Paralympics

Image courtesy of  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/19429156

When you see achievements  like this, by disabled athletes, it's hard to understand how many of those who cheer the teams on would also support termination of the unborn, on the basis of such a disability.

Where's the sense in that?

Dog Shaming

Now everyone knows naughty behaviour should be punished, and as members of our family, this quite rightly applies to our pets, too. But, what has been condemned in the treatment of children has become a new internet sensation, when applied to the pets.

A new Tumblr photo site has become a hit with owners wanting to ‘show off’ the misdemeanours of their canine (and feline) friends.

Whether or not this is a form of ‘animal’ abuse is up for debate; what is certain is that some of the pictures are, I’m ashamed to admit, quite funny       

Anyway, here’s a few examples:

And here's one for the boys at school:

All images courtesy of http://dogshaming.tumblr.com

Rowling's Potter pipped by Dickens's Marley

Image courtesy of  http://collider.com

Image courtesy of  http://screenrant.com/

                                   Vs

Wondering what to get your child to read, as the dark nights draw near?

It seems that 'A Christmas Carol' is the book parents most want their children to read, according to a study by the University of Worcester.

A spokesperson from the university, said:

'It is interesting to see that most of the popular books to pass down the generations have strong moral messages entwined in them.'

'The books that feature in the top 10 all provide thought-provoking content and characters, so it is clear that parents value these books for providing challenging thoughts which can last a lifetime.'

Here is the order of parent’s preference:

1. A Christmas Carol, (Charles Dickens)

2. The Harry Potter series, (JK Rowling)

3. The Lord of The Rings trilogy, (JRR Tolkien)

4. Pride and Prejudice, (Jane Austen)

5. Alice in Wonderland, (Lewis Carroll)

6. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, (CS Lewis) 

7. Animal Farm, (George Orwell)

8. Oliver Twist, (Charles Dickens)

9. The Hobbit, (JRR Tolkien)

10. To Kill a Mockingbird, (Harper Lee)

The fact of the matter is that no matter what the parent wants-the child often has ideas of their own.

On a positive note-I personally witnessed the power of a good book to envelope the imagination of a teenage boy.....he was so focussed on what he was reading, he walked off the end of a running track straight into some bushes. Good job he was only walking.

The man from ADSENSE, he say.......

Apparently, insufficient content.

Need more paragraphs and...

stuff....


never mind

A Right Russian Riot

According to RT.com, a Feminist Russian band have been charged with ‘Hooliganism’ and convicted to 2 years in prison, downgraded from a possible sentence of 7 years.

Image courtesy of  http://rt.com/news

This scandal over the Russian punk band, “P**** Riot”, ‘seems’ to have prompted an over-the-top response from the Putin government-that is until we remember what hooded activists running into public buildings actually symbolises to many Russians.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Do you recall the school in Beslan, Russia, in 2004, where hooded terrorists stormed the school in an action that resulted in the deaths of over 300 people, 184 of whom were children? Or the Moscow Opera House siege where at least 120 hostages died. Is it any wonder the Russian government wants to clamp down on hooded activists?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/world/04/russian_s/html/1.stm

The band claimed to be asking the Virgin Mary to free them from Putin’s oppression? If they had any respect for the beliefs of the many Russians who use Christ the Saviour Cathedral, they wouldn’t have invaded the Church to launch a publicity stunt and mockingly danced around the sacred space.

Now I’ve no problem with punk music per se but have you read any of their lyrics? Here's a sample from the song they chose to sing: 

“All parishioners are crawling and bowing”

“The Head of the KGB is their chief saint”

“In order not to offend the Holy Women have to give birth and to love”

“Holy s***t, s****, Lord’s s***”

Clearly they were genuine in their claim they didn’t mean to offend Christians. 

Why is it that so called 'freedom of speech' activists always seem to defend those who trample roughshod over the beliefs of others.

Now the Church teaches 'forgiveness', but that is for those who are truly repentant; do we really believe this is the case with these women? OK, maybe 2 years is a bit harsh....personally, I'm all for their sentence being downgraded to something which serves the common good, like public street cleaning in Orange style jump suits. 

Google Adsense

I just opted to 'monetize' my Blog....whatever that means. 

Google promise an easy system to do this, by creating adverts which blog browsers can click on, and this brings money to the Blog writer (as well as the advertisers).

It's all part of the Google + gift. Having said that, this is my third attempt to make it work. I've had the request rejected twice before and i'm not quite sure why.

Maybe it's not meant to work for this blog; all part of God's great plan to save me from the allure of becoming 'monetized'. Who knows. Watch this space to see if anything changes.

Cameron's sporting legacy-less school sport!

Real competitiveness! image courtesy of  http://www.chavagnes.org/   

So what does the British Coalition Government really mean when it says it’s committed to an Olympic legacy: it means, at a time of rising obesity, schools will no longer have to provide the minimum of 2 hours Physical Education a week. Not only that, but Cameron et al plan to scrap rules preventing the selling off of yet more school playing fields (as they do not have to provide a minimum amount of space for team sports), according to tomorrow's 'Daily Telegraph'. 

