lifeasdaddy

lifeasdaddy - Don't make fun of fashion

I suppose it's not really a manly pursuit to have an interest in fashion.

What about making fun of fashion?  Is that a manly pursuit?

Here's a couple of blogs which put a smile on my face.  Go fug yourself, and Manolo's Shoe Blog. 

For those of you who take fashion seriously, try this post by Grant McCracken where he analyses the Birkin sporran brouhaha although to be fair Grant finds plenty about fashion to not take seriously.

lifeasdaddy - more tips on helping a child learn to read.

After following a link from Rebecca's pocket to the US NEA (National Education Association) I found their list of tips to parents in helping a child learn to read. There's some good ideas there.  Some I've heard of before, and even use.  Here's one I hadn't, but will put into practice:

"Label things in the home such as the table, the refrigerator, doors, etc. Collect the labels and have your child put them back on the correct objects."

Some of the tips follow Frank Smith's "whole of reading" approach about which I wrote here and here. 

The NEA's got a bunch of other helpful stuff on their website too.  Relevant for us at the moment is their guide to a successful transition for preschoolers to kindergarten    

The New South Wales Department of Education & Training also has 10 tips for a parents of children starting preschool.

I think I'll have to imrpove my spelling too.

lifeasdaddy - a beautiful room

Edward often surprises me with what comes out of his mouth.

Late this afternoon he ran into our lounge room, say on the floor and looked up at me.

Ed:  "This is a beautiful room, Daddy."

me: "Yes Edward it is."

Ed:  "This is a beautiful room, Daddy.  This is the lounge room."

me: "Yes, Ed."

For reasons I don't completely understand, he just astonished me with that comment.

This pic's Ed's view of the lounge room.

lifeasdaddy - Ed gets camera conscious.

My preferred way to photograph Edward is a candid shot.  One where he's neither posing nor looking directly at the camera.  Lately, Ed has become fascniated with the camera, and particularly wanting to see the immediate review of a digital pic on the back of camera display.

I took these two shots at his request.  He wanted to look at the display just after they were taken.

    

A short time later, he was doing some drawings on the table, and I was able to get some less posed shots.  They weren't purely candid, as I had to encourage him not to look at the camera.

   

lifeasdaddy - the watch I'm wearing today is

A Bulgari.  The  Rettangolo chronograph model with date.  Quartz movement, Swiss made.  Polished stainless steel case.

As an aside,reflections from the highly polished case on this watch makes it difficult to photograph.

lifeasdaddy - the conundrums of parenthood.

Angry Pregnant Lawyer has an interesting point about the compromises that need to be made, or which must NOT be made between one's personal values, and those of the families of your kid's friends. 

I don't think I really phrased that well, but just read her blog post here. 

Thankfully Club Libby Lu hasn't reached Australia yet, nor anything like it.  And I don't have a daughter........yet.

Gabrielle, a feminist, will be up in arms about this Club Libby Lu stuff.  When she gets back from the place she's gone this week.

Ed is way too young for us to get all angsted up about stuff like consumerism, but we've already had some choices dictated by having Ed as I wrote here, and I've changed some of my most strongly held views as I wrote here.

The things we do for love.  Of a child.

lifeasdaddy - flu pandemic. Part 1.

The US government has a special website set up as a centre for information on a potential influenza pandemic called Pandemicflu.gov

I'm no medico or public health expert, but it seems very informative.  There's even a section on helping local government, school and businesses  to plan for a pandemic scenario including checklists and excercises.  I find all of this information well organised and easy to follow.

The Australian Commonwealth Government's plan is here. Well, at least a version of the plan can be found.  In true bureaucratic fashion, it's called the "Australian Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza - June 2005".

Hmmmm.  June 2005.

Well, it was put together be a long list of seemingly eminent persons.

