roosters return to their roost as it is dark;
11. If you were born between 7 to 9 p.m.: dogs begin to carry out their duty to guard entrances;
12. If you were born between 9 to 11 p.m.: all is quiet and pigs are sleeping soundly.


Caption: the chinese astrology chart for animals

I am also going to note the compatibility of different animal based on the chinese calendar. Of course, I would not know how much should we believe on the astrology below, but based on Ka Ka and my observation, this is relatively accurate and should be used as a general guideline in our live when necessary.

The characteristic and compatibility of each and every animal in the chinese astrology:

1. Year of the Rat – (year of birth) 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032, 2044

Best match for the rat : dragon, monkey, ox
Worst match for the rat : sheep, horse, rabbit, rooster

2. Year of the Ox - (year of birth) 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033, 2045

Best match for the ox: rat, snake, rooster
Worst match for the ox: dragon, horse, sheep, dog, rabbit

3. Year of the Tiger - (year of birth) 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034, 2046

Best match for the tiger: horse, dog
Worst match for the tiger: snake, monkey

4. Year of the Rabbit - (year of birth) 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2036, 2047

Best match for the rabbit: sheep, dog, pig
Worst match for the rabbit: rat, ox, dragon, rooster, horse

5. Year of the Dragon - (year of birth) 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036, 2048

Best match for the dragon: rat, monkey, rooster
Worst match for the dragon: dog, ox, dragon, rabbit

6. Year of the Snake - (year of birth) 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025, 2037, 2049

Best match for the snake: ox, rooster
Worst match for the snake: tiger, monkey, pig

7. Year of Horse - (year of birth) 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954,1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026, 2038, 2050

Best match for the horse: tiger, sheep, dog
Worst match for the horse: rat, ox, rabbit, horse

8.Year of the Sheep - (year of birth) 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027, 2039, 2051

Best match for the sheep: rabbit, horse, pig
Worst match for the animal: rat, ox, dog

9. Year of the Monkey - (year of birth) 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028, 2040, 2052

Best match for the monkey: rat, dragon
Worst match for the monkey: tiger, snake, pig

10. Year of the Rooster - (year of birth) 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029, 2041, 2053

Best match for the rooster: ox, dragon, snake
Worst match for the rooster: rooster, dog, rabbit

11. Year of the Dog - (year of birth) 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030, 2042, 2054

Best match for the dog: tiger, rabbit, horse
Worst match for the dog: ox, dragon, sheep, rooster

12. Year of the Pig - (year of birth) 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2020, 2031, 2043

Best match for the pig: sheep, rabbit
Worst match for the pig: snake, pig, monkey

Look like it is a difficult task to look for a life-time partner if you were to look for one based on the justification from the chinese astrology, lol. For me, I think I should better trust the chinese astrology based on the depiction of some relatives' life, and have proven that the compatibility of animals may seriously influence their future :)

Arriving at Heathrow Airport (UK)

I am unable to write much post until the end of July since I do not have the time to sit at home for blogging until then. Too much travelling, which also mean a lot more upcoming post to be written soon. Anyway, I will try to insert as many pictures as possible into this post.


Caption: my brother and Liz at Heathrow


Caption: Liz and mom at Heathrow

My brother and I went to pickup my mom and Liz at Heathrow Airport. Happy! Happy! We were probably out of luck when there are some major delay in the Hammersmith tube station. Somehow, I have a bad and weird feeling when I could see no one waiting for the tube to Heathrow Terminal 1, 2, 3. Finally, we realized that the tube is not going to Heathrow airport due to maintenance :( So, we spend an extra hour travelling to Heathrow by bus. Therefore, if you are planning to travel to the UK, try not to travel during the weekend since I heard the TFL is planning to have service maintenance until the end of year 2012. Finally we reached Heathrow. As usual, I took some pictures for them. I will try to summarize their life in the UK. Due to jet lag (a psychological condition in which will consequently alter the circadian rhythm, related to sleep disorder), they spend a night sleeping at home.


