The most annoying thing about mobile phones

I guess that it's pretty normal that after 40 years (happy birthday mobile phones!) we're still complaining about them!

My biggest complaint (other than the fact that I have two to tote around) is that they are always running out of charge.  So when I saw this comment I was quite interested:

THREE: Get an Everpurse bag
No more panicking when your smartphone's battery is low. These small but stylish bags recharge your phone wherever you are and make sure you'll never miss that life-changing Facebook comment again.

(Full article here in case you'ld like the other 19 points on ways to Improve Your Life Right Now!).

I followed the link (ref:"small but stylish bags") to a site called Everpurse.com which markets a clutch purse with an inbuilt smartphone charger.  IF you remember to charge the purse you can apparently keep your phone charged all day (up to two full recharges in the day).

The prices range from $189 to $319 depending on colour / style.  You do get the charging mat included for that price and additional ones can be purchased for $59.  You can also get your current handbag retrofitted with the charging device for a cost of $600.

Now while I think it's not a bad idea I have a number of hesitations:

1. This only works with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, or Samsung Galaxy S III - which means that it won't work with one of my current phones.  Also what happens when the next version of the iPhone / Galaxy comes out?
2. Most women I know have a range of handbags to suit different outfits -  I actually have only two but I think I'm on the unusual side.  Shelling out $200 for a couple of new small clutch purses seems a quite expensive way to go.  I know you can put them in larger purses but then you'll have to remember to take them out to recharge them (which seems about as much work as remembering to take your phone out to charge it in the first place).
3. You still have to remember to recharge the purse every day.  Now I know that there are some super-organised people who always put their things in the exact same place all the time and then there is the rest of us who go through the "where are my keys?" hunt a couple of times a week (or more).  I think this concept MIGHT work for the first group of people, not sure about the second!

So while I get frustrated with myself for not remembering to charge my phones I don't think I'll be buying one of these just yet!

Technology ...

Miss 9 and Miss 11 are watching Gilligan's Island - the apeman episode.  On the show the tape recorder he used was described as ...

... miniature.

The girls were amused!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finding a high school for Miss 11

I know I’ve been neglecting my blog over the last couple of months.  This is mainly due to “life” – and in particular most of my spare time has been taken up with a hunt for a suitable high school for Miss 11.

She is currently in year 6.  Our schools in this state are structured as year 1 – 7 is primary school (yes there is pre-school / kindergarten before that) and then year 8 – 12 is high school.

From 2015, year 7 will change to being “high school”.  Well actually it will be mandatory for year 7 to be part of high school from 2015, many of the private schools have already made the change and are now structured as year 7 – 9 being middle school and 10 – 12 being upper school.

But state (public) schools aren’t doing this yet.  They won’t have be taking year 7 children into the high schools until 2015.

Miss 11 is in a private school and from latest rumours no other students in year 6 will be going into year 7 at the school, they’re all going into year 7 at private high schools.

We could do the same for Miss 11.  HOWEVER, in our public high school system there are a number of specialist programs that sound interesting.

The first is the “Gifted and Talented Program” (referred to as “GATE”).  There is a possibility that she could get into this and undertake the program at one of the local high schools.  We visited the school last week and she really like it and the Principal.  It’s a BIG school – current school population of 1500 but it didn’t feel crowded.  In fact, we were wondering where all the kids were (the Principal said he thought that they were all playing truant!).

Entrance to the GATE program is via a series of tests held on one day (May), with offers for places in August / September.  Last year there were 850 places across the state with 2400 children sitting the exam.

As this program is relatively difficult to get into, and comes down the child’s performance on the day we have also looked at alternatives.  The other programs offered by the public school system are known as “Specialist Programs”

There are three that interest Miss 11:

• Lesmurdie – Maths and Science
• Kalamunda – Outdoor Adventure
• Kelmscott – Specialist Agriculture

All of these programs are offered to the students in the school district first (we aren’t in any of these districts) and then if there are places available out of area students can apply.

For two of these (Lesmurdie & Kelmscott) entrance is via an exam and the third (Kalamunda) entrance is via a written application and portfolio.

For Lesmurdie the exam will be held around September, for the other two schools applications will be processed in March next year.

And this is where the difficultly lays.

If she doesn’t get into any of these four programs (GATE & the Specialist ones) then we will not know this until mid-next year, by which time all of the private schools (we would not consider sending her to a public school outside of these programs) would have commenced their “middle school” structure.

Now we have found one private school – that Miss 11 liked a lot - that was happy to take her in year 8 if she wanted to stay at her current school until then, IF there are places available once the year 7 intake has been finalised.

