Enter the Science Debate 2008

Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, we call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy.

Do you like apples?

Despite attempts in recent years to bolster education in fundamental areas, a major international study released today found that youngsters in the U.S. still lag behind their peers in the developed nations when it comes to the technical disciplines. Sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study found that in standardized tests conducted in 30 industrialized countries American kids performed near the bottom of the ranks.

How do ya like 'em apples? If reports like this concern you, as much as they do me, then hop on over to the Science Debate 2008 site, sign up, and show your support.

Not convinced? Here's a little bonus footage, that will surely have you signing up double time.

Thanks to fellow Enterprise Irregular, Vinnie Mirchandani, for passing this along.

[UPDATE} Denis Browne from SAP Imagineering is down with Science Debate 2008. He sent me this gem as another forewarning about our future…ouch. Thanks D!

This past week I attended the 360 Flex conference in Seattle.  During the conference, the Seattle Flex Users group, led by Ali Daniali, coordinated a 60 hour coding marathon called the Flex Code Jam.  They gathered a volunteer group of hardcore, dedicated Flex hackers to develop a virtual food drive web application for Northwest Harvest Organization. 

They started on Sunday night and continued through the end of the conference on Wednesday.  I am no Flex guru, but I did stop by for a few hours to see if I could help.  Luckily, I had some experience with the PayPal API and was able to at least contribute a small amount.  It was quite an experience.  They rented out a suite on the top floor of the hotel and had a constant flow of Redbull (kudos to Redbull for providing this for free), soda, pizza, and beer. They actually had a keg, but I just stuck with the Redbull since I am no good at CUI (coding under the influence).  The mix of alcohol, greasy food, energy drinks, no sleep, and mama jokes proved for an interesting combination for sure. 

The guys pulled it together by the Wednesday morning keynote to show a working demo of the first version.  They also announced their plans to release the entire code base as open source so that other charity organizations can use it as well.  At the end, Ali made the call to other groups in hopes that they would be inspired to do similar events in the future.  This was a tremendous effort and very fulfilling to see.  It was an awesome experience and I want to give some serious congrats to all involved.  This is a prime example of developers changing the world.