Author Archive

Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture by Erez Aiden & Jean-Baptiste Michel

Saturday, January 25th, 2014

Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture by Erez Aiden & Jean-Baptiste Michel (© 2013, Riverside Books: NY, NY) explains how they use Google’s repository of 30 million digitized books to investigate human culture. Their analytical tool lets them see how words and phrases have come and gone over the years and what these trends can tell us about ourselves. As more data becomes available they see many positive and negative possibilities. This is one book you don’t want to miss. Click at the bottom of any page to get a copy of this important book.

Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel

  • Erez has a PhD from Harvard and MIT. After stints at Harvard and Google he joined the faculty of Baylor and Rice were he directs the Center for Genome Architecture. In 2009 he was named as one of the world’s top innovators under 35 and has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
  • Jean-Baptiste is a French and Mauritian entrepreneur and scientist and the founder of Quantified Labs. He is an associate scientist at Harvard and a former visiting faculty member at Google. He has a PhD from Harvard, is a TED Fellow, and one of Forbe’s “30 Under 30” winners.
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Humor, Music, & Cool Stuff Greatest Hits 2014

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

In addition to the education and leadership resources I post daily, I always end with this grab bag category so you can have some fun, and maybe still learn something. So read through the list and have some fun. The greatest hits of my other categories were posted on previous days along with my best book summaries from 2013. Have a happy new year and thanks for your continued support.

11/27 Key and Peele’s Substitute Teacher bit – If you are new to these guys be sure to watch some of their other videos. @DrDougGreen

11/27 Regina Dugan: From a mach 20 glider to a hummingbird drone. The nerd as a hero and how we all have nerd power. Be sure to at least watch the humming bird drone at 9 minutes. @TED_TALKS

11/26 A quadriplegic gives a TED Talk using a robot. This is amazing, extremely cool, and inspirational. [10:22] Be sure to watch until he flies his drone. Students need to see this. @TEDx

11/22 Google Street View Team traumatized by Florida’s nude beaches. Lesson for kids: you never know when you are on camera. @HuffPostMiami

11/21 14 school mascots that may be more offensive than the Redskins – Nothing says team sprit better than Hobos. @sara_bee

11/19 All mammals that weigh as much as cats on up take the same amount of time to pee. This is real science and young students will probably get a kick out of it. (It’s the “Other Golden Rule” story.) @scifri

11/18 Princeton is the top school on Trojan’s list. Yes it’s the condom maker. @HuffPostCollege

11/13 Product Testing – The Rollie by Glove and Boots. After watching this, the ad for the real product will probably seem funny. @Fafagroundhog

11/10 Man returns to burning house to save beer. Don’t worry, it’s a happy ending, sort of. @NYDailyNews

11/9 Glove and Boots sing their version of All Together Now. This is so cute and funny. @sbarness1

11/6 Now we have robot baristas. The joke on NPR was now we finally found work for robots who majored in English. Don’t get me wrong, I think English is a fine major. My dear departed wife was one. @qz

11/2 Freestyle Finger Snapping – This starts with a tutorial and goes on to an amazing demonstration of this art. [4:05] @reddit_tv

10/31 The nine most-hated Halloween treats – This is pretty funny. @HuffPostBiz

10/17 Bacon lowers sperm count while white fish increases it. Who knew you could use bacon for birth control. :) @theage

10/15 Dilbert creator Scott Adams discusses his new book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. Passion and goals are way less important than process. Watch the video [5:13] first. @millermarinellc @WSJ

10/10 The difference between porn sex and real sex – This is informative and funny. There is no sex, just food, but it may not be appropriate for kids who haven’t had a reasonable amount of sex ed. If you plan to have an Internet porn conversation with your kid, this might be useful.

