oh man! so, i didn’t get a chance to go off campus and get a really good hoodie anywhere. i broke down and bought one at the nebraska bookstore in the union, since it’s 35 degrees out today! i don’t really have a hoodie anymore, because i can’t find my favorite zipup black one. it must have gotten lost in transit somewhere…i don’t know where. still…sad. it was my favorite!

so, here it is! warm, simple, and the cheapest one ($30, good lord, what an amount for a hoodie!) so far it is totally and successfully keeping me warm! also those are new glasses i got last tuesday, before break. ANYWAY…i have to go write a paper and finish the movie elizabeth, which i’m watching. makes me want to read more about england, as usual…

how are you keeping warm as it finally gets chilly? or how cold is it where you are? (mahmoud? i bet it’s warm there!) and how’s your school spirit? ^_^

After six months of nearly round-the-clock work by consultants and campus planners, Nebraska Innovation Campus’s final business development strategy and campus master plans were presented and approved today by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

Lincoln, Neb., November 20th, 2009 —

(read more UNL News Release)

For more information about Nebraska Innovation Campus and to view the most up-to-date versions of the plans, go to http://innovate.unl.edu.

UNL: «Nous avons procès équitable” Les mesures ne sont pas révolutionnaires, mais nous nous félicitons du système de soutien adapté généralisée à toutes les écoles et les possibilités de distraction durant l’année. Sur ces points, nous étions assez écouté, a répondu Evennou Anthony, présidente de l’UNL (Union nationale lycéenne), le syndicat étudiant de première. «Mais, avertit-il, que la logique de la réduction des ressources budgétaires de l’éducation permanente, la responsabilité de l’État que la réforme n’est pas efficace parce qu’il n’y a pas de ressources correspondant.”

FIDL: Le “résultats intéressants”, mais “pas suffisant”, a déclaré mardi l’organisation d’écolière “grandes lacunes” dans la réforme de l’école secondaire, où il lance ses «règles de travail” certainement “intéressantes”, mais elle est actuellement l’état d ‘ design “. Pour Fidl (Fédération indépendante et démocratique lycéenne), «Cette réforme est loin d’être suffisant”, et “pour mobiliser les étudiants dans les sessions générales et des actions des ateliers coup de poing dans les semaines à venir.”

UNI-Lycée: une réforme qui “pas dans la bonne direction” d’orientation (…) étape réversible dans la bonne direction par l’UNI-école, se félicite de l’Union des étudiants. Et “l’obligation d’être faite aux écoles d’établir des relations avec des avis écoles étrangères est considérée comme un premier pas important vers (a), étudiant Erasmus».

UNSA-Education: Ce n’est pas une réforme “de l’échelle” Nicolas Sarkozy “mesures préféré une réforme partielle de l’échelle”, a déclaré le syndicat des enseignants. “Certaines de ces mesures, telles que l’amincissement de la comparaison terme des élèves dans l’enseignement supérieur sont positifs et d’autres, prévient-il, comme un soutien ou des conseils individuels, feront face à la pénurie de ressources humaines.”

The second I decided to join the journalism school at UNL, I started thinking about internships. It’s a college-wide obsession, especially in today’s economy (points for me for mentioning the economy in my very first post!). I started looking and looking and, for a long time, failing to come up with anything. Then, in the summer of 2009, I worked as a “marketing intern” for a local moving company. What that really meant was I sat around on my computer designing postcards on a scrapbooking program (I neither owned nor knew how to operate InDesign at the time), attending business networking meetings for my too-busy boss and (more than) occasionally babysitting his 1-year-old daughter. It was an easy job for the summer, sure, but in retrospect only minimally helpful. I did learn about networking from attending the Business Networking International (BNI) meetings, but none of the chapter members proved to be valuable contacts for me.

That (this) fall, I decided I needed some real experience. One of my sorority alumnae works for The Groundwater Foundation here in Lincoln, so I asked her if they could use some (free) intern help. My price was right, so they let me volunteer as a communications intern. Being a small non-profit organization, the Foundation lets me work closely with my supervisors and on a variety of projects, including press releases and articles for newsletters and magazines.

