Poetry 'n' Such With Paul Piatt

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix9N19cLJq8S0nEq0rSHYSopCgepH-RVM1Je52FUFKO2FSOrE7o6lXevuIiRXn2mIv6HNzu_kqtMu-cZ8qHVcmvD3JgsNv3K9mGr175TNlgzif3RgoiKyHPwlln1-bNDLdj4BRYGnyvXs/s1600/Paul_Delany.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix9N19cLJq8S0nEq0rSHYSopCgepH-RVM1Je52FUFKO2FSOrE7o6lXevuIiRXn2mIv6HNzu_kqtMu-cZ8qHVcmvD3JgsNv3K9mGr175TNlgzif3RgoiKyHPwlln1-bNDLdj4BRYGnyvXs/s400/Paul_Delany.jpg" width="285" /></a>Gentle, yet heartfelt greetings to all of you discerning drinkers of the warm and aromatic coffee of life that is the IWS website.<br /><br />Renown poet and IWS Literary Editor, Paul Piatt here once again in order to share with you some of today’s finest in the world of poetry, prose, and people.<br /><br />Today during our bi-monthly and continuing journey of words made magical, and life’s pentameters made iambic, I introduce you to a fellow poet and a dear friend of some thirty-five years…<br /><br />The world renown Russian born poet, or poetess if one prefers…Mischie Karmakova.<br /><br />For those of you well-intentioned persons who long to share in the intellectual dalliances of fine poetry, yet never seem to get around to it, allow me to offer unto you some background on the lovely Mischie Karmakova.<br /><br />Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, she at the tender, yet not untainted nor un-jaded age of 25, emigrated to the United States and settled in the bucolic town of Newburgh, NY.<br /><br />It is there that she began to pen her rhythmic words that speak brutally, reflectively, yet eloquently on her desperate past, her discordant thoughts on what the future holds, and her more than amorous relationship with vodka.<br /><br />Her first book to be published in the U.S was her critically acclaimed 1997 book of poetry, <i>Vodka Da, Whiskey Nyet</i>, which charismatically compared and contrasted her feelings about the differences between living in her former homeland of Mother Russia and her new life in the United States.<br /><br />From the aforementioned book, a poem she wrote titled, <i>I Thought Potatoes Were the Only Vegetable</i>, she clearly illustrates the lushness and richness of America’s bounty…<br /><br /><i>I had heard that far beyond my hammer and sickle borders, </i><br /><i>things such as peas, such as carrots, and such as justice…existed.</i><br /><i>Little did I know until I moved, that the potato upon which I had filled my body all those years,</i><br /><i>was merely the empty starch that is Communism.</i><br /><br />Following three more books that combined and varied in degrees of angst, wit, and hopelessness, she produced in 2005, her award winning poetic stylings that culminated in the classic book…<br /><br /><i>Ad Hominem…An Attack Upon Myself</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCKrLZ7ryBvV7caY8nSqmbR9TTDmzGesxfrV2IwEmhUhiGlWinciN_MTEabkNEDh1zCkE6tv7u12bMPEnySfixxth038JhkFD23oXzAG32s0w4HhKNCvhODgbaNUT_WJQ5AMhSz8ZIE8s/s1600/TetherBall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCKrLZ7ryBvV7caY8nSqmbR9TTDmzGesxfrV2IwEmhUhiGlWinciN_MTEabkNEDh1zCkE6tv7u12bMPEnySfixxth038JhkFD23oXzAG32s0w4HhKNCvhODgbaNUT_WJQ5AMhSz8ZIE8s/s400/TetherBall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>This book contains the timeless and masterful offering, <i>Being Tied to a Tether Ball Pole is Like Being in a Siberian Gulag</i>, and from the prose contained within that priceless piece of poetic charm, she offers to us…<br /><br /><i>I was tied….No, I was chained.</i><br /><i>The ball whizzed by like cosmic rain.</i><br /><i>Trying to be still. Hoping to be free.</i><br /><i>Gulags and tether balls make me want to pee.</i><br /><br />And now, let’s fast forward to today.  <br /><br />Just last week Mischie launched her seventh and perhaps best offering from her heart…<br /><br /><i>Fuchsia and Fornication</i><br /><br />The book is laced with stories from her life and as always, each beat, pause, and poetic outpouring is besmirched with the beautiful and masterful verbal paintings of her well-honed craft.<br /><br />For instance, a line or two from the title poem of her book, <i>Fucshia and Fornication</i>…<br /><br /><i>I looked hot in my fuchsia dress.</i><br /><i>A box of donuts against my chest.</i><br /><i>And from the street, there he waved.</i><br /><i>He looked like Dad, so I went; I caved.</i><br /><br /><i>And as I approached he waved some bills.</i><br /><i>He said he’d pay me to give him thrills.</i><br /><i>I was so crushed, he was a John.</i><br /><i>My fuchsia dress had done me wrong.</i><br /><br />Beautiful as always Mischie; beautiful as always.<br /><br /><i>For now, as I travel the road less traveled,</i><br /><br /><i>Paul Piatt</i><br /><br />And of course folks…Jayman and Matt-Man did another award winning <i>IWS Radio</i> Show yesterday that focused on Turkey Trot Week in Yellville, AR., so if you didn't catch it, you can listen here:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogtalkradio.com%2Fim-with-stupid%2F2012%2F10%2F10%2Fbreasts-and-thighs-running-amok%2Fplaylist.xml&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogtalkradio.com%2Fim-with-stupid%2F2012%2F10%2F10%2Fbreasts-and-thighs-running-amok%2fplaylist.xml&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!!</div>Matt-Man <br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><i><span style="color: blue;">mattmaniws@ymail.com</span></i><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS"><i><span style="color: blue;">@MattMan_IWS</span></i></a></div>

Poetry 'n' Such With Paul Piatt

Gentle, yet heartfelt greetings to all of you discerning drinkers of the warm and aromatic coffee of life that is the IWS website. Renown po...

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One of Ours...on Turner Classic Movies

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMCaLOTqRuXXJPZV2mCTU08N4jBwsv7_fN_5t7GGnJ5tfxljU3wobq79I65uli8IHNAMpm_tdH9zVGIM_jW7OutAc5TMem6FCxpbYTYqVuDdCiJGRBTXL8ROsHHbwbxV8rbWufFZgbM4/s1600/moviemorlocksbanner+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMCaLOTqRuXXJPZV2mCTU08N4jBwsv7_fN_5t7GGnJ5tfxljU3wobq79I65uli8IHNAMpm_tdH9zVGIM_jW7OutAc5TMem6FCxpbYTYqVuDdCiJGRBTXL8ROsHHbwbxV8rbWufFZgbM4/s1600/moviemorlocksbanner+2.jpg" /></a></div><span id="goog_978664509"></span><span id="goog_978664510"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="goog_978664509">Moira Neylon, aka/moirafinnie, blogger on TCM's Movie Morlocks site and member of the Classic Movie Blog Association, will be a guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies</span> next month. Moira and three other Morlocks will be featured in segments with host Robert Osborne on Friday, November 30; each will discuss a film they've chosen to be screened that evening.</span></span><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I was delighted to discover (thanks to the new issue of TCM's "Now Playing") that Moira selected the classic Jacques Becker crime drama, <i>Touchez Pas Au Grisbi </i>(1954), starring the incomparable Jean Gabin in what has been called his "comeback" performance.  It is one of his best. The film also features a young Jeanne Moreau. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep an eye out for Moira on TCM in November and, if you haven't already, check out her work at <b><a href="http://moviemorlocks.com/author/moirafinnie/">Movie Morlocks</a></b> and on her blog, <b><a href="http://moirasthread.blogspot.com/">The Skeins</a></b>. On Twitter, she's <b><a href="https://twitter.com/moirathefinn">@moirathefinn</a></b>.  She's also active at <b><a href="http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/">The Silver Screen Oasis</a></b>.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhucyrULspe7JtW4RxPitW_6QF-CMclmPrqk-ksVzg4DGwRS-iGLEMfEVJ8fAylaWvZHM6qXk8gnm-mRbRsWJcVbk32eN39vFYrqWCdm7zFmCBAMVuEZ0w-0TRv1GCo8mY05MSHHeTtRZU/s1600/touchez+pas+au+grisbi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhucyrULspe7JtW4RxPitW_6QF-CMclmPrqk-ksVzg4DGwRS-iGLEMfEVJ8fAylaWvZHM6qXk8gnm-mRbRsWJcVbk32eN39vFYrqWCdm7zFmCBAMVuEZ0w-0TRv1GCo8mY05MSHHeTtRZU/s400/touchez+pas+au+grisbi.jpg" width="295" /></a></div>

Moira Neylon moirafinnie Movie Morlocks TCM TCM guest programmers The Lady Eve (author) One of Ours...on Turner Classic Movies

Moira Neylon, aka/moirafinnie, blogger on TCM's Movie Morlocks site and member of the Classic Movie Blog Association, will be a guest pr...

