SweetSearch2Day

The Big Picture, and Why Mr. Rogers Created His Neighborhood

After reviewing every hundreds of possibile news widgets and links to share on SweetSearch2Day, we settled on the baker's dozen below as the very best resources for exploring current events in the classroom. One of my favorites is Boston.com's  The Big Picture, a dramatic photo essay of events from around the world that appear four times a week. In our Interview of the Day, Fred "Mr." Rogers discusses, with the Archive of American Television, how he created his legendary children's program (the interview includes a clip of his first show). He tells interview Karen Herman, ""I saw people throwing pies in each other's faces. And I thought, 'This could be a wonderful tool for education. Why is it being used this way?" On Sept. 30, 1882, the world's first hydroelectric power plant began operation in Wisconsin, producing enough energy to supply three buildings. The Vulcan Street Plant, as it was first known, was built on the Fox River using an Edison-invented type "K" dynamo generator. The generator produced approximately 12.5 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power H.J. Rogers's home and his two paper mills. After a failed opening on Sept. 27, Rogers succeeded in opening the station three days later, to the amazement of the local community. The plant, run by the Appleton Edison Light Company under Rogers's supervision, experienced many problems during the first years of operation.

Murder by Tylenol; the Story of a Canadian Hero; England's Blackwell; News Widgets & Spider Webs

Last night, ESPN aired "Into the Wind," a documentary about Terry Fox, a cancer victim who ran on one leg and a prosthesis more than 3,000 miles across Canada to raise money to fight cancer. Running nearly a marathon a day, he became a national hero in Canada, and continues to be one, 30 years later. Our spotlight story today discusses the documentary and Fox's legend. It is a great story to share with students. Another feature on SweetSearch2Day is "This Day in Tech" from Wired.com. We found it consistently covers fascinating topics that nicely complement our own On This Day. Today, it discusses the torturous path by which Elizabeth Garret became England's first female physician this day in 1865. Garret drew much of her inspiration from Elizabeth Blackwell, America's first female physician. If you are not teaching these two life stories, you should be. The "news for students" widgets on SweetSearch2Day are buzzing with talk of the world's largest spider Webs, weaved by a tiny spider. NatGeoKids has pictures. On Sept. 29, 1982, three people in suburban Chicago died after taking poisoned Tylenol, the first of seven victims killed by the "Tylenol Terrorist." The case, which remains unsolved, led to the development of tamper-proof packaging. Mary Kellerman, a 12-year-old, was the first victim. On the morning of Sept. 29, Mary awoke with a sore throat and her parents gave her an Extra-Strength Tylenol. A short time later, they found her collapsed on the bathroom floor and rushed her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her death was initially believed to be the result of a stroke. Almost immediately after Mary Kellerman's death, firefighter Richard Keyworth, theorized that the Tylenol Mary had taken before her death may have been to blame. Read the full story, including how Tylenol-maker Johnson & Johnson responded, and which FDA laws resulted from the incident.

Rosetta Stone Deciphered, Samuel Adams Born, Lighting Strikes Chicago, Margaret Mead in Her Own Words

Today, we bring real change to Dulcinea Media.

First, today we announced a significant change to the way search results appear on SweetSearch and SweetSearch4Me. We believe that Web research has been transformed, from a task few students could effectively tackle without close teacher guidance, to one that many students should be able to navigate on their own. Read more.

Today's Photo of the Day shows dramatic pictures of lightning striking Chicago.

Our own Interview of the Day is taking shape as one of the very best blogs for learning on the entire Web. Today, we present interviews with Dr.Margaret Mead. In a 1962 interview, she discusses the differences in creativity among men and women; in a 1963 interview with US News & World Report, she bemoans the fact that "moral training used to come from the parents. Now it comes in the standards that are being spread-and they're not very high, either-directly to the children by TV and radio. It's very hard for the parents to mediate between their children and these standards."

In On This Day, we discuss the Rosetta Stone, which dates back to 196 B.C., and was discovered in 1799 by French Napoleonic soldiers in Egypt. It is inscribed with the same text written in Greek, Demotic and Egyptian hieroglyphics, and commemorates the anniversary of Ptolemy V's accession to the Egyptian throne.

French linguist and historian Jean-Francois Champollion successfully deciphered many of the words on the stone. Filled with excitement, Champollion went to his brother's house and ran into his office shouting, "Je tiens l'affaire!," meaning "I've got it!" Champollion then fainted and spent the next five days in bed recovering.

On September 27, 1822, Champollion presented his "Lettre à M. Dacier," a letter that outlined his discoveries.

Read the full story

September 24 is also the birthday of U.S. Founding Father Samuel Adams.

Holy Cow

As we say in our "marketing" pitch, SweetSearch2Day is a daily assortment of the best educational content online. Every single content feed has been thoroughly reviewed before we deemed it worthy of inclusion on the page. We intend to continually add to it over time.