Midway through the fall semester, I received an email from the j-school about an internship with the University of Nebraska Technology Park. Ever the over-achiever (and flat broke), I decided to apply for the paid position, and after a panel interview, I was in. At the Park I’m in charge of all communications (the whole place is run by two full-timers and three interns), and dove right in with work on the quarterly newsletter.

After some time of searching and failing to find anything in the way of internships, suddenly I find myself doubly crowned.

So here I am, working two internships, as well as taking classes, leading on campus, and working on a research project. Never satisfied, I also decided to blog about it all. PRetty little intern is the result.  Welcome to my blog; letters from an intern, student and hopeful PR professional.

Down amongst the grasses at Spring Creek Prairie.

I love living on the Great Plains.  I mean I really, really love it.  In fact, I love the Great Plains so much that I got a Master of Arts Degree in Great Plains Studies!  (It’s a unique, interdisciplinary program offered at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, but I digress).  There’s just something about these wide open spaces that speaks to something very deep inside of me, and makes me feel connected to everyone who has lived on this land before — not only my ancestors, but the Natives who first called this land home.  My love of the region I’ve always had the blessing to call home makes it easy to think about my connection to my place, and how that has affected me.  But connection to place can be just as powerful, I believe, no matter where you live — whether that be in a city, in the mountains, at the beach, wherever.

I grew up on a farm, so it was fairly easy to make the connection between my life and the land — indeed, the very food we ate was a direct result of the land and all it can produce.  Now that I live in suburbia, I worry about the kind of connection to place, and to the land around us, that my kids will have.  I hope that my husband and I are able to do all we can to instill in our children a sense of “grounding” in their place.

One of the ways I re-grounded myself recently was to take part in a “late autumn walkabout” (don’t you just love that phrase?) at a local prairie preserve.  It was absolutely fabulous.  Our guide led the group of about 12 adults and children through mowed paths that wind their way throughout the hundreds of acres within the preserve, pointing out the major types of grasses that make up the tallgrass prairie, as well as native birds that dwell there.  As we were walking, the sun was setting.  As we made our way to one of the farthest points from the nature center building, a hush fell over our group and another sound emerged….a group of coyote pups barking up a storm.  It was absolutely amazing.  Our guide led us up and around a large loop throughout a portion of the prairie, encouraging us to wander off the path, take a look at things, feel the grass, look up at the stars, and breathe deep.  It was one of the most restorative nights I’d had in weeks.

Our visit was to Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center near Denton, Nebraska.  It’s quite the place.  Take a look at the great clip:

Our “late autumn walkabout” ended with….what else?  Hot apple cider, a campfire, and S’mores.  What a perfect way to spend a Saturday evening in late autumn!

Now that I’ve got all of you wishing that you were so lucky as to live on the Great Plains of North America (right?!), it’s your turn to take a look around you and find ways to connect with the land that’s outside your own door.  And no, I’m not talking about your yard….what lies beyond the reaches of the local Interstate?  What’s going on outside of town?  How are the farmer’s doing with their harvest?  What do the trees look like?  Has the are gotten enough water recently?  Get online and find ways to connect with the land around you.  There are extension agencies and state/national parks in every state that may be a good place to start if you haven’t a clue.  Now go out and get a little dirty, take a few deep breaths, and notice how much bigger than you the natural world is.  It can provide fabulous perspective.

Spring Creek Prairie

Spring Creek Prairie

Sunset over Spring Creek Prairie

This is a guest post from Ari Kohen, assistant professor at University of Nebraska – Lincoln.  I met him through Twitter a long time ago after he was discussing heroism.  He is currently working on a book-length project, The Moral Hero and the Mortal Hero, as well as articles on both restorative justice and the death penalty.  You can read his bio here and his blog here.

In my new book project, I make the argument that the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is meant to stand as an example of heroism on par with more traditional heroes like Achilles and Odysseus from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

And yet, in so many ways, Socrates seems to be the central figure in a cautionary tale that fathers might present to their sons: he is often chastised for speaking about nonsense, debating in an inane manner, and being ironic. Even more obviously, he is put on trial for corrupting the youth of Athens and is eventually executed by his fellow citizens. Given these critiques, what about him might be seen as heroic or worthy of emulation?