Caption: some event at Westbourne Park

It may sound funny since normally, a person who first visit the UK will ask to visit the tower bridge. However, my brother brought Liz to Oxford street instead. Probably she is some kind of shopaholic? Sorry Liz, lol. I do know she love shopping. Anyway, we spend approximately 5 hours in Oxford street. A very very busy day on that day. The main reason she travelled to the UK is to attend my brother's graduation. On the other hand, she could only apply for 2 weeks leave. Therefore, she treated travelling around London as a complement. Besides that, we have no intention to travel too many places in UK due to the widely spread of swine flu disease. It was mentioned by the BBC news, stating that there were at least 100, 000 cases of swine flu around the globe everyday, and 8, 000 cases only in the UK. I have a little worried of this. Besides that, there is this deliberately sad news, stating that a similar kind of disease to the H1N1 is spreadingg, not through pigs, but through dogs. I assume puppies were included in the list :( Basically, there were lots of types of influenza disease (click HERE) So, the best solution is to stay more at home instead of travelling around at this time.


Caption: the original structure of Stonehenge


Caption: Liz at Stonehenge


Caption: Daryl and Liz at Stonehenge


Caption: somewhere near Stonehenge


Caption: city of Bath


Caption: Liz at Bath


Caption: Bath

Truthfully, there is nothing much to see in the UK. You may probably only need 3 days to travel around those famous places of interest in London. So, the forth day, we booked few tickets to Stonehenge (is a one of the seven human-made wonder or monumen located at Salisbury in the UK) and Bath (is a traditional english town in the UK where you may find the roman architecture and buildings such as the ancient roman bath). The original structure of the Stonehenge was build off a combination of stones, producing a circle form of rock. Due to the acid rain, the entire Stonehenge was nearly demolished. Some believed that the Stonehenge is a place where ancient human uses it for prayers. Anyway, it remained puzzled until today. I did not follow them to bath though, since I have been travelling to that 2 places for more than ten times.

We went to hyde park on the following day. Before going to hyde park, we met Ka Ka (one of my musician friend) shopping around Bayswater (somewhere near hyde park). I managed to take a picture with her on that day.


Caption: Ka Ka and I


Caption: at the front of Kensington Palace


Caption: the pool in Hyde Park

Hyde park is the largest park in central london, UK. Hyde park covers 350 acres (around 1.4 km). There are approximately 4,000 trees, a lake, a meadow, and a horse ride in the middle of london. The park is opposite the Queensway tube station in London (central or red-coloured line). You may find the Kensington palace in the middle-west section of the park. I have been visiting the hyde park for more than 50 times but could not get near to the Kensington palace. This means that I have approached the inner building of the Kensington palace until that day. So, I think Liz is considered as a very lucky person.


Caption: Happy Birthday Liz


Caption: this is what they brought, envy envy


Caption: mom posing with LV bag and sunglasses


Caption: mom enjoying her pizza portion

By the way, it was Liz's birthday on that day. Coincidently, she shared the same birth date as Princess Diana. What a coincidence! I also heard she had a really great day with Daryl (my brother). They came home with some birthday presents. They unwrapped them together. Later, mom loan them for picture taking. Both of them also brought some pizza from Bella Italia (an Itallian restaurant) back home for mom and I.


Caption: opposite the four season chinese restaurant

Before the end of this post, I would like to recommend two chinese restaurant for people who love eating duck (1) Four Season and (2) Gold Mine, opposite the Whiteleys building, located at Bayswater. The duck is really tasty and 'juicy'. Try it yourself and you will know it :)

Making Connections a la Charlotte Mason

Thursday, Pamela and I did our first picture talk on Monet, blending Charlotte Mason, RDI, and Visualizing and Verbalizing. Charlotte Mason was way ahead of the game in V&V because she suggested a portion of the out-of-door life for children under six must include "sight-seeing" and "picture-painting" (Volume 1, pages 45-51):