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Technical Instructor (BS or MS in Physics or Optics)(Good communication| FAB| Troubleshoot| Thinfilm metrology| Design curriculum)(#108682)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Job Title:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Technical Instructor<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Fulltime<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.Responsible for conducting technical training courses for customers and/or employees in the use of complex situations for multiple products.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">2.Interfaces with customer and functional organizations to develop specifications for content of courses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">3.Prepares lesson plans from engineering documentation, field service requirements, or software documentation.  Works with engineering, technical support, and manufacturing to ensure that course material reflects current product features.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">4.Instructs participants in both classroom lectures and laboratory sessions.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">5.Follows up to determine applicability of course material.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Technical Instructor works on problems of diverse scope where analysis of data requires evaluation of identifiable factors.  Exercises judgment within generally defined practices and policies in selecting methods and techniques for obtaining solutions.  Requires a Masters degree or equivalent experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Education and Experience:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.BS or Master degree in physics or optics or equivalent work experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">2.Semiconductor experience in working with optical subsystems, diagnostics, and troubleshooting. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">3.Experience working in a mixed environment with engineering and product support teams to identify and design learning curriculum to support tool performance needs of a field service engineer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">4.Formal training in instructional systems design or industry experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Please send in your resumes to vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></div></div>

Technical Instructor (BS or MS in Physics or Optics)(Good communication| FAB| Troubleshoot| Thinfilm metrology| Design curriculum)(#108682)

Job Title: Technical Instructor Location: Milpitas, CA Duration: Fulltime Job Description: 1.Responsible for conducting technical trainin...

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Research & Instruction Librarian/Special Projects Coordinator - Connecticut College

<strong>Research & Instruction Librarian/Special Projects Coordinator - </strong><strong></strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Connecticut College</span></strong>, a highly selective private liberal arts college, located in the historic seaport of New London, seeks a highly experienced Librarian to provide instructional and research resources, initiate and develop activities to integrate research instruction into the curriculum, provide reference services for the faculty, students, scholars and other patrons by selecting information resources to support their instructional and scholarly needs. In this position the librarian/coordinator will also manage special projects and provide key departmental administrative support to the office of the Vice President for Information Services and Librarian of the College as well as serve as a member of the IS Leadership Team. S/he will be responsible for providing professional leadership in the design and provision of use of library outreach materials; assist, advise, and instruct faculty and students in the access and use of scholarly information through research consultations and reference desk service; act as a liaison to academic departments providing research instruction and discipline-specific reference assistance to faculty and students in these departments; develop library print and digital instructional materials to support general and subject-specific research and instruction; collaborate with faculty and colleagues to plan sessions for course-integrated library instruction and develop supporting materials and guides; manage and complete surveys, reports, marketing publications, events, planning and other activities as assigned; serve on College wide committees and task forces as necessary. Master’s degree, obtained from an ALA accredited program, in library and information studies with 3-5 years relevant experience required. Particular attention will be given to applicants with subject expertise in English, American Literatures, and film studies. Candidates must demonstrate effective teaching, presentation, and communication skills and knowledge of established and emerging instructional methods and technologies. Project management experience and a strong understanding of trends in librarianship and higher education is a must. Ability to build and sustain relationships within the College community and enthusiasm for public service, teaching, and student learning are essential. Thorough applicant credentialing, including criminal records check will be conducted on the selected applicant. Forward resume, cover letter and contact information for three professional references to <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:humanresources@conncoll.edu" href="mailto:humanresources@conncoll.edu">humanresources@conncoll.edu</a> (include full name and LIBR in the subject line). Accepting applications until 5:00 pm on <span style="color: red;">October 24, 2012</span>. Connecticut College is committed to creating a vibrant community enriched by diverse perspectives, talents and experiences. We encourage applications from candidates who share this commitment and will contribute to the diversity of our college community, especially members of historically under-represented groups. AA/EOE.

Research & Instruction Librarian/Special Projects Coordinator - Connecticut College

Research & Instruction Librarian/Special Projects Coordinator - Connecticut College , a highly selective private liberal arts college, ...

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IT Business Engagement Director (Analysis | project life cycle | SAP | Oracle | PeopleSoft) (#108199)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Job Title:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> IT Business Engagement Director<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">  Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Fulltime<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Specifically, the responsibilities of the Director IT Business Engagement include:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Team Leadership: Lead teams of individuals in the Information Systems to lead its Relation Management for the Product divisions and Global Operations. Interact with subordinate supervisors, customers, and functional groups to become the central point of contact for understanding all of the customer uses cases.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Create business requirement and Design, Develop and Implement technical solutions to support the company's growth requirements<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Measurable Goals and Deliverables: Use metrics to provide quantitative analytics of system availability, performance, capacity planning and cost effectiveness. Improve Total Cost of Ownership and customer satisfaction for the corporate desktop computing environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Project Management: Coordinate interfaces among corporate computing platforms, evaluating new hardware and software, developing budget and cost analyses, and providing technical leadership and support to staff and other end-users.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Establish Strategic Relationships: Partner with key vendors, other IT service groups, and company departments to ensure the most practical technical solutions are available.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Communications and Leadership: The position is required to lead, consult and Manage across an extensive global organization. The position is often called upon to present to Executive Management, International organizations and in customer forums, and hence must possess an IT base knowledge and technology, and be able to articulate, both in written and oral form, and adapt communications for clarity to the audience<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Education and Experience:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Strong project management experience, including full-project life cycle Management, coordination of multiple projects and Management of project planning and oversight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Demonstrated strategic, visionary, and customer focused planning. Strong leadership with excellent interpersonal and communications skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Operations background with experience providing technology solutions in a global high-tech business environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Experience with deployment of large enterprise systems (SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Engineering/Product Development Support: Extensive background in supporting global Engineering functions is very important in this position. This function provides key support and consulting services to Product Development groups, including assisting in design and integration of information technologies into KLA-Tencor products and services. The organization also consults and interacts extensively with KLA-Tencor customers, particularly customer IT organizations, in integrating products, services and solutions into customer operations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Director provides the leadership for these activities and is often the focal point with Product Development initiatives and customer problem solving when IT issues are involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Information Security: Security continues to be a key challenge across KLA-Tencor's global operations and within customer operations. The Enterprise Services organization provides an essential service in designing, implementing and consulting on information security solutions. The Director provides a key leadership role in understanding security issues and solutions, and designing process and technologies to ensure information security while maintaining productivity. Also assist in developing and implementing a comprehensive risk-based strategy for IP and information assets protection.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Basic Qualification:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 7+ years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">OR<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Master's Level Degree with at least 6+ years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Please send in your resumes to vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></div></div>

IT Business Engagement Director (Analysis | project life cycle | SAP | Oracle | PeopleSoft) (#108199)

Job Title: IT Business Engagement Director Location:   Milpitas, CA Duration: Fulltime Job Description: Specifically, the responsibilities...

