Monthly Archives: January 2022

Compliance and conspiracy

The biggest problem with most conspiracy theories is that they require way too much compliance from too many people to be true. Secrets are hard to keep. Big secrets are impossible. The idea that hundreds or thousands of people are somehow in on the conspiracy and yet it still isn’t known to the vast majority of people is unlikely.

Want to keep a secret? Tell no one. Not a single person. Because if you yourself can’t keep that secret, how will others keep it? Why would others keep it? How many spouses, best friends, and drinking buddies would find out?

The world is flat. Really? Every commercial pilot would need to be keeping that secret, and somehow be compliant in hiding impossible travel times in some far-fetched scheme that would also include countless passengers on certain flights.

The vaccine has a microchip in it that tracks your movement or controls your mind. Really? Do you really believe that technology has advanced so far that these things are possible at a microscopic level? How many people would know about this? Who manufactures these devices? How many vaccine production companies faculties, with how many employees wound have to be compliant? Impossible science with impossible amounts of people knowing and keeping it a secret.

The numbers just don’t add up. There is no such thing as a secret that 100 people know and keep. Move into thousands of people knowing and it’s simply impossible to remain a secret. In this day and age, there would be concrete evidence being shared by people. Contracts, videos, photographs, and stories backed by hard evidence.

Imagine if the thousands of people who designed and built the James Webb Space Telescope all knew the earth was flat, why would they build something that looked at round objects all over the galaxy that undermine their understanding of what the world looks like? Would not a single one of them feel like they were hypocrites? Not a single one of them would speak out?

You can’t have so many people involved and keep a secret. Human beings are incapable of this. And yet most conspiracy theories demand this level of compliance for information to stay secret, and for the theory to be more than a theory and actually exist.

Sad irony

There is a truck convoy in Ottawa and thousands of people are protesting vaccine and mask mandates. I’ll be generous and say there are 10,000 people there protesting. That’s 0.026% of the population not 2.6%, not .26%, 0.026%. Double that if you consider people who wanted to join them, you are still just over 0.05% of the population.

This small but loud group has a right to peacefully protest, they don’t deserve so much attention. I have been bypassing the news about them in my feed, but I did see one thing that was really pathetic. One of the things some protesters did was to put signs on a Terry Fox statue. Terry Fox, a Canadian hero who:

A) Was immunocompromised and might have been an example of the kind of person who we are trying to protect with these restrictions, because he might have had a vaccine exemption.

B) Raised millions of dollars for medical research.

Wow. Talk about missing the point.

I hope the small unvaccinated population in Ottawa end their peaceful protest without harming anyone or damaging any property, and they don’t end up taking too much more of our attention.

And while I’m at it, thank you to everyone who understands that these (temporary) mandates and restrictions are to help protect our community, and for doing your part. You have my appreciation, and my attention.

Zip it

The hardest problem with blogging every day, and working in a small school environment is that a lot of content I want to share, I simply can’t. I started writing a post just now and realized it would be too easy for people close to the school to know which student or family I was referring to. I wasn’t writing anything bad, but the specifics of what I wanted to share would make it so that it was clear who I was talking about… and that’s not fair unless I ask permission to do so.

Often when I talk about my family, I’ll say ‘my daughter’… I have two daughters and don’t usually mention who I’m talking about by name. Again, I’m not saying anything disparaging, but I’m trying to be respectful and not bring them up when I wrote something at 5:30 in the morning and set it to be published a little later that morning, but before I speak to either of them.

I’m often surprised to see people sharing video clips or Facebook posts where it’s obvious the person they are talking about (often family members) would surely disapprove of or be unhappy to have shared. But this seems quite commonplace these days. I think “reality” TV shows promote this. The ‘Real Wives of [[Any City]]’ is an example of this. They backstab each other knowing full well that the person they are backstabbing will see them do it on the show… and then they face each other later with smiles on their faces like there was no harm done.

