I was working at the World of Wheels Show at the Stampede grounds this past weekend. Some really sweet rides, believe me. Right across from us there was this 1969 yellow Camaro SS that was an absolute work of art. Owned by Craig and Denise. (I hope I have the names correct.)  This is Craig’s ninth or tenth restoration.

1969 Camaro SS

circa 1938 jaguar

There were tons of great muscle cars and some much older like the front end of this circa 1938 Jaguar Sedan. I spoke to the owner for a while.  Justifiably quite proud of his work.

I’m a big proponent of Home Schooling. Most of our kids’ ‘schooling’ was done at home – the important stuff. I have listed a few good links here of sites that have some good information and links about homeschooling.

John Holt
Pat Farenga

And here is a quote from a John Holt interview that was done in 1980. 

“Q: What about the child’s social life?
A: As for friends – you’re not going to lock your kids in the house. I think the socializing aspects of school are ten times as likely to be harmful as helpful. The human virtues – kindness, patience, generosity, etc. are learned by children in intimate relationships, maybe groups of two or three. By and large, human beings tend to behave worse in large groups, like you find in school. There they learn something quite different – popularity, conformity, bullying, teasing, things like that. They can make friends after school hours, during vacations, at the library, in church.”

Went to a great Pub in Airdrie on Saturday evening. Killarney’s Pub We are in the southwest and it only took us about 35 minutes to get there. I lived in Toronto a large part of my life so 35 minutes to get somewhere is nothing. Free parking – nice. A very comfortable atmosphere. Decent pub food. The desserts were especially good.

But we went for the music. Some friends of the musicians invited us and I’m so glad. I’m a big fan of Blues and Jazz. They are a jazz duet out of the Toronto area and from what I gather, play at Killarney’s Pub when they are in the area.

Chris Smith and Turner King. Chris on the guitar and Turner playing Sax. They played a lot of jazz favourites and some nice adaptations. I loved their version of Sea of Love. Both very accomplished musicians. A very easy style that is pleasant to listen to. I’d see them again and will keep an eye on Chris’s website: Chris Smith Live

Turner and I chatted for about 30 minutes about music, movies and education – I love his way with kids.

The Seanachie at Signal Hill

Seanachie means ‘bearer of old lore’.  (Irish)  It was a servant to chiefs of a tribe who kept track of important information for the clan.

The Seanachie Irish Pub is near the Superstore at the Signal Hill mall.  We went here for dinner the other day.  A very comfortable cozy type atmosphere.  I had a beef stew with Yorkshire pudding and the love of my life had fish and chips.  The food was great.  Real comfort food.  It is a fairly large place but had the feel of something smaller.  The music wasn’t too loud and so the warm buzz of chattering patrons made the place feel alive.   But not intrusive. Safe.  And although they had the required sports TVs they weren’t overwhelming. 

Definitely recommended.

Or What is the importance of good research?

It is has been said many times that the internet is both good and bad. I have been using the internet for research for probably about 16 – 17 years. Some things that were easy to find even 5-6 years ago are much more difficult to find now. I remember researching about medical glue for suturing. Originally, I did this about 2003. I was looking around recently for the articles that I had read back then and couldn’t find them. What I did find was a lot of articles with incomplete information. To me this is just shoddy research and not really having any real interest in what you are researching.

Many of the articles that I find on the internet are written for the purpose of getting a high ranking for one’s website and not actually providing useful information. There are a lot of good websites out there that have good useful information. If I want to find a recipe – simple or complex – a few key strokes and I’m there.

I see many articles and pages on the internet that have obviously come from the same source. The data is almost exactly the same. This is fine if it is correct. It used to be that research papers would have a bibliography. Maybe I should start doing this more for my researched articles. But the problem that often all I find is 3rd and 4th generation research. Even if I can trace it back a couple of layers I still don’t find the ‘source’.

In the above example of the glue that was used for suturing: There are three or four types of commercial grade cyanoacrylates – that’s the base of super glue. One particular type being less toxic than the rest is the one used for suturing. Most articles that come up on a search like this claim that any of them are suitable. I suppose used in moderation any could be considered medical grade but the point here is that any original research done on this has been buried.

When I study or research a subject I’m mainly concerned with my ability to apply. For example, when I started learning photography, I read hundreds of magazines and books. I still have boxes of them. But more importantly, I would take each thing that I read and go out and try it. I would make it work for me – I would try out each thing I studied/learned. A lot of what I was learning was from people that had actually done what I was studying about. I have friends that would get much more into the technical aspects of types of film and cameras. But either way we would all be studying from the same source – someone having actually done what we were trying to do.

I took a course on photography once – I looked around for some time to find a course being taught by a professional photographer. I wanted to learn from someone who was actually getting paid to produce a product. Not someone who was giving me the data second or third hand. It was one of the best courses that I had ever done on anything.

So, I do think that research is an absolutely essential part of learning. There is no reason to make the same mistakes over and over again of the last few millenia. If you take on any new venture learn something about it first. Do not by any means try to learn all about it before you start. Learn a few of the basics, go do something and then go learn some more. Then do some more. The more understanding that you have of the activity whether it be a sport, profession, trade, or just a hobby, the more fun you will have and the more effective you will be.

The key though is sifting through the meaningless information and actually finding useful the useful stuff. That comes with some practice.