Comrade Maxim

I was reading about Andy Gibson's life-lessons for career direction (by indirection shall he seek direction out) on his New Sociablism blog (in particular the idea, 'follow the people, not the money'), and my head popped up with the following maxim, which I think I'll try and remember, cause it actually does encapsulate a lot of my thinking at the moment ...

'spend time with people; neither chase them, nor their money'

Core Historical Literature of Agriculture

The Cornell University Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (CHLA) is a core electronic collection of agricultural texts published between the early nineteenth century and the middle to late twentieth century. Full-text materials cover agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, animal science, crops and their protection, food science,forestry, human nutrition, rural sociology, and soil science. Scholars have selected the titles in this collection for their historical importance.

http://chla.mannlib.cornell.edu/

Crystal Skulls

Here's a lovely entry from Wikipedia ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_skull

Peace Pays

http://www.peacepays.org/

(Thanks to Simon Heywood for this one)

Related:

http://www.conscienceonline.org.uk/
conscience THE PEACE TAX CAMPAIGN campaigns for the legal right for those with a conscientious objection to war to have the military part of their taxes spent on peacebuilding initiatives.

Helping Kids Become Better Listeners

The Peaceful Parents Newsletter
Issue #33
A free e-mail newsletter from Naomi Drew

Please pass this newsletter on to anyone for whom it can make a difference.

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.
(Epictetus)

Dear Friends,

Listening is the most basic way we show respect, and one of the most important fundamentals of all human relationships. When we help our kids learn to listen well, we give them an invaluable tool for life. And each time we listen with an open heart to what our children have to say, they learn from our example to do the same for us.

Below you will find some practical ways to teach and model good listening. May these techniques enhance your relationships with your children, and help them have postive interactions with everyone in their lives. Listening compassionately is one of the greatest gifts we can give. It's also a teachable skill. So start now, and then enjoy the good things that follow.

In peace,

Naomi

...

FOSTERING GOOD LISTENING

When you listen, the integrity and wholeness in others moves closer.Your attention strengthens it . . . In your presence, they can more easily inhabit that in them which is beyond their limitations (Rachel Naomi Remen)

The first way we teach good listening to our children is by the way we listen. Think of the effects of this as our children grow. Imagine our kids as the leaders of tomorrow that they are. The long-range impact of learning how to be an effective listener will shape the way they interact with people, perhaps for the rest of their lives.

The following are important 5 ways you can model and teach good listening to children of every age:

1. Make a commitment to listen more than you speak. Theologian, Paul Tillich once said, "The first duty of love is to listen." Be generous with your listening. Listening is a way of honoring others. When we truly listen we give the message -- YOU ARE OF VALUE. In listening to our children and teaching them to listen to us, we set in motion a circle of giving and receiving the essence of one another. Exercise: Next time you are with your child, try listening more than you speak. Make eye contact, nod, and encourage your child to go on. If extraneous thoughts pop into your head, let them go and bring your focus back to your child. Notice what happens when you do this.

2. Catch yourself when you have the impulse to interrupt. Breathe deeply and let the impulse pass. The more you do this with your kids, the more you can expect them to do the same for you. If you have a tendency to interrupt, as most of us do, let your child know you are working on this. Ask him to do the same. Make caring listening a goal for every member of your family. Exercise: Do this with your children --Try going through a whole day without interrupting. At the end of the day reflect on how it went. Was it easy or hard? What kind of responses did you each get from the people you listened to. Talk this over together.

3. Choose a time each day when you can listen to your child with complete focus. Start off with 5 minutes a day. Then see if you can expand it. Let your kids know when you are not able to listen too. Listening is not just about hearing -- it also involves noticing body language and being aware of nonverbal cues. Help your kids notice when you are too pressured to give your undivided attention, so the times you can are offered with an open heart. The ability to tune in can be taught -- first by our example, then by being clear on what we expect and acknowledging our kids each time they do it.

4. Have a family meeting and go over this good listening chart for kids ( you may want to post it too): Secrets to Good Listening ~ Look at the person who is speaking. ~ Think about what they are saying. ~ Keep your focus on the speaker instead of your own thoughts. ~ Resist the urge to interrupt. ~ Comment or ask questions. (Example: It sounds like you had a great time at the shore.)

