The brave new world of audio books

I have ventured into unexplored territory - unexplored by me, well trodden by others. The world of the audio book.

I have been listening to podcats on my daily commute and sometimes I ran short and I had a long trip on the horizon, so I decided to try an audio book.

A friendly librarian showed me how to borrow an audio book from my public library. Wow. Did it all without leaving my chair. I chose an old favourite from John Le Carre and I was not disappointed. I didn't realise that reading a book was an art form, a performance. But it was. I was as engrossed as if I had been reading it myself. 12 hours went in a flash. I've reserved another for later on.

BTW, the BorrowBox app from Bolinda was excellent. So different to my typical ebook experience.

 

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Mathematics - the ugly duckling

I was asked by Mr14 about math he learnt at school today - sin, cos etc and what they meant. I explained that they were ratios and he showed me his notes from class. He had it all down; sin = opposite over hypotenuse etc. I then tried to explain why these ratios were really useful because we found right triangles all the time and could use the ratio to work out the missing part. I gave the example of measuring the height of a tree with the length along the ground and the angle to the top of the tree. I drew a diagram of the distance to the moon as a right triangle, etc. I made waving motion in the air for a sine curve and we googled tan curves and talked about asymptotes.

Later, as he worked through mundane arithmetic examples, he said "tan 1 = 45° that is funny". I went back and drew a right triangle reminded him that tan = opposite over adjacent.

"What if those side were the same size, what would be the ratio and then what would be the angle".

He thought for a moment and the penny dropped and he flung his arms out and went ooh in a loud voice and then laughed. Something made sense to him and it was a delight to watch.

<rant>Why can't they teach maths for deeper understanding. The first exposure to trig ratios is a golden opportunity to open the student's eyes to the wonder of the universe. But we get bland formula and soul destroying worked examples.</rant>

I recently heard a math expert on the radio say that you could make up whaterver math rules you liked, as long as you applied the rules consistently and that real math was about using the language of math to solve problems and describe things and just explore new ideas. Mathematics really is the ugly ducking of school and most of us never get to see it grow up into a swan.

 

Conferencing in the 21st Century

I am reflecting on a few days spent at a conference last week.

Fun is a thing.

Lego figures embodied the fun theme of the conference. Delegates could go to the lego table, get a body and construct a figure using the many parts available.

If you look carefull at the torso of my handsome, debonair man you can see the conference logo which includes a surfer figure. [Apparently I am now expected to have a top hat.] The posting of pictures of the figures was a fun activity, and gathering at the maker table was a great icebreaker.

Twitter is a thing.

Not for everyone, and even at this conference not for the majority I suspect, but still a substantial back channel, side channel and occasionally social channel. The hashtag (disambiguated very clearly by the organisers) was popular enough to attract spam, rather unpleasant clickbait type spam. Interestingly the reporting of the spam seemed to be effective and it diminished to the point where it was safe to follow the hashtag. One delegate packaged all the tweets for posterity.

@S_Palmer "Made it, so may as well post it. THETA-tweeters all-in-final #THETA2015 @THETAConference Twitter network [~5MB] https://t.co/CHZhglhVgC"


Two years ago at the same conference a tweet-up attracted a handful of people. At this conference meeting face to face with tweeps was an hour by hour event. I increased my network and met for the first time a number of familiar tweeps.

The app is a thing.

Conference apps are not new, but are now essential. For this conference I'd say the app was something I used regularly throughout the day, on my phone and on my tablet. I checked out the schedule, speakers, rated sessions and found vendors in the maze of the exhibition hall. I got notifications during the day. Not perfect but hard to imagine not having all of the conference information, plus contributions, in my hand.

The satchel contains goodies.

First time at a conference that I got nothing in my satchel that I would discard, no wedge of paper, no pens or unwanted promotional material. There were just useful and fun things. And a great satchel for future use.

 

 

The Pen Strikes Back

Since I attached my iPad to a keyboard I have found a subtle need to work differently with the touch screen. Being at an upright angle makes the interaction with my hand different, less natural and often less comfortable.

Coincidentally I got for Christmas a set of biros with a soft nobby bulge on the top which would act as a stylus on a touch screen. At the time I smiled but thought 'not going to use these'.

I was wrong.

They have proved to be a constant companion. Reading on the iPad, which I do a lot, is easier when I can scroll and highlight with the stylus. Who'd have thought! Also I found that taking an actual pen to meetings helps with those awkward moments when people expect you to have a pen to sign into the meeting or they hand out a last minute paper and you need to make some notes.

