Lightly Salted: 2018

Albert finds a School!

The big news is that Albert has been accepted into a local school for children with special needs. The school itself has the training, facilities and experience to help Albert develop in skills which are essential to being as independent as possible in the long run. Today was his orientation day at the school, and school begins in earnest in February next year. The attitude, facilities, programme and general attitude of the staff was impressive and reassuring.

Even so. We have been homeschooling all of our children for the last five years or so, and we have enjoyed the personal involvement in our children's education and development, their excellent company and the ability to tailor their education.

Oct

Tribalism is the death of thinking

Listening to late night talk-back radio as I drive home late at night is almost always a bad idea. The presenters are usually so biased in their outlook that they ride roughshod over logic in order to promote their preferred opinion. So it was moderately amusing to hear one guest complain that politics was becoming more tribal than ever.

Oct

The viciousness of masculine victims

In an article speaking up for male victims of sexual assault, Christine Wekerle, (a professor of paediatrics) calls for a more compassionate response to male victims.

The first thing to acknowledge is that, according to current records, females are much more likely to suffer assault than males. Roughly 1 in 5 girls are assaulted worldwide, while 1 in 13 boys are assaulted. The next thing to acknowledge is that the perpetrators of this assault are overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, male.

May

Focusing on the females

A headline in my feed today reads "Why are so many female teachers sleeping with students?"

The article claims there is an upward trend of female teachers being accused of sexual misconduct with their students. The rise from 4% to 33% of sexual misconduct cases does indeed seem to be an alarming statistic. It is, after all, an 825% rise in the proportion of female's accused!

Questions are then asked about the possible causes.

May

Explaining "-splaining"

I was reading an article by Elizabeth Farrelly published in the Sydney Morning Herald, (well worth reading), commenting on Australia's bizarre habit of equating professional sportsmen with "role models".

Farrelly made the point that, while cheating on field (and off field) is wrong, sports stars should not be required to hold beliefs according to the current politically correct manifesto.

Mar

The private life of heroes and leaders.

The recent public outrage at the Australian cricketers caught cheating on field has raised several questions about what sort of expectations we have of our sporting heroes. Some follow up articles have pointed out that many past and present sporting “legends” have been charged or even found guilty of serious and violent crimes in their private life.

Mar

Slow and steady ...

I finally have a moment to offer a long overdue update on Albert's progress. The good news is that nothing seems to be going backwards. Albert continues to enjoy excellent health in general, suffering even less of the usual sniffles and fevers than his siblings, and experiencing no problems from past operations. In fact all medical checkups have shown that his heart operation was a complete success.

Feb

Why Books don't make good Movies

Some of the most interesting conversations I have had recently have been on the topic of books made into movies. It usually begins when I admit that I did not go and see the last of the Hobbit movies. I have been a Tolkien fan since I was eight years old, but I did not go to see the last Hobbit movie. I could not take another Hollywood butchering of the classic saga. Some of my friends agree, but many others enjoyed the movie versions.

Jan

Questions are not the problem

I recently spoke to a number of people who had questions about a specific aspect of the Catholic faith. One was interested in a very specific moral situation, another asked about Marian dogma, still another about which books are in the Bible.

There is nothing unusual about those questions. They are the symptoms of a human mind wrestling with reality.

Lightly Salted

A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. - Roald Dahl -