Barcamp Singapore 3

A lot of people learning and talking about technology!

USING SOCIAL MEDIA WITH THOSE UNDER YOUR AUTHORITY

PRESENTING AT BARCAMP

Today from 2:00 tp 2:30 I'll be making a presentation about teachers using Facebook titled Using Social Media with those under your Authority an Educator's Perspective.

Read about the venue here.

I'll post the powerpoint soon.

Registered my Name

Last weekend after a few years of thinking about it, I decided to register my name, that is my domain name. There's not much there yet, but I think that I'll eventually be making a more professional looking website. I intend to keep this blog, but I may work on some projects that seem a bit more "professional." Right now there are a bunch of Go Daddy keyword ads, but soon http://www.cullenhartley.com/ will have some real content.

Psst- photos.cullenhartley.com works! But there are still a few quirks, and there aren't too many pictures. I haven't settled the issue of watermarks and I'm not quite satisfied with the layout. However, feel free to check it out. After my upcoming trip to Japan, I may do an official "launch" (an exercise that basically involves spamming my e-mail address list and Facebook friends) . But if you bother to read this website, maybe you'd also like to watch the site development.

WOTD: WUNDERKIND

Wunderkind: A child prodigy is someone who at an early age masters one or
more skills at an adult level.One heuristic for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 13 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor.

(via Wikipedia)

CRISIS OF CREDIT: IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

Here's the most straightforward presentation that I've ever seen about the credit crisis. Now I know where all of my Edward Jones money went. Grrrr....
Link

SINGAPORE CHURCH COPIES OBAMA LOGO

The international community watched and is infatuated with President Obama's politics, maybe even more than their own.

The church that displays this sign is located near Dhoby Ghaut MRT.

GRANT IS RUNNING FOR THE GREATEST JOB IN THE WORLD

When Grant was a YoungLife missionary, he and I ministered to some of the same kids. Today Grant works for Crocs shoes, trotting all over the world taking HD videos of people wearing Crocs and promoting the brand. However, he's not satisfied with that. He's officially applying for The Best Job in the World, an assignment that is, if I understand it correctly, to go to a tropical Australian island in the Great Barrier Reef and blog.

He submitted his one minute video resume. Now all you have to do is vote for him. (By the way, you must click on the link. They won't let me embed the video.)

Link
Grant, Singapore- The Best Job in the World

ONLY IN AMERICA: SECOND GRADER BRINGS GRENADE TO SCHOOL

The Dallas Morning News reports:

A Euless elementary school was briefly evacuated this morning after a 7-year-old student brought a disarmed hand grenade to school for show-and-tell.

The evacuation at Oakwood Terrace Elementary School began about 9 a.m. and lasted less than a half hour.

Read the rest; it is not as bad as it sounds.
Link

MC MR. NAPKINS

Zach Sherwin, one of the guys that I used to go to high school with and the son of one of Springfield's Jewish rabbis, is now a professional stand-up comedian. He puts his videos on YouTube for all to see.





Five years ago he was touring with a group called The Late Night Players, but I never got a chance to see them. It seemed they mainly toured in the Northeast and at the time I was rooted in the Midwest. Now he's going by the hip-hop alias MC Mr. Napkins and posting headline based anagram rap videos on Youtube. I'll be shocked if the tour ever makes it to southeast Asia.

CAUTION TO MY STUDENTS THAT MIGHT STUMBLE UPON THIS BLOG: Some of MC Mr. Napkins videos have coarse language. The video that I posted has, in the last ten seconds, language beeped out. If you are one of my students, I don't recommend watching additional Mr. Napkins videos. Thanks.

For anyone else, here's the link to his blog.
Link

WOTD: FINGERSTACHE

The finger mustache tattoo, otherwise known as the "fingerstache", is a tattoo of a stylized mustache on the index finger. The finger is then placed between the nose and the lips, making it appear that the wearer has a mustache. Its particular origin is unknown, however, the recent revival dates to the summer of 2003 in Columbus, Ohio, where a local tattoo artist began tattooing mustaches on friends' fingers as a joke.

(via Wikipedia)

I learned about the concept here. It is difficult to believe that this inane concept is actually a trend.

The photo is of a person that I've never met. It is Creative Commons licensed and available on Flickr.

THE WORLD'S NASTIEST DONUT: THE CHEESE DONUT

I spotted these cheese donuts in Malaysia, but I've seen them in Singapore too. I consider myself a donut aficionado, an expert on all things donut, and I must say that this is the worst type of donut that I've ever had in my life. Someone brought a box of donuts to the faculty lounge a few weeks ago, and it was the first donut that I've ever tried that I could not finish. I The donut wasn't sweet, the cheese was dry and stale, and the topping could have passed for mayonnaise.

SINGAPORE SIGN: WHOLESALE BLOGGERS WELCOME

I spotted this sign at a little shop in the basement of Singapore's Peninsula Plaza. I'm not sure what it means. However, I reckon I'm more of a retail blogger.

DANCING AROUND SINGAPORE

My boss came up with a great way to introduce new employees to Singapore and the International Community School.

A few Saturdays ago we grabbed the camcorder, rented a bus, and took off and made this video.

I hope that Singaporeans that see it can enjoy all of the "ang mohs" actings crazy and having a good time.

