Things I’ve Seen

So, a few weeks ago, I bought an iPod shuffle. The immediate excuse was to be able to conveniently play music for Jeyanth in the car (with a tape deck but no CD), but both Sureka and I were well aware that what was really going on here was a serious case of “I want one”.
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According to a UN report, the situation for children in Iraq is much worse now than under Saddam Hussain.

Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led intervention - to nearly 8% by the end of last year

…UN specialist on hunger Jean Ziegler, who prepared the report, blames the worsening situation in Iraq on the war led by coalition forces.

Worldwide, the same report concludes that

Some 17,000 children die every day from hunger-related diseases

When the religious right seriously addresses this, I will believe that their outrage over the starvation of Terri Schiavo is genuinely a pro-life stand.

Our friends David and Catherine Thambiratnam are packed and ready to go!!

…it’s 1:15am, and I’ve got 6 hours before I have to leave for the airport. True to form, I have decided to stay up all night. Why? Well - I have this theory about jet lag. I figure that if I start acting as though I’m living in another timezone before I get to the timezone, then when I get there, I’m already acclimatized and hence no jet lag!!

Catherine has a theory too, but it’s not complimentary to me and hence I won’t share it with you all. But it revolves around the concepts of maturity and wisdom…

Music industry mourns passing of Paul Hester

Australian music is in shock today at news of the death of Paul Hester at the age of just 46.

The musician was found dead in a Melbourne park on Saturday night and websites are talking of suicide.

As a drummer, first for Split Enz and then Crowded House, Hester was counted among the greats of Australian popular music.

And for a man who was known for his warmth and sense of humour, the manner of Hester’s death has perplexed friends and fans alike.

My second plugin effort is Intersections

Each time you load this page you’ll see three pairs of random categories, and all the entries that are in both…

The other day Sureka and I were trying to find a translation for the German hit song Schnappi das kleine Krokodil with a couple of teenage members of our youth group watching. The kids expressed amazement at how quickly we were able to find the information we needed (google search for “schnappi translation”; scan the first few results; here’s a blog entry refering to a translation, go there, follow the link - go it). Quote: “Wow. You really know how to use google.”. And it wasn’t surprise because we’re supposed to be oldies who can’t use technology - it was surprise because they didn’t know how to do it.

It’s like they’ve learnt to play with the internet, but not how to use it.

So today, when I read “How computers make kids dumb“, I was less suprised than I would have been a week ago.

A study of 100,000 pupils in 31 countries around the world has concluded that using computers makes kids dumb. Avoiding PCs in the classroom and at home improved the literacy and numeracy of the children studied.

… The Royal Society’s quantitative approach mirrors concerned raised by qualitative analysis of technology in education. Children are now awash with “facts”, but don’t know what to do with them.

Schoolchildren are developing a “problem-solving deficit disorder”, and losing the ability to analyze. A better way, experts insist, is to encourage creativity. And the best remedy for this is to turn off the computer and stimulate childrens’ imaginations.

I’d add - “and then the computers back on, and teach children how to use them”

From The Register:

Those readers who feel that their lives are lacking a little excitement may well be interested in snapping up a possessed Stitch teddy bear which has terrorised a Canadian family to the point that they are now compelled to take the only course of action left to them - offload the voodoo devil cuddly toy on eBay before it decapitates the entire clan in an blood-splattered slashfest of mindless, knife-driven violence.

The vendor tells a good a good enough story to have the bidding up at US$135…

On Jeyanth’s Blog you can see the results of my first WordPress plugin…

Update: I’ve added it to Things I’ve Seen as well.

A comment on Schneier on Security: The Failure of Two-Factor Authentication caught my eye…

Without thinking deeply about it, it seems to me that it would be more secure to have the user tranfer imformation between the channels. Consider a protocol where the user requests a transaction via the web, receives notification via phone text, and needs to reply via text to confirm.

If I’ve understood correctly, the idea is that when you go online and instruct your bank to do a transfer (or similar) they send you an SMS including all of the details and a PIN, which you then have to type into the bank website to confirm the transaction.

I can’t immediately see a flaw in this proposal…

I’ve been asked a few times now to make sermons I write available online, and rather than post them all here in Things I’ve Seen, I’ve created a new blog for the purpose - Thinking In Public.

It’s also an excuse to try out WordPress, which I am considering moving across to to get comment moderation without having to pay for MoveableType 3 (since I host 7 blogs with 8 authors that isn’t a cheap option…)