Take a kid fishing

Have you ever gone to an art museum and looked at a Chuck Close self Portrait and marveled at the sweat and whiskers painted into the portrait and wonder how he did it?
Have you ever sat down and listened to Adagio in G-Minor by Tomaso Albinoni and imagined a World War 1 dogfight in the clouds between the Luftwaffe and the British.
Have you ever sat down and read Pincher Martin by William Golding and imagined his struggle to survive on the island?
Have you every sat on bench and just looked at a scene and contemplated how to paint or photograph what you are seeing?
Have you ever gone to the library to research something that you saw or heard about that intrigued you?

Chances are if you are under 25 the odds are pretty high for you to say NO. I say that because we no longer teach the young to think, to be creative or install a desire to want to learn or read. Schools kill Music and Art Programs in budgets in order to add technology We focus everything now on what the technology and the internet can provide but we do not teach how to use it. We have been hearing about "No Child Left Behind" and closing the "Technology Gaps". It is only recently that studies are coming out that show how much the technology is dumbing down the upcoming generations. Social networking including Myspace, Facebook, Cell phones, Texting, Electronic gaming and computers are starting to be shown as the source of the decline in literacy rates of the young.

Games may teach motor skills, spatial or judgment skills but very few improve language or communication skills. Most games are mostly sound effects and music and little to no language content. Those that do have communication between players is communication on the level of the game and minimal. You’re character will get killed off if you are too distracted talking or typing.

Social networking allows users to stay within and never leave an all inclusive comfort world. It is a world at the fingertips 24/7 that provides all that is desired or fills the interests needs and peer support and friends. There is no need to venture out of the comfort zone. RSS feeds, Twiiter, Facebook/ Myspace and many of the Web 2.0 tools provide the users with everything that meets their interest and in essence isolate themselves from stimulus that is out of their interest. Viral Videos, Nike shoes, Ipod downloads, and news of Britney outweigh reading “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the News or following current Events.

The young may be Tech Savvy but they are also are becomeing increasingly functionally illiterate in reading writing and communication skills as they grow. The lack of skills are showing up more and more in the job market and college campuses and general everyday life in the adult world. Studies are now showing that college students are entering college with a conversation literacy rate barely higher than that of a pre school level book. Employers can't get workers that understand how to perform the job, read or follow instructions.

Schools and society have come to depend on technology as the source of learning and not a tool. Proper reading, writing, math and cognitive skills are not being taught or instilled but assumed they will be learned online.
We need to make sure the young have the tools for a first life before worrying about Second Life and all the WEB 2.0 tools and technologies. We are their future and they are ours.

Is Google Making us Stoopid?

Atlantic Monthly magazine has a cover title in the July /August 2008 issue titled "Is Google Making us Stupid?" I found the article an interesting and thought provoking read. I read the article in the printed magazine not online, I have to admit my mind kept wandering, scanning ahead and I had trouble reading every line word for word with out becoming somehow distracted. The significance of this statement will be realized by reading the article.
Oh - Yes my spelling error is intentional.

Right Brained libraries?

I am currently reading A whole new mind : why right-brainers will rule the future. It is a very interesting concept that he argues in this book. The world has seen different phases. The agricultural age, the Industrial revolution, and the Information age that we are now in the ends of. As the ages and technologies progressed, Left brained or Critical thinking skills were the main needs and where right brained or creativity thinking once nonexistant has slowly been accepted or become a key player.
Now as the technology and information age wanes. Left brain Thinking such as engineering accounting, banking and virtually all industry can be done on computers and the Internet by anybody anywhere in the world on any computer. The new emerging phase needs and will demand right brain or crative thinking.
Putting this all in the perspective of the libraries and WEB 2.0 or future versions I have to ask. If all the library services are pushed more and more online. If all the reference and information services and resources and databases can be outsourced from India or China or be completely accessed online. Outside of becoming a subscription portal, what will the library become especially as print materials become more expensive or phased out for electronic versions. Web 2.0 only enhances this movement of the information to a global service.
When I started in the library over 20 years ago the theme was "Books and a whole lot more."
I think this still stand true and perhaps even more so now. It is the creative or right brain thinking that is needed to figure out or design what this really implies in the libraries emerging role as more and more of its traditional left Brain roles can now be performed or accessed by anyone, anywhere in the world.

My take on all the Global Warming issues

It does not really matter to me if Global warming is scientifically or factually proven or disproved.

We, as the residents of this only world we have need to take care of and preserve what we have. And if it turns out by doing so we are also protecting the climate all the better.

Even if human interaction is proven to not have any impact on our climate it is not saying it is OK to continue polluting and raping our planet.

So quite bickering about if Global Warming is real or not and do what you can to preserve what we have and clean up our messes we have created.

If we continue to treat it like it is of no consequence who are we to blame if air quality everywhere ends up as it is in Bejing. What will that do to the climate and what will it take to fix if it gets to that point.

Gas Prices

$3.85 a gallon gas. Come on already, what is the deal anyway.

Prices go up because of hurricanes or reports there might be one. It goes up because it might get cold. It might get warm, Because people might drive or might not.
The Inventories or supplies might be going down or disrupted.

What ever they can speculate they do but they say it's not the speculators that are driving it up.

Refineries and production have not been increased in 30 years but its not the oill companies fault the prices are going up. Hell! they have had to buy back stocks instead of investinng or expanding in their production. They have to pay all the CEOs millions in salaries and keep the stockholders happy. OOPS That’s right, I forgot they are buying up all their own stock. Sure they have been trying to drill in Alaska and other areas and the Government has blocked that. How hard have they tried to get the OK to expand refineries. Oh I forgot they are only running at 80% to 85% capacity anyway and they were even able to cut back to increase profit margines recently so they must not need more refinery capacity to keep up supply.

Thank god its not the Oil Companies or the Governments fault the prices keep going up.

Stockpile levels seem to keep going down but the reserves are not supppsed to be tapped and until recently have been continuously added to. The reserves should be increasing or at least staying level since they are not supposed to be getting tapped. Maybe I am getting stockpiles and reserves mixed up or am I.

But I am sure this has nothing to do with the prices going up.


Just a thought and I am probably wrong, but could this all have anything to with rampant GREED everywhere?
Nah!That would be too far fetched of a conclusion.