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Sometimes it can seem to the former Children's Laureate and author Michael Rosen that he is a kind of "treat" put on for the children after the hard grind of tests and reaching targets is over. "They've done all the hard stuff – the skills, drills and thrills," he says. "Now we've got a panto – and it's called Michael Rosen."
In some ways, it is all reminiscent of his own school days when he spent the last two years of his primary schooling being drilled and coached for the 11-plus. The only respite came at the end of term with sports day. "Maybe, I'm a kind of sports day," he muses.
He spends two or three days a week visiting schools – putting on performances and running poetry workshops – and has just completed a series of visits for the Children's Book Show, which has been running a competition that includes pupils finishing off a poem he has started with the first line "The water was burning". The results of the competition, supported by The Independent, will be announced in the new year.
He likes to help develop children's imaginations and encourage them to work on their own with riddles such as: "I go up when the rain comes down – what am I?" The answer is an umbrella, of course, and he then gets the children to imagine what it is like to be an umbrella. "I like them to make up their own riddles – riddles and impossibilities, like 'how do you know an elephant was in your fridge? Because its footprints were in the butter'," he says.
He hopes his visits are not a one-off event and that the children pass on what they have been doing to other classes who were not there "Think of it as a seed," he says. "You don't want it just to be, 'today, we are doing seeds'. You want to watch that seed growing through the year."
He remembers vividly from his own childhood his parents bringing back some nettles from the park. "They had butterflies' eggs on them," he says. "They turned into caterpillars and then became fully-grown butterflies. All that took nine months of watching – we didn't just do a butterfly unit one week and then move on."
He is a staunch critic of Michael Gove, which makes me pause for a moment before I bring up the fact that this interview has been postponed for a week because I had to attend a conference the Education Secretary was addressing (for good measure, it was organised by the Independent Academies Association – an organisation that is also probably not top of his Christmas card list).
The theme of Gove's address that day was the importance of testing and how tests could make pupils happy, especially if they were rigorous, because there was a sense of achievement in passing them.
"I can't believe that," he says. "Doesn't he realise that if tests make you happy because you pass they leave more children with a sense of failure because they have failed them?"
He can back his point of view with support from an unusual source – a major education document produced by the CBI for its annual conference, which says that the best teachers were those who rebelled against the system and the tests and league tables. (League tables were also praised in Gove's speech for giving clarity and honesty to a school's performance after decades in which tittle-tattle at the bus-stop was the way prospective parents decided whether a school was good enough for their children or not.)
"The CBI said, 'we don't want factory farming'," he says. "Ministers are always telling us what they say employers need as a justification for what they are doing – yet the employers say they don't want factory farming. Who are we running this system for?"
It would be fair to say that Gove is not Rosen's biggest fan either, as he made clear in a recent speech about Downhills Park school – the primary school in Haringey, north London, that was forced to become an academy earlier this year after the education standards watchdog Ofsted said it was failing.
He claimed Rosen, who had supported the school's attempt to stay under local-authority control, was "the best-known supporter of the Socialist Workers' Party". He, and other critics of the (successful) attempt to force the school to become an academy were "enemies of promise," Gove added.
Rosen, who says he believes the SWP is right on many issues – although he does not accept everything they say – says Gove's linking of him with the SWP is an attempt to avoid engaging in the issues. "We're not 'enemies of promise'," he says. "We just believed there were better ways to improve the school." In fact, its national-curriculum results in the last year it operated as a local-authority school were a considerable improvement after several previous years in which it failed to meet the Government's minimum targets. The two have never met which – seeing as they are both articulate spokesmen for two very different visions of education – could be seen as a cause for regret.
Rosen believes, though, it is not so much the man as the power that his office has that is one of the main problems. "If, say, 90 per cent of schools become academies," he adds, "how can you expect one Secretary of State to manage that?"
Warming to his theme, he continues: "The Secretary of State is considered as an educational guru who has the answer to everything. Why is it that the boss of Ofsted [Sir Michael Wilshaw] and ministers of education have taken to lecturing people who are far more qualified than they are about education?