The pen has become a dual use, modern workhorse. Bring on your paper or your tablet, the pen is up to it. When I went to a meeting and the give away biros also acted as a stylus it was official. The pen plus stylus is now a thing.

The pen is dead, long live the pen.

 

Drinking from the bird bath

I am following over 400 twitter accounts.

Many are people I know, some are well known people I don't know and some are news channels and the like. If a real person follows me then I will follow them back. Seems like a common courtesy. 400 is probably at the low end in the number other people follow. When I see accounts that follow tens of thousands I suspect they are not reading all of their incoming tweets. In anycase my 400 produce enough tweets to keep me occupied.

Increasingly I will follow a tweet to the longer read and that takes more time. I've never managed a 'read later' strategy. If I can't read it now it doesn't get read. I can do this on my phone for mobile friendly sites, such as @ConversationEDU and am finding right-sized longer pieces really useful. I can get all my news and a lot of professional reading this way.

I think on a normal working day I might be able to 'read' about 500 tweets, including the occasional longer read. This includes the time I spend on the train going to and from work. On a less than normal day I might get to 150 tweets and and on some days, like today when I am not at work and not particularly occupied, I might 'read' all of the tweets in my twitter stream.


I have a few strategies to help me manage my stream of incoming tweets.

1) I maintain a private list of those people whose tweets I don't ever want to miss. This includes immediate family. This would be less than 100 tweets a day. I can manage that on any day.

2) Some people I follow are heavy tweeters and from time to time I will mute them. I don't want to unfollow them as I see conversations that involve them in the interconnected flock of mutual friends, but I can't cope with their volume. Also they follow me and I just don't unfollow people who have the done the courtesy of following me.

3) I will mute hashtags even if I am interested in the conversation but just don't have the time. A recent library conference was a good example. Tweets with well formed hashtags are my friend. Tweetbot lets me mute a hashtag and remove already loaded tweets from my current stream. Nice.

4) Sometimes I just have to let it go. I'm the sort of person who has no unread email in their email - I don't just mean in my inbox, I mean in my mailbox (I have seen people with a thousand unread emails in their inbox but that is topic for another post) - and I'd prefer to read all my incoming tweets. But sometimes you just have to let it go.

5) Lastly I do some housekeeping from time to time. This means unfollowing some accounts but not people I know or who follow me. Unfortunately I also tend to add accounts from time to time. Lots of interesting people and things.

 

 

Mr14 builds a gingerbread house

A work colleague mentioned that making gingerbread houses at this time of the year was a thing in Sweden (and elsewhere?). She sent me a photo. This inspired Mr14 to google instructions and set to work.

The dough was made on day 1, rested for hours in the fridge, rolled out and cut carefully according to the carefully sketched out plan. Then the pieces were rested in the fridge before baking. This was a day's work.

The mortar for the house was made on day 2 using icing sugar and egg whites.

Construction required support from the pantry and patience waiting for the mortar to set for each part of the build.

The mortar then became part of the decoration with the aid of smarties and liquorice bullets.

The finished gingerbread house was admired and then eaten.

Great holiday project!

 

The Fish Mailbox

For many years we have been visiting a relative on the south coast and on a minor road but one we always use, we have been charmed by the fish mailbox.

The fish mailbox is clearly functional and we have seen mail protruding out of the mouth from time to time. I can only speculate that the local postie retains the use of both hands. The rusted look has been a feature since we first saw it over ten years ago and it doesn't appear to have deteriorated.

I particularly like the way the fish is looking at you, with menace.

Every time we travel that road, perhaps twice a year, we look with anticipation to see if the fish mailbox is still there and so far we haven't been disappointed.

Long live the fish.

 

Laptising the iPad

I bought a netbook (remember those) with my Rudd stimulus money in 2009. It was a useful tool that I used at home for my writing projects. Uncomplicated, low powered, cheap and mobile. I ran up many hours tapping away on it.

However it has reached its end of life, lacking enough oomph to run well and with an OS that is no longer supported.

So I decided to laptise my iPad. I did some research and bought a ZAGG folio thing that provides a keyboard. It does make the iPad heavy and cumbersome but with dropbox and the MS Word app provides a similar experience to using the netbook. I can pop the iPad out when I want and the next few months will prove the experiment or not. So far so good, and I am writing this post using it!

 

Immanence - Jane O'Halloran - Art on Campus

Another work by this artist that caught my eye.

I find that to appreciate a work of this type requires some time looking (though that is probably true in general and of all things) but isn't something we do often enough. Reminds me of the time I sat and stared at a Monet haystack for half an hour. Well worth the effort.

