Category: military
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Mining could transform the economy of Afghanistan
If you were concerned the U.S. doesn’t have compelling economic reasons to remain engaged militarily in Afghanistan, this NYT article suggests you might want to reserve judgement: “The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals…
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Message for Oklahoma Christians: Muslims are NOT our enemies
This evening at our church’s annual congregational meeting, a leader of the mission committee stood up and talked about a recent trip he’d taken to Uganda. He commented that this time, he noticed more Muslim mosques in the towns they visited, and said this was evidence “the enemy is advancing.” I almost fell out of…
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Digital tools to analyze the President’s speech on Afghanistan
President Obama shared an important speech Tuesday night at WestPoint calling for changes in US policy and troop strength levels in Afghanistan. Use the following Wordle “word cloud” with your students and ask them what they can “see” were major themes in the President’s address. Larger versions are available from Wordle.net and Flickr. Next, follow…
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Exemplary Digital Stories from Kansas, Oklahoma
Teachers in Kansas, Oklahoma, participated in our phase 1 Celebrate Oklahoma Voices workshop this past week, and created some superb digital stories. These are five we’ve featured among the 431 videos now included in our online learning community. The Five Fighting Starrs of Oklahoma tells the amazing story of Paul Starr’s grandfather and five of…
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Video game skills are serious business for the USAF: Meet the fleet of 7000 UAVs
The highlight of my visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at the end of June this summer, when I was in Washington DC for NECC 2009, was definitely seeing the completed UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) exhibit. My son, Alexander, helped me film and upload (from the Smithsonian, on-site) a five minute video from…
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OKC Bombing, Underground Chinatown in Oklahoma, Veteran Stories, and an Amazing Adoption from Russia
We wrapped up another Celebrate Oklahoma Voices digital storytelling workshop for twenty more educators today, and again I was blown away by the quality and themes of the 3-5 minute stories they chose to tell with still images and audio narration in the space of just 2 and a half days. “Innocence Lost” by Andrea…
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Thank you, President Obama, for banning torture and working to uphold U.S. Constitutional values
It is a sad day indeed when everyday citizens of the United States actually debate whether or not torture should be blessed by the U.S. President, our military, and our various security forces operating abroad and at home. Having served in the U.S. military, having studied the U.S.-led war in Indochina extensively (including the plight…
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Phenomenal Oklahoma family stories from COV this week
We had a wonderful “partners” Celebrate Oklahoma Voices (COV) workshop this week on Thursday and Friday in MidDel Schools. These are just two of the amazing stories our participants created in a very short and concentrated time together. Scott Charlson created “A Few Sketches of Minnie’s Cafe,” telling the story of his grandmother and her…