5. Teach your children how to use reflective listening. Try a game called, "I Heard You Say . . ." Take turns being the speaker and the listener. The listener asks a question from the list below. The speaker answers, then the listener reflects back (paraphrases) what was said, starting with the phrase, "I heard you say..." Each time the listener paraphrases accurately, the speaker gives a thumbs up. Otherwise repeat what was said and try again. Avoid one-word responses, but keep what you say brief enough for the other person to remember. Or break your response into parts that can be paraphrased a little at a time. Questions you can use: Could you describe your favorite thing to do when you have free time? What is your earliest memory? If you could be anything you wanted, what would you be and why? What is your favorite holiday and why? What is your favorite book and why? What is something that really gets you mad, and why? If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be and what would you do there? Who is someone you really admire and why? Playing this game, will help your child master the complex skill of reflective listening, something especially valuable when conflicts arise.

* * * * * * * *

How does compassionate listening relate to peacemaking? When we listen deeply, we gain insight into truths beneath the surface. Obscured shades of meaning sharpen and clarify. The essence of the other person peeks through, and bonds of trust begin to form. When this happens, greater possibilities for communication and understanding start to unfold. Take a look at where author/peacemaker,Gene Knudsen Hoffman, says compassionate listening can lead: "No one and no one side is the sole repository of truth. But each of us has a spark of it within. Perhaps, with compassion as our guide, that spark in each of us can become a glow, and then perhaps a light . . . And then, perhaps, this spark, this glow, this, light will become the enlightening energy of love that will save all of us." (From An Enemy Is One Whose Story We Have Not Heard) May it be so. And may this process begin in each of our hearts, each of our homes, and each of our schools.

Love and Peace to All of You.
...

Peaceful Parents is a free monthly service. Please share this newsletter. --Feel free to download and circulate.

Website : http://Learningpeace.com

Copyright Naomi Drew, Sept., 2003 All Rights Reserved. --This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright/contact/creation information intact,without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from the author is required.

Learning Peace

http://www.learningpeace.com/index.html

Gentle Discipline That Works ...

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/214/story_21473_1.html

Looking for peaceful alternatives to yelling or spanking? These 10 tips will help you respond in healthy ways to misbehavior.

By Naomi Drew

We know discipline is essential part of parenting, but sometimes we find ourselves stumped when our kids act up. Our first reaction might be a swat on behind--but as a parent committed to peaceful solutions, I believe that kids need to learn to do what's right because it is right, not because they fear punishment. Certainly consequences are necessary, but good behavior motivated by fear is more about avoidance than the intrinsic desire to do the right thing. Harsh, punitive reactions can lead to aggressiveness or passivity in kids. In extreme cases, physical punishment can cross the line into abuse. We may get the short-term result we seek, but in the long term, children learn that might makes right, a scenario we're seeing acted out in schoolyards where bullying is at an all-time high. Think about what the ultimate goal of discipline is—to help kids develop a strong internal moral compass, a healthy psyche. What can we do to foster good behavior in positive ways, and how can we respond when our kids misbehave?

More from Naomi Drew here:

http://www.learningpeace.com/pages/PPPK_Intro.htm

(It's a link to the introduction to Peaceful Parents, Peaceful Kids: Practical Ways to Build a Happy Home)

Is Indy Chasing A Fake? Two Well-known Crystal Skulls Did Not, After All, Come From Ancient Mexico

"ScienceDaily (May 25, 2008) — As Indiana Jones races against time to find an ancient crystal skull in his new movie adventure, he should perhaps take a moment to check its authenticity.

New research suggests that two well-known crystal skulls, in the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, did not, after all, come from ancient Mexico. Academics now believe the British skull was made in 19th century Europe and the American one even more recently."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080523163016.htm

....

Sort of fits with the rather lame attempt in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to turn the well-known site of Petra in Jordan into the mysteriously unknown resting place of the Holy Grail (and eternal home of an extra from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, apparently). Never let the details get in the way of an adventure, eh boys?

No signal: The mobile phone refuseniks

Interviews by Simon Usborne
Monday, 26 May 2008

The Independent

"We chat, we text, we roam and we run up huge bills. Most of us couldn't imagine life without them. But there remain a smattering of rebels who refuse to adopt mobile phones. Why do they resist? And how on earth do they manage?" ... more

Draconian' Home Office fast-tracks Algerian's deportation

By Richard Osley
Sunday, 25 May 2008
The Independent

The Home Office was accused last night of rushing to deport a university administrator to conceal official blunders after he was arrested on terrorism charges only to be released without charge. A Labour MP criticised the decision, claiming there was no reason for it "other than to cover the embarrassment of the police and intelligence services".