"Many of the teachers and heads they are talking to have MAs or PHDs in education. I know dear old Michael Wilshaw has got practical experience in schools – but they talk so confidently through their positions of power that they don't seem to listen to anyone else.
"You can almost imagine in the Secretary of State's office there's this map of 30,000 schools around the country and there's a little bulb flashing from one school in Carlisle. There's a school that's not doing so well there.
"'Right', he says, 'it hasn't worked – get rid of the staff, change it, close it, sack the head, and bring in school uniforms.'
"You've got a George Entwhistle situation [the former Director-General of the BBC]. He was editor-in-chief. He was supposed to be responsible for dealing with, say, Jonathan Ross saying a few rude words on a late night show – while being responsible for Newsnight's output. It was too much for one man."
There is another way, argues Rosen. Let teachers and academics meet and talk about things together, discuss different ideas about the curriculum and come up with good practice that could be spread between schools. Not rocket science, he says, but it could work.
Life Story: A writer's tale
Michael Rosen is the author of around 140 books and was appointed Children's Laureate in 2007, holding the post until 2009.
He also received the Fred and Anne Jarvis award – in honour of the former general secretary of the National Union of Teachers and his late wife, Anne – for campaigning for education.
He is best known for his children's books such as 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and 'Don't Put Mustard in the Custard'.
Aged 66, he first started writing poetry at the age of 16 and became a children's author by accident after publishers told him his first collection of poems, 'Mind Your Own Business', was more suited to a younger audience.
After leaving Oxford University, he spent some time at the BBC working on – among other programmes
– the children's series 'Jackanory'.


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Ada yang mengatakan Congo Bars ini umpama gabungan antara brownies dan biskut coklat chips. Teksturnya agak moist dan chewy (tidak gebu seperti kek atau rangup seperti biskut), manakala rasanya pula seperti biskut coklat chip. Amaran: Kurangkan gula ikut kesesuaian...kalau ikut resepi asal, banyak betul gulanya!! Maisya tengok ramai food blogger yang letak cuma antara 200g ~ 300g sahaja.
Congo Bars
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar (Maisya menggunakan 300g organic molasses sugar)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)-Maisya tak letak,cuma taburkan kepingan badam
By mixer:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.
By hand:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.
Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don't over bake.

subset: commoncrawl


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Kristin, what a wonderful way to start this next chapter in your life and done in such a Kristin-like way with all those backroads, side trips, solo hikes and colorful visuals that rock my senses! By now you have settled into your new home and job and have undertaken your first international trip for Mammoth Mountain to Tokyo and S Korea (please, not now). All good things are ahead for you - enjoy and stay safe. xoxo
Denver: LA or Bust
- Ramtha
It all started with an innocent email from my old friend and Aspen co-worker Nico, asking if I'd consider a long shot - come to LA to do international sales for Mammoth Mountain. And even though I received it as I was suffering from an epic, debilitating Aspen hangover, I knew instantly, and rather calmly, that I was moving to California.
And move to California I have. I spend three incredible days driving 1,000+ miles west through four states, alone in my VW convertible, taking back roads, eating in the car, and visiting natural wonders - on and off the beaten path. The trip was kicked off with several send offs including a family dinner, a going away party at My Brother's Bar, and an evening around a round table with my BFFs. I could not have taken off with better wings under me.
It took only a few hours to reach the western border of my home state, and I pulled over at the Leaving Colorful Colorado sign. It felt right. Pushing onward, I first ventured off I-70 minutes later on Route 128 south toward Moab, where I saw a group of Pronghorns and lost cell service - just what I was after. You begin to see how gorgeous Utah is very quickly as the earth turns red and sandstone monoliths jet upward towards the bright blue sky. I had not been to Arches in a good ten years so I made the stop and happily paid the $10 national parks entry fee. The lovely park ranger in the booth gave me some good advice as to where to go. She suggested a brief tour as it was getting late in the day and I looked like "a business lady" who needed to get somewhere. Um, it clearly was not my outfit that made me look professional, trust me. It also wasn't the wadded up Wendy's bag next to me, wafting the scent of a spicy chicken sandwich. All I could think of was that accepting a full-time job after three years had already changed my DNA. So, this new professional took the business lady loop and got to see some incredible works of nature, including Delicate Arch, Balancing Rock and my favorite, The Gossips.
