Jazz in de Gracht ..... Jazz on the canal

One of the highlights of the late summer in The Hague is the 'Jazz in de Gracht' festival, now in its 9th year.
The weather was good enough this year for the crowds to chill along the canal dipping into some fine places to eat and drink along the way.

Above are Remmelt, Muus and Femke  who offered great vocals with a rich folk sound.

One of the highlights of the evening were Blood, Sweat and Kiers who encouraged the crowds to join in with their unrelenting rhythm and the sax sounds of Wouter Kiers.

The full Saturday evening programme:

17:00 uur - 18:40 uur Little Boogie Boy Bluesband 

17:35 uur - 19.15 uur Anna Elis de Jong

18:10 uur - 19:50 uur Remmelt, Muus & Femke

18:45 uur - 20:25 uur Blood Sweat and Kiers

19:20 uur - 21:00 uur Maria Jose Sobral Kwartet

19:55 uur - 21:35 uur Tracin' Tracy featuring  Zane Massey

20:30 uur - 22:10 uur The Scandals

21:05 uur - 22:45 uur Ashtraynutz

21.40 uur - 23:00 uur Stef van Es

 This autumn rolls on the the forthcoming MuseumNight in The Hague next Saturday 7th September. This is the second jewel in the city.

This is the night when many of the museums and hotels in the city throw open their doors until the early hours of Sunday morning. There will be transport between venues for those note brave enough to cycle...

The Hague - city of Peace. 
September will also this year see the Peace Palace celebrating the centenary of its presence in the city.

BBC News goes Dutch

BBC News goes Dutch http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23587916

Stori'r Ddraig Goch :-)

The story of the Red Dragon
The tale of two dragons (one, red and one white), is related to a story that first appears in the 9th Century 'Historia Brittonum'.
The Historia contain a narrative in which the tyrant Vortigern (5th-century British warlord) attempts to build a citadel, but the structure collapses repeatedly. His wise men tell him he must sacrifice a boy born without a father on the spot to alleviate the curse.

Vortigern finally finds such a boy, Emrys (Ambrosius Aurelianus), identified with Merlin in later versions), but Emrys reveals the real reason for the collapsing towers: two dragons, one red and one white, representing the Britons and the Saxons specifically, are buried beneath the foundation.

This story was later adapted by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and thence appears in the Brut y Brenhinedd. Thus, Lludd supplies an origin for the dragons in the Vortigern story.

Crowd Funding.....is it the future of project funding?

I recently posted on the funding and launch of OUYA the new Android based Games console that was funded by the power of the Cloud by Kickstarter a US based company which invites potential investors to make a contribution to new and innovative project.

This form of crowd-funding in 'the cloud' for projects has certainly proved successful for many including OUYA which as you will  see below has been able to secure the second highest capitol investment since 2009 when Kickstarter began, having raised $8,596,474 from 63,416 individual investors.

As with any innovation there are always those who wish to use systems either fraudulently for personal gain. This has caused projects to be removed by the crowd-funding companies as soon as there was clear evidence of wrongdoing.  In the US and other jurisdictions there are copyright and other legal challenges to crowd-funded projects, however it is not unknown for large corporations to be in dispute with each other.

I would say that on balance bringing those seeking funding with an audience who are inclined to offer such support seems to be a good use of new technology and the power of the web.

First on the scene back in 2001 was ArtistShare which began as a fan sourcing site enabling artists

to fund their recordings using their fans support - the result has been truly inspiring as you can see from the awards won by ArtistShare funded recordings:

47th Annual Grammy Awards– 2005
Winner: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Maria Schneider - Concert In the Garden,
Nominee: Best Jazz Instrumental Solo Maria Schneider "Bulería, Solea y Rumba" -- Donny McCaslin, soloist (track from "Concert in the Garden”)
Nominee: Best Instrumental Composition "Bulería, Solea y Rumba" -- Maria Schneider

48th Annual Grammy Awards– 2006
Winner: Best Instrumental Composition “Into The Light” Billy Childs
Nominee: Best Instrumental Jazz Album “Lyric”
Nominee: Best Instrumental Arrangement Billy Childs, arranger
Nominee: Best Comedy Album The Agoraphobic Cowboy, Rick Moranis

49th Annual Grammy Awards– 2007
Winner: Best Latin Jazz Album Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri - Simpatico
Nominee: Best Large jazz Ensemble Album Bob Brookmeyer - Spirit Music

