Time and effort

It takes time and money to decorate. Someone needs to make the effort to do the planning and coordination that will lead to a successful execution and make the results visible.



Thanks to the efforts of the folks with the Franklin Downtown Partnership, Franklin's is looking good for the holidays.

Do you have someone or a group like this in your area?

the best ideas

Not every idea 'just' happens. Sometimes the best ones percolate for awhile. Get chewed on, stewed over before becoming fully baked.



I guess I am hungry this morning. I might as well go eat breakfast!

How many more food analogies could you come up with to talk about the origin and development of an idea?

Amaryllis time

Will this one grow this year?



I hope so, I would like to see some real nice blooms!

Leveraging the power of a dollar

With my birthday approaching, I am using the occasion to raise some money for the Franklin Food Pantry.



A dollar will help to provide 5 meals for a family in Franklin. $20 will provide a hundred meals. How does the Franklin Food Pantry do this? Our network of suppliers helps extend the power of your donation.

Thank you!


Note: If you want to have the tax credit for your contribution, feel free to go to the Franklin Food Pantry website. Scroll down the home page to find the Google Checkout and make your donation securely there: http://franklinfoodpantry.org/

Address is approximate

Take a few minutes to watch and enjoy this!

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

Wonderful!

Thank you Tom Jenkins for creating this

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner today, let's pause a moment or two to give thanks for what we do have.



Enjoy!

Reflecting on reflections

Raining today. Not likely to see a reflection like this in the rain.




Maybe when there is more light, you can catch a reflection in a puddle.

Look for some reflection today.
Where will you find one?
How long will it take you to find one?

Will you find one?

Béatrice Coron: Stories cut from paper

Story telling is a spiral. The path Beatrice took is quite interesting.




What can you use from this?

scanner options

Stop and Shop has a new app for your smart phone.



You can download the app on either iPhone or Droid and use it to scan the items are you proceed through the market.

I do use the regular scanner and have since it was introduced. I did give the phone scanner a try twice thus far.

Not pad at all. I think I'll use the scanner though. It has a better handle and fits into the carriage holder. I don't fear leaving it on the carriage and walking to get another item. I'd rather not do the same with my phone.

I'd also prefer to have some sort of inventory scanning process available. It would help to avoid a stock out situation on specific items.

Have you used the regular scanner in the store?
Have you tried the new phone scanner?

What do you think?

Congratulations Brad!

For the 9th ceremony of the week, the Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of MA administered the 3rd and final oath to the new attorneys.





The first oath was to the Commonwealth, the second to the US Constitution and this the third and final, hence the celebration at the end

Section 38. Whoever is admitted as an attorney shall in open court take and subscribe the oaths to support the constitution of the United States and of the commonwealth; and the following oath of office shall be administered to and subscribed by him: 

I (repeat the name) solemnly swear that I will do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in court; I will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any false, groundless or unlawful suit, nor give aid or consent to the same; I will delay no man for lucre or malice; but I will conduct myself in the office of an attorney within the courts according to the best of my knowledge and discretion, and with all good fidelity as well to the courts as my clients. So help me God.

Source of oath:
http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleI/Chapter221/Section38

Our iceberg is melting

Good friend Trevor Gay sent this link along and after viewing it, I decided to share it here.




I think I will add the book to my "to read" listing

Will you?

Red bush shedding

It is a good thing I took this picture when I did.



Going by the bush yesterday, the red leaves lie in a ring around the ground below the bush.

Life can be fleeting. Make your moments count.

Start today

Screen casting

Social media is the constructive use of many tools to share and idea. One tool set is around creating a screen cast. The upcoming K12 Online Conference shares this teaser video about one session that will get into the details of making a screen cast.



For more on the K12 Online Conference check out their website.
http://k12onlineconference.org/?page_id=824

The Happy Future of Education

I was a long time and happy subscriber to Monday Morning Memo then for some reason, it stopped coming to the inbox. I was busy and didn't follow up. I realized this a couple of weeks ago and have re-subscribed with RSS. It is coming back into the light regularly now. Bringing great insight and inspiration.

Give it a listen. or give it a read!

Be sure to follow the rabbit hole. Follow the link on the side bar to find out about the rabbit hole. Once you dip within, I think you'll be hooked!

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

The Happy Future of Education

via The Monday Morning Memo of Roy H. Williams on 11/14/11

 

Our system of education is built on the belief that learning is best achieved by bringing the best of the past forward through expert advice and clear example. Consequently, educators rise through the ranks like officers in the military: through compliance and conformity to the norm. But in this era of quantum change, are we really best served by imitating the past? 

Let's look at two characteristics the innovative leaders of today all seem to have in common:  

1. They tend to be college dropouts. Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone of Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Sean Parker of Facebook. Dropouts, all. The list goes on and on.

2. They have no fear of failure. Innovative leaders experiment constantly because they see failure as an unavoidable step toward success. These leaders know the truth about failure; it's an extremely temporary condition, a fleeting moment, nothing to be feared. Failure is motion and motion is life.

Educators hesitate to experiment because they fear failure and reprimand. Consequently, the average teacher with 20 years' experience really has just 1 year's experience 20 times.

In the October 22 issue of the New York Times, researcher Michael Ellsberg wrote,

"Entrepreneurs must embrace failure. I spent the last two years interviewing college dropouts who went on to become millionaires and billionaires. All spoke passionately about the importance of their business failures in leading them to success. Our education system encourages students to play it safe and retreat at the first sign of failure… Certainly, if you want to become a doctor, lawyer or engineer, then you must go to college. But, beyond regulated fields like these, the focus on higher education… is profoundly misguided."

