I was looking for a reference I'd seen about the postitive impact, the mere expectation of humour has on one's well being at Tara Calishain's Knicknack Drawer at researchbuzz. com.

NOTE: If you haven't heard of Tara, or Goggle Hacks, expect to hear more about both in the next while. Her book, with Rael Dornfest, subtitled 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tricks "streeted" in February.

I got to thinking about hacks and humour, and having fun and landed on the Game Theory page at http://wikipedia.org following a wkipedia reference in one of the PDF files -- Learning object design as an emerging paradigm -- from David Wiley referenced in yesterday's post.

I'm intrigued by the notion of fun and games as "learning tools" for self-directed, 'net-based learners. Technical difficulties are inevitable in "pick your abbrev./acronym for 'net-based" learning; therefore, you better provide some yuks along the way.

To wit, a golden oldie:

Did you hear about the dyslexic, insomniac agnositic?

The poor soul was up all night wondering if there really is a dog?

Thanks to Kim for a couple o' gems via e-mail today. A graphic to a humourous picture hailing a new software release from an "800 lb gorilla" which shall remain unnamed and a link to an on-line community.

I was tempted to post the graphic in-line here, but haven't in the interest of keeping cease and desist missives down to a dull roar.

I'm not sure exactly how the logistics work, but bookcrossing.com looks interesting. I think they're onto something.

I especially like their good karma: priceless reference -- it's the bottom line on their server stats in the top-right corner of their page.

The topic of the Semantic Web came up during a chat last night with colleagues in CTL 1799. Our chat on Wednesday had fewer participants than Monday's and I think it made it easier. I'd also been a "chat captain" in Monday's chat, and felt less pressure "speaking for myself" on Wednesday.

I mentioned CANCORE-compliant "objects" during the chat. At one point I was asked to define what I meant by the term Semantic Web. My response -- "all speaking the same language."

This becomes especially important in the constructivist, development and learning environment I think the WWW represents. Once web-based repositories "speak the same languauge" access to knowledge, and "a template" for building more, are accessible to all.

You factor-in David Wiley's concepts of "scalability and sociability" and "sustainable education" and you've got a recipe for some powerful "dynamic knowledge building."

NOTES:

• I'm having a hard time keeping up with Wiley. I visited his presentations page to get the link above and see that he's added another PDF since my last visit.
  
  
• He means it when he captions the PDF files "large" -- the first one was a little shy of 38 MB
  
  
• These files will take a long time to download --nearly ten minutes on DSL/Cable
  
  
• . . . and probably much longer than most are prepared to spend, downloading the files over dial-up connections
  

Not what you want to see outside in March.

It's been a whirlwind keeping up with school and work. Factor in the travel, and it's been a busy few weeks.

One thing I am noticing along the way is that object-based on-line education is definitely making more sense to developers and educators. By this I mean I'm seeing more and more relevant examples of "education" or "learning" objects, and their application, on the 'net.

Stakeholders aren't out of the woods just yet, but we seem further along the path that we were in January 2002 when this "journey" (i.e., the blog you're reading) began.

Made it home in one piece from Fernie.

I can tell you I was very happy to have my transceiver sending a signal as I trekked down from the top o' the Knot Chutes. The snow was quite deep and I recognized that a "boot packing" descent through thigh deep snow is one sure way to test the stability of a snowpack on a steep slope ;-)

Fernie offers much for skiers and 'boarders of all ability levels and inclinations. Great "bunny hill" and "green-circle" facilities; "blue-square" cruisers and relative steeps; "black diamond" bumps, steeps, trees; and "double-black diamond" or "extreme terrain" that'll truly test your abilities.

NOTES:

• the "colours-shapes" outlined above indicate the relative difficulty -- of the runs at that area. Fernie truly offers "something for everyone. A word of caution to those heading to the "double-black/extreme" end of the scale. Know that they mean it ;-)
  
  
• it was snowing heavily when we left Fernie at noon today. Those (many) I saw sporting I LOVE BIG DUMPS stickers will be happy
  

Stopped in Sparwood, BC to take some pictures of the World's Biggest Truck -- there may now be ones larger, but this one has twelve-foot tires. It's suspension shocks looked like those ones you see in domes and sports stadiums as part of the structure -- massive.

An impressive "ride" to be sure.



As we were leaving, we watched one happy tourist get half-way up the front-left tire before he fell to the ground. He lay where he landed -- the concrete "pad" you can see under the tire -- for a while, but eventually got up and "walked it off."