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Grade Changes: Using Marks to Motivate Students
A few years ago, my principal called me into his office and explained that too many students were failing my honors language arts class. I deflected his comments as no fault of my own.
"They're not putting in the effort it takes to master the content," I said. "It's an honors class."
How many teachers have had similar conversations and responded defensively like I did? But I taught the material! The kids aren't trying … don't have the basic skills … didn't meet deadlines … need to learn responsibility.
And so forth.
There is often truth to these statements. But I have come to believe that great teachers accept responsibility for motivating their students. The most effective educators establish an environment where kids not only want to succeed but feel that they can.
Here are several ideas teachers can implement to transform grading practices for motivational purposes while protecting the rigor of instruction:
Give targeted, specific feedback often … and don't record it in your gradebook. A veteran colleague once shook her head at a stack of essays on my desk. "You're grading too much," she said. "Be short and specific. Look for patterns. Give them helpful snippets." This has proven sage advice that I repeat often.
I'm fond of creating short, individualized podcasts with feedback for students as I read their work. Want to see it mastered? Watch former National Teacher of the Year Sarah Brown Wessling demonstrate it on this Teaching Channel video. I no longer feel the need to grade absolutely everything. If we instead provide timely, relevant feedback, students will improve.
Let students fail ... and then try again. In Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, Rafe Esquith, a former National Teacher of the Year, asked a simple question I never forgot: If a student's goal is to master material, why cut him or her off after one try? Esquith told his students to turn in assignments only once they felt they would receive at least a B. If, after grading, he didn't agree with the student's self-assessment, the student would have to improve the work.
You may be thinking, as I once did, "I don't have time to re-grade things and take so much late work." But what better precedent can you set than acknowledging a student who has taken the time to reflect on your feedback and improve work? It helps to make this clear to parents as well. If the work isn't good enough, their child will have the option to do it again. This is even more effective when teachers and students have co-constructed an assignment rubric. Once students practice the habit of aligning their own work to the rubric, they are more likely to accept your evaluation.
Ease up on deadlines. When I was a college freshman, my grandmother passed away. Twice in the first semester! Try occasionally relieving students of the need to devise such whoppers when they don't finish an assignment.
Stanford University professor Mehran Sahami gives his students two free assignment extensions in his popular open course CS 106A, Programming Methodology. "Every once in a while," he tells the class, "something bad happens to a good person."
Did a baseball tournament run all weekend? Fine. Did someone get home too late from church? No problem. They get two freebies in my room, too. Beyond these, I expect students to complete all work to mastery. It's a compromise they've bought into completely.
Douglas Reeves echoes this approach in this Educational Leadership article: "The appropriate consequence is not a zero; it's completing the work—before, during, or after school, during study periods, at 'quiet tables' at lunch, or in other settings." These practices can virtually eliminate the time you spend listening to outrageous excuses.
Credit classwork for completion, but test for mastery. Are your students' paragraphs or math problems riddled with red ink? Is nitpicking classwork really necessary, and more importantly, how much will students take to heart before they give up? After all, Derek Jeter's batting average doesn't include his practice swings.
I'm interested in evaluating the bigger benchmarks in each unit. Smaller classwork grades are always scored for completion with a comment or two. For example, I may score an in-class writing assignment this way: Each student receives 70 points for taking the time to complete the work. They receive the remaining 30 points based on one benchmark, like writing a clear thesis statement. Exemplary thesis? Thirty points. Proficient? Twenty points. Emerging? Ten points. This cuts down my grading time, offers students several chances to earn points, and helps them build confidence as they use my specific feedback on tougher tasks.
Find ways to grade participation. Stephen King stresses the value of effort and participation in his memoir On Writing:
There is a muse, but he's not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He's a basement kind of guy. You have to descend to his level … you have to do all the grunt labor …
By dangling a carrot for that grunt labor, you might find students raising their hands more often. Each week I give students points for their participation, and extra ones for things like an outstanding insight on our Edmodo page or a specific praise of a classmate. How do I track it all? Every student receives the full points unless they make absolutely no contribution that week. I jot down some of the best examples of participation to share publicly with the class. This is a small grade, of course, maybe a point or two on the report card. But the small reward for effort builds confidence.
Check in with students. This year I am a teacherpreneur with the Center for Teaching Quality, which means I divide my time equally between the classroom and advocacy for teacher leadership. Each week brings weekly check-ins with my CTQ colleagues. I've used these calls to highlight successes and completed assignments. I've also asked for deadline extensions, lamented about unforeseen challenges, and explained other sudden, pertinent tasks.
This is an invaluable practice to replicate in the classroom. Every Thursday, my students and I check in with each other for a few minutes. We pause to celebrate. "Matt hit three home runs on Saturday! Lisa's science project is going to the state fair!" Then they tell me about other tests, projects, big games, and other events that might affect our workload. If I hear about something that affects several people, like a history project, I adjust. Why schedule homework on a night where your students are cramming for another test? The flexibility shows the kids you care—and they'll start to prioritize your big assignments when you ask.
Make time for ungraded play. Do you have room for this in an age of high-stakes testing and pressure-packed calendars? Yes! Think about fostering a culture of creativity in the mold of companies like 3M and Google. 3M has a long-standing practice of allowing workers creative free time to pursue their own interests. The release from rigid structure at least for a portion of the week has led to some terrific breakthroughs, including the invention of the Post-It note. Google followed suit with its 20 percent time.
Despite a rigorous pacing guide, I generally devote Fridays to creative pursuits—writing, art, reading, or chess. I don't grade these activities or threaten to take them away. But I do require students to present reflections on how this time has helped them. One student used this time to plan a toy drive; another spent her free time reading the blog of a needy family, leading her to start a Web campaign supporting them. The best part? When I do push the pedal on a demanding assignment, the students respond with effort because they know I value their time.
Offer extra credit. Who doesn't like opportunities for affirmation and achievement, especially ones you didn't plan? If you allow students to suggest extra credit opportunities, you'll be excited by their ideas. I often find myself saying, "Great! Go for it!" In a recent case, a student wanted to teach his classmates how to upload a YouTube video. Another girl decided to share her expertise on Prezi. I rewarded both initiatives, because when I look at a student's progress, these things should matter even if they don't show up on multiple-choice tests.
If you're feeling frazzled or you just want to jumpstart your own classroom culture, it's not too late in the year to make a change. By implementing some of these easy grading practices and being transparent with your students and their parents about the shifts, teachers can avoid tough conversations with principals, like the one I had a few years ago.
Instead, you'll be asked why your students are so successful.
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Attend a NISO event – seminar, safety conference, All Ireland Safety Awards – to maintain your expertise of industry issues and legislation.
As a student at NISO you'll be able to apply what you learn in your workplace. Health and Safety is what we've known best for over fifty years.
We provide a range of resources: health and safety magazines and articles, health and safety posters and other products, information regarding legislation.

