Talk Show Diva

I can't recall when was my first time watched her talk show, but I'm sure that first time makes lot of changes in my life. To follow the show religiously became a part of my life, as every show will be totally different from one another. In the other hand, I will gain lot's of new information especially the real life story as she will capture the real audience to share their stories with the other. The show was started in 1986 until today had talked all the Tabu topics from around the globe. She gives no limits for the show.

Dr. Mehmet Oz was frequent invited individual to talk about health, as he is the Cardiac Surgeon. I rili interested with this kind of show as it full with information which is useful i daily life as he will be on air with Oprah on "Tuesday with Dr. Oz" . He often bring to the studio the actual human parts such as the brain, heart, lung etc, and will explain any potential action that might caused that parts failed to operate. He rili dedicated to teach the audience on how to take care of their organs so that health condition will be better. 

     

Gayle King a.k.a Oprah best fren and also her O Magazine Editor sometimes will came to the show and gives a lil' bit of funny ingredients to the show. They will travel the countryside and will capture the real life of the real American people. The trip also gives Oprah and her crews the opportunity to stay and live with the countryside family and experienced the daily life without modern technologies in hand. In the modern life today, there is a group of people live some part of the United State and yet they still living in the old style of the countryside life...I rili opened my mouth when I watched that show. And Gayle who loves today's technologies rili can't stand for that kind of living but will be motivated by her best fren to stay positive  about that. It's rili funny when we can see people who used to be around with such technologies have to forgone it for a while. The good thing was, they made it....in the funny ways. 

 

 

Her O Magazine was inspired by the show itself as people just demand for more. Beside her O magazine she also got her own company which called HARPO. Her show will be air from her HARPO Studio in Chicago. She was listed as the most influential people in the State and her show as most viewed talk show on the planet.

 

 

One of the Oprah moment with famous people was when Tom Cruise jumped on the couch during an interview. That action happen as he talked about how in love he is with his wife Kate....ohhhh Love can make people do anything.....ermmmm

In the end of the day, she just Oprah, a woman who dedicated in her work in the entertainment industry and have create her own brand with her own name to be part of the world wide entertainment history. As she had interview the most famous people in the show .

Davos 2010.

Powerbrokers networking

World Economic Forum in Davos is under way.
Travel from Zurich to Davos , with the train, lasts more than 2 hours.

What to look at WEF ?
Human connection.

How to follow the conference ?

Matthias Lüfkens, Associate Director, Media, Tel.: +41 (0)79 514 4781 – matthias.luefkens@weforum.org, @luefkens

• Over 250 participants will actively tweet from the meeting http://twitter.com/davos
• Facebook users to participate in quick polls http://facebook.com/worldeconomicforum
• MySpace citizen reporter to report from Davos on http://myspace.com/myspacejournal
• YouTube community to put questions to world leaders at http://youtube.com/davos
• More about the Forum’s social media activities: http://www.weforum.org/socialmedia

Davos, Switzerland, 25 January 2010 – The World Economic Forum is once again making full use of the major social media platforms at the upcoming Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland giving unprecedented access to the wider public. The general public can actively participate in a number of sessions through video submissions, blog comments, tweets and quick polls.

Twitter
We will live tweet the most salient quotes from the key sessions on the Forum Twitter account (http://twitter.com/Davos) which now boasts over 1.5 million followers. Over 250 participants are on Twitter including Queen Rania of Jordan, Bill Gates, Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway, and Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, President of Mongolia. You can follow their tweets by subscribing to the official Twitter list at http://twitter.com/Davos/WEF2010. For news junkies, there is a specific list of media organizations and journalists covering the meeting at http://twitter.com/Davos/WEFMedia. The official hashtag of the meeting is #WEF. The short URL to the Forum’s meeting website is http://tr.im/Davos10. To show your support for the Forum why not put a Twibbon on your Twitter avatar at http://twibbon.com/join/Davos.

The Forum will also microblog in Chinese on Sina.com at http://t.sina.com.cn/davos. And finally, you can get all the feeds by subscribing to the Forum on FriendFeed http://friendfeed.com/worldeconomicforum.

Blogging
Key sessions will also be blogged on the Forum’s blog at http://www.forumblog.org. All blog posts about the Forum are aggregated in the Davos Conversation http://www.davosconversation.org on Netvibes. The programme of the Open Forum is on the blog at http://www.forumblog.org/openforum and you can send comments which the moderators will integrate in their respective panels.