I was feeling good and went well beyond my expected stop and spent the night in Torrey where Route 12 starts, the gateway to Capital Reef Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and a whole lot of slot canyons, as I discovered. I ate in the gas station that night and I think I was one of four people in town. Peak season isn't until May. I did some Googling and researched a network of slot canyons within 25 miles of the main road. I turned south onto a dirt road, gave some extra love to the VW, set my odometer to watch for mile marker 27.3, and was off by 9am. By 10am, I had reached the Spooky Slot trail head and saw a few empty cars, my first that morning. I was happy to see two people who I made sure saw me too. I signed my name on the official register, also to ensure my presence was recorded. I was in the middle of freaking nowhere people, it was great.
I worked my way down a trail into what seemed to be an empty river bed, following a trail of cairns that at times, were a bit hard to find and misleading. As I walked through the.dry river bed, silence all around, large birds circling. with the plateaus hovering above, you get the feeling of being watched. I felt transported back in time to when this could have been Blue Duck territory. Blue Duck was a very mean Indian in "Lonesome Dove" and he stalked Lorena from above just before he snatched her, sending Gus on a dangerous mission to save his whore.
I found Spooky Slot fairly easily, (after loudly saying hello to two trail maintenance crew members) and headed in. A slot canyon is simply a very narrow and deep canyon, the kind whatzhisname was trapped in when he had to cut off his arm to survive. I made my way through, often skimming through sideways it was so tight. The colors were gorgeous and changing. Alas, my fun ended when in order to continue through, I needed much longer legs or a boost to get up to an elevated level. Turned back, no regrets, even helped an older couple get up a seven foot wall into Peek-a-Boo slot, by basically grabbing and pushing her ass up. No modesty in the great outdoors.
Next was my fist visit to Bryce Canyon, named after Mormon pioneer, Ebenezer Bryce. The Amphitheater is the main event in this park and you can see why, it's outstanding. Thousands of "hoodoos" in red, orange and brown spire up, mine were covered in clean white snow.The Paiute Indians lived here in 1200 A.D. and called the rock formations Anka-ku-was-a-wits, meaning "red painted faces," and believed that the hoodoos were Evil Legend People turned to stone by the all-powerful Coyote Spirit. Much like the trolls in Iceland.
I pushed on and after some much loved kitchy hotels and gas station sign photo ops in sleepy roadside towns, I rolled into Sin City. I decided to stay downtown. I'd never been down there and wanted to see that iconic neon cowboy sign. I pulled up the the gaudiest, most quintessential Vegas hotel I could - The Golden Nugget won. Upgraded myself from the $65/night room to the $102/night room in the new tower. Downtown is cheap.
And you know why as soon as you head out to that horrible Fremont Street nightmare they have created. They took three blocks of the old downtown, covered it with a domed roof that is constantly projected with nauseating ads and a laser show, plus a zip line down the stretch, so now everyone with a glow-in-the-dark plastic yard of cheap alcohol runs into you as they rubberneck, amazed by these cheap thrills. I walked out and was assaulted by a Foreigner cover band, a soft core strip tease to the Pussycat Dolls, plus Elvis, Vegas showgirls, The Village People and morphsuit-wearing buskers lining the street and would not look at you for a photo unless you gave them money. My eyes and ears began to bleed, so I was out of there and went to bed, dreaming of Gus getting Blue Duck.
Woke the next morning and got the hell out of town by 7am. I watched the sun come up behind me, leaving Nevada in my rear view window, and pushed my last five hours west toward my new home. I was in California within 30 minutes and again, it felt right.
Oh my God, Kristin. I LOVE to read you. I am so going to be looking forward to your every blog. I am so happy for you. All that's happening for you right now is just too exciting. Love to you and stay safe in your travels. Love, Rosemary xo
Many people have dreams but so few ignite them. You have always danced to your own beat and it has served you well. What an exciting time.
