Operation Snail Cup: 30 stories of Hope and Inspiration and counting!

Back in October, I launched my website: www.operationsnailcup.com, sharing stories of hope and inspiration from around the world on a global google map.


Less than two months later: OperationSnailCup now has 30 inspiring stories from 6 different countries and 5 continents! Based mainly in the U.S, Snail Cup has now reached Canada, Italy, Israel, Chile, and Kenya.


If you would like to add your story of hope and inspiration: could you please write a short story of one of the defining moments in your life where you partook or witnessed a moment or act of hope or inspiration? My class and I would be very grateful. To protect your privacy, I would only ask to use your first name and location. Pictures are appreciated either of you, or of this moment you are sharing.

Thank you so much for contributing to my class project. I hope to see it grow and flourish with stories of hope and inspiration that we can share together in these uncertain times.

Thank you for your time,

Aimée.

Please e-mail all stories and pictures to my e-mail: msnadow@yahoo.com. 

Earth Day Google Doodles: A Look Back...

2011

2010

"Mashable.com: A Review of the Social Media Guide," by Aimee.

Mashable.com, the self-proclaimed "Social Media Guide," uses a Wal-Mart type logo and a clickable tab bar to organize interesting articles on subjects such as: Social Media, Tech & Gadgets, Business & Marketing, Video, Dev[elopment] & Design, Media, Social Good and Startups.

The interface, looks like this:

When googling Mashable pictures, I saw the transformation of what Mashable used to be to what it has become today. The old user interface had links to the main social networking sites: twitter, facebook, myspace, etc... the new user interface runs more like a major news network, with categories of information, such as:

SOCIAL MEDIA:
1. "The 42 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed,"
2.  "Ten Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile,"

TECH & GADGETS:
1. "Futuristic VW to hit the Streets: Gets 260 MPG"
2. "Plug Hub that Makes Cables Disappear,"  (See photo: right)
3. "Angry Birds: RIO to be Launched in March"
4. "FCC GrantsGoogle Access to "Super Wi-Fi" Broadband Spectrum,"

BUSINESS & MARKETING:
1. "LivingSocial is Giving Groupon a Run For Its Money, Thanks to Amazon"
2. "YouTube Looks to Integrate Comments From Facebook & Twitter,"

VIDEO:
1. "Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week,"
2. "The 'No Pants' Subway Flash-Mob Rides Again!"

MOBILE:
1. "Switching to Verizon? Sell Back Your AT&T iPhone/iPad at Macworld,"
2. "Google Previews its Tablet-Optimized Android Honeycomb OS,"
3. "Great Moments in Text Messaging," (A Comic)

DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN:
1. "The State of Cybercrime,"
2. "Thousands of Horoscopes Mashed up to Create One Generic [and perfect?] Prediction." (See below)

MEDIA:
1. "Kindle Books Now Outselling Paperbacks at Amazon"
2. "What it's like inside one of the World's Most Exclusive Conferences: The World Economics Forum,"
3. "Rupert Murdoch's 'The Daily' [tablet newspaper] Officially Launching Feb 2"

SOCIAL GOOD:
1. "E-Commerce Site Lets Users Buy a Better Life For Girls in India"
2. "E-Readers in Africa: Non-Profit Brings Thousands of Books to Ghanaian Children"
3. "4 Social Trends Impacting the Future of Online Fundraising,"
4. "4 Innovative Social Good Campaigns for Education,"

STARTUPS:
1. "11 Recommendations for the Entrepreneur's Bookshelf"
2. "New Android App Helps You Determine if a Product is a Good Buy."


THE VERDICT on Mashable.com: Thumbs-up! I found a lot of interesting news articles and information that I hadn't seen or considered before on this website. It's easy interface makes it simple to navigate. (I'll probably even buy one or two of the cable organizer "Plug Hubs" for my OCD husband now that I've seen them!)


My Usage Recommendation for you: Add it as a 'Bookmark Bar' tab on your internet browser for easy daily/weekly new article check-ins if you like these topics...

The Sovereignity of Google

Good morning Blogosphere. Today's topic? The "sovereignity" of Google, up for debate. I've been a enjoying a Facebook Debate on my wall over this post:

Aimée M Nadow: What an english teacher thinks is interesting: 'grey' (2M hits on google) VS. 'gray' (1.7M hits). GREY wins. Dan, Sean, and Christy like this. 

• Eric Did Grey win because of the Grey's Anatomy or Earl Grey tea?  
•  
  

  Christy but at the same time... i have always wondered which spelling people use more... i just never thought to google it!
•  
  

  Sarah1 Hum, Eric, you are on to something..Were the numbers really reflective of people looking up how to spell the word? Ew..I am thinking about variations and reasons for standard deviation and probability...And I don't even teach MATH!
•  
  

  Sarah2 Yes!!! I've always prefered grey!

So there we go, this raises some questions to ponder! Is it now standard to "trust" Google, because of its speed, even when clearly it is not a primary source? What does that say about our society and our willingness to trade accuracy for speed? What DO the numbers reflect? INTERESTING...

UPDATED: 1/12: 8:54 P.M:

• Jay What about the colorful side of gray/grey? I never saw battleship grey, and Lady Jane Grey would never do in English Lit, and as I type this, my spell check says grey is misspelled. Clearly it is not a black or white issue, but in a very grey/gray area.
• 
  

  Jason  well not to sound like the tech guy, but........why dont you do a boolean search and search for [grey NOT"grey's anatomy" NOT "Earl Grey Tea"] and see if that changes the search. This was a lesson I used to teach in boolean searches. The numbers can change, but not sure if the subject of Grey/Gray will change all that much.