Cherie Review

Well, Ms. Locklear might never have been on the beach (at least not with David Hasselhoff in Baywatch), but she should’ve been! Damn, look at that bangin’ bod! Heather was spotted in Malibu yesterday - at a party with the Hoff, himself - when she decided to have some fun on the sand, playin’ with the photogs. Good to know she has a frisky sense of humor! And even at 45, she looks healthier than many of Hollywood’s currently young starlets!
Oh, Heather. What on earth are you doing now?!

The article below, from eSchool News online, is among the most devastating pieces of “handwriting on the wall” I have ever scanned. The force behind of the handwriting is SCORM (great acroname for an all-powerful messianic force). And the target of the message is the textbook publishing industry.

SCORM stands for “Sharable Content Object Reference Model: and is a rapidly emerging object-oriented coding standard for all instructional and learning management software. SCORM assures the interoperability, accessibility and reliability of all e-learning materials - including video, PowerPoint, simulations, or music, etc. - whether produced by George Lucas, the local 7th grade social studies teacher, or a bunch of high school students. What’s more, SCORM compliant programs can be searched by key word or by subject and grade. Instructors are permitted to incorporate all or parts of SCORM materials into their coursework at no cost. Schools and school systems are rapidly building up repositories of materials for use by their faculties or by affiliated institutions.

The first half of the attached piece is devoted to describing the history, purpose and current uses of SCORM, while t he second half deals almost exclusively with the implications of SCORM for text book publishers. In particular, the experts quoted in the article urge text publishers to “objectivize” the content of their books, noting that DoD already requires all of its instructional materials to be “SCORM conformant” and that the Department of Education is expected to follow DoD’s lead.

These folks are enthusiastically describing education without textbooks in five years as a natural trajectory of the accelerated e-learning adoption rate made possible by SCORM. The authors of the article point out that pure eLearning players “are not waiting for the traditional textbook providers to dictate how educational content will be used in the future,” and that they mean to replace “subject-oriented” curriculum with “object oriented” curriculum. The authors also mention that textbook publishers did not return their calls for comment on the article. I suspect that’s because the publishing industry does not have a viable strategy for responding to the competitive threat from eLearning.

I think that the traditional publishers should concede the market for the industrial-era K-12 basic skill set to the pure eLearning vendors. The content of the current basic K-12 skill set is so well known that the competitive marketplace advantage in that market from now on will rest with the designers of superior e-delivery systems, who (one suspects) will typically NOT be in the traditional publishing houses. The core competitive competency of the established publishing houses is their content development capacity. Rather than devoting that expensive capacity to repackaging “See Spot run” “1+1=2,” “What I did last Summer,” they should be developing the new basic K-12 skill set for the post-industrial workplace - e.g. teamwork, problem analysis, spatial literacy, cybernautics, systemic thinking, etc.

Many of these new skills are not yet will defined, but employers have begun to express interest in them. Tom Abeles and I have convinced the publisher of On The Horizon to devote an entire issue of the Journal to defining the basic post-industrial K-12 skill set. We have begun to envision the future of K-12 education in which the old basics are taught almost entirely via e-learning, freeing up classroom time to address the NEW, high order basic skills of the post-industrial age.

David Pearce Snyder
www.the-futurist.com
E-Mail

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/PFshowstory.cfm?ArticleID=6249

U.S. Rep. David Davis’ press secretary has acknowledged using a congressional office computer to delete unflattering information about his boss and his brother from biographies on an Internet encyclopedia.

The efforts of Timothy Hill have been deemed “blanking vandalism” by an editor for Wikipedia who detected the alterations to articles about Davis and state Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesboro. The state Democratic Party also criticizes the changes.

More here.

And remember this from last week? As I mentioned a few days ago, I noticed that someone from the US House of Representatives and someone out of Kingsport, TN had been looking at my page. I surmised (correctly, I might add) that this Someone was most likely from the Davis camp. Well, looking at my Sitemeter today, it seems that at precisely the same time I received the call form Mr. Vaughn, someone from the same IP address as before in the House offices was again perusing my blog.

And there’s this from Joe Powell: The online world seems to be troublesome for ET Congressman David Davis. Following the online media and traditional media criticisms for a vote he made against tougher laws on dogfighting, Davis’ press secretary Tim Hill, was caught trying to eliminate info on the WikiPedia website showing King Pharmaceuticals contributions to Davis and to Tennessee State Representative Matthew Hill, Tim’s brother.

UPDATE: The KNS’ Andrew Eder brings us this: As an administrator I am continually surprised by how often I see edits that serve little purpose except to place the editor at risk for adverse news coverage … Activities at Wikipedia are transparent, yet many individuals who have a professional reputation to protect behave as if their actions were guarded by an opacity the site does not possess.

I see promotions for film competitons every day, hundreds of them flood my in-box, I get stuff in the mail, posters for notice boards, there are film competions everywhere.

Today I got something different in the mail, a very shiny silver envelope, it was think too. Inside was news about the new Diet Coke film competition. Inside was a letter and a small black box. The letter told me about the fiolm competion but inside the box was a 1G memory stick - it contained a press release, a poster, an online banner and a PDF to help spread the word.

