A Google software program called SketchUp, which was intended largely for architects and design professionals, has found a very unexpected and welcome fan base-children with autism. SketchUp is entertaining kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as well as providing them with skills that might one day help them as they age out of school and into the workforce.

The University of Utah, Google and Universal Studios Creative hosted a free workshop and tutorial on the SketchUp software for parents and teachers of children with autistic characteristics. The SketchUp workshop took place on Saturday.

Original Google SketchUp designer Chris Cronin discussed the history of SketchUp along with Steve Michael Gross, Universal Creative designer, demonstrated how he used the program in designing Harry Potter, Transformers and King Kong, among other films. The presentations were followed by a hands-on workshop.

Cronin recalls the first connections made between the software program and ASD, explaining that a number of years ago...

Below is one of the best pieces I've lately seen, regarding how social media is rapidly changing, and in some cases, taking over our lives. This diary offers one person's solution to what many feel are growing problems.

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By Julie Fanselow,

Here's my resolution for 2010: I won't log onto Facebook - or anywhere else online, for that matter - until after I've put in three hours each weekday morning of working without the 'net.

I love being a netizen, and I especially love Facebook. My time at the Idaho Democratic Party coincided with the period when seemingly everyone signed up here. During the 2009 Idaho Legislature, Democrats and our allies used it to organize everything from a campaign calling for better child care laws to protesting the first-ever state budget cuts to our neighborhood schools. Just before the end of the year, Facebook helped rapidly spread awareness of the gubernatorial campaign of Keith Allred, who promises to move beyond hyper-partisan politics to get Idaho working again. Facebook is, hands...

You just have to vote for a family values mother and business owner who is pictured with a shotgun on her website.

My family wishes Christy Perry the best in her campaign for Idaho State Representative, Canyon County District 13B.

Boy, do I love this state!

See: http://www.christyperryforidaho.com/

Given the choice of munching on a rocket ship or broccoli (yuck!), who wouldn’t want to eat a rocket ship? Monsters, of course! MONSTERS DON’T EAT BROCCOLI (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers/Ages 5–8) by Barbara Jean Hicks with illustrations by Sue Hendra is a rollicking picture book that will have young readers laughing out loud as monsters try their hardest to avoid eating anything green—while parents will approve of this nondidactic celebration of vegetables!

In this hilarious story, monsters insist that they simply do not like broccoli. They’d rather snack on tractors, a rocket ship, or even a “wheely, steely stew”—just as long as it’s not broccoli! So when they suddenly find themselves munching on “a clump of giant maples and their yummy, gummy bark,” they’re shocked to discover that broccoli is actually delicious!

With vibrant illustrations coupled with rhyming text and the singsong refrain, “Fum, foe, fie, fee, monsters don’t eat broccoli!” MONSTERS DON’T EAT BROCCOLI will make little ones think twice...

From the time the National Gallery on Writing opens for viewing on October 20, 2009, until June of 2010, Americans will be able to see just how writing is changing. Viewers will see firsthand compositions that matter to their authors. This picture, different from collections of school or work writing, will allow NCTE, and its 15 national partners, to begin reshaping a writing pedagogy to better develop writers of the future.

Hugh Burns of Texas Women's University documents the changes we're seeing in writing in his 1-minute video "Kairos 14.1 Disputatio Text," while children's author James Cross Giblin speaks about the great satisfaction he gets from writing a sentence that "clearly, simply, and visibly" says just what he means to say.

This is exciting news for those of us who teach basic writing and composition.

There are over a half million dollars of in-kind scholarships available through the Miss Idaho USA and Miss Teen Idaho USA pageants and their partnership with Lindenwood University.

In response to concerns from Idaho parents, teachers and school administrators, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo has reintroduced bipartisan legislation to bring needed reforms to the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) Act.  The Enhancing Flexibility for Effective Schools (EFES) Act is similar to legislation previously introduced by Crapo and Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas).

Both Senators and their staff members consulted with education leaders, school board members and interested citizens from their respective states on what kinds of changes are needed for NCLB to work better.

“Education works best when local parents, teachers and administrators are able to control decision-making,” Crapo said.  “These reforms will bring needed relief from the unneeded and unintended consequences of what overall is very good legislation.  The NCLB Act has improved the performance of many students, but uncertainty over the adequate yearly process assessment models and dealing with the special needs of some students were...

Idaho Congressman secures funding for Boise Geothermal Expansion and Idaho State University’s Medical Isotope Production Project

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, today announced the inclusion of funding for a program to produce medical isotopes from accelerators at Idaho State University and the expansion of the City of Boise’s geothermal system to Boise State University as part of legislation funding the Department of Energy. The legislation was approved today in the House of Representatives by a vote of 320-97.

Among its many provisions, the Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill includes $1.5 million in funding for the development of a medical isotope production facility at the Idaho Accelerator Center at Idaho State University. The facility will help meet our nation’s demand for medical isotopes and greatly increase the nuclear research and education capabilities of Idaho State University...

I'm testing it out.