Am adaugat la blogroll un link : Need to see this …

http://www.worldometers.info/#

Newsmap 2.0, your daily portion of breaking news.

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Newsmap is a well-known application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator.

A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator. Treemaps are traditionally space-constrained visualizations of information. Newsmap’s objective takes that goal a step further and provides a tool to divide information into quickly recognizable bands which, when presented together, reveal underlying patterns in news reporting across cultures and within news segments in constant change around the globe.

Newsmap’s objective is to simply demonstrate visually the relationships between data and the unseen patterns in news media.

Google News automatically groups news tories with similar content and places them based on algorithmic results into clusters. In Newsmap, the size of each cell is determined by the amount of related articles that exist inside each news cluster that the Google News Aggregator presents. In that way users can quickly identify which news stories have been given the most coverage, viewing the map by region, topic or time. Through that process it still accentuates the importance of a given article.

Newsmap also allows to compare the news landscape among several countries, making it possible to differentiate which countries give more coverage to, for example, more national news than international or sports rather than business

Currently, the internet presents a highly disorganized collage of information. Many of us are working in an information-soaked world. There is too much of everything. We are subject everywhere to a sensory overload of images, bombarded with information; in magazines and advertisements, on TV, radio, in the cityscape. The internet is a wonderful communication tool, but day after day we find ourselves constantly dealing with information overload. Today, the internet presents a new challenge, the wide and unregulated distribution of information requires new visual paradigms to organize, simplify and analyze large amounts of data. New user interface challenges are arising to deal with all that overwhelming quantity of information.

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Worldometers makes you use your brain

Worldometer welcome screen

My good friend – and not less brother-in-law – Charles Ginvert told me a few days ago about the existence of Worldometers which I did not know.

Worldometers.info is managed by an international team of developers, researchers and volunteers with the aim of making world statistics available to the widest audience in the world in a format that makes you use your brain.

Worldometers.info uses data and statistics from the most reputable organizations and statistical offices in the world.

The counters that display the real-time numbers are based on Worldometers’ algorithm that processes the latest statistical data available together with its estimated progression to compute the current millisecond number to be displayed on each counter based on the specific time set on each visitor’s computer clock.

Worldometers shares a factmonger’s banquet of statistics. Here’s an appetizer:

This site not only provides the fact, but the details behind it, so you can quote these numbers with complete authority.

This figure is static, as of today, but on the website, it auto-updates. Sometimes the figures fly (like the deficit), sometimes they crawl, but they’re all fluid.

Interested in blogs?

How much does the world spend on illegal drugs?

Go visit the site. See for yourself why data-lovers love this site.

Worldometers – real time world statistics

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Passando por um blog, o blog do Gutemberg Gomes, achei bem interessante uma postagem a respeito de um site que mostra estatísticas sobre assuntos variados, tais como população mundial, água, meio ambiente, o post original se encontra nesse link e se quiser ir diretamente para o mundômetro em português clique aqui. Como disse Gutemberg Gomes, não fique olhando demais, dá um grande aperto no coração! Recado tá dado!

Worldometers is part of the Real Time Statistics Project, which is managed by an international team of developers, researchers, and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format to a wide audience around the world. Chief project coordinator is currently Sir Thomasson.

Sources are carefully selected to include only data published by the most reputable organizations and statistical offices in the world.

The counters that display the real-time numbers are based on Worldometers’ algorithm that processes the latest and most accurate statistical data available together with its estimated progression to compute the current millisecond number to be displayed on each counter based on the specific time set on each visitor’s computer clock.

To know more about, please click the link below:

Worldometers

Word: foofaraw [foo-fuh-raw] n. 1. a great fuss or disturbance about something very insignificant  2. an excessive amount of decoration or ornamentation, as on a piece of clothing, a building, etc.   

Birthday: Charlemagne (742), Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1618), Thomas Jefferson (1743), Hans Christian Andersen (1805), Émile Zola (1840), Walter Chrysler (1875), Max Ernst (1891), Buddy Ebsen (1908), Sir Alec Guinness (1914), Jack Webb (1920), Marvin Gaye (1939), Dr. Demento (1941), Leon Russell (1942), Linda Hunt (1945), Anne Waldman (1945), Emmylou Harris (1947), Christopher Meloni (1961), Clark Gregg (1962), Rodney King (1965), Adam Rodriguez (1975)

Occurrence: 1882 – Jesse James is shot in the back by his friend, Robert Ford. Ten years later Edward O’Kelley shoots Ford in the back. Karma’s a bitch.

