Earlier today, a groundbreaking interfaith initiative, the Global Freedom Network, was announced. A collaboration between the Vatican, the Anglican Church and the grand imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the renown seat of Sunni Islam learning, this project aims to fight against worldwide through government and business initiatives. Worldwide, it is estimated over 30 […]
Jia Jiang’s WDS 2013 talk has been posted
By — Posted July 26, 2013 — Leave a Comment
Following in the tradition of TED talks, the first of this year’s WDS talks has now been posted for public viewing. We start with Jia Jiang’s love affair with rejection. This was my favorite talk from this amazing conference, and I’m happy to be able to share it with everyone. Jia Jiang from Chris Guillebeau […]
I Believe in Creativity
By — Posted July 16, 2013 — 4 Comments
Grown ups never understood anything by themselves. And it is rather tedious to have to explain things to them time and again. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince Every morning, millions of young children make their way to school. We place them in classrooms, and decree they should learn. Teachers, many of who work […]
Man, Music and the World
By — Posted March 20, 2012 — 1 Comment
Music has the ability to move people, and therefore, by extension, to move the world. It is part of who we are as people. One only needs watch a child at play and at dance to see the music and movement given us before the world around us tries to beat it out of us. […]
4th Graders, Plywood & Gamification
By — Posted March 14, 2012 — 1 Comment
There’s a growing trend known as gamification, perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps not. Gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. ~ Gamification Wiki We see many, many different examples of it in our daily lives, though we may not really notice them or […]
Dignity Cannot Wait for Better Times
By — Posted March 4, 2012 — 1 Comment
Afghanistan is a war-torn country, topping Forbes’ list of most dangerous places on earth in 2010, and it’s not just this last decade that has brutalized the people of one of the oldest inhabited places on earth. For century upon century, Afghanistan’s location has made it the invasion target of many men and empires. It […]
And I try, and I made it.
By — Posted February 25, 2012 — 3 Comments
In the early 2000’s, a devastating drought hit Malawi, which led to widespread famine in 2002. This situation was exacerbated by a government many felt were slow to act, slowing aid to those hard hit in the rural communities. The suffering was great, as the poor (and not so poor) saw what little they had […]
High School and the Art of Conducting
By — Posted February 22, 2012 — Leave a Comment
Today was one of those days, necessitating a little away time from anything computer related. So, after work, I threw on a little Florence + the Machine and headed down to the Springville Museum of Art, which is conveniently open late on Wednesdays. Art makes me happy. Serendipitously, there were two things going on tonight […]
Why the worry? I’d rather wonder.
By — Posted February 15, 2012 — Leave a Comment
If you aren’t familiar with TED, you should be. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, though, as they point out, the scope has grown a bit. It is two annual conferences and many affiliated conferences throughout the world dedicated to “Spreading Ideas,” specifically “Ideas Worth Spreading.” The most amazing part is what the conferences do […]
Virtual Choir: “These individuals alone, together.”
By — Posted February 11, 2012 — 4 Comments
Eric Whitacre‘s wonderful Virtual Choir project is continuing to grow and expand. The submissions for Virtual Choir 3, Water Night, just closed on February 2nd. In total, 2945 people from 73 countries submitted videos to participate in the world’s largest virtual choir. So, what is a virtual choir? It’s a choir made up of people […]
