Wednesday, February 24
Game Based Learning
What Is Game-Based Learning?
Games have been used as a learning tool for centuries. Chess was used to teach strategic thinking as far back as the Middle Ages, and the game of Kreigsspiel was invented in 1812 specifically to teach Prussian officers strategy. Beyond military strategy, the genesis of Kindergarten in the mid-1800s was Friedrich Fröbel’s ideas of learning through play.
The core concept behind game-based learning is teaching through repetition, failure and the accomplishment of goals. Video games are built on this principle. The player starts off slow and gains in skill until they’re able to skillfully navigate the most difficult levels. Games that are planned and designed well will offer enough difficulty to keep it challenging while still being easy enough for the player to win.
Game-based learning takes this same concept and applies it to teaching a curriculum. Students work toward a goal, choosing actions and experiencing the consequences of those actions. They actively learn and practice the right way to do things. The result is active learning instead of passive learning.
Flight simulators are a perfect example of the effectiveness of game-based learning. Pilots commonly use flight simulators during their training. They’re given very specific goals and practice until they can accomplish them. The result is much more effective than sitting through lectures and theory.
Game-Based Learning vs. Textbook Learning
The educational system has always been slow to change. On one hand, the fact that change is slow is a good thing, since it helps avoid the pitfalls of adopting education fads before they’re fully tested. On the reverse side, it leads to a system that is sluggish to respond to the rapidly changing technological world. The only way to increase that response rate is to drastically change the systemic approach to curriculum, which is no small task.
Keith Bockwoldt of Township HSD 214 outside Chicago talked recently with the Learning Counsel about the overall shift to digital curriculum that is happening. “Even the most advanced schools and districts implementing digital tools still have a long ways to go to achieve real transformation—it will be years,” he said. “When stepping into this arena and realizing just how many publishers and vendors are out there selling you curriculum and devices, with multiple logins and standards, it’s a huge challenge. But it’s a challenge we all must confront, understand and embrace.”
A big reason why change takes so long? Textbooks themselves. When a textbook is released, it contains all of the current information, educational methods, and theories as of when the textbook was sent to print, which is often at least a year before it arrives in schools. Since textbooks are meant to be used for years, there’s a substantial delay before curriculum can be changed and information updated.
Game-based learning is built to be adaptive from the beginning. During the production process the game is tested and adjusted to be a more effective learning tool. As new information comes out in the field or educational approaches are adjusted, the game can be changed to suit them. After the game is released, it can be updated with new information, approaches, and more. Games even have student-monitoring analysis tools which allow teachers to monitor the students so the game can be adjusted in future updates.
Tuesday, February 23
Three Times More Contagious
Under pressure as the variant hammers the jungle city of Manaus with a devastating second wave of infections, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello sought to reassure legislators that the surge of recent months was unexpected but coming under control.
He also told a Senate hearing that Brazil would vaccinate half its eligible population by June and the rest by the end of the year – an ambitious target as the country has barely guaranteed doses for half the population.
Brazil began immunisations with vaccines made by China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca about three weeks ago. Pazuello did not explain how their effectiveness against the Manaus variant was analysed.
“Thank God, we had clear news from the analysis that the vaccines still have an effect against this variant,” Pazuello said. “But it is more contagious. By our analysis, it is three time more contagious.”
The Health Ministry, which has not provided information about any such analysis, did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, which has partnered with Sinovac to test and produce the Chinese vaccine, said in a statement that it had begun studies regarding the Manaus variant but would not have a conclusion for two weeks.
The Fiocruz biomedical centre in Rio de Janeiro, which has paired up with AstraZeneca to fill and finish doses of its vaccine developed with Oxford University, said it is studying its efficacy against the Amazon variant, sent samples to Oxford and is awaiting results.
Located deep in the Amazon rainforest, Manaus has been hit hard by a brutal second wave of cases that has stretched emergency services to breaking point. SOURCE: ALJAZEERA
Monday, February 22
Approaching Conclusions
🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞
As we begin this week, we are also approaching the end of another month... the month of February... and, the reason why that is important, at least to me, is the fact that once the month of February has passed, cold weather in East TN is all but gone; in fact, according to a forecast for the month of March, weather in East TN will ONLY IN THE MID TO UPPER 50'S AND LOWER 60'S...