subset: commoncrawl


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Clinton Native Riding Across Country in Memory of Her Brother Who Died of Cancer
Clinton native Shawna Kleftis is taking on quite a challenge. She's biking across the U.S. in the 4K for cancer, a 70 day ride for 17 to 25 year-olds.
More Than a Bike Ride
The challenge is so much more than just a bike ride for Shawna. 'We stop in hospitals to visit with patients and bring them gift bags. We do education outreach programs and provide college scholarships for cancer patients.'
Riding For Brother
Shawna says she's riding for her brother. 'My older brother had cancer and he passed away four years ago. The thing he looked the most forward to when he was in the hospital was any change in the monotony of the day. So I'm really excited to be that change for someone.'
Ride Begins
The ride begins June 1st in Baltimore. 'The ride covers 4000 miles but we do take some breaks to site see and do some volunteer work. The ride will end in San Diego, where hopefully I'll be alive and well.'
Shawna is in training for the 7 day a week ride but 'how do you prepare for something so big?' She keeping her focus on seeing the open road. 'I've wanted to see the south for some time. The whole time I'll be blogging and taking pictures so people can see what I'm seeing.'
Every bike rider must raise $4500 to take part in the ride, but Shawna is setting her goals must higher. She wants to raise $11,111.11. You can help her reach her goal at 4KForCancer.org.
We wish Shawna the best of luck and can't wait to see pictures of her incredible journey.


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Zimmerman found not guilty of murder in Trayvon Martin's death
"Even though I am broken hearted my faith is unshattered," Martin's father tweets
Greg Botelho and Holly Yan | 7/14/2013, 8:27 a.m.
CNN George Zimmerman never denied shooting Trayvon Martin, but he said he did so in self defense. Late Saturday night, a Florida jury found him not guilty in the teenager's death.
The verdict caps a case that has inflamed passions for well over a year, much of it focused on race.
The six jurors -- all of them women -- deliberated for 16½ hours. Five of the women are white; one is a minority.
When he heard his fate, Zimmerman had little visible reaction. He turned and shook the hand of one of his attorneys before sitting back down, smiling only after court was adjourned.
Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, were not in the courtroom when the decision was announced. But they shared their emotions on Twitter shortly afterward.
"Even though I am broken hearted my faith is unshattered I WILL ALWAYS LOVE MY BABY TRAY," Tracy Martin tweeted.
Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., said words can't express how relieved his family is.
"Having said that, I don't think this is a time for high-fiving," the brother said. "I acknowledge -- we all have acknowledged -- that Mr. Martin, Trayvon Martin, lost his life. (But) it was not an act of murder. It was not an act of manslaughter."
The decision
The jury had three choices: to find Zimmerman guilty of second-degree murder; to find him guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter; or to find him not guilty.
For second-degree murder, the jurors would have had to believe that Martin's unlawful killing was "done from ill will, hatred, spite or an evil intent" and would be "of such a nature that the act itself indicates an indifference to human life."
To convict Zimmerman of manslaughter, the jurors would have had to believe he "intentionally committed an act or acts that caused the death of Trayvon Martin." That charge could have carried a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, though the jury was not told of that possible sentence.
Ultimately, they believed Zimmerman wasn't guilty of either charge. None of the jurors wanted to speak to the media after the verdict.
A call for calm
Both sides of the case asked for peace after the verdict. In the immediate aftermath, they appeared to have gotten their wish -- even though the Internet erupted with outrage.
But now that Zimmerman is a free man, his defense and his brother fear for his safety.
"He has to be very cautious and protective of his safety because there is still a fringe element who have said, at least in tweets and everything else, that they want revenge -- that they will not listen to a verdict of not guilty," defense attorney Mark O'Mara said.
Robert Zimmerman Jr. said his brother "is going to be looking around his shoulder for the rest of his life."
When asked if George Zimmerman will keep the gun he used to shoot Trayvon Martin, his brother said he has good reason to.


