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Pheasant ... Not Just for Breakfast Anymore!

Did you know pheasant is more expensive than lobster?  Rather than dining out at a fancy Manhattan restaurant, come to rural Iowa and eat pheasant!

• Six hunting licenses ($90 x 6 = $540)
• Three nights lodging at Tjaden's Motel ($40 x 3 nights x 3 rooms = $360)
• Gasoline for cars ($150)
• Dinner a local cafes for six ($20 x 6 hunters x 3 nights = $360)

Total cost = $1,410

• Total pheasant kill = 12 birds
• Price per pheasant = $117.50 per bird

Thus, pheasant is truly a delicacy.  Lobster is cheap by comparison!

If you're still with me ... (I'll resume serious blogging tomorrow!)

• Enjoy this Nerdcast of Pheasant Hunting in Iowa (4 minutes long)
• Four photos from the hunt; that's me with the Chip, the dog!

   

Home from JiaYou

Tomorrow, Molly and I head back to the United States. Visting JiaYou was inspiring; here are some of my final impressions of this trip ...

It is hard to express in words what I've experienced in China, but I will try.  I've met children who are seven years old and walk 60 minutes each way over mountain passes to get to school.  Many children walk from even farther distances to school, and thus must live at the school dorm in conditions which are hard to imagine. These same children cook their own meals every night. While I love my own children dearly, I could never imagine them living in a bleak dorms when they were only in second grade, and cooking their own meals every night.

At the same time I've seen the new school at JiaYou, which was built thanks to your generosity. These Chinese families are dedicated to education in a manner we in the U.S.A. can never appreciate. Their children now learn in a bright, clean, protected from the weather environment. Thank you!

For many of the children, and adults, I was the first Caucasian they had ever seen. This region of China near Vietnam is 100 km from the nearest larger city in China. It was only five years ago that the dirt road connecting the region was paved with blacktop. Our driver told us the 100 km drive used to take over ten hours. Many of the mountain villages in the region are still only reachable by footpath. Farming of rice and tea is conducted as it has been for hundreds of years ... by hand.

The local officials treated Molly and me like royalty. Our entourage included four, four wheel drive SUV's. The group ranged from the local school officials, the president of the China Tomorrow Education Foundation, the regional People's Republic of China vice chairman ... and us! Without the SUV's we would never have reached many of the schools we visited.

Finally, my hotel room in rural China was clean, cheap ($12 per night) and had free internet access!

Bye for now ... I'm physically tired, but rested of the soul. I will leave you with some photographs of my Chinese mountain journey and a 30 second sound clip (mp3) featuring the children of JiaYou!
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Nerdcast - Take 09: eLearning Devcon

Given I'm attending an eLearning conference (DevCon), I decided to "practice what I preach", and do a podcast from last night's reception. My setup is fairly simple ... my Dell laptop and a Samson USB condenser microphone (Northstar Nerd's Podcasting Tutorial).

Listen to my podcast comments (1:52 running time). Each name below links to their interview. Everyone also had to answer the age old question ... What's the nerdiest thing you've ever done?!

My three victims were:

• Edwin Garcia from the University of Texas
  (3:36 running time)

I interviewed Edwin due to the phenomenal speed he applied the lessons learned in an afternoon session on how to use the Video iPod as an eLearning device. Within two hours of a session provided my Mark Henry on how to use the iPod Notes feature to create custom eLearning, Edwin had applied the lesson for a different platform than the one reviewed. I hope to link the Powerpoint slides for Mark's presentation soon.

See this separate post which includes Mark Henry's source files!

• Garin Hess, the CEO of Rapid Intake ... the conference host and sponsor
  (5:40 running time)

Hear Garin's view on Rapid Intake's views on technical conferences and Web 2.0. Having never attended eLearning DevCon before, I have been impressed with the openness this conference has to having presentations on "competing" ideas and technologies.

• Michael Weiland from Arizona State University
  (3:10 running time)

Michael's comments include his impressions of Devcon, and also an explanation of Knowledge at W.P. Carey. This web site / service of Arizona State's business school is provided in conjunction with Knowledge@Wharton. Quite frankly, I had no idea Knowledge@Wharton was building a network.

