Category Archives: Education

About the schools of Guizhou.

The Ultimate Competitor

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During the Beijing Winter, Olympics February 4 to February 20, 2022, I was watching sports on TV and, of course the news. In the middle of those two weeks of competition I saw the Russian leader show up in Beijing. He wasn’t there to cheer on the Russian Olympic Team. He came to  talk about friendship and alliances with the Chinese leader. Ukraine was on their minds and perhaps a little “Chinese Island” which was wrongfully separated from the mainland. These two guys announced that they were friends and would be working together going forward. That little Chinese island was really part of China, as much as the Ukraine was really part of Russia . . . same, same.

I remember thinking “What are they doing here?” The Russian team has been banned for cheating in prior Olympics. Perhaps the Chinese leader was using the Olympics as a  prop, a “media event” to call attention to the friendship of the two countries. Russia and China were going forward into the future as cooperating friends. That made sense. Russia has natural resources and a lot of land. An alliance between China and Russia would be mutually advantageous. What better way to advertise this alliance than with the Olympics?

Still I was put off by the Russian Leader, a “Notorious Thumper” and a cheat, coming to share the limelight at one of the greatest competitions of good will in the world.  The Olympics, the event that had banned the Russian Team.. Do we know what the two leaders were planning? Perhaps another media spectacle to call attention to themselves. We don’t know, but they were very likely planning something . . .

“Sports” is an activity that is used to promote human accomplishment, the ultimate competition. Yet we have other competitions as humans, like education, the arts, science, and technology. All of these go better with teamwork. Almost every aspect of human culture and  accomplishment goes better with teamwork. I will always remember a music teacher that I met at Oakland University who told me that no matter how good of a musician thatyou are, you are still limited. You can’t make music as well as a good band when all the musicians are “on,” a TEAM.

We have seen this kind of teamwork create excellence, greater than one person can achieve. We have teachers traversing the world, creating the best education. We have seen this in science and technology when smart  people from all countries work together, collaborating to advance humanity. These competitions are making better lives for us all when we do it right. It takes more than one person to create a blockbuster movie that spans cultures around the world. This is where communications technology shines. “The Media” can enhance our lives, make a lot of money, as well as promote friendships, teamwork, and competition.

But what  commands more attention and makes the most money? No more dancing around this subject . . . The biggest competition is:

WAR (Click Here)

Lyrics:

War, huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, oh hoh, oh
War huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it again y’all
War, huh good God
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me

Oh, war, I despise
‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives
War means tears to thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go off to fight and lose their lives

I said
War, huh good God y’all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, just say it again
War whoa Lord
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker

Oh war, is an enemy to all mankind
The thought of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest within the younger generation
Induction, then destruction who wants to die

War, good God, y’all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it, say it, say it
War, uh huh, yeah, huh
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker
War, it’s got one friend that’s the undertaker

Oh, war has shattered many young man’s dreams
Made him disabled bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious to spend fighting wars these days
War can’t give life it can only take it away, ooh

War, huh, good God y’all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it again
War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker

Peace love and understanding tell me
Is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way

War, huh, good God y’all
What is it good for?
You tell ’em, say it, say it, say it, say it
War, good Lord, huh
What is it good for?
Stand up and shout it, nothing
War, it ain’t nothin’ but a heartbreaker

Zhurong Mars Lander

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This comes from the BBC and is facinating:

China lands its Zhurong rover on Mars

By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

Published
(Animation  Not Available this format)
media captionAn animation shows how the Zhurong rover touched down

China has successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars, state media announced early on Saturday.

The six-wheeled Zhurong robot was targeting Utopia Planitia, a vast terrain in the planet’s northern hemisphere.

The vehicle used a combination of a protective capsule, a parachute and a rocket platform to make the descent.

The successful touchdown is a remarkable achievement, given the difficult nature of the task.

Only the Americans have really mastered landing on Mars until now. All other countries that have tried have either crashed or lost contact soon after reaching the surface.

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the mission team on its “outstanding achievement” in a special message.