• "The children will delight in this game of picture-painting all the more if the mother introduce it by describing some great picture gallery she has seen––pictures of mountains, of moors, of stormy seas, of ploughed fields, of little children at play, of an old woman knitting,––and goes on to say, that though she does not paint her pictures on canvas and have them put in frames, she carries about with her just such a picture gallery; for whenever she sees anything lovely or interesting, she looks at it until she has the picture in her mind's eye; and then she carries it away with her, her own for ever, a picture on view just when she wants it."
• "At first the children will want a little help in the art of seeing. The mother will say, 'Look at the reflection of the trees! There might be a wood under the water. What do those standing up leaves remind you of?' And so on, until the children have noticed the salient points of the scene."
• "She will even herself learn off two or three scenes, and describe them with closed eyes for the children's amusement; and such little mimics are they, and at the same time so sympathetic, that any graceful fanciful touch which she throws into her descriptions will be reproduced with variations in theirs."
• "Find out all you can about that cottage at the foot of the hill; but do not pry about too much. Soon they are back, and there is a crowd of excited faces, and a hubbub of tongues, and random observations are shot breathlessly into the mother's ear."
• "So exceedingly delightful is this faculty of taking mental photographs, exact images, of the beauties of Nature we go about the world for the refreshment of seeing, that it is worth while to exercise children in another way towards this end, bearing in mind, however, that they see the near and the minute, but can only be made with an effort to look at the wide and the distant."
• "Get the children to look well at some patch of landscape, and then to shut their eyes and call up the picture before them, if any bit of it is blurred, they had better look again. When they have a perfect image before their eyes, let them say what they see."
• "This is all play to the children, but the mother is doing invaluable work; she is training their powers of observation and expression, increasing their vocabulary and their range of ideas by giving them the name and the uses of an object at the right moment,––when they ask, 'What is it?' and 'What is it for?'"

With a non-verbal child, foundations for this activity are built by exploring an area together, pointing, smiling, nodding, and sharing simple words with delighted facial expressions and joyful vocal tones . . . smelling flowers and listening for birds . . . filling the bird feeders and quietly watching friends arrive (even furry ones) . . . planting quick-growing seeds and checking their progress every day. . . leaving out sugar for ants and watching what they do . . . watching bees and butterflies flit from flower to flower . . . laying on the ground and studying the clouds . . . sitting on the porch watching a storm in all its glory . . . spying a shy little gecko (which may even bring on a GEICO commercial stim).

Charlotte Mason did not believe in formal lesson plans for young children (this blogger has great ideas for teaching without worksheets). Once they turn six or seven or eight, they were usually ready for short (no-more-than-15-minute) lessons like picture-talks. If you could reduce a lesson to boiler plate, it would be: review and preview, study, narrate (with materials put away), and discuss. We are not putting away the pictures because Pamela needs practice narrating what she sees; in time, I think she will be able to do a picture-talk exactly as described.

Review and Preview - Pamela shares what she remembers of Madame Monet in Japanese Costume, and I give her a little bit more background information about the Monets. First, Pamela remembered the woman, so I gave Pamela her name, Alice Monet, the wife of Claude Monet. She told me he was the husband, and I mentioned that he was an artist in France. Pamela remember that Alice wore the "butterfly red dress." I gave her a new vocabulary word for a Japanese dress, kimono. Then, we recalled the gestalt, "Alice was wearing a kimono and dancing with a fan."


Study - In a typical lesson, the child focuses full attention on a passage to read, a picture to see, or an object of nature to watch. Once the child is ready, you would put away the material and go to the next step. We are combining the steps of study and narration because Pamela is still working on her narration, or expressive language, which has improved so much in the past five years that she is almost ready to describe what she sees in her mind! (I encourage parents of non- and low-verbal children to never say never!)

Narrate - Pamela tells me what she sees. If she were narrating from memory, I would not interrupt her. Since we are practicing the art of verbally painting a picture, in this case Madame Gaudibert, I am asking questions only when she does not give enough information about an item. First, she talked about the woman's clothing, her hair. She described the background: the floor, the wall curtain, and a table with a vase.


