Is the Task Force for Real?

At Tuesday's SOTU Obama announced a special DOJ task force to prosecute those who were criminally responsible for the 2008 Meltdown. New York AG Eric Schneiderman was put in charge and the task force had its first meeting on Friday.

At our meeting today, it was suggested that there would be no results until after the election. We have a right to be skeptical, but here is a Schneiderman interview in which he is optimistic to get results in 6 to 8 months. He also said that his own investigation was not put on hold because of the task force, and we could see the results of his efforts fairly soon. While Schneiderman's own investigation covers the robo-signing, the new DOJ task force will investigate all criminal activities that led to the crash.

What do you think? Are we actually going to see results before the election?

State of the Union

Tomorrow is Obama's State of the Union. The White House is making it a four day Internet event, Tuesday to Friday. You can see an enhanced version of the speech HERE. You can see the questions now being voted on to ask the President HERE. Send me an email if you need help to cast your votes or better still enlist the services of your grandchidren.

What About South Carolina

There was so much news last week that we neglected to talk about Newt's comeback in the South Carolina Primary, even though it was listed first on Lowe's sheet. Here is your chance to speak your mind about South Carolina or the upcoming primaries. Who do you think will win Florida. Who do you want to win?

The NeXT Step in Education

As a group, we are concern about the state of education in the US. We have discussed many aspects from the use of computers to the coddling of our children. Last Thursday, Jan 19, marked the entry of Apple into the fray. As expected, Apple's education revolution is based on the iPad, which has its roots in the NeXT computer founded by Steve Jobs back in 1988. Steve Jobs has always had an interest in education and much of Apple's current education initiative was setup by him before his death.

The event was an hour long so here is a seven minute video summary
Here is a link to the entire Apple Education Event. Prepare to be wowed.

We also talked about encouraging self-esteem of our students. Perhaps we are doing it the wrong way. Here is a TED Talk about the need for schools to teach creativity recommended by Norm. The speaker Ken Robinson gives a provoking and entertaining talk.

Huntsman Out, Colbert In

We seem to agree that the Republican primary has been more entertainment than serious news. Jon Huntsman is now officially out, perhaps because he could not withstand being outpolled by Steven Colbert. For those that missed it here is Colbert's announcement.

Drone Warfare

We have had several lively discussions on the use of drones by the military. We have talked about its effectiveness and morality, but there is another issue, the proliferation of military drone technology. Here is a TED talk about this problem in the future of war.

Hope for the New Year

Much of our concern is with bad news. So what about the good news. Where is the hope for the New Year? Personally I see hope in how new technology is promoting new ideas and the best example of this is at the TED website. Here is a TED talk which shows how technology has interconnected us to create a worldwide virtual choir. HERE

This is just art but it demonstrates the power of networking made possible by new technology. To solve our problems, we may need to turn to each other.