“You were brave enough for the challenge, pursued excellence and placed our country in the advanced ranks of planetary exploration,” he said.

Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of science at the US space agency (Nasa), was quick also to add his own congratulations.

“Together with the global science community, I look forward to the important contributions this mission will make to humanity’s understanding of the Red Planet,” he said.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said the success augured well for its future cooperation with China.

Chinese engineersIMAGE COPYRIGHTSHUTTERSTOCK
image captionThe mission team received a congratulatory message from the president

The robot officially landed shortly after 07:00 on Saturday, Beijing time (Friday 23:00 GMT), according to state media.

It took 17 minutes to unfold its solar panels and send a signal back to Earth.

Zhurong, which means God of Fire, was carried to Mars on the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which arrived above the planet in February.

The probe then spent time surveying Utopia, taking high-resolution images to pinpoint the safest place to put the rover down.

The aim with all such ventures is to pick a spot that is devoid of imposing craters and where the landscape isn’t covered in large boulders.

Chinese engineers would have had to follow the landing effort with a time lag.

The current distance to Mars is 320 million km, which means radio messages take almost 18 minutes to reach Earth.

Every stage of the Zhurong robot’s approach to the surface therefore would have been conducted autonomously.

Chinese engineersIMAGE COPYRIGHTSHUTTERSTOCK
image captionEngineers follow events at Mars with a time lag of many minutes

The landing architecture was a familiar one.

The rover was encased in an aeroshell for the initial phase of the nine-minute descent. This capsule’s dive to the surface was slowed by pushing up against the Martian air.

The heat this generated was managed by a forward-facing shield.

At a predetermined time, a parachute opened to reduce the velocity still further.

Finally, the Zhurong robot broke away on a rocket-powered bench for the manoeuvres that took it safely to the ground.

Landing on Mars is always a daunting challenge but China would have had confidence going into the procedure, given the great competence it has shown in its space endeavours of late.

This is a nation that has been putting rovers on the Moon, and bringing lunar samples back to Earth. This month it launched the first segment of a space station above our planet.

Successful landings

Now that Zhurong has got down successfully, scientists will try to get at least 90 Martian days of service out of it, studying the local geology. A day, or Sol, on Mars lasts 24 hours and 39 minutes.

The robot looks a lot like Nasa’s Spirit and Opportunity vehicles from the 2000s. It weighs some 240kg and is powered by fold-out solar panels.

A tall mast carries cameras to take pictures and aid navigation; five additional instruments will investigate the mineralogy of local rocks and the general nature of the environment, including the weather.

Like the American rovers, Zhurong has a laser tool to zap rocks to assess their chemistry and a radar to look for sub-surface water-ice.

Utopia Planitia is where Nasa landed its Viking-2 mission in 1976.

It’s a colossal basin – more than 3,000km across – that was formed by an impact early in Mars’ history.

There is some evidence pointing to it having held an ocean long ago.

Remote sensing by satellites indicates there are significant stores of ice at depth.

Artwork roverIMAGE COPYRIGHTCNSA
image captionArtwork: Zhurong looks similar to Nasa’s Spirit and Opportunity vehicles

Dean Cheng, a research fellow in Chinese political and military affairs at the Washington-based think-tank, The Heritage Foundation, said Saturday’s success would be an enormous fillip to the country.

“From the Chinese perspective, space benefits Chinese diplomacy, Chinese technology; it’s a great advertisement; it reinforces the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party to its own people.

“Space always has military implications, and conversely, by going to Mars, it demonstrates that China can contribute to what they term the global pool of human knowledge,” he told BBC News.

America put down its latest rover, Perseverance, in February. Europe, which has twice failed with landing attempts, will send a rover to Mars next year (in a joint project with the Russians).

World Epidemic — Cell Phone Addiction

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This is too true. While cell phones connect us, they also pull us apart. In a world where anybody can do business with anybody, isn’t it more likely that people will do business with you if they feel that you respect them?This is a talk by Simon Sinek, downloaded and transcribed from Youtube. Mr. Sinek often talks about how technology is ruining our lives.