10/6 Professional kayaker rides down drainage ditch at 35 miles and hour. This could be bad for your kayak and/or your body. @dailydot

9/27 Mac Story – This is a short parody of Toy Story [2:24]. I gave it the funny rating. @digg

9/26 Glove and Boots test products you can only buy on TV. Gorilla using the Slap Chop brought tears to my eyes. @Fafagroundhog

9/17 Young American tourist shows off features of a Japanese vending machine. Looks like they are a few steps ahead of us with this technology. @digg

8/28 The places that European explorers really did discover first. @GuyKawasaki

8/23 Overcoming obstacles: This is a short inspirational TED Talk [4:22] by a physically disabled student who made the varsity basket ball team as a freshman. All students should see this. @rmbyrne

8/22 iPhone app rates your performance in bed. The [1:24] video is funny and probably PG rated. @mailonline @TheImusShow

8/22 Mickey Mouse in a Bad Ear Day [3:51] – This is very clever. Show it in class and have students critique. This can promote some critical thinking. @ValmontGod

8/9 The fries that bind – Here is a cool infographic on where you find or don’t find McDonald’s. No two countries that both had a McDonald’s have ever fought a war. Your students should find this interesting. @digg @foodbeast

8/7 Ten reasons to drink coffee. @GuyKawasaki

8/2 Pupils at David Bowie’s alma matter make a tribute video [10:01]. This is pretty arty. Perhaps it will inspire other kids to get creative. @SchoolsImprove @eveningstandard

7/31 Kid solves a Rubic Cube while juggling it. [1:35] This is officially Awesome!

7/30 London firefighters notice an increased use of handcuffs. @USATODAY

7/25 Tom Thum: The orchestra in my mouth – [11:41] This guy is amazing. @TED_TALKS

7/22 Yuck Movie – A 4th grader does a documentary exposing the truth about his school lunches. Lesson for adults: not only are the kids watching, they just may be filming. You also may be interested in the story I got this from in the @NYPost.

7/21 Drumming grandma (possibly great grandma) really rocks it. [1:25] @iEducator

7/16 San Francisco TV station reports names of pilots on Asiana flight 214 that recently crashed. Here is a news story that explains how it was a racist prank that made it on air. Don’t feel bad if you think it’s funny. @TheImusShow

7/3 This is a great TED Talk [18:06] by an autistic kid. “Instead of being a student of your field, be the field.” Also see his 60 Minutes piece from 2012 when he was 13. @millermarienllc

‘6/22 Eight-year-old sings opera (Queen of the Night from Mozart’s Magic Flute). This is one of opera’s biggest show off pieces. [3:08] @DrDougGreen

6/18 Manal al-Sharif: A Saudi women who dared to drive. This is very inspirational. Make sure your kids see this. @TED_TALKS @Montberte

5/21 The lighter side of Sweden from the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The you can’t understand all the lyrics, here they are. This makes fun of Swedish culture and it’s right on. I’m a Swedish-American and have been there many times. @GuyKawasaki

5/21 One high school’s epic ending to the school year – This video features every kid in school and what seems like the entire facility. Every sports team and activity in the school in their uniforms are also represented. What end-of-year tradition does your school have? @Guykawasaki

5/17 How Irish dancing got started – This is hilarious. Be sure to watch it all. Thanks to my Swedish cousin Morgan Johansson

5/15 Visit the International Space Station while an astronaut sings the David Bowie classic. This is pretty awesome. ISS astronaut Chris Hadfield wows with Bowie’s Space Oddity. @adambellow

5/8 Bohemian Rhapsody parody by Syracuse students – This is very well done. @millermarinellc

5/3 The Evolution of Music by the Pentatonix – This is a great history of music lesson. @catmiller2 @millermarinellc

4/26 It’s Monday – A parody of the Rebecca Black Friday song – This is pretty funny. @adambellow

4/24 World Yo Yo champion tells his story and shows off. The lesson here is to follow your passion. @TED_TALKS

4/14 The gorillage people – I love these guys. @ValmontGod @FafaGroundhog @MarioGlove

4/5 The 40 hottest women in tech list – Should women on this list be offended? You could title this list Accomplished Women in Tech for my money and run it as is. I got this from This Week in Tech which has many of these women as guests. They are all smart, hard working, interesting, and great role models.

