Microsoft, BT And My Computer
E-technology may well be becoming more accessible, but it still has its problems if you’re just the customer. These last few weeks have brought this message home for one aspiring e-user at least.
I’d be the very first to admit I’m totally below the horizon when it comes to things e-technical, but I do seem to know a bit about how to deal with emails, blogs and such like. A-level Physics was a very long time ago – no computers then, anyway – and my relationship with my e-suppliers is the same (in my mind) as that with my newspaper shop, car mechanic or whatever. They deliver the goods and I use them.
So in a vague sort of way I expect that my IT suppliers will look after the technicals, the supply chain and so forth, and I will give them money to deliver a service, before we reach the part of the process which I’m responsible for.
Unwelcome surprises
It was a surprise therefore when all things e-technical went quite seriously awry in this office a few weeks ago. My email went on strike and my data-save service stopped working, all at about the same time, so I couldn’t access any back-ups, exactly when I also couldn’t read or send any email. (And I couldn’t just restart on Outlook 2003, before you ask, because it’s sold out everywhere. Why? is a good question…)
It turns out that these things were both related and not related. It was bad timing, but also bad luck. My only good fortune was that the wonderful Nick Prior (and a few very e-technically-minded house guests over the festive season – thank you, Nick and all!) managed to work out what the problems were:
The problems diagnosed
Firstly, although Microsoft had updated my Office system rigorously, I turned out still to have an ‘old’ copy of Microsoft Outlook 2000. How was I to know, having used the system for some years, that as soon as a large number of attachments reached me just before Christmas, this file would hit 2 gigabytes and flatly refuse to respond at all?
There were no ‘warnings’, nothing to let me know things were about to go haywire, it just all STOPPED…… and took until early January to sort out.
Secondly, the very act of Microsoft’s updating my system (they offered, I didn’t ask them to) was also the cause of my BT DigitalVault going on strike, even before I’d managed to get it started. BT ran a Net service before this, and they – again not I – insisted on my updating and starting a new system. When I rang
to ask why DigitalVault was failing to register my data I was met with a weary ‘You haven’t just updated to ‘7, have you Madam? Could you downgrade again?’
Well, no chance of that, so I still have a non-functioning ‘service’ whilst I await the basic courtesy of BT and Microsoft talking to each other on behalf of their (paying) customers.
Communication is the key
As on so many other occasions, more attention by the suppliers to communication might have resolved things even before I knew about them.
If Microsoft had enabled a notice to warn me about the 2 gigs limit, I would have ensured it wasn’t reached – a much better solution that the e-surgery, random and necessarily brutal, which was eventually required to get the system going once more.
And if BT and Microsoft had talked to each other before the launch of DigitalVault (or, come to that, if BT had warned me not to permit the Microsoft upgrade, which happened just after I’d signed up for the data protection) I would not now be paying for a function which doesn’t work.
Technical challenges or customers?
Like many other not-particularly-technically-engaged people I expect to be able to use my computer to do simply what it says on the can: in my case, essentially www searches, emails, documents, spreadsheets and weblogs. Not that difficult really.
There are many like me, I suspect ,who have a feeling that the challenges of advancing e-technology are more interesting to most IT people than are their humble customers.
So it’s not surprising, is it, that not everyone wants to embrace the brave new e-world?
Seven Reasons For Optimism In 2007
The cynics will always be with us ;and they have a point. Nonetheless, for many people things are as good as, if not better than, they have ever been. We can – and should – take a responsible view of events, but without denying that in many ways 2007 could be very positive for almost all of us. Here are some reasons to be optimistic as we enter the new year.
The media, as ever, is full of reasons to be gloomy as we enter 2007. But in reality we all know that looking on the bright side at least some of the time is good for us.
So here are some reasons to be optimistic in 2007:
1. The Environment
Global warming and climate change are at last receiving the attention they should – and most commentators still reckon we have a good chance of doing something about it if we all make the effort, right now. [And in the meantime, the weather in Britain is being very kind at a time of year when freezing fog – ‘pea-soupers‘, remember them? – used to be the norm.]
2. Health
Life expectancy (in the U.K.) is the highest it has ever been, and people are healthier than ever before. 60 is the new 40, so it is said; and you won’t have to retire at a set age any more if you don’t want to. [But if you do retire early, you’ll still have lots to do, now that expectations have risen so much.]
3. The Economy
Inflation and interest rates are still relatively low (remember 18% mortgages?) and employment is still high, after a long period before the Millennium of horrendous worklessness for millions. [And wages are going up, or have been levelled out more fairly, for many ‘ordinary’ worlers now.]