This is a deliberate imitation of this Stride Gum sponsored Dancing Matt video.

WAFFLE IN A CUP

I remember on Boy Scout campouts we used to cram all sorts of food in paper cups. The cleanup was easy- simply dispose the cup in the fire. I've eaten French fries from a cup, oatmeal from a cup, and, best of all, pie from a cup.

I spotted this waffle-in-a-mug poster at A&W in Malacca, Malaysia. Waffles aren't a food that I'd normally associate with mugs, but whose to say we don't need a new trend. It sure is convenient!

25 THINGS ABOUT ME

The most recent internet meme going around is to post twenty-five oddball facts about yourself.

Go on, read more than you ever wanted to know:

1. When I was in the fifth grade I checked out the book The Way Things Work by David Macaulay in order to help me build a go cart that would navigate the drainage ditches and pipes in my neighborhood. I had the dream of cruising around underground like the ninja turtles. I never accomplished that dream.

2. The summer between my second and third grade year of school I beat all ninety-nine levels of Mario Brothers for the Atari 2600. At the time, it was my most significant achievement, but nobody around me really understood what I had done.

3. In junior high I thought that I could pay for college by collecting comic books. I'm glad that I didn't pursue that plan. Even if I would have stuck to it, it wouldn't have worked. Except for the most collectible first printing of certain comics, the value of most comic books decreases over time.

4. In high school I earned 793 NFL points at speech tournaments, but it was mostly due to stubborn determination. I hardly ever won a trophy.

5. In college I worked at a herpetology museum. At that job I once scooped poop from the cage of a gaboon viper, the snake with highest venom yield of any snake. Had I been bitten, blood would have coagulated in my brain and I would have died. I also handled four foot rattlesnakes with a three foot hook. I had to quit that job because I smelled like snake musk every time I went to class.

6. Last year I saw the librarian throwing out a copy of The Way Things Work. She said it was too old to keep in the science section of a library. It made me feel old.

7. After working at the herpetology museum, I worked at Rollin's cafeteria. I would leave smelling like burgers, fried eggs, and pizza. Since my previous job was the herpetology museum, I didn't really care.

8. I've read every book by Donald Miller. The coolest book that I've ever purchased was an original UK paperback version of Prayer and that Art of Volkswagen Maintenance. I found it at SKS bookstore in Singapore.

9. I once rode a train from Chennai to New Delhi.

10. In New Delhi, some beggars once intentionally put monkey droppings on my shoe and tried to get me to pay them to clean it off. I didn't pay.

11. In the fourth grade I had a pet crawdad. I force fed it meal worms. Eventually my mom persuaded me to release it back into the wild.

12. When I was in second or third grade, I had a baby sitter that encouraged me to memorize the first verse to "Paul Revere" by the Beastie Boys.

12. He also had me memorize "Fat," "Weird" Al's parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad."

13. I now own every "Weird Al" album except two. Most of these albums are on cassette. And I've also been to two of his concerts.

14. I once hiked for ten days straight in New Mexico. A few years later, I canoed for a week straight in Minnesota.

15. My family's first computer was a 486DX2 66mhz with 8MB of ram. It had a 2600 baud modem.

16. I upgraded it to 16MB of RAM and a 14.4 modem. I thought that my computer was fast.
My current computer is approximately 20 times faster and has twenty times more RAM. I think that my computer is kind of slow.

17. The hiking trip and the canoe trip were possible because of Boy Scouts. I am an Eagle Scout.

18. I've gone deer hunting twice in my life. I've never killed a deer.

19. I know more about Singapore food that any other "ang moh" that I've ever personally met. Every Singaporean over the age of 20 that I've ever met knows more about Singapore food than me.

20. I once taught an eighteen year old student that had a tattoo of a pig's head superimposed over a Confederate flag.

21. I'm not sure what I taught that student.

22. I've hiked almost a dozen peaks in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet.

23. I run the Linux operating system on my computer. Every time I hear people talking about expensive software prices and computer viruses, I secretly smile to myself. Linux is immune to most computer viruses. It is also free.

24. It took me almost a week to set up Linux on my computer, but it has been running properly for almost four years.

25. I've started writing a few books, but I haven't finished them. I guess deep down inside, I'd rather have the instant satisfaction that comes with blogging.

WELCOME READERS FROM CLAUDIA.SG

I recently posted a review of the Nikon D60 as a guest blogger on Claudia.sg. If you're in the market for a Nikon DSLR, check it out.
Link

DIRECTOR

My boss had an idea to make a funny video that would welcome future staff to Singapore. Since I taught the film class last semester and because I tend to put a lot of things online anyway, I got nominated as the director, camera man, and editor of the film.

Before filming started, I really didn't know that I was going to be directing; I thought that Dr. B would give most of the directions and I would run the camera and do the post-production. But right before the filming started, someone handed me the bullhorn and I knew that my responsibilities had increased. If I had know, I might have done a little more planning. It's quite a power trip to get a dozen of your co-workers, most of whom are older than you, do a silly dance at your beck-and-call.

It's really not going to be a great video, and it isn't even really an original idea; but I'm sure that people will laugh at the dance, learn a little bit about Singapore, and feel welcome at my place of work. After the editing is finished, hopefully Dr. B will let me post the final product on this blog.

Photo by Hedi G.