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Contaminated drug draws attention to steroid injection procedure Physicians divided on value of low-back steroid injections - The Boston Globe

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><content style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 26px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The discovery that a potentially tainted drug is linked to 119 cases of meningitis nationwide has fueled debate among doctors about widespread use of the back-pain treatment, which has little proven longterm benefit.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Use of the medication, a ­steroid injected near the spine to quell inflammation, has ­increased in part because of the demands of an aging population and the relatively few risks associated with the injections when compared with surgery and other treatments, which ­also carry no guarantee of success.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Patients and doctors often saw a so-called lumbar injection as a safe alternative, until the outbreak of fungal meningitis cases tentatively linked to the injectable steroid supplied by a compounding pharmacy in Framingham.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">"What one can say from 10,000 feet is that these are one of the most overused procedures in the United States," said Dr. Steven J. Atlas, a primary care internist and director of Primary Care Research & Quality Improvement Network at Massachusetts General Hospital. "I think it reflects the fact that treatments for low back pain and low back pain conditions often don't provide the ­relief that patients are wanting or looking for, and they in desperation or hope look to procedures that may offer them the magic cure."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">A 2007 study in the medical journal Spine found that there was a greater than 200 percent increase in steroid injections administered for back pain in two different ways between 1994 and 2001. It concluded that fewer than half were performed for medical problems for which there was the strongest evidence they worked.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The steroid drug, methylprednisolone acetate, is not approved by the US Food and Drug Adminstration for use in epidural injections for back pain, but physicians are ­allowed to use drugs "off-label" for unapproved uses.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Critics of the injections say that patients overestimate the benefit they will receive from a treatment, and the injections are often used to treat ailments other than those most likely to respond to the steroid treatment. But proponents say that subgroups of patients can benefit from the injections.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Dr. Ray Baker, president of the International Spine Intervention Society, said word of mouth, not just the aging population, has probably helped drive the increase in injections. His analysis of Medicare data found almost 2.5 million injections in that patient population in 2011, and he estimated that they probably make up about half of injections administered last year in the United States.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">"The vast majority of practitioners are trying to very conscientiously use these injections on their patients to increase their activities and functions," Baker said. "We have a pretty expectant population; we have a population of baby boomers that are not aging in a wheelchair or in a rocking chair. These are people that are playing tennis and golf and running into their 80s."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The Cochrane Review, an ­organization that analyzes the strength of medical evidence, published a review in 2010 of 18 randomized trials. Just two of the studies were deemed to show benefits greater than possible harm. The ­review concluded that there was not strong evidence for or against the use of the treatments. The review added it could not rule out the possibility some groups of patients would benefit.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">"I would say that there does seem to be consensus that at least in well-selected patients with . . . spinal pain that ­involves nerve dysfunction or nerve root dysfunction, that they at least provide some benefit and the controversy revolves about how much benefit and the duration of benefit," said Dr. Steven P. Cohen, a professor of anesthesiology at Johns ­Hopkins School of Medicine.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">For patients, the matter can be more clear-cut. Josephine Kendall, an 80-year-old from Methuen, said her lower back pain had gotten so bad that she could only lie down. She has to go to dialysis three days a week, and tasks as simple as bringing home groceries had become unbearable.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Two and a half years ago, she began receiving injections at New England Baptist Hospital, which she said transformed her life, for three months at a time.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">When she heard the news about the possibly tainted drugs, Kendall asked her physician whether she was receiving injections supplied by the same company. She was not, and she said it has not changed her mind at all about whether to continue receiving injections.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">"I can't exist without them; let's put it that way," she said.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Physicians said they had been inundated with calls from patients wondering if they had received the drug from New England Compounding Center. Some said that patients who were eligible for an injection were forgoing the procedure now.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Dr. Carol Hartigan, a physiatrist at the spine center at New England Baptist, said Tuesday that more than one patient she had seen who was a candidate for an injection has declined to receive it for now.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">She noted that while anecdotally, individual patients can report dramatic improvement, it is crucial to evaluate the effectiveness of an injection and that she looks for at least a 50 percent improvement that lasts three months.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">"Clinicians and patients can really exaggerate the response out of hope, Hartigan said. "So many people we see come in with this list and litany of injections they've had," and they still aren't fixed, she said. "We want the quick fix sometimes."</p><div><br></div></content></div><a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/10/09/contaminated-drug-draws-attention-steroid-injection-procedure-physicians-divided-value-low-back-steroid-injections/1cQdfBP0dVidlJxNz2HogL/story.html?p1=Well_BG_Links">http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/10/09/contaminated-drug-draws-attention-steroid-injection-procedure-physicians-divided-value-low-back-steroid-injections/1cQdfBP0dVidlJxNz2HogL/story.html?p1=Well_BG_Links</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Contaminated drug draws attention to steroid injection procedure Physicians divided on value of low-back steroid injections - The Boston Globe

The discovery that a potentially tainted drug is linked to 119 cases of meningitis nationwide has fueled debate among doctors about widespre...

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A Genetic Test for Exercise - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div id="well" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div align="left"><div class="entry-content"><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Research <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/phys-ed-the-workout-enigma/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">has confirmed</a> that people's physiological responses to exercise vary wildly. Now a new genetic test promises to tell you whether you are likely to benefit aerobically from exercise. The science behind the test is promising, but is this information any of us really needs to know?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The new test, which is being sold by a British company called <a href="http://www.xrgenomics.co.uk/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">XRGenomics</a>, is available to anyone through the company's Web site and involves rubbing inside your cheek with a supplied swab and returning the tissue sample to the company. Results are then available within a few weeks. It is based on a body of research led by James Timmons, a professor of systems biology at Loughborough University in England, and colleagues at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana and other institutions.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">That original research, published in a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20133430" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">landmark 2010 study,</a> looked into the genetics of why some people respond to endurance exercise so robustly, while others do not. Some lucky men and women take up jogging, for example, and quickly become much more aerobically fit. Others complete the same program and develop little if any additional endurance, as measured by increases in their VO₁2 max, or their body's ability to consume and distribute oxygen to laboring muscles.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">For the 2010 study, Dr. Timmons and his colleagues genotyped muscle tissue from several groups of volunteers who had completed 6 to 20 weeks of endurance training. They found that about 30 variations in how genes were expressed had a significant effect on how fit people became. The new test looks for those genetic markers in people's DNA.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">"The idea is to help people to understand why" they might be progressing more slowly in an exercise program than their training partners are, says Dr. Timmons, one of the founders of XRGenomics.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">After he appeared on a BBC science program last year, in the course of which the host was revealed to be a "low" responder, according to his gene profile, Dr. Timmons was inundated with e-mails and calls requesting the test, he says. At that point, he and several colleagues filed a patent (still pending) for the gene markers and brought the test to market.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">It joins other, less-sophisticated exercise-related gene test kits already available over the counter. These tests, which are not monitored by the Food and Drug Administration, typically rely on a single gene marker and claim to be able to predict whether you - or your child - will have success as a distance runner, say, or as a power-based athlete, like a sprinter.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Their actual predictive value, based on the best currently available genetic science, "is approximately zero," says Claude Bouchard, a professor of genetics at Pennington, who was the senior author of the 2010 study with Dr. Timmons, but has no involvement with XRGenomics. (He is a paid consultant for another company, Pathway Genomics, that offers gene tests only through physicians.)</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The new test is almost certainly more reliable, with "a much stronger scientific basis than any of the previous exercise-related DNA test kits," says Tuomo Rankinen, a professor of genetics at Pennington, who, like Dr. Bouchard, was an author of the original gene study but has no involvement with XRGenomics. But, he adds, it relies on VO¹2 max, just one measure of how someone responds to exercise, so it has severe limits.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The new test will not tell you, for example, how exercise might affect your blood pressure over the long haul, Dr. Rankinen says, or whether your insulin sensitivity might change, or whether you'll lose weight. The genetic markers related to these health responses to exercise are quite different from those related to VO₁2 max, he says.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">In other words, the scientific understanding of how our DNA affects our overall bodily response to exercise is in its infancy.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Which does not mean that anyone curious - and deep-pocketed - enough to take the test should refrain from doing so. At present the basic test kit costs about $318 (199 British pounds) for genotyping and a brief accompanying report. For about $478, you receive a more extensive explanation of the findings, along with customized exercise recommendations from the company's scientific advisory board. The report might suggest, Dr. Timmons says, that if you are a "low" responder to endurance exercise, you should concentrate on resistance training or otherwise refocus your training.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">"What we hope," he says, is that the test and report "will encourage people to keep exercising" who might otherwise have quit when running or swimming didn't make them more fit.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">On the other hand, some people might look on the news that they are a "low" responder to endurance training as a license to quit working out altogether, he acknowledges.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">But Dr. Bouchard says that that would be the worst message to take from any gene testing. "This is a good test, as far as it goes," he says. But genes will never be destiny.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">In the original 2010 gene study, the authors concluded that the gene profile they'd uncovered accounted for at least 23 percent of the variation in how people responded to endurance training, which, in genetic terms, is a hefty contribution. That leaves perhaps 77 percent of how you respond to exercise consciously up to you.</div></div></div></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/are-you-likely-to-respond-to-exercise/?src=mv&ref=general&pagewanted=print">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/are-you-likely-to-respond-to-exercise/?src=mv&ref=general&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