In a paper to be published next year in Polis, I put forward an answer to this question through an exploration of the three Platonic dialogues that deal with Socrates’ trial and execution. First, Socrates attempts a defense designed to vindicate the philosophic way of life. In this, he seems to be successful, as Socrates is today highly regarded for his description of the good life and for his unwillingness to live any other sort of life, a position that is most obviously exemplified by his defense in the Apology. After his sentencing, Socrates’ arguments and actions – in the Crito and the Phaedo – also lend considerable support to the idea that the philosopher is committed to living a particularly good sort of life. While the sequence of dialogues that culminate in Socrates’ execution might seem to be the most obviously critical of the life of the philosopher, I want to argue that these dialogues actually serve to enshrine the character of Socrates as the quintessential moral hero.

Plato manages to turn the ignoble death of his mentor into a virtuous triumph for two reasons: first, he suggests that Socrates has an intimate understanding – perhaps even an appreciation – of his mortality and actively chooses to die. Second and relatedly, he demonstrates that – in choosing to give up his life – Socrates sacrifices himself for those with whom he identifies, both his friends and even the Athenians at large who seem to be his enemies. He explains his decision to several of his students in ways that set an example of proper decision-making and also encourage them to continue to see the life of the philosopher as choice-worthy. In so depicting Socrates’ trial and execution, Plato establishes his mentor as a moral hero who gives up his life to benefit others and who demonstrates that the kind of life one lives – rather than its duration – is of primary importance.

While a great many people would view Socrates’ endless questions as annoying rather than caring – and certainly most of the Athenians did – it is clear that he sees a direct connection between annoyance and care. In questioning his fellow citizens about their beliefs and commitments, Socrates believes he’s doing a great good by showing them a more virtuous path than the one they are, perhaps unknowingly, walking. As he points out, throughout the Apology, he could lead a far more comfortable life if he desisted from these activities; however, in abandoning his questioning, he would be abandoning the Athenians to lives that are devoid of wisdom and virtue. That Socrates will not abstain from philosophizing – even when continuing to do so clearly means a death sentence – is a powerful statement about how important he believes philosophy to be, both for himself and also for the Athenians more generally. His inclusion of even his enemies into the circle of those with whom he identifies sets Socrates apart from the average citizen. It is this ability to personally identify with others, and to extend to even the enemy the sort of care that would normally be reserved for family or close friends, that makes his actions – dangerous though they were in his day – morally heroic and worthy of our emulation even today.

Shot my first college basketball game tonight; I definitely have a lot of room to improve. The Huskers beat Pitt State 68-54, here are some of my shots.

Senior forward Cory Montgomery plays some good, strong defense.

Senior guard Yvonne Turner sprints foward in an attempt to beat her Pittsburg State opponent to the ball.

Senior guard Yvonne Turner attempts to score despite being raked in the face by her Pittsburg State opponent.

Went and covered a Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead) event at the Union tonight. Sponsored by the Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services (OASIS), the event consisted of different performers (bands, dancers, etc.) that all were connected somehow to the Hispanic holiday that is known as el dia de los muertos. Among the performers tonight was the short play about the life of Frida Khalo titled “Frida Behind the Mirror.” The photos will mostly focus on this portion of the evening, I hope you enjoy.

Joao de Brito, who created, choreographed, and directed "Frida Behind the Mirror," acts out the death of Khalo in the final minutes of the performance.

Brito stands in front of a fan while waiting for his gold body paint to dry before his performance.

While standing in front of a fan and checking his paint job in the mirror, Joao de Brito takes a sip of milk.

Performing in "Frida Behind the Mirror," Athena Ramos, who was one of the four actresses representing Khalo, played the sexually desireful role. Other roles included the Feminist Radical Frida, Surrealist Painter Frida and Realistic Frida.

Saul Valdez, a member of the Phi Alpha Chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc., gets his face painted by Sara McCue in preparation for the fraternities performance during the Dia de los Muertos event.

A faculdade de jornalismo não é um ambiente de estímulo à vida acadêmica no sentido científico da palavra. Não que nossos cursos (UFSC e UEL) não dessem oportunidade, nem que fazer um mestrado seja mal visto nas redações – tem quem diga que é -, mas nossa agonia estava concentrada no dia a dia da apuração, mais na prática e menos na estrutura.

