Today a couple of us were crammed into a truck on the way to lunch. Several of us have kids, and we ended up talking about how incredibly popular WebKinz is. Somebody said it was simply a training ground for games like World of Warcraft. As we were talking, I suddenly realized why World of Warcraft and WebKinz are so popular.
Humans love to quantify things. It makes things so much easier. We're constantly trying to make the abstract have more meaning. We might say we want to 'get in shape', but when we get right down to it, we say things like, "I'm going to lose 10 pounds", or "I want to run 15 miles". Be honest, have you ever clicked on one of those ads for a free IQ test? You want to be able to quantify how smart you are. It's in our nature.
World of Warcraft lets you do just this. It's one thing to play a game, it's another to be able to say, "I'm a level 70 Shaman, my blacksmithing is at 297, my mining is at 282, and I have tier 5 armor. The higher numbers not only allow you to do new and nifty things in the game, but it's an easy way to tell/show your friends just how good at the game you are.
The game allows you to progress, but it gives you a quantifiable way to show that progression. Webkins is the same way. You run around and do things, and earn KinzCash. The Kinzcash is an easy way to quantify that. The more Kinzcash you have, the more of the game you can explore/purchase.
I have some more thoughts on this, and it actually ties into this post. But I'd like to think a bit more about it, so...stay tuned.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Quote of the day...
John: "You know what I want on Christmas day?"
Dad: "What?"
John: "A bad dream."
Dad: "What? Why would you want that?"
John: "So I can wake up early! I hope it is one where Santa comes down the chimney with a shotgun."
Dad: "What?"
John: "A bad dream."
Dad: "What? Why would you want that?"
John: "So I can wake up early! I hope it is one where Santa comes down the chimney with a shotgun."
Fix those keys...
On a PC I could move anywhere in a document by using the home, end, shift home, shift arrow, and many other buttons or combination of buttons. With a Mac, they have the lovely feature of making it different in every application. So I always feel like I have to use my mouse to do anything moving around.
There is a great fix for Firefox that I've used in the past, but wasn't working for the new FF3. However, the internet at large has found, tackled, and fixed the problem. If you're on a Mac, and you want your home and end keys to take you to the beginning and end of any sentence, then go here, click, and rejoice.
There is a great fix for Firefox that I've used in the past, but wasn't working for the new FF3. However, the internet at large has found, tackled, and fixed the problem. If you're on a Mac, and you want your home and end keys to take you to the beginning and end of any sentence, then go here, click, and rejoice.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Way outside the box...
David Wiley has an excellent post on what direction we might want to take as institutions of higher education. I read the post today, and then came across a story in a book I'm reading that I think also applies. I'll summarize.
On Christopher Columbus's last voyage, he needed to find gold. Spain wanted to wage war with France, and needed the money. Columbus was sailing around Jamaica but got held over for a time on the north part of the Island. He had been having problems with the natives and feared they might be planning to attack him and his men. One of his men, a man by the name of Diego Mendez, volunteered to go scope out the situation. Here is what happened.
He and his sidekick, a young guy by the name of Diego de Escobar, paddled upriver to do some reconnaissance. They found where the army of natives were gathering but unfortunately were taken captive. Mendez decided he wanted to talk to the head chief, but was not allowed. He attempted to make his way to the tent, but things got ugly. Some of the natives started shouting, and the next thing you know Mendez is surrounded by warriors. He can't plead his case to the chief, he can't make his way back to the boat, and things look very grim. What would you do?
Exactly, that is just what Mendez did. He pulled out a comb and some scissors, and told Escobar to give him a haircut.
No, don't bother reading that again, you read it right the first time. He's surrounded by warriors, he is minutes away from a violent death, and he orders his sidekick to give him a haircut.
The kicker is that his plan worked brilliantly. The natives, never having seen scissors before, became fascinated. He made a gift of the scissors to the lackey who was keeping him from the chief, and within minutes he is eating and drinking at a feast, thrown in his honor.
A few days later, the natives still attacked, and killed some of Columbus's men, but that is another story. Mendez and Excobar left the natives as heroes.
Anyway, how does this relate even remotely to Wiley's post? I'm a fan of trying new things. Sometimes we get locked into doing things as we've always done them, because...well, we've always done them that way. Sometimes that is fine, but if what we are getting in the end is not what we'd like to get, then we have to try something new. And sometimes we even should try things that just don't make any sense. I think that is why I like the idea of podcasting or giving away my book online. On the surface it makes no sense to give away something that you'd much rather sell. But the kicker is that for several authors who have done just this, it works brilliantly. Check out the work of Cory Doctorow as just one example.
