Resource for educators

clipped from blog.inc.com Teaching Kids About Microfinance Posted by Carole Matthews at 3:03 PM One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, published by Kids Can Press and written by Katie Smith Millway, and its interactive website, OneHen.org, were inspired by the story of Rev. Dr. Kwabena Darko, who as a boy in Ghana received a small loan, purchased a hen, and watched his investment grow into an enterprise that helped his family and transformed his entire community. Today, he heads one of the largest poultry farms in Ghana, and is the founder of the nonprofit, Sinapi Aba, a part of the microfinance organization, Opportunity International. Just as Inc.com's lemonade stand contest shares the amazing things kids are doing with small amounts of money, One Hen and its website share, through the story of Kojo, how a child took a small amount of money and transformed his family's life and his community.

A self fulfulling prophecy

clipped from pos-psych.com Women with BeliefTM; Series: Notes from an Opera Singer.© Positive Psychology News Daily, NY (David J. Pollay) - March 2, 2008, 12:01 am I asked Mom recently how she was able to consistently sing a high C. She said, “You already have to believe it’s there. And once you believe it is, you have to find a way to let all negative thoughts go so that you can sing your high C.” I asked Mom how she was able to sing that day. She said, “I always had a belief that I could sing under almost any circumstances. No matter how sick I was, if I could stand up, then I could sing.” Mom continued, “You believe you can do it. You practice every day. You know you have the technique. You just have to concentrate and believe it is in you.” And not only did she make it through the show, Mom and Dad received a standing ovation. My belief was that I could sing

When you don't understand Second Life

clipped from secondthoughts.typepad.com Second Life is More Than the Sims I was thinking today about all this excitement and even hysteria about the new rendition of CopyBot and the projects like OpenSim and Central Grid. There's a kind of myth going around that these new "autonomous zones" will be free to have unregulated banking, gambling, ageplay, etc. as if the problem with Second Life is that the Lindens are too strict. Of course they won't be able to do that if they reach any significant size. If they hope to be truly international and open, they will have to cross the same bridges that Linden Lab already crossed. It's not like they are going to get exceptions just because they can proclaim "non-walled-garden status". This is silly, and entitlement-happy, and self-indulgent. And what is that life, that you can't copy? Which you can only port. Well, here it is: Contiguous Community Non-Contiguos Community Business. The Economy Civility. Governance and Policies. Culture. User-Generated Content Continents. Search

Can we end advertising on the Internet?

clipped from chrisbrogan.com Shuffling Ads Around Why will the Internet ultimately undermine advertising? A number of factors come into play: The Internet proliferates resources, all competing for the attention of people. Even the most targeted and relevant ads over time will have a harder and harder time rising above the noise. The Internet creates powerful options for people in terms of how they become aware of new products and services and how they obtain information about the products and services that are relevant to them. The Internet offers increasingly powerful tools to filter and block advertisements (and, yes, product placements will be an interesting alternative for a while, until even that space becomes so cluttered that people will mentally filter out the products) What do you think about the future of online advertising? Are you okay with ads in social networks? How do we balance comfortable with effective?

Survey for Amazon's Unbox

I am willing to suffer through advertisements if the movie is provided for free. I do not want advertisements if I have to pay for the dvd, video stream, etc.

clipped from www.techcrunch.com Is Amazon Rethinking Its Movie Download Service? Erick Schonfeld Amazon is asking Unbox customers to fill out an online survey about how satisfied they are with the service. One of the questions asks which of ten potential improvements is “most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?” The options range from free streaming with ads and an HBO-like movie subscription service to HD-quality videos and bundling digital copies with the purchase of a regular DVD. The problem with many of these options is that they do not offer anything that you cannot already get from other movie download and streaming sites. The obstacles to broader adoption of any digital movie service are 1) getting the movie to a TV; 2) reducing download times/improving video quality; and 3) making it easier than just ordering from Netflix (which offers its own unlimited video streaming as part of its subscription service) or going to Blockbuster.

The "Who's Who" of Web Apps

Haven't you always wanted to know the name behind those web apps you use? Here is a pic of just a few of them.

clipped from www.techcrunch.com

NotchUp

Interesting concept. Has anyone tried this?

clipped from www.notchup.com Apply to Join » Membership is by application or invitation only » Applying takes just seconds Sign Up » NotchUp is free to join and use » Set your interview price Set It and Forget It » Fill out your NotchUp profile » Companies find you and pay you to interview