May you be blessed with new friendships and experiences and the time to continue to share them with all of us. You are blessed.
Thank you so much Terry, I really appreciate that.! So kind of you. I hope all is well with you. You're hardly a wall flower yourself. xo
It's 4:30 in the morning and I'm just catching up with your blogs that I've saved to read in a quiet moment to savor the pleasure of reading your reports. Your energy is so contagious that I just want the sun to rise to get going in this day. Love your stories.....keep them coming. Lots of love and best wishes for all good things in your new job, new home, and continuing travels. Love, Paula


text: Uniden MapTrax GPS Includes Radar DetectionTravis Hudson12/28/07 2:30pmFiled to: CesGadgetsradar detectorGPSUniden12EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalink It's a shame that it's taken this many years to finally achieve this bit of convergence, but it is finally done. To be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January is Uniden's MapTrax GPS receivers — that include radar detection. Uniden will be unveiling an overkill of devices — six new GPS units at CES, some of which will include the radar detection feature. There isn't a lot of detail yet out about the radar detector, but one would expect it to integrate nicely with the mapping software to locate and remember potential speed traps. Other included features are Bluetooth, text-to-speech, night view and we're assuming a selection of other goodies. [Gizmodo] Reply12 repliesLeave a reply


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Shoot Like a Pro
Capture moments with the 13MP autofocus camera. Take simultaneous front and back photos with Dual Camera, edit them right on your phone with Erase Shot and relive the memories in brilliant clarity with Story Album.
Touch Free
Experience a whole new way to interact with your smartphone. Wave your hand at the screen to accept calls with Air Gesture, read content by tilting your head or phone with Smart Scroll and preview content by barely touching the screen with Air View™.
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It's easy to connect, work or play with the Galaxy S 4. With Group Play, you can connect up to 8 phones wirelessly to play games and share your favorite tunes, photos, and documents – no Wi-Fi necessary.
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View all your content on a stunning 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED® display that's powered by a robust 1.9 GHz quad-core processor – all in a light 0.29 lb. smartphone.
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Easy Mode is a setting you can use to simplify your home screen with bigger icons and your favorite apps, so you can take your time to discover the amazing world of your new Galaxy S 4.
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With WatchON™ you can change the TV channel from your phone. Also, get a custom TV guide that shows what you like to watch.
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Capture every moment with Slow Motion video recording – no video editing tools necessary. Slow down or speed up all the action using the Galaxy S 4 Slow Motion and Fast Motion camera modes. Simply choose your mode, select your speed and start recording.
*Results are based on lab environment testing. Refer to your network carrier's website for network specific talk times. Battery power consumption depends on factors such as network configuration, signal strength, operating temperature, features selected, vibrate mode, backlight settings, browser use, and data and other application usage patterns.Samsung, Galaxy S, Air Gesture, Air View, Super AMOLED and WatchOn are all trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Google and Google Play are trademarks of Google, Inc. Other company names, product names, and marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners and may be trademarks or registered trademarks. Screen images simulated. Appearance of device may vary.


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Help!!!! I'm at my witts end with my 16mo olds temper tantrums
I have a 16 month old that has temper tantrums real bad and I cant seem to get a handle on them. He will headbutt anything that's around. He has bruises on his forehead from it. I have an 11 year old and a 5 year old and they never went thru tantrums this bad so this is new for me. I feel like i have tried everything. but i'm very open for more suggestions. I'm afraid he is going to hurt himself. Thanks in advance for any advice.
my oldest went through this too. he was horrible. he would head bang, scream at the top of his lungs, hit ppl, it was bad. spankings didn't work, time out didnt work, the stupid corner didn't work. he just out grew it eventually. it seemed like it took forever. now that he is finally out of it my middle child is starting up. i still have a 7 wk old baby so i'm afraid that when jonny finally quits jamie will do it too. 3 year straight of extreme tantrums. yikes!!! but good luck, it will end i promise!!!