Discuss - In our grand conversation, I point out what I see and comment on any differences. Then, we talk about what it reminds me of. We talked about the curtain being bigger than I imagined and the number of flowers. I introduced two new vocabulary words with gestures to illustrate them, shawl and bun. When Pamela said the lady reminded her of Topsy-Turvy, a movie about Gilbert and Sullivan set in the late 1800s, I nearly fell out of my chair! Pamela made a wonderful gestalt connection between the style of dress in Monet's picture to a movie set in the same time period! When I mentioned the late 1800s, she said, "19th century" and my mention of England caused her to guess, "London"--other neat connections. I told Pamela it reminded me of Laura Ingalls wedding dress, and she too lived in the late 1800s. In this clip, you see the science of relations in action, having a relationship with the object of study, making connections, and linking known (Topsy-Turvy and Laura) to unknown (Claude Monet). This kind of thinking transfers into long-term memory more easily (for greater detail on this process, read Dr. Carroll Smith's article "Is Sequencing and Ordering the Curriculum Important for Scaffolding Learning?".)


You may have been distracted by the balloon. If we were in a classroom where she might disturb other children, I would give Pamela something like play-dough for a fidget toy. The point of our activity was language development, and, as long as Pamela stayed on task, I did not worry about the balloon. The lovely consequence of my decision to let it alone is a recording of Pamela blowing up a balloon, tying it all by herself, and asking me to pop it--something, she would not and could not do two months ago!

Prodigle sons and daughters

I had the chance to meet a hardcore LTTE sympathizer few days back. In fact you could call him an ex LTTE member 'cause he was actively involved in pro LTTE activities like collecting ransom money, in the past in his prime times. Now he is a man in his 50s and runs a small time grocery in South Wales.

My first question to him was "what happened to LTTE ?", in a quiet sarcastic way I must admit.

He went really ballistic and answered my one line question with a thousand lines answer. He was obviously upset and furious ! I could not comprehend most of his out burst. From what I gathered, for him Prabhakaran is not dead ! Apparently it's just a part of the plan. According to him he is still well alive and safe and planning the future of the Tamils. He still believes in an Eelam and not happy to recognize the central government as the governing body of Sri Lanka.

Even if we destroy thousand Prabhakarans or annihilate thousand LTTE terrorist gangs these people will never change. Even though labeled as Tamils the diaspora tamils are totally different to our Sri Lankan Tamils in there thinking and attitude.They are driven by hate and vengeance.


Look at these people. Are they truly representing the poor Tamils in Sri Lanka? Has this girl ever being to Sri Lanka? I wonder! All they are worried about is their own well being. Most of these people settled down in UK and other countries as refugees. To maintain their jolly life they need a war in Sri Lanka. That's all they are worried about.

These people are not Sri Lankans anymore. They burn our flag. Demand others to boycott Sri Lanka. These people are the real enemies of Sri Lanka. All these photos should be fed to the Sri lankan intelligence database and they should be banned from entering our country in the future.

It is governments responsibility to look after the innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka and we should make every effort to win their trust which we lost in the past. That is the only way to rise as a one nation, one country. More importantly that is the best way to silence these worthless and ungrateful Tamil diaspora.

Madame Monet in Japanese Costume

Pamela is doing many wonderful things, and I especially love how her language is suddenly blossoming. I suspect the association method gave her the mechanics, while RDI helped her become more self-motivated about sharing what she thinks. In RDI, we have been working on showing her how to give a big picture statement about a picture. Before leaving the conference, our consultant was ready for a slightly more abstract step: instead of drawing what she describes, I write down sentences. We follow the same process as before only Pamela dictates what I write, not what I draw.