Learn more from some of my prior posts on Knowledge@Wharton:

• Management and Strategy Podcast Search Engine
• Knowledge@Wharton ... Around the Globe
• Other Posts ...

Nerdcast - Take 08: Lego League

Right before the July 4th holiday I had the privilege to interview Fred Rose. This gentlemen has been instrumental in building the Lego robotics program, not just in Minnesota, but throughout the world (HighTechKids.Org). This Fall, as I start my sixth year as a Lego League coach, I thought it would be neat to learn more about Fred and his ideas. Here were my questions: (listen to the podcast to hear Fred's answers!)

Nerdcast - Take 08: Interview with INSciTE Director: Fred Rose
(total running time: 15 minutes)

1. I know that Minnesota is now one Lego League's world leaders ... with a global reach via INSciTE, how did you first become involved with Lego League?
2. Now a two part question ....  As you know, I'm entering my sixth year as a Lego League coach. My boys will be high school seniors this Fall. In terms of having a high school level league, I understand that Minnesota is the exception to the rule, why is that? ...... and ...... What is your view on how we should be approaching the high school year's of our children's development?
3. Both of us work for the same Fortune 500 company's R&D Lab. Your job often takes you to Bangalore. A few years ago, you started up Lego League in India. What were some of the challenges with that effort?
4. During Lego League competitions, I am constantly amazed at the innovative robot designs which the kids create ... particularly the youngest children.  What can adult engineers learn from these children?
5. What's next for Fred Rose and INSciTE?
6. Fred ... thanks for your time today. One of the things I do on NerdCast is ask this question of all interviewees.  I warn you, only the geekiest, nerdiest answers are accepted! ..... Okay ... What's the nerdiest thing you've ever done in your life, and be specific!

Nerdcast - Take 07: SkillSoft

Late last year SkillSoft shook up the eLearning world with the news it would acquire NETg. These two organizations were the two largest competitors in the online training world. Now that the dust has settled (i.e. SEC requirements), and SkillSoft is free to talk about strategy, I recently sat down for a podcast interview with John Ambrose, SkillSoft's Senior Vice President of Strategy. Here were my questions: (listen to the podcast to hear John's answers!)

Nerdcast - Take 07: Interview with SkillSoft's John Ambrose
(total running time: 13 minutes)

1. What do you think will be the primary benefits of the NETg acquisition for your customers ... please include the areas of courses and virtual books in your answer?
2. NETg had an increasingly strong presence in live web based instructor led training.  What are SkillSoft's plans in this arena?
3. When the NETg acquisition was first announced, I personally attended the briefing your CEO, Chuck Moran, gave to Wall Street Analysts. In one of his answers he spoke to the issue of "increasing the NETg operating margins". Many NETg customers already feel that SkillSoft has historically been the high priced provider. Given your CEO's own comments, and these customer concerns, how would you respond?
4. What are your plans for the various eLearning platforms that SkillSoft and NETg have between them?
5. Is there anything you've not covered, that you would specifically like to say to NETg customers? ... to Skillsoft customers?
6. One of the things I do on NerdCast is ask this question of all interviewees! ..... Okay ... What's the nerdiest thing you've ever done in your life, and be specific!

Nerdcast - Take 06: A Second Life

Welcome to Nerdcast - Take 06: A Second Life!

In this podcast, I interview two gentleman from PA Consulting, Marco Tippmer and Claus Nehmzow. Their company has a leading business presence in Second Life (SL). With more organizations exploring virtual realities, and SL in specific, I believe you will find this podcast useful. My interview focus is practical business applications of SL.

• Nerdcast - Take 06: A Second Life

Background Data

• eContent (this blog) Second Life Links ... including a tutorial !
  .
• PA Consulting Links: Company Site | Wikipedia Entry

Claus Nehmzow: Claus has almost twenty-five years experience in technology and strategy consulting as well as operational management experience. The majority of his industry experience is in Financial Services, New Media and Mobile.  He has worked with some of the largest corporations as well as small VC-backed innovative start-ups. 

