Tuesday, May 24, 2011 12:29:37 AM
Wow...
Hard to believe it's 15 weeks already - though we did rather miss the first few in blissful ignorance.
Some moments in life defy words - the only reaction is just to say 'Wow' and try to keep the tears from clouding your view.
Thursday, December 10, 2009 8:01:58 AM
I was trying to create a box, to include in the blog, which links to other interesting links - Unfortunately, Opera Blogs appear not to be happy about supporting custom HTML - so if you're interested, I'll just post a hard link here:Ben's Posterous[/COLOR]
I tend to post all the really interesting stuff I find there, and just come here when I feel like a rant 
Posterous is really cool - you start an account by sending (from your email account) a post! Example - email your picture to post@posterous.com
After that, your account is set up - to post, I simply email anything to post@ben2talk.posterous.com and it appears in the blog.
Check it out...http://ben2talk.posterous.com/
Friday, December 4, 2009 4:11:27 PM
In some ways, it seems life goes in circles. The fact is that it doesn't. Time marches on, and everyone gets older. The nature of the beast is as fascinating as it is ominous.
For eight years, teaching has been both a passion and a curse. Passion is a most essential element, and is certainly required to face many of the students in Thai schools at times.
Culture is also a difficult barrier. Often it seems that the best schools have the easiest communication, the highest culture, the best behaved students and are thus the best schools to work in. I beg to differ however, as my circle has demonstrated to me.
For the first year of the 8, I visited several schools, pausing briefly before moving on. Desperately trying to find a way to survive in the classroom with no materials, no ideas, and no talent. Along the way a few ideas spring to the fore, and are remembered. Along the way, the age groups gradually reduced until I reached the magic 5-year old classes at Kru Kiaw's small primary school - brightly coloured, painted like a castle and very quaint. Inside, however, the same chaotic Thai style. The hours were great - turning up at around 9am, and finishing for lunch at 10.30am. After one hour for lunch, I was scheduled to teach a K2 class at 11.30 - coinciding with the time that they had their one hour's afternoon nap. I teach this well, and found a very nice spot not too far from the airconditioner, but not too near to the door or window. This class was variable, between 55 minutes and 90 minutes - but I never ran over time, the children would gently wake me when it was time to teach my final class before leaving for home at around 1.30pm.
The salary - 32,000 - was generous for the hours, and the work. However, Bilingual schools called with larger salaries. A brief stay at Sarasas schools with a 40,000 income; leaving home at 7am to greet parents, teach 4-5 classes, and stay around with no extra preparation until 4pm. Let's just say that it clearly demonstrated to me that it's not so great. The empty hours are more tiring than the working hours. So I moved on to another school in Minburi - this time with a 45,000 income. However, this school was rather more crazy. I was fired after a month after being sent to Laos to apply for a visa and return at the weekend. As the paperwork was incorrect, I was refused a visa and had to reapply on Friday to collect it on the following Monday. I was fired for returning one day late - despite my having contacted the Management to explain.
Onwards, then, to an amazing Bilingual school. Amazing Thai teachers! Incredibly friendly owners. Lunch was ordered from restaurants every day - a veritable banquet. Breakfast too - maybe croissants 3 days per week, cereals, french cheeses. A large fridge in the kitchen with cans of coke for teachers to drink when thirsty. 1000 baht gift vouchers at christmas as well as gifts (cookie jars, candies, shirts) and I remember the last Christmas there one student brought me a DVD player for my Christmas gift. Two cakes on the dinner table whenever any teacher has a birthday. However, this paradise was slightly marred by the white boss. Evangelical Christians are not always good people. This woman doesn't want any other kind of friend, and slowly removed non-christian staff.
Following an 18 month stint at a rather less desirable private Thai school (the classrooms were fine, but the owner and some of the teachers were generally insane, or rather weird, and certainly very clique orientated) - I have finally returned to the Government schools.
Not all things being equal, I now get paid a little more - 42,000 for the remaining 3 months of this term. Combined with an extra 1500 for Saturday mornings, and 1250 for an evening class - coming up to a monthly figure of 50,000 baht.
The official hours are 8.10am to 4pm which seems quite reasonable; but for the middle three days of the week, I get one hour spare - sufficient to mark books and check the classwork and another 3 hour and 20 minute lunch break.
It takes me roughly 10 minutes to get home.
On Friday, after signing in at 8am, I have 3 hours, then one period to teach. Following another 3 hours and 20 minutes of free time, I have one more period taking me up to 4pm. Strangely I find my self thinking that this is a little inconvenient - to teach just two periods with a gap in the morning and another between the two periods... but still needing to sign in the morning, and not simply teach two consecutive periods.