At only 16 months he has no idea how to deal with his feelings, and the tantrums are his way of expressing himself. The best thing you can do for him is turn away from his tantrums. If you try to discipline him you will reinforce his behavior and it will continue. A suggestion for the headbutting - try giving him a pillow or putting a couch cushion on the floor for him to take his agressions out on. You may have to do some headbutting yourself on the pillow or cushion to teach him how to use it. Eventually he will figure out how to better handle his anger and frustration, but for now just be patient :) I have a 16 month old, too, so I sympathize!
I feel your pain my daughter is almost 16 months and she has been doing the same thing for a few months now and I've tried disciplining her in various ways but it just seems to make things worse. She HATES the word no. Just the other day I told her no for something and she decided it would be a good idea to headbutt the corner of the wall. I just about had a heart attack. I've tried ignoring her too but I'm afraid if I do that she'll really hurt herself. Sorry I wasn't any help.


text: From the maker of the "psychic tire" movie Rubber comes another demented movie, WrongMeredith Woerner12/01/11 3:02pmFiled to: Trailer frenzyVideosWrongVideoRubberQuentin Dupieux39EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalink Quentin Dupieux's latest film Rubber, (about murderous car tire that kills people with mental powers) looks like Marmaduke after watching the trailer for his next feature Wrong. Clearly Dupieux's only motive is to just mind-fuck the audience into oblivion. Watch the trailer now. Here's the Sundance Synopsis: Advertisement Advertisement WRONG / France (Director and screenwriter: Quentin Dupieux) - Dolph searches for his lost dog, but through encounters with a nympho pizza-delivery girl, a jogging neighbor seeking the absolute, and a mysterious righter of wrongs, he may eventually lose his mind… and his identity. Cast: Jack Plotnick, Eric Judor, Alexis Dziena, Steve Little, William Fichtner.We'll be sure to keep tabs of this flick as it makes its way through the Sundance Film Festival.Reply39 repliesLeave a reply


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Kids on a plane.
No four words incite more acrimonious debate among air travelers. Not "your flight is delayed." Not "here's a new fee." Not even "snakes on a plane."
On one side, you have childless customers who just want a little civility while they're locked inside a pressurized aluminum tube. And on the other, parents who believe airlines should accommodate anyone, anytime — particularly their beloved offspring.
Talk about oil and water. Or maybe, nitroglycerin.
Children and planes can be a combustible mix. Consider:
Ask your irritating child to smile
Two hours into her recent JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas, Marilyn Parver watched as a loud child that had been annoying other passengers nonstop since takeoff finally made one of them snap. She videotaped the ensuing fight, and oddly, was threatened with arrest after refusing to delete the footage.
Bloody Mary!
When Tamera Jo Freeman's kids began to argue about a window shade on a Frontier Airlines flight and spilled a Bloody Mary into her lap, she spanked her offspring, which provoked a confrontation with a flight attendant. Freeman threw a can of tomato juice on the floor, and was arrested and convicted of a federal felony defined as an act of terrorism under the Patriot Act.
Bye bye, plane
Kate Penland's toddler son wouldn't stop repeating the words "bye, bye plane" as a Continental Express flight from Atlanta to Oklahoma City taxied down the runway. A flight attendant suggested that Penland administer baby Benadryl, a medication that's often used to sedate overactive kids. When Penland refused, the flight turned around and both passengers were kicked off the plane.
Hey little girl, want some Xanax?
Who can forget the case of Daniel Reed Cunningham, the Northwest Airlines flight attendant charged with spiking a 19-month-old girl's apple juice with Xanax, a prescription depressant?
Question is, what to do about the littlest air travelers?
A decade ago, the last time I wrote about this issue, my sympathies were with solo passengers who wanted to ban babies on board. But now I have three kids — ages 6, 4 and 2 —and I'm leaning to the parents' side.
