... amazing article about Maths teaching in mainstream schools.

By Paul Lockhart

Seriously, it's one of the best things I've read in ages. And makes a hell of a lot of good points about education generally.

(via @loumcgill on twitter)

(apols for the slight staleness of this post, it's taken a couple of days for me to get my head around this.)

OK, April 1-2nd 2009. City of London.

The G20 group of world leaders meet to sort out this recession thingy, and protesters gather to protest about the grosser inequalities of world capitalism, the perceived lack of governmental concern for environmental issues, and that prices are going up, as protesters tend to whenever world leaders gather.

Generally a well behaved day, but some low-level scampishness from protesters and some serious wrongdoing by the police, resulting (it now seems) in the death of an innocent bystander, Ian Tomlinson.

On this latter point, the media justifiably reflect the outrage of the people. Stories are changed, videos distributed, an alternate coroners report is made. And a whole hurricane of piss ensues. This is not my complaint, this is what our noble free press should be doing.

Fast-forward - 17th of April, a curious story appears on the front page of that bastion of anti-capitalist agit-prop, the Daily Express (prop. Richard Desmond, the man who brought you Asian Babes and Spunk-loving Sluts, and other such organs of the hard-left).

One elfin-faced (this important observation made in paragraph 2 of the story, before we are given her name) Nicola Fisher claims that she also has been attacked by the police, and has a video and upper-thigh bruising proving this.

So incensed was she by this treatment that she immediately rang Max Clifford (PR person who brought you other such hard-hitting stories as "Jade Goody: I'm dying of cancer" and "Jordan and Peter Andre: we're tedious"). Now Max has a very special service for those with a "story", to quote his website:

"When making contact with [Max Clifford], you can be assured that everything remains totally confidential, until you have made the decision to go forward with a newspaper. We listen to your story, discuss together the appropriate paper and organise all the legal contracts. We set up the interviews and organise journalists and photographers to meet you at a mutually convenient location. We then negotiate the highest possible price for your story."

In essence Max has managed this story, kept it quiet - one assumes from when it happened to date of publication - has worked with the radical demonstrator in question to choose the Express as the most appropriate newspaper for her story, and (rumour has it) secured a fee of not unadjacent to £50,000 for Nicola and himself to share.

A rule of thumb is that any story involving Max Clifford has been engineered and managed to make as much money as possible for all concerned. Sometimes, the money angle is fair enough - Jade Goody had the right to secure money to support her children after her death, and Max helped her in this. The important point, however, is that with a top-level PR service like this, you basically write the story. Every word, every angle, has your approval. It's what you are paying for (and Max will take a lot of money off the top of what you get)

But for a G20 protest attendee, ostensibly trying to highlight police brutality, this seems strange. If you genuinely wanted to expose police brutality, you'd surely want your story as widely reproduced as possible. In fact, if you are pushing the "police brutality widespread" line you might want to link up with some of the (many) others also injured by police on 1-2 April and do a Guardian/Independent two-page spread on the 50 innocent people attacked by police or whatever. You certainly wouldn't want an "exclusive", you wouldn't want a fee (if you took one you'd want it made clear that you would be donating it), and you would never allow yourself to be described as "elfin-faced" in paragraph 2 on the front page of the "Express".

Now prior to this story, there had been stories about her assault on Indymedia, and it was subsequently claimed that she called Max Clifford in a panic, because she was being "hounded by the press". Interesting hounded to the level that no-one had actually bothered writing about her. And then for someone afraid of the press she'd done a hell of a lot of TV in the last couple of days.

Now I'm not saying Nicola Fisher is a fraud, she was clearly attacked by the police and deserves an apology and probably compensation. But there is something very odd happening here, and I'm concerned that there are aspects of this story we are not being told.

( it's the end of an era )

On Saturday it is being part-exchanged for a Berlingo. It has taken all the punishment I could throw at it (a lot!) and it is still running. And still, apparently, has a part-exchange value.

Green car - we salute you. Farewell and godspeed.

Went to see The Prodigy in Cardiff with cybermule her brother and his ex-girlfriend. Teh mule has covered the emotional issues of gig going with such an odd pair, this post is about the music.

And blimey, the Prodigy are a bit good, aren't they?