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Chow down on these seven tasty treats, recommended by Dr. Alina Bergan DDS and our staff, for a healthier mouth and a smashing smile!
Sesame Seeds
These tiny seeds that you find in some Chinese and Thai dishes (as well as on top of your hamburger bun) are packed with bone-building calcium. They help to preserve and protect the bone that supports your teeth and gums. As a bonus, they also help to build up your tooth enamel while sloughing away plaque. You can sprinkle them on a salad, stir fry, and even add them to homemade hummus.
This funny little fruit has the highest amount of Vitamin C of any fruit, including oranges! What does this mean for your choppers? Vitamin C is essential to keeping your gum tissue healthy and strong. Without it, they are more susceptible to periodontal disease.
Sweet Potatoes
These are not just for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner! You should add sweet potatoes to your regular diet. These delicious spuds are rich in Vitamin A, which your body uses to form tooth enamel and heal gum tissue. Try slicing them into half-moons and sprinkling with your favorite seasoning or try an exotic one like Harissa and bake them in the oven.
You know those strong vapors from onions that make you cry? Well, they come from the sulfur compounds in the vegetable, which gives them a superpower-packed antibacterial punch. Get ready, though: Onions are most effective for your smile when you eat them raw!
If you love cheese, you will love this news! Munching on some cheese helps prevent gum disease and cavities. The reason is that cheese is very high in calcium and phosphate, which help to balance the pH levels in your mouth. This in turn helps to preserve your tooth enamel and kill harmful bacteria.
Green Tea
Sipping on some green tea can not only help prevent cavities and gum disease, it can also kill the bacteria that cause bad breath. Score! Green tea can kill the bacteria that cause plaque. So, drink up! Your smile depends on it! You can also try some Japanese Matcha (green tea powder) in your smoothie or green juice.
Have some fun with that crunchy stuff because, guess what? It is great for your smile! When you chew celery, you produce saliva. Your saliva neutralizes cavity-causing bacteria. As a little bonus, while you are chewing, it is giving your gums a little massage and cleaning between your teeth.
Take advantage of these healthy foods and give your mouth something to smile about!
Eat healthy and if you need to see a Dentist, call office of Dr. Alina Bergan at 800-223-0801 to schedule an appointment. You can also schedule online at http://www.alinabergandds.com/appointments/


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This week, we lost a pillar in our church.
Abbie Childers went home to be with Jesus after 84 years on this earth--60 of them spent with his amazing wife, Retta.
We've had conversations with the boys before about death, and we've done so again these past few days. They know that Abbie loved Jesus more than anything, and that he was now in Heaven with the God he has served for so many years.
Tonight, just before leaving for the visitation, I talked to Colin and Cameron. They knew Abbie, and we wanted to give them the opportunity to go and say goodbye to him at the funeral home.
When I asked Cameron,
"Honey, do you want to go with me and see Abbie one last time, and say goodbye to him?"
He happily replied,
"Nope, Momma! I'll just see him in heaven."
What a glorious perspective. Cameron knows he's a child of God--there is no doubt in his mind that he will be in heaven when he dies. And he knows he'll be seeing Abbie again, once he gets there.
I'm so thankful God makes his way so simple, that even children can understand it.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
We'll miss you....but we'll see you again
This week, we lost a pillar in our church.


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Opinion: Thatcher's World Tour de Force
Columnist Bret Stephens on the foreign policy lessons of Margaret Thatcher's rule. Photos: AP
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... stay on the subject of Margaret Thatcher now ... I turned to her legacy in foreign affairs the first is concerned Britain but then ... the rest of the world is well ... very happy to welcome foreign affairs columnist Bret Stephens on the Senate to ... read you met Mrs Thatcher shortly after nine eleven ... well for your impressions of her ... will by then she was quite old and she was beginning to heal but I was then the editor of the truce long post and so we talked about Israel ... and on that subject and so that's good for someone in the more distant past she was ... very lucid because she did so she called warrior ... is released and we had very warm memories of Mrs Thatcher in I think it was reciprocated ... now I ain't much to talk about this is her legacy in foreign affairs so ... let's start first with ... terrorism ... this is what the nation Fein's Gerry Adams had to say the nascent ... market that could be great for to the Irish and British people during her time as British ... Prime Minister ... working class continues with devastating for it because for policies they make ... um all kinds of communities ... in Britain and Northern Ireland were devastated because of the IRA ... they were during her tenure bombings at Harrods department store ... the IRA of murdered ... her campaign manager you may need to be in the nineteen seventy nine ... of course they tried to kill her at the ... hotel in Brighton ... in October nineteen eighty four ... Thatcher had to deal Gropper entire tenure with terrorism and she was very clear about the kind of threat that terrorism was ... he was not just a security threat it was a threat to the very notion of a free society was one of the greatest legacies was winning the cold war ... um how did she achieved that and it did to deserve the reputation as the iron Lee ... I think she did she was she was tough ... she believed in the transatlantic alliance she believes in standing up to police unit or charts in his memoir ... of Reagan's Secretary of State ... talks about the importance of of what ... Mrs Thatcher did in the Falklands War which was to show that a country like Britain even if it was by then a middle power ... was willing to stand up militarily against dictatorship and aggression ... um ... on the other side of the world ... and that's what she did and that was an indication ... of the new attitude of the Westports dictators everywhere of course including in Moscow she also said some flexibility for example in negotiations with corporate offices to ... write a mean there's this view of Mrs Thatcher's the sort of Tyrannosaurus Rex ... I there's a story that she welcomed him ... into checkers or ten Downing and said you know one is to get off of a great start here ... to sum it were clear with each other ... I he communists ... but from that thesis she was also able to say this is a man Mikhail Gorbachev that we can do business with ... and that if you cared a great deal of weight in the Reagan White House to star role in the European project but she was famously a Euroskeptic she did not believe that Britain should be handing over one regulatory ... or legal authority after another ... to technocrats and um he in Brussels the forces me for a hugely unpopular in some ways it's the ... immediate reason for her downfall in nineteen ninety ... as prime minister I think a lot of Britain's looking at what the European Union ... has now become and the kind of trouble it said ... probably thinking themselves the brand isn't quite so well it's a ... it wasn't ... all successful for example ... Hong Kong hands up and Hong Kong's handover ... I'd to ensure democracy and ... you do you do you see us fail I think this is the greatest blot on ... Mrs Thatcher's record I mean ... there was this proviso that after a hundred and fifty years of the game was out of the family was just the prohibition notice this first the Chinese them or less forgotten ... of all about it and yet she negotiated the scandal in which six million ... um um um British subjects who would've been ... great assets very loyal to Britain and the idea of Britain ... were handed over to what ... as we now know is an increasingly up ... all sorts carrying communist dictatorship but that was probably the single greatest statesman and some preppy look at the sweep of everything that she accomplished in foreign policy from the cold war ... to the Falklands and beyond ... what the lessons that you didn't arrive for deals online as patients with Apple I think the lesson is the strength to get strength and um ... she showed that she was tough that she was willing to stand up to Arthur's Cargill the head of ... the miners' union that she was prepared to take it and that alternately in the long term ... respect was the great point of the political row ... and as soon as she had the British public's respect he knew she was going away ... I think that's a lesson that serves well of course the fact that she was a champion of free markets and I would wish that you are and frankly in the United States ... we have such an eloquent thoughtful ... um ... persuasive champion ... in our own time and certainly it lost a great sport affairs columnist Bret Stephens thank so much for being with us