And there is this disclaimer:

Disclaimer

This is an interim plan which will evolve over time, as new information becomes available on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the disease. Readers are advised to visit the Department of Health and Ageing website www.health.gov.au to ensure that they have access to the most current and up to date version of the plan. While this document includes guidance for those involved in providing patient care, readers should note that the information contained in the plan is not a substitute for, and is not intended to replace, independent professional advice. The most important action if a case, or suspected case, were to occur in Australia would be to seek expert professional advice. The Commonwealth of Australia does not accept any legal liability or responsibility for any injury, loss or damage incurred by the use of, or reliance on, or interpretation of the information contained in this plan.

Hmmmm.  So, I should go to www.health.gov.au to get the latest version of the plan, eh?

Well, if I do that, and click on the lihnk that says "Pandemic preparedness" I'll be taken here. And if I then click on the link that says "Australian Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza", I'll be taken here.

Wait a minute, that's back where I started.  So, that's the latest most up-to-date paln we have.

Hmmm.  But at the bottom of that page it says:

"Request for feedback

The Australian Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza June 2005 is published as an interim version, in recognition of the threat posed by the H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in Asia as of June 2005 and the need to refine the plan with stakeholder input, acknowledging that there are areas of the plan requiring further development. Submissions and comment on the interim plan are invited. The deadline for comment on the interim Australian Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza June 2005 has been extended to 1 November 2005. Please forward submissions and comment to:

Pandemic Plan
Biosecurity and Disease Control Branch
MDP 14
Department of Health and Ageing
GPO Box 9848
Canberra ACT 2601
Email: [email protected] "

"....Page currency, Latest update: 21 October, 2005"

Right. So our interim plan was put out in June 2005.  Then the deadline for comment to improve it was extended to 1 November 2005.  Today, well, it's 25 March 2006. 

Maybe there's no rush. 

Let's check.  Here's the World Health Organization cumulative number of confirmed human cases of Avian influenza. 

                                                                                                                                          

24 March 2006

Country	2003		2004		2005		2006		Total
	cases	deaths	cases	deaths	cases	deaths	cases	deaths	cases	deaths
Azerbaijan	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	5	7	5
Cambodia	0	0	0	0	4	4	1	1	5	5
China	0	0	0	0	8	5	8	6	16	11
Indonesia	0	0	0	0	17	11	12	11	29	22
Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2
Thailand	0	0	17	12	5	2	0	0	22	14
Turkey	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	4	12	4
Viet Nam	3	3	29	20	61	19	0	0	93	42
Total	3	3	46	32	95	41	42	29	186	105

Total number of cases includes number of deaths.
WHO reports only laboratory-confirmed cases.

                                                                                                                                             

Cambodia 5. China 16. Indonesia 29.  Thailand 22.  Viet Nam 93.

Well, I'm glad at least that Thailand and Viet Nam have stopped this problem in its tracks, with no reported cases so far this year, 2006.  A remarkable improvement.

And that's just the ones reported to WHO.  That's laboratory confirmed cases.

Nowhere near Australia!

Well, as good as our government is, I think it's time to extract the national digit.

Let's at least get version 2.0 of the contingency plan up and available please.

I think I'll just send an email right now to [email protected] and see when we can expect it......

......there, just sent the email.

UPDATE:

See further update on 11 April, 2006 here.

lifeasdaddy - innocence

It's getting a bit chilly in Sydney this evening.  I just went up to put an extra blanket on Edward.

The sight of a 2-year old asleep, cuddled up with a Teddy bear is a compelling vision of innocence.

lifeasdaddy - image of Jesus found on piece of sheetmetal.

Most of you will read it here first.

lifeasdaddy - map links

I was telling a friend about the Perry-Castañeda Library, the main library of the University of Texas at Austin.  I thought I may as well share it with you too.

What's really interesting about the library, is it's Map Collection.  Linked here. 

I've found over the years that whenever I need a hard-to-find map, it'll be in this collection.

For example, I was recently trying to find a map showing the borders of Thailand's provinces.  My google search was mainly just bringing up tourist maps, with insufficient details.

I found the map I wanted here. 

There's also a great section on historical maps.

I kinda like the University's motto too:  "What starts here changes the World".  Good motto for a university, dontcha think?