In amongst all the days of cold, wind and rain last week there was one warm, dry day. An ideal opportunity to take Kumali to the park after nursery to run around with exuberance and reconnect with the outside world after days indoors avoiding the weather. Always a good plan.
Not surprisingly a lot of other children and their parents had the same plan. The Bowly Park was jam packed with children, adults, bikes and balls. The only available play item was the slide to Kumali and I headed to that; not as good as the swings, but better than the see-saw.
Around the back of the slide, near the steps, a young boy of no more than four was lying on the grass, clutching a football, sobbing. His dad was near by, trying to coax him gently to get up and head for the car because it was time to go home. The wee lad was having none of it and he 'lost it' just as Kumali started to climb the steps on the slide.
He started telling his dad to 'get lost', 'shut up' and 'go away.' Then he screamed out, while he beat the ground with his clenched fists, "My life is boring. I never do anything. Watch telly, play on the computer. That's all I ever do. I WANT TO BE OUTSIDE."
Kumali nearly fell off the edge of the slide as she had reached the top step without looking, transfixed as she'd been by the little chaps outburst. I never noticed as I was staring at him too. But I couldn't help feeling better about the future of the human race afterwards.
If that wasn't enough positive affirmation for one day, I bought by weekly copy of The Big Issue and read an article in it about a youth court in one of the toughest neighbourhoods in Washington DC that started in 1996 and today deals with 70% of all non-violent crime committed by young first time offenders in the city.
The scheme's founder, Edgar Cahn, explains, "This is kids talking sense to kids ... every juror on the panel is a former offender who as part of their own sentence must spend 10 weeks on jury duty ... 'bad kids' are now doing more to reduce crime than the police, the prosecutors and the defence attorneys."
Now Cahn's an economist, so his scheme works because it's based on 'financial' reward. For every hour a child spends on jury they earn a 'time dollar.' When/if they build up enough they can trade them in for recycled computers, a gift certificate, etc. People, mainly, enjoy goals, challenges and something to aim for: a purpose and a reward.
It all sounds good, hopeful and uplifting to me!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
If Less Is More, Why Is There More & More?
No-one seems to know for sure where the phrase 'less is more' originated. It doesn't really matter all that much. What matters is that it's a cheeky little number as far as phrases go: it gets you thinking. And the more you think about the concept of less being more, the more (not less) it makes sense on a number of levels. So it's not only short and sweet, it's also deep and meaningful.
It has become quite the trendy statement to apply to any and all manner of things, from make-up to aid to poverty stricken countries. I got a lovely example of the simplistic beauty and truth behind the statement, 'less is more' when I had a couple of puffs on a joint for the first time in over a month.
For the best part of 15 years I was a habitual, almost everyday smoker of cannabis. Sometimes from mornings through till night, sometimes just at night. Once the first one had been lit there would be a joint every couple of hours at least, and every hour or less at most.
Over the last six years or so I have smoked dope less often and, therefore, in less quantity to the point where these days it is an occasional treat. Yesterday was one such occasional treat. I think I had four draws on a natural (as opposed to skunk) grass joint. A lovely sensation came over me: I felt happy, chatty and at peace - all the best hallmarks of a cannabis 'hit'. The effects lasted for a good four hours. I didn't have any more than four puffs of the joint, that's less than a quarter of it.
I used to easily smoke two joints all myself, one after the other!! Less IS more. All things in moderation, is another way of saying it.
Of course the temptation is then there to have more. That's where self-control comes into the equation: discipline - of the mind and emotions, not of the body with a whip and lots of black latex! Discipline's the key.
It has to be, otherwise how do you explain that while almost everyone universally agrees that less is more, and can give at least one profound personal example to validate the point, we live in a world where the vast majority of people just want more and more?
It has become quite the trendy statement to apply to any and all manner of things, from make-up to aid to poverty stricken countries. I got a lovely example of the simplistic beauty and truth behind the statement, 'less is more' when I had a couple of puffs on a joint for the first time in over a month.