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find (one's) tongue(redirected from finding your tongue)
find (one's) tongue
To regain the ability to speak, especially after feeling frightened, nervous, or at a loss for words. It took him a minute, but Pete found his tongue again after we startled him at his surprise party. The little boy, who had been huddled nervously at the back, found his tongue and told the detectives what happened.
find one's tongue
Fig. to be able to talk; to figure out what to say. Tom was speechless for a moment. Then he found his tongue. Ann was unable to find her tongue. She sat there in silence.
find your tongue
If you find your tongue, you begin to talk, when you have been too shy, frightened, shocked or embarrassed to say anything before. All four men stared at him. It was Livingstone who found his tongue first.


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In his recent letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffett appeared to flirt, ever so briefly, with Google.
Buffett and partner Charlie Munger have shied away from technology companies, confessing a lack of understanding for their wares and unease over the pace of change in the technology racket. That said, the grand poobah from Omaha found time to celebrate both Microsoft and Google during the 2007 letter (PDF) to the Berkshire clan.
"A company that needs large increases in capital to engender its growth may well prove to be a satisfactory investment," Buffett wrote. But then he added that, "It's far better to have an ever-increasing stream of earnings with virtually no major capital requirements. Ask Microsoft or Google."
The bit about major capital requirements caught our attention, since Microsoft and Google are engaged in a data center arms race.
Google's annual statement for 2007, for example, highlighted the burden of these data center costs.
"We believe our operating margin will experience downward pressure as a result of increasing competition and increased expenditures for many aspects of our business," the company said.
Google shelled out $2.4bn on property and equipment during 2007, while pulling in $16.6bn in revenue. The company also spent $2.1bn on research and development and stock-based compensation, in part, to keep its data centers humming and to keep smart workers happy.
While more profitable than a longtime Buffett favorite such as Coca-Cola, Google dished out almost $2bn more in capital expenditures than Coke will spend this year. Google will likely increase that spending in 2008 and the years to come if the announcement of so many $600m data centers is any indication.
Microsoft too looks set to pump billions and billions of dollars into its infrastructure.
This type of spending makes the so-called "cloud computing" types look less attractive than old-line software sellers, at least in the near-term.
In the good old days, Microsoft could spend a $1bn for a new version of Office and then just print CDs or have PC vendors burn the software onto their machines. This model required very little investment from Microsoft for distribution.
Now, however, we're talking about companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Yahoo!, IBM and Sun Microsystems building data smelters - a line we stole and tweaked from Horst Simon, a computer scientist at Berkeley. The costly information plants of these technology giants eat up just as much energy as, say, an aluminum smelting center, but there's no physical product that appears as a result of the consumption. Instead, the data smelters just swap around and store bits.
Beyond powering the systems, these companies must spend hundreds of millions of dollars on server, storage and networking equipment to fill the centers.
We hardly expect Buffett to stay up-to-date on the latest in data center technology and perhaps we're missing some part of his thinking. Lord knows, you will all be sure to inform us about such mistakes. Please accept the apologies in advance.
But we do wonder if some of the financial gurus out there aren't missing what it will take from an investment standpoint for the major technology players to have a serious go at the next wave of computing. ®
We'd go into more about how Google's secrecy and management eccentricities seem to violate a number of Buffett's other value investing principles, but this is not the time or the place.
Instead, have a listen to our interview with a man who grew up learning from Buffett, or read this outstanding (PDF) speech from Munger.