A Genetic Test for Exercise - NYTimes.com

Research  has confirmed  that people's physiological responses to exercise vary wildly. Now a new genetic test promises to tell you whet...

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Today's archidose #625

Here are some photos of the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastián, Spain, by <a href="http://www.vaumm.com/">VAUMM</a> (2011), photographed by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/">Pawel Paniczko</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059426157/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8174/8059426157_e4df37cc06_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059415295/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8449/8059415295_7b2f8d0a7c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059433875/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8458/8059433875_9cbf300269_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059543704/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8321/8059543704_38c6e16a1f_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059456414/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8321/8059456414_27f467d681_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059476329/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/8059476329_250ee14a04_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059491551/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8169/8059491551_1b3c13f885_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwape/8059505334/" title="Basque Culinary Center by Pawel Paniczko, on Flickr"><img alt="Basque Culinary Center" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/8059505334_7eda5f9503_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:<br /><blockquote>:: Join and add photos to the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/archi-dose/">archidose pool</a>, and/or<br />:: Tag your photos <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/archidose/">archidose</a></span></blockquote>

Today's archidose #625

Here are some photos of the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastián, Spain, by VAUMM (2011), photographed by Pawel Paniczko . To contribute...

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now that's a deal

Have I got a treat for you.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.birdave.com/" target="_blank">BirdAve</a> is sharing the love! If you are a follower of this site, (just click on the blue 'Join this site' button to the right there), you can use the code BIRDAVE25 to get a 25% discount on the print of your choice. These are so reasonably priced already, this is a great deal!<br /><br />Here are some of my faves.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3VfLj0fAasvTipPTwdIQjiJbaWmYGHrh_FrSw96RWnbOEP6CBoU6UpA5VBIFpCPiyNJoJ4Xf3RTGDFqCWRmTjBRXsm2EXnR3QOO4-m8LY5aAnPv7cIJSI4GuBQpe6_3fgssr7YygQZYV/s1600/Back_Bay_Boston_poster_art_1024x1024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3VfLj0fAasvTipPTwdIQjiJbaWmYGHrh_FrSw96RWnbOEP6CBoU6UpA5VBIFpCPiyNJoJ4Xf3RTGDFqCWRmTjBRXsm2EXnR3QOO4-m8LY5aAnPv7cIJSI4GuBQpe6_3fgssr7YygQZYV/s400/Back_Bay_Boston_poster_art_1024x1024.png" width="325" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnFe8ep4Zi2D-ug3TP_NhfJfVN_L5X8zb_x014qR9kP9Ju7By1Si2nIi_LmJYuYCaZp3sX7ye26yLs6Vc8QjhFu-17nf8vVq9tl1PiSZl791pRSPiw4ACi5RSqYVt-LLfGgpm0r7Qi9lA/s1600/Gossipbirdave_modern_art_1024x1024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnFe8ep4Zi2D-ug3TP_NhfJfVN_L5X8zb_x014qR9kP9Ju7By1Si2nIi_LmJYuYCaZp3sX7ye26yLs6Vc8QjhFu-17nf8vVq9tl1PiSZl791pRSPiw4ACi5RSqYVt-LLfGgpm0r7Qi9lA/s400/Gossipbirdave_modern_art_1024x1024.png" width="325" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NrplurPR13OMBCia19KFCARpGXPKsnB48llUYHcBd5TbinNFyYD3coJfZ9JD9fn2R1hqZo3MKIHRpj5VGvZt2mPZJuiVKiQqpWmhOJBOM5o8tbfpwA_tVPf7QfsSoXwgKbUODBOlxj6E/s1600/Paris_France_poster_art_1024x1024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NrplurPR13OMBCia19KFCARpGXPKsnB48llUYHcBd5TbinNFyYD3coJfZ9JD9fn2R1hqZo3MKIHRpj5VGvZt2mPZJuiVKiQqpWmhOJBOM5o8tbfpwA_tVPf7QfsSoXwgKbUODBOlxj6E/s400/Paris_France_poster_art_1024x1024.png" width="325" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc3Qq1Aoc0nxdZZSJZOjKO6i20IwXCTq-yzei3Vwml9dIPdatnplwV8RlJyEZEt0lQ97tl2o95IascDj1pa9nLcBMoCbh_HQs4HB74Ekyr97IhqIwdP3IbzKxWu3VqCATpA89SzXAdt_yH/s1600/Brooklyn_Bridge_New_York_United_States_skyline_by_birdave_1024x1024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc3Qq1Aoc0nxdZZSJZOjKO6i20IwXCTq-yzei3Vwml9dIPdatnplwV8RlJyEZEt0lQ97tl2o95IascDj1pa9nLcBMoCbh_HQs4HB74Ekyr97IhqIwdP3IbzKxWu3VqCATpA89SzXAdt_yH/s400/Brooklyn_Bridge_New_York_United_States_skyline_by_birdave_1024x1024.png" width="325" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_dUJxmMWCS56CLjk2_ISEHqbB67tatXtztlPsRadaUbzQWyKa4bLAMenfe1nAc3hLo-eCtlkPImO3o7KnVYMn9kpdRTur1yIroLOtacCGmIqYlpitWqbkpcOEjUC8yHbqVOoDdM0tmhw/s1600/Every_Little_Thing_She_Does_Is_Magicbirdave_modern_art_1024x1024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_dUJxmMWCS56CLjk2_ISEHqbB67tatXtztlPsRadaUbzQWyKa4bLAMenfe1nAc3hLo-eCtlkPImO3o7KnVYMn9kpdRTur1yIroLOtacCGmIqYlpitWqbkpcOEjUC8yHbqVOoDdM0tmhw/s400/Every_Little_Thing_She_Does_Is_Magicbirdave_modern_art_1024x1024.png" width="325" /></a></div><br />Christmas is closer than you think. Now is your chance to get a jump on your Christmas list like you always swear you will do but never get around to doing. <a href="http://www.birdave.com/" target="_blank">Check them out</a>!

now that's a deal

Have I got a treat for you. BirdAve is sharing the love! If you are a follower of this site, (just click on the blue 'Join this site...