Here are some tips:

Download Video Here:
Cell Phone Addiction

We have a responsiblity as marketers to help our clients use technology to bring people together. We have  a responsiblity as companies to offer people who work in our companies a sense that we are helping them build their confidence, that we are helping them ovecome their addictions, (and) that we’re going to teach them patience.

I’m gonna  teach them how to build strong personal relationships. We don’t have a choice. We have a higher burden upon us and there’s so many little things that we can do. We are failing horribly at. It is so easy. Let me show you one.

Can I borrow someone’s phone please? Anyone? Thank you.

OK. There is a subconscious reaction to these devices when we use them. OK? What if I were to hold my phone in my hand while I’m talking to you.  I’m not checking it. It’s not buzzing. It’s not beeping. I’m not even. . . nothing. I’m just holding it. Do you feel at this moment that you are the most important thing to me right now? No you do not. Because there is a subconscious reaction we have to the device.  When it is out, it makes the people around us feel that they are less important.

So when we are walking down the halls in our offices and somebody says “Hey Boss. Can I ask you a question?” You go, “Sure. What’s on your mind?” We’ve just told them they aren’t that important. Or, we can go, “Sure. What’s on your mind?” And if you don’t have a pocket, find a shelf, put it on the shelf, come back and say “Sure. What’s on your mind?”

When we show up to a meeting, or a lunch, or a dinner, with our colleagues or our clients or our friends, or our families, and we put the phone on the table, we have announced to everyone in the room that they are not that important to us. And, by the way, putting the phone upside down is not more polite.

My favorite one is when the meeting or at a lunch with someone, that the phone will ring and the caller ID will pop up and they will go, “I’m not going to get it.”. Oh! So magnanimous! Oh, lucky to eat with you today. Or, they could just put the damn thing away. You can tell how addicted we are when somebody pulls out their phone when you are with them, how uncomfortable does that make us feel? You ae walking down the street with someone and they pull their phone out. We feel stupid, so what do we do? We pull our phones out.

We’re so addicted when somebody goes to the bathroom at dinner and: What? We have to sit there by ourselves and God forbid that we have to look around the room for five minutes. We pull our phones out. Meetings. Awful. What do we do when a meeting happens? Right. Everybody’s sitting there waiting for the meeting to start, “Bob’s running a few minutes late. Bob’s here. OK. Start the meeting.” Do you know when relationships are built? All that in between time. Thank you very much.

作为营销人员，我们有责任帮助客户使用技术将人们聚集在一起。作为公司的责任，我们有责任为在我们公司工作的人提供一种感觉，即我们正在帮助他们建立信心，我们正在帮助他们克服他们的成瘾，（和）我们将教他们耐心。

我要教他们如何建立牢固的人际关系。我们没有选择。我们有更高的负担，我们可以做很多小事。我们失败的可怕。这很容易。让我告诉你一个。

我可以借一个人的电话吗？任何人？谢谢。

好。当我们使用它们时，会对这些设备产生潜意识的反应。好？如果我在和你说话的时候把手机拿在手里怎么办？我不是在检查它。这不是嗡嗡声。这不是哔哔声。我不是。 。 。没有。我只是拿着它。你现在感觉到你对我来说是最重要的事吗？你不可以。因为我们对设备有潜意识的反应。当它外出时，它会让我们周围的人觉得它们不那么重要。

因此，当我们走进办公室的大厅时，有人说“嘿老板。我可以问你一个问题吗？”你走了，“当然。你在想什么？”我们刚刚告诉他们他们并不那么重要。或者，我们可以说：“当然。你有什么想法？”如果你没有口袋，找一个架子，放在架子上，回来说“当然。你有什么想法？”

当我们与同事或我们的客户或朋友或我们的家人出席会议，午餐或晚宴时，我们将电话放在桌子上，我们已向房间里的每个人宣布他们是对我们来说并不重要。而且，顺便说一句，将手机倒置并不是更有礼貌。

