Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Bill Gates High School Address

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair . . . get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping . . . they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Google's Larry Page Inspirational Commencement Speech at Univ of Michigan


"You know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know how, if you don’t have a pencil and pad by the bed to write it down, it will be completely gone the next morning?
Well, I had one of those dreams when I was 23. When I suddenly woke up, I was thinking: what if we could download the whole web, and just keep the links and… I grabbed a pen and started writing! Sometimes it is important to wake up and stop dreaming. I spent the middle of that night scribbling out the details and convincing myself it would work. Soon after, I told my advisor, Terry Winograd, it would take a couple of weeks to download the web — he nodded knowingly, fully aware it would take much longer but wise enough to not tell me. The optimism of youth is often underrated! Amazingly, I had no thought of building a search engine. The idea wasn’t even on the radar. But, much later we happened upon a better way of ranking webpages to make a really great search engine, and Google was born. When a really great dream shows up, grab it!"

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Right vs. Left Brain Hemispheres

Left_Vs_Right_Brain

brain_function_hsf

brain

brain2dr4

left_right_brain_xp

Play the video to test yourself.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Keyboard Shortcuts


Shortcuts can be 4x fastser than mouse

Online shortcuts databases:

http://www.shortcutguide.com/google/

http://www.keyxl.com/


See my favorite shortcuts for my favorite programs here

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

My Reading System: Checklist & Symbols

For most the last time they thought about their processes of reading was when they were 12 years old. I challenge you to metacognitively think about the way you read and how you can improve it. Here is mine, share your tricks.

Checklist
Prep
[] Eliminate Distractions: establish schedule & space
[] Get Equip: utensils, note cards, sticky notes, book stand
[] Music, water, tea
[] Plan: Time goal, break, #of pgs.

Focus
[] Enter relax state of consciousnesses: close eyes deep breath, 1-10
[] Meditate on the intent of reading this book: establish the purpose
[] Affirmation:
"I read for the message, not to obsess on the words. It's not only what I read, rather it is my habit of reading that keeps my mind sharp, fresh, and open."

Preview
[] In 10 minutes read:
1) Table of contents, glossary, and index (pick up on tags)
2) Anything in bold, titles, and subtitles
3) First line of every paragraph
[] Notice: keywords, pics, figs, structure, organization
[] Generate ?'s (put in front of book)

Read
[] Don't sub vocalize, see groups of words not letters
[] Use finger or guide
[] Interact with my Reading Symbols
[] Turn titles into ?'s and look for answers

Apply
[] Write an abstract, 1 sentence summary (in front cover)
[] Mind map it, review it, blog it, journal it
[] Create a System for Implementation! Use it or loose it!

Symbols
* = Key Point

[] = Action

/\ = Technique/Strategy to Apply

" " = Quote

(?) = Discussion Question/Teach

? = Question/Disagree

! = Agree

Circled = Keywords/Concepts

Underlined = Important

Dog Ear = Worth rereading

Sticky Note = Bookmark

Common Code Notes
2G = To Google it
2Blogit = To Blog it
2RD = To Research & Develop
2RR = To Read & Review

Inside Front Cover
Write the purpose for reading (i.e.knowledge vs. growth)
List questions generated
After reading write abstract, key message

Inside Back Cover
List keywords, vocab, tags
Index lists of notes during
Application Action [] To Do lists

Monday, November 24, 2008

Google 411

1-800-GOOG-411: Find and connect with local businesses for free from your phone.:

About GOOG-411
Google's new 411 service is free, fast and easy to use. Give it a try now and see how simple it is to find and connect with local businesses for free."


Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Know Your Neighborhood

Family Watch Dog-free service to locate registered sex offenders in your area. Just enter an address and we'll show a map. You can click on the squares that appear and see photos (where available) addresses, convictions and other information about the offender.

Felony Spy free service to locate felons in your neighborhood.