Crickety Cricket

I've been to my fair shares of cricket matches over the years. Even so, I've never quite "got" why people play the game, or how it is played.

The best cricket games were the Sunday afternoon community matches played in Grenada. Lots of adults and children and smart comments from the sidelines. Lots of laughter mixed in with absolute seriousness of the game.

Even though many a good man has tried to teach me the finer points of the game, what goes through my mind resembles the moves in the above video.

I wonder whether it is as much fun to watch if you actually do know the game. Can any cricket fan comment?

Sleeping in trains

Today I held a seminar in a place quite a few hours away. I had to get up a 4:30 am to be there by 9:00. Taxi, train, another train, street car, and then taxi... this is the sequence of transportation I had to take to get there (and then again coming back).

I was sitting in the taxi or train anywhere from 5 minutes to 50 minutes at a time. As you can imagine, this was not enough time to unpack a picnic or dive into a new book. Instead, I dosed away the hours in-and-out of sleep, watched the various commuters get on and off the train every few stations, and listened to bits and pieces of my current audio book.

I was going to write a post about this book, The Once and Future King, but since I probably will not get around to it, here are the absolute highlights:

•  it is 33 hours and 3 minutes long
• the reader, Neville Jason has a very soothing voice (especially for those of us who suffer from insomnia)
• the story is delightful and entertaining, even though I know what is going to happen
• I am very nostalgic about this book since a dear friend of mine and I discovered about 30 years ago that there where numerous version of this book. We went about reading every edition we could find
• it is just a walloping good tale

I loved the whole experience of traveling far (for German standards) just to give a few hours' seminar. Not necessarily something I would do all the time, but it was a fun experience nevertheless.

Being an Adventurer

Alastair Humphreys is an adventurer. He is asking school teachers around the world to use his book "The Boy who Biked the World" in school curriculum. 

The book is a children's book (but probably grade 8-9 level of English if English is your second language) and tells the story of his travels of bicycling the world. He would like to instill a curiosity for adventure in young people. This week he wrote this post:

"I am really pleased with The Boy Who Biked The World, my first book for children. My aim was to wrap education, the inspiration to think big and a curiosity about travel and the world into a fun, adventurous story. (You can read a sample couple of chapters here to judge whether I succeeded).

I’m now looking for primary school teachers anywhere in the world who might be interested in using the Boy Who Biked The World series as a class reading book. In addition to being an enjoyable book it is an ideal entry into many other classroom topics. I can provide bulk copies of the book at a discount price. And as well as personally signing each book I will also be happy to chat to classes worldwide via Skype, or answer questions through email.

If you are a teacher, or know any teachers please would you take a quick look at these sample chapters and then get in touch to discuss ideas. Thank you!"

Though this book obviously would be of interest to both boys and girls, I think it would be os special interest to boys. If you are a parent or teacher of teenage boys and want to concentrate positively on letting boys be boys... What better way could there be than getting their classmates to read the book and talk personally to Alistar over skype?

The other brilliant idea Alistar had this year was to spend his year in England going on mirco-adventures. This is a notion that everyone, but particularly young people should consider participating in. It can give an electrifying jumpstart to our inner lethargy or complacency and sets us off on a journey of discovery right outside our back doors. 

He and Ben Saunders are going to attempt an new adventure this year: 

SOUTH is the first return journey to the South Pole on foot, and the longest unsupported (human-powered) polar journey in history. The 1800 mile journey will take 4 months to complete, hauling 200kg sleds.

They will be sending photos and blog post daily. Following their progress would be a good geography/history project, don't you think?

.

Motivational Speaker: Explorer and Adventurer from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo

I have followed Alistar's adventures and blogs for years now and know him to be a very enthusiastic, articulate, educated leader. Any contact with him would undoubtedly impress, if not inspire your children or students.

Things I didn't know

Who knew there was an international competitive sport of bodysurfering? Maybe I should watch television.

What a great sport. It is more easy to understand both the vitality and the brutality of playing the waves in this way than it is for me to understand surfing the massive waves. Bodysurfing is something everyone has done, with or without a board, the moment you are in the water and there is any waves pulling you inshore. Bodysurfing is the Merengue to the big wave surfing tango. So much more accessible and democratic. I might never have done any of the moves these surfers are doing, but my heart can feel the thrill.

A Woman with an Artist Eye

Ladyfi is a artist who has a fantastic eye for capturing magical moments. As a British woman living in Sweden, she possess the curiosity and unique perspective of someone who has come from the outside in. The images she takes on her daily walks inspire us all who read her blog daily.

She has also generously offered on numerous occasions to send me some of her photos to make collages. Here is the original of the collage above. These two collages (1 and 2) also come from her photos.

Ladyfi, thank you ever so much for your generosity.

Commercialising Fun

Sorry, not my normal style, but this French advertisement really is a hoot.

Also, can you imagine the initial marketing meeting? "I'm thinking pink bicycles, neon light stripper..." Must have taken a lot of courage.

The Strange Thing Is...

