Red Snapper sashimi

Ingredients
1 yellow onion, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root

1 fresh red chile pepper, finely chopped

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

2 limes, juiced

2 skinned red snapper fillets, cut into thin strips

salt to taste

Directions
1.Combine the yellow onion, red onion, ginger, chile pepper, lime zest, and lime juice in a glass or ceramic bowl. Gently stir in the red snapper, and season to taste with salt. Cover and refrigerate until the snapper turns white and opaque, about 15 minutes. Serve cold.

Sony begins making amends for PSN hack

Excerpt from post on channelnewsasia.com: 04 June 2011 0505 hrs

Sony has begun offering free videogames and virtual goods to members of its PlayStation Network in a bid to make amends for hackers breaking into the online entertainment service.

Sony also offered PSN members a free month of access to its PlayStation Plus subscription service featuring game software, discounts on titles, and exclusive digital content. The apology package also included 100 virtual items from a PlayStation Home shop disabled along with PSN and Qriocity music-streaming service after hackers looted user information from Sony's systems.

Sony on Thursday had restored PSN services everywhere except Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, after being targeted in a massive online attack that prompted the Japanese company to shut down the network to harden defenses.

Sony was attacked in one of the biggest data breaches since the advent of the Internet, in which the user names, passwords, addresses and birth dates of more than 100 million people may have been compromised.

The company later suffered attacks on websites including in Greece, Thailand and Indonesia, and on the Canadian site of mobile phone company Sony Ericsson.

Last week, a group of hackers calling themselves Lulz Security claimed to have compromised more than one million passwords, email addresses and other information from Sony movie site SonyPictures.com.
They published a number of files on the Web containing lists of thousands of stolen email addresses and passwords.

- AFP /ls

Google blog: Ensuring your information is safe online

6/01/2011 12:42:00 PM

The Internet has been an amazing force for good in the world—opening up communications, boosting economic growth and promoting free expression. But like all technologies, it can also be used for bad things. Today, despite the efforts of Internet companies and the security community, identity theft, fraud and the hijacking of people’s email accounts are common problems online.

Bad actors take advantage of the fact that most people aren’t that tech savvy—hijacking accounts by using malware and phishing scams that trick users into sharing their passwords, or by using passwords obtained by hacking other websites. Most account hijackings are not very targeted; they are designed to steal identities, acquire financial data or send spam. But some attacks are targeted at specific individuals.

Through the strength of our cloud-based security and abuse detection systems*, we recently uncovered a campaign to collect user passwords, likely through phishing. This campaign, which appears to originate from Jinan, China, affected what seem to be the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of users including, among others, senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists.

The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users’ emails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords to change peoples’ forwarding and delegation settings. (Gmail enables you to forward your emails automatically, as well as grant others access to your account.)

Google detected and has disrupted this campaign to take users’ passwords and monitor their emails. We have notified victims and secured their accounts. In addition, we have notified relevant government authorities.

It’s important to stress that our internal systems have not been affected—these account hijackings were not the result of a security problem with Gmail itself. But we believe that being open about these security issues helps users better protect their information online.

Here are some ways to improve your security when using Google products:

• Enable 2-step verification. This Gmail feature uses a phone and second password on sign-in, and it protected some accounts from this attack. So check out this video on setting up 2-step verification.

• Use a strong password for Google that you do not use on any other site. Here’s a video to help.
• Enter your password only into a proper sign-in prompt on a https://www.google.com domain. We will never ask you to email your password or enter it into a form that appears within an email message. Here’s a video with more advice.
• Check your Gmail settings for suspicious forwarding addresses (“Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab, Fig. 1) or delegated accounts (“Accounts” tab, Fig. 2).

Fig. 1

 Fig. 2

• Watch for the red warnings about suspicious account activity that may appear on top of your Gmail inbox.
• Review the security features offered by the Chrome browser. If you don’t already use Chrome, consider switching your browser to Chrome.
• Explore other security recommendations and a video with tips on how to stay safe across the web.

Please spend ten minutes today taking steps to improve your online security so that you can experience all that the Internet offers—while also protecting your data.

*We also relied on user reports and this external report to uncover the campaign described.

Original post by Eric Grosse, Engineering Director, Google Security Team

Sparta and Athens

In 2003, Ngiam Tong Dow was asked, "What is the kind of Singapore you hope your grandchildren will inherit?" Below is his answer.

"Let's look at Sparta and Athens, two city states in Greek history. Singapore is like Sparta, where the top students are taken away from their parents as children and educated. Cohort by cohort, they each select their own leadership, ultimately electing their own Philosopher King.

When I first read Plato's Republic, I was totally dazzled by the great logic of this organisational model where the best selects the best.

But when I reached the end of the book, it dawned on me that though the starting point was Meritocracy, the end result was dictatorship and elitism.

In the end, that was how Sparta crumbled. Yet, Athens, a city of philosophers known for its different schools of thought, survived.

What does this tell us about out-of-bounds markers? So SM Lee has to think very hard what legacy he wants to leave for Singapore and the type of society he wants to leave behind. Is it to be a Sparta, a well-organised martial society, but in the end, very brittle; or an untidy Athens which survived because of its diversity of thinking?

Personally, I believe that Singaporeans are not so kuai (Hokkien for obedient) as to become a Sparta. This is our saving grace. As a young senior citizen, I very much hope that Singapore will survive for a long time, but as an Athens. It is more interesting and worth living and dying for."