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Are you bothered about where your food comes from, who produced it and how many days and miles it traveled to reach your plate? Could you consider switching to more locally grown produce? Or are you worried that if you go for a weekly box of local veggies you'll end up with weird and wonderful looking things that you have no idea how to cook and eat?
Community Harvest Whetstone – our local community food project – is currently offering an opportunity for people to try fresh, healthy and seasonal vegetables on a trial basis.
We're offering 4 weeks for £25: you'll get to collect a standard box of vegetables from the farm every week for 4 weeks at a total cost of £25 instead of our usual cost of £37.
If you like what you get then you'll have the opportunity to join our cooperative and continue collecting a weekly share of the harvest. Before you join we'll send you an invitation to come along and see what we do on the land.
To give it a go simply email us at email@example.com with your name, address and telephone number. We will call you back to answer any questions and arrange payment and collection details.
For all the latest harvest info, recipe ideas and latest news check out our twitter and facebook feeds on the right; and for the harvest record for a full year and photos of our community days click on the following links:
Would you like fresh local food, but can't grow your own?
Started in 2009 by Transition Leicester, Community Harvest Whetstone is a sustainable vegetable co-operative based in South Leicestershire. We grow our own delicious vegetables in an environmentally friendly way!
With the help and co-operation of farmers Anthony and Sandra Herbert, we secured some land on their farm in Whetstone. We employ professional growers to grow fresh and healthy vegetables for people around the area.
In connection with the growers, the membership decides how the scheme is run. We have a wide membership, made up of Supporting members, Investing members, and Crop-Sharing members, who buy our vegetables. Veg shares are picked up weekly from either the farm or delivered where necessary , and members can join us on regular Community days.
Some of the benefits for Crop-sharers are:
Community events and activities;
New friendships and community spirit;
A direct connection to the farm, and to the food on your plate.
No chemicals
Fewer food miles
Very little packaging
Would you like to join us? Please get in touch or Complete a Crop-Sharer application form
Community Harvest Whetstone is a beneficiary of the following organisations:


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First off - the Six For Five showing at the Exhibition of the American Gangster officially closed last December 20 - my thanks to the organizers for hosting the show.
Seems they were not quite ready to let these portraits leave their walls completely, and now a set of framed gicleé prints are on permanent display for the indeterminate future, so if you are in New York City you can still drop by and check them out.
On the subject of the Empire City, I am happy to announce that a set of limited edition prints are now available at the newly inducted MOB Scene Gallery. Curated by noted archivist and historian Arthur Nash, the gallery is located at 396 Broome St. in the heart of Little Italy between Mulberry and Centre Market.
With an unobstructed view of the Old Police headquarters, the MOB Scene gallery sits beside the former NYPD evidence vault from which the heroin seized in the 'French Connection' case mysteriously vanished. And serendipitously, in 1912 the gallery was a pool hall called the Little Rock, a hangout for some of the underworld's notorious figures.
For some more info visit www.mobscenenyc.com
Of course this is not the only option to buy some prints, the Six for Five shop on Etsy has now re-opened with a selection
of 15 different prints.
Also, there will be another major public exhibition coming this spring in northern California and I will have more details in the near future regarding all that.
Finally, just so you know I haven't been sitting idly on my hands, here are three of the more recent portraits that were finished in the last little while - all re-workings of Big Jack Zelig, Monk Eastman, and Dopey Benny Fein, who seem to always lurk me back to the drawing table to discover new ways to capture their collective essence.


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Hey everyone,
I realize it's been quite a while since I've made any kind of post to this blog but I'm going to change that all today!
There's a lot of catching up to do I'm sure but I wanted to give you all a quick update on where I am and what I've been up to. Instead of trying to pick up from where I left out, I'll start out with a quick recap of 2010 up till the present day.
Fitness wise, it was a great year. For you guys interested in the numbers, I started the year at 202 pounds and finished up at 192. My body fat percentage started at 19.7% and finshed the year at 16.2%. I consider this great progress. I've always felt better at around 190 so I was happy to be at that level for most of the year.
I ran a total of five races during 2010 – a 5K, two 10Ks, a half marathon and my first ever triathlon. I set a personal record in my first 10K at 48:23 and followed it up a week later with another PR at the half marathon distance of 1:57:50. Conditions were fantastic for my first triathlon (a sprint distance) in July but I found out pretty quick that I wasn't as prepared for it as I should have been (especially in the swim) and sort of staggered to the finish line in 1:38:54. Hoping to rectify that in a big way in 2011.
I continue in my 4th year of martial arts training and was invited in the beginning of 2011 to test for black belt in June. I've been taking candidate classes for the last two months and am just two short months away from achieving my ultimate goal that's been almost four full years in the making. Very excited!
I'm looking forward to catching up with all of you again and hear about how you're coming along with your goals. Feel free to drop me a line or comment!
All the best……..
Filed under: 5k, Biking, Fitness, Health, Martial Arts, Running, Swimming, triathlon, Weight Loss | Tagged: 5k, Biking, body fat, Fitness, Health, Marathon, Running, Swimming, triathlon, Weight Loss | 1 Comment »