Claus has broad international experience in global business development and consulting as well as from having lived for many years each in Germany, Switzerland, USA, and the UK. Claus was Managing Director of Viant Germany, an Internet consultancy, Partner and Vice President at Booz-Allen & Hamilton in London and New York, Senior Manager at Accenture/Andersen Consulting. In Zurich, New York and London.

Marco Tippmer: Marco has over eight years experience in IT Consultancy working for Government bodies, utilities and finance organizations. His focus is on IT Strategy Development, combining established and emerging technologies to create innovative solutions and solve complex business problems. In addition he has extensive experience in Business Process Management and Project Management.

Nerdcast - Take 05: Tagging Twins Reprise

Welcome to Nerdcast - Take 05: The Tagging Twins Reprise

Earlier, in Nerdcast - Take 03, we determined that although Rafael Sidi and Puneet Gupta were NOT separated at birth, they are two forward thinking individuals who both play in the engineering knowledge management space. In this second installment of the Tagging Twins, I interview Rafael Sidi ... VP of Web Publishing for Elsevier. A major focus of this podcast is his firm's engineering research / tagging tool (eiVillage / Compendex).

• Nerdcast - Take 05: Rafael Sidi
  (right click to download)

Follow this link to Rafael's initial blog posting about the tagging feature release.
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Nerdcast - Take 04: Run for China

Ever wondered how to say "Northstar Nerd" in Mandarin? Tune in to my short podcast (less than four minutes) where Dj attempts to teach me some basic Mandarin ... and also explains the goals of the China Tomorrow Education Foundation.

• Nerdcast - Take 04: Rich Hoeg's Run for Chinese Children
  (right click to download)

Here is some background information (please consider emailing a pledge):

• Amount Pledged as of March 1, 2007: $2,477 (updated total)
• Learn more about my Run for China - Grandma's Marathon (June 2007)
• Last Saturday's long training run: 15 miles in a Winter storm!

Finally, the podcast took place in a noisy Chinese restaurant in Avenel, N.J. My new microphone and laptop setup worked fine (podcasting tutorial). The photos taken below show Dj with me in my Run for China t-shirt. I used a web service that allows one to design a custom shirt online. Swift ... click for a larger view!
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Nerdcast - Take 03: The Tagging Twins

Welcome to Nerdcast - Take 03: The Tagging Twins.

Although Puneet Gupta and Rafael Sidi were NOT separated at birth, they are two forward thinking individuals. In this first installment of the Tagging Twins, I interview Puneet Gupta ... CEO of ConnectBeam. His company provides social networking / tagging services that reside inside a company's firewall. This fact (i.e. inside the firewall) is extremely important for engineering design applications.

Okay, why the tagging twins? Both individuals are forward thinking individuals who were early advocates of social networking and tagging for the corporate enterprise.

• Nerdcast - Take 03: Puneet Gupta
  (right click to download)

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A few educational facts about this Nerdcast

1. I followed my own advice as found in my podcasting tutorial
2. The interview environment was a "quiet" conference room
   • My office had too much noise due to ventilation fans and server noise
3. My equipment was my Dell laptop, a Polycom, and Samson microphone.
   • My microphone was within inches of the Polycom
   • Puneet was on a land line, not a cell phone
   • I occasionally held the mike too close to my own mouth
4. Start to finish ... the eight minute podcast took me 75 minutes

Overall, this was a good effort. When I interview Rafael ... it will be better. My thanks to Puneet for being my guinea pig.

A Nerdcast Podcasting Tutorial

I've created a podcasting tutorial using Adobe Breeze. This tutorial takes the student through the entire process, from hardware requirements to software selection and usage. In addition, my approach was to demonstrate how to create podcasts using a basic, but professional platform

• The Northstar Nerd's Podcasting Tutorial

Enjoy! ... and Learn.

You will find more podcasting resources via my Nerdcast blog category. Finally, in my podcast tutorial I mentioned that most podcasts have a musical lead-in. c|Net's Music.Download.Com is an excellent source of legal, free and safe MP3's.  You can even browse by category ... how about some Appalachian folk music??
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Since I first created this tutorial, folks have asked me for additional Audacity support content. Here are links to a support wiki and documentation:

• Support / Documentation Wiki
• Manual (download, unzip, open "index.html")