For the best part of 15 years I was a habitual, almost everyday smoker of cannabis. Sometimes from mornings through till night, sometimes just at night. Once the first one had been lit there would be a joint every couple of hours at least, and every hour or less at most.
Over the last six years or so I have smoked dope less often and, therefore, in less quantity to the point where these days it is an occasional treat. Yesterday was one such occasional treat. I think I had four draws on a natural (as opposed to skunk) grass joint. A lovely sensation came over me: I felt happy, chatty and at peace - all the best hallmarks of a cannabis 'hit'. The effects lasted for a good four hours. I didn't have any more than four puffs of the joint, that's less than a quarter of it.
I used to easily smoke two joints all myself, one after the other!! Less IS more. All things in moderation, is another way of saying it.
Of course the temptation is then there to have more. That's where self-control comes into the equation: discipline - of the mind and emotions, not of the body with a whip and lots of black latex! Discipline's the key.
It has to be, otherwise how do you explain that while almost everyone universally agrees that less is more, and can give at least one profound personal example to validate the point, we live in a world where the vast majority of people just want more and more?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Bikes, Gears, Action!
I own a mountain bike that I'm rather proud of. Well I'm happy with it, at least. I won it in a competition about eight years ago. I didn't use it all that much until I sold my car a year and more ago. It still looks new and works like new, too.
It's got 15 gears in all. That's enough for me. You can probably buy bikes with, oh, 4000 gears by now. Bikes with automatic gears that change constantly in relation to the speed you go at and the type of terrain you are cycling on. Well technology moves so faassst now, it wouldn't surprise me.
I'm no fan of technology. I don't see it as any kind of progress. I do use it though, although minimally compared to many/most people. But I'd appreciate a bike with automatic gears.
You see although it's quite simple to operate the gears on my bike, I can't seem to get it right. The gears are operated from the handlebars: left-hand down to operate the front three cogs and go faster (like revving up a motorbike), right-hand up to operate the back five cogs and go faster. The opposite process applies for slowing down and stopping, so the gears are in position to make it easy to start and speed up again.
Simple. Not for me. I keep losing momentum at crucial moments, and falling over from a standing position because I'm in 15th gear instead 1st! What an admission.
Come on the technologist who is working on automatic bikes: faster, faster!
It's got 15 gears in all. That's enough for me. You can probably buy bikes with, oh, 4000 gears by now. Bikes with automatic gears that change constantly in relation to the speed you go at and the type of terrain you are cycling on. Well technology moves so faassst now, it wouldn't surprise me.
I'm no fan of technology. I don't see it as any kind of progress. I do use it though, although minimally compared to many/most people. But I'd appreciate a bike with automatic gears.
You see although it's quite simple to operate the gears on my bike, I can't seem to get it right. The gears are operated from the handlebars: left-hand down to operate the front three cogs and go faster (like revving up a motorbike), right-hand up to operate the back five cogs and go faster. The opposite process applies for slowing down and stopping, so the gears are in position to make it easy to start and speed up again.
Simple. Not for me. I keep losing momentum at crucial moments, and falling over from a standing position because I'm in 15th gear instead 1st! What an admission.
Come on the technologist who is working on automatic bikes: faster, faster!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The Great Recycling Myth
"I do recycling." Have you heard someone say that recently? Maybe you yourself have uttered the words, or ones similar. There always appears to be a mild tinge of righteous indignation in the tone. As if all is well in the world, at least their world, because some paper, tins and plastic bottles are not lumped in with all the other rubbish. They're separated and then put out for collection. Once collected they will then be sent for recycling. Job done, relax, feel good about yourself.
But it doesn't really constitute 'recycling', does it? And how many of those self-satisfied recyclers are aware that you ought to try to reduce and reuse your waste first, before even getting to recycling? Come to that, how many 'I'm doing my best to limit environmental destruction because I recycle' adherees have the first idea what happens to their recycle-able waste after it has been picked-up?
Hhhmmm! Tricky one. Why, it's recycled, of course!
