Even I am surprised by the sheer – dare I say it – stupidity, of the people interviewed in this clip posted by Jimmy Kimmel Live.
But wait for it, you need to see this list from Mashable of the 25 most common passwords, derived from 3 million passwords leaked online last year apparently.
If you’re reading that list and identify a password you’re currently using, then trust me, you do need help. Watch the following from Mozilla that I’ve used with Year 5 students who, in their youthful enthusiasm, think it’s a good idea to share their passwords with their friends.
Something to start the school year with!
Enjoy your weekend. I’m planning on doing just that. 🙂
I saw this shared on Twitter this morning from Guy Kawasaki. It’s an older video, but one of those timeless pieces that pulls at the heartstrings and gives you a bit of a laugh in the process.
What I can tell you is this – I did not receive a marriage proposal that looked anything like this. In fact, when I think back on it, I’m not sure it was a formal proposal at all, more like an understanding that we were going to stay together and get married. Maybe longevity in a marriage can’t be measured on the quality of the proposal, because an ordinary proposal has resulted in 27 years of marriage for my husband and I!
Speaking of longevity, this is the 300th School’s out Friday post on this blog. The first post appeared on January 25th, 2008. Here was what I said about ‘School’s out Friday’ and it’s purpose back then;
This brings me to today’s post. Here in Melbourne we have two radio presenters on Fox FM, Hamish and Andy. Their Friday afternoon broadcast is called ‘Pants off Friday’ because it is the end of the working week. I’ve decided that my Friday posts are going to be a bit of fun because it’s the end of the school week and I’m going to call them ‘School’s out Friday’.
Hamish and Andy are still around and on the radio, but I’m not sure if ‘Pants off Friday’ still features. I have to say, ‘School’s out Friday’ posts are one of the reasons this blog has survived. The duty I’ve felt to post regularly (not always weekly!), and then the guilt I’ve experienced when I see a string of weeks where the only posts are ‘School’s out Friday’ has often prompted me to write when enthusiasm has waned. Best of all, I really like them. Humour is an important element of my classroom practice and my life out of the classroom. Laughing on a regular basis is good for the soul.
Rainy weekend here in Melbourne after a spell of hot weather. Not my fave conditions, but it’s the weekend, so let’s make the best of it, huh? I hope you have a great one. 🙂
Got a spare nine minutes on a hot summer’s night ? Granted, it might not be hot where you are, but it is hot here in Melbourne right now. The Ohio State Marching Band’s ‘It came from outer space’ is pretty impressive stuff and not a bad way to while away 9 minutes of your life.
Another scorcher coming to Melbourne tomorrow. May even venture into the pool. Now that would be an event! Enjoy the first weekend of 2015 – do something just for you. 🙂
If you think you’re up with the times and know the kinds of things the students you teach are interested in, but you can’t recognise anybody or relate to anything in this YouTube Rewind 2014 video, then I’m afraid you are seriously deluding yourself.
I’m not saying that what is represented here reflects the lifestyle and viewing habits of every teenager, or that what they are watching is necessarily high brow culture, but this compendium of what has ‘made it’ on YouTube this year is something that I’m guessing a large proportion of your students could relate to. And maybe, just maybe, there’s some merit in understanding their culture and being able to converse with them about the things that pique their interest.
If you want to know more, visit the YouTube clip and click on ‘Show more’. You will find links to all of the featured YouTubers. Dang it, why don’t I just make it easy for you and paste the list in here:
I haven’t featured a flash mob in quite awhile for a School’s out Friday post, so time for some unbridled joy that comes from indulging in your groove thing. Well, the next best thing really – watching people indulging in their groove thing!
Having spent time at the Piazza San Marco in recent months, I’m not sure how this flash mob managed to clear the space necessary to get their performance happening. How they assembled a mass of people for this in a place like Venice and where they might have practised beforehand, well, that’s mind boggling too. According to Venezia Today (once Google Translate helped me decipher language!), it was a fiftieth birthday gift from a special lady to her partner. Interesting gift, and quite possibly, a pricey one too!
If I had any energy, I’d be up for getting my groove thing happening, but alas, end of year exhaustion has well and truly set in. Time to head to bed to reclaim energy levels. Enjoy your weekend – get your groove thing happening if an opportunity presents itself. 🙂
I’m currently in the throes of trying to pack as much as I possibly can into my ‘Language of our Times’ class in the final weeks of term. We were looking at viral videos recently (and at its essence, what are the qualities of a video that makes it move to viral status) and have returned to this in the last two days, prompted by what I’ve viewed on mainstream television and what has run past my Twitter stream.
The Qantas ad, above, caught my attention while I was making inroads on correction. It led me away from the correction pretty quickly, enticed as I was with the soundtrack and storylines that were unfolding in front of me. A two minute slot in primetime must cost a fair whack, but the 300,000+ views it has racked up on YouTube in 8 days is quite possibly paying dividends for the Qantas brand.
We followed this up today with two Christmas ads coming out of the UK. The first was the John Lewis ad below that has racked up a more than impressive 14 million+ views on YouTube in 8 days. And yes, I’m betting John Lewis sees this as an investment that has paid off.
The second is the Christmas ad from Sainsbury’s, a UK Supermarket chain. It was made in partnership with The Royal British Legion and is inspired by real events from 100 years ago. I dare you to watch it and not tear up.
It was released two days ago and has racked up 4 million+ views to date. I’m figuring this is one with shareability written all over it. Check back in six days and I’m betting it’s running rings over the John Lewis ad.
