tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post5396546676789680307..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: Sunday Snippets - gardens, a loss, problems with policy and management, all with a dash of schnappsJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-18556539178706849352014-01-22T03:27:47.360+11:002014-01-22T03:27:47.360+11:00That,Ramana, would have been a very satisfying res...That,Ramana, would have been a very satisfying result! Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-64393468644975651792014-01-21T22:24:30.304+11:002014-01-21T22:24:30.304+11:00Thanks for the plug in Jim. I would not be surpri...Thanks for the plug in Jim. I would not be surprised if I had been the unsung visitor!Rummuserhttp://www.rummuser.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-59797633405024569592014-01-20T17:50:35.789+11:002014-01-20T17:50:35.789+11:00No, no, Neil. But I have always liked the system c...No, no, Neil. But I have always liked the system concept. Made a kind of sense, and I was into systems at the time. <br /><br />Like the idea of gardens being mentioned in the curriculum, if only seven time. Mow that would actually be a nice cross-curriculum integrating theme. History of the garden, the science of gardening, etc. All very wholesome and practical! <br /><br /> Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-54974531654861561302014-01-20T17:22:23.704+11:002014-01-20T17:22:23.704+11:00'garden' is mentioned 7 times in the Austr...'garden' is mentioned 7 times in the Australian Curriculum, Neil. Compare/contrast 'koala' once, 'kangaroo' thrice, 'Uluru' once, and 'budgie' nowt.<br /><br />Can't find pumpkins or carrots, but they make a nice mashup; lettuce leave Jim to his diversions, shall we?<br /><br />kvdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-57178004572118658162014-01-20T14:44:51.732+11:002014-01-20T14:44:51.732+11:00Jim, I am beginning to worry about all this talk o...Jim, I am beginning to worry about all this talk of gardening. Are you sure you are not a closet Gaia worshipper?Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-4004471009886749312014-01-20T06:55:30.390+11:002014-01-20T06:55:30.390+11:00Good morning, kvd. This comment deserves a full re...Good morning, kvd. This comment deserves a full response. That will come tonight. Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-77142607033321507002014-01-20T06:11:36.102+11:002014-01-20T06:11:36.102+11:00Hi Jim
I started out this a.m. with every intenti...Hi Jim<br /><br />I started out this a.m. with every intention of distracting you, but instead got distracted myself.<br /><br />In searching for a reference to my intended distraction, I somehow ended up on http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/best-punctuation-marks-literature-nabokov-eliot-dickens-levi.html which of course meant that I had to refresh my understanding of participle, and that lead me somehow to JS Bach's "it's not difficult - you just have to hit the right note at the right time, and the organ does the rest" - which itself is quite a remarkable view of genius - no?<br /><br />And the above voyage took a little over an hour, before it struck me that what I was doing was 'mind sailing' - a phrase I now claim authorship of (noting the dangling, but ignoring it for the moment).<br /><br />Anyway, what I wanted to mention was a small book I've just finished reading which I think you would find quite interesting: "One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw" by Witold Rybczynski. Do make a note of it; one hundred pages of enlightenment about the evolution of a very common household and workshop tool.<br /><br />Oh, and I nearly forgot to say thank you reproducing my photograph: evidence yet again that there is no job too small that it can't support a supervisor or two :)<br /><br />kvdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-56449659547358333502014-01-20T05:41:13.206+11:002014-01-20T05:41:13.206+11:00FB comment noted, Neil. I see that Minister Pyne h...FB comment noted, Neil. I see that Minister Pyne has his say in today's Fairfax press. Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-26039829752298936362014-01-19T18:01:41.221+11:002014-01-19T18:01:41.221+11:00I just added to the good comments.I just added to the good comments.Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-17024176350878208342014-01-19T17:54:16.999+11:002014-01-19T17:54:16.999+11:00Jim, it is true that there are good comments on th...Jim, it is true that there are good comments on that page. However, only a dropkick of the most obvious kind could have read the really quite clear description of the unit referred to in the National Curriculum as advocating paganism. Sorry, but a fool is a fool is a fool. I am not lambasting; I am describing. He simply has failed Comprehension 101.Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-36379042805333221742014-01-19T16:57:42.134+11:002014-01-19T16:57:42.134+11:00I had noticed Australia Day, Neil. If you look at ...I had noticed Australia Day, Neil. If you look at the comments on that Facebook page, not all are silly. You can't win by lambasting people. You have to force them to look at the issues. Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-24370657669429981352014-01-19T14:49:27.141+11:002014-01-19T14:49:27.141+11:00Thanks for the reference, Jim, though I fear my po...Thanks for the reference, Jim, though I fear my point may have been muffled by problems of tone/humour in comment threads! (Why we need emoticons?) I was simply trying to say that at the school/classroom level the National Curriculum as is may mean rather less change than people either fear or hope for. Hence my Shakespeare example. <br /><br />I still haven't got a post to go -- I am busy sneaking up on Australia Day. Have you noticed?<br /><br />I would like to point out though that here in NSW the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (another mad political rebadging exercise) has been furiously consulting and working National Curriculum reference into now quite well advanced draft syllabuses. And they are doing a good job too, from what I have looked at.<br /><br />What happens to all this work and the money spent on it if the review, as I suspect it will, rubber stamps what Christopher Pyne really wants. And -- depressing thought -- is this government member an aberration or is this level of "thought" par for the course? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=196844333843542&set=a.117937578400885.1073741828.117871478407495&type=1&theaterNeilhttp://neilcommonplacebook.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com