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After Losing St. Vincent’s Hospital, Manhattan Sees Rise in Clinic Care - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The demise of <a title="Articles on St. Vincent's demise" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/nyregion/03vincents.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">St. Vincent's Hospital</a> in Greenwich Village two years ago has led to a struggle for health care supremacy in some of New York's most distinctive neighborhoods, offering a glimpse, in the process, at what might be the future of urban medicine.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Without building a hospital, one large chain, <a title="Continuum Web site" href="http://www.wehealnewyork.org/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Continuum Health Partners</a>, is establishing a beachhead in Chelsea and the Village by connecting with outpatient clinics, trying to dominate the market and create a feeder network for its hospitals in other neighborhoods. It is joining forces not just with traditional clinics but also with newer experiments like doctors working out of drugstores. A competitor, <a title="NYU Langone Web site" href="http://www.med.nyu.edu/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">NYU Langone Medical Center</a>, is expanding its physician practices downtown, and like Continuum, it has hired dozens of stranded St. Vincent's doctors.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Several walk-in "urgent care" centers have also rushed into the vacuum left by St. Vincent's in Lower Manhattan, hoping to show that they are more efficient and consumer-friendly than a hospital-based system, but some have already begun to form relationships with the hospitals.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"We are still trying to figure out if we are a threat or an asset to each other, and we are probably both," said Dr. Alicia Salzer, co-founder of <a title="Medhattan Web site" href="http://www.medhattan.com/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Medhattan</a>, an urgent care center that opened in 2011 near ground zero at Liberty Street and Trinity Place.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The immediate fight is to win market share, the loyalty and business of the area's many affluent and well-insured residents. But the demise of St. Vincent's has also turned Lower Manhattan into a laboratory for health care reform. The new clinics and the maneuvering by large chains are anticipating an expansion of the number of people with insurance and changes in the way that health care is delivered and paid for. And they are testing the notion, long held by health planners, that the city can survive with fewer hospitals.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Many doctors and some Village residents were dismayed when St. Vincent's went bankrupt and closed, and consider the new health care choices in the area to be less than adequate.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"As a physician and general internist, other than a <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/injury/cuts-and-puncture-wounds/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Cuts and puncture wounds." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">laceration</a>, I would never send a patient to the urgent care center," said Dr. David Kaufman, who trained at St. Vincent's and spent more than 30 years working there.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But in its waning days, St. Vincent's was filling far fewer beds than it did during the <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/aids/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about AIDS/H.I.V.." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">AIDS</a> crisis, and as is the case at other hospitals, many patients using its emergency room did not need emergency care, driving up costs.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">While it is impossible to know whether local residents are worse off without the hospital, <a title="Rand 2009 study" href="http://www.rand.org/news/press/2009/08/31.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">one 2009 study by analysts for the RAND Corporation</a> found no adverse impact on quality, and significant cost savings, in the newer models of care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The study looked at patients in a large Minnesota health plan who received care for sore throats, ear infections and urinary tract infections — common complaints at retail clinics like the ones in drugstores. It found that the cost of care was 30 percent to 40 percent lower in those clinics than in physician's offices and urgent care centers, and 80 percent lower than in emergency departments, mainly because of lower reimbursement rates and less laboratory testing. It found that the rate of preventive care and overall quality of care was actually worse for patients who patronized emergency rooms for those ailments.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The researchers did raise concerns that the proliferation of urgent and retail care might lead people who otherwise would nurse minor illnesses at home to seek medical attention, raising the costs of health care to society. And they suggested that without good communication between different types of care, the health system might become even more fragmented.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"So you have more cooks over the pot, and that lack of continuity is a real frustration," said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a policy analyst at RAND, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the lead author of the study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">As for worries that urgent care or retail clinics might miss serious diseases like <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Cancer." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">cancer</a>, Dr. Mehrotra said that the rarity of complications made that concern hard to assess, but that "there would be a lot of malpractice suits, and we haven't seen that."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Executives at Continuum, which runs five hospitals in New York City, say they expect their expansion into the community to form the foundation of an accountable care organization, a new model of care supported by the federal law that seeks to move patients out of hospitals as much as possible, and to reward health care organizations for working together to improve quality and cut costs.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">From Eighth Street in the Village to 26th Street in Chelsea, between Ninth Avenue and Union Square, a patient can now choose from a dozen clinics or medical practices that have been opened or expanded by Continuum or are affiliated with it.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Continuum has also taken over the former St. Vincent's cancer center on 15th Street, and it has established a clinic with a focus on H.I.V. patients on 17th Street, renovating several floors and filling them with colorful pop art. Half of the doctors at the clinic, called the Center for Comprehensive Care, were hired from the old St. Vincent's H.I.V. program.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Urgent care centers are opening at the pace of Starbucks, and we are affiliating with as many of them as we can," said Adam Henick, senior vice president of Ambulatory Care and Medical Enterprise for Continuum.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Continuum has also become affiliated with doctors practicing out of 13 Duane Reade drugstores in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and has a contract to expand to 20 within the next year or so, and to 50 within four years, said Dr. James A. D'Orta, chairman and chief executive of Consumer Health Services, which manages the practices in the pharmacies.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">No money changes hands in the Duane Reade affiliations, Mr. Henick said, but there are indirect benefits for both sides. The hospital system checks doctors' credentials and provides — and bills for — laboratory, radiology and imaging services prescribed by the Duane Reade doctors. The system also gets a potential trove of patients referred by the clinics. The Duane Reade clinics earn the cachet of being associated with major hospitals, and as with other affiliated practices, the Duane Reade patients are given expedited access to Continuum specialists and direct access to hospital admission if needed.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">While one goal of the federal health care overhaul is to move nonemergency patients from hospitals to cheaper outpatient care, there is significant cost variation among clinics, even among those that are part of Continuum's loose network. In a byzantine patchwork of state and federal law, some specialized clinics — especially those treating H.I.V. or geriatric patients — can be reimbursed several times as much for a patient visit as are private practices and urgent care centers.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Officials at NYU Langone Medical Center on the East Side said that they, too, were trying to expand their downtown market.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Everything is intensely competitive and everyone is everywhere," said Dr. Andrew W. Brotman, its senior vice president and vice dean for clinical affairs and strategy.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The hospital system with perhaps the most to lose from the competition is the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. It is <a title="Article on North Shore-LIJ plans" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/nyregion/deal-reached-for-former-site-of-st-vincents.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">renovating the 160,000-square-foot O'Toole building</a>, across from the old St. Vincent's, as a free-standing emergency room, which expects to handle 50,000 visits a year. It will operate as an extension of Lenox Hill Hospital, a North Shore affiliate on the Upper East Side.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But the emergency room is not scheduled to open until 2014. Over the summer, North Shore was forced to close an interim clinic it had opened in Chelsea with a $9.4 million state grant. The clinic attracted an average of only two patients a day, which a hospital spokesman, Terry Lynam, attributed to its limited hours and "the proliferation of urgent care" in the neighborhood.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Michael J. Dowling, chief executive of North Shore, said he believed there was room to work collaboratively with Continuum and other health care providers in the neighborhood.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Good hospitals are important, but you don't need more than you need," Mr. Dowling said. "In many cases, we've been addicted to inpatient beds. We can't be addicted to them in the future."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Word of the new options is trickling out, and some patients say they are not mourning St. Vincent's.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Michelle McKenzie, a social worker, said going to the St. Vincent's emergency room often meant hours of waiting and, in recent years, run-down facilities. She found Medhattan, the urgent care center, advertised on the bulletin board at Public School 3, where her 7-year-old son, Ian Etheridge, is a student. She has gone there to be treated for an allergic breakout of <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/hives/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Hives." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">hives</a>, and her husband took their son there a few months ago when he cut his forehead on the playground and needed stitches.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"I was seen immediately," Ms. McKenzie said. "It wasn't crazy chaotic like St. Vincent's was. I only had to tell my story once, and I was treated by the same physician I told my story to."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Dr. Charles Carpati, former chief of intensive care at St. Vincent's, now at Lenox Hill Hospital, said the community seemed to be coping without the old hospital.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"It's been very hard to show that people are dying because St. Vincent's is no longer there," Dr. Carpati said.</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/nyregion/after-losing-st-vincents-hospital-manhattan-sees-rise-in-clinic-care.html?">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/nyregion/after-losing-st-vincents-hospital-manhattan-sees-rise-in-clinic-care.html?</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

After Losing St. Vincent’s Hospital, Manhattan Sees Rise in Clinic Care - NYTimes.com

The demise of  St. Vincent's Hospital  in Greenwich Village two years ago has led to a struggle for health care supremacy in some of New...