4. Life-long Learning
Opportunities for education and training for everyone have never been more wide-open and accessible. [You may need to take a student loan, but in many countries that’s how it’s always been – and the loan interest rate is amazingly low, plus you don’t have to pay at all if you don’t earn a reasonable wage; and for many vocational courses there are no fees – so everyone can benefit.]
5. Housing
Houses are warmer, more energy-efficient and better designed
than at any previous time. [And more people in the UK own their own homes than ever before.]
6. Open Society
If you need to find something out, the chances of doing so have improved greatly with Freedom of Information. [And the internet gives you a view of the world which can open doors on cultures, knowledge and ideas which previous generations couldn’t even dare to dream about.]
7. Laughter
At long last, it is being recognised that it’s OK to enjoy yourself – laughter and fun are now officially good for you!
The glass is half full
Yes, I know each of these points has downsides, and it’s always easier (and less effort) to see the glass as half empty rather than
half full. But I bet there are few people who recall life as it was many years ago who would actually choose to turn the clock back on a lot of things. And there remain, sadly, many people in other parts of the world than the West to whom our way of life seems to be unimaginably privileged.
Let’s make 2007 a year when we explore how much better still things can be if we perceive what’s good about our lives, as well as what’s in need of improvement. Why not ‘count our blessings’, if we’re lucky enough to be able to? Then we can concentrate on helping to make things good for other people too.
Maybe it’s time to be brave, to stop the criticism from the sidelines and to start having the courage to take active responsibility for at least some of what happens. Let’s try being positive, and see where it takes us.
Monday Women ’06: Liverpool’s No-Cost Mutual Support Group Relocates
![MondayWomen{small].jpg](https://i0.wp.com/www.dreamingrealist.co.uk/MondayWomen%7Bsmall%5D.jpg)
Monday Women is a no-cost group, open to all, which meets and has an e-group. With affliliation of hundreds, it welcomes discussion and activities around topics of interest to women from all walks of life. After four years, the meetings are re-locating.
Please see also the Monday Women section of this website for up-to-date inormation on meetings etc.
Monday Women meetings for early 2007 are moving to the Heart and Soul Cafe-Restaurant in Liverpool.
Monday Women (Liverpool) is an open-access social and e-group for women to share views and news. ‘Members’ keep in touch in two ways: via open meetings-cum-social-events on the first Monday of the month (except Bank Holidays) and through the e-group. Women attending face-to-face events do not need to ‘belong’ to the e-group, nor do e-group members necessarily attend Monday Women events. (N.B. Children are welcome at the social events where this allows their mother / carer to attend the group.)
The Monday Women e-group has just one aim: to facilitate contact and networking between women from all walks of life, some of whom will be able to attend our events and others of
whom may not be able to. The intention is quite simply to encourage the sharing of news, views and companionship.
A no-cost, informal and open-minded network
There is no formal membership for the Group and no Officers, or agenda. There are no costs, fees or admission charges for meetings or for ‘joining’ the e-group, which are both open to all on a no-obligation basis. This is simply a relaxed and informal meeting arrangement for women in Liverpool and Merseyside.
Topics for discussion and exchange of information between individuals attending / joining in the e-group might be anything from the possible need for a
playgroup, traffic crossing or bank in a particular area, to considering plans for regeneration and renewal of the city, to informing people about a special event, or enquiring who else might be interested in setting up a business or community group!
The group also occasionally shares ‘outside events’ such as the recent highly successful visit to the Ancient Chapel of Toxteth and two other adjacent sites of great civic and historical interest. There is in addition an annual Christmas celebratory event on the first Monday in December, organised, like every other occasion, by volunteer members of the group.
Relocating for 2007
The group was inaugurated on Monday 3 March 2003 in the Liverpool Everyman Bistro, where it has met every month since until the end of 2006. We are much indebted to Paddy Byrne, Geoff Hale and colleagues, the Bistro owners and staff, for their generous support over the past almost four years, as we now move on to new premises for early 2007 – the upstairs room of Chumki Banerjee’s Heart and Soul Cafe-Restaurant , and then from 2 April to Dragon in Berry Street. ‘Meetings’ will be from 5.45 pm until about 7.30 pm (some people stay later), although people come and go within this time span, arriving and attending for as long as they wish.
Each person joining a Monday Women event at our 2007 venues will (as before) select and buy her own refreshments – if required – in the actual cafe and then take them into the ‘meeting’ with
her. This enables everyone to choose items of food and / or drink which suit individual tastes and budgets.
