All 6 chapters, the entire publication of "Why ________ Matters!" the collected works of the attendees at this summer's Unplugd Canadian Education Summit are now available for download.

I take special pride in the final chapter as that's where my contribution is located. Pearls of wisdom from the most astounding group of educators I've had the privilege to meet! You won't be disappointed.

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We spent time filling up our apple baskets.

At one point in my career I was a volunteer for our provincial teacher association.  My role entailed speaking to teachers across the province on the concept of personal and professional wellness.

I would begin my workshops with a story that set the tone for the session. I called it My Apple Basket. My props were a small wicker basket and a collection of “stress” apples.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/valeofglamorgan/395893933

My Apple Basket

Every teacher has an invisible apple basket. During the summer months as we spend our time recharging our batteries with holidays, family and fun and our apple basket slowly gets filled, perhaps even to the point of over-flowing.

But as teachers re-enter their busy lives at school, they might begin to notice that their apple basket begins to get depleted. Perhaps its the sudden change of assignment or class size - one apple gone; the broken copier just when you need it most - one more apple gone; the sick loved one at home as you start school - one, two or three apples gone, the flat tire or impending vehicle repairs or whatever - more apples gone. Everything that happens to us in our lives that may have a negative consequence big or small all work together to deplete those carefully gathered apples from the summer break.

It’s sometimes hardly noticeable - an apple here, an apple there, but if we go on constantly depleting our apples from the basket before too long we’re running an “apple deficit”. If we keep this up before too long it can begin to have an impact on our health and on our performance in the classroom.

Just imagine you’re getting into “apple deficit”. You keep pushing yourself, getting through the day, moving on. You’ve planned a Friday night “date” with your significant other - dinner out, maybe a movie. But mid-week you notice a tickle in your throat, by Thursday it’s beginning to manifest itself with a cough and perhaps sniffles. By mid-day Friday, you’ve reigned in your plans for an night out instead deciding on take-out and a movie night at home. Later that night, after enjoying the take-out right out of the containers (no dishes to clean up) you both sit down to enjoy the movie. But shortly after the lights are dimmed and the first few minutes of the movie has gone by, your significant other notices your quiet, deep breathing as your body slips into much needed sleep. If you’re both educators, it’s not unlikely that you’re snoring together.

Sound familiar? When I’ve told this anecdote to groups of educators it’s not unusual to have 50 - 60% of the audience admit that this has happened to them.

So what’s the alternative? What must one do to make sure their apple basket never gets into “apple deficit” mode? It’s really quite simple. We need to do things for ourselves that fill up our baskets. For some it might be exercise, for others reading a good book, a craft, a walk, a cup of coffee with friends, laughing out loud, etc.; clearly it’s whatever works for you to replenish your energy levels, to fill your apple basket. 

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sokiara/3546425305/

The important thing we need to remember is this needs to be done on a daily basis. We can’t wait for Christmas or Spring break, or worse yet next summer when we’ll REALLY fill our apple baskets again. It needs to be done now, for you by you. 

At the final group wrap up on the final morning of our Unplugd11 experience, I shared the story of humourous commercial for The Most Interesting Man in the World. The commercial is a running commentary of this supposedly "most interesting man" and his lifestyle. The commercial ends with the promotion of the beer being sold and the line "Stay thirsty my friends!" 

My adaptation of this can be seen below. It's not an endorsement of the product in the commercial, but an endoresement of the improtance of all the teachers I know who are doing their best for the students in their care. Stay healthy my friends and pass me that apple, please! 

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Way back in the beginning of this year I got my hands on an original iPad.

I promised I would do a workshop for the consultant who graciously loaned me the device to test and discover the possibilities for using it with special needs students. She shared so I would do likewise. The result of this process was the creation of the iPads in Education Livebinder linked here.

As my interest grew and as we received one of two iPad2's for our work unit, I felt that there was so much information to be shared that the LiveBinder wasn't going to be as interactive as I wanted. That's when I discovered the curation tool Scoop.It

Soon after that discovery, I created and began curating iPads in Education on Scoop.It. It is really been an exciting process discovering iPad news, tips and ideas on a daily basis since then. I'm proud to say that since creating the topic the sight has over 12, 000 views and is being followed by over 200 folks as well. My hope was simply that the site would make it a bit easier for folks to find information on the use of the iPad in schools.