A few times recently, I've caught myself comparing Liam Howlett to Jimi Hendrix. Just in terms of completely revolutionising his chosen instrument, which in Liam's case are sampled drums. There's maybe 4 artists who have done something similar over the course of popular music - Jimi obviously on the guitar, everyone who plays the guitar these days has taken something from Jimi... a chap named Bernie Worrell who basically invented the idea of synthesised sounds in dance and pop. And a toss up between James Jamerson and Paul McCartney who between them defined the bass guitar as an instrument. (other applications will be considered)

But woah there, I'm putting a pilled-up essex boy with a knackered Roland sampler (A W30, keyboard fans... there's one sat in my loft :-) ) in some serious company. And for "sampled drums" - that's not even really an instrument right?

( wrong. )

tagged by @absolutely_everybody quite some time ago

"Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you."

Everyone - consider yourself tagged - or not. I don't mind.

( Read more... )

That is never going to get less entertaining. It's the cut-glass accent that does it for me, and the way she just turns and wanders off.

Audio version from the BBC.

And it is for events such as this that the Benny Hill-ifier was created.

Startled to read Salman Rushdie's comments on Slumdog Millionaire in yesterday's Guardian.

If you've written books like Midnight's Children and The Ground Beneath Her Feet I think you lose the right to criticise a film set in Bombay for "piling impossibility on impossibility" and having a narrative based around "outrageous coincidences".

I saw Slumdog Millionaire as a giant riff on Rushdie's common themes, concerns and tropes. And - yes - as magic realism, even mythic allegory.

But better than anything he's done for a good 10 years.

According to my son, if a man is being taken in to an ambulance on a stretcher, it is so he can have his nappy changed and his bum cleaned. And the lady going into the ambulance with him is clearly his Mum, who is going to do the changing and cleaning.

The world is so much more logical when you are under two.

Reclusive multi-instrumentalist musical genius, releasing magnificent albums occasionally to an adoring public but otherwise being pretty much left alone to play, record, and be with my family and friends.

cybermule has been introducing me to the bizarre world of Steve Pavlina, self-proclaimed "personal development blogger, author, speaker, raw vegan, polyamorist, and all-around fearless guy."

Wow... just wow.

Now, I always get worried about posting things like this because I have been taken in before by really good parody sites. And I'm sure that Steve's beliefs work for him, so no problems there. But he sets himself up as a personal development blogger, and by doing that, I expect him to be able to say something worthwhile about personal development. I think it's only fair.

He's been on a polyamory self-justification trip recently, you know, the kind where he says just a little too often that it's not just about the dinking of willing and nubile pavlin-ettes whenever the mood takes him.

But with his latest post... 11:11, he's managed to top even that. Now, I'm not even going to bother telling you about confirmation bias. it's too obvious. If you look for a number (any number), you will find it. Anywhere. It's not the universe signalling to you, it's confirmation bias. Agreed?

Now this, delightfully is Steve's point. As he says in his forum:

"You must be able to explain it as confirmation bias or something equally objective in nature as long as you maintain an objective belief system. If it were to somehow violate your objective beliefs, you wouldn't be able to perceive it at all."

The idea being that you "take the blue pill" like it was still the 90s or something, and "...it’s reality’s way of inserting a thought virus through a backdoor into an objective belief system. Once this virus takes root, it begins to dismantle limiting objective beliefs, gradually supplanting them with a more accurate model of reality"

Now, this is where we start to worry. I like objective reality. Hell, I like evidence-based assumptions. They make my laptop work, and gravity work and hot food cool down and stuff like that. As they say on XKCD..."SCIENCE: It works, bitches". Why would I want to dismantle that? I've (I'm speaking for 300+ years of western-european enlightenment here) done quite well with it. Am I supposed to dismantle this? Why?

Well - Losing your grip on reality can be a frustrating experience to say the least. In truth you aren’t losing your grip on reality though. You’re simply letting go of false assumptions. This will have the positive effect of opening your mind to new possibilities.

Losing my grip on reality is more than a frustrating experience. It is madness.

No... this is SPARTA!!!

I'm not sure going mad is really going to work for me as a life strategy.