PS Monday 5 February 2007:
Our meeting at Heart & Soul was a big success (thanks, Chumki!!), as the photo below shows….
Becoming a ‘member’ of Monday Women
All women are welcome to ‘join’ Monday Women (Liverpool). To become a ‘member’ all that is required is that women turn up for a meeting – a warm welcome is assured! – or that they join the e-group. To join the e-group women are invited to email Monday Women, or to contact Hilary Burrage direct via this website.
Or perhaps, if you’re a woman reading this away from Liverpool, you’d like to set up a Monday Women group too? If so, do let us know about your plans. There’s room for Monday Women everywhere….
Sefton Park, Liverpool: Winter Solstice 2006
Today is the Winter Solistice – the shortest day of the year, if by ‘day’ we mean daylight hours. Yet, in this so-far extraordinarily warm Winter, even at this point in the annual cycle of birth and rebirth there is much to see when we venture out into the great urban spaces such as Liverpool’s Sefton Park.
This is the Winter Solstice, a time when little is expected of an urban park, a time of anticipated bleakness and dank dark days. Yet in this month of nothingness Liverpool’s Sefton Park, just a mile or two from the city centre, has life in abundance. The small creatures of the secret places continue to roam their tracks, there are birds both of the water and of the air, and humans too, of every sort, take their ease with their companions, their children, their partners and their four legged friends.
A park for all
Here are young and older couples, parents and children, kids looking for a bit of fun by the lake, people exercising seriously and people intent on doing nothing. The short day offers no excuse for staying indoors, whether there be sunshine or showers. The opportunity to take the air remains, for so far this Winter there have not been many really wild or soakingly wet days when the only place to be is home. Even in this, the solstice week, walking in the park is what the people of Liverpool have been doing.
Mists and mellowness, not biting winds
This is still, in Winter 2006, the season of mists and shadowy silhouettes against the sky. It is not as yet the season of ice and snow, though doubtless this will prevail as the year turns on the coming Spring equinox, for a short while
covering everything in a shining blanket of white.
But for now the mildness of Autumn stays with us whilst the temperament of Winter fails to claim the expectations of the park. The days are short but the fierceness of wind and sleet which usually accompanies this brevity of light has not on the whole been forthcoming. We continue, urban ramblers at our leisure, unchallenged by the elements in the brief hours of light and even sunshine which this strange solstice is affording.
The sun, golden
Yes, we have seen rain – and on a few days much rain, though not bitingly cold and cutting – but we see also setting suns against the faded former glories of the bandstand, we watch that same sunset against the snowy-looking clouds behind the trees, and we gaze until it disappears at the liquid gold of the lake, reflecting the sky which illuminates all below it.
Waiting for Winter
This is a time of waiting. The solstice will very soon be forgotten as Christmas takes a hold on the park, the city and, it seems to us from where we stand, the entire world. Perhaps this year the many strollers who occupy Sefton Park on Christmas Day and Boxing Day will be sporting not their usual new, thick Winter 
scarves and woolly hats, but the lighter attire of Autumn and Spring. This year we may, it seems, be spared the cruel inclemencies of deep Winter, thereby
Things To Do When You’re 26 – 30
At 26,27, 28 perhaps you’re still single, but the chances of coupledom increase quite considerably by 29 or 30. Whatever, the years seem to slip by more quickly as people reach their late twenties, but opportunities are still there to explore the world and take control of the direction of your life.
People in their later twenties have usually developed several networks of colleagues and workmates, friends and family members, perhaps including those of a partner or spouse. Building these connections helps us see who we are and where we’re going. We all need a mixture of experiences, whilst hopefully we remember about the Be Happy Rules. So the ideas which follow are a selection of serious and more light-hearted approaches to life. Choose or change them as you will.
Why don’t you….
Feel a million dollars
What’s your idea of feeling really great, right on top of things and raring to go? Whatever it is, don’t lose sight of it. Make time, regularly, to think about how you’d best like to feel and then ensure you act to achieve this. Your later twenties are real prime time, so please do make sure you benefit from and enjoy them!
Do an eco check
You will already have thought about green issues, and very probably you’ve already also done things to help ‘save’ the planet. But things are moving fast in this field, so maybe this is a good point at which to check you’re up-to-date with ways you can contribute to environmental sustainability.
Have you energy-checked your home? Is your mode of transport optimal? Are you recycling everything you can? And are you collaborating with others at home and work to do this even better?
Book tea at The Ritz
… or whatever else constitutes a real treat for your Mum or other established close family member/s. It’s easy in the hustle and bustle of developing our independence to forget (or seem to forget) that those who cared for us for many years still appreciate the odd occasion to chat and laugh together.