I’ve got to say, it was a little impressive. So if your into making films and want to enter the competition all the details are online here.

It’s been a little difficult to swallow all the hype that’s been circulating this week on the ESPN family of media surrounding the arrival of college football season. Part of it is that the BCS encourages the top teams to treat the opening weeks of the season as a variation of the NFL preseason–where college football is worse is that, rather than seeing first-string vs first-string, second vs second, and so on, we get to see the big guns play teams that would probably struggle against their walk-ons. The 4 ranked teams who premiered on Thursday night won their games by a collective score of 212-20. Woooo!

And unfortunately, Syracuse has sunk to the status of nonconference cupcake, so it’s hard to get fired up locally. They made the mistake of scheduling last night’s debacle vs Washington at a time when there were no other games, so that the entire nation could share in our sadness–the increasingly frequent pans of dejected Syracuse fans were particularly lovely.

I don’t know what the answer to SU’s current football woes is, but if last night’s game was any indication, we’ll have a tough time equalling last year’s four wins. Ugh.

Update: Cupcakes 34, Wolverines 32. Mwahahahahaha!

(Boulder-CO) Unfortunately, I will still not be connected to the Internet until tomorrow night, but rest assured when the technician comes out to my new residence he/she will not be allowed to leave until I am able to access The Nugg Doctor and get back in the saddle again. This extended down-time that I have had to endure has been a real pain in the you know where and I can’t wait to get back on the beat. Now, I know I promised to continue to cover the FIBA games, but I was a little bit overzealous in doing so seeing how I now live twenty minutes from civilization and the games typically do not get over until about 11 0′clock my time. Excuses, excuses, excuses - I know- but by judging how the site traffic numbers look there are still plenty of you who love the Nuggets and The Nugg Doctor. So, with all of that being said… If you haven’t been able to follow the FIBA games this is all you need to know: 1. The USA is STILL being led by Carmelo Anthony in scoring, despite ‘Melo having some trouble sticking the landing after a monster throw-down which resulted in him down on his backside after coming down awkwardly and bruising his heel. The minor injury kept him from playing against Uruguay last night, but the heel will not keep him out of the final rounds of the competition. 2. Unfortunately, I have to report that Nene looks out of shape again and his performances for Brazil have been less than expected in hindsight of how he finished last year. Somewhere Steve Hess is getting that chicken and fish diet ready for Big Brazil. 3. The USA will face undefeated Argentina tonight at 10pm MST in what will easily be the toughest match-up of the games. Argentina has extraordinary team play and is also an outstanding outside shooting team. Don’t be surprised if the USA is in a dog fight during the first half before the physical play of the Americans wears them down. Other than that I will be back with a vengeance Friday night when my life resumes some normalcy. I have so much on my mind in anticipation of the 2007-08 Denver Nuggets campaign and can’t wait to get some of it off my chest. Go Nuggets!

Between juggling my speaking engagements, mass services, visits with world leaders, writing a new catechism, and saving souls from purgatory, I’m pretty worn out.

My doctor recently prescribed me Xanex to calm my nerves.

While picking up my prescription, the pharmacist said “I hope you have a good day.”

I wasn’t sure if she said that in the generic “have a good day” way, or if she meant it in the “hope the anxiety medicine works for you” type of way.

If you enjoy “30 Rock,” but not enough to plunk down season-set money, then Universal has a cheaper option coming your way. Tina Fey’s NBC comedy arrives on DVD this Sept. 4 in three varieties: Season 1 set ($50 list price for 3 discs), partial-season Vol. 1 ($27 for 2 discs), partial-season Vol. 2 ($27 for 1 disc).

DVD distributors think consumers are leery about plunking down $50-80 for full-season sets, and more willing to spend in smaller chunks. Other series are hitting shelves only in split seasons, including “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” “Perry Mason” and the imminent release of the 1960s hit “The Fugitive.”

Starter discs are another tactic to get the price down. Distribs have separately released the first disc or a couple of episodes from season sets of shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “24.” They’ve also released one-disc best-ofs to test the waters for full season sets of series including “Welcome Back, Kotter” and “Drew Carey.”

Introduction
A good season for traveling is coming! Do you get digital photos ready? If yes, why not tell your photo story on Youtube? Well, let’s begin to make our Youtube photo album and share with the world!

Things you will need


Your digital photos;Digital photo album maker (Wondershare Photo Story Platinum is recommended);Youtube ID (Free to register);Music (Optional, but better to prepare).

Ready? Go!

Step 1, Download Photo Story Platinum and install.
http://download.flash-slide-show.com/psp_trial.exe

Step 2, Start the program.
Run Photo Story Platinum and create your own album, then import your digital photos and background music.

Step 3, Apply animated themed templates.
Double click to apply any themed templates, or click “Auto-set” to fix the album. Real-time preview is available when a template is selected.