我最喜欢的是在会议或与某人共进午餐时，电话会响起，来电显示会弹出，他们会说：“我不会得到它。”哦!如此宽宏大量！哦，幸运的是今天和你一起吃饭。或者，他们可以把该死的东西拿走。你可以告诉我们当你和他们一起拿出手机时我们是多么上瘾，这让我们感到多么不舒服？你和某人走在街上，他们把手机拉出来。我们觉得很蠢，所以我们该怎么办？我们把手机拿出来了。

当有人在晚餐时去洗手间时我们上瘾了：什么？我们必须独自坐在那里，上帝禁止我们在房间里看五分钟。我们把手机拿出来了。会议。可怕。会议发生时我们该怎么办？对。每个人都坐在那里等待会议开始，“鲍勃迟到了几分钟。鲍勃在这里。好的。开始会议。”你知道什么时候建立关系吗？所有这些都在时间之间。非常感谢你。

 

Robo Cars of China is now on Youtube!

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Here is a link to each module. The modules go from about three minutes to six. There is a little summary of the content with each link.

Robo Cars of China in 9 Episodes(Youtube):
1
Jack goes to China and learns about autonomous car R&D (Open Source). Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, this is the big push in China, and automated vehicles are data intensive.
https://youtu.be/kQBQtQj-RKg
2
Jack explains the organization of the video and gives some terminology.
https://youtu.be/BGOzcatJ9hk
3
Jack meets “Chase” for the first time and finds out about the “Hackathon” and creation of self-driving, open source software by the participants.
https://youtu.be/CAcAFtHxRzM4
4
How does Guiyang compare with other Chinese cities for technology? How did PIX  present itself in May at the Big Data Conference?
https://youtu.be/fqXTlncr8-g
5
Jack meets Nancy Lee. Nancy is the Marketing Manager for the Pixmoving Company. She told me a lot about PIX, driverless cars, and their open source (freely shared) software strategy.
https://youtu.be/KEvSAg7DA_c
6
Nancy explains how the Hackathon participants help to spread teh open source software around the world. She also introduces the Donkey Car competition.
https://youtu.be/yfkDfBpUwCs
7
The Donkey Car copention begins and the logic of the Donkey Car is explained.
https://youtu.be/uTNkVqp-AqM
8
The Donkey Car competition is in high gear with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Meet the Clark Brothers, the American team.
https://youtu.be/bZaPWaSt2U4
9
The Donkey Car competition concludes. Clark Brothers, the American Team tell how they came to China for this competition and a little more about the industry progress. https://youtu.be/VHoZwwVukKE

Here’s the butter

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I am often surprised at how fast young children can learn a language. I was helping a five year old learn English and the mother offered me some corn. I asked for some butter (huang you). I think I said the Chinese word once. So the search went on through the fridge. We talked about the butter and maybe I didn’t need them to open the big container.

Then the two year old walked over with a little package of butter that her father had brought home from the airport. He had been served a little container of butter with his bread, which he saved and showed his two year old. I was just amazed that this little child knew that the big box of butter had the same stuff as the little container. Kids need to learn language early . . . the earlier the better. It doesn’t matter which language. They are just little sponges.

Kinesthetic Learning and Catatonic Learning

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EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB:

FOR KINESTHETIC – – The passiveness of the body precludes any important contribution of stimuli from   kinesthetic sources.

STUDIES IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX, VOLUME 3 (OF 6)|HAVELOCK ELLIS

We can stimulate the brain through physical movement during routine language practice.

 

catatonic

[kat-uh–ton-ik]

adjective

having catatonia,
a syndrome characterized by muscular rigidity and mental stupor:The schizophrenic   remained in a catatonic state.

appearing to be in a daze or stupor; unresponsive:She had the catatonic expression of an avant-garde model.

When class breaks into bordom and movement or even thinking is hard to achieve, a highly trained cat can be very useful to achieve the physical movement needed to sustain interest in the lesson.

