Monday 29 August 2011
Be nice
And people will be nice to you. Simple. Been away for a few days to a wedding. The Bride was overwhelmed with how lovely everyone was being to her (and her new husband). It really was that she herself is a lovely helpful good natured person. You get back what you give out.
Sunday 21 August 2011
Part time
Ummmmm. Just got back from a one off job where the main requirement is to stay still for an hour. Has very interesting effects. Eastern mystics go off into a trance or meditative state - and use total physical stillness to induce this sort of mental state. I just think I've achieved something similar on the second hour of this job. Try sitting absolutely totally still for just ten minute and it might give you an idea what I'm going on about.
Shamanist: Ally animal fox: Reach your animal instinctive level: Die and be more alive:
Shamanist: Ally animal fox: Reach your animal instinctive level: Die and be more alive:
Monday 15 August 2011
Moral society
Things are quietening down on the riot front, some interesting thoughts are emerging from the various commentators.
Chavs are adopting black culture. Odd that nobody seems worried about the derogatory term chav being used to describe the white skinned individuals involve. It does seem that the'benefits' of a multicultural society don't always work positively - here it seems the worst aspects of the various cultures present in London are predominating.
The state prevents me disciplining my children. I've seen interviews with parents who claim they have been charged with assault when trying physically to prevent their children going out with gangs. Kids rights overrule their responsibilities, and the ability of either parents or police to make them kids stick to responsible behaviour.
I'm not responsible for my childrens behaviour. Simultaneously with parents claiming they're being prevented from applying discipline, there are other parents (the ones under threat of eviction) who claim their older children are simply not their responsibility. At what point is a child a fully independent individual?
It's taken me by surprise the swell of opinion in approval that rioter and their immediate families should lose their 'rights' provided by the community they're destroying. I thought I was running against the flow thinking that anyone who criminally rebels against out social order should not benefit from it. It seems obvious to me (and many others apparently) that if you wilfully destroy the communities resources, or wilfully refuse to contribute, you shouldn't expect to be supported by that community.
The Police seem in disarray. The British system is policing by consent, i.e. the police are working with the community rather than as an authoritarian force compelling obedience to the law. I do think this model is now failing - not because of the riots but because too many of the public fail to obey traffic laws, litter laws. B****y cyclists. It's not the offences themselves but the attitude of the offenders that they have a 'right' to break the law without punishment that makes the policing by consent model unworkable.
Political will to protect the law abiding public has been pretty much absent for maybe twenty years prior to these riots. Suddenly the courts are in action 24 hours a day and heavy punishments are being handed out. Bet that has come as a surprise to many of the looters. It'll be interesting to see if the momentum keeps this going, or if the heavier punishments will be quietly watered down.
Cameron has used the phrase 'slow moral collapse'. The guidance of the various religions has certainly been lacking and declining over the last couple of generations, to the point where the CofE is seen by many (most?) people as an irrelevance. Our government is secular, moral guidance is supposed to come from the nations primary religion, but in my opinion the church leaders are spectacularly failing in this function.
You can't go back in time. The faiths and beliefs that held society together in the past are questioned by science and materialist society. It seems to me that is individuals don't perceive themselves as part of a larger whole, or under the control of some omniscient force, there is little to prevent them acting purely in their own selfish interest without regard to others (or their own long term good).
People content to live on benefits need the occasional reminder that they're not contributing to the pot they're drawing from.
The super earners content to demand ever higher amounts of money need to consider if they're really worth that amount. They may (or may not) be contributing large amounts to wealth creation, but they're certainly alienating the rest of us.
Politicians, and public servants (police included) need to remember they're there to SERVE us - us being every single member of the population; not dictate to us and/or treat us as idiots. Cuts are obviously needed to balance the books, but how about cutting out the politically motivated quangos, initiatives and minority interest grants and get back to basic needs.
Chavs are adopting black culture. Odd that nobody seems worried about the derogatory term chav being used to describe the white skinned individuals involve. It does seem that the'benefits' of a multicultural society don't always work positively - here it seems the worst aspects of the various cultures present in London are predominating.