Standpoint: Has this ever happened to you? You walk into a convenience store with the intention of buying bottled water or a newspaper or something small. You grab whatever you’re there to buy and head up to the counter. There is only person in front of you. It’s a woman who’s piled about 23 different items on the counter. You roll your eyes and wonder to yourself if this woman has ever heard of a supermarket. You can tell the clerk behind the cash register is thinking the same thing as he scans each item and puts them into one of the six bags it’s going to require for all her purchases. While that’s going on, the woman is kind of staring blankly around the store, as if trying to see if maybe she’s forgotten something. The clerk then announces some total that sounds fully unusual to hear in a convenience store like “$74.78”. This breaks the woman from her trance and she quizzically looks at the clerk as if she didn’t expect to be asked to pay for her 6 bags of stuff. It’s not until then that the purse comes off the shoulder and drops with a thud onto the crowded counter. She spends the next two minutes fumbling through her bag which looks to have enough room for a baby rhinoceros. Finally, she retrieves a credit card and hands it to the clerk who informs her to swipe the card in the machine in front of her. She looks at the swiper like its alien technology and says something like, “Right here?” After cautiously swiping the card, the clerk has to remind her to put in her PIN number which takes her another minute to remember. The transaction approved, you think you can finally buy your item and leave the store. But you’re wrong. The woman needs to make sure everything is back in her purse, just the way she left it. After securing the credit card in the wallet and, in turn, the wallet in her enormous satchel, she gathers up her plastic bags and walks out the door. Everyone in the line, which is now about ten people long, looks at each other with the same thought running through their minds: “What the fuck?” You pay for your item and leave.

This happens to me at least twice a week. Am I the only one?

Quotation: For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity. – Jean Dubuffet

Tune: Sometimes one great band can cover a song from another great band and make it sound like its own. That’s what Rogue Wave did with Pixies’ “Debaser”.

Link: Net Fridge – Just like your refrigerator. Only different.

Gallimaufry: I read about Oak Island a few years back. The mysterious story behind it fascinated me…Yesterday, I ate Whopper from Burger King. It was delicious. Take a look at the America’s 10 Best Fast-Food Restaurants…Last week, I posted a link to Worldometers. Tuesday, I read this article on BBC News Online. Overpopulation might be the next big world crisis. Stay tuned.

Whereabouts: Philadelphia, PA

Word: elucidate [i-loo-si-deyt] 1. verb (used with object) to make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain: an explanation that elucidated his recent strange behavior  2. verb (used without object) to provide clarification; explain

Birthday: Nathaniel Bowditch (1773), Robert Frost (1874), Tennessee Williams (1911), Gregory Corso (1930), Sandra Day O’Connor (1930), Leonard Nimoy (1931), Alan Arkin (1934), Harry Kalas (1936), James Caan (1940), Erica Jong (1942), Bob Woodward (1943), Diana Ross (1944), Steven Tyler (1948), Vicki Lawrence (1949), Teddy Pendergrass (1950), Martin Short (1950), Leeza Gibbons (1957), Jennifer Grey (1960), Michael Imperioli (1966), Kenny Chesney (1968), James Iha (1968), Amy Smart (1976), Keira Knightley (1985)

Occurrence: 1969 – John Kennedy Toole commits suicide outside of Biloxi, Mississippi. Eleven years later, A Confederacy of Dunces is first published. In 1981, Toole posthumously is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Standpoint: “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” Andy Warhol said that. It became a cliché. Even Warhol grew tired of it. Whatever he was talking about, however, is no longer relevant. Fame has changed. It’s no longer fleeting. Once a human being becomes famous, he is famous forever. A while back, television executives discovered something: we don’t want celebrities to go away. Shows like “Dancing With the Stars”, “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” feature individuals that, once upon a time, we would’ve never heard from again. Jeff Conaway? Tom Green? Steve-O?!? People who were once deservedly in the public spotlight (maybe) continue to reside in it because no one is asking them to leave. We encourage them to hang out and simply remain famous. And it’s because we either (a) associate the celebrity with some sort of nostalgia or (b) are patiently waiting for the celebrity to fail. Why else would we care what Ozzy Osbourne and his family are up to? Or Hulk Hogan and his family? Fame is no longer reserved for the unique and talented. Nowadays, you just need a marketing strategy. Is there any other reason why Kathy Griffin is not the manager of a Los Angeles-area GAP?

Quotation: Without music, life would be a mistake – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Digit: 17 – It’s proven as the least random number, meaning when asked to come up with a random number, people will pick 17 more often than other numbers.

Tune: Last night, I heard one of the most ridiculous songs I’ve heard in a while. Listen to Jazmine Sullivan’s “Bust Your Windows” and tell me you don’t agree. I dare ya.  

Link: Worldometers – Think overpopulation isn’t a problem?

Gallimaufry: I like Alexander Ovechkin but his “Stick on Fire” celebration after scoring his 50^th goal was lame. That kind of crap belongs in the NFL not the NHL…More hockey. This article by Seth Rorabaugh about his experience with Philadelphia Flyers’ Scott Hartnell shows how NHL players are different from other professional athletes…Are you a fan of circular logic? If so, you’ll love what is happening with the vitamin B-6…Make sure to check back tomorrow for things to do in Philadelphia over the weekend.

