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3. While touring Argentina, I spoke with numerous ministries of education. In almost every conversation, we got around to discussing the acronym ''du jour'', STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Any program that hopes to find its way into classrooms—from Buenos Aires to Boston—needs to pay lip-service to STEM. While STEM is less debilitating than its predecessor, “21st Century Skills”, it is still very narrow in its scope and vision. But in the case of STEM I see an opportunity. If we add the Arts to STEM, we get STEAM. Now that could be hot!

3. While touring Argentina, I spoke with numerous ministries of education. In almost every conversation, we got around to discussing the acronym ''du jour'', STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Any program that hopes to find its way into classrooms—from Buenos Aires to Boston—needs to pay lip-service to STEM. While STEM is less debilitating than its predecessor, “21st Century Skills”, it is still very narrow in its scope and vision. But in the case of STEM I see an opportunity. If we add the Arts to STEM, we get STEAM. Now that could be hot!

4. There has been a [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2011-July/032339.html discussion on Sugar-Devel] about [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1342192419/pulse-sensor-an-open-source-heart-rate-sensor-that a pulse sensor built for Arduino]. It was observed that using the microphone-input port on the XO would let do something similar using Sugar. Guzman Trindad has built a simple sensor using an LED, a light sensor, and a clothespin to do exactly that. See his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TdpkDmWFdw video] using (of course) Turtle Blocks.

4. There has been a [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2011-July/032339.html discussion on Sugar-Devel] about [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1342192419/pulse-sensor-an-open-source-heart-rate-sensor-that a pulse sensor built for Arduino]. It was observed that using the microphone-input port on the XO would let one do something similar using Sugar. Guzman Trindad has built a simple sensor using an LED, a light sensor, and a clothespin to do exactly that. See his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TdpkDmWFdw video] using (of course) Turtle Blocks.

5. Congratulations to Uruguay, Paraguay, and Peru, the top three winners in the Copa America. Again there seems to be a high correlation between Sugar and success in international football. Also, congratulations to the Slipstream/Garmin/Cevelo cycling team on winning the Tour de France 2011. Slipstream is the pro team with which the Sugar Labs/Chipolte U23 team is also affiliated.

5. Congratulations to Uruguay, Paraguay, and Peru, the top three winners in the Copa America. Again there seems to be a high correlation between Sugar and success in international football. Also, congratulations to the Slipstream/Garmin/Cevelo cycling team on winning the Tour de France 2011. Slipstream is the pro team with which the Sugar Labs/Chipolte U23 team is also affiliated.