The state prevents me disciplining my children. I've seen interviews with parents who claim they have been charged with assault when trying physically to prevent their children going out with gangs. Kids rights overrule their responsibilities, and the ability of either parents or police to make them kids stick to responsible behaviour.
I'm not responsible for my childrens behaviour. Simultaneously with parents claiming they're being prevented from applying discipline, there are other parents (the ones under threat of eviction) who claim their older children are simply not their responsibility. At what point is a child a fully independent individual?
It's taken me by surprise the swell of opinion in approval that rioter and their immediate families should lose their 'rights' provided by the community they're destroying. I thought I was running against the flow thinking that anyone who criminally rebels against out social order should not benefit from it. It seems obvious to me (and many others apparently) that if you wilfully destroy the communities resources, or wilfully refuse to contribute, you shouldn't expect to be supported by that community.
The Police seem in disarray. The British system is policing by consent, i.e. the police are working with the community rather than as an authoritarian force compelling obedience to the law. I do think this model is now failing - not because of the riots but because too many of the public fail to obey traffic laws, litter laws. B****y cyclists. It's not the offences themselves but the attitude of the offenders that they have a 'right' to break the law without punishment that makes the policing by consent model unworkable.
Political will to protect the law abiding public has been pretty much absent for maybe twenty years prior to these riots. Suddenly the courts are in action 24 hours a day and heavy punishments are being handed out. Bet that has come as a surprise to many of the looters. It'll be interesting to see if the momentum keeps this going, or if the heavier punishments will be quietly watered down.
Cameron has used the phrase 'slow moral collapse'. The guidance of the various religions has certainly been lacking and declining over the last couple of generations, to the point where the CofE is seen by many (most?) people as an irrelevance. Our government is secular, moral guidance is supposed to come from the nations primary religion, but in my opinion the church leaders are spectacularly failing in this function.
You can't go back in time. The faiths and beliefs that held society together in the past are questioned by science and materialist society. It seems to me that is individuals don't perceive themselves as part of a larger whole, or under the control of some omniscient force, there is little to prevent them acting purely in their own selfish interest without regard to others (or their own long term good).
People content to live on benefits need the occasional reminder that they're not contributing to the pot they're drawing from.
The super earners content to demand ever higher amounts of money need to consider if they're really worth that amount. They may (or may not) be contributing large amounts to wealth creation, but they're certainly alienating the rest of us.
Politicians, and public servants (police included) need to remember they're there to SERVE us - us being every single member of the population; not dictate to us and/or treat us as idiots. Cuts are obviously needed to balance the books, but how about cutting out the politically motivated quangos, initiatives and minority interest grants and get back to basic needs.
Friday 12 August 2011
Local repair
Bought some new bits for my camera yesterday. Fiddling about changing lenses, there came a click and tinkle. A strange plastic bit had fallen out and a metal frame was hanging down. Look in the manual, it was the focusing screen had somehow been released and had fallen out. A lot of the basic information seems to be assumed in the manual, so getting it back without having noted where it came from wasn't too simple.
Looked up the web for a local repairer/expert. The only camera shops now are the chain stores - the little local shops where local expertise resided have all gone. Phoned the shop where I bought the bits. They were very helpful and phoned the manufacturer's distributor, but without a decent picture of what I needed to do I was still stick. Looked on the web - here there were several 'home brewed' instructional articles. The main difficulty here is knowing what to trust, and again the instructions assumed I was starting off replacing the screen, not dealing with one that had fallen out! Finally more by luck than judgement, I pressed it in the right direction and it clicked back into place. By this time dust had entered the viewfinder area and a fragment of the non lint cloth I was using had worked it's way into the sensor. Getting too het up is no way to deal with a DLSR camera so I put the lot away until today. A good search of multiple sites on the web provided the solutions I was after - properly researched the job looked none to difficult, so I had a go.
My point here is that with expensive equipment, I'd far prefer to whip it down to a local technicians and get them to sort the issue out, or at least discuss it with them. I couldn't find anyone local, so would have had to send the camera off, losing it for several days at least and letting myself in for an unknown bill once they'd assessed the problem. With PC equipment, there do now seem to be plenty of small shops providing this service, but this doesn't extend to cameras. There's an alternative source of knowledge on the web to replace this, but you do have to provide the fingers yourself, and sourcing spares may not be simple. Thinking about this, our dishwasher is missing a small spring - we've been unable to source a replacement and resent paying call out etc. for such a small (and optional) repair.