Download more templates and other resources from,
http://www.flash-slide-show.com/free-dvd-menu.html

Step 4, Choose intro & end movie.
There are different excellent animations to choose from, just preview and pick your favorite. Input the album information, such as title, director, cast, etc. and set the text effects like movie style.

Step 5, Add your decoration.
Don’t forget to add your funny text caption with different text effects and stunning scene effects and clipart with flexible timeline.

Step 6, Publish.
Swap to “Publish” tab and click “Create Video” For a Youtube video, you need to choose “Youtube video (*flv format)” from the drop-down menu and start to convert.

Step 7, Upload video
Login your Youtube ID, choose “My Account” and click “Upload New Video” button. Write down your video title and description. It’s better to enter tag for easily searched by others.
http://www.youtube.com/my_account

Step 8, Finish!
Now your Youtube video is ready! So, don’t forget to share it with others. Would you like to see mine?

[Saturday, 12 May, 2007]

I hurried with my work to cover up for the previous days’ lack of update. Yuqing approached me to do a survey for him. Finally I went off at 3am.

I set my alarm at 6.15am but as usual, I lazed around and only until Mingfa called me, I came to conscious. My mum was lazy to make the half boiled eggs for me and she chose to do the milo with biscuit, which caused me to empty my stomach inside the toilet like usual.

I managed to catch the bus as I dashed across the road and Junrong was inside. We met up with Jinyang soon and Kachua joined us. Mingen called me to order food even though he was driving and I had to take the bus in. while I was waiting for the carrot cake, I got to chat with Kunhan. I was surprised when Ying Ying came over to join us and I was very touched for it took a lot of courage to join me and a group of people whom she had not met before when she could actually go in with Jenrine.

We took the bus to the Beach Car Park and went down to meet up with Mingfa and Wilson. As we strolled towards Siloso beach, Jinyang went to the toilet. We got to the exact location for the competition soon and started registering.

It was a very sunny day and my stomach had done bad service to me by giving me a mild gastric problem while waiting very long for the first game. The court we were called for was different from the scheduled one, which showed how unorganised they were. At the beginning of the game, I blocked off an opponent’s spike and they started spiking from away the net. Soon, we were losing them many points. There was once when one of them spiked and hit Ying Ying on her face, we were furious but could not do anything. We picked up point bit by bit but they reached twenty-one earlier than us.

A sudden depression filled my mind. It could be due to the fact that we should actually win the game or because of the injury on my star player or perhaps, more than these. I was nowhere near to prove myself. The sand kept me accompanied as I sat alone at a corner.

I finally got to feel a greater pain as the gastric problem smiled at me. Instead of the food, which had not arrived, Junrong and Kachua exchanged the coupons for ice-cream, which eventually worsened my pain.

Mingfa eventually won his first game; it was a good decision to put the better players inside his team. We played the second match against Albert’s team and everyone played badly, which gave us no chance of winning. My gastric pain was at its worst and turned pale.

After the game which had confirmed our withdrawal of the tournament, I went straight to toilet. Soon, I got better but it was too late for there was no more game anymore, which was stupid that we had to pay $70 for just simply two instead of the usual three games.

Lunch was fried mee hoon with an egg and chicken wing. Nothing free was good. Under the hot sun, it was stupid to have an egg cooked with chilli; whereas the mee hoon was not fantastic and the chicken wing looked old.

I got to play with Shunliang until Mingfa’s second match started, I went over to witness how they won the opponents. After waiting for very long, we started finding empty courts to play among ourselves, but we got chased off soon and finally gave up. It took hours for their next match and I joined in a boring game at one of the free courts with Mingen, Andy, Justine and others. I got to sabotage Guoxiong in front of Yali, which was obvious that I was joking.

Darkness arrived and suddenly, I was told that Mingfa had ended his fourth match, defeated by the police. It was in fact meaningless to play for it was dark and there was only a spotlight. Many teams had complained about it. I laughed at the organisation for they announced earlier on that it was the first time ever in Singapore that so many teams had participle in a beach volleyball tournament; it was a disaster. They should have sought advice from me beforehand and I would advise them, “If you don’t have a big head, don’t wear a big helmet.” They had so many available courts but so many of them were empty which caused the delay that every team had to wait hours for each game. It was a failure and a laughing stock of the year and history of Singapore’s beach volleyball competition. I should not mention about the cock eyes and unprofessional referees.

After having my bath, I sat under one of the big sheltered area with Junrong and started dozing off. By the time Mingfa waked us up, we realised Wilson had already driven Yingyi, Anqi and Fiona out and these three ladies were not going to dine with us. In the end, Mingfa, Junrong and I had to take bus out of Sentosa.

We were deciding to go to Harbourfront Centre’s foodcourt but eventually changed the location to Vivocity where Wilson met up with us for dinner. I took fish and chips as usual. We were at the foodcourt at the basement and beside Banquet. Soon I realised the cleaners there were similar to Banquet’s. Shunliang was dining there with Justine and he came over to chat with us.

I took bus 80 home and started working. I was just in time to catch “The Eyes 2”, which was a good movie.
SiLlYDuMb @ http://sillydumb.com