Before leaving for the ChildLight USA Conference, something hit me! Why not use this as an opportunity to do picture-talks a al Charlotte Mason? I cut out eight pictures by Monet and Pamela picked one called Madame Monet in Japanese Costume. The video shows Pamela narrating what she sees and me asking questions so that I could better visualize what she said.

Our Collective Narration
"The woman wears a red dress. She is holding a big, white fan. She is dancing by herself. She stands on the peach and gray checkered floor. She has short, orange hair and a white face. Some fans are on the wall everywhere. The lady is Japanese. Her dress is decorated with small butterflies. It has a strong man with strong arms on the back. Two fans are on the floor. "

(Pamela's original words are red.)



I thought it might be helpful to adapt my lesson plan to the example Charlotte Mason gave in Home Education (pages 309-311).

Objective:
1. To start a study of Monet's pictures.
2. To develop interest in Monet's works.
3. To practice giving a gestalt first (big picture).
4. To practice providing details about the subject and background.
5. To help Pamela see what I am seeing by the words I write and questions I ask.
6. To share what it reminds us of.

Modifications from Charlotte Mason:
1. Since the focus is language development and experience sharing, she will describe what she sees while studying the picture. Eventually, we will transition to her studying the picture for a few minutes and putting it away.
2. Since we are helping her with theory of mind, I will write what she describes and ask questions about details so that she can see what I am thinking.
3. I cannot give a preview of the picture because I do not know which picture she will pick. So, I will begin the next lesson by asking her to recall the previous picture. Then, I will tell her the story behind the previous picture to link the known (the last picture talk) with the unknown (the current picture talk).

Steps:
1. Select and cut out eight pictures by Claude Monet. Let Pamela pick one without me knowing what it is.
2. Tell her that the artist is Monet and write his name.
3. Ask her to give me the big picture sentence. Write it down so she can check my work.
4. Ask her for the details. Ask questions for more clarity. Write it down for her to check.
5. When finished, let her read what I wrote to correct anything.
6. Look at the pictures and talk about anything we missed.
7. Go to the computer and look at a larger version. Talk about what the picture reminds us of. Make it the desktop until the next picture talk.

Tomorrow's Preview:
Before we do tomorrow's picture, I will link to the known (the Japanese lady) by telling her that artist (Claude Monet) lived in France. Sometimes he painted his family and friends. One day, his wife Alice tried on a Japanese dress called a kimono and Monet painted the picture of her.

Faculty Brainpower for Teen Achievement

Practical applications from neuro research can support teachers own fine endeavors for secondary learning and assessment. Certification offered at the first MITA Brain Institute provides educators strategies to work with rather than against the human brain as students learn. This is critical to business since schools are preparing the leaders of tomorrow.

So what difference does using strategies based on the brain make? Students in classes of university and secondary faculty using MITA strategies improved their achievement significantly and it creates ongoing renewal through faculty-learner generated content. When students make critical decisions and experience real world applications, they gain the problem solving skills needed for the business world.

Interestingly, learning becomes more community centered, too, including parents, community and practical experiences in outside organizations.

During the 20 hour certification, participants create classroom-ready curriculum together that'll be ready to use in a variety of disciplines this fall. An added benefit - no new texts are required for classes.

There will be opportunities to:

Transform neuro discoveries into learning tools

Create brain based lessons and assessment

Obtain MITA materials including a recently published book

Facilitate and build learning communities in your school and beyond

Use tactics to draw on diverse cultures for positive, mutual takeaways

Engage parents at school

Participate in monthly support for a year

Connect with wider community in Knowledge Celebration

Dr. Ellen Weber, President of the MITA Brain Based Center, has published several books and dozens of articles about using more brain for smarter solutions, in journals, periodicals and newspapers. I count it a privilege to collaborate with her during institutes, certification and even keynotes - for fifteen years now.

"Thanks for making this institute available to Rochester," writes, Dan Drmacich, Principal of School Without Walls. "With the commitment of educators to implement what they create this summer, we could have the beginning of a real paradigm shift."

What a joy and challenge to bring updates and innovation to materials and approaches each time we work at new sites and take on new projects. We're looking forward to working in Rochester.