Incidentally, the sensor clean worked fine, also got the dust out of the viewfinder area. Only problem is the focusing screen got a small scratch when it fell out, which I've made much worse trying to clean it off! Screens not available at the shops, so I'll have to buy on the web or special order from a shop.
Looked up the web for a local repairer/expert. The only camera shops now are the chain stores - the little local shops where local expertise resided have all gone. Phoned the shop where I bought the bits. They were very helpful and phoned the manufacturer's distributor, but without a decent picture of what I needed to do I was still stick. Looked on the web - here there were several 'home brewed' instructional articles. The main difficulty here is knowing what to trust, and again the instructions assumed I was starting off replacing the screen, not dealing with one that had fallen out! Finally more by luck than judgement, I pressed it in the right direction and it clicked back into place. By this time dust had entered the viewfinder area and a fragment of the non lint cloth I was using had worked it's way into the sensor. Getting too het up is no way to deal with a DLSR camera so I put the lot away until today. A good search of multiple sites on the web provided the solutions I was after - properly researched the job looked none to difficult, so I had a go.
My point here is that with expensive equipment, I'd far prefer to whip it down to a local technicians and get them to sort the issue out, or at least discuss it with them. I couldn't find anyone local, so would have had to send the camera off, losing it for several days at least and letting myself in for an unknown bill once they'd assessed the problem. With PC equipment, there do now seem to be plenty of small shops providing this service, but this doesn't extend to cameras. There's an alternative source of knowledge on the web to replace this, but you do have to provide the fingers yourself, and sourcing spares may not be simple. Thinking about this, our dishwasher is missing a small spring - we've been unable to source a replacement and resent paying call out etc. for such a small (and optional) repair.
Incidentally, the sensor clean worked fine, also got the dust out of the viewfinder area. Only problem is the focusing screen got a small scratch when it fell out, which I've made much worse trying to clean it off! Screens not available at the shops, so I'll have to buy on the web or special order from a shop.
Tuesday 9 August 2011
2012 - End of civilisation...
... as we know it.
Riots in London, international financial system breaking down. Many major countries spending beyond their means. Lack of political will in the west to maintain law and order, reform bureaucracy or rein in spending.
If the (legitimate?) killing of one drug dealer can serve as an excuse for the amount of rioting going on, are the Olympics going to provide another flashpoint. I see the building of the Olympic arenas as an extravagance with little benefit for the man in the street. How are the individuals who are rioting now going to view the privileged few with access to limos, special traffic lanes and the best seats for the Olympic events. The stark contrast between the amounts spent on these events and the conditions in some inner city estates provides a lot of justification for envy and a feeling of unfairness.
The political systems of most western countries are coming under considerable pressure. The electorate are so used to governments overspending and bribing them with their own money (plus borrowings) it has become nigh impossible to rein back the benefits and services the governments are providing 'on tick'. Surely the most stupid voter can appreciate that there's a limit to national borrowing, and only so much 'family silver' that can be sold off to finance over spending. The more anyone borrows, the more of their income is spent on unproductive interest payments. In any case, where is this money coming from that's being borrowed.
While the finance markets are confident that repayments will be made, no problem. Governments can just borrow even more to pay off the loans coming due. Eventually the markets will get a bit worried that this can't go on forever, as is happening in Greece and several other countries. This forces a re-examination of what's going on and a sudden shift in confidence can result in governments no longer being able to borrow. Result - governments are forced print money (quantative easing or similar weasel phrases) and their currencies collapse with high inflation. I think I need to spend my savings quick - which is probably what the governments want to stimulate the economy into growth ???
With more money going on 'social' spending, the necessary spending on infrastructure, policing and national defence get cut right back. Potholes in the roads, a spread on minor anti social behaviour and the possibility this country won't be able to defend itself (Falklands?) don't seem to worry our ruling classes. Unlimited immigration also doesn't seem to affect our MP's - the lack of social cohesion it causes is maybe too far down the social ladder to affect them.
