Dogma's: part 1

Triggered by the study I'm doing at the moment ("Information Analysis"),
I noticed that I sometimes missed 'things' when I was analysing some of
the problems posed.

Annoyingly, I am sure that I wouldn't have missed these 'things' if I
hadn't been in the classroom; some were so blindingly obvious.

Why ?

Because I was trying to work from within the (new) Information Analysis
framework I am learning.

Now this might just be a problem only I have; I try to use only the
tools that I am learning (and try not to use the old tools I knew). Why
else would I be doing this study ?

Now I must admit, in hindsight, that this is a stupid approach; you
should always question the information you are presented with. In this
case; don't believe in the truth of the study; question it.

So what to do; learning throws up frameworks which limit thoughts.

This is of course part of the larger discussion about schools and
learning; we're all forced into a framework and consequently think from
within this framework. This stifles creativity; we have to make an
effort to think from outside-the-box.

So; should I teach my kids that 1 + 1 = 2 ? What would happen if they
could develop their own thoughts ?

But now it's weekend.

(And by the way; why is PI such a special number ? Or is it just that
the framework's wrong).

Gegroet. Paul.

Pancakes with Paul

Hola !

Poor old Sebastian's had a bad morning; falling out Sophy's bed; headfirst (how did he get in there ?). Later on, visiting some neighbours he smashed the other side of his forehead against a table edge. Result: 2 BIG bruises on either side of his forehead. He's not happy.

And now for something completely different.

(Gluten-free) Pancakes !

Here's "my" recipe:

• 500g gluten-free flour (I use Dove's farm plain white flour);
• a "bit" of salt;
• a squirt of olive oil;
• between 575 - 600ml milk;
• 4 eggs.

Mix all up to a homogenous milky liquid (some sites then advise to let it stand for 20 minutes for the starch to ...do something ..?). Pour out into a hot non-stick pan (with a minimal covering of oil). Enjoy (?).

Gegroet.   Paul.

A niche market for GMail; a child friendly version ?

Cycling to work on a rather dull looking morning, an old idea of mine
came to mind.

Why doesn't Google Gmail provide a GMail service, specifically for
primary school age children ?

I've given my three kids there own GMail accounts (although none of them
are literate enough yet to use them), but there's no way I can make
these accounts child safe:

- A higher SPAM filter setting;
- SPAM shouldn't be kept but trashed immediately;
- A guarantee that adverts are safe;
- The parent has the option to block (specific and additional) email
addresses.

>> I would imagine that a child GMail account would be a sub-account of
the parent account; allowing the parent access even when the little brat
discovers how to change the password.

Great eh ?

But then I started thinking that when for example Timothy becomes more
literate (and he's already quite internet-savvy), there's nothing to
stop him from just creating a new (standard) GMail account.

In that case I'd lose all control.

Which brings up the matter of how to make your child "modern-world-wise"
? (But that's a subject for a separate blog ...).

So is it a good idea or not ?

Gegroet. Paul.

Well, there isn't much happening with this blog ... but I thought I'd share this picture of our glorious trinity ...

Tuesday 28 Feb

As Sebastian is experimenting with his height (reaching all the light switches and creating a disco-effect) and Sophy & Timothy are safely (..) at school, my time to digest some of todays news.. 

• A handgrenade is thrown into a dutch café (killing 1, injuring 8) and it doesn't make headline news ..
  
• As the credit crunch continues, Fortis warns of sub-prime losses and believe me it won't end here (there was once a study that linked the number of times the word 'recession'  was mentioned in the media to the occurence of a recession XXXX
  

This experiment ends here, unsuccessfully, as Sebastian needs more attention ... and writing this doesn't take the 5 minutes I envisaged.

To be continued ...

Gegroet.    Paul. 

Wederom bewijs van de zwakten van het elektronisch stemmen (in de VS)

Hieronder een kopie van een email aan de stichting wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet.

Hi,

Allereerst mijn complimenten voor het onder de aandacht brengen van de
gevaren en zwakten van het elektronisch stemmen (hoe breng ik
bijvoorbeeld een proteststem uit ?).

Voor een verdere versterking van jullie (en onze) positie, hieronder
een link naar een artikel over de angsten in de VS (betreffende de
mid-terms m.n.):

http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/evoting.ars

Alhoewel het hier de amerikaanse technologie, denk ik dat het
totaalbeeld geldt voor alle elektronische stemmethoden: er zijn teveel
zwakke schakels in het proces; hoe maak je proces betrouwbaar en
verifieerbaar ?

Veel sterkte met de campagne.

Paul Richardson.

Timothy's first day in Groep 2

From behind the new MacBook, on an overcast Monday morning, here's a photo of Timothy on his first day in Groep 2 at the Sint Nicolaasschool.

Another first; he cycled there (i.e. on his bike and there were no 'incidents') and yes, he was real keen on going.