"I Did It!" Pamela Glaser

Read more about Pamela's self-directed desensitization program for helping herself to tolerate slightly wet clothing and popping balloons.



P.S. Charlotte Mason was right about play, even for older children; play is vital to their development!

Smartbooks are coming

Franken products showcased at Computex fair

Very well written and informative article about recent Computex fair in Taiwan.
So much new products are coming on the table. Many of them are so called Franken products and the trend is divergence.
Some points to highlight:

A small laptop with an Intel chip is normally called a netbook. But a netbook with a cellphone chip is called a smartbook, according to some companies

But based on what’s coming soon to a store near you, it seems that “divergence” may be the more apt moniker. There is now a quasi-laptop for just about every need and want.

Roger L. Kay, one of the most prominent analysts of the PC industry, described the new generation of machines as “Franken-products,” a reference to the monster cobbled together from various parts.

Receipe: herbal chicken mushroom

The receipe of this dish was modified from the original chicken and mushroom chinese dish. It tastes really good, so please do try to cook this dish if you like chinese food.


Caption: herbal chinese mushroom

Initially, we called this as the chicken mushroom but since I uses some chinese herbs for the sauce instead of plain water, this chinese dish is known as the herbal chicken mushroom.

Ingredient list: dice chicken, some black mushroom, chopped garlic, onion, ginger, salted chopped carrots (optional), LKK oyster sauce, salt, LKK chicken marinade, sugar, shaohsing rice wine, sesame oil, pepper (optional), grounded white pepper, and corn starch.

Herbal list: dried longan, wolfberry, dried dates, some dried almond

Instruction:

Before cooking this dish, make sure you wash and soak the black mushroom into cold water for a night (or soak into warm water for few hours) to make it softer.

Buy any chicken that you like (i.e. chicken with bone, dice chicken, drumstick, tight etc.), slice them as you wish and marinade it with some sesame oil, some LKK chicken marinade and ground white pepper. I would suggest you to keep the portion of marinaded chicken into the fridge for couple of hours or a day.

Before cooking the dish, first boil some water with the chicken bones. You need to add in some msg (monosodium glutamate or Ajinomoto) to make the soup taste better. Then, place those herbals into the boiled water, and continue boiling the soup for approximate 30 minutes. You only need a small amount of of herbal soup to replace it as the sauce of this dish so need not boil a bowl of herbal soup.

While boiling the soup, on the other hand, you need a frying pan in the next stove. Put some oil into the frying pan and heat it. Then, fill the frying pan with some chopped garlic, onion and ginger and cook it till it turn brownish in colour. Remember, do not overcook the garlics/onion/ginger. Then, remove the mushroom from the bowl and slice each mushroom into 3.

Put the sliced chicken into the frying pan and cook it well. When the meat is around 70% cooked, place those mushrooms into the frying pan and cook it together with the chicken.


Caption: the chinese dish

Transfer the soup boiled (only the soup) with the herbs into the frying pan. Stir everything in the frying pan well and cover the frying pan with a pan cover for 5 minutes. This is to fully heat the uncooked portion of the chicken if not cooked well yet. Remove the cover and add some shaohsing rice wine, LKK oyster sauce and some LKK soy sauce, and stir them well with the chicken. Finally, add some corn starch to make the sauce starchy.

The herbal chicken and mushroom dish is ready to be served. Try it and let me know how it tastes for you :)

Michael Jackson Passed Away

The famous US pop star Michael Jackson (50 years old) was pronounced dead this afternoon (May 25, 2009) from cardiac arrest at 2:26 PM Pacific Time (US). The doctor pronounced his death when he was sent to the UCLA medical centre in Los Angeles in coma condition. Michael was not breathing when paramedics arrived.

Here is the video from the news.