Several factors seem to be coalescing for next year. Throw in a major natural disaster in the US - earthquake or eruption of a volcanic caldera, and a flare up in the middle east cutting off oil supplies, and the collapse of western civilisation as we know it doesn't seem so far fetched.
Run for the hills!
Riots in London, international financial system breaking down. Many major countries spending beyond their means. Lack of political will in the west to maintain law and order, reform bureaucracy or rein in spending.
If the (legitimate?) killing of one drug dealer can serve as an excuse for the amount of rioting going on, are the Olympics going to provide another flashpoint. I see the building of the Olympic arenas as an extravagance with little benefit for the man in the street. How are the individuals who are rioting now going to view the privileged few with access to limos, special traffic lanes and the best seats for the Olympic events. The stark contrast between the amounts spent on these events and the conditions in some inner city estates provides a lot of justification for envy and a feeling of unfairness.
The political systems of most western countries are coming under considerable pressure. The electorate are so used to governments overspending and bribing them with their own money (plus borrowings) it has become nigh impossible to rein back the benefits and services the governments are providing 'on tick'. Surely the most stupid voter can appreciate that there's a limit to national borrowing, and only so much 'family silver' that can be sold off to finance over spending. The more anyone borrows, the more of their income is spent on unproductive interest payments. In any case, where is this money coming from that's being borrowed.
While the finance markets are confident that repayments will be made, no problem. Governments can just borrow even more to pay off the loans coming due. Eventually the markets will get a bit worried that this can't go on forever, as is happening in Greece and several other countries. This forces a re-examination of what's going on and a sudden shift in confidence can result in governments no longer being able to borrow. Result - governments are forced print money (quantative easing or similar weasel phrases) and their currencies collapse with high inflation. I think I need to spend my savings quick - which is probably what the governments want to stimulate the economy into growth ???
With more money going on 'social' spending, the necessary spending on infrastructure, policing and national defence get cut right back. Potholes in the roads, a spread on minor anti social behaviour and the possibility this country won't be able to defend itself (Falklands?) don't seem to worry our ruling classes. Unlimited immigration also doesn't seem to affect our MP's - the lack of social cohesion it causes is maybe too far down the social ladder to affect them.
Several factors seem to be coalescing for next year. Throw in a major natural disaster in the US - earthquake or eruption of a volcanic caldera, and a flare up in the middle east cutting off oil supplies, and the collapse of western civilisation as we know it doesn't seem so far fetched.
Run for the hills!
Saturday 6 August 2011
Buying lottery tickets
When I'm content with my lot I don't.
When I'm fed up with life and want to change things I do.
When I'm fed up with life and want to change things I do.
Thursday 4 August 2011
Education, purpose of, part two
Yesterday's blog has squirrelled round my brain for the last day.
After consideration, it still seems right to me that the very basics of education - reading, writing and 'rithmetic need a disciplined rigorous approach to their teaching. There is an added benefit to this - even the youngest primary children need some exposure to a formal working environment. Take the kids out of their informal friendly classroom for short periods of strictly disciplined rote learning. This will not only teach the subject, but also get them used to an 'adult work environment' for initially short periods where quiet and concentration are the norm. It won't hurt to introduce periods where the teacher is supreme rather than the kids' interests.
Further thoughts have moved into the inevitable huge grey areas any idea like this raises. Even in non academic subjects (dare I suggest art?) there are formal methods to be taught as well as the fun of slapping paint around. Many academic subjects - History, Human Geography, Religious education are open to interpretation and allow personal opinions to form around the base facts. These are also not critical subjects for future employment in general areas, so can 'loosen up' and go further than currently allowed in personal research and creativity. Initial teaching of languages and sciences (primary level) can also be more a voyage of personal discovery than formally taught subjects, as I believe is currently practised. Teaching of ethical/moral subjects at this level is very problematic and maybe should be at the level of discussing what the children currently think - encouraging tolerance and understanding of others views rather than any attempt to impose a 'right' view. It's a really difficult job for the teachers to put their own knowledge and beliefs to one side and practise the tolerance of views they may consider wrong - kids may have racist or homophobic views - but tolerance is what they'd be preaching...