When I was younger, I always marveled at how my mother could so easily give up the bigger piece, or in some instances, that last piece of cake to her children. To me that was the epitome of what defines a mother. That extreme act of selflessness, of sacrifice, to ensure that her child never wants for cake.  I think this was likely my first inkling that children might not be at the top of the list when considering how my future might play out. And not because I want all the cake. I just don’t like the idea of feeling obligated to share.

And perhaps it would be different if I did have a baby. Perhaps my love for this larval progeny I’ve created would overwhelm any feelings I have of eing unfairly manipulated into giving over my dessert. But it stands to reason that the mere fact I tend to refer to babies as progeny, larvae, brood, etc would suggest that my maternal tendencies are somewhat lacking. And truly, I have no concious desire to procreate. Friends tease, they tell me that I’m 32, my biological clock blah blah blah. As though I’ll suddenly be overwhelmed by the need to have some parasitic entity squirming around inside of me for 9 months until it pops out and pretty much ends any chance I have of seducing a 27 year old flamenco dancer on my 42nd birthday while vacationing in the south of spain.

Of course, I am not immune to the genetically imprinted biological yearnings the species has to propagate.  Like all women of childbearing years, I ovulate, so for approximately 12 hours every month I have an incredibly strong urge to copulate with the best the species has to offer. Fortunately, I’m not unaware of it, or a slave to this idea that women must have babies. That’s what we do. Because we can.

I call bullshit.

Don’t misunderstand. The very fact that something which starts off as a single cell, and grows to be an incredibly efficient computing machine (even if it only fulfills a small portion of it’s hard and software potential) is amazing to me. Couple that with the fact that every single one of these entities is unique. The set of cells that compose me will disappate once I die and they will never recombine to form anything quite like me, ever again. It’s quite fantastic.  It was fantastic all 6, 752, 099, 100 times it’s happened to get us to the population we’re at right now.  It’s likely much more than that even since I’ve typed this sentence. Whether it’s bang on accurate or not is beside the point, reasonable estimate will sometimes do in a pinch.  I get my information from worldometers, of course. It’s good to have perspective and interesting to see the categories they’ve added as a result of what’s become culturally embedded as an everyday occurrence. For instance, blogs written, google searches and money spent on obesity related issues in the u.s weren’t there a year ago.

What does all of this have to do with a decision on my part to not have children? Why would I? There are millions already who have no one. And still, every minute there are more being born.  Single moms of octuplets aside, what about 14 year old girls dropping out of high school to have a baby because the school advocated abstinence, rather than sex education that actually applies to kids in a practical fashion with all their raging hormones, need to experiment and insistence that pregnancy won’t happen to them.  If I’m susceptible to forgetfulness in the heat of passion at age 30, how likely is it that a 14 year old girl will be responsible if she’s never been told it’s an option.  And giving it up for the first one who’s remotely nice to her. Yes, I was once a 14 year old girl, desperate to fit in, to be liked, to be thought pretty. It never occurred to me to want to be respected, to be admired for something beyond the flesh. Fortunately for me, it didn’t take long to realize that mating rituals between men and women as dictated by society’s standards are a farce, and I escaped relatively unscathed.

A farce? But that’s a crazy huge number of years evolving and refining techniques in order to best find a suitable mate! How can I call it a farce?

Take peacocks. Female peacocks are grey or brown. Not especially impressive. Male peacocks are blue and green and gold and flashy with tails and fluffy head things and loud cries and dance moves like wow! They are desperate to impress upon a girly that they be the best chance of the species going in a healthy and sane direction. She doesn’t need to dress to impresss, her genes are being carried on no matter what. There’s never any need for a maternity test.

And the human mating rituals? Women spend countless hours on getting all gussied and prettied and shaven and painted and fitted and tucked and enhanced and for what? To go out and all too often ingest copious amounts of alcohol and hope the person she wakes up next to isn’t completely repulsive. Because it’s better to be with someone you don’t find completely repulsive than to be alone. Although, to be fair, these days there’s certainly an increasing trend towards men spending a good portion of their time prettifying themselves to some extent. It seems just as silly and wasteful when they do it.

Cynical with regards to human tendency towards excessive and unnecessary procreation? Yes. By all means yes.

This selfish idea we have of needing to see what a mini version of us and someone else would be like so that we can selflessly give it the last piece of cake? There doesn’t seem to be any balance there. Especially when there are an insane proportion of children who don’t have water, food and safety from being blown up by mines in their backyard, much less cake.  If I had any maternal tendencies whatsoever, I would certainly do my best to emulate Josephine Baker and her decision to adopt 12 kids from  different countries. Her ‘rainbow tribe.’

All that said, would I consider myself cynical towards companionship and love? Not even a little bit. I understand the need for social animals to act socially. It’s the socially irresponsible behavior that makes me rant so. It seems so reasonable to me to take care, to ensure that the decisions I make have as sane an impact on those around me as possible. And strangely enough, when I express to people  ‘no, I’m not feeling pressured to meet someone and settle down because I don’t want to get married and I don’t want children’  it’s me who is considered odd.