50th Annual Grammy Awards– 2008
Winner: Best Instrumental Composition Maria Schneider - “Cerulean Skies”
Nominee: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album - Maria Schneider “Sky Blue”

52nd Annual Grammy Awards– 2010
Nominee: Best Jazz Instrumental Album - The Clayton Brothers - "Brother to Brother"
Nominee: Best Latin Jazz Recording - Geoffrey Keezer - "Aurea"

53rd Annual Grammy Awards– 2011
Winner: Best Instrumental composition - The Path Among The Trees -Billy Childs
Nominee: Best Jazz Instrumental Recording, Individual or Group - The Clayton Brothers - "New Song And Dance"
Nominee: Gerald Clayton Best Instrumental Composition - Battle Circle - The Clayton Brothers - "New Song And Dance"
Nominee: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording The Path Among The Trees
Nominee: Best Instrumental Composition - Patrick Williams - Aurora
Nominee: Best Instrumental Arrangement - "Fanfare For A New Day" - Patrick Williams - Aurora

12th Annual Latin Grammy Awards– 2012
Nominee: Best MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) Album - Yeahwon - Yeahwon
Other nominees in this category were Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Djavan and Mônica Salmaso.

55th Annual Grammy Awards– 2013
Winner: Best Instrumental Arrangement - Gil Evans "How About You"
Nominee: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording The Gil Evans Project: Centennial
Nominee: Best Arrangement Featuring A Vocalist(s)-  Gil Evans "Look to the Rainbow"  - featuring Luciana Souza

The business model is explained by Brian Camelio:
Other crowd-funding sites ( from Wikipedia 04/07/2013)
 The United States based company ArtistShare (2000/2001),  Pledgie (2006), Sellaband (2006), IndieGoGo (2008), Kickstarter (2009), Fundly (2009), GoFundMe (2010), Appsplit (2010), Microventures (2010) and Fundageek (2011).

Using the power of small investors to coalesce around a project in order to fund it is not new and indeed there are many examples perhaps one of the best being the funding of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. The web allows this idea to span the globe, allowing many more individuals to be involved.

Invitation from FaceBook

The invitation above was sent those well respected  TechCrunch guys and others in the IT community on Thursday 28 March prompting fevered speculation over what is to be revealed this week?
Debate has raged over the past few years over rumours that Facebook will eventually launch  'Facebook Android Handset'.
The TechCrunch article has followed up some pretty reliable leads which suggest that there is a link up between Facebook and HTC that will see the debate finally answered this Thursday.....we wait in hope.

Source: TechCrunch

OUYA - The new kid on the block that wants to shake up the world of gaming

Today saw the launch of the OUYA games console, shipped today to its supporters. The development of the new device was crowdfunded by Kickstarter ( Ouya attracted over $8m (£5.3m) in funding from 63,416 backers).
 OUYA uses Google Android technology and the open design will allow games developers to more easily design new games products for the device as OUYA say  'Developers can wave farewell to the roadblocks of bringing a console game to market. Anyone can make a game: every OUYA console is a dev kit. No need to purchase a license or an expensive SDK. It's built on Android, so developers already know how it works.'
The market for games consoles is of course a small pond containing some pretty large, carnivorous competition, however I hope that a company which sends the following message to hackers and mashers has the necessary support and business acumen to survive and thrive - 

'Hackers welcome.

Have at it: It's easy to root (and rooting won't void your warranty). Everything opens with standard screws. Hardware hackers can create their own peripherals, and connect via USB or Bluetooth. You want our hardware design? Let us know. We might just give it to you. Surprise us!'

So all you gamers out there, your help is required........

'All we need is you. 

With your help, we need to: 

• Convert our prototype to production-ready models and get all the regulatory approvals (yeah, we need these to sell them)
• Deliver developer kits (for early developers so we can have games on day one, though every console will include an SDK once we launch)
• Place our first production orders (we are working with a manufacturing firm with lots of game hardware experience, but we need to know how many to make!)
• Ideally, fund some initial game development (i.e., 1st-party games)

And if you’re international, we want your help too…gaming is global, and we will get you OUYA. We still have a lot to figure out in regards to rights and countries, but it can be done. Look what we've accomplished already!'

Show the world, through your numbers, that you're out there.