Das milhas de distância que nos encontrávamos de um mestrado, imaginávamos estruturas muito mais quadradas do que achamos aqui na Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Para entrar, nada de projeto já traçado nem crivo em entrevistas com professores simpáticos a sua ideia, só uma linha de pesquisa ampla e conversas sobre as possibilidades de se construir conhecimentos interessantes quando se mescla gente vinda de várias áreas – mesmo que isso implique em menor conhecimento teórico.

Foi assim que começamos as aulas na sociologia, há menos de um mês. Cada um com três aulas na semana, colegas de sala de áreas tão diversas quanto filósofos, engenheiros e economistas, e tantas dúvidas na cabeça que era até difícil colocá-las em forma de pergunta. Fomos vendo que é como se sentem a maior parte dos alunos. Temos um medo constante de não ter uma boa ideia de projeto, base sociológica suficiente para fazer a pesquisa, entender o real objetivo da aula ou os tomos de textos muitas vezes de linguagem hermética.

Para diminuir a angústia coletiva, o mestrado aqui começa com um tutor, um professor que ainda não é o orientador do projeto, mas orienta nossa leitura, sugere pesquisas e olhares sobre o tema que – pelo menos a princípio – nos interessa. No meu caso, são pessoas e ONGs, no do Vitor, cidade e relações de poder. Depois de externar o que nos apaixona e nos aflige nas relações entre pessoas, instituições e grupos, começa a fazer sentido a ideia de ter vindo e de querer entender um pouco melhor como o mundo funciona. A lista do que é preciso e interessante ler é que parece não fazer muito quando se pensa na relação entre quantidade e tempo.

Got up a little earlier than usual today to go shoot a portrait of the senior girls on UNL’s soccer team. Got there a bit ahead of time, and was getting ready to shoot when I realized I didn’t have a memory card with me. I had to run back to my dorm through the rain, grab my card, and run back to the indoor practice facility. All of that had to happen in 13 minutes. Luckily, I made it on time. Sweaty, but on time.

They were all very open to trying shots in different places, and trying different setups as well. Went about as easily as I could’ve hoped for, aside from my short morning jog.

The background kills this photo...my fault completely.

I wish I had more lighting equipment and this would've actually turned out like I imagined it.

There was a pumpkin carving event at the Culture Center on campus today, hosted by a volunteering organization called Circle K. They charged $2-8 per pumpkin and the event ran from 5 to 9 p.m. Met some nice people while I was shooting and I had a good time.

This pumpkin was about to be carved into Dwight from The Office.

Rachel Watson nears the end of her carving of a cat.

Rachel Watson carves her jack-o-lantern at the Culture Center.

Don’t know if we could’ve had more turnovers if we tried. This was my second time shooting college football, and I’m not sure if I improved over my last effort or not. Here are my top five shots, if you want to see the other 11 that I picked check out my flickr at http://flickr.com/andrewdickinson – the final score was Nebraska 7, Iowa State 9.

Two Iowa State players celebrate after an interception.

Dontrayevous Robinson prepares for the imminent tackle.

Dontrayevous Robinson says a quick prayer after scoring his first career touchdown.

Niles Paul attempts to break an Iowa State tackle.

Tim Marlowe lands on top of an Iowa State tackler.

Portraits are definitely my weakest area of photography at this point.

Either the flash doesn’t seem to be working right, the ambient light is awful, the subject is tense and won’t relax, I can’t make the subject stop being tense and relax, or something else usually seems to go wrong. Today, I fought with a few issues, but came out with at least one shot I am happy with.

Progress.

I walked into the East Campus Union (where the bowling alley is on campus) on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus today for the second time since I’ve been in Lincoln. I was assigned to take a portrait of one of UNL’s bowling teams best bowlers, Cassie Leuthold. To give you an idea of what that means, the UNL team won the national championship last year. Leuthold is one of the top collegiate bowlers in the nation. She is a short, skinny girl, but still seemed to exude confidence, all with a smile on her face. She was one of the easiest subjects I’ve had to take photos of so far. I learned a lot about bowling from our conversation.

Who knew anyone started bowling at age 4? Or that there are “wet” and “dry” conditions in bowling? Or that different types of bowling balls aren’t just different because of weight and finger size, but they are like golf clubs, you use a different one for every different situation. Who knew?