3/14 Three minutes of fun for any French class with Mickey Mouse. This would be excellent for beginners. @ValmontGod

2/19 Nine-year-old banjo wiz with his brothers on guitar and fiddle. This is what can happen when kids don’t have video games. Thanks to Douglas Thaler, retired rock star manager

1/16 Two BBC Trailers with Monty Python songs. Love this stuff. @FastCompany

1/16 Porn study scrapped due to lack on men who don’t watch it. It also notes that most boys watch it by age ten. Parents take note. If you don’t provide sex ed your kid will probably get it online. @MailOnline

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My Best Eleven Book Summaries from 2013

Monday, December 30th, 2013

Since starting my blog in 2009, I have summarized 97 books. I do this to help you with purchase decisions, and to help people review the key concepts after they have read the book. Today I am posting links to my favorite summaries from 2013. My focus is education, but I find that there are many books from the world of business that offer great advice for educators, parents, and students. All 97 summaries are still available so dig in and be sure to purchase those that appeal. Thanks again for your wonderful support and Happy New Year.

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries by Peter Sims explains the qualities that set innovative people apart from the pack. He summarizes a great deal of research that makes his points convincing. While this is an ideal book for high school and college students, it’s never too late for adults to take advantage of these valuable lessons.

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants is Malcolm Gladwell’s fourth best selling book to be summarized here. I’ve been a big fan ever since I summarized The Tipping Point.

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina tells how what we know about brain science can be used to positively influence our daily lives. This book is vital for educators, policy makers, and anyone who wants to get more out of their gray matter.

Why Students Don’t Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. The focus here is how do students’ minds work, and how you can use this knowledge to be a better teacher.

Adapt: Why SUccess Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford offers an inspiring and innovative alternative to traditional top-down decision making. Tim deftly weaves together psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, physics, and economics along with compelling stories of hard won lessons from the real world. He makes a passionate case for the importance of adaptive trial and error to deal with problems both global, personal, and everything in between

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip & Dan Heath shares research and cool stories that show how our decisions are disrupted by an array of biases and irrationalities. They go on to introduce a four-step process designed to counteract these problems. Their fresh strategies and practical tools will enable you to make better choices at work and beyond. If you want to increase your chances of making the right decision at the right moment, this book is for you.

Bull Spotting: Finding Facts in the Age of Misinformation by Loren Collins will help you spot and avoid lies in a world with more accessible truth and lies than ever. Learn how to use the tools of critical thinking to identify the common features and trends of misinformation campaigns. Loren will help you tell the difference between real conspiracies and conspiracy theories, real science from pseudoscience, and history from fantasy. This is a book everyone needs to consider.

Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures, Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More Than Your Peers Ever Will by Dale J. Stephens is a handbook for people of any age who wants to take control of their own learning. Dale suggests actions you can take now and explores how school has failed almost everyone in some way. You will still need hard work and determination to thrive in the real world as this book offers an alternate approach to learning rather than an easy solution. Dale offers lots of valuable advice and many inspirational stories of success by unschoolers.

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel Pink is a fresh look at the art and science of selling, which is something we all do. If you want to better understand others’ perspectives, make your message clearer and more persuasive, and much more, click below to purchase this book. It is purposeful and practical, and may change how you see the world as it transforms what you do at work, at school, and at home.

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson deals with the point where natural talent meets personal passion. Ken explores the conditions that lead us to live lives filled with passion, confidence, and personal achievement. The stories about people from a wide variety of fields entertain and inspire. The book is a classic.