Moodle 4 Teachers workshop begins April 1

Being an advocate for the use of Moodle in education,  I would like to draw your attention to the following invitation for teachers. 
You are invited by Nellie Muller Deutsch ( http://www.integrating-technology.org/) to join the upcoming April 1, 2013 Moodle for Teachers 5-week course on Moodle 2.4 on IT4ALL. The course is fully supported and facilitated by an expert Moodler, but you can go at your own pace and complete the course at your convenience within 1-5 weeks or longer if you need to the time. The course caters to every level, but is not suitable for Moodle administrators. 
You will find a course syllabus here, 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19D9tue67AzIb2D-Yp4XFPU3BoKNT-tpydzE-n04lgHQ/edit#heading=h.47dfodxmi1n0
For those who wish to learn how to be admins and to manage a Moodle website, the admin course for Moodle teachers begins on May 1, 2013 https://docs.google.com/document/d/198FgVeVX26bZatNBNJehHWc_inCV90w2u85TsnYroqk/edit

The Passion of Christ.... from The Hague

'The Passion of Christ' was broadcast throughout The Netherlands from The Hague on Thursday 28 March(Donderdag 28 Maart).

Taking in many of the main sights of the 'City of Peace' and including musical spectacular plus the carrying of the cross into the city centre, the event was broadcast on the main national channel NOS1 (previously Netherlands 1).
The story moved from 'The Plein' where the last supper was staged, to the rail tracks where Judas struggled with his decision to give up Jesus  to the authorities. Onward to Scheveningen Pier standing in for the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was given up to the authorities.
Back at the Hofvijver ( the lake in front of the Dutch Parliament) where Mary was in full flow. Jesus eventually brought to the Hofvijver for his meeting with Pontius Pilot and eventual Crucifixion. The spectacle ended with Jesus appearing to everyone walking across the Hofvijver.
While the action was taking place the giant white Cross was making its way past The Peace Palace via Plein 1813, Noordeinde Palace to The Hofvijver for the finale.
This really was a good start to Easter in the city.

Sunday at ISTE 2012

Following the great start on Saturday with the SocialEdCon 2012, where new contacts were made and long friendships renewed, I was looking forward to getting to the conference proper today.
The opening keynote began at 1.30 however, I was planning to spend the afternoon with the Global Collaboration Symposium with Lucy Gray which began at 2.00. I decided to drop in on the keynote, I was completely surprised that in a room of 6000 people I sat next to Dorothy Burt's husband Russell, we had first met four years ago at ISTE in San Antonio.
The keynote was a great rallying call, however I did slip away to Room 5 where a inspirational teachers were sharing their experiences in building a global network of collaborative projects.
The high point for me was hearing from teachers who have been able to integrate global projects into their curriculum planning, ensuring that the pedagogy is sound and that the projects are sustainable.
Ahead of the main keynote in which Sir Ken Robinson is a panelist, I managed to take a break in the luxuriously appointed Bloggers Lounge......I do still feel at home among my peeps :-)

SocialEdCon 2012

SocialEdCon at ISTE 2012, is proving that there are a myriad of apps out there for teachers to use for themselves and also with their pupils. Using the Twitter hashtag #socialedcon you can check out the main trends.
All of the folks began with 1 minute speed sessions reduced to 30 seconds as the hour mark approached. The sound of the bell focused the minds of presenters!

ISTE 2012 San Diego

After a few week's absence Ddraig Goch returns direct from the Pacific shoreline in San Diego ahead of the annual ISTE Conference. It will be interesting to see how the 'Ed-Tech' world has progressed since my last visit back in 2008, and also to catch up with friends - virtual and otherwise.
The event kicks off tomorrow with the Edublogger Con (unconference) always stimulating and interesting. The main event kicks off on Sunday through to Wednesday.
There will be more posts and tweets to look forward to live from the conference.
I am also hoping to meet up with some IB teachers, and would be grateful if they could be steered in my direction.

26-03-2012

Missing the homeland! One has to develop an inner resiliance when living as an Expat. There are many methods that one can employ in order to stave off those times when the mind drifts into dangerously wishing that you were home.... my resolve has been slipping lately. I have certainly found the lack of anyone to have a conversation with a challenge recently ........I have attempted to avoid talking to myself ( often unsuccessfully!).
Those who have never had a family would I guess find this odd. However when you have lived in a home with a medium sized family, and now an extended family the sudden removal of this can be a relief in the short term. In the long term, the long silences even when filled by reading ( 4 books this year to date) can grate after a while! An upside if it can be said to be so is an addiction to 'The Big Bang Theory' and .....hoovering and dusting.......is there any hope?

