Those funny, familiar, forgotten feelings ….

Nostalgia – what a great word! Say it a few times and get the feeling of it.

The last night of the proms is a celebration of Britishness – an unbridled display of nostalgia for the Empire on which the sun was never supposed to set.

It is of course shameless and shameful. For the British colonial enterprise is something which still leaves a profound legacy of inequity and injustice across the globe.

That legacy, that Empire of old, is full of incredible contradictions.

On the Last Night of the Proms, such contradictions are shoved aside. Rose coloured glasses are compulsory attire. The grand old songs are trotted out.

Britannia still rules the waves.


The feet still in ancient times walk upon England’s mountains green.


Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set.

The Union Jack is unfurled and waved and we are all transported to the glory days.

The proverbial lump rises in the proverbial throat.

Some of us celebrate our own version of Britishness.

In the end, what legacy is really left? Well my friends, what really is left is the language you are, at this moment, reading. The Empire is long gone, but English is the most important language on this globe and that fact simply cannot be denied. With incredible mongrel-like qualities (like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up all it its way), it has won the linguistic day.

By the way, it is probably the only language in the world that has or needs a thesaurus and I invite you, ask you, beg you, petition you, beseech you, implore you, and entreat you to consider this fact.

Mind you folks, all this seemed lost on the old gentleman who sat in front of me on Saturday night (at the proms) and rustled a plastic bag throughout a soft romantic piece.

One day when we were young, one beautiful morning in May ....

Now those among ye my loyal readers what knows me well

will not believe this confession I'm about to tell...

I was in a remedial reading class in the fourth form.
"get away!" I hear ye yell.

No … it is true … along with Bradley Melville and some other slow learners (as they were labelled in those days of yore).

It happened like this …
One day in class (a beautiful May morning it was), without warning we were given a reading test. I guess I was not in the mood that day … and I did not pass the standard required. (That boy is not up to scratch they muttered and mumbled)

So once or twice week, I was removed from regular class and put in remedial reading. Quite Frankly, I had no idea what was going on … so my self-esteem stayed intact. In fact, with my state of mind in those days, I thought it was a class for gifted children!!!

I was just too busy enjoyed my running, the school play and the cut and thrust of the debating society and generally trying to be famous together with my old pal Graham who became a amateur journalist of some notoriety.

And didn’t Albert Einstein fail at high school – bet he was in a remedial reading class too!

Dr Sir Peter Snell was no genius either at school I hear…

Strangely, I came top in the class in English that year and top over all. My prize? A copy of short stories by … now what was the name of the guy?

Aaah yes …. Guy de Maupassant. Who incidently, is an extremely distance relative of mine!

Youv’e gotta hand it too Minister Anne Tolley (another extremely distance relative).

She’s pressing ahead with this national standards approach for primary schools (years 1 to 8). This is in spite of what leading educationalists from a number of Nu Zulun universities have to say .

I have heard her interviewed on TV and I have to say – not impressive.

Anyhoo click here to remedially read what they have to say about Tolley’s folley.

Anne Tolley has also moved to cut expert advisory service for a number of subjects including science and physical education.

And didn't we have all this Bruhaha about standards testing 10 years ago?
Anyhoo time to get trained to teach remedial maths, reading, writing .... too late to become famous again, I guess.

AAAh those were the days my friend back in the old remedial reading class with Bradley!!!

Show me the way to go home, I’m tired and I wanna go to bed …

It gets a little that way after a half marathon.

However, folks I have found the magic potion that will instil in the athlete a wickedly fast recovery.

It is not some fancy electrolyte drink. It is a bottle of Coopers Stout. Now I am not given to advertising on this site – but in this case I make the exception.

750 ml must be imbibed with in 1 hour of completing the event. Not only will aches and pains miraculously vanish, but the next day you will bounce back to your training regime as though you had not even competed.

It was the Kerikeri half marathon. Here are the results for the competitive walkers section in which I competed.

The good and bads of the Kerikeri half
Goods
* Very well organised (can't be faulted)
* Great marshalling
* Very strict with the competitive walkers (unlike the slap-happy approach in the Auckland Marathon)

Bads
*No acknowledgement of 3rd place getters (very very naughty!)
* No prizes for junior runners or walkers.
* Not nearly enough encouragement of competition ( too much emphasis on spot prizes)

Stand Out Perfomance for me:
My good friend Gary polishing off his first distance walk in 2:19:25. Fantastic!

Well done also to all the Calliopians who competed in both run and walk.

Sadly Maurice Hanvey did not compete. One day Maurice... one day!

But last word to Benjamin Franklin:

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Heartaches by the number, troubles by the score ....

Now there's a real problem to solve!


It is exam time gain in old Nu Zulun.









Tens of thousands of young kids will be sitting their NCEA (National Certificate in Education Achievement).