So basically now it’s “wait and see”.  She’s sitting a trial exam next Saturday to give her an idea of what the GATE exam (and those for the Specialist Programs) would be like.  But realistically we may not know the outcome until mid-next year.

The other issue we face is that she might be the only year 7 in her current school next year.  Currently there are 13 children in year 6 and only 5 in year 7 (they’re all in a combined year 6/7 class).  I am not sure how well this structure will work (and even if it’s possible) if she is the only year 7 (the current year 5s are in a mixed 4/5 class).

Eeekkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey USA - I think you've gone mad

Okay, I know it's not the whole of the USA, but seriously this is idiotic ... even more so than Bloomberg restricting sales of the large-sized soda drinks ...

US town adds sugar to water supply

A TEXAS town has added sugar to the water supply to encourage residents to drink more H2O.

Water consumption in Talon, a small town in Pecos County, is well below the United States average.

So the town's top utility officials decided to add roughly 4 tablespoons of sugar for every 240mLs of the town's water supply.

Talon utility commissioner Hester Griggs told CBC News: "Oh, you can taste it yeah, or otherwise there ain't no point in doing it. It's sweet, sweet water."

Mr Griggs said part of the reason behind the move was that kids are preferring to drink soda and energy drinks to water.

"We decided is there a health element to the amount of water that someone drinks.

"We need to make sure that our residents, our kids... are encouraged to drink water, up to 8 glasses a day as is stipulated by the National Alliance of Health."

The sugary water is also being used in water used in showers and toilets.

Mr Griggs said he there wasn't too much concern in the community about the amount of sugar being consumed.

"The upside overweighs the downside unless you have diabetes," he said.

In that case, Mr Griggs recommended local diabetics restrict their intake to four glasses.

----------------------

It's not April 1 is it?

Along These Lines: How knot too right ...

As the new school year approaches, I would like to undress you all today concerning a serious education problem facing this nation — the inability of the younger generators to write properly.

It’s a very disturbing trend, because there is a vast suppository of knowledge lodged in the collective minds of today’s youth who desperately need to espresso themselves better.

Continue reading here.

Hattip Along these lines

Amazon understatement

Just read this an article on a Basic Gunshot Wound kit (from wizardPC) and although I have thought about it before I've never got one organised.  I do carry a basic first aid kit with me to the range but it wouldn't be that useful if anyone actually got shot.

So as wizardpc had thoughtfully provided links to Amazon I went and ordered all of the things he recommended.

However when I went to checkout I get this lovely bit of understatement from Amazon:

SLIGHT?  You're not going to ship me anything on my order :( I class that as more than 'slight'.

Oh well, I'll just have to see what I can source locally.

Do you guys all have first aid kits in your range bags? If so, what do you carry in them?

Monopoly

Went "north" over the Easter weekend and during our travels visited the wind farm at Walkaway.  It's an impressive wind farm.  Apparently it's the largest one in Western Australia - the wiki article is brief but interesting.


The day after visiting the wind farm I sat down to play the new Monopoly U-Build game.  I quite like the idea, you choose basically how long you want to play for, set up the board to meet this requirement and roll the dice.


There are some changes, however, one is the introduction of "hazard pieces".  These are bright (fluro) orange and if you "build" one of these next to property the residential rent on these properties are set to zero (you can move these during the game).  Industrial rents are not affected.  Now there are three of these - power station, prison, sewage works - and I can understand somewhat why you might not want one of these in your neighbourhood.


Another new concept in the game is the introduction of "bonus pieces", these, to my way of thinking are the opposite to the hazard pieces.  If you build one in your area you're protected from the building of a hazard.  These are bright green in colour.  And again there are three - a park, a school and a WIND FARM?!?!?!  


Who in their right mind would want a wind farm in their back garden?  They are NOISY, very, very NOISY.  The girls likened the noise to the sound of an airplane.  I would rather have the prison thanks (well, if you can shield the lights).


The girls and I concluded that the creator of the game had never even seen a wind farm let alone been near one.


The fact that skyscrapers DOUBLED the rent also interested me.  Apart from these things we had a lot of fun playing and Miss 8 wiped the floor with me.

Still no flying cars but the future is getting closer

From today's news:

Portable 'flashlight' kills nasty bacteria

A PORTABLE battery-operated plasma flashlight capable of killing some of the strongest bacteria could be used to treat patients in natural disasters and war zones, researchers say.