What these ads have enabled is some great discussion around what makes an effective marketing campaign in a world where YouTube rules and mainstream media is becoming less relevant in the lives of the everyday citizen. A good discussion to have and one that I think my students have benefited from. If I find them all leading marketing campaigns in future years I’ll know I’ve done a good job. 😉
I’ll be grabbing some shut eye this weekend and gearing up for a busy few weeks as the year comes to an end. Rest up folks and enjoy some down time. 🙂
I’m laying odds that the people at Head Office of IKEA in Sweden are looking very closely at their Singapore division and wondering what kind of Christmas bonus they can offer them this year. The ‘BookBook’ video, uploaded to YouTube by IKEA Singapore, has racked up over 10 million views in a week – a pretty clever marketing ploy by anyone’s standards. Send up your product in a parody of an Apple ad and watch it go viral. Just what I need for impetus for my ‘Language of our Times’ class next term, when we begin our Project Based Learning task exploring ‘What makes an idea go viral?’
Speaking of Apple, their latest video, ‘Perspective’, shown at their Keynote launch this week, is another signature Apple piece appealing to their tribe of followers. Take a look.
Over 600,000 views in three days. Another good one for my students to analyse.
I’m currently in Munich, where I’ve spent the last three days after visiting Italy for a week. In my last post I spoke of my poor footwear choices leading to some pretty difficult days limping through the streets of Florence and Venice. I’m pleased to report Munich has been much kinder on my feet. It’s a very flat terrain here, and we’ve slowed down our pace out of sheer necessity. We were exhausted after the heady pace of four cities in 7 days – Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice. Today, after reading some travel blogs about the best footwear for traipsing through Europe, I purchased some Geox walking shoes that I’m hoping will see me right through the next few days in Frankfurt and Bad Kreuznach and then onto Paris and London in the coming weeks.
I will try to write here about some of our experiences – we’ve had an amazing time already. Yesterday we visited Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site and that experience deserves a post of its own. I’ve read so much about the Holocaust, but nothing really prepares you for walking the grounds and listening to a guide take you through the experiences of the people who were subjected to that cruel fate. It’s an experience everyone should have – as I walked through, it struck me that it is something that could feature as a Google Tour – that way students all over the world could have that experience and hopefully understand why the International Memorial there has the words, ‘Never again’ written in six languages.
Our hectic pace continues tomorrow, My husband and son are off the Bayern Munich vs Stuttgart game in the afternoon, then we board a train for Frankfurt in the evening, arriving there close to midnight and hoping that the accommodation I’ve booked doesn’t fall through!
I hope your weekend sees you finding time to relax and take in some sun. Enjoy whatever comes your way. 🙂
Over the past few years our Toorak College School Prefects have been presenting at School Assembly about adherence to uniform requirements. This year’s presentation was a stand out. You’ve gotta love it when the Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl (Tilly and Sarah) take some creative licence to Iggy Azelea’s ‘Fancy’ and deliver a message about school uniform that had every students’ attention. It had mine too. I love it when I see these girls demonstrate their talent and creativity in such an entertaining fashion. I love it even more that the school has posted it on our YouTube channel and it’s had over 1400 views to date. Watch and share it around. 🙂
Highlight of my week: Having Rolfe Kolbe from Newington College visit me on Wednesday at school so we could finally meet face to face and chew the fat. You were a breath of fresh air Rolfe; talking to a like mind always injects me with the energy I need to forge on.
Second highlight of my week: A group of students from my class who performed their Spoken Word poem today.
Blew. my. mind.
Hoping to film these next week when all groups share them publicly at the Book Week Poetry Slam event we are holding at school and then share them here. The commitment to the task the groups are demonstrating has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had this year.
Lowlight of the week: Being sick with a shocking head cold Monday and Tuesday.
Second lowlight of the week: Hearing news of the rumbling Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland that remains poised to erupt according to news sources. If it does, it’s likely that air travel to Europe will be off limits. Given that my family and I are due to board a plane to Europe a week or so from now, I’m feeling pretty edgy about this.
Ah well, you take life as it comes. What will be, will be. I do know that tomorrow will be 21 glorious degrees here in Melbourne. Blue skies and warm rays always make me smile. Have a great weekend. May the sun shine on you. 🙂
You know, there’s a strong likelihood that his has featured here as a School’s out Friday video before, but I’m too tired to search the annals and check. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I think it’s worthy of a laugh or two. I could make a video like this about VGA cables, but that’s a long story…let’s just say change is challenging.
It’s been a tough old week. I’ve had to say goodbye to my dear dog, Bella, She wasn’t always my dog, but the last six years she spent with me and my family were special. She was very much loved. She was a kind soul, gentle and loving. She smiled, genuine smiles that greeted me when I came home from work. Our home feels empty without her in it. I know we will adjust, but right now, my heart aches.
The weather bodes well for Melbourne tomorrow after weeks of bitter cold. I will sit in my backyard, soak up the warming sun rays and remember Bella. Faithful friends remain with you, never forgotten. Find some sun, wherever you are, and appreciate the things that matter.
It’s been awhile since I’ve shared a Rives‘ video on School’s out Friday. He is a master of the art of storytelling, and this tale is no exception. Take note of the use of music to help create mood. It’s given me an idea for the Spoken Word Poetry PBL task coming up for my students. Maybe they could create a soundtrack to accompany their poems? Hmmnnn…think I’ll float that past them when we return to school…
Seriously cold, chilly and grey in Melbourne at the moment. Zero chance of finding any sun tomorrow. Hibernation seems to be the only option! Hope the forecast looks better wherever you may reside. 🙂
Lucacept - intercepting the Web 