So, if we're happy with what we're getting out of public and higher education, let's keep tweaking and fine tuning it. If we're not happy, let's try something completely different. Let's whip out the scissors, trim up the hair, and see how the natives react.
On Christopher Columbus's last voyage, he needed to find gold. Spain wanted to wage war with France, and needed the money. Columbus was sailing around Jamaica but got held over for a time on the north part of the Island. He had been having problems with the natives and feared they might be planning to attack him and his men. One of his men, a man by the name of Diego Mendez, volunteered to go scope out the situation. Here is what happened.
He and his sidekick, a young guy by the name of Diego de Escobar, paddled upriver to do some reconnaissance. They found where the army of natives were gathering but unfortunately were taken captive. Mendez decided he wanted to talk to the head chief, but was not allowed. He attempted to make his way to the tent, but things got ugly. Some of the natives started shouting, and the next thing you know Mendez is surrounded by warriors. He can't plead his case to the chief, he can't make his way back to the boat, and things look very grim. What would you do?
Exactly, that is just what Mendez did. He pulled out a comb and some scissors, and told Escobar to give him a haircut.
No, don't bother reading that again, you read it right the first time. He's surrounded by warriors, he is minutes away from a violent death, and he orders his sidekick to give him a haircut.
The kicker is that his plan worked brilliantly. The natives, never having seen scissors before, became fascinated. He made a gift of the scissors to the lackey who was keeping him from the chief, and within minutes he is eating and drinking at a feast, thrown in his honor.
A few days later, the natives still attacked, and killed some of Columbus's men, but that is another story. Mendez and Excobar left the natives as heroes.
Anyway, how does this relate even remotely to Wiley's post? I'm a fan of trying new things. Sometimes we get locked into doing things as we've always done them, because...well, we've always done them that way. Sometimes that is fine, but if what we are getting in the end is not what we'd like to get, then we have to try something new. And sometimes we even should try things that just don't make any sense. I think that is why I like the idea of podcasting or giving away my book online. On the surface it makes no sense to give away something that you'd much rather sell. But the kicker is that for several authors who have done just this, it works brilliantly. Check out the work of Cory Doctorow as just one example.
So, if we're happy with what we're getting out of public and higher education, let's keep tweaking and fine tuning it. If we're not happy, let's try something completely different. Let's whip out the scissors, trim up the hair, and see how the natives react.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Quote of the day...
At our church, we have a large group meeting to begin with. The meeting runs 70 minutes, and it's mainly talking and singing. We were 65 minutes into the meeting, and at the end of a fairly long talk. I found the speaker to be quite interesting, but he had been going on for about 20 minutes. My son John leans over and passionately whispers to my wife, "Dang it, this guy is wasting our time!"
Friday, June 13, 2008
Crack open a coconut and expand your brain usage
A friend of mine wrote a random post to his blog. He received a random comment. It's the best comment to a blog anywhere.
"There is a verse in the bible that says when you go to hell it is where the worm doesn’t die. Research worm on google."
"There is a verse in the bible that says when you go to hell it is where the worm doesn’t die. Research worm on google."
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Master/Padowan
My family has a website, and one of the sister-in-laws posted an idea about using a Jedi Master/Padawan idea to teach your kids to work. The idea is that you are the Laundry Master or the Dishes Master, and you take a young Padawan under your wing and teach him/her how to do the job. In the end, they are the master, and can teach others.
So last night I pulled Spencer in after dinner. Everybody had left their plates on the table, food was all over the floor, the chairs, the walls, and there was a small fire in one corner. So about normal.
I put my arm around Spencer and said, "Boy, I have some good news. Do you know what a Jedi Master and Padawan is?"
"Yeah," he said, "The master knows everything, and the padawan learns from the master, and then in the end, the padawan kills the master."
I thought about that for a minute and then said, "Yep, that is exactly right. Why don't you go play while I do the dishes."
I'm not taking any chances.
So last night I pulled Spencer in after dinner. Everybody had left their plates on the table, food was all over the floor, the chairs, the walls, and there was a small fire in one corner. So about normal.
I put my arm around Spencer and said, "Boy, I have some good news. Do you know what a Jedi Master and Padawan is?"
"Yeah," he said, "The master knows everything, and the padawan learns from the master, and then in the end, the padawan kills the master."
I thought about that for a minute and then said, "Yep, that is exactly right. Why don't you go play while I do the dishes."
I'm not taking any chances.
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