Insightful Interviews With John Gatto

Insightful Interviews With John Gatto: "

John Gatto is widely recognized as the post-modern expert of all things unschooling. By no means do you have to be an unschooler to appreciate what he has to say; his perspectives can get almost any parent to start thinking outside the box.

John Taylor Gatto has almost 30 years of education under his proverbial belt and made major waves when, upon accepting his first of two Teacher of the Year awards, he shared a piece of his mind with the educational community about the uselessness of today’s schools.

These first two clips are parts 1 and 2 of a recent interview about the definition of unschooling and what are its strengths and weaknesses.

John Taylor Gatto on Unschooling (part 1)

(Part 2)

The Purpose and Origins of Public Education

Did you know that in Switzerland, one of the richest nations in the world, only 1 in 4 children go on to high school?

"

Giveaway! Topaz Labs Plugins for Photographers (Winner Announced!)

Giveaway! Topaz Labs Plugins for Photographers (Winner Announced!): "

Time’s up! The winner of the Topaz Plugin Bundle is entry #848, Maureen Henry! Congrats Maureen! I’ve sent you an email! :)

P.S. Guess what! Topaz has offered Kevin & Amanda readers a special discount! Use the coupon code kevinandamanda to get 15% off all Topaz products.

P.P.S. Did you know you can download the Topaz plugins for a free trial to try out and make sure you are 100% happy with it before you buy? :) Go ahead.. give it a try! :)

Hey guys! I am beyond excited to share this giveaway with you today! The Topaz Labs Plugin Bundle is one of my favorite photo editing tools. I use it often in my day-to-day photo editing to add some serious WOW factor to my photos! :)

Just look what I did with one of my recent Chicago photos…

Here’s the original, SOOC (straight out of camera) photo.

To use Topaz in Photoshop, just click on Filter from the menu bar, and you’ll see all the Topaz plugins you can choose from. Here I’m using Topaz Adjust. There are so many fun options to chose from! :) For this pic, I clicked Exposure Color Stretch. You can see a preview before you apply. If you like what you see, click OK…

And just like that, I had this! I am so in love with these vibrant colors!! And it was seriously that simple! :)

The Giveaway!

There’s so much you can do with all the Topaz plugins. And today, the seriously fun & talented folks at Topaz would like to offer one Kevin & Amanda reader their entire plugin bundle suite!! ($179.99 value)

You’ll get…

Topaz Adjust – optimize image exposure, color, and detail for stunning image results! Just see above! :)

Topaz Simplify – add creative simplification, art effects, and line accentuation to your photos for easy one-of-a-kind art.

Topaz Detail – enhance details, add depth, and achieve unbelievable crispness in your photos.

Topaz DeNoise – instantly remove noise and preserve details. I never have to worry about shooting with a high ISO. I know any noise/grain will be taken care of by DeNoise!

Topaz ReMask – Okay, so cool! Have you ever taken a picture, but the background was so-so? Use ReMask to easily crop out your subject and paste it on a different background! :) How fun!

Topaz Clean – create some seriously fun photos with textures and detail manipulation!

Topaz DeJPEG – Ever taken a photo with your cell phone or a point & shoot and you could just *tell* how low-quality it was? It looks all pixely? DeJPEG will fix that up in a second!

Click the links above to see the incredible before and afters you can do with each plugin.

And the best part is that Topaz is compatible with a number of platforms and programs. You can use it on Windows and Mac, with Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, Paint Shop Pro, iPhoto and more!

How to Enter

To be entered to win this incredible package from Topaz, all you have to do is leave me a comment right here! :) What’s your favorite photography subject? Do you prefer scenery? Portraits? People? Pets? Food??! :) Shout it out! :)

Contest ends Thursday, September 9th at 8pm CST. Winner will be selected by Random.org and notified by email! :)

Good luck!!! :)

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Indiana Jones in the 21st Century: Saturday TEDTalks Playlist

Indiana Jones in the 21st Century: Saturday TEDTalks Playlist: "

Today’s playlist features modern-day explorers and adventurers: tech-savvy treasure hunters who search not for gold and rubies, but for enlightenment and answers for the future.

To do some exploring yourself, check out David Gallo‘s new Expedition Titanic: an ongoing deep-sea mission to create a 3-D map of the Titanic and preserve its wonders forever.

Robert Ballard searches for the secrets of the sea using new robotic technologies — driven by an overwhelming certainty of the value of life and resources at the bottom of the ocean.

Adam Savage is obsessed with off-the-wall artifacts; in particular the dodo bird and the Maltese Falcon. After some creative digging and impressive resourcefulness, he re-creates an unexpected spirit of these prized objects.

Jane Poynter shares the story of her 2-year residence in Biosphere 2, exploring how we might preserve a flourishing civilization in impossibly harsh environments.