Facebook
The Forum recently released a report on Faith in the Global Agenda based in large part on polls conducted on Facebook with over 130.000 respondents. In selected sessions in the Annual Meeting in Davos, we will once again tap into the collective wisdom of the onlinrowd through these “pulses” on Facebook. The pulses allow us to capture the opinion of several thousand Facebook users in a matter of minutes. Their views will be fed back into the panel discussion at specific sessions. If you are on Facebook why not become a fan of the Forum at http://facebook.com/worldeconomicforum.

MySpace
Sloane Berrent has won the MySpaceJournal competition organized by MySpace in partnership with the Wall Street Journal. The 30 year old from California will report from Davos for the global MySpace community. Watch her winning video entry below:

If you have a MySpace page why not befriend the World Economic Forum on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/worldeconomicforum. The Forum recently opened a network on Ning and will be cross posting some information there. If you are on LinkedIn, join the Annual Meeting group on LinkedIn.

YouTube
Julia Lalla-Maharajh is the winner of the Davos Debates 2010 on YouTube. Julia brings her cause, the fight against female genital mutilation, onto the agenda of the Annual Meeting where she will discuss the issue in a special session with Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, New York, and Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist on Saturday 30 January from 15.30 to 16.45 (CET). You can participate in the session by submitting your question.

The World Economic Forum will explore the growing influence of social networks in a workshop on Wednesday 27 January from 09.00 to 11.00. The discussion is moderated by Loïc Le Meur, Founder of Seesmic and will include, among others, Gina Bianchini, Chief Executive Officer, Ning; George Colony, Chief Executive Officer, Forrester Research; Reid Hoffman, Founder, LinkedIn; Owen Van Natta, Chief Executive Officer, MySpace.com; and Evan Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Twitter. Given the topic of the workshop it was natural to open it to input from the different social networks and to hear from the general public on the question: “How are social networks are changing society?”

As in the past several years, YouTube has set up a video corner at the Congress Centre where we invite participants to answer your questions. Submit your question to world leaders at http://youtube.com/davos.

Live webcasts
All plenary sessions will be webcast on the website of the World Economic Forum and live-streamed on our Livestream channel. The videos will also be available in full HD quality from our website and can be watched on demand on the Forum’s YouTube channel. The webcast programme of the Annual Meeting 2010 is here.

All press conferences will also be live-streamed on Livestream allowing anyone online to field questions directly to the panellists through Twitter and Facebook.

Flickr
The best pictures taken at the Annual Meeting will be made available free of charge under the creative commons licence (CC-BY-SA) on Flickr. The full set of photographs from the Annual Meeting is also available on Swiss-Image.ch.

Notes to Editors
More information about the Annual Meeting 2010 at http://www.weforum.org/annualmeeting
Programme of the Annual Meeting at http://www.weforum.org/annualmeeting/programme
Connect with the Forum on other social networks http://www.weforum.org/socialmedia
Press Releases at http://www.weforum.org/pressreleases
For updates about the activities of the World Economic Forum, subscribe to RSS feed

________________________________________

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests (http://www.weforum.org).

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Do you need some ideas to carry your iPad?See the picture:Source: Picture received by email.

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How poor is poor? Pt. 1

My recent trip to Kudat, gave me another view about life and education. I've meet this girl who live not far from my house. She came to my home and asked for any kind of house chores so dat she can earn something. I said to her dat there was nothing for her to do, as I can do it on my own. This kind of situation always put me at the serious life condition, where it can happen to anybody.

We were end-up chatted and she started to say about her health condition and why she rili need to get money. She said that her period quiet unusual, as she claimed to have it for 3 months at one time. So, I asked here with quite brilliant question, "how much money that you spent to buy your pads?"

In 2010, I was shocked with what she said that, she never buy pads, she handle it with a few pieces of fabric and you know, do it in the old style. I felt so lucky for myself, thousand times more luckier than her. She also claimed that right after she finished her SPM she just stay at home and do nothing. When I asked her about her ambitions, she said that she will be getting married with a 30 years old guy, who 10 years her senior and she had no choice as her parents said so, and she never dream to grab it. I think when you failed to dream something that's will be a serious situation where you have nothing to push you to the limits. 

I'm glad that my parents not having such mind as they rili put education on da top of everything. Her father and my father used to be grown up together when they were young, attend da same school, one thing that different is my father have the determination to success in life and rili focus. For my father education rili plays an important role in our daily life.

My father come from a very poor family. Since he's the only son so he got and extra focus from his parents. His elder sister and him got the opportunity to go to school. My aunt just completed her primary school and my father not even earn his O-Level as my grandfather cannot afford the fees of RM80. Guess whay?my father rili wanted to be a Doctor, but not it's not too bad as he is the doctor in petroleum.  