An hour or two just talking and relaxing with those we sometimes seem to take for granted is always time put to good use.
Learn a new mind game
If you play Sudoku, try the crossword for a bit instead. If you do the crossword, try a card game….. It doesn’t matter what, as long just every so often it’s something different. Now is a certainly not the time in your life to get stuck in a mental rut, not even a little one!
Take the Advanced Drivers’ Course
Nor is this a time to neglect more practical skills. You’ve probably been a driver for some years now. Is this a good point at which to sharpen up on your road skills? Taking the Advanced Drivers’ Test might be a way of getting the very best from your motoring – not to mention a better deal from your car insurer.
Join the debate
Is there a pressing local problem which interests you? Or, come to that, a work, political or personal crusade you’d like to pursue? Whatever it is, join in the debate. Along the way you may learn more about the issue; and, in any case, if you join in you won’t feel later on that you should have ‘said something’ at the time.
Don’t hide your light under a bushel; you have every right to a considered view, so think through what you need to do, to get in there and share your ideas.
Get a makeover
It’s actually quite hard to ‘see ourselves as others see us’, even if it’s only in terms of physical appearance. Have you stopped to think if you might assign some of your usual garb to the Oxfam shop? Would it be doing you a good turn as much as them if you did?
Some of us feel more comfortable then others with changes in style and how we look, as our circumstances inevitably change. Why not make a date to consider this, whether it be with a trusted friend or through a more formal and business-like makeover arrangement? Regard it as an investment in your future self.
Read a novel
Or a travelogue or an historical account or a book of poetry (why not?) or a biography. But make the effort, if you haven’t for a while, to read a whole book – or, come to that, to write one.
It’s good to do something sometimes which takes us right out of ourselves; exactly how much effort and time you put into this is up to you.
Do a quarter century check
You’ve reached your later twenties; now you can look back over a quarter century. Do you see patterns emerging in what you do? Are you pleased with your progress in life so far? Are there things you like and want to build on? And perhaps things you’d prefer to change a little for the future?
Be gentle with yourself; life’s often more difficult in practice than in theory. But also decide how to get support for anything you’d like to change, and encouragement for the parts which are going well. To repeat that well-known mantra, Life is not a Rehearsal.
Have a vacation adventure
Plan your next holiday to be different. If you normally do beaches, try a city. If you’re keen on festivals, try walking. Or join a group activity; or don’t.
Maybe you’re already adapting your leisure time to accommodate a partner or a family, but try every so often to make holidays interesting and just a little different as well. However you define your world, be sure also to make it your oyster as you plan your occasional vacation adventure.
Have you read….?
Things To Do When You’re 21-25
Things To Do When You’re 31 – 40
What To Do At Any Age – Be Happy
* Life is not a rehearsal
* Smile when you can
* Do acts of random kindness
* Try no-TV days
* Be cautious sometimes, cynical never
* Use your pedometer
* Treat yourself daily to a ‘Went Right’ list
And why not share your alternative ideas here, too? You can add your own take on Things To Do When You’re 26-30 via the Comments box below…
Science And Regeneration
Science may sometimes be difficult for people in regeneration to understand; and perhaps this doesn’t always matter. But we do all need to see what science in its operation and applications has to offer. For optimal outcomes at every level dialogue between scientists and regeneration practitioners is critical.
Why is science important in regeneration? And why, if so, is it invisible?
There are many answers both these questions, but three of the most straightforward are:
* Science is a huge part of the knowledge economy, which in turn is a critical part modern western life; we have moved on from standard production to an ideas based economy.
* Science in its applications is both a ‘cause’ of and a ‘cure’ for the environmental issues which are by the day becoming more pressing.
* Science is often invisible because many of us find it incomprehensible and, in any case, it tends to be tucked away in universities, industrial laboratories, business parks and at the more daunting end of the quality media. (We won’t even think here about science and the popular press…)
Plus of course science is as incomprehensible to significant numbers of journalists and politicians as it is to many members of the general public.
Science policy
But science is not the same as science policy. The former tends (though probably less so than in the past) towards more theoretical research, even if often externally funded; the latter is about the intentional influence and impact of scientific (and technological) knowledge on our lives.
The incomprehension of many about science is unsurprising. But impressive scientific knowledge in itself is less important for regeneration strategies than is an understanding of where the application of science can take us, and how to get there. I can drive a car, and I know where I would like it to take me, but I would be hard pressed to construct one.