We feature four different Photos of the Day: from National Geographic, Smithsonian, Astronomy Photos from NASA, and earth science photos from the Earth Science Institute. Today's photo from NatGeo is a group of cows standing over a lake, their reflections shining off the surface. What better way to begin a Friday morning blog post?

Our On This Day today covers the launch of 60 Minutes - for several decades, the most watched program on television. Interestingly, the genesis of our idea for Interview of the Day, a feature that highlights compelling historic interviews, was uncovering the Mike Wallace Interviews with 66 luminaries of the 1950s, on the University of Texas Web site.

Today's Interview of the Day captures two interviews at MIT with Jack Welch, the legendary chairman of General Electric during its heyday in the 1980s. I was a senior executive at my previous company when Welch published his book Winning. Full of practical advice applicable to anyone, it became the guide book by which we managed the company, with tremendous results. No matter who you are or what you do, you can learn a lot from Jack Welch.

Mark Moran

A Man Who Proved Anything Can Be Overcome

He was abandoned by his father. At 5, he watched his brother drown. At 7, glaucoma claimed his eyesight. And at 15, he lost the mother he idolized. With $600 to his name, he moved from Georgia to Seattle and began a career as a musician. But by 35, he was addicted to heroin. But he overcame it all to win a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, and a National Medal of the Arts. Ray Charles was born this day in 1930.

In On This Day, we discuss the introduction of the rules of modern baseball, in 1845. For many, the interesting part of the article will be our noting that it is a myth that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown in 1839. Longtime readers of the findingDulcinea blog won't be surprised by this; we long ago noted that credit for an invention often depends more on popular perception than reality.

Interview of the Day, launched a week ago, has featured a series of compelling historic interviews thus far. Today's is the oldest one so far - an interview with Harry Houdini from 1904.

The most widely read article we've ever published

Welcome to SweetSearch2Day, where students learn something new every day.

Our On This Day for yesterday, September 19, is the most widely read article we've ever published. It tells the story of Witold Pilecki, a Polish spy during WWII. The article is too compelling to spoil with more details here. The reason it is so widely read is that the Soviets took over Poland after the war. Most Polish war heroes remained loyal to the former Polish government, and thus their heroism was never revealed to the world, until the election of Lech Walesa in 1990 opened Poland to the world.

Today is the 37th anniversary of the death of Jim Croce in a plane crash, at the age of 30. It is stunning to me that he wrote such insightful lyrics in his 20s. Read them, here. I hope they speak to you as they do to me.

In President Obama's speech to students last week, he warned them about creating an embarrassing digital footprint. This is the approach most schools take. Which is a darn shame, but one of the most important things a student can learn today is how to build a robust, positive digital footprint.

Mark Moran

CEO, Dulcinea Media

The History of General Motors, From "A Car for Every Purse" to "Facebook Updates"

Welcome to SweetSearch2Day, where students learn something new every day.

We developed it with leading educators to help teachers integrate online content into daily lessons, and to lead students to explore the best content online. To quote the parting words of a Calvinist philosopher who left us too soon, today is “a day full of possibilities. Let’s go exploring.”

Today's On This Day celebrates the birth of General Motors on September 16, 1908, with a marketing strategy of "a car for every purse and purpose."

A century later, GM is once again preparing for its "birth" - its main owner, the U.S. government, is getting ready to sell its stock in the company to the public. This time, GM's OnStar unit is touting new features that enable a driver to send and hear Facebook status updates and text messages while driving.

Some interesting facts from G.M.'s history to discuss with students:

• The "land grab" mentality that led GM to acquire 30 companies in 18 months was seen again at the birth of the Internet in the late 1990s. Why can't companies take a more thoughtful approach to growth in a new industry?
• General Motors was seized by its bank lenders in 1910; it was taken over by its chief lender, the U.S. government, in 2010. What will GM look like in 2110?
• The original founders of General Motors did not profit from its success. There are many similar stories throughout corporate history, most famously the McDonald brothers, who sold their hamburger shop to Ray Kroc for a small fraction of its eventual value. Why is the person who thinks up an idea often not the one to profit from it in the long run?

Today is also the birthday of actress Lauren Bacall. In 2005, Bacall told Charlie Rose “I think everyone has a story to begin with. I don’t think there’s anyone who could not write a book about their life if they told the truth about the beginnings ….” What's the truth about your beginning?

Let's Go Exploring

Welcome to SweetSearch2Day, where students learn something new every day.

We developed it with leading educators to help teachers integrate online content into daily lessons, and to lead students to explore the best content online.

To quote the parting words of a Calvinist philosopher who left us too soon, today is “a day full of possibilities. Let’s go exploring.”

Sincerely,

Mark Moran