I think the main idea of this post is to equip our-self with education as that only can help us. The opportunity to be with her rili opened my eyes and mind to be more serious in life. And this post is a serious one...or maybe I should come with a post with da title "How serious is serious?" ermmmmm....will think about it.  

14.01.2010.....It's Been A Year....

14th Jan. 2009 was my first time wearing Hijab or tudung seriously. For me it's about time to make a change plus it's for my own good also. Thousand of questions pop-up before I decided to wear Hijab; can I stand it? How long it will last? How strong my-self to fight for it?

 

 

But my heart just can't stop saying that, this time around the hijab will be forever as I used to wear it during secondary school....last time I used to wear it and sometimes not.

I've read some books and articles discussing about the reward and disfavors that someone might get in the end of the day. I used to received articles about it from a friend of mine, and this person so kind to help me along the way...thank you so much.

Some people said that if you wearing hijab there are certain things or activities that will restrict the movement or also the actions. For example in sports, but I personally think that it's not just a good reason. I used to join taekwondo and have no problems to wear hijab yet enjoying my time with the activity.

But after sometimes I feel comfortable wearing it, and I guess this is it...I'm gonna wear it for the rest of my life. Beside that a lot of thing need to be improve like in Islam, the second pillars is prayer which need to be performed five times a day. I think I'm alder enough to take it seriously.

Well, lot need to be improved from now on, again it's just a matter of time for me to make it happen. But I'm not sure if I can do less talking in the future, because I can't help it....hehehe...InsyaAllah I'll give my best.Temptations is one of da thing which need to be concentrate. It will always be around and be one of the reason for me to FAIL in my process to change and improve.

Rili hope dat I will faced it in calm....

Thank You Allah for a great first year wearing hijab....

Watch and Paint in a Small Group

Three years ago, we pulled Pamela out of all small and large group activities. I felt like we were talking ten steps backwards. Common wisdom says that autistic children will eventually learn to socialize if we mainstream, include, and enroll them into group activities. Unfortunately for Pamela, she never seemed to advance beyond heavy-handed guidance, bordering on manipulation, from me. A few months later, she quietly told me that youth group was "too hard" . . .

Why did I pull out the stops? The theory underpinning RDI is that autistic children have an underconnected brain that makes it difficult to pick up social cues needed to succeed in group settings. Some research points to the relationship between a smaller corpus callosum and autism: "Corpus callosum reductions are present in autism and support the aberrant connectivity hypothesis." One news report puts a human face on this hypothesis.

What does this mean? It means that the brain has a difficult time communicating with itself, particularly in problem-solving and picking up social and emotional cues. People with this issue process much more slowly than those who are typical. It's like the difference between traveling country roads and superhighways: Pamela's brain goes at a slower pace and navigates more twists on the road than mine.

RDI approaches underconnectivity by going back to early milestones and slowly focuses on redoing developmental gaps that make social situations difficult. We have spent the past three years working on the foundation for small group activities. After seeing Pamela in the watch and do videos from last week, our consultant thought Pamela ready for small groups. About a day later, a Facebook friend who also has a child with autism posted that she was offering watercolor classes! Pamela loves drawing and painting, so I took it as a strong whisper from God!

Although Pamela did not know her teacher, Carrie, the setting was perfect: quiet with classical music which Pamela loves. The class was small: the students were two adults, a homeschooler, and Pamela. Carrie caught on right away to nonverbals and declarative language as you can see in the video. You can see how comfortable Pamela between her smiles and loving gaze at her paints.

I loved how careful and thoughtful Pamela was. She didn't automatically squeeze a new tube of paint because she noticed the tip needed to be punctured. She looked at what people, usually the teacher or the other girl, were doing before taking the next step. When she needed something, she asked for it. When she was confused, she asked a question. Pamela even made declarative statements from time to time.

Color Strips
The first project focused on becoming familiar with colors. Beginning with yellow, Carrie had them mix the paint and water, draw a line down the paper, and label it with the name written on the tube. Then, she moved the class through this process, color by color, until they had ten parallel stripes, labeled for future reference.

This activity spotlighted Pamela's processing speed. She clearly shifts her attention and takes an action at a much slower pace than her classmates. Had I not been there to scaffold her, she would have bogged down the class. After making two or three stripes, Pamela was familiar with the process and kept up very well. I also noticed that the task shut down completely when she needed something that was not truly essential (switch paintbrushes or get new water). It reminded me of Monk who he gets distracted and cannot function until whatever is bothering him is resolved.