While this may not be important to others... it is important to me because the older I get the less I enjoy cold weather. And, the interesting part here is that while I cannot stay out in the sunlight because of health concerns, warm weather (even in the shade) is preferable to cold weather in a heated house.
As we approach the conclusion of the month of February, my age has put me in the category where I was able to get the first of two COVID VACCINE shots at my local health department. My second one is a couple of weeks away and my vaccine is the Moderna Vaccine which has a good reliability factor.
However, that does not mean that I will stop wearing my face mask in public because I believe face masks and limited capacity at restaurants is now part of our future and is here to stay... especially in doctor's offices, hospitals, and many public places were people congregate in numbers... and, not just to prevent variations of COVID from spreading but to prevent all sorts of flu type viruses from spreading.
As we approach the beginning of a new Presidential Administration, we have an opportunity to explore the following:
- Distribution of COVID Vaccines
- Deal with potential increases in immigration
- Deal with increases in taxes
- Deal with the end of oil and gas as energy sources
- Deal with an increase in our national debt
- Deal with China as an economic and military adversary
- Deal with an increase in terrorism
- Deal with defunded police departments
- Deal with the effects/affects of going GREEN
As the approach the beginning of a new political era/climate and the conclusion of the old political climate, I constantly remind myself that I am RETIRED and whatever happens in the United States, actually impacts my life very little...
First 3-D Steak
By Janine Puhak | Fox News
The steak was produced using 3D bioprinting technology and real cow tissue, the food-tech startup explained in a news release. From there, scientists incubated the cells to grow, differentiate, and interact, ultimately replicating a real rib-eye.
With muscle and fat similar to a traditionally slaughtered steak, the futuristic food features "the same organoleptic attributes of a delicious tender, juicy rib-eye steak you'd buy from the butcher." Aleph Farms says it can produce any cut of meat with this method, as the company sets its sights on expanding its meat portfolio.
"With the realization of this milestone, we have broken the barriers to introducing new levels of variety into the cultivated meat cuts we can now produce," said Shulamit Levenberg, a professor at Technion and Aleph’s co-founder. "As we look into the future of 3D bioprinting, the opportunities are endless."
A price point has not yet been announced for the sizzling steak, but the Daily Mail reports it will take a few years to hit shelves.
"We are executing a clear plan to achieve cost-parity for cultivation of meat products at scale," said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, in a statement obtained by the outlet. "We expect to achieve this goal within five years from our 2022 soft launch, which is faster than the new generation of plant-based meat substitutes."
The steak was produced using 3D bioprinting technology and real cow tissue, the food-tech startup explained in a news release. From there, scientists incubated the cells to grow, differentiate, and interact, ultimately replicating a real rib-eye.
With muscle and fat similar to a traditionally slaughtered steak, the futuristic food features "the same organoleptic attributes of a delicious tender, juicy rib-eye steak you'd buy from the butcher." Aleph Farms says it can produce any cut of meat with this method, as the company sets its sights on expanding its meat portfolio.
"With the realization of this milestone, we have broken the barriers to introducing new levels of variety into the cultivated meat cuts we can now produce," said Shulamit Levenberg, a professor at Technion and Aleph’s co-founder. "As we look into the future of 3D bioprinting, the opportunities are endless."
A price point has not yet been announced for the sizzling steak, but the Daily Mail reports it will take a few years to hit shelves.
"We are executing a clear plan to achieve cost-parity for cultivation of meat products at scale," said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, in a statement obtained by the outlet. "We expect to achieve this goal within five years from our 2022 soft launch, which is faster than the new generation of plant-based meat substitutes."
Sunday, February 21
Saturday, February 20
Saturday: Before Noon
Once the cats have been given their treat and their bowls filled up with food, I make myself a cup of coffee with a coffee pod and sit in my recliner to watch FOX NEWS... It is typically around 8:00/8:30 am... Prior to 2015, I was keyed into watching CNN or CBS News in the morning, but after going to the local gym where FOX NEWS was being televised, I quickly realized that CNN and/or CBS was NOT REPORTING all the news.
