Himself

Why home education sucks (Part 735/B)

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Apparently it is Open season on home education (whatever that is) which tells us something of the bizarre parallel universe in which home educators (whoever they are) seem to live – ever the hapless victims of oppression and discrimination. In their topsy turvy universe everything is painted in the darkest colours possible. Children do not just go to school they are “sacrificed… to daily incarceration” Home educators constantly decry the use of propaganda by the state whilst creating their own version of the [W:Black Legend] and the Big Lie; of course their version is not propaganda, their version is the truth for they have a secret gift that will lead them to a promised land.

Not satisfied with turning education into a quasi-religous cult the home educators are now conspiring with the state to turn the current freedom of parents to choose how they wish to educate their children (as enshrined in Section 7 of the Education Act) into a dichotomy between School or Home Education. This is their most sinister and pernicious act.

While presenting themselves as victims of the heavy handed state they seem to have missed the irony that they can cite the Human Rights Act to defend themselves and use the Freedom Of Information Act to gather information from officialdom. I wouldn’t be surprised if the evil/nazi/pinko/leftist/commie/fascist (delete as appropriate) government starts forcing them and their children to roam the countryside – freely.

How many people are put off educating their children otherwise than at school by all this home education nonsense? Someone should set up a database to monitor the situation.

Freedom Summer: Against The Hyperregulation Of Everyday Life

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I do find most self proclaimed libertarians to be little more than self interested, [W:cherry picking], bigots (it’s what you do rather than what badge you wear that counts) whose inane ranting only distract from issues which need serious discussion but the Manifesto Club (which evolved out of the Revolutionary Communist Party) do seem to mostly avoid the silliness and tackle the serious stuff with style and wit. Their Freedom Summer should be worth keeping an eye and/or ear on.

One Love in the global village.

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Long before the Interweb had been thought of [W:Marshall McLuhan] had come up with the idea of the global village which followed on from [W:Network theory] which had explored social networks and developed the idea of [W:Six degrees of separation].

Now we have Playing For Change which records a musician singing a song and takes it around the world so others can contribute to the piece.

Easter stories

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I happened upon a couple of stories on [W:Wikipedia] last night. One is nonsense that has become widely accepted to be based on some truth…

Legend has it that in 1820 Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson wanted to prove the edibility of the tomato, which many Americans often assumed were poisonous, so he stood on the courthouse steps in [W:Salem County, New Jersey] and ate tomatoes in front of a large amazed crowd assembled to watch him do so… and possibly die.

As the Debunk House points out the story did not appear until decades after the event but somehow managed to become accepted and embellished until it was dramatically reconstructed in a [W:CBS Radio Network] broadcast in the 1940’s which gave it further credence.

The other story is thankfully true…

While Apple were developing the [W:Power Macintosh 7100] they gave it the code name [W:Carl Sagan]. Once Sagan heard about this he sued Apple wanting them to change the name. He lost the case but Apple changed the name anyway… to BHA which meant “Butt-Head Astronomer”. Once Sagan heard about this he sued them again. Again he lost his case. Emboldened by their victories Apple once again changed the name of the project to LAW (Lawyers Are Wimps) but they had no more challengers.

Today the Unreasonable Faith blog has dug up some more interesting stories.