Moon, Venus and Jupiter. December 1st, 2008.
Photograph by Facundo A. Fernández.
Some rights reserved via a Creative Commons Licence.

Last night an alignment of the Moon, Jupiter and Venus created an interplanetary smiley emoticon. The weather was quite overcast last night and I was unable to take any photographs like the one taken by Facundo A. Fernández above.

However, this evening the sky was a little clearer. Out three astronomical neighbours were visible although the smiley emoticon has been replaced by a scowl.

Venus, Jupiter and the Moon. December 2nd, 2008. View large image.

This evening in Australia there were many people who were fortunate enough to witness an alignment of the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. For a few hours they resembled a smiley emoticon.

It was cloudy here. The best I could do was to climb into my spacesuit and fire up Google Sky, part of Google Earth. I located the planets and the alignment is visible. One can simulate the motions of the planets and the moon quite easily. I grabbed a screen shot of the visible sky for the 1st December, 2008.

The Moon. Venus and Jupiter. December 1st, 2008. View large image. Source: Google Earth.

Did you get to see it? Did you manage to capture a photograph?

This post is not about folksonomy or tagging, web 2.0 style.

The school at which I teach is vandalised from time to time. The weekend just past eclipsed most of the previous acts of vandalism. An individual or two decided it would be a good idea to tag the school. They tagged brickwork, bulletin boards, social justice displays, murals, posters, water tanks, windows and more. It was everywhere.

The photograph above illustrates one of the tags. I will not show more. I do not want to give the individuals responsible for this crime the pleasure of seeing more of their criminal acts published.

This incenses me. Tagging has become a serious problem in our main regional centre. Parts of the city are ugly as a result. Ugly. Gratefully it is not yet a serious issue in my own town.

I was considerably restrained in referring to the persons responsible as individuals. A selection of other terms crossed my mind as I walked around the school this morning.

Graffiti could possibly be art at times when the work is performed responsibly and legally. Otherwise graffiti and tagging on public and private property is a crime.

Perhaps the culprits will be caught and given a little restorative justice ~ community work cleaning up tagging and graffiti around the town.

Presently watching a documentary on television entitled “Where’s My Robot?“. Will not go into too much detail. Essentially the presenter went on a quest around the world looking for the robot that he had wanted as a child. Robots of varying capabilities in laboratories around the world were investigated. Researchers still have a long way to go. I wonder if this area of research is useful. Robots that can function in hazardous environments will be practical. Yet I wonder, are we spending money in the right places?

Given the challenges that the human race face with global climate change, for example, I wonder if I should change tack and begin teaching students about the past, the present and also the future. As a child I was so looking forward to the future. Well, the future has arrived and it has not matched my youthful expectations.

Growing up I had an interest in astronomy, space exploration and the future. I enjoyed reading books that provided glimpses into the future. When I turned 10 my father gave me a book entitled “Our World In Space and Time“. It was published in 1959. I have scanned a couple of images from the book in order to illustrate my thoughts. The book was essentially an overview of the the planet earth, its place in the universe and mankind. It was anglo-centric and written with an “imperial” view of the globe and its residents.

The overall impression it gave of the future was optimistic. There was no real hint that the resources of the planet were finite. In fact one of the chapters was entitled, “Forests that cover a quarter of the earth”. The chapter mentions that although there is a timber shortage in Europe and that “western Europe still needs more timber than it can easily come by.” Timber could be easily sourced from elsewhere. The image below faced the chapter. As you can see it shows forest clearing. It is depicted as a manly and exciting adventure.

Cut them down boys. Plenty more elsewhere.

The United Nations reports that about half of the world’s forests had disappeared and that most of that loss occurred during the three decades leading up to 1997. Afforestation projects are reversing the trends in some areas but it is not enough. ”Deforestation, mainly due to conversion of forests to agricultural land, continues at an alarmingly high rate – some 13 million hectares per year.” [Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005].

I live in Australia. It has the world’s fifth highest ecological footprint in the world. We are one of the greediest nations on the planet per capita. Shame. We need to do something.