That’s one of the things I’ve loved so much about working for the paper and getting to meet so many people through my job as a staff photographer. I’ll keep picking up these little bits of information throughout my life, and, whether they end up being worthless facts that I never need to remember or not, I’ll be glad to have learned them.

Here are a few of the shots.

Andrew Torget and Brent Rogers, speaking on a WHA panel titled “Exploring and Visualizing the Mid-Nineteenth Century West Through Digital History,” each showcased their laudable efforts at using digital tools in historical research.

Torget, perhaps best known for his efforts on the Valley of the Shadow archive, spoke primarily about his latest work on slavery in Texas. As he addressed the specifics of his project he also spoke of the potential of digital history, even as he acknowledged its limitations. I especially appreciated his explanation of how data must be contextualized. As in the example of his current project, knowing when the numbers of slaves increased doesn’t answer the how or why–that’s where the work of the historian figures in, because as he said “digital data is agnostic as to causality.”  With this type of project his data sets are transparent to anyone who might want to challenge or build upon his work, which is quite different than a traditional history project where the work behind the project is generally hidden from anyone but the historian himself. Torget repeatedly emphasized that digital projects such as his foster greater collaboration among researchers.

Rogers’ presentation centered around the use of available digital tools: Wordle and TokenX. He applied these in a textual analysis of documents related to the Utah War.  His presentation offered a solid example of how a researcher with limited programing background can still use digital tools to enhance their research.  My own observation about Rogers’ work was that as he showed the outputs of his text mining, the visuals from Wordle were difficult for many audience members to understand–they wondered why some words were larger, or sideways, or in different colors?  For those of us who are used to seeing ‘word clouds’ this was self-evident, but for a different generation of historians this was mystifying.

In the Q&A portion of the session I asked the panelists what digital tools they thought every graduate student should know.  The initial response was fairly vague, Torget noting that you should learn that tools that are most relevant to your work (and my pained sigh…what if you’re on your own with this and you don’t yet know which ones are most relevant?).  But Torget and Rogers did suggest the following links to specific tools or to sites that host a variety of tools:

Wordle
MIT-Simile project
Stanford’s Spatial History Project
Tools from GMU/CHNM
Google suite tools
ArcGIS (though offered with the caveat that it can be overwhelming and KMZ is much more easily learned)
Both SHANTI and UNL Tool Reviews were recommended as good places to learn more about digital tools

The session ended with a note of frustration about the way the academy continues to dismiss the efforts of digital humanists.  Torget lamented that such projects are always done ‘on the side’ and don’t count towards tenure and suggested that there should be larger conversations happening at the AHA to affirm the value of digital projects.

As an audience participant in this session I found it disheartening that it was not more widely attended, that the audience had very few women (none were on the panel itself), and that there were only two projects featured (as opposed to other panels which typically had 3 or 4 presenters).   In my experience, data or text mining projects are best presented in an informal environment where audience members  can ‘play’ with them and experience their varying levels of functionality–so I’d like to see next year’s WHA offering a ‘hands-on’ session to teach participants how to access and use existing projects.*  It would also be ideal for the WHA to offer a training session for members who are new to text or data mining tools, especially for those of us who are affiliated with departments that don’t have strong digital presence.

*Note: I found it ironic that a conference titled the “Wired West” had very few presentation rooms with projector setups and no free wireless offered to attendees.  Though I understand that this was due to the budgetary constraints of the hotel venue, perhaps such services can be negotiated into the contracts for future WHA conferences, so all participants have access to digital resources.

Concurso de Ideias

A Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, juntamente com a Câmara Municipal de Almada, organizam o Concurso de Ideias no âmbito do projecto Laboratório de Ideias, inserido na iniciativa Polis XXI – Redes Urbanas para a Competitividade e Inovação (Câmara Municipal de Almada, FCT e Madan Parque).

Com o Concurso de Ideias pretende-se promover um ambiente propiciador ao desenvolvimento de novas ideias produtos, aplicáveis ao contexto da Cidade de Almada, enquanto instrumentos de revitalização urbana.

Direccionado para os estudantes da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia UNL, pretende-se em contexto académico, impulsionar a apresentação de projectos, produtos e/ou serviços que contribuam para a introdução de inovação nos serviços e funções urbanas.