It’s like these shows grant people permission to be jerks who (over)share things that really should never be shared publicly. But other people’s bad behaviour really shouldn’t influence us to do the same. Some things are better off not being said, or written, in public spaces.

I think sometimes it’s just best to ‘zip it’, and let some things stay in your head, and not be shared ‘out loud’ in any format. I wish more people thought this way too. Maybe the sample size of my school is too small to make generalizations, but I think kids today get this more than the kids of 5-10 years ago. I hope this is a positive trend that catches on.

Who isn’t playing Wordle?

I am not someone that keeps up with trends. Never have been. Right now it seems that many, many people I know are playing Wordle daily. Not me.

From what I understand, you are trying to find a 5 letter word, you start with a guess, and if you get a letter that’s right, but in the wrong place, you get a yellow square over that letter. If you get the right letter in the right place, it becomes a green square.

Basically this is the game Mastermind with letters in instead of colours, only the setup of the hidden pieces isn’t random, it has to be an actual word. And your game card is only 6 words long.

It looks like fun. People seem to be connecting over it. I have nothing bad to say about it… I’m just not adding it as yet another digital distraction to my day. At least now I have enough knowledge about what’s going on so that when I see something like this, I actually understand it.

If like me, you aren’t playing along, now you know a bit more about it. For those that are playing daily… I saw a TikTok that said IRATE was the best starting word, but no! According to a computer scientist that did the calculations, it’s LATER. You are welcome, and have fun!

Spicing up a recipe

I shared this tweet before, but the post was more about life than cooking:

I’m not a big fan of cooking, but I have certain recipes that I do quite well. One of them is a stir fry. Last night’s was really good! I’m not just saying that because I enjoyed it, both my wife and daughter complimented it, and my daughter said, “I have to slow down so I can enjoy this longer.”

I didn’t use a recipe as my baseline. I didn’t measure anything. I just added things that I thought should go together. I cooked the peppers, red onion, carrots, and beans longer than the broccoli, which I cooked longer than the green onions and cilantro. I added way more sesame oil than any recipe I’ve ever followed, and way less soy. And I added a whole lot of garlic powder. This no-recipe-as-a-base approach doesn’t always work, but my stir fry always does.

One of my favourite things to do is to start with a recipe then go on a tangent. This is a lot less risky than flying by the seat of my pants, and it makes cooking fun for me. A couple days ago we made tacos, and when I went to the fridge for salsa I saw sweet chili pepper sauce and decided to try it instead… Absolutely delicious!

I don’t like easy puzzles, and to me a recipe is an easy puzzle… I like to spice things up a bit, and I’m usually glad I did.

Seeing the good in people

We need to have boundaries and if someone is harming you, you need not try to find the good in that person, when they are not being good to you. When you are being ill-treated, find a healthy way to disconnect from the person who is harming or insulting or mistreating you, and there is no need or responsibility to see the good in a person that treats you that way. Unhealthy relationships like this are best to be severed without an attempt to see the good… that’s how domestic violence is perpetuated, “He’s not always like this,” or “He’s good to the kids.” No, he’s broken and your face isn’t going to fix his fist. Get out!

This isn’t about toxic relationships where people use and abuse power over you. But, most people do not come across other people that victimize them on a regular basis.

On the other hand, we need not dismiss someone or think less of them simply because we do not agree with them. When you simply disagree with someone, that’s when it’s important not to make it an ad hominem attack – an attack of the person, rather than their ideas. On a day-to-day basis we will often come across people that we have different views from us, and while they may not see the world from the same perspective as us, that doesn’t mean they aren’t good people. That doesn’t mean they deserve to be treated poorly.

Most teachers understand this. They can be disappointed in a student’s behaviour without making the child feel worthless for making a mistake. They see potential in a kid even when the kid acts out in inappropriate ways. They give students the benefit of the doubt. Good parents do this too.

Yet somehow this gets lost when dealing with adults. Adult to adult disagreements and arguments often come with beliefs that people are one-dimensional. But what’s the harm in seeing the good in others, even when we disagree with them. What would happen if we understood their intentions more than their words? What if we decided that our disagreements were with a good person? How would that change the argument or the circumstances?

