Change the World Wednesday – 23rd Jul

No photos to bore you with today.

Nothing really to update either;

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So let’s roll right along with this week’s CTWW.

This week Small has done a bunk.

She’s M.I.A.

Actually, I knew this was coming, just didn’t know when. She’s moving.

Good luck! I hate moving house.

So, the CTWW is continuing what we did last week. Click on the CTWW banner or visit my last week’s CTWW post.

This week my old cellphone gave up the ghost. I can’t complain, it was given to me, the same as my first cellphone. I have had 10 years of cost free cellphones.

I eventually got a new one on Monday.

Steam Punk Cellphone

Of course, it’s made of plastic. Only Steam Punk cellphones are made of steel.

I had looked around some shops and all they had were smartphones, I didn’t want a smartphone, I am smart enough to figure most things out.

I eventually found a kiosk selling such items in another department store I visited.

Simple, camera, music, sms, qwerty keys and it even makes phone calls. $129 (about US$55); it fitted the budget.

I expected it to come coddled in plastic and was pleased to find that it didn’t.

Only the battery was sealed in a small plastic bag, that and the rest was packed in a simple cardboard box.

Now, I have the problem. How to dispose of an old cellphone. It’s not repairable, it was too old when I got it; so that is not an option. I am looking now for a responsible way to dump it.

Not so easy when you live so far out of town. The velho oeste (Wild West) where I live is devoid of such niceties.

In the meantime, it RIPs with other PC bits and pieces in a box waiting a solution.

Perhaps the monitor repair chappy, knows. When I see him next, I’ll ask.

My new cellphone, Fire Orange…

So that’s my continuation of last week’s CTWW on plastics.

Change the World Wednesday – 25th Jun

Goiaba branca

My first goiaba branca (white guava).

The tree only produced two, but it was late in its first season. I am hopeful for next summer.

White guava are less flavoured than the traditional pinky ones, and they have a short window between ripe and rotten.

Ate it for breakfast this morning.

As for my ‘normal’ guava, I am eating them daily as they ripen.

Exciting news!

My bricks

I have a new brick.

You may remember from a few CTWWs back that I have bricks in my kitchen, which is a bit like having bats in the belfry, but with more purpose.

I am going to try to remove some of the partitions and line them with cardboard to accommodate my knives better and prevent the cutting edge from grating against the harshness of the brick.

Most of you know, that one of my hidden talents is a chef. As a chef, I take good care of my knives and they are finely honed; it doesn’t take much to knock the edge off.

Further good news. I have only one incandescent light bulb left in the house. I changed the kitchen one yesterday (after four days of procrastinating in the dark) to a CFL. A story about that on my EIMDBPFPR post.

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So, what do we have for CTWW this week?

Discovering Nature

This week, go outside and spend some time. Perhaps take a leisurely stroll down a hiking trail or sit in a park. If you have a yard, find a comfortable spot and look at the world around you. Take your time and relish the experience. The idea, here, is to discover and appreciate the natural world around us … to see what we usually miss … to marvel at earth’s inhabitants.

Apt. A comment I made on another blog during the week, that “I don’t have a smartphone, so I am always looking up and around as I walk.”

Oblivious to his surroundings

People have become so enamored with their cellphones, iPhones, Smartphones, etc that they walk around with the eyes on their little touch screens and miss the marvels that surround them.

Up, around, down; there are marvels big and small everywhere.

People have forgotten how to appreciate nature.

Not only IT appliances, but the stress of day to day living, rushing here, rushing there, panicking because the boss wants that report before lunch; directs our attention away from nature.

The praça, park outside my gate

When I walk to the gate, I stop and look at my plants, check the acerola bush for any signs of blossom, any guava ready to be picked, is there a new shoot growing in the compost, how are my chillies ripening…

You see interesting things

Outside the gate, I look around me, I look for possible plants growing on the roadside to take home, I see insects and birds, lizards sunbathing; sometimes I stop merely to marvel at things.

Other times, I just sit in the park across from my gate, Clorinha comes with me and romps in the bushes or sits beside me on the bench for a stroke.

We need to take time out, not only to see what’s around or above us, but to de-stress.

I spend a lot of my day sitting right here, where I am now; a ten minute sit in the park with a fresh coffee and cigarette, I return with a new vigor, inspiration, enthusiasm.

Nature is the great leveler; it brings us back to earth. It stops our egos in their tracks and puts things in perspective.

It reminds us of our place in the scheme…

 

Make you Fink on Friday

Modern life damaging infant brains, charity warns

Increased use of tablets and smartphones may be harming children’s neuro-motor development

Overuse of baby equipment and electronic screens can impede the physical and emotional development of under-threes, a charity has warned.

What About The Children? (Watch?) says modern lifestyles could be harming infant brains.

It highlights strapping small children into pushchairs, and the increased use of smartphones and tablets as being particularly damaging.

It says these could have an impact in later life.

Watch? promotes the importance of secure attachment in the early years and the vital role that loving care plays in brain development.

It is holding a conference in London today focused on how the first three years of life shape a child’s emotional, physical and mental health “forever”.

‘Eye contact, singing and talking’

It will highlight the importance of the physical interaction and social engagement between small children and “consistent, loving carers”.

The charity says it is particularly concerned about the impact of modern lifestyles on the brain development of babies and toddlers.

Sally Goddard Blythe, director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, is speaking at the conference.

“Social interaction helps physical development, for example eye contact, singing and talking. That is not happening if a child is in a forward-facing buggy and her mum is using her smartphone,” she said.

“Infants need opportunity for free movement and exploration whether that is tummy time, cuddling or rough play.

“Attention, balance and co-ordination skills learned during the first 36 months of life support cognitive learning and have been linked to school performance later.”

Another contributor, June O’Sullivan, from the London Early Years Foundation, stresses the importance of relationships.

“Children’s wellbeing starts with positive attachment to adults who are attuned and responsive,” she said.

“If they understand the children’s emotions and put their fears into words, it is very reassuring to the child.

“Wellbeing in the early years is the foundation of success at school, in making friends and relationships and for all adult life.”

Opinion:

Are we turning our kids into robots devoid of social skills and responsibility?

I remember reading a long time ago that kids shouldn’t be allowed to see a TV before they were 18 months old.

Now we have these modern techno devices that we thrust into their hands as soon as they learn to use them.

This Flappy Bird thing is just one example of the inanity that we are exposing our kids to.

Left, or Right, which would you prefer your kid to be?