Block and Color Value
This project was a color value study. They studied the lighting of a block, finding the sides that were dark, medium, and light. Then, they drew it and painted it, starting with the dark side and adding more water to lighten the color for the other sides. The teacher also introduced a very important tool for lifting color off the page: a paper towel.

My role was to help Pamela keep pace by doing non-essential things and pointing out what people were doing to help her shift more quickly. I backed out my support whenever she kept up with the class. When the teacher asked questions about light and dark, I gave Pamela more direct support to help her understand what the teacher was saying by thinking of something concrete like shadow and the overhead lights. Rather than tell Pamela what to do or get, I would be vague, "What do you need?" or "What did Carrie draw?" I thought Pamela attended very well to instruction, especially when the teacher had visuals.

Pamela seemed very thoughtful. At one point, she drew a shadow on her box just like we did in Pennsylvania (ten years ago) when we did Draw Squad. Pamela watched both her teacher Carrie and the homeschooler before painting and studied what they had done.




Carrie had two short projects left, but Pamela thought otherwise! She had worked for fifty minutes with one short break. She told me was tired and sat on the couch. I decided to watch the teacher do the next two projects. We have been working on them at home, which will give Pamela a chance to think through what Carrie is teaching at her own pace.

Why did I let her "quit" before the class ended? Trust underpins all good relationships. I trust that Pamela is not trying to cop out, that she really is tired when she says she is tired. She knows she can trust me, that I am not going to push her into the impossible, that I might guide her to the edge of her competency and back out when she's gone too far.

The biggest pain about RDI is filming and editing it. However, doing all that work is worth the effort. In the heat of the moment, I focused on the pace of the class and helping Pamela keep up. I did not realize what a wonderful job Pamela had done in watching and doing what her teacher and classmates were doing until I started editing the clips.

Lessons Learned

• Position Pamela closer to the teacher and within view of the homeschooler.
• Give enough support to help her keep pace with the class, especially when learning a new technique.
• Do non-essential things like closing the paint, pulling out a sheet of paper, pouring clean water, etc.
• Have plenty of fresh water on hand.
• Organize paintbrushes by kind since she goes through several during the class.
• Practice concepts she might not have had time to process at home: adjusting color value with water and lifting off color with a paper towel.
  

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Next: Switzerland

iPad done deal. Back to Europe.

Flight : San Francisco - Zurich. Heading to Davos meeting.
Not sure about the train from Zurich :")

Need to reflect more about DLD conference in Munich. There was a lot of mumbo jumbo talk. Boring.

Next Event: World Economic Forum
Days: 27 - 31 January 2010.

January. Travel closed.

Short break...lots of activities...or boring time??!!

For a while I will not be part of the  national education system as I will only continue my study for July Intake. So I've planned few things to be part of my holidays activities. One of it I've planned to read as much books as possible. I'm kind of to be addicted to read something to extend my knowledge in any fields of life. For the next post I also will share some of my reading materials and give a simple review from my own understanding.

At first I rili worried if this short break will cause me totally a boring time, but when I think about it, this will be a good opportunity for me to be with my family...to recover myself, and also to look back of what I have done. A lot of things that I target to change or overcome but it just a matter of time. So I hope with this short break I can achieve what I rili want in life.

For sure my blog will be active like never before...since I have no Tests, quizzes and assignments to be concentrates for, so this blog will be part of my assignments.....I mean very important assignments.

Beside that, I will experience a frequent journey go back to Kudat and hope I can write something about my hometown.

My First Bollywood Movie

Rahul, Tina and Anjali da characters to make this movie become my first Bollywood movie that I watched. From the story and da songs arrangement rili take my breath away. I was in Form2 in 1998 when I first watched it., it's been 12 years already. I watched it last nite with the internet application, Youtube..It's still feel like a first time for me to watch it. Although it's not...huhuhu...

Beside the love story, I found that the movie rili shows that we should appreciate our own culture beside worshiping the other culture.

Get back to the story, Anjali had missed the opportunity to tell Rahul about her feeling for him. But after Rahul married Tina, Anjali had moved on with her life. They only meet right after 8 years with the help from "little Anjali", Rahul's daughter.

