What Do You Think Today?

[peter]

I read the other day about a guy from one of the Nordic countries (sorry - I forgot which) who has put up a challenge in the courts to have his age officially reduced by 20 years. His argument runs as follows. He runs an online health and wellness site selling life extending lifestyle and food options and is, he claims, physiologically much younger than his birth age allows. As a result however of the significance our society invests in this date, he is precluded from the best deals on mortgages and insurance etc, faces the prejudice of younger people in a society where 'ageism' is a powerful defining constraint and is viewed askance when dating younger women or expressing a desire to have children. He thus considers it a perfectly reasonable request that he should be able to change this all-defining limiting date to one that, subject to medical judgement, more properly reflects his physical state as measured against the norm for the society he lives in.

So far so funny!

All of this would seem on the face of it like a quirky little episode, albeit slightly eccentric, for us to have a chuckle at, until we are informed that this fellow has apparently expressed his right wing views quite openly in the past and is known to have fringe associations with unpleasant groups of the same ilk. Far from being the amusing, if slightly unusual preoccupation of a rich man with too narcissistic a view of his own importance in this world this we are told, is a deliberate scenario being created to parody and subtely undermine the important progress that has been made in the judicial system in respect of gender recognition; an obviously nonsense based argument designed to ridicule the arguments put forward by those seeking recognition of their gender reassignment through the courts, by the most unpleasant of means.

[Kizza]

I remember a fellow in my early years of working saying to me one payday that I should pay more tax than him as I was a single man with no dependants, and so I should be able to share more. When I said to him having no dependants was more reason why I should share and pay less tax and not more, he stared off into the distance as he walked away.
Pete, that legal age review attempt is pretty funny. Agendas everywhere.
See how I was careful not to upset the Av?

[peter]

By and large , that takes a bit of doing Kizza!

Talking of agendas, on one occasion a very broad Cornish lady from a nearby village approached my father and made the suggestion that in her opinion myself and her (very pretty I have to say) daughter would make a "lovely couple". My father said (rather embarrased) that he was sure Delia was a lovely girl, but that I was in the practice of making my own arrangements in this area. It appears that somebody else thought Delia was a lovely girl as well; next time we saw her about six weeks later she was showing the evidence of it with an unmistakable 'bump' where (in those days) a single girl was not expected to have one!

[Avatar]

Perhaps she needed an "arrangement" more than most in such circumstances...

--A

[Kizza]

Sliding doors eh Peter? You dodged that Bullet.
Some people and their agendas have made history.

[Skyweir]

Haha. . great stories Pete .. and yes the dude who seeks to identify as 20 years younger is indeed an overt undermining of the gender identity issues facing transgenders. He sounds like a less than pleasant human.

Funny story about Delia .

[Kizza]

I think man caves are underestimated.
I wonder if chainsaw bar oil, two stroke and stuff with little engines will always look this good! But I have turned my nose up at the mower.
The whipper snipper, or weed whacker, just had a good run. The sun is shining. No paying work until Thursday.
Just need to keep out of trouble in the meantime.
But I am looking at the guitar with mischief in mind. Tonight may be fun.
Hope all are well.

[Skyweir]

Do elaborate what mischief you do get up to in the meantime

And what is the nature of trouble that you fear

[peter]

I was interested to read that in Silicon Valley, the preferred schools in which the 'movers and shakers' of the digital revolution educate their own children are high end private establishments that rely entirely on the traditional methods of education [now denied to most kids in the face of the 'tech revolution' that they have foisted on the rest of us, and which the educational establishment have so willingly hovered up], in which rote learning using the black-board and chalk and reading from books are favoured, and the presence of screens within the schools is completely banned.

[Skyweir]

You would think a balance would be preferred. Some schools here are very much traditional blackboards or whiteboard enabled for its utility in the classroom. I think in some things only, is learning by rote effective. Most schools today have computers, teach computing, coding etc.

It would almost be negligent not to teach the kids of tomorrow the technology that is replacing old skool ways.

[peter]

Fair comment Sky, but I'm guessing that these kids are pretty immersed in tech outside of their schooling environment - and probably with better teachers than the learning establishments could ever provide! Yes - a balance is what is needed and that I'm thinking is what may be being lost in the schools available to the many. Frightening proportion of youngsters these days have never read a book!

[Avatar]

That is frightening.

--A

[Skyweir]

True that .. but with that balance, there will be schools resources that enable access to books, pens and paper. At least here, shopping for school supplies, these materials were still required.

And how can a kid make it right through primary education and not have read a book? Even if its only the books provided within their syllabus and resourced in their libabries .. itd be a skilful kid to have didged all literacy and reading comprehension requirements that did not involve one book.

Of course as technology advances, we will see books being read from tablets and not paper .. but I think its kinda inevitable honestly.

Kids will still be required to read, have to write and learn at least basic arithmetic principles.

I think there may be a place for learning by rote, for early childhood alphabet learning and a few other things possibly. Much better to teach a child to think, and calculate .. than memorising the answers. Which of course has no application to alphabet learning, any way.

I started out my life as a teacher .. many moons ago and do think modern syllabis are quite comprehensive.

It is the standard of education that is more concerning I think .. and I do believe its we parents that are the greatest influence in a childs use of and love of books. I started mine young. I did defer a lot of that responsibility to the schools naturally .. but supported their doing homework by one of overseeing daily homework time. We always assisted with questions etc.

We read to them all .. our favourites which are now some of their favourites.

[Kizza]

I notice that the Australian schools which have barred smart phones from the classroom have better results and social cultures than the ones which have not. I do not think that is a coincidence.
Text messaging between students and friends would just kill a classrooms attention. Distraction is a major problem.

Hot days here now and bushfires are a worry again.

[Skyweir]

True that ... distraction is a problem. Kids today are rather phenomenal though, much better at multitasking than I ever was, and I always thought I was an effective multitasker.

Not hot here .. another perfect day in paradise

[Kizza]

Sunday arvo beers and guitars turned into a Grenache session and before I knew it the clock said 930pm.
Music was great fun. Fruit cheese and wine and more music and I did not want it to end!
Paying for it today tho. I am certainly not springing along.

[Skyweir]

Thats my ideal get together. We had friends over for drinks and nibbles at 2pm .. I made a big jug of Sangria, which was a huge hit I am pleased to say, and as the .. lol keg lowered, we just kept chucking wine, vodka, triple sec, white wine, red wine, bubbles .. and it kept us going all night .. the odd couple starting packing up at 8pm and we ended up cruising through till late. Burned up the BBQ .. made tzatziki, houmous, beetroot dip .. hilarity was had and then we gathered round the piano, pulled out the guitars. And we made baileys martinis for dessert.

Such a great day night lol

[Skyweir]

So tonight we went to the pub and arranged a kinda match making thing lol

So they both came along and didnt really hit it off .. in fact she was much more interested in me we all had, had a few .. and she was very flirty. The men went off to get drinks and she got very handsy.. sure flattering on one level .. and she is gorgeous.. but also really, kinda uncomfortable... perhaps in a different time, under different circumstances

[Avatar]

Sounds a bit awkward.

--A

[Skyweir]

Yup you could say that lol