The device, developed by Australian and Chinese researchers, resembles a torch and emits reactive plasma particles that can kill bacteria, and potentially treat wounds and even tumours.


Previously, similar devices have often relied on an electricity connection or generators.


This limited their use in natural disaster zones, ambulance call-outs, military operations and other remote locations, said the authors of a study published today in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Science.


The report's authors, including Kostya Ostrikov from CSIRO's Materials Science and Engineering unit at the Plasma Nanoscience Centre Australia, found the device could successfully penetrate 17 layers of extremely heat-resistant bacteria, called biofilm.

The plasma flashlight was able to penetrate through to the very bottom layers to kill bacteria, while operating at room temperatures of between 20C to 23C, which would prevent damage to the skin.

Biofilm is formed by bacteria to resist treatment and is very difficult to kill, even with intense heat, Prof Ostrikov said.

"That's why alternative approaches like this plasma are sought after," Prof Ostrikov told AAP.

"In this study we chose an extreme example to demonstrate that the plasma flashlight can be very effective even at room temperature."

The results could advance techniques to kill biofilms formed by drug and treatment-resistant bacteria.

Reactions between the plasma emitted and air create a cocktail of reactive species believed to be similar to those found in the immune system.

In the experiment, the plasma device was applied to biofilm samples for five minutes.

It is the thickest reported biofilm killed by a room-temperature plasma device, the researchers said.

Prof Ostrikov said the plasma device was easy to make and cost less than $100 to produce.

He said creating a smaller version and different design could make it more appealing to the commercial market.

A team of international researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, City University of Hong Kong, University of Sydney and CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering created the device.

Source

Spiders anyone?

Interesting isn't it how the internet makes the world smaller?  I was blogsurfing tonight and ended up at Greg's place.  He had a post on misplaced spiders in Australia which I've not seen reported here.

Apparently the floods over east have unsettled a number of wolf spiders and they've taken up residence above ground in such numbers that their webs look like snow - 

Yes folks, that's spider webs that you can see there.  Anyone want to go for a walk? 

Full story and more amazing pictures can be found here.

Green jobs ....

green jobs (n.): A category of employment properly viewed as belonging to the realm of mythology or fantasy, like the chimera, leprechaun, or centaur; jobs not tangibly observable in the real world but existing in the dreams of ‘progressives’.

(Appropriated from Adaptive Curmudgeon)

How it was

Found a link over at Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated, to where college journalists at Florida Atlantic University were asked to publish a newspaper with no computers.

It's an interesting read and a good 'look back'.

Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

And I'm certainly glad I don't have to do my current job with 20 year old technology!

"Here we learn" ...

Yesterday's activities (there'll be a blog post on this later) saw me at a state high school in our Northern suburbs.

On the door of EVERY classroom was a sticker (A4 size in bright yellow) that said "Here we learn". Unfortunately, it was on the outside of the door implying (to me at least) that learning was only done inside the classroom :(

It's the future - here's your flying car

Yep, really and truly, any day now ... and for only $227,000.

Full story and pics here and seriously, what is the US army going to do with a flying Humvee???

Is this evidence of the current education system?

During a lull in work today (while my computer was processing data without me), I decided to read "Ask Bossy".

Bossy is the Agony Aunt of news.com.au.

Here's an extract from today's submission:


lets call her Nat.
.
me and Nat go back 7 years we use to be best friends during school had a huge fall out because I started dating this guy she had a crush on ( I had no idea) then after high school we re kindled our friendship and moved in together with her brother moving in to.
that was fine, until she took a fancy to my well good friend of many years, we where only friends and I had no idea she once again had a crush on him cause she was always talking about “Patrick “ like how she had a crush ect. wanted to hook up and stuff anyway, things got sexual with my mate of many years (not Patrick) and she found out and acted like I did it on purpose cause she liked him?? we had a cat fights ect (she stole my money, clothes, personal stuff ,rent ) and vowed for revenge

I then met my BF “Nick” (now ex). I told nick very early in the relationship that I dispited this girl for the things that had happened. he understood. well I thought so until we broke up.

when we called it even he said about the elephant in the room that he had seen Nats Bro (nice guy value for money) and that Nat had got his number and had been texting him and that he had been replying but didn’t mean anything more then a friends. I re explained the situation that she was out for revenge. I demanded his phone and read all the msgs and it was friendly but I was MAD!

Didn’t speak for a few weeks then his fam went away for weeks so I stayed with him at his parents house. we fell asleep on the couch and the phone vibrated about 6 times ( I don’t believe in looking in people property with out asking) I ignored but being a iphone I seen Nat’s full name on the pop up msg so I looked and they had been talking, only friendly. I was so furious I just left it.