 

 

Commodifying the Cosmos. Worlds 1 - Jane O'Halloran - Art on campus

Eye catching colourful work that sits well in a public space and rewards the patient viewer who spends time giving it a good looking over.

 

 

 

Hours to Sunset 2013 - Shaun Tan - Art on Campus

Most of the art on campus I have featured was commissioned many years ago. It is nice to show a work that is very recent, and destined to stand the test of time (and the elements). The camera doesn't do justice to the mosaic in the dull light, and it needs to be seen from a distance, like below, followed by a closer examination of the fine detail. Recommended.

 

Mural - Art on campus

This stunning mural by 1975 artist in residence Andrés Sanchez-Flores is probably overlooked by most campus dwellers as it faces away from a main thoroughfare and to take a good look is difficult if the sun is in the wrong place or a vehicle is passing.

The murals consists of two panels, small one at the top and main panel below.

Closer view of left side of main panel.

And the right side.

The top panel shown in Maya figures the year the work was completed - 1975.

Closer view of left side.

Middle.

Right side.

This plaque gives all the details.

Very striking artwork.

 

Moominvalley in November - Tove Jansson

This is the Hundred-and-forty-sixth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

This is the last of the Moomin books and fittingly, in keeping with Jansson's fearless grasp on her creative works, the Moomins are most notable by their absence and in their absence have a strong presence throughout the story.

I can only imagine that November can be a little melancholy in the far north, fortunately there is plenty of whimsical humour and Jansson moves her stories along a pace and brings her characters to life with a sure hand.

Delightful.

 

Moominpappa at Sea - Tove Jansson

This is the Hundred-and-forty-fifth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

The Groke, sea horses in the moonlight, an absent lighthouse keeper, a Moominpappa with an existential crisis and a Moominmamma who stands by her man. Moonimtroll has his own problems and Little My just sails through any crisis looking out for number one (but also being the most sensible and pragmatic person in the story).

Surprisingly deep, this book and powerful in its emotion and imagery. Not sure this is a kids book, but Mr13 read it with the same alacrity as the others. Perhaps it just touches a nerve with an older adult and is thus a little uncomfortable. Not that I would know. Just speculating. Read it and make up your own mind.

 

Seedlings - Art on campus

This work by Robert Juniper is large and imposing, the height and breadth complemented by the stark rust red of the metal. However it is pleasing to the eye and the (real) native plants give a nice contrast of colour and texture.

 

 

Tales from Moominvalley - Tove Jansson

This is the Hundred-and-forty-fourth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I may have mentioned once or twice that I am not a big fan of short story collections, except when I am. This is one of those exceptions where the author has managed to hit the mark (no surprise).

Familiar characters, as you would expect in Moominvalley, appear here and there in the tales.

I particularly liked The Hemulen Who Loved Silence but they are all well constructed, easy to read and poignant. The illustrations change in style from the earlier books for some reason that I am yet to discover, but Jansson never misses her mark.

 

 

Moominland Midwinter - Tove Jansson

This is the Hundred-and-forty-third in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

Moomins hibernate. Makes it awkward to set your story in the middle of winter, and what a tragedy if Jansson couldn't take advantage of the Finnish winter landscape as a backdrop for a Moomin story.

Don't fret. She finds a way, and the result is another terrific book. Perhaps my favourite. If one is allowed to have favourites. Certainly Moomintroll gets lots of air time, and Little My (just the best anti-hero).

Everything I know about a real winter with snow I learnt from this book. Perhaps one day I will see the real thing. One day.

 

Moominsummer Madness - Tove Jansson

This is the Hundred-and-forty-second in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

Nothing like a flood to create a landscape for a story, and what a great story.

Jansson continues to nail her characters, new and old, with a dash of poignancy and a generous serve of whimsy. And did I mention the theatre? And the play?


 

Moominpappa's Memoirs - Tove Jansson

This is the Hundred-and-forty-first in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

I had thought that this next book in the Moomin collection might be a bit tedious. Some tired prequel type of work. I was wrong. It was fabulous and actually tied together lots of disparate characters, united through Moominpappa's adventures when he was younger. And it is fun!

 

Art as a puzzle

I walk past this art work most days. One day I thought it looked a bit odd so I took a picture but then forgot to do anything more about it. I think the walls had been painted recently.

Today I noticed that the art work looked fine and took a picture.

I think I wasn't the only one to notice the problem :)

Actually it wasn't.