Japan disaster sparks social media innovation

Filed Under : by Akhmad Shirojuzzaman

Once the magnitude of the March 11 disaster became clear, the online world began asking, “How can we help?”
And for that, social media offered the ideal platform for good ideas to spread quickly, supplementing efforts launched by giants like Google and Facebook.
A British teacher living in Abiko city, just east of Tokyo, is leading a volunteer team of bloggers, writers and editors producing “Quakebook,” a collection of reflections, essays and images of the earthquake that will be sold in the coming days as a digital publication. Proceeds from the project will go to the Japanese Red Cross, said the 40-year-old, who goes by the pseudonym “Our Man in Abiko.”
The entirely Twitter-sourced project started with a single tweet exactly a week after the earthquake. Within an hour, he had received two submissions, which soon grew to the 87 that now comprise the book.
Quakebook involves some 200 people in Japan and abroad, and the group is in negotiations to sell the download on Amazon.com. It didn’t take long for others to notice. Twitter itself has sent out a tweet about Quakebook, as has Yoko Ono. Best-selling novelist Barry Eisler wrote the foreword for the book. Organizers, including Our Man in Abiko, will hold a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on Friday.
“I just thought I want to do something,” he said in a telephone interview. “I felt completely helpless.”
Another project, “World’s 1000 Messages for Japan,” is an effort to convey thoughts from around the globe. Writers can leave short notes on Facebook or through e-mail, which a group of volunteers then translate into Japanese. The translations are then posted on Twitter as well as the group’s website.
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2 sets of facts in budget dispute

Filed Under : by Akhmad Shirojuzzaman

WASHINGTON – To hear the Democrats tell it, House Republicans are being dragged by their extreme tea party allies to shut down the government, yet agreement is near on a sensible package of spending cuts to prevent it.
And according to Republicans, Democrats want a government shutdown and talks aren't all that far along to avoid one.
Welcome to divided government, where each party lays claim to its own set of facts, federal agencies face a shutdown on April 9 without a compromise and any progress toward a deal is wrapped in partisan rhetoric.
"Now, here's the bottom line. Democrats are rooting for a government shutdown," House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday at a news conference.
Republicans are "listening to the people who sent us here to cut spending so we can grow our economy. As I said from the beginning, our goal is to cut spending, not shut down the government."
Democrats have yet to outline a plan to cut spending, he added, "only rhetoric portraying the American people as extreme."
A few hours later, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., strode onto the Senate floor and said, "We are right at the doorstep of a deal."
"As the vice president said last night, there has been agreement to meet in the middle, around $33 billion in cuts," he said. The New York Democrat referred to Vice President Joe Biden's statement in the Capitol on Wednesday evening that the two sides were working on a deal containing that level of cuts.

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Teaching Little Fingers New Math Tricks

Filed Under : by Akhmad Shirojuzzaman

Gabi Bagley, 5, dug through a box of Kid K’Nex toys, bypassing rods and cylinders until she found a purple, teardrop-shaped object about four inches long. “Does that fit your hand just right?” said Cyndi Lopardo, her Preschool for All teacher. “Bring it over.” 
Gabi was one of four children at Onahan Elementary School learning a mathematical concept — measurement — by searching for items the same length as their hands.
The lesson was developed by coaches from the Erikson Institute to hone the children’s ability to compare and predict size — skills that researchers from Erikson say provide a foundation for success in elementary math but are often neglected in preschool.
Ms. Lopardo has been teaching preschoolers for 17 years at Onahan Elementary. But she said the Erikson coach has helped her create more engaging and effective math lessons.

“I have gotten great results,” she said. “We’ve been talking through ideas and making my practice better.”
That afternoon, Ms. Lopardo’s coach, Katie Morgan, took notes on how she could add more gestures to her teaching style and encourage students to describe objects’ sizes orally. After school, they reviewed a videotape of the lesson. 

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If rupee remains stable, Thomas Cook sees active business

Filed Under : by Akhmad Shirojuzzaman

With the holiday season setting in, the leisure industry, the travel and tourism industry is expected to bring the cheer in. Madhavan Menon managing director with Thomas Cook says that ongoing World Cup has seen decent foreign exchange business but the upcoming season is likely to help bring good growth in the company’s Q1.
"We follow forward booking in holiday business, the forward bookings for summer is more than 20%. The sources of foreign travels have been good and we have seen growth in this quarter," he says. He expects that if the rupee remains stable, "we will see a fair amount of active business in that segment." He also says that the Japan castatrophe is not likely to cause much damage in the business. 

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