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Decision discusses how courts should allow use of technology of "then-recent vintage"
FTC v. PCCare247 Inc., 2013 WL 841037 (S.D.N.Y. March 7, 2013)
The Federal Trade Commission filed suit against a number of Indian defendants alleging they operated a scheme that tricked American consumers into spending money to fix non-existent problems with their computers. (Ars Technica provided some entertaining background on this industry last fall.)
After some difficulty in effecting service of the summons and complaint on the defendants in India, the FTC asked the court for leave to serve the remainder of the documents in the case (e.g., additional pleadings, motions, notices) via email and Facebook. The court granted the FTC's motion.
The Federal Rules and Alternative Service
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f)(3), a court may fashion means of service on an individual in a foreign country, so long as the ordered means of service (1) is not prohibited by international agreement; and (2) comports with constitutional notions of due process. Under Rule 4(f), service of process on foreign corporations may be made in the same manner as on individual defendants.
Not Prohibited By International Agreement
The court noted that the United States and India are signatories to the Hague Service Convention. Article 10 of that Convention allows for service of process through alternative means such as "postal channels" and "judicial officers," provided that the destination state does not object to those means. India has objected to the means listed in Article 10, although that objection is specifically limited to the means of service enumerated in Article 10.
The court found that service by Facebook is outside the scope of Article 10. And since India has not objected to service by email or Facebook, the court held that international agreement did not prohibit such service.
Comports With Due Process
Quoting Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co., the court spelled out that "constitutional notions of due process require that any means of service be 'reasonably calculated, under all circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections.'" Here, the court found, service by email and Facebook were reasonably calculated to provide defendants with notice of future filings in the case.
The FTC had set forth facts that supplied ample reason for confidence that the email and Facebook accounts identified were actually operated by defendants. Two of the defendants had registered their Facebook accounts with email addresses that were independently verifiable. And another of the email accounts was the one used to register one of the defendants' domain names. The court could also glean information as to the Facebook accounts' legitimacy by noting that a number of the defendants were Facebook friends with each other.
Service Via Technological Means of "Then-recent Vintage"
The court acknowledged that Facebook service was a relatively novel concept, and that defendants conceivably might not in fact receive notice by that means. But the Facebook service was merely a backstop to email service. (The court observed that "if the FTC were proposing to serve defendants only by means of Facebook, as opposed to using Facebook as a supplemental means of service, a substantial question would arise whether that service comports with due process.")
It noted that as technology advances and modes of communication progress, courts must be open to considering requests to authorize service via technological means "of then-recent vintage," rather than dismissing them out of hand as novel. In 1980, in allowing service of Iranian defendants via Telex, a judge from the same court remarked in New England Merch. Nat'l Bank v. Iran Power Generation and Transmission Co. that courts should not "be blind to changes and advances in technology. No longer do we live in a world where communications are conducted solely by mail carried by fast sailing clipper or steam ships." Twenty-two years later, the Ninth Circuit, in Rio Properties, Inc. v. Rio Int'l Interlink, saw itself "tread[ing] upon untrodden ground" to allow service of process via email.
In this case, taking a cue from Rio Properties to be "unshackled" from "anachronistic methods of service" and, through the due process inquiry be permitted "entry into the technological renaissance," the court found email and Facebook service to be proper. This was particularly true where defendants were shown to have "zealously embraced" the technologies, and already had knowledge of the lawsuit.
See also:
- Court allows service of complaint and summons via Yahoo email account
- Service of process by e-mail allowed for foreign defendants
- Defendant bails, "nail and mail" fails, so e-mail of summons prevails
- Federal court permits service of process on Australian defendants by e-mail
- Court rejects request for permission to serve process by e-mail


