Juliet Williams has spent a large part of her life battling with anorexia.  She has started a charitable foundation to assist people with eating disorders.  Here is a link to a great radio piece on Radio New Zealand telling Juliet’s story.

I had a bit of a debate with a student the other day about coal – fired power plants.  He believed ‘they’ (whoever ‘they’ are) are making a nearly emissions – free coal power plant in Switzerland.  I had read that carbon capture and storage (the technology that enables an emissions – free coal power plant) hadn’t been tested at even 1/500th the size needed for a modern coal power plant.   In an admittedly brief search of the net, I couldn’t find anything on this Swiss plant but I did come across this…

This short clip is directed by the Coen Brothers – the film makers responsible for The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men etc.  It is part of the website/blog, ‘This is Reality’ which debunks the ‘clean coal’ claims made by coal producers and lobbyists.  I am a bit unsure about the site because while it tells us that the coal producers make all these false claims about ‘clean coal’, they don’t reference a single one.  How am I meant to know what sort of claims coal producers are making if I’ve never seen one!

This website here has a lot more information and buried away on a link on the ‘Learn More’ page is a whole lot of recommended reading and viewing and a list of references.

History Mystery
Have a history teacher explain this—– if they can

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday
Both Presidents were shot in the head

Now it gets really weird……

Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy
Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln

Both were assassinated by Southerners
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939

Both assassins were known by their three names
Both names are composed of fifteen letters

Now hang on to your seat……..

Lincoln was shot at the theater named ‘Ford’
Kennedy was shot in a car called ‘Lincoln’ made by ‘Ford’

Lincoln was shot in a theater & his assassin hid in a warehouse
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin hid in a theater

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials

And here’s the kicker…….

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe

Creepy huh?  I haven’t fact checked this so if you want to check Wikipedia…

Haha, if you haven’t seen this yet you’re in for a laugh.  CCTV footage from outside Hastings District Court.  These two guys tried to make a run for it during their court hearing.  Apparently one of them got a bit scared when he found out he might be spending a couple of years in prison.  He earned himself an extra month for this stunt.

Can you believe holidays are coming to an end?!  Noooo!!!  Contrary to what some of you may think, teachers don’t shut down and return to their packaging over the holidays.  Some of us even have fun!  We fly to far flung corners of the globe or check out the International Busker’s Festival or we ride mountain bikes over… well, mountains (imagine being a professional busker…).  We go and hunt out the best beaches and sun spots this fine country has to offer us.

We try not to bankrupt ourselves with all that extra time on our hands!  Follow the links below to see what I did with my holiday.

Canaan Downs Festival

Coromandel Beaches

Big Day Out!!

Has anyone used Twitter?  I am still suspect (“Michael is drinking a cup of tea” – who cares!?) but have heard some quite revolutionary things about it lately that are swaying me towards giving it a go…

Interesting article…

Here’s an audio report on Citizen Journalism – a bit boring perhaps but gives you a good overview to what the issue is here.

Citizen Journalism in Recent Crises: Open Society Forum

Funny how the web lets you jump from one thing to another in some random ways… maybe that’s why they call it ‘the web?’  While we’re on the Obama tip, an article about Michelle Obama’s response to her daughters’ likenesses being used to sell dolls. 

Michelle Obama: ‘Inappropriate’ to use daughters to sell dolls.

Has the world really turned such a big corner?  Hmm.. only action from here will tell us I guess.  He is an amazing speaker – well worth a watch.

Obama’s Inauguration Speech

You might have heard people say, “The irony of the situation was lost of him/her.” ‘Tis true, irony can be a difficult thing to grasp and understand but surprisingly we use it quite often and it is one of the things that gives language and expression so much of its energy and hilarity.  Some kind of structured contact with irony (something this site vaguely claims to do) can help improve your irony – discerning abilities though.

Here’s a excerpt from a great book I just finished reading called The Book Thief.

“It kills me sometimes, how people die.”

The book is set in Nazi Germany (around 1942) and is about a 10 year old girl named Liesel whose brother is killed and whose mother gives her up to foster parents. At her brother’s burial the gravedigger drops a book, “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” which Liesel picks up and keeps as a reminder of her brother. Here begins a pattern of stealing books, leading to a special relationship with words and stories. Her adoptive father is the light of her world, teaching her to read and playing the piano accordian to her.

I won’t kill it anymore for you except to say that perhaps the most interesting character of the novel is it’s narrator, Death. Death is haunted by humans – our capacities for both great love and great evil.

Now we come back to the start of this post, IRONY. Given what you now know about the novel, what is the irony of the comment above? The first person to get back to me with an answer has teeth – rotting but soul – lifting chocolate awaiting them at school.

Amazing documentary looking at how teens inform popular culture and consumerism and how it is sold back to them.  I want to pull this apart in a classroom!

The full site is here or follow this link direct to the full program online (you can also look it up on Youtube in the same six parts if you so prefer).  Watch it and let me know if you think it could make a good teaching tool and agent for discussion.