After watching FOX NEWS at home and switching back and forth between CNN, CBS, and Fox, I came to the realization that the conservative points-of-view were not just being overlooked but they were being distorted in favor of the liberal points-of-view.
I was a DIEHARD liberal until I went to Graduate School and earned an MBA... then, I became a conservative liberal with a focus on eliminating debt and balancing the budget.
Unfortunately and beginning with the Trump Administration, mainstream media simply did not publish news that they DETERMINED they did not want to general public to know... and, that mentality bothered me more than the bullshit that Trump was doing.
Being retired... one day is no more different than any other day... unless, there is a doctor's appointment scheduled and then I have to shower/shave and leave the house. If there is no appointment, then my days are typically spent inside the house unless I take a notion to get in the hot tub outside.
BUT... this is Saturday and I know that I am going nowhere today... so, I will drink coffee for 2-3 hours before deciding that there is something else I need/want to do. However, I will turn the channel once CAVUTO comes on... as I just don't like to listen to him nor do I like his personality in general.
Typically, I start watching the HISTORY channel or the FOOD channel for the rest of the morning as I continue drink a few more cups of coffee. It bothers me that I have to also watch STUPID COMMERCIALS that target Americans with an 8th grade mentality... but, this is how America sells its products... and, I guess is a NECESSARY EVIL.
Once my morning comes to a close, I eat a modest lunch and then begin preparing my blogs by first preparing a list of potential topics that I want to research... I also take a looksee at previous lists that I prepared as well. Daily Journals that I have been keeping for over ten years is where I write these lists and keep my notes for other topics that have been previously researched. These journals are stored in a filing cabinet in the garage.
What's interesting about this Saturday is that the sun is out and this weekends represents the being of a 30 warming trend according to the weather channel forecasts. Cold weather in the Valley is all but OVER...
Friday, February 19
Artificial Intelligence Omnipresent
THE FUTURE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence is impacting the future of virtually every industry and every human being. Artificial intelligence has acted as the main driver of emerging technologies like big data, robotics and IoT, and it will continue to act as a technological innovator for the foreseeable future.
Some sectors are at the start of their AI journey, others are veteran travelers. Both have a long way to go. Regardless, the impact artificial intelligence is having on our present day lives is hard to ignore:
Artificial intelligence is impacting the future of virtually every industry and every human being. Artificial intelligence has acted as the main driver of emerging technologies like big data, robotics and IoT, and it will continue to act as a technological innovator for the foreseeable future.
Some sectors are at the start of their AI journey, others are veteran travelers. Both have a long way to go. Regardless, the impact artificial intelligence is having on our present day lives is hard to ignore:
- Transportation: Although it could take a decade or more to perfect them, autonomous cars will one day ferry us from place to place.
- Manufacturing: AI powered robots work alongside humans to perform a limited range of tasks like assembly and stacking, and predictive analysis sensors keep equipment running smoothly.
- Healthcare: In the comparatively AI-nascent field of healthcare, diseases are more quickly and accurately diagnosed, drug discovery is sped up and streamlined, virtual nursing assistants monitor patients and big data analysis helps to create a more personalized patient experience.
- Education: Textbooks are digitized with the help of AI, early-stage virtual tutors assist human instructors and facial analysis gauges the emotions of students to help determine who’s struggling or bored and better tailor the experience to their individual needs.
- Media: Journalism is harnessing AI, too, and will continue to benefit from it. Bloomberg uses Cyborg technology to help make quick sense of complex financial reports. The Associated Press employs the natural language abilities of Automated Insights to produce 3,700 earning reports stories per year — nearly four times more than in the recent past.
- Customer Service: Last but hardly least, Google is working on an AI assistant that can place human-like calls to make appointments at, say, your neighborhood hair salon. In addition to words, the system understands context and nuance.
Thursday, February 18
Limbaugh Dead @ 70
Rush is a victim of what most Americans do, ESPECIALLY MALES, and that is not to admit that they are sick in any way until it is is too late. Steve Jobs did that very same thing...
What is it about our culture that males do not want to admit that they are weak and vulnerable?
When I was 40 years old, I stopped smoking cigarettes and gave up all forms of alcohol except the once or twice obligatory glass of wine at Christmas Dinners...
WHY?