My wife shakes her head when she sees me settle down with the iPad2 as she heads off to bed. "Why do you do that?" she asked one day. I could only truly answer that I hoped it would make a difference to some teacher and his/her students somewhere. That's what it is all about after all.

I was extremely fortunate to participate in the recent  Unplugd11 Educational Summit. Before arriving at the conference we were tasked with writing an essay to bring to the conference on a topic of our choice based upon the theme "Why ________ Matters." The topic I decided on was "Why Sharing Matters!"

It was a natural choice for me.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_grey/4582294721

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If you still think that mobile technologies were just a fad, you need to check out this video.

The interesting takeaway from this was the statement that the digital camera is dead since most people are taking photos with their cameras now. (Including your mom BTW!)

Definitely worth a look!

Hat tip to @lee74 for sharing this on Twitter and her leelearning blog.

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http://www.ted.com/talks/einstein_the_parrot_talks_and_squawks.html

Einstein the African Grey parrot was the wrap up presentation at TED 2006. It's amazing how this parrot had the audience (and me) hanging on her every word!

A little bit of humour and a reminder about taking care of our animal friends all rolled into one. If you need a smile over your coffee this morning here's a great place to start!

Have a super Sunday!

John

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http://www.ted.com/talks/diana_laufenberg_3_ways_to_teach.html

Diana Laufenberg teaches eleventh grade American History at the Science Academy Leadership in Philadelphia. She rocks the house with her presentation at the TEDx MidAtlantic event just a few weeks ago.

She makes many great points in her talk which you'll note as you watch/listen but the one(s) that stood out for me were these as she was describing the discussion of an assignment she had given her students (emphasis is mine):

And then we went to another one -- it didn't have great visuals, but it had great information -- and spent an hour talking about the learning process, because it wasn't about whether or not it was perfect, or whether or not it was what I could create; it asked them to create for themselves. And it allowed them to fail, process, learn from. And when we do another round of this in my class this year, they will do better this time. Because learning has to include an amount of failure, because failure is instructional in the process.

Create: the highest level on Bloom's Taxonomy. I'm certain we don't do enough of this in most classrooms. I tried to when I taught in the classroom but even then time constraints, space, etc. etc. made it easier to not give my students this type of assignment.

There are a million pictures that I could click through here, and had to choose carefully -- this is one of my favorites -- of students learning, of what learning can look like in a landscape where we let go of the idea that kids have to come to school to get the information, but instead, ask them what they can do with it. Ask them really interesting questions. They will not disappoint. Ask them to go to places, to see things for themselves, to actually experience the learning, to play, to inquire. This is one of my favorite photos, because this was taken on Tuesday, when I asked the students to go to the polls. This is Robbie, and this was his first day of voting, and he wanted to share that with everybody and do that. But this is learning too, because we asked them to go out into real spaces.

Learning. In the immortal words of Donald S. Cherry, "Ya gotta love it!"  I wish I could be a student in a classroom with a teacher like Diana Fantastic!

Image Credits: Bloom's Revised Taxonomy http://www.flickr.com/photos/dkuropatwa/2098689878/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Have a super Saturday!

PS Today marks my one month anniversary of blogging at The Continuous Learner after a long abscence from the bloggin world. 29 posts and over 3400 site views later, I think I'm hooked. Thanks for reading as I explore my own continuous learning adventure.

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http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/matthew_childs_9_rules_of_rock_climbing.html

Matthew Childs relates the 9 life rules that he's learned from over 35 years of rock climbing. I found these to be very intriguing and drew numerous analogies to my life in the classroom, as a school leader and loads of other situations in life.
I'm going to touch on just a few below

Number one: Don't let go -- very sure success(ful) method. But really, truly -- often you think about letting go way before your body does. So hang in there, and you come up with some pretty peculiar solutions.

He's right on here. Too often we think about letting go of whatever it is we're working on at the moment - this is too hard, I don't have the energy to do this, is not really worth my time and effort or I'm not making a difference here. Think of that lesson in the classroom, learning how to infuse that piece of technology, the difficult student or co-worker. It's become pretty easy to just say "whatever" and maneouver around or "let go" of a situation we're faced with. Don't let go.

Rule number three: Have a plan.... You have to plan ahead to get to the top.