Whatever. It takes all kinds. That’s likely why there are so many different flavors of cake.

Estadísticas Mundiales actualizadas en tiempo real. En vivo estadísticas mundiales en población, educación, medio ambiente, alimento, energía y salud.

www.worldometers.info

I had hoped to add to my Food for Thought 1.1 post last week but events overtook me! I was thinking that by the time I reached Adrian Hill’s blog I would have written a Food for Thought 1.4 post. Instead I am at week two in the Rs.

In this week in review, Ruth Demitroff posted about Blip.fm, Chief Justice John Roberts and Barack Obama’s Inauguration Address. In her post on the Address, Ruth links to a new York Times article by Stanley Fish. Ruth draws attention to text as parataxis and I think this has implications for how we write in our blogs.

Rodd Lucier posted about the inauguration too (as did Pierfranco Ravotto with links to YouTube, Lee Kolbert on the first digital presidential portrait and Lani Hall). In other posts this week Rodd discussed: online identity (and offered advice about security, see too Kristina Hoeppner’s post); pendulum swings in education and included a Teacher 2.0 podcast (see Nellie Muller’s post along these lines); and concluded the week with a post about Creative Commons.

Rhondda had a busy week of posts. Early in the week she reviewed the Icerocket search engine. In her next post (It’s not about the technology) she observes that “In the past 12 months I have found an amazing world on-line, that offers me so much for my own professional learning, making me a better teacher and I hope that some of my posts/links have assisted others as well”. She then posted about Worldometers (world statistics updated in real time) and day later abour reading options and DailyLit. Rhondda’s week concluded with her post about useful links. All this whilst preparing for a new school term in Melbourne, Australia.

Pat Parslow’s most recent post was a position paper (with Shirley Williams and Karsten Oster Lundqvist) on the future of social networking.

Nellie Deutsch has been incredibly busy with the Digifolios and Personal Learning Spaces Ning site. Most recently she was involved in a Wiziq discussion about online identity (recording available at the Ning site).

This week the LibraryTechNZ Source post provided an update on digital libraries and library innovations from around the world. In the post Maria Nagelkerke gives readers wide ranging links to publications in North America, Europe and Australia.

Nancy Flanagan discussed teacher quality in her first post this week. A second post on the  Virtual Inauguration Ball for Edubloggers (Lori Landay had a Second Life Inauguration event) was a wonderful essay synthesising a large number of posts. Her post was rich in detail and links and I think it is an exemplar of sharing thoughts and ideas (I was fascinated by the fifty or so edubloggers introduced during the post). There was music too as you worked your way through rooms that were hosting Inspiration, Challenge, Creative Solutions, 21st Century Learning, and Higher Education events. The post reminded me of Russian Ark.

Photograph Source

Nancy’s final post of the week used Aretha Franklin’s “audacious and appealing” hat at the inauguartion to prompt discussion about school reform and student learning:

it is the smart and sensitive teacher, endlessly re-inventing her practice, noticing what works for individual kids, that makes the difference. Or the creative and flexible principal, willing to suspend the Big Expensive Program, guaranteed to yield (and I hate the way this word has been co-opted) results–in favor of something that meets the needs of real kids.

Milton Ramirez had a busy week of posts including teaching as an attractive and exciting career opportunity, the results of the PEW report, a discussion (inspired by a post by Doug Johnson) of the impact of books, blogs, articles and columns, three posts on Barack Obama, and a discussion of connectivism. Milton’s last post of the week introduced me to Sugar Labs. I hope to return to Sugar Labs soon!

Mike Gotta drew attention to a Web 0.0 paper from 1991 in his first post of the week. He followed this up with a discussion of the importance of Lotuspere 2009 and Lotus Connections and SharePoint.

Mike Bogle’s Techticker was a mine of information this week. He discussed free culture and Creative Commons and linked to Lawrence Lessig. (Melanie McBride posted about Lawrence Lesig this week too.) Mike’s post reports how he has created an audio archive of Lawrence’s four free culture presentations. Mike includes the workflow of how he did this.

… in the interests of transparency and respect for open source purists, I wanted to include the work flow process I used to ultimately produce the OGG version.  I relied upon as much open source software as I could (as always), however there are two notable exceptions that I’d like to menition. Namely, the process was conducted on Windows XP and included the MP4 codec during the initial rip from YouTube.

(See Mike’s discussion of Open Source this week for his take on sharing.)

Mike’s second post of the week was a slow blog about the Digital Youth Project and includes a video blog about his thoughts. Mike observes that “the results (of the project) point to a dynamic and complex ecosystem of interaction amongst young people that I believe we would do well to consider in discussions on elearning and new media – and in particular the manner with which education should seek to foster engagement and lifelong learning amidst young people.” His final post of the week discusses TOTLOL and children’s digital literacy.

