Summer Cycling in Melbourne
February 26, 2007 
An update on my ride in the 2007 Melbourne Summer Cycle:
Yesterday, I completed the 40km ride (long course) without too much trouble. I finished with a time of 2:01:09 — an average speed of 20.91km/h. It was a slow start due to the sheer number of riders (estimated 3,000 participated), but the ride around the Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park sure got a few riders’ blood pumping! After a comfortable ride around the bay through Port Melbourne, the climb over the Westgate Bridge was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. I cruised over in 3rd or 4th gear and did not even have to drop a cog. The rest of the ride through Williamstown, Yarraville and Kensington up into Carlton was relatively flat and well paced and uneventful.
The ride–considering it was the inaugural event–was extremely well organised. The main roads were cordoned off with a riders lane, intersections were well manned by volunteer staff and police where required and the course was well signed, so there was no chance of taking a wrong turn. Registration was painless, and the provision of the website to help with fundraising made things easy in that respect. Well done to MS Australia.
At the end of the day, I had a great ride and during the process I managed to raise $200 in total (including my entry fee) for MS, so I’m really pleased. Thank you so much to all of those people who sponsored me — this result could only have been achieved with their help.
Memorable Quotes - Heraclitus
February 26, 2007It is in changing that things find purpose.
– Heraclitus
green h0sting
February 19, 2007My webhost serversaurus has just announced that they are offsetting the CO2 emissions created by their servers, and are donating 1% of their profits annually to preserve the natural environment. A nice gesture and worthy cause. If you’re looking for ‘green’ hosting — check it out!
Integral Thought
February 19, 2007Nick just sent me a note pointing me to a wikipedia entry on Integral Thought. He thought that maybe it fits in with my generalist thinking a little. From the text:
“The word integral means comprehensive, inclusive, nonmarginalizing, embracing. Integral approaches to any field attempt to be exactly that—to include as many perspectives, styles, and methodologies as possible within a coherent view of the topic. In a certain sense, integral approaches are “meta-paradigms,” or ways to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.”
Sounds like he’s right on the money!
And talk about syncronicity. Tony and I were only just discussing the other day the God v. Science and Creationists v. Rationalists meme that seems to be going around at the moment.
I don’t want to weigh in on this one, but perhaps a view that seeks a comprehensive understanding of humans and the universe by combining scientific and spiritual insights is a worthy opponent (alternative) in this debate?
Musings on Modern Pedagogies
February 12, 2007I’ve had occasion to be thinking a lot lately about schooling and the type of education I believe that my kids should receive. I consider myself fortunate to have received both public and private high school education, and I can see the advantages and disadvantaages of both. I still can’t help wondering whether the whole education system itself is in tune with the real needs of my kids? I have a nagging feeling (intuition?) that it isn’t. This line of questioning led me to some Montaignean wisdom on the subject:
I gladly come back to the absurdity of our education: its end has not been able to make us good and wise but learned. And it has succeeded. It has not taught us to seek virtue and embrace wisdom: it has impressed upon us their derivation and their etymology.
Come to think of it, this statement sums up my feelings about my own education. I’m working hard to correct the imbalance on that score.
Aside: the definition of pedagogy?: from paidagÅgos, slave who took children to and from school.
