Month: March 2011

John Doerr, once said “The Internet is the greatest legal creation of wealth in history.” Android may be the opposite of that, the greatest legal destruction of wealth in history.

These days they are more commonly known as “The Grand United Order of Oddfellows Friendly Society” (GUOOFS)

Netflix: one price, access from any device.

New York Times: three tiers, arbitrary division between devices based on screen size.

The tablet market is much younger than that for smartphones, but the first indications are not good: there seem to be barely any open source iPad apps, and I doubt whether the situation will improve once the Android tablets start arriving this year.

If a more ironic statement has been uttered since the “bike lane war” began, I’d like to see it. If you are actively scanning video that your own organization shot in order to make the case that the bike lane is not being used in great numbers, you might be exhibiting confirmation bias. If, out of “hundreds of hours of footage,” you release just 17 seconds showing an ambulance taking a shortcut down an empty bike lane, and then give that clip to a journalist as proof that the bike lane is dangerous, you might be exhibiting confirmation bias. If you claim an ability to distinguish bike commuters from “recreational users,” but you yourself do not commute nor recreate regularly on a bike, you might be exhibiting a confirmation bias. If you rely on self-reported, anecdotal accounts of accidents gathered by people sympathetic to your cause, you might be exhibiting a confirmation bias.

The Maine town of Sedgwick took an interesting step that brings a new dynamic to the movement to maintain sovereignty: Town-level nullification. Last Friday, the town passed a proposed ordinance that would empower the local level to grow and sell food amongst themselves without interference from unconstitutional State or Federal regulations.

Using intelligent tutoring systems, virtual laboratories, simulations, and frequent opportunities for assessment and feedback, the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) builds courses that are intended to enact instruction – or, more precisely, to enact the kind of dynamic, flexible, and responsive instruction that fosters learning.

I was wrong that Bush/Cheney were competent.