Esta é daquelas iniciativas que me fazem ter orgulho de andar na FCT/UNL, é uma boa oportunidade para abrir novas portas a alunos no mundo empresarial, um amigo meu que participou no E-Day, teve uma boa classificação e só dizia bem daquilo, acho que é de louvar estas iniciativas.

Para os interessados, o prazo limite de inscrições é dia 31 de Outubro, portanto run for it

Mais informações aqui…

“If the mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” Suzuki, Shunryu - Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

El Sábado 10 de Octubre se realizó en Santa Fe ciudad, la 1° Jornada de Videojuegos Santa Fe, donde se juntaron muchas empresas de la provincia (puedo decir que estuvo Sismo Studio de Rafaela) a comentar casos de éxito, la situación del mercado nacional/internacional y a compartir sus desarrollos.

Además, se hicieron talleres sobre tecnologías de desarrollo de videjuegos (muy interesante la charla sobre Blender!) y la presentación de la Tecnicatura en Diseño y Programación de Videojuegos, que se va a dictar en la Faculta de Ingeniería y Ciencias Hídricas, a partir del primer cuatrimestre de 2010.

Por si el lector está interesado en saber más, se puede ver la introducción que da CoDeViSa (Comunidad de Desarrolladores de Videojuegos de Santa Fe), pasate por su página que lo describen mejor que yo.  Les dejo un párrafo interesante:

Entre otros objetivos, el encuentro busca difundir los estudios de desarrollo de videojuegos  de la región y el país, afianzando la relación entre el ámbito académico y empresarial.

La verdad que eso fué muy importante.  Yo pensaba que, realmente, crear videojuegos en Argentina era algo poco rentable…y la verdad que me equivoqué. La Asociación de Desarrolladores de Videojuegos Argentina (Adva), escribe sobre esto en su FAQ. Por lo que pude preguntar a algunos empresarios, es muy interesante ver que, realmente, hay mucho trabajo para exportar. El mercado estrictamente nacional es “escaso”, y parece ser que la rentabilidad de las empresas viene de la producción que exportan al exterior.

Cuando llegué al evento, se pudo notar que superaron las expectativas de asistencia, los talleres (que tenían un cupo limitado), se llenaron enseguida, y la gente que se quedó afuera (me incluoyo),   pudo ver los talleres mediante un plasma en el sector de stands. Vamos a ver si se grabaron los talleres así pongo el link

El evento (por lo que pude estar), fue genial. No solo por el hecho de tratarse de Videojuegos, sinó por enterarme que, a pesar de lo que uno puede pensar, Hacer videojuegos tiene rentabilidad.

Una de las charlas a la cual asistí, Producción de Videojuegos, por Agustín Pérez Fernández, habló sobre los distintos mercados posibles que hay ahora mismo.

No voy a transcribir la charla completa (y espero poder verla colgada por Internet en algún momento), pero voy a comentar una sensación que tuve. Ciertos mercados, como el de juegos para celular, o juegos web, son muy fáciles de entrar a competir, con la desventaja de que, claro, tener mucha más competencia. Distinto es el mundo de los desarrolladores para juegos de consola, que no solo a veces la misma empresa fabricante compite con el desarrollador, sinó que las consolas especiales para “constuir” el software de tal manera que la consola lo interprete…cuestan (y MUCHO). A pesar de esto, en el mundo de la X-Box 360 es un tanto distinto, ya que solo necesitamos un software que se instala en la consola, pagar una suscripción mensual (accesible, comparandola con el precio de alguna consola para desarrollo)…. En fin, tanto conocimiento…y tan poco tiempo…

Para ir terminando este post atrasado:

Si estás pensando hacer una empresa de Videojuegos…

• Aprovechá los créditos que te puedan dar fondos como FonSoft.
• Elegí bien tu equipo. No busques teams gigantescos con 133120 personas, que encontraste en un foro. Grupos extensos tienden a debatir tanto, que todo se diluye…y no se toman decisiones.
• Y hay tantas otras cosas a tener en cuenta!… Para las cuales, si estás interesado, podés preguntar y aprender en el Foro de Codevisa o el de Adva

En fin, una excelente movida!