In the end, true love never die...ok...Rahul and Anjali destined to be together in this movie

 

Gurindam Jiwa

My mum love to listen to the Klasik fm, therefore I've started to listen for some classic songs which I found rili interesting from the wordings and the music arrangement ......This is one of my mum fav. Tuailah padi antara masak Esok jangan layu-layuan Intailah kami antara nampak Esok jangan rindu-rinduan Anak cina pasang lukah Lukah dipasang di Tanjung Jati Di dalam hati tidak ku lupa Sebagai rambut bersimpul mati Batang selasih permainan budak Daun sehelai dimakan kuda Bercerai kasih bertalak tidak Seribu tahun kembali juga Burung merpati terbang seribu Hinggap seekor di tengah laman Hendak mati di hujung kuku Hendak berkubur di tapak tangan Kalau tuan mudik ke hulu Carikan saya bunga kemboja Kalau tuan mati dahulu Nantikan saya di pintu syurga

Kolelinia - Riding bicycles in the sky

Kolelinia is a concept for riding bicycles on a steel wire in the sky.The designer of Kolelinia is the architect Martin Angelov.According to designer Martin Angelov:Kolelinia is inspired by ski lifts. The system has a half pipe where the bicycle's wheels run and a cable above the pipe that gives stability while biking over cars. The cable connects to the bike handle with a hook, and

Go back to KUDAT with my Mum

On the 23rd of Jan, 2010 right after the early prayer my mum & I went back 2 Kudat. Since my family just finished renovate the house and my mum said it's time to hang the curtain.

The design of this house is the idea of  my father as he was inspired by the European houses during the European tour back in 2007. Roughly 80% of the house are glasses. At first, my father planned to leave the windows without any curtain to be hang. But my mum as a typical Malay said " Mesti pasang, nti urang d luar nampak kita ooo, tabir cincai pun tai apa, asal bertutup". 

I drove my mum's black Myvi around 5.30am from our house in Putatan and reached Kudat around 8.15 am. The car packed with not only the curtains but also a small 6kg washing machine. Thank God, it can fit in.

This is the reason my baby rani can't join...no space for him!!!

We started hang the curtains with the help of my cousin and my aunt who came to give a hand. I was responsible  to hang it, we finished around 7pm, erm, quite faster than wat I've expected. My mum and I planned to go back to KK on the next day (24th) but decided to stay until tomorrow morning, as she start missing her grandson, Daniel who will stay at our house (in putatan) for a daily care, as my sister in-law is a carer mummy.

Ahmad Daniel

Main Leaving Room

 

The Kitchen

As our house in Kudat very close with the beach, sleeping during night time will be tooooo cold...you can hear the sound of the waves...yet I still need my air-con...hummmmm....But day time will be toooo HOT, day time my mum can't even stay upstairs as she claimed that's too hot for her...guess what, so do I feel the same.. Day time we will stay downstair la...ok sikit...not too hot

Sometime it's really fun to have this kind of trip with your mum...just mother and daughter.

What to do??? When you are angry!

Wahhh...it's been a month I've leave my blog without any new post. After a long holidays I guess it's time to get real..

People always used words to express their feeling although body language will DO better, but words  still be the main choice as words can KILL people. Sometimes when we get angry or mad over something we tend to say something that might HURT others feeling. I always try to overcome my anger so that I will not hurt others feeling when I'm rili ANGRY.

Some said it's good to keep it low and some said it is important to express the feeling to be angry. What do you prefer? In my situation every-time I try to express it  BAD words will come out from my mouth, which later I will regret. That's why I rili hate to be angry over something as it will cause me another hard-feeling.

So let us share the best ways to show the anger:.

1. Understand how we express anger. Usually, anger manifests itself in one of three ways. Outward expressions of anger include yelling, screaming or violence, and even less threatening approaches like sarcasm. Inward expressions include feelings like seething, biting your tongue, or suppressing angry feelings. Neither of these approaches is healthy. The third way to express anger is control and channel it into more acceptable methods of expression.

2. Figure out your triggers. An angry response is triggered by some stimulus. For each of us, that stimulus may be different. Here we need to finf the cause that get us to be angry as different people will be stimulus differently.

3. Take time-out. Leave the place and take a walk until you feel calm and able to deal rationally with da situation. It is very important to face the situation when you are ready to talk about it and try to deal with it to clear the matter.

From now on, let us try the best not to hurt other people while we're so damn HOT!!! Me also still in the process to overcome it...Never too late to start...

Remember to try dis , might be useful.

1. Counting to ten (or a hundred) is still wise counsel
2. Write something to express it
   
3. Talking to someone you can trust and share da matter
4. Take shower 

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Whatever Happened to David G? Part II

Before I cover the results (or grades--what most people want to know), I wanted to talk about the transition itself. Homeschooling in a rural town with few homeschoolers and people who don't get homeschooling, much less a Charlotte Mason philosophy, was not easy on either of us. Last April, when the opportunity to travel to Minnesota arose, David joined me and spent time with his friends there. We realized how much we missed co-oping with other homeschoolers, talking, hanging out at the park, sharing good books, meeting at the YMCA, etc. I do not miss, however, snow and long winters.