Because I wanted to intentionally AVOID any and all cancers associated with tobacco and alcohol and whenever I would get together with males who were drinking and/or smoking, I was referred to as not being MACHO.
I really didn't give a crap what they thought... my main concern was my future health. AND... while I am not wealthy nor do I have nothing of valuable to contribute to society and no reason to live except to experience God's Creation... I do want to live as long as I can...
ETHICS: Deepfakes
While there are interesting and creative applications of deepfakes, they are also likely to be weaponized. We were among the early responders to this phenomenon, and developed the first deepfake detection method based on the lack of realistic eye-blinking in the early generations of deepfake videos in early 2018. Subsequently, there is a surge of interest in developing deepfake detection methods.
A climax of these efforts is this year’s Deepfake Detection Challenge. Overall, the winning solutions are a tour de force of advanced DNNs (an average precision of 82.56 percent by the top performer). These provide us effective tools to expose deepfakes that are automated and mass-produced by AI algorithms. However, we need to be cautious in reading these results. Although the organizers have made their best effort to simulate situations where deepfake videos are deployed in real life, there is still a significant discrepancy between the performance on the evaluation data set and a more real data set; when tested on unseen videos, the top performer’s accuracy reduced to 65.18 percent. TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE BY SIWEI LYU
Wednesday, February 17
Deepfake Technology
Deepfakes (a portmanteau of "deep learning" and "fake") are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. While the act of faking content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive. The main machine learning methods used to create deepfakes are based on deep learning and involve training generative neural network architectures, such as autoencoders or generative adversarial networks (GANs).
Deepfakes have garnered widespread attention for their uses in celebrity pornographic videos, revenge porn, fake news, hoaxes, and financial fraud. This has elicited responses from both industry and government to detect and limit their use.
Photo manipulation was developed in the 19th century and soon applied to motion pictures. Technology steadily improved during the 20th century, and more quickly with digital video.
Deepfake technology has been developed by researchers at academic institutions beginning in the 1990s, and later by amateurs in online communities. More recently the methods have been adopted by industry. SOURCE: Wikipedia
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| An example of deepfake technology: in a scene from Man of Steel, actress Amy Adams in the original (left) is modified to have the face of actor Nicolas Cage (right) |
Deepfakes have garnered widespread attention for their uses in celebrity pornographic videos, revenge porn, fake news, hoaxes, and financial fraud. This has elicited responses from both industry and government to detect and limit their use.
Photo manipulation was developed in the 19th century and soon applied to motion pictures. Technology steadily improved during the 20th century, and more quickly with digital video.
Deepfake technology has been developed by researchers at academic institutions beginning in the 1990s, and later by amateurs in online communities. More recently the methods have been adopted by industry. SOURCE: Wikipedia
Tuesday, February 16
NEW ZEALAND: Cows and Cars
The changes are among a raft of recommendations presented to the government by the Climate Change Commission on steps New Zealand must take to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change.
Commission chairman Rod Carr acknowledged the advice was ambitious but said it was realistic and made a clear case for “immediate and decisive” action.
“As a country, we need transformational and lasting change to meet our targets,” he said.
“There are a few actions that are critical to meeting our targets: electric vehicles, accelerated renewable energy generation, climate-friendly farming practices and more permanent forests, predominantly natives.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the document, which will now go out for public consultation, showed the impact of the reforms would not be an economic burden.
“The cost of action on the economy is not as great as many have previously thought. In fact, action on climate change is an economic opportunity for New Zealand,” she said.
“Action on climate change is critical to our ongoing economic success. New Zealand exporters rely on our clean, green brand and there will be new opportunities for Kiwi businesses as we adapt to a zero-carbon economy.”
The commission found New Zealand’s current climate commitments were not compatible with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but said change was achievable at little cost.
A switch from fossil fuels would see hundreds lose their jobs in the coal, oil and gas industries but the commission expected many workers to be re-employed “in the circular economy, development of biofuels and hydrogen, and in deploying and supporting new technologies”.
The commission wants to end imports of petrol-powered cars by 2032 and projects that more than half of all light vehicle travel would be in electric vehicles by 2035.
To reduce methane gas levels, the report said farmers needed to improve animal performance while reducing stock numbers by around 15 per cent from 2018 levels by 2030.