Here’s a taster…

You know those annoying messages you get sometimes when you try to open a web site?  The most common are probably 404 – Not Found and 408 – Request Timed Out.  Wouldn’t the pain be eased a little with a visual pun.  That’s obviously what Adam Koford thought when he came up with this brilliant set of images.

400 – Bad Request

408 – Request Timeout

415 – Unsupported Media Type

A look at what the future might hold for us.

If you are further interested you can check out The Zeitgeist Movement or The Venus Project website.

Here is a PDF if you are really really interested.

Here are Times Top 10 News Stories of 2008.  Worth a look.

And the Top 10 Green Stories

And the Top 10 Songs

And many others on the site.

According to Time Magazine these were the words of Jon French, a former U.S government official after the abduction of an American kidnapping negotiator who had traveled to Mexico to give a seminar on his techniques.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1867138,00.html

A bold mission statement from the people at the Canaan Downs NYE Festival.  Quite a lot of festivals are promoting zero waste policies  now.  The Big Day Out has a similar statement here.  PHAT, while not going zero waste does advocate for people to use the facilities they provide for rubbish to help minimise the party’s carbon footprint.

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” – Martin Luther King

How other to achieve peace but by being peaceful?
How other to be truthful than by telling the truth?
How other to be respected than by being respectful?

If you want to be something in life you’ve got to start embodying that quality in the way you live and act.

Thanks to Kev for the quote.

Most of you guys are aware of the big environmental problems we are facing this century.  If not, read up on climate change and peak oil.

Lots of new technologies are being developed to avert future disaster (and that is what I fear we face if we don’t deal with these issues quickly and boldly).  One of these is the use of algae as a renewable, low-carbon fuel.

These seem to have got a lot more press over the past 12 months and consequently have made me more optimistic about getting through these issues without mass social (rioting, famine, poverty) or environmental (storms, flooding, drought etc.) disaster.  That is not to say we’re anywhere near there.  There is much more that government, industries and people like you and me need to be doing.

What can government, industries and individuals do to make a difference towards climate change or to prepare for peak oil?  Name one thing for each and I’ll sort you out a prize.

This will be the first of many posts on the environment.  You can find these all grouped together under the environment category.

The Hack Half Hour

The story below about privacy on the internet reminded me of this show that my Year 9’s and I watched early this year.  Each episode centres around a particular topic with one person being interviewed on their experience of it.  They also have about 30 young people (ok, maybe not young by your standards – late teens to 30ish)  into the studio who add their points of view or experiences.

Here’s the episode list:

1.  Privacy on the internet
2.  Fighting
3.  Buying a house
4. Pornography on mobiles and the net
5. Body Image
6. Gambling
7. The Environment – can individuals make a difference
8. Booze
9. Sex and sin
10. Lock up – Do Prisons Work?

Follow the link above and click on ‘Programmes‘ to get the list of episodes for download.

Drink-drive cases soaring

A couple of interesting news stories:

Sadly, drink driving convictions (the only measure we have of how many people are out there driving drunk) are on the rise in New Zealand.  This is despite multi – million dollar shock – ad campaigns by the government trying to stop it.  Seemingly they are not working.  What should we do from here?

Auckland law firm’s special Christmas party … in Fiji

I added this one because I was amazed that the researchers used the Facebook sites of the staff to help with the story.    Just shows you need to think about what you put on the net and that things that used to be private can be made very public very quickly.  Information that you put up on the internet is being used by journalists, the media, advertisers and your enemies and can potentially be used against you!

Dunno how many of you guys will know this song.  Bored on a Saturday night and with access to a video camera, editing software and broadband internet.  I always knew Paul was destined for big things… wrestling superstar, masked monkey hero, getting his kit off on Youtube…  Glad to see you haven’t changed a bit bro 🙂

First person to clearly describe to me the irony in this photo wins a chocolaty prize…  Leave a comment below or hunt me down.

This quote comes from the late, great Bill Hicks.  Look him up on Wikipedia, Youtube etc.

“I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I’m not proud of it, I was hungry. And I’m alone, I’m eating and I’m reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: “<smack smack smack smack> Hey, whatchoo readin’ for?”

Isn’t that the weirdest f$%king question you’ve ever heard? Not what am I readING, but what am I reading *for*? Well, godammit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well… hmmm… I dunno… I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one is so I don’t end up being a f$%king waffle waitress.”

Hmmm… and came across this video of one young man venting his anger on attitudes to reading.  A rant maybe, but entertaining and intelligent nonetheless.  Viewer discretion is advised.  (He does the Hicks skit right at the end, not as good as Bill though)

Comment and tell me 5 reasons why you read and maybe I can organise a prize for you…

Remember that infamous staff dance on Show night?  Here’s the video inspiration.  One day we’ll be this good…

That anagram site I linked to is full of delicious ironies!!

Desperation = A Rope Ends It

Slot Machines = Cash Lost in’em

Evangelist = Evil’s Agent

The cockroach = Cook, catch her

See, it’s everywhere around you I tells ya!

May not technically be irony… just damn funny!

Surely, surely, only in America?!?

There is something very wrong with this picture!