The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills by Daniel Coyle is a bit over 100 pages and offers specific tips for developing talent. Daniel relies on abundant research to help you copy the techniques used by the top performers in many fields. In addition to growing your own talents, this book will help parents, educators, and coaches increase the success rate of their students. Every home should have a copy.

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Learning’s Greatest Hits from 2013

Sunday, December 29th, 2013

Thanks to the Internet, teachers and students have access to an unprecedented number of high quality learning resources. Each day I post the best that I find thanks to the people I follow in Twitter. Some of the best from this year are available as part of this post. By far, my best source for this material is Richard Byrne who tweets as @rmbyrne. I suggest you consider subscribing to his blog at freetech4teachers.com. Also, be sure to share post this with any teachers you know and thanks again for your support.

11/26 Learn algebra in 42 minutes with video games. @locotech @Forbes

11/23 Thirty apps that have promise in the classroom – Have your students check them out and report back. @Edudemic

11/22 How pain works. Is is a good short lesson [4:04] for upper elementary on up. @TED_ED @rmbyrne

11/18 Changing the teaching of history one byte at a time – Just because you find in on the Internet doesn’t mean it happened. @mcleod @edutopia

11/15 What Project-Based Learning Looks Like in Math – @posickj

11/14 What parents need to know about distance learning – @onlinecourse

11/12 Ten Online Activities for Geography Awareness Week – @rmbyrne

11/11 The Magic of Fibonacci Numbers [6:25] – Arthur Benjamin @tedtalks

11/11 Fifteen Lesson Plans For Making Students Better Online Researchers – Most teachers can probably learn something from these lessons. @Edudemic

11/11 Five Rules of Story Telling – Teachers should consider printing this and putting it where students can read it. Better yet, give each student a copy for their wall at home. @colonelb

11/10 Music lessons are shown to give your brain a boost. @bbcnews @DrEscotet

11/10 A graphic that features the importance of music in education – @DrSpikeCook

11/8 Periods 101 – This is good sex education for young men and even younger women. High school boys should read this along with girls before they have one. @howaboutwe

11/6 Eight Videos That Prove Math is Awesome – @ccscharger

11/1 Project-Based Learning Activities for Geometry From @Curriki – They are free and look interesting. @rmbyrne

10/30 Why Children Should Learn How to Program – @Independent @SchoolsImprove

10/28 Five excellent short videos to teach your students about digital citizenship – These are very good. Principals should figure out which classes should show them. @s_bearden

10/27 Figure This: Math challenges for the family from the National Counsel of Mathematics Teachers – These look like fun. @rmbyrne

10/24 How much can Minecraft Steve bench press? This is an interesting physics lesson using the popular game. More to come.

10/22 Keeping Fit Helps Academic Success. @TheScotsman @SchoolsImprove

10/18 Five Research-Driven Educational Trends in Use in the Classroom – @MindShiftKQED

10/16 Math Live features animated math lessons and activities. @rmbyrne

12/2 Kids Like to Learn Algebra, if It Comes in the Right App. @wired

12/4 The Chemistry of Cookies – This is good for middle school on up. [4:50] @TED_ED @digg

12/5 Twenty things you need to know to financially smart – This includes activities sorted by age for kids from 3 to 18. @rmbyrne @BethKobliner

12/6 Why Students Need to Fail – @UA_magazine @zecool

12/9 Six Ideas for Practical Math Lessons – @GuardianEdu

12/11 The Physics and History of skiing. @rmbyrne

12/12 What causes the lowest temperatures on Earth? animation [1:00] Share with any science teachers/students you know. @digg

12/13 Fifteen Ways of Teaching Kids to Code – This is a key skill for the 21st century. @coolcatteacher @Edutopia

12/17 An Interactive Map of the Odyssey – I wish I had this when I read the book. @rmbyrne

12/22 Biology Pop offers many kinds of resources for teachers and students. @rmbyrne

12/23 Five tools to help students plan story writing @rmbyrne

12/25 Online Fitness Courses – See if you can try some of these with your students/kids. @onlinecourse

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Greatest Tweets Without Links of 2013

Saturday, December 28th, 2013

Every day when I post the best links I can find on the Internet, I include a quote. They are chosen to inspire and instruct. This year, many of them dealt with the fact that failure and success go hand in hand. This is a popular concept in current business and education literature. It is also the topic of my summary of Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries by Peter Sims. I hope you enjoy my favorites from 2013 and thanks for your support.