 

Pennie had a fantastic idea while we were taking our morning walk. As she explained it to me, I realized her plan would make solid education more widely available, more relevant to the student and save a great deal of money as well.

"Princess," I said, "if someone isn't already doing this, they will be soon. This is the right idea at the right time so it's highly likely that lots of people are having this same idea right now."

I was right. Salman Kahn (pictured above,) already has the project well underway. Pennie's idea - and Kahn's - is to harness Youtube to deliver 10-to-12-minute tutorials in an effort to fill the painful gaps in public education.


Stanford University professor Philip Zimbardo recently said,

"There is a disaster recipe developing among boys in America dropping out of high school and college. And it's not simply poor performance. One of the problems is, a recent study shows, that by the time a boy is 21, he has spent at least 10,000 hours playing video games by himself, alone… They live in a world they create. They're playing Warcraft and these other games which are exciting…  Their brains are being digitally rewired, which means they will never fit in a traditional classroom, which is analog. Somebody talks at you without even nice pictures. Meaning it's boring. You control nothing. You sit there passively. Disaster.  These kids will never fit into that. They have to be in a situation where they are controlling something. And school is set up where you control nothing." 

Video allows the world's best teachers to be everywhere simultaneously. And if you eliminate the time spent for roll call, bad behavior, discipline, silent reading and working on exercises, there's rarely more than 10 minutes of real teaching delivered during the average class-hour. Tightly scripted 10-minute videos allow the quicker students to move at 5 to 6 times their current pace while slower students are free to pause and rewind as often as they feel necessary. Everyone is happy. Everyone learns more. And the quality of education available to you is no longer dictated by your school district.


Wizard Academy applauds Salman Kahn and will do everything we can to accelerate his success.

I hear a question sparkling and tinkling in your mind.
Your question sounds like those little sleigh bells that hang on Santa's reindeer as they paw roof-snow in the moonlight, tiny flashes of light and sound that pierce the hot fog of the reindeer's breath as it clouds the cold night air:

"Does your newfound appreciation of video mean Wizard Academy is going to make all its classes available through online streaming?"

That was your question, wasn't it?

Wizard Academy will definitely increase its video offerings of brick-on-brick information. But our greater energies will continue to be focused on expanding our selection of transformative classes, those immersion experiences that facilitate an understanding that can be gained in no other way.


Informative classes are incremental and best taught through video.
Transformative classes are experiential and best taught through immersion.



As David Sandler said 25 years ago, "You can't learn to ride a bicycle by listening to a tape or reading a book."  

Put down the book. Come to Wizard Academy and your tomorrow will be very much different than yesterday.

Roy H. Williams


CLICK THE IMAGE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE TO MEET SAL KAHN.

"If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship,
he would keep it in port forever."
    - Thomas Aquinas

"The research is clear; if you want to be a happier person,
don't read a self-help book, just have happier friends".
- Matthew Taylor,
21st Century Enlightenment,
a video on YouTube :)

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to The Monday Morning Memo of Roy H. Williams using Google Reader
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Evocative

Another in the series from Tom Asacker in his Opportunity Screams series. Worth the few minutes to watch!

Veterans Day

On this day, take a moment or more to thank a veteran for their service

What are your roots?

The recent snow storm did a whole lot of damage to trees big and small.



Does loosing a branch or two destroy the tree? No.

What really matters is the root structure. How deep are the roots? How well spread out and nourishing are they?

What about your own roots? How deep are they?

Jack o'lantern

Halloween has come and gone. So has the Franklin election.



While it was scary, this too has passed. Life will go on.

Questions will remain: Why do so little (in this case 22.6%) turnout to vote?

Red leaf

A red leaf stick out from its surroundings.



Separated from its branch and tree, it moves into a new phase of life.

How much do you stick out?

Are you distinct?

Long shadow

Morning sun, clear sky, casting long shadow.



Yes, it is true. I do watch for my shadow.

What does your shadow do?

Angel Band

I got to see the Angel Band at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse last night. They are good! Their harmonies and music I could listen to any time.

Here is a sample from their new CD "Shoot the Moon"



Hearing this song live was a joy!


BTW - I did create at least one sherku from the evening

"It is very difficult to think straight about well being"

I have linked to and shared a bunch of TED Talks over time. As we approach the election here in Franklin, memory and experience will be important. What do we think of the candidates? What have they recently done that we like or dislike? While a small number of them took up the offer to answer three questions to help create an informed voter, the perceptions of the voters will matter greatly.

Hence, this talk from Daniel Kahneman may help us understand the relationship between memory and experience.





Note: this was previously shared on Franklin MAtters
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/03/it-is-very-difficult-to-think-straight.html

If you are from Franklin and or interested in the election this Tuesday, don't forget to check out the Election 2011 Collection here: http://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/08/election-2011-summary.html

What do you do with your money?

A good talk on what to do with your money from TEDxEast

"What happens if you don't open the door to engagement?"

Yes, I am going backward. This is the first of a series of videos that accompanies Tom Asacker's new book "Opportunity Screams".



I don't think I'll post all of them. Two should be enough to get your attention. If the 'closure principle' matters, you'll follow the links and subscribe to find the remainder of the videos as they get posted.

You may even go so far as to pick up the book itself. I plan to!