“If farmers can continue to achieve productivity improvements in line with historic trends, these outcomes could be achieved while maintaining total production at a similar level to today,” the report said.
Following the public consultation, the government is due to make a final decision by the end of 2021 on whether to adopt the measures.
Monday, February 15
New York City EXODUS
On East 60th street, patrons at the once buzzy Le Bilboquet were huddled in outdoor cubbies, wearing hats and scarves while nibbling on Cajun chicken and sipping Bordeaux. One block up, 10 tables at clubby La Goulue struggled to share four heaters while diners gripped bowls of onion soup for extra warmth.
CORONAVIRUS MASS EXODUS PUTS NYC IN 'VERY FRAGILE SITUATION': HOME DEPOT'S LANGONE
But just a short flight away — in tony Palm Beach, Fla., where La Goulue recently opened an outpost that’s a mirror image of its Manhattan mother ship — all inside tables and seats at the bar are full. Patrons are laughing and living it up, seemingly oblivious to the perils of fraternizing during a pandemic.
“I have escaped New York!’’ declared the bistro’s owner, Jean Denoyer. “We take everyone’s temperature when they arrive and keep the doors and windows open so fresh air circulates.’’
Le Bilboquet’s owner, Philippe Delgrange, is also in Palm Beach, where he premiered his famous boîte’s Southern sister this week.
“[Palm Beach] is really working with you, not trying to put wood in your wheels,’’ he said, no doubt referencing how New York City restaurants are just now, after two months of closure, allowed to seat indoor diners at 25 percent capacity. “I have seen so many friends of mine, I can’t believe it. And all our New York staff is asking to come work here.’’
Denoyer and Delgrange are among the hordes of New Yorkers now enjoying life in Palm Beach County, where the influx of energy is palpable. Although masks are required inside commercial establishments throughout the county, people are, of course, allowed to remove them while eating or drinking, and there are no specific spacing rules — so it’s not unusual to see bars full of closely packed mask-less patrons.
Some northerners feel as if they have landed in a parallel universe, with old friends and favorite gathering spots transported to a sunnier setting.
Upper East Sider Joe Wagner, 63, arrived in South Florida in late January with plans to stay for two weeks, but decided to remain through March. He’s been enjoying dinner indoors at La Goulue. “Sometimes I feel a little unsafe. In New York, I was housebound. But it seems that so many people here are more relaxed because they already had COVID,’’ the real-estate developer told The Post. “They say, ‘Don’t worry, I have the antibodies,’ and I say, ‘That’s great, but could you back up a little?’ ” To Read Entire Article, Click Here...
SWEDEN: Falling Crime
Police in the multicultural southern Swedish city of Malmö say that the murder rate has fallen since 2018 because many gang leaders are behind bars.
In 2020, the city saw five murders, a major drop from the 13 that took place in 2018 and eight in 2019.
Mattias Sigfridsson, deputy police area manager in Malmö, told broadcaster SVT that the hacking of an encrypted app used by criminals called EncroChat has helped police prevent murders and violent crimes.
“[W]e believe we have prevented murder and serious violent crimes. That has been our goal all along – to lock up those who are responsible for the violence. We have also received valuable information from EncroChat, the encrypted chat we have taken part in. This has, of course, affected our ability to prevent crime,” Sigfridsson said.
EncroChat was breached last year by investigators and led to the arrest of more than 700 organised criminals linked to drug trafficking, gun smuggling, and money laundering in the United Kingdom alone. As of December 2020, more than a thousand criminals who used the service had been arrested.
While Malmö has seen a reduction in murders last year, just one of the five cases has actually been solved. Two others await trial and the remaining two cases have no suspects at all. Several murders from previous years also remain unsolved.
2020 was also a high year for fatal shootings across Sweden, with 47 people killed in shootings compared to 42 in 2019 and 45 in 2018. The number of overall shootings also increased from 2019.
In Stockholm, 2020 saw a record number of explosions and bombings despite the Wuhan virus pandemic, but explosions and bombings across the entire country were down to 107 from 133 in 2019.
Robert Karlsson, deputy regional police chief in Stockholm, said that while he was not satisfied with the number of explosions last year, police had managed to develop tools to better investigate bombing cases. TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...
Sunday, February 14
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