David also attended the Teen Program at the ChildLightUSA Conference in June 2009. He was amazed to meet other teens who had read the same books, who were diverse thinkers, who understood his perspective. They immediately bonded, and he told me that he felt like he had known them all of his life. The program, developed and administered by and for teens, included talks led by a professor about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Beatles monopoly games at night, Shakespeare readings (the Pyramus and Thisby scene was a riot from what I heard), Jane Austen tea, nature walks, a musical theory class, a tour of GWU's theatrical department, etc.

One night, a couple of parents dropped in late to hear the Sherlock Holmes reading. We looked at each other puzzled for a few minutes because the tale was much creepier than any of us had recalled. We were relieved with they explained that they had switched at the last moment to Edgar Alan Poe's The Black Cat. The most fun I had was dropping in on their Jane Austen dance lessons (yes, parents were invited). The teens who planned the conference watched Pride and Prejudice so carefully they learned the dances and were able to teach it to others. We practiced for an hour, headed back to the apartments, and dressed as best we could for the impromptu ball. Next June, I think I'll play hooky from being an adult and go to the Teen Conference instead!

The six-week marching band camp that started in July allowed David to make friends before school started. He got to know the building and established a rapport with the band director, who ended up teaching one of David's elective classes (percussion). Because David adjusted well to the discipline of the band, push-ups and all, he developed a reputation for being a respectful student. Since the music they rehearsed did not include electric guitar parts, he enjoyed being able to create his own part. When he wasn't at band camp (five hours a day), he hung out with his cousin Jose, who stayed with us for two weeks before starting college.

Tomorrow, I will wrap things up with the results of David's first semester in school away from home. For now, I will close with an anecdote about what we did on his between semester break. David had a chance to meet up with his ChildLight friends (who keep in touch on Facebook). One played one of the Major-General's daughters in a full-blown, stage production of The Pirates of Penzance. Except for one dearly-missed family from Oklahoma, we were all able to converge on Charlotte and, after the performance, we headed to the star of the show's home. I am not sure what time he went to bed but I know David had a blast getting caught up with his friends.

I have loved Gilbert and Sullivan ever since playing Peep-Bo in The Mikado, and Steve caught the bug after seeing the movie Topsy-Turvy. (He really couldn't help it for it's in his blood. His British grandmother and aunts used to sing in Gilbert and Sullivan productions before his mother left England and met Steve's father in Central America.) We attended a HMS Pinafore concert in which singers wore the costumes, but nothing was staged. The music was great, but it is not the same as seeing whole enchilada: dancing, acting, sets, props, etc. Even Pamela loved Penzance: she loved the pirates and thought the giggling girls (part of every Gilbert and Sullivan production) were hilarious. She laughed at one of the anachronistic gags--the pirates stealing valuables from the Major-General's home managed to cart off a laptop! Pamela loved the plot twist revolving around her favorite topic, leap year.

Apple Event For iPad

Try Brainwriting

Brainstorming sessions work successfully for many. But, what happened at your last brainstorming session? A reality check comes when brainstorming's used in toxic meetings or is led by a poor facilitator. Note that Sara Superstar vies with Paul Peacock to impress the leader while Jimbo doodles and Mariah slams her fist to catch attention and contribute. Works like clashing cymbals. Ever see it in action where you work? Here's an alternative to consider or even to mix sessions up a bit...

Try Brainwriting Ideas come thoughtfully... one bounces off another, everyone has voice, and many folks work well in a quieter setting. Best part is you don't necessarily need a leader and it improves superior idea generation, according to Peter Heslin, business professor at SMU.

Brainwriting offers many variations... A theme for the session might be written on the board. Underneath a two-footed question's listed, linking each participant to the theme.

Write - Folks sit around a table each with a slip of paper, a different color pen or even different color sticky notes. Each person writes an idea on the note and passes it to the right.

React - Once each person reads what's written, each one writes a reaction that comes to mind. If a person can't think s/he leaves the paper blank so there's no pressure.

Review - When each note's brimming with about five ideas, place it in the middle of the table. When slips are complete everyone analyzes. Review leads to a "systematic consideration of each idea," according to Heslin.

Select - Each person makes a list of favorite ideas and the most popular are recorded. Result- Lots of surprises that can make a difference.

