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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US reducing naval firepower aimed at Gadhafi

Filed Under : by Akhmad Shirojuzzaman

WASHINGTON – In a sign of U.S. confidence that the weeklong assault on Libya has tamed Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses, the Pentagon has reduced the amount of naval firepower arrayed against him, officials said Sunday.
The move, not yet publicly announced, reinforces the White House message of a diminishing U.S. role — a central point in President Barack Obama's national address Monday night on Libya. The White House booked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on three Sunday news shows to promote the administration's case ahead of the speech.
Yet Gates, asked whether the military operation might be over by year's end, said, "I don't think anybody knows the answer to that."
At least one of the five Navy ships and submarines that have launched dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan targets from positions in the Mediterranean Sea has left the area, three defense officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive military movements.
That still leaves what officials believe is sufficient naval firepower off Libya's coast, and it coincides with NATO's decision Sunday to take over command and control of the entire Libya operation. Aided by international air power, Libyan rebels were reported to have made important gains by capturing two oil complexes along the coast.
The shrinking of the naval presence adds substance to Obama's expected reassurance to the American people that after kicking off the Libyan mission, the U.S. is now handing off to partner countries in Europe and elsewhere the bulk of the responsibility for suppressing Gadhafi's forces.
NATO's governing body, meeting in Brussels, accepted a plan for the transfer of command. That is expected to mean that U.S. Army Gen. Carter Ham, who has been the top commander of the Libya operation, will switch to a support role.
Obama administration officials claimed progress in Libya, but lawmakers in both parties voiced skepticism over the length, scope and costs of the mission.
Obama is trying to address those issues in a speech that's expected to provide his fullest explanation of the U.S. role in Libya and what lies ahead.

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