The author of this is ... 19 turning 20 ....

In Australia 10 years of schooling is mandatory.

(If you want to read the whole thing, check out: http://blogs.news.com.au/bossy/index.php/news/comments/how_do_i_stop_her_texting_my_ex_to_get_revenge_on_me/P80/ some of the comments are hilarious).

Dr Jack Kevorkian is dead

From today's news.

I mentioned this to my hubby in the hearing of the girls so, of course, they had to ask a million questions - "Who was he?", "Is his death good or bad?" etc.

So I attempted to explain why he was significant. Towards the end of the conversation it went like this:

Me: "So if a dog is hit by a car and in a lot of pain and nothing can be done to fix it up, we 'euthanise' it. This means we're allowed to give it drugs so that it dies. We're not allowed to do this with people. We can only try and help minimise the pain until they die naturally."

Miss 9: "People are weird."

Getting back to the article I liked his three stated missions in life:

"... Kevorkian said that he had three missions in life ...
One of his missions was to warn mankind of "impending doom" that will come from the culture of overabundance....

His second mission was to educate people about assisted suicide, ...

Kevorkian's third stated mission was to convince Americans that their rights are being infringed upon by bans on everything from smoking to assisted suicide."


Now I do have a problem with the "who makes the decision" bit relating to assisted suicides. However, I do like the way he summarised three major challenges we are facing today.

No kidding ....

From today's news: War on drugs 'has failed'

I was going to write and in depth piece on why this isn't news but just stating the bleeding obvious but then I read what Daddybear wrote and thought I might just send you over there for a read.

(As this is the computer that doesn't like me linking you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way ...
http://daddybearden.blogspot.com/2011/06/perpetuating-prohibition.html
...)

Like Daddybear I've not used illegal drugs, I don't want my girls using them (ever!) but I don't believe that legislating what adults can and can't do to their own bodies is reasonable.

Yesterday there was an explosion a couple of suburbs away from where I live when a drug lab went up (http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/blast-leads-cops-to-83rd-drug-lab/story-e6frg13u-1226068502117), apparently it's the 83rd illicit drug lab uncovered in Perth this year!

People are doing this because there is money in it. I would like to see these products legally available (using existing health requirements and regulations for the production of pharmaceuticals) and taxed. Then use that money for health and education campaigns just as we do with cigarettes / alcohol.

Specialisation is for insects ....

The comments on my last post got me thinking about the phrase "specialisation is for insects" and whether on not this was true.

Bob (in comments) is correct when he stated that you really don't want brain surgery done by the local GP.

I think there is a place for specialisation. In many ways, this is what a career is all about. Becoming skilled in something so that you're employable. But even within these confines there's advantages to having a wide range of skills rather than just one. I see no reason why a brain surgeon shouldn't be able to bake a loaf of bread.

One of the benefits of having a wide range of skills is that pretty much no matter the economic circumstances there's a job that you can turn your hand to. You might need refresher course (or a bit of reading) to get up to speed with the latest developments in the area, but having a basic understanding of something is a good place to start from.

Or, if you are unemployed, you can do a lot of things that need doing without shelling out cash for an "expert" in the field.

Looking back over my working life the people I have most enjoyed working with and those I have the most respect for were those who were not only good at their jobs but who also had a wide range of knowledge, interest and skills of related and unrelated fields. I found these people stimulating and challenging to be around. The time spent on learning and acquiring skills did not detract from them mastering their primary specialities either.

I have also worked with people who are brilliant in their field, but have no idea of anything else. I find these people, on the whole, frustrating to work with and for. Mainly because they have such a narrow view of things they don't even understand how something "upstream" will affect their project. It's like (to pinch an analogy from Cajun) they turn on a light switch expecting the light to go on, with no understanding of the multiple stages the electricity needs to pass through to get there.

I guess most of you who work in the computer field have heard the "pack it up and take it back to the shop and tell them you're too stupid to own a computer" joke, well unfortunately, in my experience, this isn't that much of a joke.

I'm not sure the education system is to blame, or whether people have just lost the ability to be curious but it really seems that on the whole people don't look around and ask questions.

One of the things I love about spending time with my girls is the number of questions they ask. (It can also be frustrating too :) ). It seems as if they want to know the "why and how" of everything. I hope they never lose this desire to understand the world around them. This also serves to remind me of how little I know and how I should be looking at the world and asking the same questions.