11/27 If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams @gcouros

11/21 If you’re not the one who’s controlling your learning, you’re not going to learn as well. Joel Voss @wired

11/19 The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Alan Kay @petersims

11/14 Be kinder than necessary. @readingsecrets

11/13 People don’t know what they want until they’ve seen it. Steve Jobs @petersims

11/7 The only way to get ahead is to fail early, fail often, and fail forward. John Maxwell @principalspage

11/4 Listen if you want to be heard. John Wooden @principalspage

11/2 Every wrong attempt discarded is just one more step forward. Thomas Edison

10/21 Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. @Larryferlazzo @justintarte

10/20 Kids who grow kale will eat kale. Growing your own food is like printing money. Every kid should be a gardener. @DrDougGreen

10/17 If you are going to doubt something, doubt your limits. Don Ward @principalspage

10/16 Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw @Montberte

10/15 “I was wrong,” builds more respect than, “I told you so.” @Leadershipfreak @principalspage

10/10 A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. Wayne Gretzky @GuyKawasaki

10/7 Surrounding yourself with ‘yes’ people is like talking to yourself. @FSonnenberg @LollyDaskal

10/3 Do you want your students to enjoy your class? Then enjoy your class. @DrJoeClark @principalspage

9/30 Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure. It just means you haven’t succeeded yet. Robert Schuller

9/29 Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. John Wooden @principalspage

9/26 The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary. Vince Lombardi @principalspage

9/20 I have failed over and over again, that is why I succeed. Michael Jordan @steve_maul

9/11 How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank @GuyKawasaki

9/3 The way to succeed is to double your failure rate. Thomas Watson, (Founder of IBM) @principalspage

9/2 When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this – you haven’t. Thomas Edison @principalspage

8/28 If you don’t start you can’t fail. If you don’t start, you will fail. Seth Godin @thisissethsblog

8/26 Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. Leo Buscaglia @GuyKawasaki

8/25 Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake. John Cleese @nancyrubin

8/22 It costs you nothing to be nice, but can cost you a fortune if you’re not. @petershankman

8/17 A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, and a little less than his share of the credit. Arnold H. Glasgo @Jeff_Zoul

8/11 Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure. Napoleon Hill @ChrisWidener

8/2 Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. Roger Lewin @BryanMcDonaldPD @justintarte @clindhol

7/27 I not only use all the brains that I have but all the brains I can borrow. Woodrow Wilson @tombarrett @c_durley

7/6 The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. Ralph Nader @principalspage

6/24 Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. Frank Zappa @GuyKawasaki

6/23 It is better to keep asking questions than to know all the answers. @LollyDaskal

6/10 The biggest mistake isn’t making mistakes its making excuses. @Leadershipfreak

5/10 Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back. Babe Ruth @mccoyderek

5/7 Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. Dalai Lama @ChrisWidener @DalaiLama

4/30 What is right is more important than who is right. John Wooden @principalspage

4/26 Anyone who doesn’t make mistakes isn’t trying hard enough. Wess Roberts @principalspage

2/25 Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. Babe Ruth @Sports_HQ @zecool

2/6 Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to the person you were yesterday. @Fit_Motivator @principalspage

2/5 The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them. – Unknown @NMHS_Principal

1/31 It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. -Babe Ruth @motivational

1/17 A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor – English Proverb @ToddWhitaker

1/9 The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. Michelangelo @SirKenRobinson

1/8 To be outstanding, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. @principalspage

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