This one seems to simplistic yet so important. Having a plan of action for climbing could mean life or death. Yet how often to we have a plan for things. My day always went better when I knew ahead of time how it was supposed to play out. I was more productive. Yet even the US military who plans to the "N"th degree for things knows that no plan survives contact with the "enemy".  During my teaching days the "enemy" seemed to be the constant interruptions that are a part of the daily happenings in a school. In the office it was that phone call or "crisis" situation that could change the course of the day in a heartbeat. In family life it's the sudden change in schedule of a partner or a child that we have to deal with or more currently the trip to the mall for the elusive gift hunt. The original plan(s) may have changed but the overall plan was able to be held intact because of the adaptations I could make to it. The beauty in life is sometimes the turns it takes.

Rule number five: Know how to rest. 

photo © 2006 Kevin Collins | more info (via: Wylio)

Rest. Knowing how to rest could be the life-saver for many of us. I used to work with school staff on the principles of personal welleness. It wasn't unusual to have people who were really going to catch up on their rest or take better care of themselves on their upcoming break yet it was only the second week in October. I'll really rest up on summer holidays  - yet months away. We need to plan that "rest" into our daily lives as educators, office workers, parents, etc. What can you do for yourself in a healthy way that's going to help restore your energies and spirit which in turn will make you better able to cope? Exercise is great, a date with your significant other, laughing with a friend or co-worker are great ways to get the "rest" you need in your daily life. I used to love going out and playing with the kids at recesses. They loved it and it built relationships too.

I hope you can find the 5 minutes it will take to watch this TED Talk sometime in the next few days. I'd love to know what analogies you draw from it.

Have a terrific Thursday!

John

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http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success.html

Richard St. John packs a 2 hour presentation into 3 minutes in this TED Talk. He shares his wisdom on the Secrets of Success gleaned from 7 years and 500 interviews of TEDsters.

I wish I knew these 8 things when I was in high school. Each one is so vital but the one I that caught me this morning was Work, plain hard work. Closely tied to passion I love his statement:

Work! Rupert Murdoch said to me, "It's all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun." Did he say fun? Rupert? Yes! TED-sters do have fun working. And they work hard. I figured, they're not workaholics. They're workafrolics.

How about you? I'd like to be thought of as a "workafrolic" - someone who has fun (a lot of fun) doing what they do!

This is another TED Talk that ROCKS in under 4 minutes. I hope you can make it part of your day! Enjoy!

Hope your Tuesday is a great one!

John

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http://www.ted.com/talks/renny_gleeson_on_antisocial_phone_tricks.html

Continuing on in the short and funny theme of TED Talk selections comes this under 4 minute talk by Renny Gleeson.

My take-away from his talk is his focus on the rise of a culture of availability brought about by the proliferation of our mobile devices, which then leads to an expectation of availability and ultimately to an obligation to that availability. If you've got a mobile device yourself, or live with anyone from  8 - 50+ who has one you've lived through the moments he brings up in his presentation. That time when during dinner, a movie, a walk, a conversation or more alarmingly behind the wheel where you or someone else responds to their mobile device. It once was called the BlackBerry prayer when you dipped down at a meeting or dinner to check the last email or text. I've seen it, I've done it, I've been seduced by the flashing light, the vibration or even recently the phantom vibration that makes me disconnect from what I'm doing to check my mobile device.

And when you're standing with someone, and you're on your mobile device, effectively what you're saying to them is, "You are not as important as, literally, almost anything that could come to me through this device."

So their is a paradox -  the devices we love to connect with cause us to disconnect. He ends his talk with a legitimate request:

And so that's the request I have for everybody in this room. We are creating the technology that is going to create the new shared experience, which will create the new world. And so my request is, please, let's make technologies that make people more human, and not less.

There's a lot of good points packed into 4 minutes. Great food for thought!

Have a totally, terrific Tuesday!

John

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http://www.ted.com/talks/allison_hunt_gets_a_new_hip.html

It's Friday and it's been a long week so today I'm highlighting a brief and humourous TED Talk by fellow Canadian Allison Hunt.

Allison uses her pain and her ingenuity to get to the front of the line in our Canadian health care system.

Now, word on the street was that it was actually my volunteering that got me to the front of the line. And you know, I'm not even ashamed of that. Two reasons. First of all, I am going to take such good care of this new hip. But also, I intend to stick with the volunteering, which actually leads me to the biggest epiphany of them all. Even when a Canadian cheats the system, they do it in a way that benefits society.