I've often asked myself what "life skills" I need to pass onto the girls. And so far, the skills that we have decided are important for them are:

* Reading
* Clear and articulate pronunciation
* Neat writing
* Ability to read music and play an instrument
* Ability to swim
* Development of a range of physical skills
* Ability to read a map and use a compass
* Ability to shoot a firearm
* Ability to cook basic meals
* Ability to do basic maths in their heads
* Basic computer skills
* Basic housework skills
* Care for an animal
* Behave in a restaurant
* Speak in public
* Speak a foreign language
* Write a letter

All of these the girls have or are actively developing.

In addition there's a few more I would like them to be able to do in the future
* Touch type
* Kill, skin and prepare a rabbit
* Drive
* Navigate by stars
* Build a fire
* Basic knowledge of first aid

I think all those skills are important regardless of what career they choose. (There's probably more, but these are all that I can think of at the moment).

What about you. What skills do you want to pass onto your children (or think children of this generation and the next need to have)?

Okay I'm a couple of years late

This apparently was displayed at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007, however I didn't find out about it tonight until I saw it on an episode of "Top Gear".



It's a personal mobility device, with a range of up to 30kms per charge (I could get to work, but dropping the girls off at school on the way could be a challenge!).

I like the idea. Especially for short trips around the city.

Check out here for more details.

What do you think?

Splutter, splutter, cough, cough - say what?

Was reading an article on the backscatter scanners machines used in America and was stunned to read:

The body scanners, due to be rolled out across Australian airports next year, ....

Say what????

[Update]Found this article from November 9th

Full-body scanners will be introduced at international airports in Australia from early next year as part of the Federal Government's $200 million plan to boost aviation security.

Captain Woodward says there are no moves for a similar boycott here.

Instead he says AIPA will continue to work with the Government to address safety concerns.

"We're going to work closely with the security authorities from the Federal Government to see what sort of imaging equipment they want to put in and use," he said.

"We certainly have our preference for non-ionising radiation type of equipment. So we have had preliminary talks with the security authorities and we'll continue that."

A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says the technology to be introduced in Australia will be more advanced than the machines used in the US.

She says safety checks will be carried out on all equipment by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.

From here.[/UPDATE]

[UPDATE 2]Apparently there were trials at Australian airports ...

In the six-week Australian trial, from October 15 to November 28, 2008, almost 70,000 travellers volunteered for full-body security scans at Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide airports, with Deakin University's Intelligent Systems Laboratory helping with data collection and modelling....

The results of the trial were:


The body scan trial

Melbourne Airport

Scanner: Rapiscan Secure 1000 (back-scatter x-ray)

?Used for secondary screening only

?32,011 passengers volunteered (22% of all passengers at the screening point)

? 1,078 passengers were imaged

?48% felt the process was as fast as the standard process

?58% felt it was no better or worse than the standard process

?34% felt it was better.

Sydney Airport

Scanner: AS&E SmartCheck (back-scatter x-ray)

?Used for secondary screening only

?28,422 passengers volunteered, (22% of all passengers at the screening point)

?3,227 passengers were imaged.

?48% felt the process was faster than the standard process.

?60% felt it was better than the standard process

?36% felt it was no better or worse.

Adelaide Airport

Scanner: L-3 ProVision (millimetre radio waves)

?Used for a primary screening

?8,536 passengers volunteered and were imaged

?61% felt the process was slower than the standard process.

?44% felt it was no better or worse than the standard process

?42% felt it was better.

SOURCE: Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government[/UPDATE2]

Miss 9 Received an Honour Certificate last Friday

For "an excellent exposition on video games". I was surprised, mainly because I didn't think she had ever encountered a video game in her life.

She brought a copy of the article she wrote home last night. The brief was to choose a side - for or against - children playing video games and to write a persuasive article backing up your choice.

Here's the start of the article in her handwriting:



The rest of the article is as follows (including spelling/grammar errors):

--------------

Some people say "they help you be fit. they teach you collers, letters and numbers." Some of that is true but it dose not teach you reading because it usely reads things for you so when you are 20 you need to be able to read and wright not just make Mario jump and fight, but some people think the oposite. They make you have more amagenation. But if you have your own amagenation you would read a book, wright a story or mabe even play with dolls. If you have a videogame you will spend all of your money on games but some people say "My child is larning so I will buy them more" but that in real life is more and more and more and mabe more.

They might swear or get realy agresive with you if you dont get them more games or mabe even a phone or a Wii.

With all of my reasons it leads to no I do not want people to play vido games. People all over the world would be alot more healthy.

--------------

I'm was very pleased with her effort and approach!