And science can offer not one destination but several if it is ‘driven’ well…. How about large-scale construction and investment opportunities, enhancement of the skills base, graduate retention and synergy with existing enterprise, plus the kudos of internationally significant research, for a start?
Is there a downside?
It would be foolish to suggest that all science is ‘good’. Publicly contentious work is another reason why understanding what science can do is important – the GM food and MMR vaccination debates, however well-informed or not, come to mind and are frequently confused issues for the non-specialist. But even disallowing for these sort of concerns there are still costs to the advancement of science and technology, not least environmental.
What science and technology ‘cause’ they can also however often mitigate. If we know, say, how ‘expensive’ in carbon terms a particular innovation or development is, we also usually know what to do to mitigate or turn around that cost. Planning and design, for instance, are frequently critical. to best practice.
In a regeneration proposal, has economy of energy been a major consideration? Is the infrastructure connected in ways which reduce negative environmental impact? Are the plans sustainable in all the ways, environmental, economic and at the human level, that they should be? Science of many sorts can help us towards the answers.
Moving away from traditional perspectives
Science and technology are not respectful of the public-private boundaries which have traditionally shaped regeneration. Knowledge, once that genie has emerged, cannot be put back in the bottle. Like water, it will flow wherever it meets least resistance or most encouragement.
Given the gargantuan sums of money which some science and technology require in their developmental phases and application, it is surprising that so little public attention is generally given to where Big Science facilities are located. (The Daresbury Laboratory in the North West of England is a good example of enhanced regeneration when world-class science is secured by active regional lobbying.)
It’s time to move away from the idea that all regeneration requires is a science park tucked away in a corner of our strategic plan, and we need also to think big about what it all means. For the best regeneration outcomes scientists and regeneration policy makers must to be in communication with each other all the time – even if they need an active ‘translator’ to achieve this. Neither is likely to procure the very best opportunities from the other, if no-one is talking.
A version of this article was published, as ‘The appliance of science affects us all’, in New Start magazine on 24 November 2006.
Creationism, Intelligent Design And ‘Truth In Science’ In British Schools
Truth in Science is the latest version of the so-called Intelligent Design ‘theory’ of Creationism. It now reaches into U.K. schools where one expects more measured understanding of the differences between Science and Comparative Religious Studies. What other equally unlikely notions could we, on the same ‘logic’, incorporate into the curriculum, and where? Your comments and ideas are welcome.
A year or so ago a senior and very well respected politician assured me that Intelligent Design would ‘never catch on’ in the U.K. because people here are ‘too sensible’.
Unfortunately he obviously hasn’t spoken to enough people in Liverpool. Following the news that the Bluecoat School in this city is offering the Truth in Science view to Science students, this morning’s Daily Post carries a two-page spread asking Should religion be part of science teaching? All but one or two of those questioned said Yes, they thought it would enhance students’ understandings to be exposed to ‘alternative ideas’ such as Intelligent Design … in science lessons… Apparently all ‘theories’ are of equal value, or so it is said by some.
I can only think these people are playing devil’s advocate. They must be.
Balance or baloney?
It’s one thing to suggest pupils learn about myths and stories in Religious Studies, There, they could perhaps, responsibly presented, ignite young imaginations in many ways – but it’s another entirely to deny the consensus of the very large majority of serious scientists and give these ideas status alongside the multitude of strands of evidence which support Darwinian theory and evolution.
If any children of mine attended a school where a version of Intelligent Design was introduced into the Science curriculum I would have to transfer them to somewhere which I judged a more responsible place of learning. I hope the governors of any schools where Truth in Science is ‘taught’ will ask some really searching questions.
The evidence
I have written before about Intelligent Design and its even more extraordinary cousin, Creationism. The links are:
Creationism Is An Attack On Rationality: The Scientists Rally At Last
Survival Of The Fittest In The Marketplace, But Not For Life On Earth?
Evolutionary Theory In The Lime Light
US Universities, Privatisation And ‘Intelligent Design’
To be quite clear: Children are entitled to learn about things which equip them for modern life. Notions like Intelligent Design and its Truth in Science corollary are unforgivable, as serious science, at a time when it has never been more important to understand how our planet ‘works’ and what we need to do to protect it (and all the living things which inhabit it) for the future. The rising generation deserves far better than this.
Let the debate begin
If you think Intelligent Design has a rightful place in the mainstream Science curriculum, here’s your chance to show why literally thousands upon thousands of highly trained scientists (not to mention a goodly number of senior clerics) have got it wrong.
There again, you more probably think my senior politician contact is reasonable to expect an educationally sensible debate.