We’d love to hear more of your favorite TEDTalks about adventures of the modern age. Add your suggestions to the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: INDIANA JONES. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)

Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias

"

Melon Sorbet

Melon Sorbet: "

Please welcome Garrett McCord, who came by the other day to make these melon sorbets. So good! Refreshing on a hot summer day. ~Elise

Melons are one of those rare ingredients that are practically perfect as is. While they do take well to being tarted up a bit (maybe a light dusting of salt, few lashings of lemon juice, or some chopped mint), they certainly don't need to be overdressed. No, with melons like cantaloupe and honeydew you want to preserve and highlight their sweet, musky flavors.

Continue reading 'Melon Sorbet' »

"

Indoor Garden Plants | Makeover a Corner of your Room | Real Simple

Indoor Garden Plants | Makeover a Corner of your Room | Real Simple: "Transform a Corner of Your Home
Turn an unremarkable spot into a beautiful, inviting haven."

Welcome to our treehouse where kids and grown-ups alike can hang out and hide out & just be a kid like kids were meant to be kids!

    Tree houses are more popular today than ever, as play spaces for children but also as luxury hotel (and even house) designs for adults. Some of the most fantastic plans and ideas can be traced to specialist designers and builders – and pictures of their work can provide some of the best inspiration (as well as an informal visual guide) for do-it-yourself recreational, residential and commercial tree buildings.When I was little, one of my most favorite and impressionable movies was Walt Disney's Swiss Family Robinson. Wow! Would that not be the ultimate way to live or what! Now as a mommy raising little ones and still very much a little girl recapturing the magnificence of imagination and wonder and magic of being a kid again through my very young children and a couple reminding me that being little isn't permanent except through never letting go of your inner little boy or little girl, I find myself wanting very much to be stranded on such a lush faraway island with my family and all our creature comforts (go with me here- laptops and solar power, Ipods use solar juice too & just in case your books got wet during the pretend shipwreck :o) there's always your Kindle on solar.......& since I'm way into my root beer suds here how much solar would we need to power the stove and other appliances like the washer and dryer, coffee maker and on and on and on of course with all necessary amenities & surplus ) and live happily ever after wiling away the days running, playing, riding Ostriches, finding treasure, fighting pirates, playing games and reading magnificent books while settling in for a well deserved nap before a homemade dinner and then playing music and dancing before a  warm fireplace with all our treasures displayed on the mantle and our colored pictures sharing tales of our adventures and discoveries hung on our tree house walls as the fine art it is. I would love this tree house to be a place where we can recapture our tales of amazing tree houses we've had or imagined, where we can share tidbits we collect here and there sharing our childhood with our children and theirs as well being suspended in a time and place with our we can be one with our children together recapturing the awe and wonder, the laughter and magical innocence of that time of pigtails, rope swings, scraped knees, lemonade, secret clubs, swimming in creeks, catching bugs, scary tales, and the joy and pure relaxation of reflecting at the shape of the clouds up above us as we lay on our backs hands behind our head on the fresh cut grass with our children. We'd love to see you again real soon and when you come to play don't forget to bring your marbles and jacks & maybe some comic books!!!:o) I've included a bunch of related links to articles and some neat additions from around cyberspace to remind you of the joys of being little and of the joys of being parents because we now have more invitation than ever before to be kids again too!

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• You: Building a treehouse for your kids (earthtimes.org)
• Boxy Wooden Treehouse Tower Now Open in Netherlands! (inhabitat.com)
• Treehouse Residence on the Hudson River by Baumraum Tiny House Design (apartmenttherapy.com)
• Mirrored Treehouse Hotel Makes You Invisible in the Forest [Hotels] (gizmodo.com)
• Branching Out in West Village, Southampton (online.wsj.com)
• Hang Nga "Crazy House" is a Creepy Fairy Tale Treehouse in Vietnam (inhabitat.com)
• My Space: Popup Room for Kids to Play With Their Friendsters (treehugger.com)
• Backyard Blockbusters: Secrets of the Village's Amazing Treehouse Revealed! (ny.curbed.com)
• Treehouse fans from all walks of life [Paul Cameron] (ecademy.com)
• Gorgeous Mirror-Walled Treehouse Hotel Now Officially Open! (inhabitat.com)
• Modern tree houses: live the high life (telegraph.co.uk)
• Fun Photo App Treehouse Has The Simple Sharing Mechanic That Facebook Needs (techcrunch.com)
• baumraum's Tiny, Precariously Perched Tree House in New York (inhabitat.com)
• Truly amazing treehouse (holykaw.alltop.com)
• Picture Perfect Invisible Treehouse Comes Up In Sweden (greenpacks.org)
• The last 5 years from Treehouse: " RPG (rpgtreehouse.wordpress.com)
• How to sell treehouses by Treehouse Life [Paul Cameron] (ecademy.com)
• Treehouse Hotels Escape Roundup (apartmenttherapy.com)
• The Bird's Nest Tree House at the Treehotel Hides Among The Branches (treehugger.com)
• Practical Hierarchy Of Needs Revised To Include Treehouses [What A Girl Needs] (jezebel.com)