Benefits -

• ideas spark quickly and people don't lose best thoughts since they can write them down immediately
• people can contribute equally - no chance for personality clashes
• ideas generated simultaneously so can be judged by merit
• people gain confidence in their contributions
  
• community builder
  

Brainwriting variations you would enjoy

http://www.mycoted.com/Brainwriting

http://creatingminds.org/tools/brainwriting.htm

http://litemind.com/brainwriting/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Brainwriting,-A-More-Perfect-Brainstorm&id=510585

Whatever Happened to David G? Part I

Since the summer, I have been rather quiet about our son David. Don't let the forced perspective photograph fool you. He was not captured by a giant!

Exactly a year ago, David asked us to attend school away from home. While I was not thrilled at the idea, we realized that he would be seventeen by the time school started in the fall of 2009. He was old enough to make a decision like that. So, we laid down firm guidelines to get him ready for the transition:

• He took two homeschooling co-operative classes (writing and conversational Spanish) to prepare him for a classroom setting and different teachers. (The reason we have not attended co-ops since we moved here is that it required a 45-minute drive, one-way.)
• He needed to finish Algebra II and chemistry, his least favorite subjects, without acting like he was walking the Bataan death march.
• He had to man up on chores around the house and yard work. Prior to this, he dawdled and piddled even when given an agreed-upon wage.
• Even though he was going into senior year, we wanted him to start as a junior to take off the pressure of having to everything in one year.
• We would not ever wake him up for school or help him keep track of his stuff. It was his responsibility to know where he had to be, when he had to be there, with the stuff he needed.

I thought those requirements stringent enough to dampen his ardor for school, but David surprised me. We saw a complete change in his attitude, and he showed us more autonomy and discipline than we had ever seen. He whipped through math and chemistry almost at the speed of light. During the summer, we had his eyes checked and he needed glasses (very mild issue unlike his mother who is legally blind without her specs). He saw the dentist and doctor since we would no longer have the luxury of scheduling appointments whenever.

We got him current on the bare minimum shots, and he only needed the MMR. Even though David did not react to vaccinations like his sister did, we were still cautious enough to say no to anything not required. And, boy, did I have to stand up to the nurse. His shot record clearly showed that he had three out of three required HepB at birth, one-month, and two-months of age. Unfortunately, they dated the first one as "at birth." Because the record did not state the actual date, she wanted to redo that. The nurse actually made a long-distance phone call to her supervisor in Columbia to get the okay to approve. Did they understand they were dealing with a Warrior Mom who had survived twenty years in the trenches of autism? I won, of course!

We quickly ruled out the local private school in town. While David was technically born in the south, southern Louisiana is unlike Carolina. He spent most of his life in the land of Yankees, cowboys, Native Alaskan fishermen, and MinneSOta nice. From personal experience, he had already figured out that his gypsy ways and nonconformist thinking would not bode well in a conformity machine of jocks, hunters, preps, and beauty queens. So, we opted for the public school where the population is diverse enough to accept him for the person he is.

We set up an appointment with the principal who runs a tight ship. He gave us a tour of the school and pointed out that block scheduling allows students to carry everything they need in a backpack. After the principal banned lockers, excuses to be roaming the halls melted away and so did forty percent of their disciplinary problems. Although we live in a small town, the school has the same problems as other public schools (occasional fights, gangsta-wanna-bees, and drugs). That worried us a little bit, but we knew that David's strong-will and resistance-to-conformity would be our ace in the hole. He had never been a risk-taker and had shown great respect for authority in following the transition plan we had outlined earlier. By the way, I asked him the other day if he had ever seen a kid pushed through a plate-glass window in a school fight and he had not. Thus, my junior high school was more violent than his high school!

We found a couple of advantages to the plan. Our town has Christian learning centers adjacent to all schools. When parents grant permission, children may take Bible studies for credit (ancient history, for example). He would have access to the vocational school for computer classes and AP classes in his senior year. David has always loved music and our church lacked a forum for his skills on the electric guitar (mainly, self-taught). The school band was the only high school band from our state to march in the inaugural parade last winter. Their hard-working band director had impressed me at community events with the band's musicianship, responsiveness, and discipline. Having sung for many fabulous directors, I recognized someone who had something to teach. Even if David got nothing out of school, he could learn a lot from this man, and maybe even get a band scholarship for college!

We enrolled him in band camp, and he spent six weeks in the heat of a Carolina summer, learning to march, work with other guitarists, etc. Whenever they messed up or disobeyed, the director had them on the ground doing push-ups. Instead of getting annoyed, especially when he had to do push-ups because of someone else's error, he laughed it off. As a veteran of push-ups myself, it did my heart good to see David drop 'em and do twenty at the end of practice!