Humourous yet sad and true.

Hope your having a fantastic Friday!

John

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http://www.ted.com/talks/lies_damned_lies_and_statistics_about_tedtalks.html

Sebastian Wernicke uses statistical analysis to determine  how to make the ultimate (or worst) TED Talk. This is hilarious and you will need to do yourself a favour and spend 6 minutes listening/watching this talk.

Now, while --  While you're pushing the clock, there's a few rules to obey. I found these rules out by comparing the statistics of four-word phrases that appear more often in the most favorite TED Talks, as opposed to the least favorite TED Talks. I'll give you three examples. First of all, I must, as a speaker, provide a service to the audience and talk about what I will give you, instead of saying what I can't have. Secondly, it's imperative that you do not cite the New York Times. (Laughter) And finally, it's okay for the speaker -- that's the good news -- to fake intellectual capacity. If I don't understand something, I can just say, "et cetera, et cetera." You'll all stay with me. It's perfectly fine.

He makes some interesting and hilarious points regarding other key factors like background colours, length of your talk, et cetera, et cetera about  the best TED Talks but you'll have to listen/watch this one to catch them all.

Enjoy and have a terrific Thursday!

John

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http://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_protecting_the_brain_against_concussion....

Kim Gorgens is a neuropsychologist with strong desire to spread her message about protecting what matters, in this case, you brain. Her talk is engaging and she gives 3 things everyone can do to help stop the increasing numbers of concussions that are occuring each year.

The first, study up. You have to be familiar with the issues we're talking about today. There are some great resources out there.

1. Study Up - We need to be more aware of the issues around concussions. She mentions several sites to find good information on: brain injury

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Traumatic Brain Injury
• Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Network

Speak up also with coaching staff. Ask what kind of protective equipment is available. What's the budget for protective equipment? How old it is? Maybe offer to spearhead a fundraiser to buy new gear. Which brings us to suit up; wear a helmet. The only way to prevent a bad outcome is to prevent that first injury from happening.

2. Speak Up - Being aware of the issues around brain injury is one thing but speaking up when there are concerns that can be infulenced is something everyone can do. Is there a helmet by-law in your area? Some provinces and cities have these for those under 18. How about the equipment that your child wears for football or hockey? Is it supplied by the team/school? If so how old is it and could it be do for replacement? Does someone you know play hockey? Do you or they know that hockey helmets have an expiration date? I didn't and had been wearing mine for years past the due date.

 Which brings us to suit up; wear a helmet. The only way to prevent a bad outcome is to prevent that first injury from happening.

3. Suit Up - Wear a Helmet. Pretty simple concept that wearing a helmet while participating in a sport such as cycling, skating, or skateboarding where falls are inevitable is a good preventative measure. Kids in our schools can't participate in skating programs without helmets. An inconvenience some say, but so much better than living with a preventable accident.

Coincidence or not, just yesterday morning as I sat in my doctor's office the copy of Sports Illustrated laying on the table in front of me had a story about brain injuries and football. While this is not the exact article, here's is a column from SI.com on the topic : Concussions and football: Is the game too dangerous for our kids?. The Globe and Mail also released an article: Sports concussions more serious than previously reported coincidently on the same day as Sports Illustrated released their report.  Fascinating and alarming reading.

Hope your having a wonderful Wednesday.

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Looking for a TED Talk:

• from a particular event?
• of a certain length? 3 - 6 - 9 - 12 or 18 minutes?
• subtitled in Basque? Danish? or Thai?
• filmed at TEDGlobal 2010? or TED 2003? or TED@Cannes?
• rated as funny, informative, ingenious or jaw-dropping?

I've been a TED Talk fan since a colleague first showed them to me about 5 years agao. However, it wasn't until this morning when the TED.com homepage loaded differently that I discovered that one could sort and search for TED Talks in a myriad of ways. 

Extremely Cool! Check it out at http://www.ted.com/talks

Up later today on The Contiuous Learner series of a TED Talk-a-Day: Kim Gorgens: Protecting the brain against concussion

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http://www.ted.com/talks/jason_fried_why_work_doesn_t_happen_at_work.html

As described in the About this talk section "Jason Fried has a radical theory of working: that the office isn't a good place to do it." That point alone had me hooked from the start.