A lot of good can come from looking for the good in people.

Children see, children do

This clip is 15 years old now, but still as powerful as when it was made:

It reminds me not just of kids copying bad behaviour, but the fact that they do indeed copy a whole lot of what adults do. Ever see a kid talking on the phone, mimicking their parents, speaking in baby-talk even before they can construct sentences? Ever see kids pretend to go to work? Ever see kids pushing a much-too-big-for-them shopping cart in a grocery store, putting items into it?

Kids copy our behaviour. They copy our good habits, our patterns of speech, and our kindness. And like the video, they copy our biases, our prejudices, and our bad habits. We model the world for our kids.

A funny aside to this is that parents will think to themselves, “I’m going to be a better parent than my own.” They reflect on things their parents did and think of different or better ways to raise their own kids. But this hilarious cartoon describes the end result:

Jokes aside, it matters how good our parents were, and it matters how good we are as parents. Our kids will take from us some good values and lessons that we intentionally give them, but they will also take a multitude of lessons from watching us and learning from us whether we intend them to or not. We are their role models and what children see, children do.

Revisiting a Dream

I have a bad sleep habit. When I wake up after having a stressful dream, I close my eyes and go right back into it. Despite waking up, relieved that it was just a dream, I close my eyes and somehow permit myself to re-enter the dream state and jump back into the stress.

Unlike lucid dreams, where I feel like I’m in control, I just succumb to the stressful circumstances and let the dream take me over again. This is frustrating.

Today I went back in to a dream where I spent a lot of money on a frivolous purchase of hundreds of dollars on gourmet coffee beans, and was trying to get a refund. A Betty White-like old lady was smiling and acting like she wanted to help me, but wouldn’t give me what I wanted. I woke up thinking how stupid this was, told myself that I was glad it was just a dream. Then I went back into the dream and tried to deal with an Anthony Robbins-like salesman, who was trying to convince me that I still wanted the purchase.

I only do this with stressful dreams, like I’m a glutton for punishment. I wonder what part of my psyche thinks I deserve this? I wonder what I can do to break this pattern? I don’t think of myself as someone that dwells on the negative, but this seems to be a negative behavior that I consistently repeat.

If it was a recurring dream, I’d try to figure out if there was some sort of message in it, but it’s usually a totally different dream, with a topic that wouldn’t actually stress me out nearly as much in my waking state as it does in my dream. The simple message could be ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’, but then why do I pop back into the stress? It could be telling me something about stress in my waking state, but I get this dream pattern even when I don’t feel like I’m dealing with a lot of stress in real life. Maybe there’s nothing to figure out, but if that’s the case, then I’d sure like to break this pattern, and reduce the unnecessary stress. I’d much prefer to jump out of the dream when I have the chance… or maybe make it a lucid dream where I have some control. But I’d also just settle for switching over to some sweet dreams!

Champions model but don’t always lead

It’s great to have champions of technology who can really show you what’s possible, but they are often operating at a level that’s far too intimidating for other educators, and so they don’t necessarily make the best technology leaders. If you really want to find innovation, yes it’s important to help those front runners who are capable of doing amazing things with technology. However you won’t take everyone further unless you invest in making sure that everyone in your learning community is moving forward.

A few things can help here:

1. Everyone gets access to the same tools. Sure, your tech champions may ask for access first, but once a tool is valued it needs to be accessible to all.

2. Access doesn’t guarantee adoption. With access, there needs to be two things also shared: need and training.

Why is the technology needed? What problem does it solve? What does it achieve more easily, faster, more effectively? Or what does it allow you to do that you couldn’t do before?

How easy is it to adopt? Who can help with training? When can training happen? What’s available for support when a roadblock arises?

3. Collaboration. How can the community support itself, what opportunities are there to share and learn from each other? How can this be embedded into meetings and when can time be given within the current schedule, without adding to it? How can the team use the technology themselves in a meaningful way to become more effective?