The same book provided an optimistic view of space exploration as well. That dream has certainly not come to pass. The book and myself envisioned the 21st century with significant orbiting space stations, regular manned trips to the moon, bases on the moon, explorers on Mars and manned journeys making their way to the outer reaches of the solar system. Admittedly the text book was published in 1959 and Yuri Gagarin had not made the first manned space flight. But the vision seemed so possible.

The world in 2000

In 1973 I bought a book entitled Challenge of the Stars. It was published in 1972. It set out a series of predictions regarding the exploration of space by mankind. One of them was the establishment of a base on the moon by the 1990s. The illustration below sets out their ideas for life on the moon about 1990. It all seemed so easy back in 1973.

Moonbase 1990

I watched Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey as well during the evening. It presented a magnificent view of space travel in 2001 with regular space flights by Pan American Airways, massive space stations (that resembled a five-star hotel within), a moon shuttle, large bases on the moon, inter-planetary travel and so on. It was a grand vision. In 1968 it all seemed to be within our grasp. It seemed that all of that could be achieved. [I am not advocating that the human race attempt to achieve these goals now. More important matters are pressing.]

What has happened? The Clavius moon base illustrated in 2001 A Space Odyssey could not even be built on the planet earth in 2008 let alone on the moon. This planet is too busy building massive shopping centres while others starve. Nothing shits me more than seeing news reports about food eating contests, world record hot-dog consumption attempts and the like. I think that is obscene, particularly when one is likely to see images of starving or poverty stricken children during the same news bulletin. What is wrong with the human race?

In recent weeks wealthy nations around the world have raised nearly $USD5,000 billion to fight the global financial crisis. I am not an economist but one wonders if the planet’s economy was better managed in the first place surely that $USD5,000 billion could have been put to use preventing some of the woes that face us in the 21st century? Where did that money come from?

Governments around the world are tightening their budgets and going into deficit as well. Will they also reduce their proposed budget allocations originally designed to combat global climate change? Where do all of those promises stand now?

Imagine if governments no longer had to include the military in their budgets? The money could be spent on cleaning up the planet and feeding people. Of course, if that was to happen there would be military coups on every continent. The military would not allow it to happen.

There are times when I feel guilty. I have this laptop, a digital camera, a TV, etc. What is my ecological footprint?

The optimistic vision of the 21st century that I grew up with as a child is not coming to pass. The 21st century is beset with famine, poverty, climate change and a growing chasm between the rich and the poor.

I feel that we should be teaching students a range of values where materialism is not paramount. Community, resilience, sharing and giving. Positive values for the future. [I hope I do not sound like a politician. It sounds like something Kevin Rudd would say.] Yes, we share by example in our schools yet I feel that a more substantial slice of the curriculum should be devoted to teaching our students and ourselves how to really live on this planet.

It is the only planet that we have and given that by 2050 mankind will require the resources of 2 or 3 similar planets to satisfy the needs of the human race one wonders what will be left for the children of our current crop of students? Presently it is taking the planet 1.2 years to regenerate what is taken by mankind in a single year.

We need a new subject. It’s focus should be on the future. Not sure what to name the subject. But we need it. Maths, English, Music, History, Art, Science, Geography, and… Life.

Addedndum. I was exploring the ABC web site and discovered this interesting clip on their new Fora site. I am yet to watch all of it however it fits in with my thoughts here to some extent. The video consists of a debate between Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and futurist Peter Schwartz about which of the two disciplines is the better: Historian or Futurist?

Commonwealth War Graves, Kranji, Singapore

Today is Remembrance Day. Today many people around the world commemorated the sacrifices of soldiers and also civilians in times of war. The day marks the end of the First World War on the 11th November, 1918.

Commonwealth War Graves, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

The students at our school marked the day with a service at 11.00AM. It was at this time on the 11th November, 1918 when hostilities ceased. Myself and three students also attended a service at the Albion RSL Sub Branch Memorial Club. The service was led by Harry Spicer OAM.

The aim is not to glorify war. Simply to remember.

Will Richardson has written a nostalgic piece on print media, journalism and the relentless march of new media. I commented on his post and I felt, “What the heck?” and I have repeated my comments here.

I will miss the print editions of my favourite newspapers. I will not miss the local rag. Melancholy will be the order of the day in the likely event that the print editions of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian become extinct.

