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Apple’s Education Leadership Summit at the International School of Prague was true inspiration… Marco Torres‘s morning keynote fired-up real questions… Here are just a few notable nuggets:

• “Is our schooling getting in the way of the students education?”
• “Why do we ask: “What type of learner are you?” and not “what type of producer are you?”
• “Your “out” may be different from your “in.”
• “What other fields do we build for our schools beyond the football field?”
• “Are we paying attention to what learning looks like outside of school?”
• “What motivates students to post tutorials on Youtube for free, instead of doing homework?
• “Resources and network are the ingredients of learning.”
• “Distance is defined by bandwidth.”
• “Plagiarism is not always negative, “imitation is proven path to mastery.”
• “Don’t rush the solution, stay in the question. Do we want 50 learners plus a teacher or 51 learners?”
• “Technology is changing the way the learners learn… is it changing the way the teachers teach?”
• “Have you asked students and administration to define school in two words? – “it sucks or it’s cool” versus ”Forefront of education or Life time learners.”
• “International was an option, global is mandatory.”

Read Claude Lord’s full post at ClaudeLord.org

Claude Lord (@cloudlord), formerly a colleague when I taught at the American School of Paris, is an inspiring thinker, gifted pedagogue and oh-so-far-out-of-the-box visionary. Although her review of the Education Leadership Summit 2010 is teacher-oriented, this list of questions is relevant to everyone who has ever considered the ingredients of learning. What makes a teacher, curriculum or school effective? Why do children’s innate curiosity and hunger for learning so often get stifled by teachers, curricula and schools?

Frankly, I can’t help but note how accurately these questions could be applied to the publishing industry as well! Try going through the list and swapping out “learner” for “reader”, “school” for “book” or “print publishing”, etc. So much of the myopia and recalcitrance among publishers is rooted in the same biases and fears that hamstring teachers, curricula and schools. Coincidence?

Just smiled familiarly through Josh Marshal’s lighthearted reflection “Adventures in Obsolescence” on Talking Points Memo. He acknowledges his inability to dispose of dated gadgets event once he’s replaced them, and the condition (who’ll be the first to clinically diagnose it?) is all too familiar. He’s responding to a friend who’s in need of a second hand iPod since hers gave up the ghost and he decides to gift her his dinosaur, “one of those early all-white, physical scroll wheel, boxy archeo-Pods that probably many of you had at one point or another.”

Easy generosity, right? Give away something you no longer need or use, a gadget that’s already well into artifact-dom that nevertheless can help out a friend. True. And yet there is a funny compulsion which I admit to sharing that makes it difficult to part with these relics. Josh explains:

“So even after some gadget is well into its planned obsolescence and I’ve replaced it and it’s clear I’m never going to use it again, I just can’t manage to toss something I once found so cool and also dropped a decent amount of money on. And because of that, I have a small tribe of old i-Gadgets totally unused, sitting in boxes or drawers, living on borrowed time, or perhaps subsisting in suspended animation on borrowed time, because I can’t get myself to treat them as worthless and toss them in the trash.”

I periodically manage to pass these on, but generally they just collect and collect. I recently gave an older Sony Vaio laptop to a tech buddy who wiped all the memory and donated it to a charity that refurbishes computers for people who can’t afford to buy one. Cool idea. But all too often inertia prevails and the gadget graveyard fills up. So I’m making a resolution that when I return from Shanghai — and before I head off to San Franciso for DrupalCon — I’m going to eBay, fiverr, freecycle and craigslist my backlog of geriatric gadgets. If you’re in need, keep me honest!

Carl Honore praises “slowness” at TED Talks (video via ted.com)

Chef Dan Barber’s inspirational presentation at TED Talks 2010 tackles a complicated dilemma facing chefs, foodies and fisherman today: is there a sustainable way to keep fish on the menu? His delivery and observations are enjoyable, and his conclusions are timely and wise:

“How can we create conditions that enable every community to feed itself? To do that, dont look at the agribusiness model for the future… Its high on capital, chemistry and machines. And its never produced anything really good to eat. Instead lets look to the ecological model, thats the one that relies on two billion years of on-the-job experience. Look to… farms that restore instead of deplete, farms that farm extensively instead of just intensively, farmers that are not just producers but experts in relationships because they are the ones that are experts in flavor too…” ~ Dan Barber

[This post was originally published as “How I fell in love with a fish” on the Emmet Carter green design blog.]