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Research and Scholarship Category Pilot
InCommon is launching an easier method for participants to provide collaborative services for researchers and scholars via their federated identities by reducing the policy interpretation, inter-institutional agreements, and system configuration needed for those services. This method categorizes service providers (SPs) to simplify the configuration of identity providers (IdPs); the result is that researchers can successfully access SP sites without delay and without contacting their local IdP admin. The newly defined Research & Scholarship (R&S) category will apply to service providers that support research and scholarly activities such as virtual organizations and campus-based collaboration services. Participating IdPs will agree to release a minimal set of attributes to the R&S category with a one-time addition to their default release policies, a simpler and more scalable approach than negotiating such release bilaterally with every service provider.
A growing number of Service Providers (SPs) supporting collaborative research and scholarship activities are joining InCommon. As is the standard practice in the higher education and research world, collaboration on these sites involves knowing who the collaborators are: name, email, institutional affiliation. Unfortunately, the default Attribute Release Policies in place at most campus Identity Providers (IdPs) do not share any information with these sites without local review of the SP's purpose, governing policy, and operational practices. This approach is simply not scalable to the thousands of campus IdPs and thousands of SPs supporting research and scholarship that we anticipate in the future. It is already a serious problem for the big virtual organizations and research labs; the hoped-for explosion of smaller collaboration sites housed in academic departments will not succeed with federation without a scalable solution.
All InCommon SPs are already bound by a set of practices governing how they manage and use personal attributes. InCommon's R&S Category defines additional set criteria that are designed to facilitate IdP policy decisions to release a controlled set of low-risk attributes to R&S SPs without local review for each SP. InCommon also provides metadata and technology tools to further facilitate automatic, but controlled, release of attributes to the R&S SPs, as well as aiding user support.
IdPs can simplify the management of their Attribute Release Policies by taking advantage of the R&S Category. With a one-time addition to their default release policies they can specify a set of attributes to release to all SPs that are in the R&S Category. This policy would apply to SPs that are added to the category in the future, without the IDP administrator having to make any changes.
This Research and Scholarship Category Pilot will include a small number of SPs and IdPs to test this approach, recommending modifications to the specifications described here, as appropriate. The following are the participants in this pilot:
- Service Providers
- Identity Providers
Candidate Services
The three traditional dimensions of the academic endeavor are: research & scholarship, instruction, and service. Candidates for the R&S Category are low-risk Service Providers that are specifically designed to support some aspect of research and scholarship; SPs aimed to enable instruction or service do not qualify for this category, even if they are intended for use by academics. Likewise, SPs that provide generalized services that have been or might be adopted for use in support of research and scholarship activities, but whose primary purpose is not research and scholarship, are not included in the R&S Category. Because of the risk involved, SPs that engage their subjects in experiments that require specific oversight are not eligible for the R&S Category.
Whether an SP operator is commercial or non-commercial is not relevant to eligibility for the R&S Category, nor are any other aspects of how the service is implemented or operated, beyond the specific requirements noted below. It's all about purpose.
InCommon has chosen to introduce service categories in a conservative way, by focusing narrowly on services purposed for research and scholarship, in order to make implementation as straightforward as possible, and limit the range of concerns to be as specific as possible. Other service categories may be defined in the future for other purposes.
Requirements for R&S Service Providers
R&S Service Providers must comply with the following requirements:
- The service enhances the research and scholarship activities of some subset of the InCommon community.
- The service meets the following technical requirements:
- Service metadata has been submitted to InCommon and published in a human-readable format on the InCommon public web site.
- The SP is a production SAML deployment that supports SAML V2.0 Web Browser SSO.
- The SP refreshes and verifies metadata at least daily.
- The SP provides an
mdui:DisplayNamein metadata (one of numerous User Interface Elements).
- The SP supports the SAML V2.0 HTTP-POST binding (one of numerous SAML V2.0 endpoints in metadata)
- The SP provides Technical and Administrative contacts in metadata.
- The SP provides requested attributes in metadata.
R&S Service Providers must resolve issues of non-compliance within a reasonable period of time from when they become aware of the issue. Failure to do so may result in revocation of their membership in the R&S category.
R&S Category Attributes
InCommon IdPs are strongly encouraged to release the following attributes to R&S category SPs:
- personal identifiers: e-mail address, person name,
- pseudonymous identifier:
- affiliation:
where e-mail address refers to the
displayName and optionally
givenName and
R&S category SPs may request other attributes, but IdP operators will likely require a prior agreement before releasing additional attributes.
With respect to attributes, note that InCommon Service Providers are already bound by the requirements of the InCommon Federation Participation Agreement. For the purposes of R&S, participants should pay particular attention to Section 9 of that document:
9. Respect for Privacy of Identity Information
Participant agrees to respect the privacy of and any other constraints placed on identity information that it might receive from other InCommon Participants as agreed upon between Participant and the InCommon Participant(s). In particular, Participant understands that it may not permanently store nor share or disclose or use for any purpose other than its intended purpose any identity information that it receives from another InCommon Participant without express written permission of the other InCommon Participant. Participant understands that the storing and sharing of resources is between the Participant and the InCommon Participant(s) and is not the responsibility of InCommon.
It is therefore highly recommended that SPs use a minimalist approach to attributes, only requesting those attributes that they absolutely need. In the future, as InCommon interoperates with federations in other parts of the world, it is likely that IdPs in other countries may be operating under laws and regulations that require a minimalist approach to attribute release.
Application for Inclusion in the R&S Category
To request membership in the R&S Category, a site administrator for the organization owning the SP completes a web form asserting compliance with the criteria.
This initiates the following approval process:
- InCommon staff review the requests, interacting with the submitter and the InCommon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), as needed.
- Assuming a positive review, the staff provide a one-paragraph summary recommending approval of the request to the InCommon Steering Committee and the TAC, asking for comments within one week.
- Approval or rejection of the request is determined by consensus by the review participants.
When an SP is approved for the R&S category:
- An entity attribute is inserted into metadata.
- The new R&S SP is added to a web page listing members of the R&S category.
- An announcement is sent to the firstname.lastname@example.com email list and/or the monthly newsletter.
Policy Considerations for Identity Providers
Identity Providers are responsible for protection of the privacy of their community members' identity attributes. As such, they must be cautious when releasing those attributes to Service Providers. As can be seen above, the R&S category has been restricted to the release of low-risk attributes to low-risk Service Providers with high value. Nevertheless, legislation such as FERPA, as well as local policy, may require further controls over attribute release by an IdP. For example, some students may have opted out of attribute release under FERPA.
It is expected that there will be little discussion or controversy over releasing these attributes to R&S SPs for faculty, researchers, and staff. These people already routinely share this information with their collaborators. Releasing attributes for students, however, is probably covered by the U.S. FERPA law, and possibly by state law. There is a considered opinion, though, that it is perfectly legal to release FERPA directory information using Shibboleth/SAML. If a campus includes the R&S attributes in its list of Directory Information, then there should be no issue about releasing these attributes for students who have not opted out under FERPA. In addition, some registrars have concluded that the definition of the R&S category allows their campus to release directory information for every student (including those who have opted out under FERPA).
Campuses are encouraged to implement a default policy that releases the R&S attributes to SPs in the R&S Category; implementing this is a one-time change to the IdP configuration. When this is not possible, mechanisms for implementing limiting controls are described below in "Technical Considerations." In the interest of facilitating collaboration and sharing of resources for as broad a community as possible, however, it is recommended that such controls be applied with as small a scope as possible.
Implementation Considerations for SPs and IdPs
Implementation considerations are discussed in Implementation Considerations for the R and S Category.


text:
:::Weplay US::: we play - we learn
Fun with Curve
Fun with Curve
Assessment for Visual Perception
Fun with Curve
A visual game full of challenges and fun! Suitable for all ages. Parents and kids can have fun together.
Solid or frame quarter / half circles in blue and yellow bring limitless assortments of circles and curves.
Cultivates kids' multi-observations and logic thinking, such as lines vs. planes, large vs. small, sold vs. frame.
Select an answer according to each description.
Please finish every qeustion within 10 sec.
You can move onto the next question whether you get a correct answer.