30-second speech by a CEO

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, Friends and spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.

Thank you
Bryan Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola
James Patterson, "Suzanne's diary for Nicholas"

Levels of e-learning interactivity

Level I: Passive
The learner acts solely as a receiver of information. The learner is required to read the text on the screen, view graphics, illustrations, charts, and use the navigational buttons to progress forward through the program or move back.

 Engagement techniques include:

• Multiple choice exercises
• Pop-ups
• Rollovers
• Simple animations
• True/false exercises

Level II: Limited Interaction
The learner makes simple responses to instructional cues. The eLearning includes learning activities listed in Level I as well as scenario-based multiple choice and column matching related to the text and graphic presentation.
Engagement techniques include:

• Scenario-based multiple choice, drag-and-drop, matching exercises
• Application simulations not requiring the learner to enter field data but merely follow a process or procedure
• Interactive animations where the learner has the ability to investigate

Level III: Complex Interaction
The learner makes a variety of responses using varied techniques in response to instructional cues. The responses include those listed for a Level II as well as text entry boxes and manipulation of graphic objects to test assessment of the information presented. Engagement techniques include:

• Complex application simulations requiring the leaner to enter data into fields
• Scenario-based branching logic where the learner experiences jeopardy for incorrect responses and their journey is predicated on their decisions

Level IV: Real-time Interaction
The learner is directly involved in a life-like set of complex cues and responses. This involves engaging the learner in a simulation that mirrors the work situation with stimuli-and-response coordinated to the actual environment. Engagement techniques include:

• Real-time learning and assessment
• Collaborative environment with other learners and a facilitator or moderator

It is important to remember the level of interactivity is dependent on:

• The nature of the content
• Technological limitations
• Budget limitations
• The target audience

Estimating Web Projects

Determine the specifications

• Total number of pages
• What kind of navigation bars or menus
• More than one page design?
• Number of custom graphics needed
• Number of graphics provided by the client
• How design-intensive a site do they want?
• What type of text content, provided in what form?
• Interactive forms? How many fields?
• Database-driven applications? (Detailed description of all functionality is needed)
• Administration areas?
• Domain registrations or changes?
• Hosting arrangements?
• How important is search engine positioning?
• Will any client training be necessary?

Break specifications down into smaller tasks

• Receiving and sorting out client's photos
• Cropping, sizing, optimizing, and renaming photos
• Working with client to figure out how to present photos
• Creating thumbnails
• Building pages
• Receiving client's feedback, correcting and refining gallery page design

Determine the time each task will take
Multiply total time by hourly rate
Add a percentage for contingencies and expenses

"Stand your ground. You may be tempted to shrink the total estimate down, fearing that your potential client will find it too high, but resist that urge. You came up with as accurate an estimate as possible, and it makes no sense to lower it. The client may or may not like your price, but if you offer to do the job for less than what is fair for you, no good can come of it. Stand your ground! You won't get every job, but the ones you do get will go much smoother if your estimate was accurate and fair."

Quality in E-learning

Science Centric (21 Jun 2010 11:41 GMT) - Since higher education is booming in developing countries, so is e-learning. A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows how culture can shape quality in higher education in general and in e-learning in particular…

E-learning Schools of Thought

The two schools of thought in education can be considered the cognitivists and the behaviourists schools of learning. They take different approaches to best structure material so that it can be learned.

Key milestones include Robert M. Gagne's 1977 Conditions of Learning (Florida State University’s Department of Educational Research) and Benjamin Bloom's 1956 Taxonomy of Education Objectives.

The cognitivists have greater difficulty in demonstrating learning has taken place and therefore considered a softer side of an already soft body of science, education. B.F. Skinner’s theories on behaviour is unique because it can be measured scientifically.

E-learning Instructional Theory

Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the art or science of teaching. The word is derived from the ancient Greek word 'paidagogos', the slave who took children to and from school. The prefix “paida” refers to children, which is why we distinguish between pedagogy (teaching children) and andragogy (teaching adults). The Latin word for pedagogy, education, is much more widely used, and often the two are used interchangeably.

Pedagogy is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies. For example, Brazilian Paulo Freire, one of the most influential educators of the 20th century, referred to his method of teaching adults as ‘critical pedagogy’.

Pedagogy contains the General and Specific Learning Objectives (incorporating Bloom’s Taxonomy), Lesson Plan and Assessment Strategies.
 
Bloom's Taxonomy
There are three components in Bloom’s Taxonomy:

1. affective (emotional - experiencing)
2. psychomotor (physical - doing)
3. cognitive (mental - thinking)

There are six levels in the taxonomy, moving through the lowest order processes to the highest:

Level	Description
Knowledge	Exhibit memory of previously-learned materials by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.
Comprehension	Demonstrate understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating main ideas
Application	Solve problems to new situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way
Analysis	Examine and break information into parts by identifying motives or causes. Make inferences and find evidence to support generalisations
Synthesis	Compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions
Evaluation	Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria

Learning Objects
A major area of development in instructional theory is the use of Learning Objects to structure and deliver content. Standards for the development and implementation of Learning Objects include the Department of Defense’s (DoD)Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative with its SCORM standards.

SCORM stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. This standard for web-based e-learning defines how the individual instruction elements are combined on a technical level and sets conditions for the software needed for using the content. The standard uses XML and it is based on the results of work done by AICC, IMS, IEEE and Ariadne.