Following the amazing success of the Olympics, this is not what we expect to see any sane government do. Why don’t we go the whole Hog and like French President Hollande, oversee the burning of Youth Clubs and Primary schools…at least the French communities will have these rebuilt.

image courtesy of  http://www.lemonde.fr

Goodbye London2012. It's been a blast,

image courtesy of  http://www.radiotimes.com

For the final Medal count follow this link:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=london+2012+medal+count

                                 Goodbye London!

再见, До свидания, adios, au revoir, auf Wiedersehen,
じゃまたね, elalleqa, Ciao,Tot ziens, Yasou

Image courtesy of  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2186944/London-2012-Olympics-Ben-Ainslie-carry-British-flag-closing-ceremony.html

                               Hello Rio!

Image courtesy of  http://www.logobird.com/rio-2016-olympics-logo/ 

A fact about Chocolate

Image courtesy of  http://www.allposters.co.uk

We all know of famous children’s author J. M. Barrie, of Peter Pan fame, but what is less well known is the play he wrote before, entitled ‘Quality Street’. The plot can be read here and it is possible to read the whole play for free, online.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_Street_(play)

The play was so successful; it inspired a Chocolate company to use its name and also a series of prints were drawn by artist Hugh Thomson, in 1913.

A friend of mine has the original prints and allowed me to take some photos. I've shared three with you here. 

Each is a representation of some aspect of the play, and if you enlarge them, you can read an explanation to accompany each picture.

Enjoy!

Real Steel!

Watching Nicola Adams enter the history books yesterday as the first woman to win Gold for Boxing, I was inspired to watch a Boxing related film, ‘Real Steal’, on Sky movies. 

(image courtesy of  BBC Sport)

The film was surprisingly good! Superficially, it is about a man who scrapes a living taking robots to fight at the Boxing matches of the future; in reality it is about a man learning to mend his relationship with his estranged 11 year old son. 

image courtesy of  
http://collider.com

The film has a real ‘feel good’ factor without being overly sentimental;

The plot is somewhere between Stallone’s ‘Over the Top’ and ‘The Karate Kid’, again symbolising the never ending struggle of the underdog against the odds. The boy helps his Father to remember that the relationship of Father and Son is one of interdependence, with each fulfilling the needs of the other. 

Ultimately, aside from the occasional swear word, I would recommend this film; its uplifting central message is carried along with enough action to keep even the ‘coolest’ of teenage kids happy.

Kid spots a Welsh Shark?

If you go down to the BEACH today, 

                             you’re sure of a big surprise….

Especially true if you mean the beach at New Quay, Ceredigion, Wales. Some truly amazing photos were taken by Jasmine Jones, aged 16, and can be seen if you follow the link below.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185923/Baby-blue-shark-spotted-shallows-beach-Wales.html

Image courtesy of 
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/photos/sharks/

But this wasn’t any old Basking shark! It was a BLUE shark, more typically found off the coast in America and yes, they have been known to munch on more than just plankton. But don’t panic just yet…it was a baby one.

We often begrudge the infiltration of mobile (cell) phones in kids’ lives, but I’m not sure such amazing pictures and footage would have been possible without this. It certainly made for an amazing day out for Jasmine, who said:

“That is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life”.

Although sharks have a fearsome reputation, shark attacks are still incredibly rare. For any kids wanting more facts about sharks, please follow the link under the picture above.

Size matters? But what about in the Olympics?

                         Any kid will tell you that size often matters.

Image courtesy of  http://bibleillustration.blogspot.co.uk 

But size is deceptive and great things come in little packages. 

Just look at this league table with data from yesterday:

Country	Golds	Population	Medals (total)
China	35	1,344,130,000	76
USA	30	311,591,917	72
Great Britain	22	62,641,000	48
South Korea	12	49,779,000	24
Russia	10	141,930,000	49
France	8	65,436,552	28
Germany	7	81,726,000	32

                          Population data courtesy of www.google.co.uk/publicdata

The population of my County, Yorkshire, is 5,284,000, and athletes here had gained 10 medals, by the end of yesterday. That would put them 10^th in the medal table, ahead of many countries.

Massive things can be accomplished by small countries and even small athletes...

When others help them to grow.

Congratulations to the Brownlee brothers and all who helped our athletes to accomplish their dreams.

Help! My child ISN”T on Facebook

Normally, parents across the world worry that their child is spending too much time on the computer or on their mobile (cell) phones-often using ‘social’ network sites.

Now some would have us worry if they are not using them.  

Image courtesy of Jezebel.com

According to a German magazine called ‘Der Taggspiegel’ (the Daily Mirror), one thing connecting the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivic and the Dark Knight Rises cinema shooter, James Holmes, is the fact that neither had Facebook accounts. They say research suggests a lack of social networking may be symptomatic of underlying psychological problems. They also point out that many US employers regard such inactivity with suspicion and may go so far as to turn down job applicants on the basis of this.