In addition to her post about Lawrence Lessig, Melanie McBride shared news of her presentation at Web Weekend in Vancouver in February. Her talk, “Magazines2.0: The Sharing Revolution,” will consider existing and emergent issues related to the publisher and reader of web2.0 publications.

Matthias Melcher considered connectivist taxonomy this week. His post addresses the visualisation of a taxonomy in a very interesting way and he draws upon his native German landscape to to help him. He concludes that “the concept cluster of learning network/ ecology/ space is too overburdened and deserves some dissection.”

Lisa Lane discussed videoconferencing this week. She reflected on a Business Week article to develop her own use of videoconferencing. Mike Bogle commented on Lisa’s post and shared this link. Lisa responded with a discussion of Seesmic and its potential. (It was interesting to read Kristina Hoeppner’s post on the lens-eye after reading Lisa and Mike’s exchange.)

Lee Kolbert’s post this week took a close look at the potential of Nibipedia for teachers and students. She considers some of the access issues that might occur with some of the content and one of the creators of Nibipedia, Troy Peterson responds to Lee’s observations.  (Stephen Downes posted on Nibipedia too this week.)

Kristina Hoeppner posted three times this week. In her first post she discusses some of the issues raised by the availability of Userfly (a new online service which allows you to record a screencast of anybody who comes to your website) and the appearance of Tumbarumba. Her third post of the week reports the discovery of an apartment in Leipzig that was in an untouched condition from almost a decade before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I was unable to access Konrad Glogowski’s blog at the time of writing this summary.

Kevin Jones’ post this week reports on How Conferences Should Be Done and points to the Americorps Ning site.

I could not think of a better place to end my alphabet review this week with a visit to the busy week of Karyn Romeis and her learning journey. Her blog is “a catch-all for things that have caught my eye, links to helpful information and the odd soapbox moment”. Tuesday’s picture of the day was ‘Computer Hell‘ ( “Oh, for a techie to come and look over my shoulder and say, “Ah yes. I see what the problem is.” And then FIX it.”) (By Thursday the Articulate User Community had come to her rescue.) Karyn linked to Blurb in another of her posts and discussed the idea of publishing your own bespoke book.

There are 16 Js in my Nourishment list so I will draw breath here and hope that nature and workflow this week give me an opportunity to write Food for Thought 2.2. I am off to Sydney to celebrate our son’s birthday. Somehow we have persuaded him that a trip to a Leonard Cohen concert is just what he needs!

Today I have been preparing for the start of our school year next week. I have been going through files and clearing out old data files, reading and commenting on blogs that I have neglected reading over the last 6-7 weeks.

I made quite a mess and filled up the bins. I still have a lot more files to go through but still it was a start. It was interesting looking at some of the information that was once used often but is now out of date or has been superseded. In fact, as we all know,  the information available to us is growing amazingly fast.

This leads me mention to an interesting little tool called Worldometers, world statistics updated in real time. Have a look and see the birth and death rates click over regularly.

The site divides the statistics up into different areas: world population, government and economics, society and media, environment, food, water, energy and health.

The watching the information change, sometimes so fast it is only a blur, makes you  very aware of the global picture. You can easily find the sources for the information, and the links are available for anyone to follow up the information. 

Worldometers is part of the Real Time Statistics Project, which is managed by an international team of developers, researchers, and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format to a wide audience around the world.
Sources are carefully selected to include only data published by the most reputable organizations and statistical offices in the world.
The counters that display the real-time numbers are based on Worldometers’ algorithm that processes the latest and most accurate statistical data available together with its estimated progression to compute the current millisecond number to be displayed on each counter based on the specific time set on each visitor’s computer clock.

I like the idea of providing out students with world statistics, available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format, and having them realise that Australia is part of a very large and diverse world.

Siete amanti delle statistiche? Allora oggi proverò a sbalordirvi!

Worldometers é un servizio che monitora 24 ore su 24 diverse statistiche a livello mondiale. Le statistiche sono suddivise in otto categorie: popolazione mondiale, governo ed economia, società e media, ambiente, cibo, acqua, energia e salute. Tra tutte le statistiche salta purtroppo all’occhio quella relativa all’alimentazione, cibo ed acqua: il numero delle persone che ogni secondo muore per mancanza di una o dell’altra risorsa è davvero scioccante.

(c)2008  by Donna Cunningham, MSW

In struggling to explain the phenomena of astrotwins to a student in my correspondence course, I came up with an apt metaphor. Strictly speaking, astrotwins are two people born the same day, month, year, time, and place—and thus with charts that are identical in every way. While it’s rare to meet an astrotwin, we often encounter people who are “date twins,” born the same day, month, and year, but at a different time or place.