25-03-2012

Today all European clocks moved to 'Summertime' as we lost an hour, but gained a season, for once the weather seems to have been listening.....

as  you can see from my images from 'The Beach' this afternoon...

....... we may get a Summer after all (Ooops! I hope that I haven't just jinxed our Summer!)

24-03-2012

I had to venture into the city to pick up what I will from this time forward call my 'Scaryfocals' from Specsavers.nl!
I spotted these chairs in The Bijenkorf

 The Phillipe Stark Ghost Chair (242Euro)

...and the Verner Panton Chair

.......I love De Bijenkorf!

23-03-2012

... The seaside ( or is it The Ocean)?

The lobby of The Hilton Metropole

..and of course the view outside...

of Brighton seafront and piers...

Following the short visit the IB team headed back home with Easyjet from Gatwick!

22-03-2012

I selected this image for today as having a card up with my name on it, as we had arranged for our arrival at London Gatwick airport this afternoon is very very rare for me.
On arrival we were whisked off to Brighton ahead of our 'kick off' meeting on Friday morning..... the plan to catch the 2.05 flight back to Schiphol tomorrow.

21-03-2012

I was shocked to read this news today having visited Gouda's excellent museum in February......

Thieves target Gouda's museum Wednesday 21 March 2012

Thieves broke into Gouda's main museum and art gallery on Tuesday night by using explosives to blast open the front doors, news agency ANP reports.

It is not yet clear if the thieves actually stole anything, but two men were spotted leaving the scene by motorbike carrying large bags, ANP said.

The museum is currently hosting an exhibition of 16th century drawings for the windows of the city's St Jan's church.

The museum hit the headlines earlier this year when it auctioned a work by Marlene Dumas for €950,000 to head off bankruptcy.

© DutchNews.nl

I wait as do others to hear what if anything has been stolen.

20-03-2012

The BBC's Hairy Bikers arrived in Holland ( plus Belgium and Luxembourg) today on the second leg of their Bakeation . The boys didn't have the most auspicious start having arrived in Holland's version of Blackpool complete with 'kiss me quick' hats!
Things took a better turn when Cy and Dave arrived in Scheveningen, stopping off at The Kurhaus Hotel on their way to an award winning local baker Driessen Bakery where amongst the speciality bread, our intrepid bakers made Apple Tart.

The bakery can be found at Gentsestraat 50   2587 HV  's-Gravenhage - Scheveningen  Tel:             070-3661947       

... it is certainly going to be one of the yet to be discovered gems that I plan to visit over the weekend. Their next call was at the eccentric Bakery Sonnemans  in Burgh Haamstede.
Having captured the eccentricity on the Dutch quite well the intrepid bikers headed across the border to Belgium.....if you are in the UK or have a VPN you can see this episode on the BBC iPlayer now [link].

19-03-2012

The arrival of a fine crisp spring day can do wonders for the soul, and today was no exception. The brisk cycle run to work was still chilly enough to bring a tear to the eye, and chilly hands ( note to self - gloves still required in March!).
At 6pm on the way home the bright sunshine could not disguise the fact that at this time of year when you are out of the sun directly ......it is still Spring. We have more sunshine to come this week, hopefully this may enable some warmth to build up.

18-03-2012

I

I feel very privileged to have been given the opportunity at my stage in life to work and live abroad. My surroundings are comfortable and the work that I do often doesn't feel like work as it is something that I feel such an affinity with.

However these positive times are balanced by too many occasions when I feel that I am so remote from my close family that it hurts! The feeling of detachment for me comes on slowly, and grows to a dark cloud... I usually try to ensure that I remain active as this usually helps to dissipate the melancholia. However this weekend has been relatively sedentary and Skype calls home where I certainly feel that I would be of some use have merely helped to deepen the feelings. I am sure that once the working week begins that I will be able to shake myself out of the malaise and indulge in some meaningful activity. I'm sure that this feeling is not unusual for expats, or those separated in any way from their family.... you can't hug via Skype and 'poking' on Facebook is not quite the same!
Please accept my apologies for the nature of this post, a blog after all is an online diary and life is not 'sweetness and light' all of the time.