Watch CBS Videos Online
Caption: video from the news

Globetrotter mind

On the go

My recent ( last few months) VR tours around the World. Recent destination were:

Toronto, Canada
Munich, Bavaria
New York, NYC
Philadelphia, PA
Birmingham, Alabama
Singapore, Asia

There's a lot of tweets about my impressions and thoughts when I was traveling and discovering these cities.

Family Come 1st

Recently my brother married to an Indonesian lady..and here is the stories

At first I really against this marrige with number of reasons...yeah

But is there anything that I can do to stop it or event prevent it from happening...

The answer is NO baby...God willing..no one can stop it..what had been written for all of us.

No matter how hard I against the marrige...he is my brother, my flesh and blood. What makes him happy that's what makes me happy too.

Malaysian, Indonesian dosen't really matter, as long as he is happy.

And now I'm in the stage to get along with her. Well she pretty good in house chores... Since two of my big sisters are marrried and has their own families and not staying with us...this new sister in law come at the right time. Now I have someone to talk about study...as she still a student. A sister to have a girly talk..hehehe..Hope that she is the one for my brother, Amin

I'm trying my best to get along with her..but sometimes my efford end-up useless. I'm pretty Gila-Gila sikit...she so religious, so ayu, bla..bla..bla..pendek kata susah mau masuk ler...

But it's ok...still have a long way to do it

I was not present during their Akad Nikah ceremony as I was having my semester examination that. I really praay for their happnies together.

In the end, it is the family come first..right???!!
Huh..yeah right, trust me Baby

Math Questions

What image pops in your head when you see the following?



What image pops in your head when you see 2 x 3?


Can you give a concrete example of how 1/2 x 1/3 might look?

Gestalt, Geschmalt

Yesterday, I alluded to working on gestalt, or the big picture. Our consultant recently attended a Visualizing and Verbalizing workshop by Lindamood-Bell. What we are doing is very far removed from what the manual outlines, but I thought it only fair to give them a hat tip!

Gestalt, or a whole that is more than the sum of its parts, is the big picture and all its implications. We are working on the gestalt because, in order to store episodic memory effectively, we first need to be able to perceive the gestalt. During the day, we practice using. For example, Pamela wanted to don her swimsuit and play with the water hose. Since the weather has been chillier than expected, I remarked, "It might be too cold." She got upset because she did not understand I was referring to my episodic memory of this time last year being much warmer than temperatures for the last week. I explained, "The mornings are usually cooler than the afternoons." Then, she realized that I knew it was going to warm up and not stay too cool for water play.

According to Lindamood-Bell, children with language comprehension disorders have difficulty interpreting incoming language, making connections, and creating gestalt inferences with connections to the interpretation of incoming language. To tie it into episodic memory, we summarize little happenings during the day:
David woke up earlier today than yesterday.
Dad is going to work late.
Mom is getting ready for the conference.
You are still wearing pajamas!

Every day, I give Pamela a pile of pictures I cut out three weeks ago so I never know exactly what I am to draw. She picks one and starts off summarizing it. Typically, she forgets the verb and we work on including that. Her role is to describe to me what she sees, monitor what I am drawing, and let me know when I misunderstand. My role is to draw and ask questions when I need clarification. Whenever possible, I provide opportunities for her to work on nonverbal communication. When I first started doing this, I printed out this list of descriptive words to seek: what, size, color, number, shape, where, movement, mood, background, perspective, when, and sound. After we finish, we study the picture together and point out any differences. In the video clip below, Pamela is telling me how to draw a glass butterfly.



I also want to spotlight how we handle Pamela's aphasia. Even though she struggles with word retrieval, she does very well at communicating her thoughts until the word comes to mine. She is quite persistent in appraising my understanding (or lack thereof) and giving more information. She is even patient when I misunderstand her. We use specific strategies to help her when she is stuck and you can see how this works in the final video clip:

• I give her first sound "p" for pin.
• After she gets it once, I write it down on a paper near her so she can see and refer to it for next time.
• I encourage her to use gestures and point.
• I try to talk less, wait more, and give her good feedback with your face and gestures.