But, Steve will have a great idea of what to put in place of the close-minded, limiting assumptions of Newton, Einstein, Aristotle, Marx etc... Just wait:

Losing your grip on reality can be a frustrating experience to say the least. In truth you aren’t losing your grip on reality though. You’re simply letting go of false assumptions. This will have the positive effect of opening your mind to new possibilities[...]Say to yourself, I can see that my old model of reality is broken. I now ask to be shown what I’ve been missing. Let me begin to see reality as it truly is. Let my beliefs accurately reflect the true nature of reality.

Yes. So I just ask the universe nicely. And because I've chucked away scientific method I don't have any way of testing the "answer" the "universe" gives me.

The first change is that you’ll begin to see a surge in synchronicities in your life, more than you’ve even seen before. Highly unlikely coincidences will begin to occur with increasing frequency.

Wow - so without an empirical understanding, life becomes a series of synchronicities. Highly unlikely ones too - so I guess I get to keep stats then (is this like Desert Island Discs madness?) And then I get to learn to play with them understand them and use them.

Again, there's this thing called "science". Sorry to keep banging on about it, but it is rather good at taking apparent coincidences, explaining them, and making them work for us. But instead of "woo, good stuff happens just before quarter past eleven" it makes stuff like antibiotics and geology that are actually fucking useful to the world.

The word "cock" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Final word to Steve-o:

"If your beliefs are more accurate than mine, you can expect superior results -- happiness, health, money, career, love, friends, etc. :)"

Working for me so far, mate. Working fine.

I always thought I'd stop reading Private Eye after being mortally offended, and send in the requisite letter cancelling my subscription.

However, the truth is more mundane. It's gotten boring.

Reading something like Martian FM or even the Onion is better for topical laffs. And since the sad passing of Paul Foot the investigative journalism is nothing special either.

The whole thing is drifting to the right in the most boring and reactionary of ways - I wouldn't mind a change of direction, hell since the demise of the Telegraph I could do with some intelligent right-wing commentary to challenge my natural predilections. But it's the dull, sneery, it's-all-gordon's-fault* Daily Mail right.

I'll miss the "Street of Shame" I think. Though Mailwatch is pretty good for general disbelief at the state of mainstream print media.

So,
farewell then,
Private Eye
The world changed
You didn't
Keith's mum said
you were funnier in the 60s.
Now most of your readers and contributors are in their 60s
And probably smell quite funny.

EJ 0ct0pus (17 1/2 regular blog readers)

* anyone who posts to say "but it is all Gordon's fault" is banned. Perma-banned. Consigned to the BBC's own Have Your Say.

And so the beard experiment ends...

plus point - a look of rare distinguished charm (actually made me look like the keyboard player in a 3rd division mid-70s prog rock band, which to be fair I could carry off anyway).

minus point - really annoying. Like really, really annoying. Itchy, prickly and felt weird to smile.

Very sensibly haven't taken pictures so I won't be swayed by all the hawwwt women who will now respond and say I would suit a beard. My wife, basically.

Anyway, other thing I wanted to say is proper shaves at a barbers = wow. I'd never had one before a couple of days before I got married. An amazing experience, really like having one of those really girly (but secretly rather lovely) spa treatments, but altogether more masculine and RAWR. I must have another sometime, but £15 and 1.5hours means that it is not a regular occurrence and never will be. But chaps, seriously chaps, try it at least once. And is it homoerotic - well, yes, I could see how it could be. But we're all metrosexual here and are comfortable with that? Yes?

The first would be my own (or the first part of it, to be strictly accurate) to cybermule on 2nd January.

( More )

( someone's wedding, yesterday )

( same venue, three years ago )

Octopuses so do have personalities. Just because you react in different ways to the same stimulus doesn't mean you don't have a personality. It means you are easily bored.

From what I can make of the "experiment" (which seemed to be "lady does random things to octopuses" rather than an actual experiment) she put them in a tank and showed them TV. I'd be bored if you did that to me.

Anyway, she'll be first to be eviscerated come the awakening of the Elder Gods.

Nobody, but nobody, is so important that they need to set an Out-of-Office message if they are away for a morning.

Well last week, mainly puking my guts up along with the rest of my family. Not fun :-( Only just able to tackle beer again.

I'm just in the middle of putting a presentation together for a conference tomorrow at 9.00am - yikes! I wasn't going to panic too much but my co-presenter has just put together the best set of slides ever and I'm feeling a bit inadequate. I seem to need to keep doing a "winning hearts and minds" type speil to win people over to this mad open content idea.

