I'm not a big fan of John Edwards. My feelings toward him run much more toward apathy and non-interest than any real opinion. However, this YouTube video is an interesting turning point in American politics. His message is nothing new, but his medium does a nice job of speaking to the youth audience he wants to reach.
***Taken from my friend Jay's Facebook.
If your life was a soundtrack, what would it be?
So, here’s how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…
Opening Credits: Fill It Up Again - Indigo Girls
Waking Up: Push It - Salt-N-Pepa
Monday: Clear or Cloudy - Sting
Fight Song: Search and Destroy - The Stooges
Breaking Up: Scotch and Chocolate - Nickel Creek
Prom: Lullaby - Jack Johnson
Life: Men in Black - Will Smith
Mental Breakdown: Chicago is So Two Years Ago - Fall Out Boy
Driving: Dirt - Phish
Getting Back Together: Ordinary Day - Great Big Sea
Wedding: Saved by the Bell Theme - Artist Unknown
Wild Sex Scene: Chariot - Gavin DeGraw
Birth of a child: Danger (High Voltage) - Electric Six
Death Scene: Hypnotize - Notorious B.I.G.
End Credits: Lullaby - Dixie Chicks
Author's Note: Why 2 songs called lullaby? Also, I don't listen to as much hip hop as this list would lead one to believe. Maybe I should start.
Some of my favorites:
6. WD-40 dissolves cocaine - it has been used by a pub landlord to prevent drug-taking in his pub's toilets.
11. One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.
23. In America it's possible to subpoena a dog.
29. When faced with danger, the octopus can wrap
six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut
shell and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists
discovered. ***I wonder if the octopus thinks he looks like a coconut shell...
53. It takes 75kg of raw materials to make a mobile phone.
100. Musical instrument shops must pay an annual
royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognizable riff before they
buy, thereby making a "public performance". ***the "No Stairway" sign starts to make more sense...
Here's the complete list.
Yes, I've joined the dark side. I did it to try to re-connect with some of my Trent friends...I bet Alumni Associations would be more successful with a Facebook presence than through traditional campaigns.
If you want to add me on Facebook, go right ahead. www.facebook.com. If you use this website (taps.vox.com) as a search criteria, I bet you'll have success.
Pachelbel's Canon in D.
I've known for a while that this song formed the template for way too many modern songs, but this is a beauty recap.
Some photos from Cuba!
I found this today and I'm pretty excited.
It's a video of the Urban Capture the Flag game that I played in a few weeks ago. My friend Matt and I were there for the fun.
The website to find future such events is: newmindspace.com
...from a sappy e-mail forward...
"When you lose, don't lose the lesson".
Maybe this is the way to frame "failure" in adventure-based learning. It would need to be a part of the briefing and set-up, but it would allow for more reflection and less frustration.
Pics of Cuba to follow. We're back and it was GREAT!
Thanks to Blair for an awesome seminar. This is a long post, but feel free to skim.
We filmed ourselves playing games and then used iMovie to edit the video clips into a movie of our "experience". It was cool (iMovie was freakin' wicked!) and led to some good discussion. Here's a recap of important points I remember (or have thought of since).
1. Technology in outdoor/experiential/adventure learning is a paradox. On one level, tech. seems like the antithesis of "outdoor ed". On another level, tech. might offer new "entry points" into activities and create new ways of having meaningful reflection. On a third level, the novelty factor in using tech. gadgets might only apply to us as facilitators. The millennium kids we work with may not be wowed by computers, cell phones, etc.
2. Most of the modern communication technology trends (cell phones, myspace/facebook, SMS, MSN, etc.) actually hinders communication. To be more precise, these technologies help us to broadcast...not to communicate. Blogging is definitely broadcasting. Same with podcasting. One of our challenges as educators is to teach kids how to have conversations. If we use tech. in our activities, we need to use it to facilitate conversation.
3. The result of broadcasting is kids show up at camp, at a ropes course, at school and announce that "I need a partner", or "This looks cool". They aren't looking for a response. They're not trained to look for a response. Broadcasting is easy, and they're good at it. Conversation - which requires empathy, listening, compromise, sharing, etc. - is hard, and millennium kids are crappy at it.
4. The fact that so many of us are experimenting with technology in our adventure learning courses might be symptomatic of our feeling of disconnect from the millennium kids we work with. Maybe the real topic is how we engage with kids who have grown up in a different reality? There's a great quote by a grade 4 student "I like to play inside, because there are plugs there". This student isn't looking for friends, or even for tangible things...he's looking to interact with his world in a way that is comfortable and easy. It's obvious that this grade 4 student (and all kids everywhere) can benefit from outdoor, group experiences. But how much does that experience need to change to be relevant to this kid? We might need new activities, new metaphors, new outcomes and new processes in order to make a connection with the reality of millennium kids.
Now that I've broadcast my thoughts, anyone want to have a conversation?
Tonight at Adventureworks, Blair Niblett is presenting on "Technology in Adventure Programming:
Design, Communication, Reflection". This is the first of a 4-part series of Advanced Seminars running this week. Unfortunately I will have to miss the other three...some of us have to go to Cuba!
I talked to Blair last week and he is going to introduce video editing, photography and other technology mediums as vehicles for Adventure Programming. My suspicion is that he's using these digital frontiers to achieve the same ends as we traditionally aim for with things like high ropes and initiatives. Maybe not, but it would open some corporate training/rainy day programming options.