text:
The little birdies were used on birthday cakes when Mom was little. This is their second appearance on the blog. What was their first, you ask? Why, it was the inaugural post!
Many happy returns of the day, sister!
|This image is from the collections of the
Minnesota Historical Society and
may be found on their website.


text:
Seattle Sounders 2, FC Dallas 1 | MLS Match Recap
SEATTLE — The Seattle Sounders kept their recent spell of late-game magic going on Wednesday evening, topping FC Dallas 2-1 at CenturyLink Field thanks to an 88th-minute tally from Kenny Cooper.
The goal, which came from an Obafemi Martins cross, allowed the Sounders to run their winning streak to five and their unbeaten run to six, having scored the result-clinching goal after the 80th minute in five of those games.
Dallas were playing their second game in four days and used a patchwork lineup that featured four personnel changes from Sunday's loss to the New York Red Bulls. After converting an early penalty and withstanding a barrage of opportunities, they still looked poised to get get at least a point as the game moved toward stoppage time, mostly on the back of a stellar performance from goalkeeper Raúl Fernández.
But that's when Martins got a ball down the left channel and sent in a cross to Cooper, who was unmarked in front of goal. The former FC Dallas man, who had entered the game only a few minutes earlier, hit it first time for his third goal of the season.
Martins also set up the Sounders' equalizer when he was able to split a pair of defenders with a pass to Lamar Neagle at the near post. Neagle had slipped in behind the defense and finished it from the edge of the six-yard box. Neagle now has four goals and Martins has a league-leading six assists.
Just a few minutes later Fernández came up with a pair of huge saves to keep the score level. First he dove to his left to keep out Osvaldo Alonso's blast from just oustide the area. The ball ricocheted off the post and Dempsey was first to the rebound for what looked to be a simple tap-in, but Fernandez recovered quickly and was able to make a kick save on the follow-up.
FC Dallas got on the scoreboard first when Blas Pérez drew a penalty while chasing a ball over the top, with defenders on either side of him. Brad Evans got his feet tangled up with the Panamanian striker and referee Baldemermo Toledo pointed to the spot, leaving Michel to coolly finish the opportunity for a 16th-minute lead.
The Sounders have now allowed four penalties, the same total as the 2012 and 2013 seasons combined. It was also the fifth penalty Dallas have been awarded this season and the fourth they've converted, the same number they converted in the last two years combined.
The Sounders stayed atop the Supporters' Shield standings and now have 22 points through 10 games. They return to action on Sunday with a road game against the New England Revolution.
FC Dallas lost their third straight and have now gone 1-4-0 after a 4-0-1 start. They play at the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
|What We Saw
|Obafemi Martins
|Devastated Dallas with his pace and interplay with his teammates, not forgetting two great passes for assists on both Sounders goals
|Raul Fernandez
|The man has a knack for the spectacular and did not disappoint as he kept Dallas squarely in it with some excellent saves
|Lamar Neagle
|Continues to hold his own in the high-powered Seattle attack and contributed tonight with a fine finish for their opener


text:
So Some weeks ago I had a lucky day. It happened so that I clicked on one of these "your ip address is a lucky 100000 visitor, come and get your free i phone" adds. Ok, it was not so. I commented on a blog I tend to read from time to time. And guess what happened? I got a reply saying that u are 1000th commenter on my blog and I want to give you a present. Ill buy u a book at amazon or something like that. And I did chose a magazine.
And guess what? Here I am holding a package from Berlin! A lucky day, isn't it? Well, everything comes with a price, I also received this small note:
The language in this note is hard to understand, its not German or English – its "handwriting" Do u know it? :)
Well it says, when I will have a 1000th comment on my blog I should send similar gift to a commenter, just the way I got my present. Now I wouldn't consider my self a blogger. The reason is that I don't read a lot of blogs, and this blog is more of a tool to talk about 3d and cg. So I guess what I am trying to say is, I am not sure if this is a popular trend among bloggers, or has "Aidenium" thought of this himself, But, I think this gift giving is a cool idea.
So hereby I promise to all bloggers and readers that my 1000th cometer will receive a similar prize. Now to tell u the truth it will not happen very soon while I have only 88 comments now :) But its a nice idea that counts right?
Ok. sins this blog is not exactly about my personal life, I will try to bend this post towards this blogs topic, that is 3d. And here it is a magazine I am reading for couple of years now. Why do I love it so much? well to tell you the truth I love it more then 3d world. why? well this is only my personal opinion.
But… I find 3d world to be more of a collection of very nice images and interviews of people who do them. And these interviews are more of a personal style, well like, what inspired you to create this art peace? what games and books do u like to read? That all is definitely very interesting, but I find it lacks depth. Its more a casual read with inspiring pictures, wile digital production is much harder to read.
Its much more technical. And as such more interesting. Ok this statement probably is not fair. Its probably like comparing apples and oranges. But if I can have only one magazine (its expensive to buy and ship magazines for me) and big fat "Digital Production" costs you 14 euros while thin "3dWorld" costs you about 6 pounds if remember it correctly. Digital Production is 130 pages. Now I don't have a copy of 3d world, anyone knows how many pages are there? Again one could say that this is not fair to count pages, while "digital production" covers not only 3d. And this is true. But I think a 3d artist should know whats going on in compoziting world and 3d cinema and so on… So judge it for yourself, what you like better. Oh and one small thing….. "Digital Production" is all in German….except for some titles :) forgot to mention that, so take out your fat German dictionary and lets read it :) Here I will post some images I grabbed from the latest issue, and tell me if u find something similar in 3dworl.
By the way whats your favorite 3d related magazine? And of course, dear blogger, what do you think of 1000th comment idea?