Other stuff includes getting wedding things together, including my outfit. Wearing it twice means I am buying not renting - so I'm also looking not to buy things just twice. Anyone thinking of inviting me to anything formal... be warned, I may be in a kilt.

but given everyone and their mate are sounding the death knells for the Great British Economy I thought I would weigh in.

Firstly and most importantly, the Conservatives are wrong. Wrong wrong wrong-y wrong. They are standing alone of any major party in the western world, saying that we don't need to borrow to create an economic stimulus. Balls. Even the IMF say that we need to borrow to create a stimulus, and they're hardly a red faction.

They're trying to mislead people by comparing the economic management of a country to personal economic management. You've maxed out a credit card, so cut it up and don't spend any more. In fact you could more usefully compare the UK economy to a small business. Times are hard, you're not selling as well as you used to so you might go under. So you borrow to invest, keep the business running, attract buyers back, offer new incentives. If the business isn't running, you are never going to pay anything back. If you sit tight you *will* go under.

They're saying that a VAT cut won't work to get people spending. They do this by saying that maybe someone was going to spend £500 on Christmas, now it's £496 - big whoop. In fact we need to look over the year that the cut is in place - every single vat-able item (except petrol, booze and fags) a person buys... every meal out, every DVD, every car repair, every garden tool, every pack of guitar strings... is a little bit cheaper. Add it up and it's quite a saving over the 13 months.

They're on about tax rises. Well of course there will be tax rises after the economy starts growing again. They're going to do the same - they have to. Sure, they'll go on about cutting public services (always nebulous "back office" stuff, which somehow manages to have no effect on actual service delivery... hmmm...) but in reality, they are going to have to tax or cut.

And this £1 trillion debt. A large chunk of that has been used as a loan, to British banks. It gets paid back, with interest. So it's more an "investment" than a "debt" really.

Of course after all this negativity, and things they won't do, we still await a Tory policy to lessen the effect of a recession. Well, we had the fuel tax proposals, which would mean that at the moment, petrol would be about 5p more a litre. And that mad thing about no national insurance for employing someone who has been out of work for 3 months which was so full of potential loopholes it feels a bit cheap to critique it. Oh and the "there might be a run on the pound" genius - have these people never seen "it's a wonderful life".

That's not to say I agree with everything Brown and Darling are doing at the moment. Or that I buy in to the Brown as global economic saviour thing. But by God, look at the alternative...!

Another one of those "I've not posted for ages, gosh I've been so busy" type posts.

Well I have been busy, though [Bad username: octomul"] has been busier what with walking and talking and things. I've just been doing work and going on holiday a couple of times. No excuse.

Anyway, there's some election going on in some foreign country tonight. No real need to add to the internet's call of "Barack me Obamadeus", even  George Clinton is endorsing the man. I mean, George Clinton... wow.... Who needs US bloggers when you can just listen to Dr Funkenstein...

Sensibly, the fact that 50 years ago Obama wouldn't even have had the right to vote makes us remember just how far America has come and how quickly.

Just saw petrol at 99.9p, and was nearly as startled to see positive "our financial worries are over" headlines in both the Mail and the Express. For 11 "boom" years they have been twin heralds of apocalypse, now we are actually facing something that could fundamentally change our way of life - like terrorists are always trying to - they are all "la la la la la everything is lovely". Very odd indeed.

Anyway the global economic woes can best be compared to an episode of House, we are about 25minutes in. The first couple of diagnoses were very wrong, and the treatments actually made the problem worse. Now after the second ad break we are enjoying some amusing sideplot which will somehow lead into a massive breakthrough. House will be sarcastic at everyone, then it all goes better after he does something mad and possibly illegal. All we need now is a deeply misanthropic prime minister with a dehabilitating ongoing medical condition and a PC grab-bag of aides... oh... hang on...

Next person to see Gordon, give him a Vidocin from me.

Well I've only gone and bleeding done it, haven't I?

First phase of a master plan involving ALL university-level learning content in England becoming freely accessible and reusable online.

This is only a pilot, but we will see quite a lot of good materials coming out of it... supporting education at all levels in the UK and the whole world.