This Friday, November 20, sees the NCEA level 1 maths units being sat. I have been helping some young friends prepare for theirs. Quite frankly, I am appalled at the sheer inanity of some of the questions. Read this and weep! No wonder so many youngsters see maths as fairly irrelevant to their lives.

I don’t like NCEA. In the case of maths it subdivides it into a bunch of highly discrete skills which may or may not be elected by a student. Consequently they leave school with:

1. No unified conception of mathematics and;

2. No conviction of its relevance to their lived experience.

As a result of NCEA, Mathematics has been served up in an utterly piecemeal fashion. As a consequence it has become more fragmented, decontextualised and immaterial to youngsters concerns. This is especially the case with algebra and algebraic reasoning.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am an enormous fan of algebra – always have been. But how often, in connection with algebra, have we heard the refrain: “when am I ever going to use this” and how often is the only hollow reply “it will help you to think logically”. Well, maybe.

Necessary, but hardly sufficient.

It is time for maths teachers and examiners to step up to the mark and show clearly the relevance of algebra. And, my friends, relevant it indeed is.

So throw away the veneer of authenticity that assessors try to give to problems. Ground maths in the pungent realities of lived experience and demonstrate the inordinate power of mathematics to pattern and model those realities.

That could include cross-country running. There's a tonne of maths that could arise out of this kind of data.


 Click here for: Some more of my thoughts on this subject

A man grinding out a quadratic equation.

As has been said, "Mathematics, like life, was never meant to be a spectator sport!"




___________________________

How is the air up there …?

I personally blame runners for global warming. All that carbon dioxide they blow out as they huff and puff around the streets.

It is a climate crime of unprecedented proportions.

Talk about a carbon footprint folks!

Every atmospheric disturbance or natural disaster these days seems to be attributed to anthropogenic ( human made) global warming. And my goodness, I have smelt some atmospheric disturbances in my time!

So it was good to see the NZ Herald yesterday allow Chris de Freitas a little space to refute some of these claims. Chris is an associate professor in the School of Environment at Auckland University. Here is his article.

It takes a brave independent scientist these days to stand up to the rhetoric associated with the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change). Such scientists can be view as heretics and “climate change deniers”. They are not of course – they simply challenge what the current hegemonic discourse sees as the causes or drivers of climate change.

It is a sad day for science as governments interfere in research, or even worse demand certain foreordained or predestined research results.

And of course much of the rhetoric on global warming comes because of an appeal to suspect climate models (mathematically formulated) rather than an appeal to the empirical facts. By tweaking the parameters you can make the model come up with the predictions you want regardless of the empirical work done by proper scientists worldwide.

Goodness gracious great balls of fire …

Yes indeed, I once had a short dalliance with the beautiful game.

As a wee fella, I competed in a football team - Birkenhead 9C. It was the year after I brought my very short inconspicuous rugby career to an abrupt end. I was a hopeless rugby player (and that is being very generous in the extreme).

I sought out rounder and more predictable balls.

So to the beautiful game I turned for solace and into the waiting arms of Birkenhead 9C.

Birkenhead 9C lost every game that year, but one – and that game we drew.

Once again, a football career of utter inconsequentiality came to a grinding halt.

Thus, after a year with Birkenhead 9C, I abandoned association football and took to more the individualistic pursuits of track and field and cross-country running.

My father was a keen and extremely useful football player. His first love, however, was cricket at which he excelled in his younger days.

Had he been alive today, he would have been delighted to see New Zealand football back on the map (as they say).

Well done … All Whites!

The beautiful game might finally get a decent airing in the country after so many years on the back burner.

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising....

There are times when I have to question the sanity of some of my race walking friends.
I have had a number of emails lately inviting me to join friends in a training stint on Saturday morning.


One was to begin at 6 am. Another (not to be outdone) was for 5 am.

Now, I am not a late riser.

I am happily up and bouncing about by 7:30 on a Saturday and ready for a training spin at 8:30 or 9.

I draw the line at 6 am. Even with my running pals we start at 8 am. And 5 am is  positively unhealthy.

Now I have my reasons, and they are not simply related to a love of being flat on my back at 5 am.

There is another reason. These early morning stints tend to be long walks of between 20 and 30 km.

Now, I find this managable - but they do leave me somewhat knackered. And I do not like spending the rest of my Saturday knackered.

I would rather go out later and spend less time knackered.

That's why the lady is a champ ....

There is nothing like a level playing field. And that my friends is just what the Bill Taylor Trophy event offers at Calliope.

It is a series of races ,where your age and gender is taken into account. The series consists of 1x800m, 1x1500m and 2x3000m races.

It is all made possible by the wonders of the Howard Grubb age-grading factors calculator.

And yes folks ... here is a link to that very calculator.

"How does it work?" I hear you ask. Well the first event up in the series this Wednesday is a 1500.

Now let's say you are female and 41 years old and you run 5:35 for the 1500. You will score a percentage of 74.12% (don't forget to click the F button!).