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The teacher is not always right (at least not about this Nobel Prize winner)

The teacher is not always right. Take this report card for a troubled science student in 1949.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"It has been a disastrous half. His work has been far from satisfactory. His prepared stuff has been badly learnt, and several of his test pieces have been torn over; one of such pieces of prepard work scored 2 marks out of a possible 50. His other work has been equally bad, and several times he has been in trouble, because he will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way. I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous, if he can't learn simple Biological facts he would have no chance to find the work of a a Specialist, and it would be sheer waste of time, both on his part, and of those who have to teach him."</blockquote><br />This is taken from the report card of <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2012/10/09/nobel-prize-winner-got-poor-marks-science/V4Ac8ByiebdB2DiVCmglBJ/story.html" target="_blank">John Gurdon</a>, by a teacher at Eton College in 1949.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://c.o0bc.com/rf/image_539o215/Boston/2011-2020/Wires/2012/10/09/Boston.com/APOnlineImages/2012-10-09/fb79fcb979ed7d1c1d0f6a706700fa9b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://c.o0bc.com/rf/image_539o215/Boston/2011-2020/Wires/2012/10/09/Boston.com/APOnlineImages/2012-10-09/fb79fcb979ed7d1c1d0f6a706700fa9b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2012/10/09/nobel-prize-winner-got-poor-marks-science/V4Ac8ByiebdB2DiVCmglBJ/story.html" target="_blank">Boston.com </a>- AP News - Nobel Prize winner gets poor marks in science.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Gurdon has just <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/britains-sir-john-gurdon-wins-nobel-prize-in-medicine-for-his-pioneering-work-in-cloning-and-stem-cells-8202243.html" target="_blank">won the Nobel prize</a> for science. I find it ironic how quickly this paper surfaced. I would wonder if Gurdon kept it as fuel for his passion, kind of like I recall those in my class who told me that I'd never be anything because I had no common sense.<br /><br />I am going to show this to my students today. The fact is that passion cannot be held back and that teachers aren't always right.<br /><br />It is also true, that sometimes we learn the most from our worst teachers... or those we get along with the worst... that -- "if it is to be, it is up to me."<br /><br />Ponder this one today. Remember your noble calling, teacher, but also that you are not omnipotent.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=1d960674-2922-4df1-8dc4-038e365cf696" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>

John Gurdon Teaching The teacher is not always right (at least not about this Nobel Prize winner)

The teacher is not always right. Take this report card for a troubled science student in 1949. "It has been a disastrous half. His work...

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Gleanings from the Google Teacher Academy in New York, October 3rd and 4th

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEIKRjL97U6HTVe_zBf-a_i1Lp7UF-Wjhwk6T1dm7T61Sc71g4K_AQmqjlG9-Szp_5Mg3uiHKbcSlhFYkNVwlPTjJ2kBA7bKVXBEqdqtp_7xP9ilBw34Nrvp4t-EaPGqb45cd_LcOdiw/s1600/google-graphics.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEIKRjL97U6HTVe_zBf-a_i1Lp7UF-Wjhwk6T1dm7T61Sc71g4K_AQmqjlG9-Szp_5Mg3uiHKbcSlhFYkNVwlPTjJ2kBA7bKVXBEqdqtp_7xP9ilBw34Nrvp4t-EaPGqb45cd_LcOdiw/s200/google-graphics.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In my post yesterday I wrote<span style="background-color: white;"> <a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2012/10/reflections-on-google-teacher-academy.html" target="_blank">a reflection </a></span><a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2012/10/reflections-on-google-teacher-academy.html" target="_blank">on the latest Google Teacher Academy</a> in New York. The more I think about it, it was a mind blowing experience! We absorbed so much useful information both informally through networking and sharing, and formally from the various talented presenters. Today’s post will mention but a <b>FEW</b> of my take aways from the GTA experience</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Something interesting about Google</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b>When you are there walking through different parts of the huge building you see all these young (so it seemed) men and women working intensely at their computers and you know that things are happening ‘out there’ in the Internet. There is a large emphasis on creativity and the 400-800 employees at that particular office are encouraged to relax in various ways after an intense session. Good, healthy food is in plentiful supply and Google provides breakfast, lunch and dinner to its employees. I was interested in their 20% time principle, best explained as “<i>Google gives its workers ‘20 percent time’ so that they can work on projects that they are passionate about. ‘20 percent time’ has been used to develop Gmail, Google Talk, Adsense, Orkut and a few other features that would never have seen the light of day unless this philosophy existed within Google”</i>. (<a href="http://www.ictsteps.com/2011/20-time-your-own-learning-time/%5C" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white;">Kevin Mclaughlin</span></a>) </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tips and tricks from Google </span></span></b></span></span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Google Chatbot for translation.</b> This is INCREDIBLE for collaboration with those who don’t speak your language. You simply add the chatbot to your chat list as a ‘friend’ and then you create a chat between yourself, the chat bot and the foreign friend. <i>e.g. someone from China</i>. You type in English and he/she will see your words in Chinese and vice versa! Amazing! Read more <a href="http://support.google.com/chat/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=172257" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span></li><li> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Google dashboard</b>. Did you know that you can log in to <br /><a href="http://www.google.com/dashboard">http://www.google.com/dashboard</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> and see all things you have done or created in Google?</span></span><br /> </li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Google Lesson plans</b> for students can be found at <a href="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html" title="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html">http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html</a></span></span></li></ul><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3LrJgFph0iIzVyHPGC-_DKv8_3YUTkqkiY6W43JMJphqPiytboSH2BMvrSObR2tq4ILhLMlEjsaZqv87LI0HyNFXl62BR_bHHf8maY0eVSmku5iFJMbBiM-VARrZvhSh_nE-0IVRQi5k/s1600-h/image7.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS19axXrha8uHccrPAjoWsLfbsuDx1h6xCwCiq6dveZlpNPFbPNOLfl97QIpyuhZ5YvXm297X311pZoiLoOc4X6ojtOmSY3-rnOEfG5laeIrZNQQHWGticiDS0zcbamTTcNjWpyUOG2MY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3LrJgFph0iIzVyHPGC-_DKv8_3YUTkqkiY6W43JMJphqPiytboSH2BMvrSObR2tq4ILhLMlEjsaZqv87LI0HyNFXl62BR_bHHf8maY0eVSmku5iFJMbBiM-VARrZvhSh_nE-0IVRQi5k/s1600-h/image7.png"></a><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>There’s so much you can do with YouTube</b></span></span></span> <br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>YouTube Search</b> - shared by James Sanders<br />You can tailor your search by adding keywords and commas. For example:<br />[puppies, HD, short, partners, new] will get you the newest puppy videos in HD, that are short from partner groups.</span></span><br /> </li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>YouTube Crea</b>te <a href="http://youtube.com/create">http://youtube.com/create</a> <br />It is quite amazing how many online tools you can now combine with your YouTube account to create videos with your class. Just take a look.</span></span><br /> </li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>YouTube Editor</b> <a href="http://youtube.com/editor">http://youtube.com/editor</a><br />You can edit and use YouTube videos right from YouTube! The first thing to do is see that they are uploaded with the Creative Commons license. </span></span> <ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can add text, transitions, and audio files<b></b></span></span> </li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can also upload your own video with Creative Commons and tag them.  Once tagged you can have your students find and use them for editing</span></span></li></ul></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Video Manager</b> features to check out in You Tube</span></span> <ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can blur faces, <b></b></span></span> </li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can add annotations and use these to create links to other videos</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can add captions. To do this upload a .txt file and YouTube will do its best to add captioning.</span></span></li></ul></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Take a look at this inspiring presentation '<b>Ten ways to use You Tube in the classroom</b>' <a href="http://t.co/PYtHgOKR">http://goo.gl/qs26z </a>created by James Sanders one of the Lead Learners.</span></span> </li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Google Search stories</b> created by a Google Certified Teacher Karen Mensing is an inspiring example of how  the search feature of Google can be used with success in Google. Take a look at her channel.  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories">http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories</a></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">  </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Take </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">a look at this example from Caroline, an amateur astronomer, who became the youngest person to  discover a supernova: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9-F6dbCIHw">Supernova Video</a> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span></li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlIRjr0Vuc-GebqPQpN8stdfclxk8tQZAyNczydQee0xrkWdXSdQHCSVcWf6szdPjyIgKeSd_ZmlvlSMya6cUtv0gqutiY4gV1WhGYy__se-4XxEnwmEvRrKGFWsHerqoEO5gDa1Ii7k/s1600-h/image3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmK14ScNsI1891zoeNKYGBVBerQl6xsze4DgRhJrDcTfUrabQMTWnfHg9sCH4HWYQeBM7kL7mLEbH_NLaK1zbvbRkvtjbqWbWStUISH108SMnsG78Q0TTQSlNKRV3i6bmux-TgTx40n0c/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Google Chrome extensions</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />This needs a paragraph all to itself! If you have never used Google Chrome, please give it  try. It is FAST and there are all sorts of amazing free extensions that you can add to your browser bar so that you don’t have to leave your browser to do certain things. Here are a few examaples:</span></span></span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The ChromeVox screen reader</b> is an extension to Chrome that brings the speed, versatility, and security of Chrome to visually impaired users. Find out more <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chromevox/kgejglhpjiefppelpmljglcjbhoiplfn#detail/chromevox/kgejglhpjiefppelpmljglcjbhoiplfn" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Read <b>5 Best Chrome Extensions for Educators</b> by Amy Mayer (one of the Lead Learners at the GTANY)<br /><a href="http://www.friedtechnology.com/2012/08/5-best-chrome-extensions-for-educators.html">http://www.friedtechnology.com/2012/08/5-best-chrome-extensions-for-educators.html</a>  </span></span></li></ul><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, I can see the post could go on forever - there is just so much to share! These are just a few gleanings, but future blog posts will contain more highlights.</span> </span></span></div>