Hicham Yezza, 30, was arrested last week after he downloaded an al-Qa'ida training manual at the University of Nottingham. He was detained and questioned for six days with a second man, Rizwaan Sabir, a student.

Both men were released on Friday after it emerged that Mr Yezza had printed the document, which was downloaded from a US government website where it was freely available, at Mr Sabir's request. The university confirmed the document was being used for legitimate research purposes by Mr Sabir for his master's degree.

Upon release, Mr Yezza was immediately rearrested, served with a deportation order and taken to Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre. Mr Yezza, who comes from Algeria, had applied for leave to remain in the UK, where he has lived for the past 13 years. A hearing to decide his application was originally scheduled for July.

The Algerian's case has now been brought forward and if a frantic appeal fails he could be deported as early as Tuesday. Speaking from the deportation centre last night, Mr Yezza said immigration officials had "operated with a Gestapo mentality".

Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, said he had written to the Immigration minister, Liam Byrne, to protest. A "shocked" Mr Simpson said: "It seems to me that this is a clumsy response under anti-terrorism legislation to the incident at Nottingham University. I can see no reason for an emergency deportation other than to cover the embarrassment of police and intelligence services.

"Mr Yezza and his solicitors should be allowed far more than the bank holiday to make the case for his continued presence in the UK. To race him out of the country will provoke widespread protests against arbitrary deportation with no right to a proper hearing."

Speaking after his release, Mr Sabir, 22, whose family home was searched and computer scanned, said he was left "absolutely broken" by the experience.

Mr Yezza, known as "Hich", is described as a "popular face" on the campus. He contributed to debating societies, theatre groups and the Student Peace Movement magazine. Supporters said he would face groundless charges if he returned to Algeria.

In a statement last night, Mr Yezza said: "The Home Office operates with a Gestapo mentality. They have no respect for human dignity and human life. They treat foreign nationals as disposable goods – their recklessness and cavalier approach belongs to a cavalier state."

He praised the support he had received, saying it reflected "the spirit of the generous, inclusive Britain we know – and not the faceless, brutal, draconian tactics of the Home Office".

A spokesman for the Home Office said it could not comment on individual cases.

University of Nottingham staff and student arrests

Dear Friends – I’m writing to call your attention to a recent incident at the University of Nottingham, where one of our graduate students at the School of Politics and International Relations and an administrative member of staff at the Department of Engineering were arrested by armed police under the Terrorism Act of 2000.

Their alleged “crime” was that the graduate student had downloaded an Al-Qaeda training manual from a US government website for research purposes, as he’s writing his MA dissertation on Islamic extremism and international terrorist networks. He had then sent this to his friend in the Department of Engineering for printing. The printed material had been spotted by other staff and reported to the University authorities who passed on the information to the police. The two were then arrested by armed police on May 14 and held for six days without charge, before being released without charge on May 20. During the six days they were imprisoned, the men had their homes raided and their families harassed by the police.

It is worth noticing that in talking to one of my colleagues, a police officer remarked that the incident would never have occurred if the persons involved had been “blonde, Swedish PhD students” (the two men were of British-Pakistani and Algerian backgrounds respectively).

The incident was recently reported in the Times Higher Education Supplement online:http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=402125&c=2

Needless to say, this raises hugely important issues both about academic freedom and civil liberties. Obviously, there is the issue that for those of us involved in research on contentious issues we will by necessity have to consult primary materials of a controversial nature, and the fact that the material is controversial should not lead to it being deemed as illegitimate research material. Moreover, we should not under any circumstances have to fear for infringements upon our civil liberties as a consequence of doing our jobs.

Moreover, it goes without saying that the university should guarantee the academic freedom, freedom of speech and expression, and civil liberties of all members of staff and students, irrespective of ethnic and religious background or political beliefs!

I would be most grateful if you could circulate this e-mail as widely as possible in the interest of raising awareness and attention about this incident and the wider issues of academic freedom that it gives rise to, to as many of your friends and colleagues as possible! Please consider writing to the University of Nottingham to express your concern about this case.

Letters should be sent to the Registrar, Dr Paul Greatrix, at registrars@nottingham.ac.uk;

please send a copy to alf.nilsen@nottingham.ac.uk.