I enjoy sitting down to read the newspaper. It is tactile. Tangible. Turning a page determines what I will read and which photographs I will view. It is quite linear and ordered and requires little or no thinking and/or decision making on my part. I can get ‘lost’ in a broadsheet paper. The moment takes me “away”. Reading the stories, the readers’ letters, the political cartoons and the comics follows a progression that is seemingly innate.

In comparison reading the same newspaper online is nowhere near as pleasant. Which link to follow? Which section to scan? Where is the editorial? Where are the political cartoons? I cannot get lost in the moment. Too many distractions online and on the computer. I must concede that links to earlier letters to the editor and related information are indeed useful.

New media is here to stay of course. Perhaps limited print runs of newspapers will be continued for diehards such as myself.

I find reading the real newspaper to be relaxing and an effective way to de-stress. It is so good sharing the Saturday morning newspaper and its supplements with my wife as we lounge together in the living room with a cup of coffee and some breakfast.

The little boy in the foreground above is Sandagdorj. He is pictured with his family. My wife and I have been sponsoring Sandagdorj since 2001 via World Vision Singapore. Sandagdorj lives in Mongolia and via our sponsorhsip we have assisted Sandagdorj with his education. His father is unable to work.

We receive regular correspondence and updates from World Vision. The updates include notes and drawings from Sandagdorj and photographs as well. Shao Ping and I have watched Sandagdorj grow up during the last 7 years.

I thought I would take the chance to share with my readers as part of Blog Action Day which this year is focused on poverty. You still have time to participate.

Web 2.0 technologies. The read-write web. Call them what you will.  The nomenclature can be so constraining at times. I ramble. What can these technologies do?

They can enable, empower, engage and entertain. Educate too.

People connected with any web enabled device need not be consumers but producers. They can be…

• active as opposed to passive
• performing in contrast to observing
• a part as opposed to apart
• participants and not observers

The Internet facilitated a single dimensional flow of knowledge. It still does for many. From us to them [There is meaning and relevance there somewhere ~ read on]. The flow is also multi-dimensional. People have the opportunity to share their knowledge, ideas, opinions and experiences. What will be the consequences of these new flows? Intended and unintended?

The wisdom of the crowds has been well documented. Here too. The crowd or the mob can combine to act in different ways. Product purchases. Generating happiness. Generating positive change. The Twitter exchanges during the recent presidential and vice-presidential debates in the USA were like a ticker-tape stream of consciousness flow of the American psyche. At least part of it. We could read what many disparate people were thinking, in real time. People we do not know. For many, people far away.

In Singapore, for example, communities work together to achieve change. The community is enabled and connected ~ digital ties, human blood. Here for example: ICCS blog. ToddyCats. A living community that is nurtured and enabled, working together. The net facilitates. People act together. This is good.

The crowd. Will the crowd become overarching? What will happen to individuality? Will our individuality be buried underneath this new world of connectivity? Will the crowd dominate individuality? What if one’s voice is not heard? A voice not heard amidst the clamour of the crowd. Will the crowd create a monoculture? A series of monocultures, one after the other?

I wonder will the push and pull of the crowd crush creativity? Will the crowd determine what is creative and what is not? I feel perplexed. What if you loathe the crowd yet you depend upon it? What if you loathe the crowd yet you cannot function without it? What would that feel like?

Why do people participate in the crowd? A sense of responsibility? Obligation? Paranoia? Peer pressure? The tide? Sink or swim?

This is part 1 in a series of posts of thoughts that crossed my mind last night.

Fish head in a microwave oven. It inspired me today. Has it inspired you?

Recently Bill Kerr wrote a thoughtful post on the Cotton wool culture. This is a culture in which children are mollycoddled by society and kept out of harm’s way. His post was inspired by an article in the Guardian, ‘Kids need the adventure of risky play‘ [print]. I commented on Bill’s post and he responded with a selection of related links which I have listed at the foot of this post.

The article in the Mail online, ‘How children lost the right to roam in four generations‘, is particularly telling. It sets out quite clearly how from one generation to the next children are not roaming as far as their parents and grandparents. The article also mentions how walking through parks and gardens can reduce stress levels. It mentions that adding plants to your environment can also reduce stress. Recently, news that the German government plans to ban the Kinder Surprise chocolate egg as they pose a health risk to children has also generated comment regarding the cotton wool culture.