google Gleanings from the Google Teacher Academy in New York, October 3rd and 4th

In my post yesterday I wrote a reflection on the latest Google Teacher Academy in New York. The more I think about it, it was a mind blowi...

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9.79* Reflection

If ESPN is doing one thing right, it has to be their <i>30 for 30 </i>documentary film series. 30 films on 30 different subjects by 30 different directors. Each documentary that I have watched has been very compelling and informative, and I highly recommend watching them when you can.<br /><br />Tonight's doc featured the eight athletes who participated in the 100m final at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. This was the race that featured Ben Johnson's unprecedented demolishing of the world record and subsequent gold medal. It also brought on the most thorough and media-scrutinized doping scandal in the days following, also featuring Johnson.<br /><br />The <i>30 for 30</i> film interviewed all eight athletes, and each of them got into the sport in their own way. But each of them (except Johnson, who has already admitted to doping) talked about training "clean," even though half of them had been implicated in doping either in 1988 or following.<br /><br />It was a little disheartening, as an Olympics fan, to see how blatant the cheating had been in the track and field circles. I'm sure that even now, athletes in every sport are taking something to try to get better. More athletes take them because they don't want to get left behind...the doping athletes are winning, while the "clean" athletes can't get ahead.<br /><br />There was also tons of finger pointing. Carl Lewis, who was awarded the gold medal in the days after the race, kept to the high ground while looking down on Johnson. Johnson was equally critical of Lewis, claiming that one of Lewis' friends, Andre Jackson, spiked his beer before he took the test, and had done it many times before.<br /><br />Considering I was very young when this all took place originally, this was a very new story to me. I had known about Johnson being stripped of his gold medal, but didn't know the whole story. I don't think anyone really "knows" the whole story, unfortunately. Even now, twenty-four years later, facts are shady.<br /><br />And that will remain with any athlete that competes. We'll hail them for their accomplishments, and then feel wronged when we find out they were cheating. In third grade Reading basals that I use, there is a story about the Olympics. One of the supplemental stories is about how wonderful Marion Jones is as a track athlete. Do I teach my students that this story is false? That Jones actually was caught cheating and stripped of her medals? Or do I allow them to watch a documentary twenty years from now on Jones, and have them learn the whole story in the same manner I did?<br /><br />It's all in the perspective. And this documentary, although excellently and thoroughly produced, still allows the viewer to make their own opinion about how they are going to take the information given. Do they shun the sports and athletes they love - or do they choose to hide it and move on?<br /><br />What will you do?

9.79* Reflection

If ESPN is doing one thing right, it has to be their 30 for 30 documentary film series. 30 films on 30 different subjects by 30 different di...

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What's in Jay's Wallet?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Hola curious bitches! I bet you lose sleep every night just lying there wondering "What the hell does Jay have in his wallet?" Well, wonder no more my friends cause I'm getting ready to show ya! And, I'm doing it Vlogging style. Woo-Hoooo!<br /><br />The video isn't all that great. I look stupid and the audio sucks balls. But, it was like the 87th try so screw it, I'm posting it the same way I sold that 1992 Plymouth Sundance two door: "As Is Bitches!"<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M2qTVscMwlI?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><br /></div>

What's in Jay's Wallet?

Hola curious bitches! I bet you lose sleep every night just lying there wondering "What the hell does Jay have in his wallet?" Wel...