Ahora, por otro lado, gente de la UNL comentó que ya hay muchos inscriptos para la carrera, lo cual va a alimentar mucho la “masa crítica” necesaria para que, con el tiempo, ideas más “complejas” (como la realización de juegos “pesados”, tanto en guión como en desarrollo), puedan realizarse. Esperemos que si! ¿Qué mejor que un juego estilo WOW del Eternauta?

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded University of Nebraska-Lincoln students a $10,000 grant to develop an urban food cooperative. …read more

Un cordial saludo a todos los estudiantes de la carrera, al blog de Comunicación Social de la Universidad Nacional de Loja.

Aquí encontrarán información sobre la carrera y podrán compartir sus ideas al mundo.

For those of you that live in Lincoln and around, I’m hoping you’d be glad to know that we’ve got pictures up.

— 
The College of Journalism and Mass Communications has put together an exhibit of over 50 photographs taken in Zambia by Professor Bruce Mitchell and myself at the Rotunda Gallery in the Union. The exhibit is called Zambia: Hope and Happiness. It is a rather captivating array of shots.
 
You are welcome to check out the exhibit and to attend the reception (11am, Friday 9/25). Please note that the pictures will be up till late saturday night 9/26 (sorry for the late notice). There will be more opportunities to see the pictures in the future and I can let you know as they arrive.

—

Come Enjoy! …..you know you want to

P.S. Sign the guest book. please!

Hoje, pelas 18h30, num anfitiátro da Faculdade de Economia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, discorsou o advogado e fiscalista, Dr. Medina Carreira sobre o estado horrendo da economia portuguesa.

Tendo em conta todos os dados fornecidos pelo Dr. Medina Carreira, e confirmados pelo Dr. João Salgueiro, pelo Dr. Silva Lopes e outros nomes sonantes do estudo da Economia em Portugal sabia que:

• Desde 1900 ate 1960 o produto de Portugal cresceu e depois desse período descreu, nunca mais atingindo os níveis anteriores;
• O crescimento verificado durante o Governo de Cavaco Silva, deveu-se meramente as factores internacionais, nomeadamente a adesão à UE e à diminuição o preço do petróleo;
• A economia portuguesa está em decadência desde 1980;
• Desde 2000 que crescemos abaixo da média da UE, da média da Zona Euro e como é óbvio abaixo da média do países emergentes (algo que só aconteceu décadas antes);
• Portugal endivida-se externamente a uma taxa de €60 MILHÕES/DIA!
• A Balança de Serviços e Transferências Correntes (5% do PIB) apenas serve para cobrir os juros que o Estado tem que pagar;
• O peso das despesas públicas não é redutível pois 78% das mesmas é para pagar salários, subsídios, pensões o que afecta grande parte do eleitorado.
• A economia não tem capacidade para financiar o que é consumido em Portugal;

• Com a entrada na Zona Euro, que levou à obrigatória desvalorização do escudo a 15% (na década de 1990) levou a um encarecimento dos produtos importados na ordem dos 15% (e consequentemente aumento da dívida externa), como é óbvio. Segundo o Dr. Silva Lopes a taxa de conversão do euro devia ter sido de 1€=250$00 e NÃO de 1€=200$482, que que segundo o Dr. Abel Mateus a adesão à moeda única deveria ter sido feita apenas quando Portugal estivesse em condições para tal;
• O sector terciário (largamente dependente do turismo) representa 70% do PIB o que leva cobre apenas os juros a pagar pelo Estado. É portanto necessário aumentar o peso do sector primário e secundário na economia portuguesa;
• A não captação de investimento estrangeiro agrava ainda mais o estado da economia portuguesa, sendo que nenhum Governo, desde há 12 anos, (quando “espatifámos o endividamento externo” e altura em que a entrada em decadência é mais visível) ainda não averiguou as verdadeiras causas de tal facto, quer através de um estudo exigido a um grupo de investigadores de renome, quer através de a instalação de uma comissão ou qualquer outro organismo para estudar o assunto e apontar as causas que levam os outros países a captar investimento estrangeiro. Torna-se por isso crucial  tornar-mo-nos competitivos na captação de investimento;
• Não podemos perder dinheiro em obras megalómanas (TGV, Aeroporto, etc…), há que saber dosear o dinheiro vindo dos fundos comunitários;
• É necessário que o Estado crie condições para captar investimento e que se invista num ensino de qualidade, rigor e ordem.