George W. Bush and Sylvester Stallone are date twins (July 6, 1947), and so were Lincoln and Darwin (February 12, 1809). One unlikely pair is Margaret Thatcher and Lenny Bruce, both born October 13, 1925. Some others my friend Karen McCauley found are Andy Griffith and Marilyn Monroe, Angela Bassett and Madonna, Newt Gingrich and Barry Manilow, Roger Ebert and Paul McCartney, Al Gore and Rhea Perlman.

In my astrology practice, I once had a client who was born the same day, month, year, and one hour earlier than Charles Manson (November 12, 1934). Manson is a notorious criminal serving a life sentence, and my client was the apparent opposite—he counseled sex offenders who were incarcerated.

Skeptics use these examples to discredit astrology, and it puzzles those who want to believe as well. They’d speculate on my client’s “shadow self,” that perhaps he was sublimating his own violence by working in a prison. And it’s possible that Margaret Thatcher, despite her veddy proper public façade, was as raunchy as Lenny Bruce in private. Maybe so —surely the same gifts and predilections can be expressed in a variety of ways.

The birth counter at http://www.Worldometers.info says that there have been 103,000 births around the world already and it’s only 7:00 AM. No, wait—it’s now 7:10 and there are almost 106,000. Each day there are some 350,000 date twins born, and among them, depending on the time and place of birth, hundreds of astrotwins. They will all have the same core elements in their chart, but obviously their life stories and opportunities to develop their potentials will diverge wildly.

So, where does astrology come into play? How do we explain why there are several hundred people out there with essentially the same birth chart as Barak Obama. The analogy I came up with is that the birth chart is a portrait of the soul, but it’s NOT the soul. It is only one expression of the soul’s infinite potentials. Only one of those souls is Barak Obama.

That’s why I say that the astrology chart is a portrait of the soul. Have you ever visited an art class where the students were trying to do a picture of nude? As you wander through the room, each student has rendered the subject in a different way—anything from strictly representational to highly abstract. The colors, the techniques, the styles come in infinite varieties. They have attempted to capture the image, but they can’t capture the essence.

It’s the same with a particular astrology chart. Each person born with it attempts to express its potentials, but does so in their own unique way and with varying degrees of success, depending on the materials at hand. If you’ve got clay, you make a bust. If you have pastel chalk, that’s what you use. And if you’ve got oils, you’ve got a better shot at appearing in an art gallery—IF you work hard and apply yourself for years and years.

Well, this post is a preliminary sketch. We’ll see if it works as a mural!

http://www.worldometers.info/de/

Mit dem Web 2.0 Service Worldometers kann man sich in Echtzeit die Statistiken unserer Erde anschauen, dabei werden Informationen wie die aktuelle Weltbevölkerung, Geburten in diesem Jahr, Geburten an diesen Tag, Todesfälle in diesem Jahr und so weiter in Echtzeit dargestellt.

Sie haben die Auswahl unter folgenden Statistiken:

Bei einigen der Statistiken erhalten Sie mit einem Klick auf den betreffenden Link weitere ausführliche Informationen.

Meine Bewertung:

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: A website that provides “odometers” of real time world statistics.

What does it do? The Worldometers (www.worldometers.info) website allows your students to see “real time” world statistics updated every second. This includes statistics such as births, deaths, food consumption, etc.

How can it be used in the classroom? This site can be used in conjunction with student projects on carbon footprints or mathematical statistics. It can also be used as a source of inspiration in a language class to bring up a discussion on environmental awareness. (Source: Vince Jansen (LEARN) Cool Tools Duel workshop)

Par Dominic Ratthé

Le nombre de bicyclettes fabriquées dans le monde chaque année est plus élevé que celui de voitures. En fait, selon certaines statistiques, il l’aurait toujours été, mais de façon nettement plus marquée depuis la fin des années 60.

Vous désirez connaître le nombre exact de bicyclettes produites cette année? Le site Worldometers offre des statistiques mises à jour en temps réel sur la population mondiale, les ordinateurs vendus cette année et bien entendu sur les vélos.

Le 1^er juin 2008 à 11 h 40, heure de Montréal, 45 572 356 vélos avaient été fabriqués et le chiffre augmente chaque seconde. Il devrait atteindre 108 799 200 unités d’ici la fin de l’année. Plusieurs sources sont utilisées par le site pour en arriver à ce chiffre qui, dans la réalité, pourrait très bien différer de quelques milliers d’unités produites.

Quel pays fabrique le plus de bicyclettes? La Chine avec 58 % du marché selon des données de 2004. La Chine, l’Inde, l’Union européenne, Taiwan et le Japon accaparent 87 % de la production mondiale de vélos. Environ 86 % des bicyclettes vendues aux États-Unis sont produites en sol chinois. Symbole de richesse et de statut social élevé, l’automobile gagne toutefois en popularité en Chine alors que le nombre de déplacements effectués à bicyclette décroît régulièrement.

Voici quelques données (en millions d’unités) sur le nombre d’automobiles et de bicyclettes fabriquées dans le monde.

