Posts by Bob Munro
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That Labour pack looks a bit stronger now that the Otago loose forward Benson-Pope, who spent far too much time in the sin-bin, has retired.
Sorry Paul- the rugby analogies are still working if getting a little stretched. DBP was in our high school rugby team - as a prop rather than loose forward as you would expect. Rather a good one as I recall.
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Stephen Walker wrote:
and all-year-round shorts from day one until the end of 7th form.At a Dunedin boys school in the sixties we took a perverse pleasure in wearing shorts in the 7th form. Longs were optional but hardly anybody did. I can’t remember why - it might just have been the practicalities of being able to play rough and tumble games on muddy winter fields at break times, easier in shorts than longs. Occasional letters to the editor complained about the hairy legs of men dressed as boys around town – but for some reason we were proud of the fact. Weird.
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The Troopergate report just dropped.
Key finding: Palin "abused her power" and violated the public trust.
Funnily- half an hour ago the New York Times had the headline Palin abused her 'authority' but have now changed to the actual words in the finding, abused her 'power'.
There are some very happy mudflatters.
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In the end the answer lies with Motivation, Motivation,Motivation
I agree 100% with that. Our own daughter has been in the Discovery/Unlimited self-directed learning schools here in Christchurch and her motivation has never wavered. But these schools operate on basic principles far distant from the standard state school where my technology teacher friend works.
Incidentally a primary school teacher friend was telling me they used the Jonah segments of Summer Heights High in a staff development session.
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John, you be right there.
I teach teenagers and many of them simply do not have a critical thinking component operating in their brain.A technology teacher was telling me about the frustration he has in preparing boys for level I NCEA.
He said that 15 year old girls know right through the year how many credits they have, and what they have to do to complete the course, but it is only about this time of year that the boys are catching on and it’s a bit too late. He said it’s not that the end of the year is finally in sight that they wise up but purely that their developmental stages are about six months behind the girls. He’s a strong advocate for allowing Level I to be achieved in the middle of year 12 when the boys will be quite capable of working to a future goal that they are incapable of focusing on six months earlier.
He said it was very frustrating as a teacher as the students who didn’t complete their year properly, simply left school and took up the trade training options in the polytechnic systems the following year, usually without difficulty as their developmental stage had caught up with the demands on them.
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On the evidence of the video you could give 5 year olds the vote and still be confident you hadn't reduced the reasoning power of the electorate as a whole.
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I work in the business of selling visual art. The ubiquitous nature of digital and camera/cell phones is increasing the problems of how to protect the artist’s copyright.
Unauthorised photography is essentially stealing an image that is for sale and artists get quite concerned about it.
How do you try and enforce the principle on behalf of the artist, versus the customer is always right philosophy of retailing? Several years ago this was an occasional problem dealt with by a polite message that was usually respected.
Nowadays the practice is so widespread I think we have been pretty much defeated on it. As nicely as you try and explain it, some people will take offence at the idea that they should be restricted in any way about their image capturing.
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When I was at high school many moons ago we had a visit from the Governor-General Sir Bernard Fergusson. He was a famous leader of the ‘Chindits’ - commandos who operated deep behind the Japanese lines in Burma during World War II. He was a tall imperious looking man,the image set off perfectly by a monocle in his right eye.
He came into our classroom and immediately recognised our teacher who he had presented with an award at Government House several weeks earlier. He obviously couldn’t remember his name or what the award had been but he remembered the face and the occasion.
I can still remember the electric feeling that went through the class at this demonstration of face memory. What a skill to have if you are a leader trying to inspire followers.
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Looks like they did shake hands at some point - not just in the exchange with Cindy McCain.
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Maybe 'neglected' to shake it rather than 'refused' on second viewing.