4. Recognition and/or appreciation. This doesn’t have to be public, but it does need to happen. How does leadership recognize adoption and use of the new tools? How do people on the team share their success? How are those that support others be supported themselves?

A technology champion can be a leader, but they aren’t inherently leaders. They aren’t always aware of the struggles of others. They don’t always see the roadblocks or pitfalls others do. They don’t always use tools or strategies that others see value in. The trick isn’t to adopt everything they try, or to have them lead by trying first. The trick is to harness their lack of fear and innovative spirit, to learn from them, and to figure out who else on the team will be able to find and share success with the same tools.

And finally, who are going to be the resisters? Who on the team will be most likely to struggle? If you know, then you know who to go to, and support, even before the full implementation starts. Help the resisters understand why. Help them see the value. Help them be part of the positive change.

We need the technology champions to bravely challenge the status quo. But, we also need others on the team to help lead the adaption and transformation of the team, of the learning community. That’s not necessarily the job of the technology champion. It’s the job of leadership to recognize who else needs to lead, and who needs to be supported.

A hot dog and a story

“The shortest distance between two people is a story.” ~ Patti Digh

It was 1993. I had recently moved to Vancouver and I was looking for a job. I replied to this ad in the paper about selling sporting goods. The interview was a joke and I walked out on it. A group sales pitch to sell knives to your family and friends. I might share that experience another time but this is a story about meeting a Vietnam war veteran before the interview.

I arrived downtown almost an hour early for the interview, and 1/2 a block from the entrance of the building that I was heading to was a hotdog vender. I love ‘street dogs’ and decided to get one with all the toppings, hot peppers, sauerkraut, fried onions, and Dijon mustard. There was a water fountain or statue nearby and I sat down on the edge about 6 feet away from an elderly gentleman who was also eating a hotdog.

Now, almost 30 years ago, I don’t remember how the conversation started, but I ended up halving the distance between us so that we could chat more easily. This man was mostly bald with white-grey wisps of short hair near his ears, very pink in complexion, and overweight with a belly that looked more square than round. He had a cane, that sat next to his legs, which were showing between his white, pulled up socks and his tan coloured shorts. His shirt was just a extra large, plain white T-shirt with without a logo.

After some small talk he told me he was a war vet, and he shared that he saw things no one should ever have to see. Then he shared one of these stories.

He was in a sandbag bunker on the outside of a government building they were guarding and a young boy with a backpack was slowly approaching them. The boy couldn’t have been older than 12. His Sargent pointed to the boy and said, ‘Shoot him’.

He looked at his Sargent, puzzled, and the Sargent repeated his command louder, “Shoot him!”

He was still fairly new to this post and Sargent and was hesitant to shoot a kid. His delay angered the Sargent, who took out his side arm and pointed it at his head, “Follow my orders and shoot him or I’ll shoot you!”

And so he shot the kid… And the kid, still about 50-60 feet away, blew up. “I couldn’t believe what I saw, it didn’t seem real.”

Apparently, kids were being used as suicide bombers in the area and the Sargent saw something that made him suspicious.

He only lasted another few months at that post then he was hit with shrapnel from a missile. He showed me the back part of his calf, with an 5-inch scar that deformed the muscle, and he said it went up the back of his leg, but he didn’t stand up to show me. Then he said, “Another big piece got me here”, and he lifted his T-shirt to show me a huge scar that dented his brick shaped belly.

“When they hit you, all you feel is the burn, and you can smell your skin burning, the metal is so hot.”

In the 25 minutes I sat with him, I just listened. He had a lot to share, and he kept the theme going of, “The things I saw there, nobody should ever have to see.”

I didn’t want to leave, but I had an interview to go to. Had I known the interview was going to be such a joke, I would have sat and listened to this war vet tell stories all day. But when I left the interview the man was gone. Like me he just sat down to eat his hotdog, and to talk to a stranger he’d never see again.