Help me go to TED Gobal 2010

Lessons from Elementary School

Here is a great documentary on a school and teacher not too far from where I live. It a great example of what my life is like teaching in Japanese Elementaty Schools.

Part 1 -- Great overview of a great teacher

Part 2 -- Powerful, addresses bullying in School

Part 3 -- Taking a stance to support a classmate

Part 4 -- Dealing with loss

Part 5 -- Letter to Heaven

Met JoAnn Kuchera-Morin in Kanazowa Today

Met JoAnn Kuchera-Morin and her daughter today. Gaijins stick out in this part of Japan. I never forget a face and I was sitting there puzzling where I knew her from... Teacher? No... Being me, I approached her when I saw her doing sign gesturing and talking baby talk to a clueless waitress -- she obviously couldn't speak a lick of Japanese -- a feeling I am more then acquainted with. After helping her with her buffet dilemma, I approached her and after a short conversation we figured it out and laughed. It turned out I watched her demos of the AlloSphere on TED.com. The cool Allosphere is a new way to see, hear and interpret scientific data. As described on TED.com -- Dive into the brain, feel electron spin, hear the music of the elements ... and detect previously unseen patterns that could lead to new discoveries.

We ended up chatting for a bit... told her briefly EDUIT and eSingularity. Suddenly I hear my wife bark at me filled with annoyance, separation and a touch of anger -- "Tomoki" I said "sorry" and run off to save Tommy from running off into the abyss of the Kanazawa Mall---which he was more then happy to do. What does it mean? Meeting a TEDster, I want to go to TED! My wife claims it was the magic of me and a bracelet of power stones and claims it is its magic at work. I know the real answer its because "I know the secret!"

Check out the video!

Religion and Science... some thoughts...

I personally don't see the issue with Religion and Science. I recently saw a video where the guy proved the existence of god because the "order of things" and the 3rd law of thermal dynamics and conservation of energy... I patiently waited for him to somehow justify the existence of our satanical, schizophrenic, Old Testament Biblical God... He didn't. That God is dead. However if you were to define God as energy... like the suff that resulted from the big bang; and theorize that since we all were seed out of something pretty close to a singularity... the order we see is that energy trying to coalesce into its original state... and that order we see, tied to the id of our left hemisphere is the culprit responsible for our anthropomorphic God. What the underlying science for super symmetry? No scientist can tell you... whats the "particle" nature of gravity? None knows that either... Show me a predicable outcome in evolution... we cant. But science say we should be able to or its not science. How did cocoons come about in evolution...? Hmm cant tell you. God, I believe, lies within that realm questions. Its like a particle too small to see or measure but you know its there -- like dark energy. It bewilders me why we hang on to words written by people ignorant of scientific reality. God is as much embedding in science as life is embedded the universe. After all, we are the consciousness of the universe wakening to know itself.

I define God as distributed unconsciousness. By doing so makes it possible to approach religions in humble way... "Oh, these poor misguided fools.. they just don't get it. they are desperately holding on to an antiquated notion of God, composed at a time when people just didn't know better... Oh well."

Do Japaneese have a naivete-the-brink-of-stupidity gene?

Im starting to think they do. It seems the majority have no concept that kids should be strapped into child seats while driving. Or that possibly leaving them in the car might be not a wise thing to do. Everyday I see kids bouncing around the front seat or even in the drivers lap! Another thing I dont get is that middle school kids MUST wear protective helmet at all times when on a bicycle however elementary kids apparently have heads od steal and are free to ride about without any protection. Infants and toddlers too apparently are impervious to biking accidents in Japan... or that what you would think if you them being totted around on their parent bicyles.

Deleted the games of my PC

Ater waisting a year of my life playing silly first person shooter and EVE. I have finally removed steam and the games off my PC in my office. The fact is I am a gaming addict... I cant just sit down and play for 30 mins. Once I start I just cant stop and play and play and play. It really pisses me off. Well today I deleted them and have decided to refocus that energy into EDUIT.

Its Been A While...

Life in Japan stands still. It doesnt seem like its been that long ago that I posted. Where have I been? I have been enjoying my sons incredible intellecual growth. His genious like ability to master language and ideas, his daring courage and his humor. He turned 2 in April. My goals for him are:

1. Achieve a good confort level in the pool: float with arm bands, submerg himself, basic locomotion skills such as kick his legs and flailing his arms.
2. Master the phonics alphabet and simple spelling of simple phonetic words.
3. Grasp the simple ideas of addition and substraction.
4. Teach him to respect and enjoy the natual sciences.

Jonarhan Harris

Its great when creative visionaries are given the opportunity to wow. Watch his TED video

check out -- http://www.wefeelfine.org/creators.html and -- http://universe.daylife.com/