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Reflecting on the Google Teacher Academy experience – you MUST try to attend one!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipzOCRMnpJ8rgPnXIKfIZqmmTUqs7VCZyAGu2jM7yc06ZMy8ZOxgHFNwlqXF6KEq7JDvcpp6urH6mRNOk6sMDxXZ1LRP1g61IwohC_TzlMjMsu1OX9OtfHebqzw_rxWqTzVdqFFfsdtck/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2Ds1osbVH3wqUzeLoFt0B9Ffc7Af9UDZ5dLsavP22L7W6DxOFURSo_rqZ19jaQxPrrhtKzPtiQPWXSy-HFn6kM2NR5URe7e4H6vfdTZh6AwB3fJ7PecdsZtnt2rN7Cfp00I1wnBjt1Y/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></div><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A Google Teacher Academy (GTA) is definitely something that every teacher interested in technology integration should strive to attend at some stage of their teaching career. I have just been privileged to attend one in New York and have come back somewhat exhilarated and enthused, and quite amazed at the enormous amount of learning that happened in that short whirlwind of time.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So what exactly is a Google Teacher Academy? </span></span></b> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Google holds these popular events consisting of two days of professional development  twice or so a year in different locations, and normally accepts 50 participants from the vast number of applications that are received. Sometimes the Academies are open to the whole world and sometimes they are limited to a particular country or region. An application consists of filling in a detailed online form and then making a one minute video about oneself based on one of the the titles that Google provides. Find out mor<span style="background-color: white;">e</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">about the GTA <a href="http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/google-teacher-academy.html#" target="_blank">here</a></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">.</span> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwDgXXi198NaaFprEBikIgI4ClqTTxTQltUcYwC_2XpKvuH48j3M-tQ6tyBfH8iqulSRbGdGOFbUdWMM6Z76on5u4hiXYFuVrZTKGzliewsLsJTz27TSwibKOZZ25vhd5E6ZojN6tTE1M/s1600-h/image%25255B6%25255D.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii_X8ePf_VGOVgpoqfuWOryRy9Sm3KUXlNTkTpA7OkbPCaWCPtlDjCmnLdqhzfsAxFDaxAcPMhxM9FiD1Qsbtp9HFgUqL-Zz4dntAgkwn4Hs1P1_SjDI33g40EpOjXA17f27iPWQutDPc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Google Teacher Academy team</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A great sense of community was fostered</span></span></span><u><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></u></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The most exciting aspect was the<span style="background-color: white;"> sense of community that de</span>veloped among the 50+ educators attending. It showed me that the best learning takes place when there is collaboration, sharing, and networking. There were quite a number of technology integration facilitators from around the USA and elsewhere, and it seemed, in my estimation, that they are mostly having an enormous amount of success with their methodologies. However a number of them shared informally the challenges that go with leading change revolving around technology integration.  Many of them have technology blogs which I am keen to delve into. There were also several media specialists at the Academy who are taking on a new role and making their libraries a vital part of the technology happenings in a school. </span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJps3X3bwGANM1DzUtVtongg6I_LXWyZ5tegaYQoJV9N1YyjfL7rdBdrnnQ8JM3tIP2twS6DsqTtzESlaPCA5eCK-8AAOg4ZLy-wBo7cd2BhBYSch9zPmGozzs6oESk3_nbmIJtzX-X_o/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRmb7wPs9SePxlJ3DEFdJYYs7lw_KHhCSjiLsE-cwsvRXp_r9vhdb9pd-30ODVdupRjgPhArw80DR70ZBJlMjs7MK-KDzyhUpa9fbat-iOKo5EgKHPx41g-PlWwfJqpScAstwq4Tv6d0c/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is our team, Team Diesel</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So how did we prepare for the Academy?</span></span></span><u><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></u></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Before the Academy we joined Google + which I hadn't yet fully grasped, and we were placed in groups of six with a leader so that we could get to know each other via a Google hangout. This was an awesome experience and as a result I can see many uses for  Hangouts </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(a free video conferencing tool for ten people at a time)</span></span> in education. We also wrote bios about ourselves so that we could read up about everyone before we started. And of course, there were the technology legends that we already knew about and followed on Twitter. So basically, by the time we started the Academy we had got to know 6 others plus legends and we had the potential of finding out about all the other attendees. The night before at the informal Google dinner at John's Pizzararia in New York we had great fun putting names to faces. Funnily enough when I say <i>names</i> - we always introduced ourselves by our Twitter handles - shows the power and popularity of  Twitter!</span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2SKRGeNr0Ku2xCxGntPRLp3ykD6oWuMNBjEFNu8cxJWlTthCBTvh8GI7_iDuJ09zgrDE0_4LgcSlNJMTPng_fPfwJCRKd724rcdSlP6Oy0pbq0YJvfwhEUiv8cU1OQnesVrNzGsRoh18/s1600-h/image%25255B13%25255D.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUZeVpb1MYk6LEy1i2eT3bM1sFEhhmhSwQhq4V6ax5qcP_Dyqjha-MwOtINWA7k_FioWqbYq4Nx5YnLhozvPIaYXW3bXW8SVemtYz7sP6-1pb9tcu954Xbc_-evst9FT29fZLbTmnk8E/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Diesel on a pre-Academy hangout </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The big day!</span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the first day we excitedly made our way to the massive Google building just opposite the Chelsea Market in NYC - all very eager to see what Google actually looked like inside, and not knowing what to expect from the day… </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgrgTf988H5hWchZDt60USuLeWH07h4ktCTZyOi_v1Y0BDfqMBCIoGeT1Xty8xt3ergqLINvftvkMwIYdZmtYJrzGH1MqMtLeApoghjArem2qvvufBkygyEARPc5PZJYINGSe37cJ5QQ/s1600-h/image%25255B16%25255D.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHFCQa583r9NGzjesNAyACDG4Uag-fKzmL-oXYkkWuwAeJaR4ZG2EuyTC_hOPt6_NtaPC7tYvBEf2qNc3uORWqVrQiqi5Q9lA2j2GW-5QTkk9fNfWEQS93IAmgbslpT3hV4DRq0WrGZiw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Google is HUGE!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course, I don’t want to give too much of the two days away for the sake of future attendees, but they were action-packed, collaborative and great fun to say the least, and we were afforded the most amazing presentations from dynamic presenters.<span style="background-color: white;"> The exchange of ideas was incredible.As JR Ginex-</span>Orinion (one of the attendees) said ‘<i>The quality of educators and leaders in the room was at times intimidating, and yet unbelievably inspiring at the same time.</i>”  I'll be writing blogposts about some of the things I learned at this Academy in the days to follow. One of the things I really enjoyed was hearing from some of the designers of Google products, such as Google Drive etc. Another highlight was hearing from some of the Lead Learners as they are called (those leading the teams). One of them was <a href="https://twitter.com/kernkelley">Kern Kelly </a>who shared his perspective and thoughts about allowing students to lead the process, take ownership of their learning and also help the teachers learn about technology. He brought along several of his students to share their experiences with the rest of us. </span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi16LKIciidPExpYvy-x9y8RvSqC0XYYMnsVPm3F9BcKlYatyeNg5FQY4Bujwa3JoBwns_JhZQ94HqQIsT5T4vKzeVyEDPFUNyTBiczLNzFMJRmSMQvo31j9UeGYQ5bwEc1LnoR5OmfvEk/s1600/kERN.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi16LKIciidPExpYvy-x9y8RvSqC0XYYMnsVPm3F9BcKlYatyeNg5FQY4Bujwa3JoBwns_JhZQ94HqQIsT5T4vKzeVyEDPFUNyTBiczLNzFMJRmSMQvo31j9UeGYQ5bwEc1LnoR5OmfvEk/s320/kERN.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kern Kelly and some of his students</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So the event continued till our brains boggled (and googled!)...but we didn't want it all to end. It was too absorbing and captivating, too engaging…</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Graduation time</span></span><u><br /></u></b></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At our ‘graduation’ we were presented with our Google Certified Teacher badges, and certificates. We were officially welcomed into the Google Certified Teachers’ Google group which now has about 750 educators in it. We were also tasked with developing a ‘Personal Action Plan’  outlining a project that we will complete in the days to come, with given deadlines. As far as I am aware I am, to date, only the second South African to have attended a Google Academy, the first being Ariellah Rosenberg from Ort (@Ariellah). I am hoping that statistic will change in the future.  </span></span><br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="133"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkcA6jFDjnyFqxO1TzCjalOs7O87QfwVtLtD6QP4FvXHrlBxuKNdCCm6VEhDgVzA70L8lJtTInLKYtPfny1nHjJD_EOC0P-lhDQxOl9xpe6BCGtg_ksvQi1QauwQIxyDYi0-KzWdCnSg/s1600-h/image%25255B21%25255D.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilrLg_4wXiIoWhmZVZDA8Q-h3x_gCChDZ8AiX_jLrtpUT59jLfJNe20WWVxc_a6Ab-K9CWkc77A4RtCPPvFYS4m8WFzY0sFm5j6IfujWMTn4c6VqbDOxqmLGm4OF48miK4MhnmDPcEjWo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="10"></td> <td valign="top" width="256"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwEFKb_BshAn_Avp41QiPt4QUKeV1tvWNeBQv4tetCXi3EuHK7i0Mp_5LI_Sajtppyg3-8M2BUK60X1Vb0bJyBFbMgKMxVQHpy5jlozWNb1F6DRba3t9kEkPi0OmEYIyiwYkTJTKeuPGE/s1600-h/image%25255B26%25255D.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2LGVAlPRtG_2UiC3M27wzC2UqsDkXH78hWGc8-_RFyMV7BPwKsmWxFd8Er2BbpzoLISdGE80jiSkDKc4DCNVQqkLP4TSxSpVDyifZiGGTp9Zi3hcijV5Z4tMdFco6Gc0Gcp1zy9T8zQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="224" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, in order to keep this post at a reasonable length I will be writing a separate post outlining a few of the ideas that I walked away with from the rich sharing that took place at the Google Teacher Academy in New York, in October 2012.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Also read <a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2012/10/gleanings-from-google-teacher-academy.html" target="_blank">Gleanings from the Google Teacher Academy in <span style="font-size: small;">N</span>ew York</a>.  </span></span> </div>

google Reflecting on the Google Teacher Academy experience – you MUST try to attend one!

Submitted by Fiona Beal A Google Teacher Academy (GTA) is definitely something that every teacher interested in technology integration shoul...

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