 

 

New York City Science Teachers and Tourguizhou

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The techy RoboCars of China  video was invited to the Science Council of New York City Annual Meeting, but we couldn’t go. Instead we sent our business cards, specially designed for the Annual Meeting event coming this April 6. It is particularly exciting for fans of Guiyang because there are potentially thousands of New York City young people that can be exposed to the technology of China’s Big Data Valley as featured in the video. Further, through the www.tourguizhou.com website, the full range of the Guizhou portfolio will be featured.

For information about the event and the Science Council, visit:SCoNYC .

I believe China and the West can learn a lot from each other. Perhaps the Science Program in NYC can learn something from Guizhou! Here’s the card:

(Click Thumbnail for Full Sized View)

This conference is hosted at the famous Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan .  More about Stuyvesant can be found at: More about Stuyvesant

Robo Cars of China

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This video ties together many years of my activity here in China. I have multiple objectives in the creation of this video:

  1. Inspire young people to get involved in technology.
  2. Teach “Technology English” in a relevant format.
  3. Allow English learners to listen and “catch” informal English conversation.
  4. Introduce Guiyang/Guizhou as a legitimate technology center in China. It is also known as China’s “Big Data Valley”
  5. Introduce the “Pixmoving” company as a small research company with big ideas for Autonomous Vehicles (AV).
  6. Demonstrate how innovative competition can take place between people of countries from all over the world, making the world a better place through technology. Vigorous competition and friendships between countries is good.Please contact me at USAInfo@yahoo.com with your comments.

English/Golf Workshop Holiday Special for Kids

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Raymond Lo Cohen USPGA Golf Professional

Raymond Lo Cohen, USPGA, is a retired golf professional from Hong Kong. He has 18 years as a USA golf pro. He has retired in Guiyang and is offering a series of golf/English classes. 

Golfing with Raymond English/Golf Workshop is an ideal way for kids to learn English and Golf at the same time. The first five hour workshop will be hour per week sessions will be fun and be a big boost in English proficiency for students. Jack Porter, sponsor of this web site About Tourguizhou, has helped organize the event and will work with kids as a volunteer.

The event is planned for either February 22 or 23, depending on the weather and client response. The workshop  is for grade school age kids (6-13). The first classes will be offered at the new Golden Tulip Hotel in Jinyang, just minutes from the Beizhan Train Station. Class will be from 10 AM to 3:30 PM, including lunch. This is a saturation English environment, five hours. Raymond has several locations throughout Guiyang where he will be able to offer classes. The first class will feature putting in addition to basic swing and golf English. Other classes will be on a golf simulator or at a local driving range.

This English emersion class will be roughly half in the classroom and half outside. The Golden Tulip Hotel has a fully enclosed courtyard and mini golf area. A variety of classrooms are available at the GoldenTulip and the classroom shown here is the VIP room off of the main restauant.

The Minigolf Area

The Classroom

 Raymond has several foreign friends with at least one volunteer English teacher (native English speaking teacher). Foreign teachers (native English teachers) that want to volunteer can get free golf lessons and/or gifts if they participate. Referral fees and discounts can be discussed if you have interested students. Contact Raymond directly at 13984086686 for information about referrals

Raymond is fluent in English, Mandarin, Guizhouhua, and Guandonghua. Although the class plan is flexible depending on student needs, the current class plan is listed below:

Golf Lessons English Lessons

The object of the game
The names of the clubs
The Setup
The Grip
The Swing
Putting

 Greetings and Making Friends
Sounds of the Letters
Songs with Colors and Animals
Simple Nouns
Simple Verbs
Simple Sentences

Students will have a good basic understanding of golf and basic English sentences and pronounciation.

Transportation: While the location is easy to get to make sure you ask about transportation when you register. The Hotel is just opposite the Yang Guang Xiao Qu. That location is served by several busses. 

There are several different facilities in Guiyang that may be available to students for specialized instruction. For future classes Raymond will make arrangements for future classes at a driving range or golf simulator.

Please note: When registering make sure to let us know your age, how many years of English you have had, and what special English practice you feel you need.

Contact the Raymond at 13984086686 for details.