And don't go all wobbly at the knees because a little maths is involved!

Let's say we have a male of 59 who runs 5:58 for the 1500. He will score 72.73% and thus the female is the champ in this scenario.

She has run comparatively better taking into account the factors of age and gender.

Simple as that folks. But wait there's more ....

Even walkers can compete!! Garrison at 56 walks 1500 in 9:15 (walking properly that is - not like those cheats in the Auckland Marathon!!).

He scores 67.33%

So you can bet your bottom dollar that the Calliope track will be crowded with folks of all genders and ages this Wednesday night.

Your cheating heart will tell on you!!

Attention
Mr Maurice Hanvey ... but more on this later ....





“Did you do the Auckland Marathon?” has been a question put to me a number of times this week.


My answer in brief: No.

Why not they ask?

Too early.

Too many people.

Too many people not adequately prepared.

Too many people who only enter to run or walk over the bridge.

Too crooked with too many people who run when they entered as a walker and claim times they ought not be entitled to. However this slack attitude is in fact encouraged by the organizers of the race and I quote "Walkers who choose to run at times during their chosen event on the day (and vice versa) are not penalised."

Too many people who start near the front when they know they are going to run or walk at the speed of an Amazonian sloath

Too many people seen entering the toilets at Okahu Bay and using them as the turning around point in the marathon (somewhat short of St Heliers, I would have thought!). Mind you it is probably good that these slow sloaths do so, or search parties might have to be sent out.

I hear that the winner of the men’s half marathon walk was one Maurice Hanvey (in the 60-64 age group) in a time of 1:39:09. Now Maurice, I am sugessting that either you ran all the way, or even more likely, you had your wife give you a pair of roller skates. There were of course many others with ridiculous times as you can see.

Now, Maurice Hanvey, I personally challenge you to a properly judged walk over a mere 10 km. If you beat me I will give you $100 and withdraw my innuendos. If I beat you, you simply confess to your indiscretion.

Now a 1:39:09 half marathon means you would go through the 10 km mark in about 47:30.

I bet you cannot break 58 mins for 10 km!!!!!

Friends of Mr Hanvey, please alert him to this offer!!

Oh and here is Maurice's photos in the race gosh he is a young looking man for being in his 60s!!
Pictures of  60-year old Maurice Walking!!! The One in Blue!!

Everything is beautiful, in its own way ….

I have a love-hate relationship with Plato.

William Blake in his Auguries of Innocence perhaps picks up the theme best:

“To see a world in a grain of sand,


And a heaven in a wild flower,


Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,


And eternity in an hour”.

The great Buddhist/Christian Thich Nhat Han says something similar:

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”

Or perhaps the Paul the Apostle:

"In god we live and move and have our being."

Back to Plato, from whom I take it that if we look deeply enough into the most "common" of things we penetrate the barrier between the phenomenal and the noumenal worlds. We see the beauty that is within us is also within that which we gaze upon.

Idealism or realism?

Two for tea and tea for two ...

When I am not running or race walking, I have a small interest in mathematics education.

My interest is focussed particularly on adult maths education - hence my other blog.

Of course a key word here is numeracy. These days one is likely to hear politicians like John Key and Anne Tolley wax eloquently about "literacy and numeracy".

What then is numeracy say compared to mathematics as we know it?

For me two key ideas stand out.

Firstly, it means to use maths confidently and appropriately in the rich and varied contexts of everyday life: home, shopping, the workplace, the sports field and dealing critically with the abundance of numerical and statistical information that bombards us via the mass media.

Secondly, it means to have deep understanding of basic mathematical concepts and how they relate to each other. This means much more than simply applying memorised rules.

Now I wonder if Key of Tolley could answer this following problem:

A woman has a small swimming pool. Three taps provide water for the pool.

The green tap can fill the pool in 2 hours. The red tap can fill the pool in four hours. The black tap can fill the pool in 8 hours.

How long does it take to fill the pool if all three taps are on at the same time?

Answers please.

Here is the full solution to the problem.  Solution

The seasons come and go, but in my heart I know ...

Calliope is officially called the Calliope Athletic and Harrier Club.

The very title is a reminder of the seasons that come and go even for this club which has been around for some 79 years now.

The word Harrier refers to the winter activities of the club: cross-country and road running. The origin of the word harrier is most likely the Middle English hayrer of 1408 (a small hunting dog). Though some argue, when it comes to runners, the word is related to the animal the hare.

Of course, the answer is that the dog was named harrier because among the animals it pursued was the hare.

The word athletic refers to the summer events which take place on and around an track. Thus, the word “Athletic” could to some extent be replaced by “Track and Field”.

Any hoo, The athletic season for Calliope began last Wednesday evening, 6:15. October 28th, at the Osborne Memorial Park, Mahara Ave, Birkenhead.

The children's section of the Club begins Monday, November 2nd at 5 pm.

Here is the season's programme for seniors and master's athletics on Wednesday nights