But sometimes we have to lighten up a bit. So here, tongue in cheek, is your opportunity to suggest other mysterious or untestable ‘ideas’ which a few folk might like to introduce into the (already over-crowded) mainstream curriculum – the sort of ideas which most of us recognise as simply stories, maybe fine for a tale to tell, but absolutely not fine in any modern educational provision intended to equip young people for the complex futures they must face.
I give you a starter for ten: try flat earth notions and ancient myths in mainstream Geography and History respectively. Or fairies at the bottom of the garden in Environmental Science… What else can you come up with?
The Christmas Charity Gift Dilemma
Christmas is a time for giving. But what, and to whom? Many would like Christmas to be less commercial, whilst helping those not as fortunate as themselves. Doing this in a way which shows fondness for family, friends and colleagues but also benefits others can sometimes be a difficult balance to achieve.
The Christmas charity gift brochures these days often start to arrive with the August Bank Holiday. We therefore have plenty of time to ponder the dilemmas which then arise:
(a) Do I buy gifts from these brochures, actual items, to give directly to friends and family? or
(b) Do I buy ‘gifts’ which are actually donations towards items required by needy people elsewhere, often in the developing world – and give my own folk tokens which say that’s what I’ve done, of my own volition, on their behalf? or
(c) Do I give gifts which I have chosen elsewhere and then think about the charitable giving at some other point?
Not comfortable options
Most of these options leave me, at least, feeling rather uncomfortable. Buying charity Christmas cards (or some direct gifts, if genuinely appropriate) is one thing; the recipents still receive the original item. Buying charitable items which are not intended for the ‘recipient’, but for someone who for us is without a name, living elsewhere, is another thing altogether. The big question is, is it alright to give to charity on another’s behalf, without seeing if that’s what they wanted?
And, indeed, is it even OK to ask them if it is actually what they’d like to do? Perhaps, they’re doing it already? Or even, uneasy thought, perhaps they wouldn’t choose to give to the charity we’ve chosen on their unwitting behalf?
Of course, the precise intention of the charities who mail us is to encourage ‘giving’ – and few would deny that such giving is needed.
I do not subscribe to the idea that there is no point; I’m quite sure much of the money raised does indeed go to very good causes.
Nonetheless, is it OK to ‘give’ in the name of someone else? Should we give only what we own ourselves? Is it right to divert gifts from people one knows personally, to people one does not know, whilst also proclaiming a good deed on their behalf?
Another way?
Many would agree that there is a real sense in which charitable giving does reflect the ‘meaning’ of Christmas. The question then is, how can we do it without seeming to give what is not exactly ours – in other words the gift we would ‘give’ to our nearest and dearest?
I’m beginning to think there may be a way. This ‘solution’ depends on the amount of cash available and the sort of personal contacts one has; it’s not really appropriate, say, for hard-pressed families with children where money is scarce. But for the rest of us it might work.
Christmas consortia
How about an agreement that, special exceptions apart, we all give direct personal gifts costing no more than an agreed sum – but at the same time we get together to ‘buy’ that much-needed donkey, tree, kids’ trip, hoe, emergency kit or whatever?
It would take someone to make the initial arrangements and act as ‘treasurer’, and maybe each year a different member of the group might undertake that task. But it’s a project which would enable us all to choose something personal for those we know and love, whilst also sharing a goal in a positive group activity, be it as colleagues, family or friends. How much each person can give would be confidential between themselves and the ‘treasurer’ only, but all would have contributed.
Maybe 2006 is the year to set up the rota, even if there’s no time now to try the idea out fully before the festivities begin? And here are some of the many links which will take you to see what’s on offer:
Concern Worldwide
gifts4life
Oxfam Unwrapped
Wish List (Save the Children)
Has anyone tried this way? Does it work? Maybe you could let us know in the Comments box below?
‘Second Generation’ Web-logging: This Journal’s Double Century Is Just One Tiny Step
There are now two hundred ‘article’ postings on this website. Over the past year the style has changed and so has the emphasis. Are we, as Tim Berners-Lee has said, at the beginning of the ‘second generation’ of web-logging – perhaps a phase in which not only the technicals but also the social networks will change fundamentally? This journey takes us from CERN all the way to Six Apart.
It’s always difficult to recall what things looked like when one’s been involved in them for a while; and for me, this weblog is no exception to the rule. There are some two hundred posted blogs on this website now, and the terrain has changed.
Certainly, we can all see that the ‘product’ is now sometimes crisper and often more colourful (in the literal sense..) than the original, but that’s different from remembering what it felt like when I embarked on this adventure.