After consideration, it still seems right to me that the very basics of education - reading, writing and 'rithmetic need a disciplined rigorous approach to their teaching. There is an added benefit to this - even the youngest primary children need some exposure to a formal working environment. Take the kids out of their informal friendly classroom for short periods of strictly disciplined rote learning. This will not only teach the subject, but also get them used to an 'adult work environment' for initially short periods where quiet and concentration are the norm. It won't hurt to introduce periods where the teacher is supreme rather than the kids' interests.
Further thoughts have moved into the inevitable huge grey areas any idea like this raises. Even in non academic subjects (dare I suggest art?) there are formal methods to be taught as well as the fun of slapping paint around. Many academic subjects - History, Human Geography, Religious education are open to interpretation and allow personal opinions to form around the base facts. These are also not critical subjects for future employment in general areas, so can 'loosen up' and go further than currently allowed in personal research and creativity. Initial teaching of languages and sciences (primary level) can also be more a voyage of personal discovery than formally taught subjects, as I believe is currently practised. Teaching of ethical/moral subjects at this level is very problematic and maybe should be at the level of discussing what the children currently think - encouraging tolerance and understanding of others views rather than any attempt to impose a 'right' view. It's a really difficult job for the teachers to put their own knowledge and beliefs to one side and practise the tolerance of views they may consider wrong - kids may have racist or homophobic views - but tolerance is what they'd be preaching...
Wednesday 3 August 2011
Education, purpose of
Been out in the woods again for a long weekend. A few threads of thought have come together, making me question the purpose of our education system.
Discipline on primary schools has been in the news. There's some suggestion we should go back to the system of rows of desks facing teacher rather than informal groups of tables with pupils facing each other.
A lot of major economies seem to be in trouble at the moment. There's a need for the workforce to grow the rate of wealth creation to keep up with the amount governments are spending. either that or educate the politicians that you can't continually spend more than you have.
Immigrants to this country (UK) seem to have better basic skills and a better work ethic than the native population, so they're grabbing a lot of jobs. I suppose you have to be well motivated to leave your own country to find work, but the situation does seem a bit extreme.
The final thread was meeting one of the bushcraft instructor's sons. This guy (early 20s) had been mostly home educated - to say he had retained his creativity would be an understatement. My immediate response wast to think he wouldn't fit in to a normal workplace and I wanted to crush his rather wild attitudes into conformity- and the word 'crush' I think is the right one to describe my attitude.
Bring these threads together and it became apparent to me that I think the education system should be geared to producing productive clones. The individual's value is to bolster GDP and that is what education must be about. That's fair enough as the cost of ones education comes from the value created by the businesses and big corporations. But is it right? Are we justified in teaching conformity and repressing individual creativity.
I've had a little experience of teaching. It's clearly impossible to provide enough resources to teach each pupil genuinely as an individual. Even if it was possible, there is a view from the community and the individual teacher as to what is right and/or acceptable, and this will be imposed on any learner. There are also limits placed on creativity in that the 'true' view of the world needs to be taught. Accepted texts and the knowledge required to pass exams is not open to creative questioning, they need to be learnt by rote. (That last sentence seems wrong) Moral 'truths' are also not open to question. It used to be the church providing unquestionable moral leadership, now it's the multicultural dictats of the secular government which may not be questioned.
My experience of school teachers, as a class, suggests they don't like what they are teaching questioned. There are certainly practical reasons why a teacher can't function if the accepted truth can be questioned by the learners, but it seems to me to go beyond that and the teachers ego becomes involved in their belief that they're always right. The bushcraft instructors I'm involved with have opened my eyes to this - they're all very open to any ideas from their learners and will question their own knowledge if a good objection is raised to a practise or item of information.
There is then a need for basic life skills and work attitudes to be 'rammed down the throat' of learners for the nation to function and create the wealth that is needed (and desired) by the population. Traditional methods probable work best here with disciplined rote learning. Beyond these basics there seems to me little need to force feed information to learners without question. There seems an idea that teaching methods need to be uniform throughout the system, I suppose I'm suggesting that teaching of the basics needs to be rigorous, but that 'extras' should enjoy a lighter method of teaching, with originality of thought, creativity and questioning of accepted norms all encouraged. Some real life investigation and research should be good too.