But where, how, and at what further cost to a fragile planet already groaning loudly under the strain of human pimping, pillaging and prostituting of its resources?
Over 90% of all waste collected for recycling is bought by commodity brokers, packed into empty storage containers and then shipped all the way out to China. Why China? Wouldn't it make more, most, sense to carry out the recycling process locally? Well, erm, yes. But nothing is recycled for reasons of sense: only for reasons of business. That's why commodity brokers buy the paper, tin and plastic: it's a commodity. And it's sent to China to fill the hundreds of empty cargo ships that are returning there after unloading all the Chinese made goods the West seemingly can't get enough of. It's business. Ships returning empty cost more to business than ships returning full.
Okay, so it's hardly environmentally sound to ship all that paper, plastic and tin out to China, then ship it all back to Britain, (especially as the shipping industry is the only unregulated transport industry, so the cheapest, most polluting fuel can be, and is, used) but at least it's all being recycled. Right? Wrong.
Less than 10% of the waste sent to China for recycling is actually processed into a usable product. The vast majority of it is stored in massive warehouses awaiting some uncertain future: a bit like the wealthy masses in cities.
Happy recycling. Glad you're doing your bit.
But it doesn't really constitute 'recycling', does it? And how many of those self-satisfied recyclers are aware that you ought to try to reduce and reuse your waste first, before even getting to recycling? Come to that, how many 'I'm doing my best to limit environmental destruction because I recycle' adherees have the first idea what happens to their recycle-able waste after it has been picked-up?
Hhhmmm! Tricky one. Why, it's recycled, of course!
But where, how, and at what further cost to a fragile planet already groaning loudly under the strain of human pimping, pillaging and prostituting of its resources?
Over 90% of all waste collected for recycling is bought by commodity brokers, packed into empty storage containers and then shipped all the way out to China. Why China? Wouldn't it make more, most, sense to carry out the recycling process locally? Well, erm, yes. But nothing is recycled for reasons of sense: only for reasons of business. That's why commodity brokers buy the paper, tin and plastic: it's a commodity. And it's sent to China to fill the hundreds of empty cargo ships that are returning there after unloading all the Chinese made goods the West seemingly can't get enough of. It's business. Ships returning empty cost more to business than ships returning full.
Okay, so it's hardly environmentally sound to ship all that paper, plastic and tin out to China, then ship it all back to Britain, (especially as the shipping industry is the only unregulated transport industry, so the cheapest, most polluting fuel can be, and is, used) but at least it's all being recycled. Right? Wrong.
Less than 10% of the waste sent to China for recycling is actually processed into a usable product. The vast majority of it is stored in massive warehouses awaiting some uncertain future: a bit like the wealthy masses in cities.
Happy recycling. Glad you're doing your bit.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
You're Having A Laugh, Aren't You?
It was only a few short blogs ago I wrote of blue skies and a sun that could burn your skin. It was true, I didn't imagine it. But it didn't last long!
The winter clothes are back at the front of the wardrobe and the sandals have remained unworn. My daughter's beautiful paint job on my toe nails is only being admired by me, her and Toni (the wife/mother).
Still, I have no doubt the blue skies and hot sun will be back for a prolonged period sooner rather than later. They both still make intermittent appearances just now ... but not for long enough to be able to claim "Here comes summer."
Ah well, you've got to laugh ... and hopefully audiences will be this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday when I am part of a live comedy showcase. Now that all the performers are getting to know each other better, as well as the scripts, it is shaping up to be a very funny show.
The winter clothes are back at the front of the wardrobe and the sandals have remained unworn. My daughter's beautiful paint job on my toe nails is only being admired by me, her and Toni (the wife/mother).
Still, I have no doubt the blue skies and hot sun will be back for a prolonged period sooner rather than later. They both still make intermittent appearances just now ... but not for long enough to be able to claim "Here comes summer."
Ah well, you've got to laugh ... and hopefully audiences will be this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday when I am part of a live comedy showcase. Now that all the performers are getting to know each other better, as well as the scripts, it is shaping up to be a very funny show.
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