O Dr. Medina Carreira culpou ainda, TODOS os partidos por excluirem as pessoas sérias e com qualidades para avançar com as reformas necessárias, mesmo que isso implique perder votos, denunciou os partidos como sendo fábricas de carreiras políticas para pessoas incapezes de ingressar no mercado de trabalho não levando assim a “experiência necessária de trabalho de campo” necessária à tomada de decisões e realização de reformas que realmente funcionem, uma vez que estas nunca se baseiam na opinião de quem trabalha no terreno.  Avisou ainda que se vive num período igual ao de 1973 em que se sabe que algo de inesperado vai acontecer, mas não se sabe o quê. Avisou também que se nada for feito quanto à captação de investimento estrangeiro, Portugal entra em falência daqui a 5 anos.

This is a story I did for my J-101 class. Took the photo for fun to go with it.

This is a story about an outgoing and talkative college student who is learning to not take even the very words he speaks for granted.

During Scott Speicher’s sophomore year at Fremont High School in Fremont, Nebraska, he enrolled in a speech class. Speicher was known throughout the year for the pace of his speech.

“I talk fast, but I barely ever stuttered,” Speicher said. “If it was normal conversation I would be completely fine.”

His small stutter wasn’t largely noticeable though, and other kids were having the same problem in his class. He shrugged it off as a side affect of being put in an awkward situation where he had to speak in front of groups of people.

Later, during his senior year of high school, he noticed that he started to stutter more. He occasionally would get stuck trying to say words, and would freeze up, repeating “uh, uh, uh,” until he could finally spit out what he was trying to say.

On his visit to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for New Student Enrollment this summer, Speicher was nervous. In a group of 40-50 people, he didn’t recognize a single face, and didn’t know a single person by name. During an icebreaker activity at the beginning of the day, all of the students were asked to go around and say their name and their major. Silence filled the room in between speakers, and the order finally led to Speicher. Before he spoke, however, the silence lasted longer than normal.

During the previous students’ introductions his mind had been racing. He knew he was going to freeze up, he just knew it. He knew that when he gets stuck once, it’s like a downhill slide from there and it just gets worse. Fear and panic gripped his mind and overrode any other thoughts. If he could just get his mind off of it, he would be able to speak fine. That’s something he taught himself.

But as Speicher stood there, he couldn’t get any words to come out.

“I just stood there for about half a minute and couldn’t say anything,” Speicher said. “People were like ‘come on, just say your name.’ But I couldn’t.”

After he finally managed to get his name and major out, he sat back down, feeling drained, embarrassed and relieved to have gotten the attention of the group focused somewhere else.

But that was just the beginning.

“In sandwich lines at Selleck, anywhere I want a sandwich, I freeze up,” he said. “They ask me for the bread and, for some reason, I can’t say it; they ask me for the meat and I can’t say it.”

Speicher, who is known by his friends for his outgoing personality, also freezes up when trying to talk to professors, even when it is a one-on-one situation.

He recently visited a speech pathologist on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus and set up weekly therapy sessions where he will perform exercises to help him return to his speech to what it used to be.

Neither of Speicher’s parents had any speech problems, and neither did his younger sister Sara. His older brother Steven, however, struggled with a lisp. Steven visited a speech pathologist, much like the one that Speicher is currently seeing, and his lisp is all but nonexistent now.

That gives Speicher hope.

En esta ocasión es para hacerles participes de una conferencia que estuve dictando el día viernes 18 de septiembre en la carrera Ing: Sistemas de la Universidad Nacional de Loja gracias a la invitación del profe Milton Labanda  (1000tonlab) por celebrar el día del software libre, cuyo tema es: Tips para migrar al uso del software libre.

Cuya presentación y como es característico mio esta enfocada en mi experiencia personal y mis conocimientos en el mundo del software libre que es poco comparado con otros especialistas (jeje). Lo que debemos entender es la importancia de usar software libre comparado con el software privativo.

Les dejo un par de links de mi blog en donde hace algún tiempo escribí mis inicios con el software libre [1]  [2].