Perhaps on reflection what intuitively attracted me to web-logging is the idea of universal space which, as long as we remember the ‘rules’ of sensible evidence and behaviour, we can all share and use together.
Anyway, I’m glad that I decided to go ahead with my weblog / journal.
Thinking things through
I’ve mentioned before how I feel that writing about things in this quite abbreviated (for me) way is helpful in getting my thoughts together, and how I enjoy taking the photographs and finding appropriate books to illustrate and animate my text. This, to my mind, is much more interesting than just a quick blast at something and a half-finished comment without back-up.
And now, fifteen years after Tim Berners-Lee launched the World Wide Web (WWW), I am reading that others too are getting into web-logging in a more formal way. It seems that a lot of web-writers (if that’s what we are) are beginning to acknowledge that there’s something to be said, as Berners-Lee also emphasises, for using weblogs to make the ‘argument’ as well as just the odd comment.
More structured debate
Good. I always hoped that weblogs like mine could become the focus of debate amongst people who have thoughtful things to say. I don’t mind at all if someone disagrees with what I say, as long as they can back up their argument with reasons, and can also recognise why I / others have adopted whatever position is in dispute. That’s how we all learn.
It would be a disaster if the WWW became, as its inventor and many others fear, a place simply of scurrilous half-truths or worse – though I recognise of course that sometimes news and views have to emerge in roundabout ways, and the WWW is ideal for this strategy where it’s needed.
But in the end, something which can’t be substantiated is often of less value than something that can. That’s why in academia we have peer-review, referees and gatekeepers, to ensure the quality of published work. (Yes, I know that process sometimes backfires, but reasoned and / or evidence-based debate is fundamentally still a good, positive way to proceed.)
Everyone can have a say
So now we have Wikipedia (‘What I Know Is…’), first launched in the original English version on 15 January 2001, and other recent e-inventions which allow everyone a say – on the condition that they don’t mind being challenged or put right if someone else thinks that should happen. The pros and cons of how successful Wikipedia can be remain to be seen, but the admirable concept behind the idea is now established.
This is knowledge democracy in action, open to all. In a way it’s the dialectic of learning by discussing – a method previously available to those of us who went on to higher education, but less so to everyone else. Now virtually everyone who wants to can find out about things and join in the discussion. How much better is that?
Business, commercial and community, too
Nor ultimately does it matter that interactive blogging is becoming a business and commercial activity, as well as a voluntary one; either way, people are connecting. The massive market leaders, companies like YouTube, MySpace and Flickr, have their part to play in the engagement process, as do the newly e-friendly business interests which now offer interactive websites – BT amongst them.
Of course there are issues around the strategies used for ‘fooling’ the search engines, so that certain names and topics rise to the top of the list; but that probably applies as much, say, to film and book sales as to the web itself. (My own website designer, Nick Prior, offers a valuable insight into how search engine interest can be attracted legitimately.)
And now we have an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) report telling us that smaller community groups should do the same. I think they’re right. The more ideas are shared, the better. Being on the WWW doesn’t, after all, preclude also being on the radar of the local newspaper or even just the local gossip.
But still there are people, such those discussed in Mike Ion‘s blog, who doubt the web has relevance to the lives of others ‘in the community’.
‘Good’ weblogs vs ‘bad’ ones
The race is now on between those who could damage the good intent of Tim Berners-Lee, who gave us all the WWW for free because he believed it should be available to everyone, and the rest of us, who admire this generosity and vision.
Very few can achieve a great impact in going for a positive future for the WWW, but it’s nonetheless an ambition for many of us in our own small, often minutely small, ways to do what we can. The more people ‘connect’ in this activity, the better, as far as I can see. And don’t just ask me. Look at the way innovations like Mena Trott’s Six Apart (which ‘owns’ the Moveable Type facility which I’m using here) are developing….
Agree only this…
This is just the beginning of what could be a very long debate. Being ‘accessible’ may not mean being ‘free at the point of delivery’; that could even become impossible if there is to be any proper regulation of quality – without which access is in any case of little value. Nor does a new emphasis on social connection eclipse the technical aspects of the semantic web and e-intelligence. These are critically important matters for future consideration.
For now the only thing we have to agree to agree about as a general principle is, as Berners-Lee says, that “We’re not going to be trying to make a web that will be better for people who vote in a particular way, or better for people who think like we do…..The really important thing about the web, which will continue through any future technology, is that it is a universal space.”