Actually, I could manage 5 periods per day from 8am to 1pm and work 4 days per week. Hmmm but this wouldn't be better - because extra work would then feel like 'staying late after school'. This is always very uncomfortable. I must say that it has been one amazing week, and the benefit of being able to return home when my work is finished makes it all the more relaxing. It also encourages me to make the very most of my time - because (although a salary is paid) my time is MY TIME. So when there's work to be done, I want to get it done, finished and over with - but I also want to make sure that it is very well done. My time is valuable to me.
So there is a moral to be heard in this story. A moral that I have stood by for years. A rule that applies to me more than it does with most people. If you want people to do a good job, don't pay them hourly rates and expect them to work for those hours. Don't pay them monthly rates and expect them to put in as much time as is necessary to do their work either!
Find some other kind of balance, where you mutually agree on working times, and ignore the fact that they might bend the rules. For it is when I am bending, ignoring, and breaking the rules that I truly shine and become a true teacher. A somewhat unorthodox teacher, it must be said, but certainly a very happy teacher with extra energy and passion to pass on to his students.
Sunday, September 27, 2009 8:26:22 AM
microsoft microwatch
It's a great time for Microsoft. Right now they're busy sticking it to the Europeans - why should they be forced to try to play fair? They're bigger than everyone else aren't they? So of course, in the American Tradition, they should be allowed to bully and use underhand tactics to remove any superior or innovative competition. We wouldn't want people finding out that alternatives are better would we?
Let's see - what's new.
Last week, MSN Messenger refused to connect if you didn't decide to update right away. Meanwhile, other messaging platforms (Emescene, aMSN, and Empathy) continued to work fine. WHAT????
Yes, you understood it right... You can only be forced to 'upgrade or quit' if you're using Windows 7, XP, Vista.......
This week, once again, Firefox security is threatened when Microsoft force another add-on through the back door. This one is probably part of their attempt to force Bing onto the world...
You know Bing, don't you? It's the one when you post a question 'why is Microsoft expensive' and it posts answers saying 'Apple is expensive'.
I'm not changing my search tactics just yet - metasearch and a balance is the way to go, don't get choosing any one of them - they're all evil.
Right now, the only thing I'm certain about is that I'm glad I don't use Microsoft.
Get digging!
Digg This
Post edited and posted from Chromium 4.0.219.0 (Ubuntu build 27064) - though Opera is still my choice
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/446031/Chromium.png
Friday, August 28, 2009 9:07:33 AM
internet thailand
Thailand really is doing its best to break the Internet. I once thought that Internet would survive anything, and there would always be ways around problems.
Media tells us often how dangerous and uncontrolled the Internet is, we do not seem to pass any laws that restrict or tame it successfully. Anti-Spam laws can be draconian, for instance, but there seems little overall effect. Censorship systems are regularly instigated by countries, but are generally easy to circumvent. For all the critics, it seems Internet is largely quite safe. Good or bad, it has a life of its own and appears to survive well without central control.
Thailand is really just starting with Internet. They had many more net-shops than England did about eight years ago, and both are trying hard to control their local Internet. The results are regulations that seek to control it through its weakest links – web hosts and Internet service providers. Thailand seeks to take a look at Western Experience and improve matters. As taught in Kindergarten, Thai government has begun by copying much of its new “cybercrime” legislation from existing laws. Having ultimate powers to improve matters, the Government changes these as it does so.
Thailand's new cybercrime law insists that intermediaries are responsible for what happens on their corners of the Internet.
This means if a person posts a defamatory comment on your website, you can be prosecuted and face jail. If a person connects to their local ISP to post an offensive video to YouTube, the ISP is criminally liable for this act.
Needless to say, it is much easier to fine YouTube than an anonymous poster, and even easier to prosecute a local Thai Internet company than the US owners of YouTube. As a consequence, large foreign companies and the actual creators of the forbidden speech in Thailand largely escape scot-free, while prosecutors concentrate on those they can nab most easily.
Those easy catches are the innocent bystanders who are building the Thai Internet infrastructure: the coders and workers who would, in another country, be laying the profitable foundations for the next Facebook or Boards.ie. Instead, they are treated in Thailand by press and prosecutors alike as criminals.
The largest web-hosting company, 212cafe.com, whose site is one of the most popular in Thailand and which hosts hundreds of thousands of personal websites, was recently prosecuted for a post by a single user.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn is the director of a web forum, Prachatai.com, which has diligently worked to build moderation systems that can remove an offensive post within minutes.