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiegel/nach-dem-attentat-von-denver-kein-facebook-profil-kein-job-angebot/6911648-2.html

Of course, the Psychologist quoted also goes on to say that too much use can “reinforce basic psychological disorders and anxiety”. I think what Herr Moeller (the Psychologist) forgets is how much anxiety is created by sending parents etc. mixed signals about what’s good for their children.

It would seem, given the rise in cases of cyber bullying, decline in normal face-to-face social interaction and the need for an ever increasing proliferation of online ‘friends’, that it’s still the healthy option to use these sites in moderation….or simply avoid them altogether and, as always, take what you read with a pinch of salt….a small pinch of course….too much would be bad for us. 

Lightening Bolt strikes twice

Image courtesy of http://otr.blastmagazine.com

Usain Bolt has done it again, silencing all doubters, by winning the 100m sprint final in extraordinary style. Despite nearly all runners coming in on under 10 seconds, Bolt managed to leave the others in his wake, to claim Gold again.

Following the record number of Medals for British athletes, yesterday,  Andy Murry, won what he claimed was the biggest day of his life by beating Roger Federer and grabbed his first Gold on a wave of Olympic momentum. Ben Ainslie become the most decorated sailor in the history of the games, gaining Gold in Weymouth.

With legendary performances from the world's athletes, we can hope to see a whole generation of young people, inspired by their amazing example.

The Dark Knight Rises-new reviews

Image courtesy of  http://collider.com/the-dark-knight-rises-clips/179580/

Well here's a couple of comments about the film:

“Even if I did not understand everything, especially because Catwoman spoke very fast, I was able to understand the plot very well. The film was amazing because of many special effects but also because I really like Batman! Exciting!

4/5” Vincenzo Giuliani (age 15) from Italy

“Well I think that this movie was the best Batman film I’ve seen. It was really epic! Only one small thing was wrong…I couldn’t understand how Bane and his gang could take Gotham city in only a few hours. I also didn’t understand some of the end but its still my favourite Batman film, ever.”

4.5/5 Yury Tsarvulanov (age 16) from Russia.

Want to add your opinion?

Please comment. 

The Dark Knight Rises

Image courtesy of  http://io9.com/5928146/what-would-a-sequel-to-the-dark-knight-rises-look-like 

There has been much hype surrounding the new Batman movie, and the recent terrible shootings accompanying the screening of the film in the US make a chilling backdrop to its launch over here, in the UK.

Long gone are the days of Caped Crusaders donning tights to recue fair damsels in distress. The Batman of 2012 is a much different character, still with those traits that mark him out as a hero, but infinitely removed from the Batman of yesteryear. Perhaps he is a better depiction of the internal struggle between good and evil that exists in all of us…

Perhaps he merely serves to shed light on those parts of the human psyche best left in darkness.

Perhaps!

I have the good fortune to be in contact with a number of young people from different nations and I asked them what they thought of the film: 

Following a bit of an Olympic Medals table theme.

More reviews to come soon!

An Olympic Dream?

What struck me about the opening ceremony of the Olympics was the fervent use of children. At a time when the riots of last summer are still fresh in many people’s minds, it was pleasantly refreshing to see young people at the vanguard, unashamedly flying the flag for Great Britain.

Now you cynics out there may say this was done with a high degree of artifice, the kids themselves merely cogs in a corporate machine; a ruse whereby they were subtly exploited for the good of the nation (as one might find in any classic Dickens novel). Indeed, no one would question how great we Brits are when it comes to producing slick media extravaganzas to entertain the arduous masses.

But, how many of these kids were actually card carrying members of ‘Equity’? Were the smiles on their innocent faces any less contrived than those typically seen on their Chinese counterparts during the 2008 games? Who can say?

What is certain is that they pulled it off; the kids danced extraordinarily well to the various tunes and succeeded in propping up our waning image abroad, breathing in new life so the masses can suspend disbelief a little longer.  Perhaps, but It is on these young shoulders that the future of Britain shall rest, and I’m convinced that many smiles were genuine; what may have started as a quick buck, or just plain fun, transformed into something magical, something they will never forget for as long as they live, perhaps, an awakening of a new feeling of community, of hope for the future…a new beginning.

Seven Ages of Man

This is a blog for those who like to keep an eye on what’s going on with 'the youth of today', whether you believe that kids are pretty much as they always were, or you think it’s all going wrong-here's a place to have your say.

As I begin my first tentative steps towards this real life blog, I can’t help but be reminded of Shakespeare’s ‘Seven ages of Man’:

I hope to avoid the “mewling and puking” to be found typically with most new born bloggers; I hope I’m not too soon guilty of coming across like “the whining schoolboy” (although I welcome comment from any schoolboys, whining or not, on this blog); I hope I can prevent this “ballad” from becoming to “woeful”; I await reading, with eager anticipation any “strange oaths” people may add; and of course I wish to avoid the final stage arriving prematurely as death to my fledgling utterances:

“That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion”

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/asu_2_7.html

Only you, your insights and opinion may save this blog from a short and insignificant existence.