The view from our home in Bellambi looking towards the Pacific Ocean back in the 1960s.

Now, when I was seven our family moved house to a place called Bellambi. Between us and the ocean were open areas and an old rifle range that was rarely used. There were beaches, creeks, rock platforms, bush tracks and large sandhills.

The same stretch of road in 2008. Open space replaced with houses.

It has been turned into a suburb now. One end of our street was actually a dirt road back then. All that free space has largely disappeared. This Google map shows the area today.

Where I roamed as a young boy. Click on the map to view a larger map with a scale and labels.

As kids we would roam around the area. There was so much to do and so much to explore. We would go fishing, swimming, sliding down the sandhills on cardboard or sheets of masonite, look for bullet shells, let off fire crackers, search for geckoes, build massive sand-castles and so on. We would be gone all day, returning home at dusk. No worries, no fears. [We even smoked cigarettes at times, something I never took up thank goodness. You could buy a packet of Rothman's Tens for 21 cents. We would look for empty drink bottles. The bottles were worth three cents each. Seven bottles could buy us a packet of cigarettes. We even smoked at primary school in Year 6 at St Columbkille's when we were on incinerator duty.]

When I was eleven years of age I began riding my brother’s bike around the area. Peter had recently resurrected his old bike and I was keen to learn how to ride the old thing. When I turned twelve I received a Speedwell bike for my birthday and the area in which I roamed with my siblings and friends extended regularly to seven or more kilometres. I remember riding up the hills of Corrimal to the home of my good friend, Robert.

Even before that I used to ride my Cyclops scooter to the home of my friend Peter in Corrimal. At the age of 10 a group of us climbed Brokers’ Nose, on the escarpment west of the Illawarra. My sister and I rode our bikes from primary school on the highway in Corrimal all the way home to Bellambi. Sometimes we even walked home, a journey of several kilometres, if we missed the school bus. We were aged 10 or so at the time.

Things have certainly changed. How far did you roam as a child? How far did your parents and grandparents roam? Would be happy to read your own stories…

Perhaps this could be a meme, How far I roamed as a child… Would you like to help me get it started?

Addendum: Today I was interviewed by ABC radio here in the Illawarra. One of their interns discovered this blog post yesterday and arranged for an interview with Nick Rheinberger during the ‘Mornings‘ show. The interview went live to air as I was teaching my Year Eleven Ancient History class. The interview covered such points as real versus perceived dangers, the degree of violence in the world, the role of the media, taking risks, and the debate over to what extent one should allow children to freely roam. At the conclusion of the interview I returned to teaching. There was a talkback session on the topic with the general public on the radio afterwards. I am hoping to secure a recording of that as I was not able to listen. I shall add links and audio as they come to hand. I added some more links below.

Links:

Bill Kerr ~ Cotton wool culture; just the facts about online youth victimisation; 5 or 6 dangerous things you should let your children do [inspired by..]

Ted Talks ~ Gever Tully: 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do

The Guardian ~ Kids need the adventure of ‘risky’ play

Waraku Education ~ Playing with stuff

Sydney Morning Herald ~ Charlie Brooker: Egg the youngsters on so that life tastes better

Sydney Morning Herald ~ Surprise ruled bad for health

BBC ~ Analysis: Rearing children in captivity

Times Online: Children who have everything, except freedom to play outside

Mail Online: Children who play unsupervised, turn out fitter and more sociable, study says

Spiked: Don’t blame parents for ‘Cotton wool kids’

Times Online: Help! How afraid should I be of stranger danger?