No, this is not his first day of school! I mightily resisted taking a picture of my "little" boy for his first day of school photo! He wore a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers like the rest of the kids. That happens to be during Spirit Week in which the juniors dressed for success!

How did he do in his first semester? That is upcoming in this blog series!

Apple iPad Remakes Digital Books And Magazines - Music Albums Too

General rehersal for January 27th ;))

Apple iPad is here ( now is 27th , 10.20 AM Pacific Time ).
iPad creates innovative experience.

- new Apple tablet computer design form
- Books, textbooks, ebooks, digital books, video books production for iPad
- new way of releasing and marketing music albums
- digital books with video, audio, podcasting, web reference, social media, real time web, augmented reality
- revolution in education
- solution : paying for digital content
- Apple and publishers partnerships
- movies studios and Apple - partnership
- vook innovation has it all:

WHAT IS A VOOK?

A vook is a new innovation in reading that blends a well-written book, high-quality video and the power of the Internet into a single, complete story.

You can read your book, watch videos that enhance the story and connect with authors and your friends through social media all on one screen, without switching between platforms.

Vooks are available in two formats: As a web-based application you can read on your computer and a mobile application for reading on the go. With the web-based application you don't have to download programs or install software. Just open your favorite browser and start reading and watching in an exciting new way. You can also download and install the mobile applications through the Apple iTunes store and sync them with your Apple mobile device.

- ''ocean of knowledge''
- media mashups
- high definition movies
- electronic publishing revolution
- future of publishing


Maybe I am wrong. Time will tell. If Apple doesn't do it then who will ?

Oh, I bought some iPad domain names today ;))

See you on 27th this Month.

Munich: DLD Conference 2010.

Off to Munich.

...starting January 24th - 26th.

Here's a short video.
More in one simple picture.

DLD (Digital - Life - Design) is a three-day experience gathering 800 entrepreneurs, investors, philantropists, scientists, artists and creative minds from all over the world. With global diversity in attendees and an interdisciplinary perspective of digital, media, design, art, science, brands, consumers and society, the conference is known as the European forum for the "creative class".

Tear-Free Shoe-Tying Lessons

This time last week, Pamela could not tie her shoes. We have relied upon the goodness of velcro, slip-on shoes, and crocs. I cannot even remember the last attempt we made in teaching this milestone. It's been that long ago. Now, don't start talking about Momheimers--you know when the gray matter in your brain leaks into your hair . . .

Here is a review for those of you who have been lulled into avoiding my blog due to my hibernation last month. Keep in mind we NEVER practiced tying shoes outside of the short lessons described here.

Thursday, January 14, Day One
Pamela tied a shoe with specially colored laces sitting on the table during a ten-minute lesson in which she modeled my actions, step by step.

Friday, January 15, Day Two
Pamela tied a shoe with specially colored laces sitting on the table during a two- minute lesson in which she modeled my actions, step by step.

Weekend, January 16-17
We had nothing to do with tying shoes. Instead, Saturday night, we watched the daughters of Major-General Stanley take off their shoes--and other things--at a production of The Pirates of Penzance in Charlotte, NC. We came home on Sunday and were too exhausted to lift a finger.

Monday, January 18, Day Three
Pamela advanced to tying a shoe with plain white laces by following my lead.

Today
We reviewed tying shoes by guide. First, we sat on the floor, put a shoe with colored laces in our lap, and tied it just as before. Then, we put Pamela's untied shoes on her feet and tied them: she modeled my actions, step by step. Finally, Pamela tied her shoe with only a little bit of scaffolding to help her get back on track when she strayed. Here is the video to prove it:

Ellen Weber - An Inspiration

Ellen Weber inspired me from the very first time I met her. Huffington Post writer, Gail Goodwin, of Inspire Me Today interviewed Ellen to see what makes her tick... Don't miss it... inspiration is catching!

In Gail's fast moving podcast, she asks probing questions to find out why Ellen's so interested in neuroscience and what led her to be a "pathfinder for change."

Watch and . . .

Today we worked on generalizing the watch and do activities.

• We tried "Level 2" of tying shoes: Pamela tied shoes with white laces that had no special coloring system.
• David showed Pamela how to build a Lego model. BOTH of my kids were fabulous: David was a terrific guide, very patient and excellent at the slow, nonverbal style of communication. Pamela was a terrific apprentice, knowing that her brother has had years of experience building Lego creations and is the expert Legomaker in the family.
• Pamela helped me put away dishes, a situation that required gross motor movement as well as watching and doing what I was doing with objects.

Watch and Tie Level 2


Watch and Build


Watch and Put Away