Monthly Archives: July 2007
Making the Connection
There comes a time when you pick up a book and it just grabs you.
Such a book for me recently has been “The Right to be Human” by Edward Hoffman, a biography of Abraham Maslow, revised and updated in 1999. The title alone hooked me while browsing a church fundraising sale when I was in […]
Little things mean a lot
I became interested in design, branding, advertising and the like, many years ago when my husband and I compiled the first US Edition of Reed’s Nautical Almanac.
More recently, design and branding have become my sons’ work and the most interesting discussions ensue; some based on age and experience and others on modern philosophies and knowledge.
In the August […]
‘Fishing’ off Costa Rica
Did you hear about the Taiwanese fishing fleet that fishes for sharks (and maybe other sea creatures) using long lines off the coast of Costa Rica?
I too was astonished and the filmmaker interviewed implied that such things were generally hidden from view.
Since Geography is my favourite subject, just long extinct in US schools (perhaps as the […]
Just like a duck!
You know the phrase: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.
I guess I have a big bold label on me saying – sucker!
Flags go up when each in turn your neighbours’ infants are constantly crying (and you can hear them through closed windows); day after day, week […]
Incidental Teaching
As ever, I was foraging through useful pieces of information the other night.
Most of my notes relate to learning about autism in the past 4+ years and it was the term ‘Incidental Teaching’ that caught my eye.
Incidental teaching doesn’t mean there’s no planning on the part of the person teaching. Plans are made but within the ongoing […]
Point and shoot
We frequently use this term when talking about photography. I have been a pointer and shooter in my time. I’ve even used throw away cameras.
But I was thinking about how children learn to speak these days. From my own survey 83% of middle class children under 8 (with a ratio of 3:2 in favour of girls) […]
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles
Yes it’s that simple song which is nearly 90 years old! But I was thinking more about actually blowing bubbles.
When my children were very young I found a fantastic big bubble maker. You had a bucket of soap mix outside and they could run around the garden making big bubbles and long bubbles – it was […]
Taking the ‘mal’ out of malnutrition
Whoops! – Where does that leave me writing my blog at ‘mal’-ipunations!!! What are ‘ipunations’ anyway? Phew! I think it’s OK because malipunations is just a made up word!
A recent British study suggests that with rising obesity rates millions of Britons may also be suffering from ‘mal’-nutrition.
The prefix ‘mal’ in ‘mal’-nutrition is from the French word […]
Back to the future?
I am currently reading “Neill of Summerhill – the Permanent Rebel” by Jonathan Croall.
I don’t know how much of A. S. Neill’s work and philosophy I understood when I was at college in the late 60’s/early 70’s. What I do know is that I’ve known for a long time, as did he, that infants are innately […]
Food for thought #2
Have you heard?
China executed a former director of its food and drug agency yesterday.
Does anyone know if we get any ingredients for our vaccines from China?
One US family tried to live for a whole year without buying anything that was imported from China. The wife even wrote a book about their experience.
Her children used a lot of Lego […]