This is a very engaging TED Talk and Fried has some interesting ideas around making the workplace a place to work. Some interating comments:

If you ask people the question: where do you really need to go when you need to get something done? Typically you get three different kinds of answers. One is kind of a place or a location or a room. Another one is a moving object. And a third is a time.

This is SO TRUE for me! I'm most productive in the very early morning, in my home and I get alot of my "study time" done in my car on route to work or other locales - courtesy of TED Talks and audiobooks I might add. I also arrive at work early to get things done before the masses arrive. While I was teaching and then the principal of the school it was not unusual to find me on site before 7 ... getting things done before the interruptions began.

And what you find is that, especially with creative people -- designers, programmers, writers, engineers, thinkers -- that people really need long stretches of uninterrupted time to get something done. You cannot ask somebody to be creative in 15 minutes and really think about a problem. You might have a quick idea, but to be in deep thought about a problem and really consider a problem carefully, you need long stretches of uninterrupted time. And even though the work day is typically eight hours, how many people here have ever had eight hours to themselves at the office? How about seven hours? Six? Five? Four? When's the last time you had three hours to yourself at the office? Two hours? One, maybe. Very, very few people actually have long stretches of uninterrupted time at an office. And this is why people chose to do work at home, or they might go to the office, but they might go to the office really early in the day, or late at night when no one's around, or they stick around after everyone's left, or they go in on the weekends, or they get work done on the plane, or they get work done in the car or in the train because there are no distractions.

I used to be able to close my office door when I was principal to catch a few uninterrupted minutes of time but not on a regular basis.  I know teachers appreciated the opportunity to close their doors and work with their students and/or during a prep with out interuptions from the office or for whole school events. It just made sense as they were actually accomplishing somethings with their students without the interruptions.  It also made the day seem far less stressful for everyone involved.

And this sort of whole phenomenon of having short bursts of time to get things done reminds me of another thing that doesn't work when you're interrupted, and that is sleep. I think sleep and work are very closely related.

He makes an interesting comparison here: uninterrupted sleep and work.  Is it a "dream" or could it be a reality.

And today's Facebook and Twitter and Youtube, these things are just modern-day smoke breaks. No one cared about letting people take a smoke break for 15 minutes 10 years ago, so why does everyone care about someone going to Facebook here and there, or Twitter here and there, or Youtube here and there? Those aren't the real problems in the office.

I've never heard this analogy before regarding Twitter and Facebook but it does kind of ring true.

There's lots more in Jason Fried mentions in his TED Talk. It's very much worth a listen!

Have a great Monday!

John

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I had the distinct pleasure to be in the audience for Sir Ken Robinson's keynote address at the fourth annual Canadian Symposium for Arts and Learning which concludes today. Having listened to his talks numerous times via TED Talks or his books on audio tape it was like being in the company of an old friend, a very wise, humourous and visionary one.

So in honour of his talk last night here's one of Sir Ken Robinson's recent talks done with animation to further illustrate his message. It's great! Enjoy!

Have a super Saturday!

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http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/56

I began Thursday Morning with the plan to listen to Edward Burtynsky's TED Talk on my way to work, but it immediately became clear that a talk based upon the images he's taken around the world was celarly not something I could fully participate in while driving. Thus it's taken me until this morning to actually have a chance to watch and take all the information in about his talk.

His images feature the changing landscape that are being created through our use of natural resources and our man-made discarded waste. Open pit coal mines, marble quarries and a mountain of 4 million used tires represent just a few of the changes that are happening here in North America. He then takes us on a photographic tour of China's massive expansion and the changing landscape that has come about as a result of the need for power and housing for the ever growing urban centers and the massive factories and manuafacturing centers that are churning out the products that line our shelves in our local megamarts. He also references the growing recycling market that is seems to be ever expanding as they receive the e-waste from around the globe including over 50% of the world's computers.

These startling images and the impact we're having on the world around us through our use and abuse of our environment lead him to his wishes. He actually had 3 wishes with the last two being supplemental to his main wish:

Wish one: world-changing. I want to use my images to persuade millions of people to join in the global conversation on sustainability. And it is through communications today that I believe that that is not an unreal idea.

These images had an impact on me particularly since they are almost 6 years old. One can only wonder at the changes that have gone on around the world since then. However, much has been done to foster the concept of sustainability since then as well. Our province in particular has made Education for Sustainable Development a part of our provincial education mandate. As well there are a great many other resources to be found around the web that focus on sustainbility and looking after our environment as we've become more aware of the impact man is having on our world. I've collected a good number of them in the Literacy with ICT Diigo group.

