New "Get a Mac" videos!

Hello! As always... I'm posting the new videos that Apple releases for the campaign "Get a Mac": http://www.apple.com/getamac/
This set is not the best one... but they are worth to see :)

One laptop per child project

The OLPC project is a very well advertised initiative that wishes to make easier for students from poor countries to get access to a PC. There are many critics against the project and many comments in favor. For sure many kids need first to get food and cover their basics needs instead of having the chance to use a PC but at the same time many kids that will not use PCs probably will have less competitive advantages than students that do use PCs.
In any case the project is running and in a few weeks the first 100$ pcs will be mass produced. I think that the project can change the way many persons live and specially how the world could create betters ways to improve conditions for poorer countries.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Home

Interesting new: Crossing Wild and Conventional Wheat Boosts Protein, Avoids Genetic Modification

Check the article from Scientific American: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0CDE8682-E7F2-99DF-35261FF74C7B6D86

Hurricane Data Portal for Scientists, Educators, and Application Users

The NASA launched a new portal with animations and scientific information about many hurricanes. The animations are based on satellite data. To see the hurricane viewer visit: http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/HurricaneViewer.shtml
But don't loose the opportunity to check the rest of the hurricane portal because there is a lot of information, pictures, videos and news regarding the topic. Really impressive!
One video: http://www.nasa.gov/mpeg/151029main_a003362.mpeg

Formula 1: Zanardi makes happy return

Life is always prepared to give us the chance of experiencing challenges. Some of them happy and some others full of pain and sadness. But Life is also constantly showing us good samples and models of determination and leadership.
Alex Zanardi, a formula 1 pilot, lost his leg after an accident. After 5 years he returned to the F1 and he completed 4 laps. His comments:
"I feel like somebody cast away on an island for many years and suddenly he gets joined by a top model."

"It's a fantastic feeling to see all the faces smiling when I brought it in - that was the highlight of the day."

Is inspiration a good new?

I personally think it is. From the roots of our Human being we are in the constant search for happiness and in many cases it comes from the enjoyment of what we really like to do or what we really would like to make better. The sense of constant improvement and the attempt to "reach" ideals or dreams are, from my experience, a way to find happiness. Inspiration is a wake up call to help us remember what we think is good, valuable, important and transcendental.
I was checking some minutes ago a web site from Adobe with some neat animations and videos. It is full of material for inspiration. Give a check on it and discover if it motivates your imagination!

Prazniki.net and B4Contact's Web are alive!

This is certainly a gooood new for me! I had a traumatic problem with one upgrade to our servers and that caused that Prazniki.net and B4Contact's web sites were out of the Internet for more than 12 hours.
I could not solve the problem with my backups. But I think that with patience and with the wish to understand the reason of the problem. So finally they are back!
Otherwise... the work of weeks would have to be used one more time.

Technology enables

Some years ago was impossible to think of prosthetic body parts that are integrated with microprocessors for making easier to be used in different conditions.
It is certainly a good new to know that there are already a few cases of persons that lost a foot and now they are in condition of living a normal life. Access to that technology is expensive and for sure it is not available to all. But the first steps are made. Let's wait to see what the future will bring.
Read an article from BBC about one real case.

How to charge the batteries of mobile phones, notebooks, MP3 players... Without cables?

It looks like there is an answer! Even it is still in "theory" mode, a group of researchers are convinced that it is possible. One of the best things is that the "charger" would even work on distances of few meters.
You can read more about it in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm

Gooood news for lovers of The Beatles!

During this week I had many times a word repeating: Talent.
So if it is about talent the Beatles are a case to take into consideration. So if you like their music you will be able to listen to full previews of some new mixes for a new album. The songs you will be able to find are: Strawberry fields forever, Octopus' garden, Lady Madona and While my guitar gently weeps.
The name of the album is Love.
http://www.thebeatles.com/ (you need to register, it's free)

Gooood news for Prazniki.net!

Yesterday was a great day for one of my company's projects. This is the third year we are running the Prazniki.net competition. The past years was a great success and we've learned a lot about the "online" business potential.
One of the most problematic components of the project itself is the "rating system" that helps us to find who is the winner and of course that gives the excitement to the competition. During the past year holidays season we had to invest many days of work just solving bottlenecks with our rating system.
After many hours of work from Andrej and after months of his renewed solution, Boris and me started with the implementation of the solution. 10 hours of work gave a great result! We have implemented the solution in the same server than the past year and we replicated 24 thousands ratings on 930 letters to Santa! SO almost the same work the server had to resist in 1 month reduced to some minutes. The results were great! Almost no stress in the server and more than that... Correct results!
Now we are able to move the solution to a better server!
Long live the Prazniki.net!

Do you remember the 7 Wonders of the World?

Well, if you don't at least you can be part of History by selecting the new wonders of the World!
That's great! And even better because one of the wonders is coming from my country! so you bet which was my vote!
Visit the site and help adding a new chapter on the World's history! http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php
There you will be able to find different language versions of the site...
Have fun! and don't forget the the vote is a secret!