Combien de bicyclettes y a-t-il dans le monde?

Voici quelques estimations :

Top 5

La France, avec 20 millions de vélos en 1995, devançait le Canada qui en 1992 en comptait 10 150 000. Environ 5 200 000 deux-roues roulaient en Belgique en 1995.

Une différence majeure existe quant au vieillissement des vélos et des voitures. Alors que les deux parcs augmentent chaque année, l’impact des vieux vélos demeurera toujours nul, sauf pour la production et l’entretien, alors que les vieilles bagnoles aggravent la pollution où elles roulent, souvent dans des pays en voie de développement.

International Bicycle Fund

O “Worldometers” é um site desenvolvido por voluntários, investigadores e programadores, com o intuito de disponibilizar ao mundo estatísticas diversas em tempo-real. Desde dados acerca da população mundial até ao número de bicicletas produzidas este ano podem ser encontrados neste curioso site.

Fonte: Worldometers

FPS Gaming Vest

Holy shit, holy molly, I thought of this shit.
Well, I think we all have – TN Games took it to the next level and made the thing.
A gaming vest that lets you feel the pain, giving you the power to know exactly where those sneaky guys are firing from.

*****

Carbon Fiber Watch

I love this watch.
Haven’t seen rubies used so well in a long time.

*****

Solar Powered Kinetic Animal Sculptures

Definitely going to get my hands on one of these.
This is pretty amazing – the video shows you the idea.
Here’s a link to exactly how it works.

*****

The Billy Letters

I love this story.
A guy posing as a 10-year-old boy, writes letters to people like Dick Cheney to Charles Manson.
Read on to learn more.

*****

Adidas Grun Guerilla Gardners

Loving this whole campaign by Adidas.
shape + colour, maker of the article on this campaign (BTW, great place to visit, I approve[just in case you cared] ); be sure to read through it to get the full understanding…
or just watch the video and you’ll get the idea.

*****

Traffic Thoughts

What would you rather be diong in traffic?
Terrific ad for the Renault Sandero.

*****

Swedish Design

How notcot.org described this one:
“Östra Kvarnskogen in Sollentuna, Sweden is a residential area with 40 buildings that almost floats in the air. It has been awarded the Wood Prize 2008 by the Swedish Forest Industries Federation.”
They look so simple, that’s what I love.

*****

Simple Cabin

It looks small, but is actually quite roomy.

*****

East Village Penthouse

I like a lot of the design technique in this place.

*****

City Shrinker

Cool site where the creator makes miniature replicas – looks like for fun.

*****

Collection of some stunning photos

A nice collection, here are some of my Favorites from this collection:
30. Pigeon Point Lighthouse – Just looks beautiful to me.
32. A conversation – that bird is asking for it.
34. Northern lights as seen from space – Amazing view of the Northern lights
38. Bird and Water – Haha, this one makes me laugh. Little bird shaking it’s head.
40. All alone – I get a fear of heights just staring at this picture.
45. Cockfight – These guys look fierce.

*****

Worldometers

Live information tracking of what’s happening in the world now!
Beware some of these statistics are quite depressing.
At least, for now, ‘Births today’ outnumber ‘Deaths today’.
Good sign that we’ll make it to tomorrow.

*****

Wasps use Orchids to pleasure themselves

Never thought a wasp could masturbate…
Well not really.
Even more intrigueing is the fact that the orchids trick the wasps into having sex with them.
Is that not amazing?
The orchid decieves many insects into believing they are a mating partner, lets them leave their sperm on it, in exchange the orchid gives it’s little pollen sperm to the insect to carry on and helping the plants breed.

*****

materialicio.us

“weblog featuring residential architecture, design, craftsmanship, materials and products. Browse the site using the menu bar above. Enjoy.”
That’s what they say,
we’ll see…or will we?…

*****

Wii Remote Cufflinks

I don’t really wear cufflinks, but I’d sport a pair of these.

*****

Cool Tray

Nice tray design, allowing trays to be easier to carry.
Not sure what it says, but it looks like it adjust by the weight of the objects it is carrying.

*****

Leave Your Footprint

Awesome shoes that let you actually leave a very unqique footprint.

*****

My Beating Heart Pillow

Interesting pillow that actually has a heart beat.

*****

The Living Umbrella Stand

A garden and stand in one.

*****

Japanese Packaging

It’s almost always entertaining.
The matches are cool.

*****

Porn For The Blind

Wow.
Now I’d like to say Blind people should be able to pleasure themselves just as much as anyone else,
but if you were blind wouldn’t you want a woman to read to you?
Not some nerdy sounding guy, that’s probably touching himself to the porn he’s describing to you…
Be sure to check out the clip.

*****

Mc Donald’s Outdoor Ad Puzzle

Cool interactive ad by Mc Donald’s.