Related articles

• Dan Barber Takes a Radically Holistic Approach to Food and Farming With ‘The Third Plate’ (civileats.com)
• Chef Dan Barber Wants to Change the Way Americans Eat and Grow Food (wnyc.org)
• How I fell in love with a fish: Dan Barber on TED.com (ted.com)

Chef Dan Barber’s inspirational presentation at TED Talks 2010 tackles a complicated dilemma facing chefs, foodies and fisherman today: is there a sustainable way to keep fish on the menu? His delivery and observations are enjoyable, and his conclusions are timely and wise:

“How can we create conditions that enable every community to feed itself? To do that, don’t look at the agribusiness model for the future… It’s high on capital, chemistry and machines. And it’s never produced anything really good to eat. Instead let’s look to the ecological model, that’s the one that relies on two billion years of on-the-job experience. Look to… farms that restore instead of deplete, farms that farm extensively instead of just intensively, farmers that are not just producers but experts in relationships because they are the ones that are experts in flavor too…”

Photograph of Tim Ferriss via fourhourworkweek.com

A great post from Tim Ferriss (@tferriss) which tackles three priorities for making a business profitable. “Profitability doesn’t need to be elusive. It’s a simple process… if you have the right recipe from the outset.”

Here’s my 30-second reductio:

1. “Small is not just a stepping-stone. Small is a great destination in itself.”
2. “When you build what you need, you can also assess the quality of what you make quickly and directly, instead of by proxy.”
3. “It’s not the gear that matters. It’s playing what you’ve got as well as you can.”

I’m especially keen on #1 which (ideally) enables portability, freedom and balance.

Related articles

• The 4-Hour Chef’s Not So Simple Path to Buzz (virtualdavis.com)
• I’m Tim Ferriss, And This Is How I Work (lifehacker.com.au)

Photo via Non Compos Mentis Mama

This thought provoking article that originally appeared in the New Mexico Free Press examines the “fine line of will between responsible and deadly gun use.” The author touches on several of the complex issues underpinning the gun debate, but focuses more on her personal arc from gun wary (phobic?) to gun appreciation and understanding. She explains that “on some level, it changed me. I can’t say that I see the political issue of gun control in black and white (to be honest, I see very few issues that way) but it expanded the topic for me out of the theoretical and into reality.”

Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work. [ted.com]

Related articles

• Alain de Botton: On Pessimism (lostateminor.com)
• Atheism 2.0: Alain de Botton on TED.com (ted.com)
• You: Alain de Botton reveals plans for ‘temple to atheism’ in heart of London (guardian.co.uk)
• VIDEO: ‘We should rebrand tax as charity’ (bbc.co.uk)

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve started ordering vegetable seeds for my garden this summer, and Cuore di Bue Tomato is new to me. I tasted these tomatoes grown in a friend’s garden and decided to add Cuore di Bue to my “Must Plant” list.

Here’s what they have to say over at Territorial Seed Company where I placed my order: “This curious and striking tomato is guaranteed to turn heads as well as satisfy appetites. Its name is simply Italian for oxheart, although this selection (Riviera) is an exotic twist on the oxheart tomato type. These big tomatoes have a bottom-heavy shape reminiscent of a pouch with a gathered top. They measure 3 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches long and weigh in just under 1/2 pound each. Cuore di Bue is one of the tastiest saucing types with dense flesh and lustrous, orangey-red skin.”

Related articles

• University Of New Hampshire Considers Tomato Plants Holiday Decor (proflowers.com)
• Heirloom Tomatoes Contain Health Benefits and Taste Best Fresh from the Garden (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• How to collect heirloom tomato seeds (giantveggiegardener.com)
• A Sufferer from TDS (Tomato Deprivation Syndrome) Dreams about the Days of Brandywines and Roses (politicsoftheplate.com)

“There’s no better way to experience a culture than to stand at the stove with a wonderful cook.” ~ Ruth Reichl

So long, Gourmet. We’re going to miss you.