She is now being prosecuted by the authorities for a posting on the web forum that the police themselves did not notice or report the offensive post, and that it was so elliptical and allegorical in its criticism of the government that the board's moderators did not understood it well enough to remove it. Still, in Thailand, once the finger is pointed it seems reason is no longer required. It is also unacceptable to criticise any wrongdoers, especially if they are in an official position. The people are regarded as being inferior citizens who are unworthy to criticise their betters. In my position, I have been mistakenly been berated by the school owner for being absent from my post during my break time. When the error is discovered, the fact that she shouted and slammed the phone down after threatening me with instant dismissal is instantly forgotten and no apology is offered (apart from an admission, coming from a Thai employee 'oh, don't worry - it was a mistake. She thought you should have been somewhere else).
Web developers beware - you risk thousands of dollars in penalties and face years in prison for the simple crime of building tools to let any Thai citizen speak on-line. Consider yourself responsible for any remark made by people on your site. However obscure. In trying to build an interesting future Internet, you live under constant threat of having your business raided, hardware confiscated and websites taken down.
Rather than using individuals like Premchaiporn to help find the real criminals, the authorities are arresting them and abandoning any further investigation.
The Thai government department for promoting and improving the Internet proudly offers regular announcements stating how many websites it has managed to block. I expect next we'll see the highway department announcing success in creating roadworks, blocking access to important roads, and closing many routes people require to leave home and go shopping.
It is surely extremely difficult to reform existing laws in Thailand. Laws applicable perhaps to mopeds are applied equally to 1300cc super-bikes (I was once informed by a policeman that motorcycles should never travel in excess of 60 km-h even on a highway). But surely, such action will not only have an impact on people frustrated by a crippled Internet at home, but it will also have serious implications for the view that people around the world have of a country and for that country's economic future.
Saturday, June 6, 2009 2:33:11 PM
free music downloads copyright
Downloading Free Music – the GOOD NEWS
There is a huge amount of music available for free and legal download via Internet.
Creative Commons
Where can I find CC-licensed music?
You can tune into a great podcast to get some tasters from Rathole Radio
Several sites offer music published under Creative Commons’ flexible copyright licenses. Here are some:
ccMixter
Jamendo
Magnatune
Simuze
BeatPick
Jamglue
Podsafe Audio
Splice
Internet Archive’s Netlabels Collection
Such music SHOULD also be shared via Torrent and P2P networks (Your music library should perhaps be sub-divided into two folders - one of which you are confident contains ONLY Free music, which you SHOULD support and freely share).
It is the support of freely accessible media which made commercial music popular. It is up to you how much you wish to support free music by sharing it.
Be aware that with Commercial copyrighted music, there are often special offers available in the form of 'tasters'; you should always try looking on an artist's official website or their record label's official site for any sneak peeks or any free downloads for their music.
Recently, I developed a great interest in finding music under Creative Commons Licensing. I have been very surprised at the high quality of the music. Jamendo is one source, and they offer to send an email link to a daily free download. One free mp3 every day. Yahoo Music is another source. Simply searching for 'similar' sites to Jamendo offered me the following results:
Click to search SIMILAR sites to Jamendo, Magnetune etc.
Using software is another method to gain easy access - for example with Amarok, there is an 'Internet' tab which offers direct access to music on Jamendo.com, Last.FM, (libre.FM is new and not yet included), Magnatune.com, Podcast Directory, and Shoutcast Directory - a very large list of online radio stations.
Songbird is another software which aims to maintain a music library on your computer, and combine it with seamless Internet Access (it is based on Firefox, and offers seamless integration with net surfing, lyrics downloads, and other forms of information retrieval whilst listening to music).
Summary
Creative Commons is designed to save the world from failed sharing. It encompasses a whole lot more than just music, but is generally an Authority which is on YOUR side, helping you to Share, Remix and Reuse — Legally.
Beyond this, just use your own common sense and do not be afraid to do what you believe is right. For example, I once bought Dire Straits – Love Over Gold album on vinyl. I also bought it on CD. Both copies are destroyed, and yet I have since downloaded a new copy, which I burned to CD and placed in the original CD sleeve still in my possession.
I am fairly confident that any court would agree that the concept (introduced with early computing, where Floppy Disks and CD's are mailed out – if the media is faulty, there is no probem because you paid for the content already). I further stretched limits – perhaps something that courts may not agree with – by burning an extra copy to put in my car, and then ripping the CD into my 'Music Copyrighted' folder which I do not allow to be shared by any P2P or Torrent network.
It is in OUR interests to take good care of our internet. Torrent downloading is extremely reliable, yet I am currently barred from this form of file transfer by an ignorant system.
Those links - NY Times article (good one)
Creative Commons - take a look.
I shall end this first post by saying (as everyone who knows me already do say) I have said quite enough for a first post. I hope you found something here of interest, and look forward to perhaps seeing an odd comment or two - especially from those people who still think iTunes isn't the worst bit of software on their system (for whom I feel true pity unless, perhaps, they are running Mac software which has some minor redeeming features).[/COLOR][/COLOR][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
My Opera