*****

WWII Airplane Art

My favorite is “She Couldn’t Wait”, check it out.
This is a few pictures of art on the sid eof US aircrafts, which I never knew was called “aerography”.

*****

Hall Table

Cool design for a hall table.

*****

Christophe Huet

Love this guy’s art work, a must see.

*****

Clue Premier Edition

Clue, the board game, very cool rendition.
Wooden box with nine “sunken rooms” that each show detailed layouts of the rooms.

*****

Felt Weaponry

For the felt fighter in all of us.
I like these things…I may look into getting one…or some…
Here’s the website, but I don’t see anywhere to buy them – too bad.

*****

Street+Pixels = Something completely cool

Love the art here, so simple yet still cool.
Being a video game fan the pixel art is always great.

*****

Popcorn+AdShel

Adshel is a company who basically takes normal bilboard advertising and excapsulates a small item inside of the advertisement.
Just click the link already.

*****

Belfast+Vodka+great advertising

That’s what you have here.
A Vodka company in Belfast uses some cool ways to advertise their new Vodka release.

*****

H20 Architectes

These guys are hands down G’s.
Mostly because this place is very efficient and still good looking.
Awesome.

*****

Street Advertising – Worth Every Penny

Video showing a innovative little way to advertise on the street.

*****

She Has A Boyfriend

“I have a boyfriend” – don’t you hate it when they tell you that?
This is how all women should be treated when they dare alarm us of a boyfriend, proposterous.

*****

Free Beer for Life

Stolen Bus+bounty offer=justice
The video explains it all.
I would rather some cold hard cash (I’m not a big beer drinker), but free is free.

*****

BoingBoing.net

New reference site I’ll be looking into.
Very blog like in that it’s posts, but interesting stuff here.

*****

Country Codes of the World

Nice poster of the domains of the world (well the most popular ones).

I’m going to make a generalization here and say that most people’s eyes are not open as widely as they should be…unless it is something that applies to them. I’m going to continue on this rant of generalizations by saying that most people may not even look up unless it is something that particularly involves them. As some may try to deny it, we, as humans, are pretty selfish and self-absorbed. I know, it sounds harsh, but if you really think about the way that humans interact with the world, one another and the self (I have my psychology major cap on), the majority of humans will put the self first.

I admit to falling under this category at times. Yet, I always enjoy a good eye awakening moment. For example, like this one. It’s about time we step out of this box (or should I say the United States) and think about the world. How is the world doing? Is it hanging in there? Is the world happy?

It seems like the world is suffering a bit. Large populations are being stuffed into these small countries (for example, Japan) and as worldmapper.org claims: “Out of every 100 persons added to the population in the coming decade, 97 will live in developing countries.” -Hania Zlotnik, 2005

Well why did I not know about this? Why is the media picking and choosing what it is telling its viewers? Don’t you think the world has a right to know what is going on its own world!?

How is the world doing on an environmental level? Good, bad? Getting any better? You always hear these large numbers about the amount of waste we are consuming or how many trees are being cut down. Worldometers has an ongoing count of the destruction we are doing to our world. I think on some level some may have an idea of how bad this is, but honestly, even though it’s hard to imagine these large numbers, it still scared me. My eyes widened as I realized, “Look what is happening to our world. Why didn’t I know this before?”

I guess all I’m saying at this point is, why is the media so picky and choosy? Maybe the world wouldn’t be so self-focused if we were aware of what was going on outside our bubble.

-Dena Hart

http://www.worldometers.info/fr/

Un compteur qui donne en temps réel de nombreuses statistiques.

Certaines font frémir, d’autres sourire……à vous de choisir !!

I looked at Worldometers the other day. It’s a really interesting site and one that I think could be fascinating for students to look at. It gives world statistics updated in real time.  You can find out how many births and deaths there are in a day,  the population growth of the world and heaps of environmental facts that would be very useful in a variety of classroom applications. I wondered if I could rely on the authenticity of this information and who was the organisation behind the website so checked out their about page and their contact page. I couldn’t find anything that could tell me who was behind the website. I decided to use Whois Domain registration   to find out who they were. This is a great site from a company called Network Solutions that enables you to search the domain name eg: worldometers.org, to find out who registered the domain name. In this case, looking through the results led me to Moniker privacy services. When I looked up this name on Google I discovered this about Moniker privacy services  ;

How Does Domain Whois Privacy Work?

Moniker offers domain whois privacy to protect your personal information. Our domain privacy services acts as an iron curtain between you and the outside world. Instead of your information being available in the public whois lookup, these prying eyes will be directed to Moniker Privacy Services to protect your identity and your privacy.

While I can understand why some organisation may want to keep their domain registration private, it beats me as to why Worldometers would want to be so worried about people knowing who they are. If anyone knows why fill me in – I’d be very interested. This is a great exercise to take your students through for their information literacy skills - it shows them how to examine a website to check for its authenticity and whether or not you can trust the information they provide. In my mind the jury is still out on Worldometers.