Lenore Skenazy: Free Range Kids

Times Online: Let ‘cotton-wool kids’ hang out on the streets

Times Online: Our cotton-wool kids

Telegraph.co.uk ~ The danger from our ‘cotton wool kids’

Telegraph.co.uk ~ Get a life and take sensible risks, says safety chief

Guardian.co.uk ~ Cotton wool revolution: Instilling resilience in children is a vital lesson but only makes sense in a supportive society

UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis  ~ The Capable Project 

UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis  ~ Children who play unsupervised are fitter

Babies online ~ Unsupervised Play is Good for Children

HTI ~ Cotton Wool Kids

Times Online ~ ‘Bring back the conker fight to re-educate cottonwool kids‘

Spiked ~ Unwrapping the ‘cotton wool’ kids

Last night Shao Ping and I celebrated the 50th birthday of our friend Luke. Interestingly Luke and I were both born on the 8th August, 1958.  We taught together for about 10 years at St Joseph’s Catholic High School, Albion Park. Luke, and his wife Janine, are now both teaching at the Nobel School, Stevenage, England. Luke and his family are back in Australia for a holiday.

Luke and Larry

Well, Luke and I have shared fifty years. One hundred years in all. We both come from large families and both our dads spent time in Changi Prison as guests of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War. Luke is a great bloke, full of life, enriched with wisdom and generous with loads of good, old commonsense. Luke always called me Larry at school ~ a play on my family name.

Peter, Beth and I

Luke and his family are having a great experience in England. I think everyone should endeavour to work abroad at some time in their careers. It can open their eyes and make one realise there is so much out there in the world to discover.

Peter, Beth and I discuss the delights of Hong Kong

Caught up with many old friends last night including my old school chum and former colleague, Beth. We both went through school at the same time. She is a legendary English teacher and now happily retired on the south coast of New South Wales at Erowal Bay. Beth, my colleague Peter and I had a great old night talking about the good old days.

Well, it is the morning after my birthday. My wife Shao Ping is teaching Mandarin to a group of adults at the Nan Tien Temple just now. I am sitting here in the living room listening to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ~ Babe, You Turn Me On…

You race naked through the wilderness
You torment the birds and the bees
You leapt into the abyss, but find
It only goes up to your knees
I move stealthily from tree to tree
I shadow you for hours
I make like I’m a little deer
Grazing on the flowers

Everything is collapsing, dear
All moral sense has gone
It’s just history repeating itself
And babe, you turn me on

There are two gentlemen in our gutted kitchen. They are laying some cement before applying some new tiles. They were both born in Beijing. They have been living in Australia a long time and their children have grown up here. It is funny to hear one of the gentleman to say “G’day” with an Australian accent more broader than my own. They tiled our ground floor several years back. They did a beautiful job. This morning they are so proud due to the Olympic Games opening ceremony. My wife remarked upon the neat way they have levelled the kitchen floor and one of the gentlemen beamed and said, ‘Chinese people can do everything!”.

Yesterday I shared my birthday with a number of people. They include Dustin Hoffman, The Edge and Faye Wong. I admire all three to varying degrees. I exchanged gifts with a student at school who also shares the same birthday and today I will catch up with Luke, a former colleague, also born 080858.

Today is sunny. Later Shao Ping and I shall go out, grab a bite to eat and enjoy the rays. The winter has been cold this week. Too cold. Perhaps my ‘old’ bones feel the cold more now.

Later this weekend I need to begin marking 45 historical investigations submitted by my Year Eleven Ancient History students. Later this term we shall add their investigations to a wiki. They will embed graphics and relevant links. That will be quite an undertaking.

I turn 50 today. It is the eighth of August, 2008. The eighth of the eighth of th eighth. 080808. I was born on the 8th August, 1958. My mother nearly died at the time and I was born two months premature.

My mother and I

My mum’s birthday was on the 6th August. Shared a humidicrib with another baby. His name was Benjamin Kay. Ben was born on the 9th August. We ended going to school together up until the age of eighteen.

This card was on the humidicrib

I was in that humidicrib for quite a few weeks. How would you interpret the comment written across the bottom of the card above? Were they closed for an entire month? I was named after my grandfather, John. He had died a few days before I was born.

My father and I

I remember my tenth birthday on the 8th August, 1968. I visited my father in hospital that day. He had experienced a major heart attack. My father gave me a book that I read from cover to cover…Our World In Space And Time [Odhams Press Ltd., London]. The book still sits there in our bookcase. My father’s birthday greetings are written on the inside cover. He was 49 at the time. He spent some time in hospital. He worked too hard.

I turned 20 during my second year at uniersity. 8th August, 1978. I cannot remember that day at all. Second year at university was a non event. I have blanked out much of 1978. Something must have happened that I prefer to forget. I did see David Bowie perform live for the first time not long after.