This is one of the lengthiest TED Talks I've come across at 34:28 but it's well worth watching. It's always good to be reminded of our impact on the environment and to peronsally think of what we can do to make a difference.

Have a fantastic Friday!

John

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The Edublog Awards 2010

My Nominations for The 2010 Edublog Awards are:

Best individual blog: Shelly Terrell, Teacher Reboot Camp
Best individual tweeter: Steven Anderson @web20classroom
Best new blog: Whose Learning Is It Anyway?
Best resource sharing blog: Free Technology for Teachers
Best teacher blog: What Ed Said
Best librarian / library blog: Joyce Valenza's Never Endng Search
Best School Administrator blog: Connected Principals
Best educational tech support blog: Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day
Best educational use of audio: All Things Audio
Best educational wiki: Teach with Your iPad
Best use of a PLN: The Educator's PLN Ning
Lifetime achievement: Alec Couros

I've discovered and learned so much from the folks I've connected with from the 2009 Edublog Award Nominations. I'm excited to the new opportunities to be found in this year's nominations.

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http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_sch...

It was a great ride to work this morning listening to Dave Eggers' February 2008 TED Prize Talk.

Dave's message and TED Wish are all about helping the schools in our communitie by giving some of our time to assist and mentor students of all skill areas. The unique necessity of combining retail space and student help area makes for a place where both adult and student alike would want to be. I love the idea of a store based on the sale of "supplies for the working buccaneer". Who doesn't need a supply of eye patches in basic black and another in pastels, etc. for "stepping out at night"! His talk also features other centers in other cities including Brooklyn's Superhero Supply Company. ;-)

I wish that you -- you personally and every creative individual and organization you know -- will find a way to directly engage with a public school in your area and that you'll then tell the story of how you got involved, so that within a year we have a thousand examples -- a thousand! -- of transformative partnerships. Profound leaps forward! And these can be things that maybe you're already doing. I know that so many people in this room are already doing really interesting things. I know that for a fact. So, tell us these stories and inspire others on the website.

Once again I was smiling all the way to work as I listened to Dave Eggers' talk and it made me wonder how I could help out my community school. I worked at the school in my community as a teacher and administrator for over 20 years and have continued to assist with the school web page. Now I'm wondering how I could do more. I think a phone call is in order today.

Lot's of work has been done in the time since the TED Wish was presented. You can check out this video for a one year update and investigate the Once Upon a School website that was created to support the Wish. You can find out more information here about all of the 2008 TED Prize Winners.

I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday folks.

John

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 Dr. Sylvia Earle, is an oceanographer with a passion for the preservation of the oceans of our planet. Perhaps because I live almost right smack in the middle of the North American continent, I had never heard of her work before. I was surprised by her statement that she had been at this work for over 40 years.   From leading undersea expeditions to working with Google to map the oceans for Google Earth her bio is amazing With her many years of experience and leadership in the investigation and exploration of the world's oceans her wish seems only natural:

And so, I suppose you want to know what my wish is. I wish you would use all means at your disposal -- films, expeditions, the web, new submarines -- a campaign to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet. How much? Some say 10 percent, some say 30 percent. You decide how much of your heart do you want to protect. Whatever it is, a fraction of one percent is not enough. My wish is a big wish, but if we can make it happen, it can truly change the world, and help ensure the survival of what actually -- as it turns out -- is my favorite species, that would be us. For the children of today, for tomorrow's child, as never again, now is the time.

While the TED Prize Talks are amazing in themselves, I marvelled at the doors to so many other resources that they give birth to as they become a reality. If you are interested in conservation and preservation of the planet there are some very interesting resources connected to this TED Prize. Below are just a few:

• TIME magazine on Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue and the quest to save the ocean

• TIME Magazine's Saving Our Oceans

• The Mission Blue Voyage – a project of the TED Prize: Galapagos Islands : April 6-10, 2010

Most of my TED Talk-a-Day selections I have been able to listen to via my iPodTouch during my drive to work. This particular talk has to be viewed on your monitor to have its full effect. The images are amazing and magnify the points Dr. Earle makes in her talk. It's 18 minutes very well spent!

Hope you've had a terrific Tuesday thus far!

John

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 http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

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