Palin E-Mail Hacker Says It Was Easy

Palin E-Mail Hacker Says It Was Easy | Threat Level from Wired.com has an interesting post that I’ll want to share with my students when my “Children and Technology” course starts up in the winter. We talk about hacking and the protection of children’s information… parents cannot protect their children if their accounts are so hackable.

Slashdot | Japanese Begin Working On Space Elevator

Slashdot | Japanese Begin Working On Space Elevator

From cyborg housemaids and waterpowered cars to dog translators and rocket boots, Japanese boffins have racked up plenty of near-misses in the quest to turn science fiction into reality. Now the finest scientific minds of Japan are devoting themselves to cracking the greatest sci-fi vision of all: the space elevator. Man has so far conquered space by painfully and inefficiently blasting himself out of the atmosphere but the 21st century should bring a more leisurely ride to the final frontier. Japan is increasingly confident that its sprawling academic and industrial base can solve those issues, and has even put the astonishingly low price tag of a trillion yen (£5 billion) on building the elevator. Japan is renowned as a global leader in the precision engineering and high-quality material production without which the idea could never be possible.

And we’re studying pulleys, block and tackle this week in class…

Listening to Families

This is a great new site coming from research by faculty from our school.
Listening to Families

In Canada today a significant number of families and young children (0-9 years) are living in circumstances that put the child’s healthy development and learning success at risk.

Nearly one in six of Canada’s children live in poverty;
An estimated 5-7% of children and youth have developmental disabilities;
Over 22% of newcomers to Canada every year are children under 9.

These categories of disadvantage often overlap, compounding their impact on young children.
The primary purpose of this project is to increase the capacity of providers of public services to engage with and respond to the needs of families who live in poverty, are newcomers to Canada, or have a child with a disability.