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A fascinating article on the mind blowing influence the Tevatron particle accelerator has had (and will have) on technology and the world we know it. This will be required reading for my computer science students when we return in January.

If you're dealing with leadership transitions in your district, Miguel Guhlin has penned a pretty epic post. In it, he is blunt about the ups and downs of working with great leaders, and "hatchet men." IN the post, he also includes steps to making staff development actually work and his frustration to be asked to read books that no one else read or implemented. This is a great post and one that leaders should read (so they can be visionary) and staff and teachers should read (so they can find wisdom for making it through tough transitions.) Every transition is tough - I've been through several myself during my 12 years and even when the leader is a very good one, it is hard to do and endure because so many people take their "eye off the ball" and the ball is learning in the classroom. Drama in the front office should be kept at a minimum so classroom learning can be kept at a maximum.

Weclome to SpeechWars, a great way to see what the candidates are saying. Simply type in a word, click "Go", and SpeechWars shows you how often the candidates used the word in their speeches. You can also compare two words by using both text boxes.

The United States Library of Congress has selected SpeechWars for inclusion in its official historic collections of Internet materials related to Election 2008. The United States Library of Congress preserves the Nation's cultural artifacts and provides enduring access to them. The Library's traditional functions, acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to the Congress and to the American people to foster education and scholarship extend to digital materials, including Web sites. The Library will make this collection available to researchers. The Library's vision is to preserve these Web materials about Election 2008, and to permit researchers from across the world to access them.

Braids around the Globe Main theme - Global Travel Goals * to become familiar with different locations / cultures around the world * to participate in the Vendee Globe trip (see below) * to follow-up by creating our own Global Adventure Dubbed "the Everest of Yacht Racing", the Vendee Globe is the ultimate in single-handed endurance: around the world, single-handed, non-stop with no assistance from shore. The Vendee Globe spans 25,000 miles, ~100 days, France to France, leaving Antarctica to starboard, starting in November 2008. Rich Wilson is the ONLY American registered for the 2008 Vendee Globe. The first race was held in 1989-90, and has been run every four years since the 1992-93 event. Two sailors have been lost at sea since the race began in 1989, and others have been dramatically rescued.

As big languages spread, children whose parents speak a small language often grow up learning the dominant language.

So, what will it take to transform teaching and learning? What will it take to shut down the pleasant hum of the machine that is so good at turning out 20th century students even though we're entering the second decade of the 21st century? Leaders with Courage and Commitment!

Technology is often lambasted for creating lazy, passive cyber couched-potatoes. While the hours we endure bathed in flickering pixel light, slumped in a variety of contorted lurching positions over the input device of our choice is hardly the recipe for a healthy body. Yet, technology is becoming ever more part of our active lives and it is also spilling out into the 'real' world. As teachers, we can insist technology, or we can make it part of our classroom repertoire for PE and beyond.

We are told 'Don't let the system get you down', and 'rail against the system' and endure the untold misery of 'We are updating your system.' Systems have a bad reputation for being bureaucratic, red-tape decorated jumping hoops. This is certainly true of many systems and no more so than in education. A system which isn't working well is clearly evident while those that are working as they should are often invisible or unnoticed, but vital to the smooth working of work, learning and life.