IceBlog
Not really about online learning, but this blog from an Antarctic researcher will help you fill some of those holiday hours. The site is a great read, and there are some lovely photos of the Antarctic summer. By Beth Bartel, IceBlog, December, 2003 [Refer][Research][Reflect]. More...

Standards: Do We Really Need Them?
Useful and informed discussion of standards. After some discussion of de facto standards (what the purists would call 'specifications') and 'de jure standards', such as those approved by ISO and IEEE, the author points to the importance of open standards and suggests things you can do to start using them now. More...

The Internet in a Cup
Coffee houses... the internet of the 1600s. "A proclamation by Charles II of England in 1675... Coffee-houses, it declared, had produced 'very evil and dangerous effects...for that in such Houses...divers False, Malitious and Scandalous Reports are devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majestie's Government, and to the Disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm.'" My kind of place. By Unknown, Economist, December, 2003 [Refer][Research][Reflect]. More...

Winter Mist
So it has been a pretty slow news week, and today's newsletter reflects that, which some off topic but interesting items. Begin your vacation browse with this collection of photos, taken at my home in Moncton, where the weather and the melting snow produced an unusual winder fog on Christmas Day. More...

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In Princetonian's Spare Telling, Class of '33 Drifts Into Winter
"A great strong class," read the byline for many years, though of late the adjective "small" has been added. I never belonged to a "class" the way these Princeton alumni did. I wonder how that shapes my outlook on university education. More...

Top Ten Trends for 2004
Subtitled: "It's All About Productivity Now. Dramatic Productivity Gains from New Technology Dominate the Landscape." Honestly, if it's all about productivity, I want to pack up my computer and take up a new line of work. These ppredictions by Sam S. Adkins of the Workflow Institute seem well grounded, but they miss the wonderment that defines real change. More...

The Wardriver and the Cop
Cute story about obtaining wireless internet access by parking outside a school. For those haven't memorized the jargon, 'WEP' stands for 'Wired Equivalent Privacy', a security standard for wireless networks, and 'AP' stands for 'Access Point', a place where you can log on to the internet. More...

So, Scrooge was Right After All
It's still pretty slow out there, so I'm continuing to mix the holiday reading with the e-learning stuff. In this item, the economic advantage of gifts is discounted - you are more likely to get less for your $50 if you exchanged gifts than if you spent the money on yourself. More...

Truth about High School
An unpopular high school validictorian, elected as a joke, tells it like it is. "I am not the most popular person, not even close," he wrote. More...