Regards
Dr. Alf Gunvald Nilsen
RCUK Fellow, Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cssgj/index.php

University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, England, UKOffice: (0044) (0) 1159514032

sonzai-kan

I found an interesting blog on robots and human interaction ...

http://glendashaw-garlock.blogspot.com/2008/04/sonzai-kan-and-social-robots.html

"The Japanese have a word, sonzai-kan, which roughly translates as "presence." It's what we feel when someone is standing next to us. Film maker Phie Ambo explores this idea with robotics engineer, Hiroshi Ishiguro, creator of highly sophisticated androids in her latest documentary, Mechanical Love. Ishiguro is interested in the conveyance of sonzai-kan, or human presence, and the best way to evoke this sensation of “presence” within a robot’s human social partner. Or, wonders Ishiguro, will it be found that highly anthropomorphic social robots are always regarded as uncanny and strange, as roboticist Masahiro Mori (1970) once conjectured? “Simply put, what gives something a social presence? Is it mainly behaviour, or is there instead some complex interplay between appearance and behaviour?” (MacDorman and Ishiguro, 2005, p. 1)."

"Understanding the Mechanism of Sonzai-Kan":
http://www.irc.atr.jp/Geminoid/Data/panel-20060719-mod2-eOnly.pdf

"Meet the Remote-Control Self": http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/07/71426

"Geminoid: Teleoperated Android of an Existing Person":
http://s.i-techonline.com/Book/Humanoid-Robots-New-Developments/ISBN978-3-902613-00-4hrnd20.pdf

A related youtube documentary ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF-K5g0inq0

More ...

Summer begins ...?

Well, that's another semester nearly over. It's been an interesting one for me, learning how to make space for myself, learning how to make space for the students. I've also come to think that work is always going to be less important than family, that close by can be more relevant and challenging than far away, that sometimes small is okay. I've learned that sometimes it's no coincidence that the word 'do' (or 'path') is the start of 'dogma'. I've learned that collaboration happens most helpfully when it comes from companionship, that words of togetherness can mean very little unless there is an openness and generosity to go along with them. I've learned that maybe it's time. I've learned how much my parents mean to me, and how much I've learned from them, and how much I still have to learn from them. I've learned to leave windows open in the knowledge that people can fly both in and out, and that's very much up to themselves. I've learned that I'm still pretty shy in some respects, and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

I've been reading Carl Rogers this week, A Way of Being. Carl Rogers was a very influential psychologist whose ideas weren't terribly welcomed by many of the psychological establishment - he dared to suggest that maybe it was more important to have a people-centred practice than a diagnosis-centred practice. He's probably best known for his 'non-directive' approach. He passed away in 1987. This book is a collection of essays and presentations that he offered near the end of his life, sort of a culmination of his learned wisdom, and it makes for beautiful reading, at least it's precisely what I feel I want to be reading right now. He's very strong on listening, on being present, on being with, and it's written with great clarity, and wonderful heart, and a special generosity. I think it's probably a good place for me to start with his writings.

I was reading Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind last week. Derren is a showman, conjurer, stage hypnotist, and autodidact psychologist. He's also one of the new wave enlightenment, along with the likes of Richard Dawkins, arguing the case for more critical thinking in the light of superstitious and unquestioning belief. I'm with him on the critical thinking bit, and I find a lot of his work inspiring, but I'm still not quite sold on all this faith in the 'scientific method'. Something still doesn't sit right with it for me, even though I am quite persuaded by the rhetoric. I have wee alarm bells going off in my head, which is usually a sign that the ideas in question run against the grain of some of my basic working assumptions, and that I need to find out more and let myself sit with them for a while. I found the book very enjoyable, and perhaps the more so on account of its occasionally ranty character. If you're a devoted Christian be warned that he was and definitely isn't - religious faith comes in for quite a bashing in the book, and as with any bashing there's not a lot of subtlety involved. I found a lot of interesting and provocative ideas to think with in the book, not least of which was the work on techniques of persuasion and sleight of hand and rhetoric. It got me thinking about what I'm beginning to call 'Academic Magic', ways in which academics practice rhetorical sleight of work or persuasion/suggestibility techniques in the classroom. There's a lot going on there, and I really do wonder how much of academic work is simply the performance of cleverness, the performance of complicated things on a stage, dressed as wisdom when it's far from it. Words, it seems to me, can be very cheap, and very powerful in their cheapity.

I'm not sure what's going to happen this Summer. There's a lot of family heartstuff on the cards. I'm also hoping to get writing done. No one else is going to do it for me.