David Bowie, Sydney, 1978.

I remember my 30th birthday. It was the 8th of the 8th, 1988. A lot of eights. It was a pupil free day at school and there was a party held at school. Amazingly, myself and one other colleague, Luke, shared birthdays. Both of us were born on the 8th August, 1958. Luke thought I was kidding when I made the discovery. We are both catching up this Saturday actually. Luke teaches in England now. My father came to school once to speak to the students about his experiences as a prisoner of war in the Second World War.

My father and I address the students at St Joseph’s Catholic High School

My fortieth birthday was quiet. 8th August, 1998. There was a heavy rain storm that night. I received an antique Astro Boy figurine from my wife Shao Ping. I received some South Park videos as well. Our family was going to celebrate my birthday a couple of weeks later but that was cancelled following a severe storm event in which our region was flooded. That storm happened on the 17th August. Our suburb received 313mm of rain that day. The party was cancelled. There are some accounts of the storms here and here. August 1998 was a wet month.

There will be a surprise party in our faculty staff room today. This evening my wife Shao Ping and I are going out with 4 of my 6 siblings as well as their spouses. I am having a larger party in September at the beginning of the school holidays.

My dad and all my brothers and sisters. That is me wearing the loud shirt. 2001.

All of my siblings are educators too. Let me see… two history teachers, university lecturer, mathematics teacher, music teacher, primary school teacher, librarian. What do you think we all talk about when we get together?

How do I feel turning 50? Not much really. It is a bit of a crossroads. It is harder to get a new job at this age. If I branch out it will be consulting and/or training. When will I retire? Not sure. I hope it is a simple transition that passes unnoticed. I do not think I can teach kids forever. It would be the death of me.

Recent photograph of myself and workshop participant Gabriel taken in Singapore.

I will remember this birthday as our kitchen is also being ripped out tomorrow. A new kitchen will be built next week. I remember events via association with other events. I then move backwards and forwards down the mental timeline in my head.

Another recent photograph taken with my colleague Chris, and our visiting Japanese teachers from Koshigaya Minami Senior High School in Japan ~ Tatsuo and Mitsuyo.

I will probably blog one or two more posts over the next few days. The old read-write web has seemed burdensome of late. Time to rationalise again. Twitter or Plurk? Diigo or Delicious? Wordpress or Posterous? Both my wife Shao Ping and I blog.

Shao Ping and I in a previous life

The number eight is significant in Chinese culture. It has various meanings and associations. Good fortune. Wealth. Luck and so on. That is why the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony is commencing at 8.08PM on the 8th August, 2008.

Why not celebrate my birthday instead? It has just gone past midnight here in New South Wales, Australia. Plenty of room to write in the comments below. Cheers, John.

Before

After

This evening I was multi-tasking a little, watching TV and keeping an eye on Twitter. Mark Pesce popped up on Twitter and coincidentally I was watching the New Inventors on the ABC here in Australia. Mark acts as a panellist on this television programme from time to time. Not tonight.

Exchanged a tweet or two with Mark [something that still amazes me as I think about it] and asked if he had recently presented in the USA as his name had been mentioned in a couple of tweets over the weekend. He mentioned he had and moments later he linked to this video of his presentation at the Personal Democracy Forum, Lincoln Center, New York City, 24 June 2008.

I highly recommend that you watch Mark’s presentation. His introduction will intrigue you. I guarantee you will learn something new every few minutes. He examines the impact that mediums such as the printing press, mobile phones and networks have had on civilisation in disseminating ideas and giving individuals empowerment. He speaks of hyperconnevtivity and the power of individuals to harness networks to seek and seize change. These forces have the capability to bypass those in power, those in government. A powerful presentation, an excellent argument, a cogent message.

The text of his presentation is available on his blog, the human network. Enjoy. Learn. Adapt. Be ready.

How did I create this post? I took the two screenshots using SharpShooter.  I resized each to 400 pixels in width to a dpi of 72 in Adobe Photoshop Elements and exported them using the Save For Web… option which allows you to fine tune file size and quality. I used CyberDuck to upload each image to my host. I used Worpdress to create this blog post.