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Here are five ways we might approach the kids-on-a-planes problem — and what you can do to become part of the solution:
1. Kids'-only sections
"I would gladly pay an extra $20 each way to avoid the noise and headaches," says Randy Gillespie, a travel agent from Collingswood, N.J., adding that such an option should be built into the fare rather than offered an optional add-on. Kids'-only sections have been tried on an informal basis in the past, but never quite caught on. Families couldn't be forced into one section of a plane any more than kids could be excluded from, say, first class. But you can still find your own "kid free" section on a plane. On domestic flights, children may not sit in exit rows, and they're unlikely to make an appearance in business- and first-class sections, where seats are super-expensive.
2.Ban 'em
"I don't know whether it would be practical to have child-free flights," says Bill Armstrong, an information technology consultant from Calgary. "But certainly, I am on the list of people who would pay a little extra for that." Armstrong recently endured a nine-hour flight with a child that "had developed a uniquely annoying scream" that didn't stop and could be heard even while Armstrong wore headphones. But is getting rid of all children a viable solution? Probably not. That's not to say crewmembers shouldn't be more vigilant about looking for potentially disruptive kids during boarding and warning their parents that outbursts and other forms of unapproved behavior won't be tolerated. If you suspect you'll have a problem with an unruly child sitting next to you — and this is especially true if it's your own child — then speak up before the cabin doors close. A crewmember might be able to move you to a different section. Or a different flight.
3. No, get rid of the adults!
In fairness, I can't raise the issue of banning kids without handing the mic to angry parents who think annoying adults should be banned, too. So here it goes. "Are there really more disruptive kids on planes than obnoxious adults?" asks Hayley Schultz, who travels with her three kids, ages 5, 7, and 9, and notes that they sit in their seats, read books and watch TV without incident. Good point. If you want to see annoying adults, just take a red-eye flight from Las Vegas, where half the unlucky passengers are trying to drown their sorrows one mini-bottle of cheap whiskey at a time. Or board a wintertime flight from any New York airport to Palm Beach, Fla., a route known for its preponderance of irritating passengers. Schultz represented some of the more levelheaded comments I've received from parents who thought this whole debate shouldn't be happening at all. Point taken — but not enough to end the discussion.
4. Encourage responsible parenting
Many in-flight altercations are a result of negligent parenting, to hear some passengers talk about it. Mauranna Sherman, an administrative assistant from Forest, Va., was recently kicked repeatedly by a five-year-old on a flight from Charlotte to Albany, N.Y. When she turned around, the boy's mother just shrugged. "Mom had no bag of toys or books or techie stuff" to distract her son, she remembered. Airlines bear some responsibility in helping adults prepare for a flight with their offspring, and their Web sites could do a far better job of telling new parents what to expect on a flight. But ultimately, of course, it's parents' job to make sure they've packed enough food and entertainment for the flight. I've heard of childless passengers packing their own snacks, toys and games to deal with stressed-out kids they might encounter on a flight. That's not a bad idea.
5. Pass new seatbelt laws
"I would like to see kids more secure during flight," says Nancy Hatten, a flight attendant who lives in Farmington Minn. "Parents of children under two should be required to purchase a passenger seat for the child and then keep them buckled in a child car seat during flight." That would require parents to buy a seat for their kids, which they currently don't. But it would almost certainly make air travel safer and saner for everyone else. Toddlers strapped in a car seat usually come to terms with their circumstances quickly and know that a stroll down the aisle to visit the pilot is not possible. Airlines can make it easier for parents to buy an extra seat by offering a discount and providing parents with special seats or child-friendly seatbelts, the same way car rental companies do.
Even though I have three children, I still can't quite bring myself to siding with many parents, who seem to feel as if their kids should be able to fly anywhere, anytime and behave in any way they want to. (They're kids, after all!)
My offspring are capable of some of the most annoying behavior ever. After all, I'm their father. So when a flight attendant tells me my kids are out of line, I'm the first to agree. I wouldn't dream of seating my children in business- or first class even if I could afford it. That's a topic for another column, though.
But ban kids outright? I used to like the idea, at least in theory, but now see eye-to-eye with readers like Lisa Hirsch, a Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist.
"What are parents with small children supposed to do?" she asked me. "Never travel?"
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