Bloggers anoymous

The graphic at the left is the result of an interesting short quiz that probably has the validity of those in Readers Digest, but is fun nonetheless. Thanks, to Jeff Utecht at the Thinking Stick for the link to this site.

Having been away on vacation and out of my routine, I found myself staring at hundreds of potentially interesting and useful blog postings. I "cleaned'm up" in about an hour by skimming, scanning, and starring some for later study (yeah, right).

I started asking myself if I'm not reading more and enjoying it less. Should I read fewer blogs and if so, which ones?

Here is the short list of the blogs to which I've recently starred entries:

1. Stephen's Lighthouse
2. Web-logged
3. MA Bell's Blog about Libraries
4. From the Trenches of Public Education
5. The Thinking Stick
6. Infomancy
7. ijohnpederson
8. Around the Corner
9. 2 Cents Worth
10. NeverEndingSearch
11. California Dreamin'
12. Half an Hour
13. Dangerously Irrelevant
14. MSNBC.com: Practical Futurist
15. Assorted Stuff

That's it. That's what I'm keeping.  From 89 feeds to 15 (and a few fun ones.) I am sure the list will build again.

Here's to being out of the loop and rather relieved.

What, no whales in the Minnesota River?

According to a story in this morning's Mankato Free Press, a couple was disappointed to learn that Mankato (MN) does not live up to its billing on the web:

[Rosaura] Prada, of Edinburg, Texas, brought her mother, Maria Alcantar, of Garden City, Kan., on vacation to Mankato Monday to see the underwater city, the pyramid and maybe do some whale watching. But when they arrived at their motel, they found no one knew about these and dozens of other attractions that the Web site at http://city-mankato.us claims Mankato offers.

I'm guessing the Pradas have already left the area and I won't get a chance to sell them the Red Jacket Bridge just south of town. Rats.

Minnesota State professor Don Descy's site has probably done more than anything to put our litte town "on the map." When I ask folks in workshops if they know anything about Mankato, they often say, "Isn't that the place with the funny website?" One of the earliest spoof sites on the Internet, Descy purposely created the page to emphasize the need for evaluating the information found on the "new" medium of the web. I guess it is still teaching people - albeit within the school of hard knocks.

And it continues to embarrass the local officials. 

Oh, bonus points if you can find my picture as "Sheik Yabouti" on the site.

Play money

Your humble blogster navigating the Big Kahuna Rapids on the Snake River. Look for brown hat.

I've always wondered a little about Daniel Pink's 5th "Conceptual Age Skill" from his book A Whole New Mind (about which I've written before a couple times):

5. Not just seriousness, but also PLAY.

How can serious educators consider "play" to be an important 21st century skill?

That was until when visiting Jackson, Wyoming, it dawned on me that there is serious money to be made in "play."

Jackson is the gateway to Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and the white-water section of the Snake River, and has two major ski resorts. As a result, this little town of about 8000 souls finds 4 million people visiting it each year. At any one time, about 80% are sitting in the 50' RVs that are towing an SUV right in the middle of a two lane park road pointing and staring at a (sometimes imaginary) moose. Those 4 million people bring wallets stuffed with cash and credit cards.

Jackson's retail establishment seems to be divided equally among sporting good stores, art galleries, restaurants, and white water rafting companies. Many of the tourists here seem to have taken the bear's survival strategy to heart and continuously gorge for the coming long winter. I suspect many could hibernate for a couple years and still come away with a few extra pounds. Whatever your brand of play - shopping, skiing, bicycling, rafting, hiking, eating - a Jackson merchant is near.

Can a person who does not understand the nature of play provide it to others? I'm doubtful.

PS. A big thanks to Janice Segerstrom, tech director for Teton District #1 Schools, who organized the librarian workshops and the tech/ELL conference at which I spoke and gave me an excuse to come to this beautiful part of the world. And proved to be an excellent host!

Gotta go. Time to eat! 

Play - a 21st century skill