You know. I never really thought about it that much. I first came across this notion during my A levels studying education as part of sociology. Since, at the time, women and girls had had such a long time being the second class citizens of education and work it didn’t really bother me. I did notice that in all the …
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘money makes the world go around’. Have you ever considered money as energy that fuels and brings life to economies. Much like energy fuels life. This blog is about creating and sustaining energy cycles and how this leads to life both in economies and in the natural world. This first post is inspired by the …
Lifelong learning is a topic close to my heart. I’m very frustrated that mainstream education is only provided for the young rather than for every age. That was appropriate in the last century. Not this. It supports a culture where if you don’t take your opportunities when you’re young then you miss out. So I’m interested in the discussion I …
My philosophy is that ‘The way you think defines what you achieve‘. By that I mean that your philosophy determines the decisions you make to any given situation and thus the outcomes you can expect. It is through these decisions that you define the life and accomplishments that you end up with. Of course there are other factors but I …
So the debate about equal pay has raised its ugly head again. Shame really. I’ve thought a lot about it over the years. Should the women play 5 sets. Should the men play 3!!!! I know, I know; we love the mens game. It’s not broken. Why fix it. Then I concluded that we shouldn’t change anything. Except how we …
So I had a match today against my nemesis. We play regularly and it’s always close. Every time I think I’ve figured him out he comes up with something new. Today was no different. I put my new shots and tactics into play and profited really well in the first set. I was on fire but wasn’t really trying. My …
Novak and Rafa Wimbledon final 2011 I love competing. Mainly it’s not about beating someone else. It’s about testing myself. Seeing what I can achieve. So I thought I’d write about it and hopefully find other people who like pushing themselves like I do. So I have many passions. Most I just do. The passion I’m most competitive with is …
A fascinating book that sheds new light on how neural connections form I’ve just finished reading ‘The Talent Code ‘ by Daniel Coyle and already I feel it’s one of those books I will refer to again and again. It’s a well researched book describing daniels theory of how talent is best progressed. He uses research from state of the art …
So I’ve had this niggling question for quite a while now. ‘Why do most drinks available not quench your thirst?’. for along time I’ve been ordering a separate glass of water with any drink at a restaurant. In a club or bar I just accept that each drink is going to make me want another. But why is this the …
So, something just struck me. No… nothing physically hit me 🙂 I just heard something about blood pressure that linked a bunch of information into one. I’m not sure if this is a new insight so I’m logging it here for future reference. The first thing was reading that increased potassium in the diet is associated with a lowering in …
For me the answer is a definitive yes. The more I apply evolutionary principles in thinking about business the more I see it fits and the more I feel I understand business. It’s why I like capitalism. It’s a very harsh approach, which I don’t like, but then is’n’t natural selection. Natural selection is about competing for energy and essential …
Following on from a previous article on 21st century learning I feel we’re moving to an area where learning on demand will be as normal as Video on demand (VOD). I see the emergence of 24-7 tutorials and motuto as early attempts at this. I can’t vouch for the quality and economic viability yet but I do see that the learning market is biased towards young …
So I had a vision over Christmas of the kind of learning and teaching I’ve always wanted. As I wrote it down I became more and more convinced that this is possible right now. It also pulls together my passion for understanding human excellence with my experience in taking ideas to deliverables. It’s still very much a work in progress but I’m …
Just came across this fascinating article at sciencefocus.com opening the debate about how clean is healthy? I’ve always wondered if we need a little dirt to teach our immune system what’s good and what’s bad for us. They go a step further and say that our immune system needs bad stuff otherwise it might start attacking the good stuff within …
following on with the theme that sleep is far more important than many of us realise. Here’s an analysis of things we can do better asleep than when we’re awake. Essentially there seem to be three main areas that we do better asleep: Lets summarise each area: Forming accurate memories Most neuroscientists agree that sleep is when we organize memories …
I’ve been talking for a while how everything we see other people achieving we could actually achieve ourselves. We just need to learn to bring it out of us. A couple of weeks ago I ate at a restaurant and the waitress showed exactly what I’m talking about. There were four of us and we had a lot to order. …
Building on a blog post ive written discussing the notion that flow of resources is key to life. A colleague helped me understand how the same can be said for business models and can explain how to make money in this new connected age. How services like google docs could make good money and education could scale itself. In this …
I’m excited to have just discovered Neural Darwinism through an interview with Gerald Edelman on all in the mind. The idea that our brain constantly adapts to our environment using the same evolutionary principles described by Darwin is what I’ve been coming to believe. It’s clear that we create and remove connections every day during sleep and that our brains are constantly evolving from the …
Watching Aimee Mullims ted talk title “The opportunity of adversity” is just fascinating. She makes such a beautiful case for the strengths and values people gain from disability it becomes very clear that the adversity that may entail generally adds far more to us than it takes away.
Ok, so I’m just watching the best presentation I’ve seen for a while. I just had to share it. The premise that gaming can make a better world is something I share and have actively been looking at how to bring gaming to education via the OU. I think Jane McGonigal just nails it and explains how gaming is a …