While we're on the subject, I was teaching 16-18 year olds, many of whom had zero motivation to learn but wanted the bits of paper (exam passes) at the end of their course. If I've said it before, I'll say it again, it would be far better for the demotivated students to leave school as early as possible (14?, 12?) and go out to work to support themselves (no benefit payments at this age!). Make it easy for them to return to school until their mid twenties - most, I think, will return to learning with a better understanding of why they need an education and they'll be properly motivated. Woe betide any rotten teachers then! The courses I liked teaching best were those for adults who were there to get the skills they wanted to get a good job - they drove you to teach them...
Discipline on primary schools has been in the news. There's some suggestion we should go back to the system of rows of desks facing teacher rather than informal groups of tables with pupils facing each other.
A lot of major economies seem to be in trouble at the moment. There's a need for the workforce to grow the rate of wealth creation to keep up with the amount governments are spending. either that or educate the politicians that you can't continually spend more than you have.
Immigrants to this country (UK) seem to have better basic skills and a better work ethic than the native population, so they're grabbing a lot of jobs. I suppose you have to be well motivated to leave your own country to find work, but the situation does seem a bit extreme.
The final thread was meeting one of the bushcraft instructor's sons. This guy (early 20s) had been mostly home educated - to say he had retained his creativity would be an understatement. My immediate response wast to think he wouldn't fit in to a normal workplace and I wanted to crush his rather wild attitudes into conformity- and the word 'crush' I think is the right one to describe my attitude.
Bring these threads together and it became apparent to me that I think the education system should be geared to producing productive clones. The individual's value is to bolster GDP and that is what education must be about. That's fair enough as the cost of ones education comes from the value created by the businesses and big corporations. But is it right? Are we justified in teaching conformity and repressing individual creativity.
I've had a little experience of teaching. It's clearly impossible to provide enough resources to teach each pupil genuinely as an individual. Even if it was possible, there is a view from the community and the individual teacher as to what is right and/or acceptable, and this will be imposed on any learner. There are also limits placed on creativity in that the 'true' view of the world needs to be taught. Accepted texts and the knowledge required to pass exams is not open to creative questioning, they need to be learnt by rote. (That last sentence seems wrong) Moral 'truths' are also not open to question. It used to be the church providing unquestionable moral leadership, now it's the multicultural dictats of the secular government which may not be questioned.
My experience of school teachers, as a class, suggests they don't like what they are teaching questioned. There are certainly practical reasons why a teacher can't function if the accepted truth can be questioned by the learners, but it seems to me to go beyond that and the teachers ego becomes involved in their belief that they're always right. The bushcraft instructors I'm involved with have opened my eyes to this - they're all very open to any ideas from their learners and will question their own knowledge if a good objection is raised to a practise or item of information.
There is then a need for basic life skills and work attitudes to be 'rammed down the throat' of learners for the nation to function and create the wealth that is needed (and desired) by the population. Traditional methods probable work best here with disciplined rote learning. Beyond these basics there seems to me little need to force feed information to learners without question. There seems an idea that teaching methods need to be uniform throughout the system, I suppose I'm suggesting that teaching of the basics needs to be rigorous, but that 'extras' should enjoy a lighter method of teaching, with originality of thought, creativity and questioning of accepted norms all encouraged. Some real life investigation and research should be good too.
While we're on the subject, I was teaching 16-18 year olds, many of whom had zero motivation to learn but wanted the bits of paper (exam passes) at the end of their course. If I've said it before, I'll say it again, it would be far better for the demotivated students to leave school as early as possible (14?, 12?) and go out to work to support themselves (no benefit payments at this age!). Make it easy for them to return to school until their mid twenties - most, I think, will return to learning with a better understanding of why they need an education and they'll be properly motivated. Woe betide any rotten teachers then! The courses I liked teaching best were those for adults who were there to get the skills they wanted to get a good job - they drove you to teach them...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)