The strange thing is that most of my friends and many of my acquaintances are under the false impression that I am very computer suave. Sure, I've been at this a long time, but that does not mean that I necessarily know what I am doing.

What my friends do not realise is that sooooo often my son receives calls from me similar, truly, similar to these spoken on Byran's voicemail,



Dearest Long Suffering Son of Mine, thank you for your amazing patience when it comes to all the troubleshooting you have done over the years. Thank you for sending the link of the video above to your mother.

I don't know if there was any hint-hint-nudge-nudge intended... even if, you message well taken.

Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Doctor's

MakeUseOf is a brilliant site to get information just about everything to do with technology. If you want to know the who's who of media, or learn about new trends, or just gather new ideas, this is the site to go to.

This morning I stumbled across a description of a new web app called Ovulation. The app helps you figure out (presumably for those women/couples wanting to become pregnant) when you ovulate.

(mmm hmm...sipping my hot tea)

Initially, my reaction is, wow, we've sure come a long way since my young adult years, when fertility and ovulation cycles were not a topic of public discussion. Instead, here was a totally refreshing blatant proclamation,

"Numerous methods exist to solicit feedback after an event. However, sometimes the feedback is more timely and helpful if it can be gathered during the performance and Ovulation lets you do exactly that."

(letting the steam from my cup steam-up my glasses)

OK, my mind did a little trip... performance... what do they mean, when it's happening, or when you are performing that marvelous act of trying to make a baby during a time that increases your chance of it happening?

(my mind going into early 1960s primp sex education mode)

Then I read the final sentence,

"... It is a web app that allows you to create a page for your event, which your audience can go to using their smartphones."

(double take)

Ovation is a web app...

Usually, I am terribly tried being dyslexic. This morning it gave me ten minutes of uncontrollable mirth.

Rambunctious Fun

Sometimes making music is a rambunctious sweaty fun sort of affair where the noise and foot stomping lends its vibes to the music on stage. Video in point. Can you feel the audience jumping up and down on each others toes?

Some things are meant to be shared

There are things happening on the internet that have to be shared. Whether it is a traditional newspaper giving voice to young musicians (above)...

Or, listening to a director talk about the creative process of making a film with humble beginnings, yet it reached large...

Or, global internet fans following a fellow's poetic wanderings around the world...

There is so much out there in the tubes that is inspiring. Barely a day goes by without my tripping over something perfectly marvelous.

Modern Day Communication

original: something of that ilk

Graffiti Artist in Need of Spell Checker

Written on a wall in Hamburg,

"Regie, Rock & Roll, R&B"

Who says statistics can't be fun?

Oh heavens, this site is so much fun! For all of you, young and old, this is one smart software tool to experiment with. For you who are parents or educators, there are a lot of stories you and your children can come up with using the information here.

Sounds of Failure

Yesterday, I mentioned listening many hours to my backlist of podcasts and watching videos and how inspiring I find all of their content. One of those podcasts is Radiolab and one of the series of videos is PopTech 2010. Today's post combines them both with this presentation by Jad Abumrad. 


In the video blurb they write that "He uses sound to explore ideas and share stories", but I think this video has more to do with the letting us listen to and delight in the sounds of failure.

Do enjoy!

Subtle Message

Our son is returning home again for the weekend. He's off studying computer science at a university "down south", i.e., in southern Germany. Once friends heard the news, they started calling to ask whether he could come over to help them with the technical problems that have cropped up since he left six weeks ago.

I mentioned this fact to him yesterday when we talked briefly. This morning there was this image in his google buzz links. Is he sending me a subtle message?

Glass half full

Ain't that so true?

Next Trend on YouTube?

When I saw the hand dancing video below, my instant response was brilliant.



It seems like it has everything needed in order to be the next trend: low tech, serendipity, rhythm, humour, musicality, minimalism in movement towards maximum of effect, quirky... can't stop, but I think it would be just as much fun creating a coreography as it is to watch. I can also imagine that each routine, like tap dancing, would look uniquely wonderful.

My daughter, on the other hand, was not enchanted. She says it looks too strange. So, time will tell whether hand dancing will go viral and become the next trend on YouTube.

Just Couldn't Resist

Remix Heaven

Kleptones - Come Again (Beatles vs Rare Earth vs Beaties vs Daft Punk vs Cypress Hill vs Boston) Video by Crumbs Chief from The Videotones on Vimeo.

It's Friday and so I wanted to share this delightful remix. May you all have a sunny and enjoyable few days at home or on your travels.

New Trend

The newest trend that's cropped up in the last while in restaurants and cafes, is their practice of moving away from common American soft drink brands towards locally made brands. The soft drink above is called, "Sauer", which translates either to "sour" or "mad". And, it's rhubarb flavour is sour and madly wonderful. It's list of ingredients (rhubarb and red currant concentrates, sugar, and water) is refreshingly simple as is it's taste. No chemicals. No perservatives. There is only enough sugar to insure that your cheeks don't pucker inwards.

What I like most of all is the thought that going local can mean many things.