Hope for restoring vision!

A team of scientists from the UK treated mice with eye damage using some kind of cell translplants. After the treatment the mice were able to see again!
There is a full article in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6120664.stm

New design for a silent aircraft

The idea is good. That aircraft not only makes no sound (pollution) but also consumes less fuel.

The BBC has a special article with all the details.

Good news from Kevin

 

I'm in the look for great software and web sites for kids. So one of my ideas was to make a question in the Yahoo Answers service. I received a very kind answer (the best answer) and I think this is a gooood new! Thanks Kevin for your time and help!

In this post I'm just adding the links for kids.

• Recommended Sites on the World Wide Web
  http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/urls/...

Curriculum, Lesson Plans, Colouring Links & Fun Stuff.

• http://www.wplwloo.lib.ia.us/kids.html
• http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/kidstuff.html
• http://www.crayola.com/educators/lessons/index.cfm
• http://cp.c-ij.com/english/3D-papercraft/science/index.html
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/
• http://www.underfives.co.uk/wshtalph.html
• http://www.rhymes.org.uk/
• http://www.didyouknow.org/animals/animals.htm
• http://www.allpopularsites.com/cartoons.htm
• http://www.coloring-page.com/
• http://www.coloring.ws/
• http://www.funbrain.com/index.html
• http://www.letsreadclyde.com/
• http://www.starfall.com/
• http://pbskids.org/
• http://www.schoolexpress.com/
• http://gamequarium.com/
• http://jambav.com/
• http://www.fisher-price.com/us/
• http://www.allpopularsites.com/kids.htm

Printable Work Sheets.

• http://cp.c-ij.com/english/3D-papercraft/science/index.html
• http://www.mardar.us/
• http://www.worksheets4teachers.com/
• http://familyfun.go.com/printables/
• http://www.akidsheart.com/
• http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/worksheets.htm
• http://www.akidsheart.com/color.htm
• http://www.preschoolprintables.com/
• http://ivyjoy.com/coloring/search.html
• http://www.webeans.net/hutt/ffgames.htm
• http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/
• http://www.ezschool.com/worksheets/
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
• http://www.abcteach.com/
• http://choreworksheetsforkids.com/
• http://school.discovery.com/
• http://www.kidsdomain.com/
• http://www.beginningreading.com/
• http://teacher.scholastic.com/
• http://tlsbooks.com/historyworksheets.htm

Childrens Nursery Rhymes

• http://www.nurseryrhymes4u.com/
  

Lost Lyrics of Old Nursery Rhymes

• http://www.rhymes.org.uk/
• BBC

Many of the illustrated nursery rhymes presented below are accompanied by funny sounds. Look around for surprises!

• http://www.mamalisa.com/house/
• http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/index.asp
  

Learning to Tell Time
Clocks and watches have both a big hand to tell the minutes and a little hand to tell the hour. Look at the picture below. The hour hand is pointing to the 1, and the minute hand is pointing to the 12 (or 0 minutes). It is exactly one o'clock.

• http://arcytech.org/java/clock/telling_time.html
• http://www.pitara.com/activities/math/time/time.asp

Drag the hands of the clock to show the correct time. When you think you have the right time, press OK. If you answer incorrectly, click the clock face afterwards to see the correct answer. Try and score a perfect game(10 out of 10). Press OK to begin.

• http://www.cyberbee.com/games/timeteacher.html
• http://www.teachingandlearningresources.co.uk/time.shtml

Good luck.
Kevin, Liverpool, England.

A green Christmas season!

December is coming fast and an important part of our planet is ready to celebrate the holidays season.
I received a newsletter today and I'm very glad to see that many companies are offering products for saving trees during December. From recycled paper cards and paper for gifts until cards with seeds!

There are many options but most important there are good samples:

• http://www.stjudesranch.org/Content/cardprogram.asp This is an Organization that makes from the "old cards" new ones!
• http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/card-ornaments.shtml How to make ornaments for the Christmas tree with old Christmas cards.
• http://greenestgreetings.com/

2.65 billion cards bought in the US each year aren't recycled!

And also this kind of thinking can make our kids to participate and prepare themselves to keep the "spirit" of December and at the same time get values for protecting their environment.

I thing a greener December is a gooood idea!

Making children to use the time learning

Today the weather was not so good for my kids to go and play in the garden. SO we stayed at home most of the time. So I prepared my old notebook for my kids to play and learn.
So, I wish to share with you my discoveries.
One of the first probelms I found is that many games are designed for kids older than 4 years. That is a problem because Andre has 2 years and Marko 3 and a half. Here is what I found usefull:

1. BBC CBeebies: There you will find a great program for painting online. It is super because it teaches the kids how to use the mouse. The motivation is the result... by every click the see a nice result!
   
2. Something similar but less powerful is a program called Painter
3. Other painter software is available here
4. Then I found a program for learning the countries of the world... really cool! super simple but a great thing. Its name is Seterra