Liverpool Hope Street Farmers’ Market Gets Going
The regular calendar of Farmers’ Markets in Hope Street has at last begun. From now on the third Sunday every month is scheduled as Market Day for Hope Street Quarter. Farmers’ Markets are something different to look forward to: a great day out for adults and children alike, with fun opportunities to learn where our food comes from and who grows it.
After a false start in October, yesterday was the long-awaited commencement of the regular calendar [see schedule at the end of this article] of Hope Street Farmers’ Markets. At last, with luck, we have lift-off, and not a moment too soon.
And we were incredibly lucky with the weather, brilliant sunshine for the duration, not even really cold. The atmosphere of the event was cheerful and relaxed, just the right ambiance for a happy family Sunday outing – though I have to say I was surprised just how few children were actually around….
It’s really good to see the grown-ups enjoying themselves in such a time-honoured and positive way, but are we missing a bit of a trick here if we don’t bring the kids? Perhaps someone will begin now to think how this could be an occasion for them as well. It’s not often the opportunity arises naturally in the city centre for youngsters to meet people who have themselves grown the food and prepared the produce displayed before us.
Varied and fresh
Having said that, here was produce for everyone. Vegetable and fruit – including a variety of cauliflower (romanesca, a brassica with stunning tiny, spiral green florets) that I’d never seen before – plus cheeses, food of all sorts to eat right now, and much else, including candles and preserves for the coming festive season. Judging from the public response, everyone loves this sort of browsing and shopping.
One of the many attractions of farmers’ markets is that much of this produce had been grown or made by the actual people who were selling it – not a connection which is often so direct these days, when much of what we buy comes shrink-wrapped and complete with a fair number of attached food miles.
This was an opportunity for locally-based people to purvey their wares; hand-made goods and food which may well still have been in the field a few hours before.
Trading busily
The people running the stalls were pleased to be there, trade was brisk. I suspect that over time the current size of the market will grow considerably, if the regulations allow – already it stretches all the way along the Hope Street wall of Blackburne House.
We know of course that, locals though some of the growers and sellers may be, Geraud Markets, the organisation behind the venture, is big business; but someone has to organise all the detailed arrangements which these events entail. It seems Geraud now have a contract with Liverpool Council to do just that on several sites around the city.
Knowing more and feeling good
That however is only part of the story. This is the sort of enjoyable meeting-friends event that offers, especially, young people in the city a chance to see that fruit and vegetables don’t of necessity arrive covered in plastic.
It gives us a feel, too, for seasonal food. It reminds us, walking out in the open air as we make our purchases, that there is a cycle to things; we can eat for a whole year without bringing produce from across the world, should we decide to do avoid doing so. We can be ‘eco-‘, and enjoy, at the same time.
The market reminds us about nutritional quality – seeing produce presented so directly perhaps also helps us to think more carefully about what we are actually eating. Of course, food sold in supermarkets can also be fresh and nutritious – canned can be as good as ‘fresh’ – but the connection with its production is less overt.
Encouraging a healthy life-style
By a strange co-incidence, just today there have been articles in the local Daily Post about vegetables and health -the local Primary Care Trust has a Taste for Health campaign -and The Guardian, which offers thoughts by Zoe Williams on <a href="‘Vegetables and how to survive them’).
Liverpool people have the worst health in England and we owe it to our children to make sure their diet is as good as it can possibly be, encouraging them to understand the connection between what they eat and where it comes from. How better could we do it than by bringing them to a farmers’ market where they can see for themselves what it’s all about?
Liverpool City Council have contracted with Geraud to provide farmers’ markets. Perhaps they can now follow the example of the authorities in continental Europe (where Geraud began) such as Valencia and Aix-en-Provence, where, as I have seen for myself, the local markets make children really welcome?
It would do us all good, in every sense of the word.
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Calendar of Geraud Farmers’ Markets in Liverpool [subject to change, please contact to check as below]:
Monument Place Farmers’ Market (Lord Street) ~ Every 1st & 3rd Saturday of the month
Lark Lane Farmers’ Market ~ Every 4th Saturday of the month
Hope Street Farmers’ Market (Blackburne House end) ~ Every 3rd Sunday of the month
Other Geraud Markets in Liverpool:
Broadway (Indoor) Monday ~ Saturday
Garston ~ Friday
Great Homer Street ~ Saturday
Monument Place ~ Thursday, Friday & Saturday
Speke ~ Thursday
St Johns’ (Indoor) Monday ~ Saturday
Tuebrook ~ Thursday & Saturday
Toxteth ~ Tuesday
For more information contact: 0151 233 2165 / info@geraudmarkets.co.uk
Dreaming Realist 