Red Pen

Excerpted from UK papers “the Daily mail” of 26 Dec 2008,
Hundreds of schools have barred teachers from marking in red in case it upsets the children.
They are scrapping the traditional method of correcting work because they consider it ‘confrontational’ and ‘threatening’.

Pupils increasingly find that the ticks and crosses on their homework are in more soothing shades like green, blue, pink and yellow, or even in pencil.
Headmaster Richard Sammonds said: ‘Red pen can be quite demotivating for children. It has negative, old-school connotations of “See me” and “Not good enough”.


I just cannot resist posing a question to whoever who tries to create a tempest in a teapot :With all the problems in the world right now (the war in Palestine, the Szechuan earthquake, scarity of natural resources etc) all that you could think of is the ink colour of a pen?

If red is really that “threatening”, then everyone in my generation must be attending psychological counselling right now because our teachers has been using a red pen from day one in school.

Suppose a student gets 0/100 in his examination, writing it in yellow, green or red, the score will still be 0/100. Changing the colour of the pen does not make the mistake right. On the other hand, if the student gets 100/100 in his examination, he will still be happy no matter what colour of ink the teacher uses.

Getting down to bedrock, it is a question of the examination result. Perhaps educators should concentrate on improving teaching methods rather than coming up with ludicrous excuse like changing the colour of the pen.

International day of the shoe

(extracted from 2008 blog)

Today we celebrate the first International day of the shoe.

Unpopular politicians were being booed, attacked and even assassinated. But never in the history of mankind, a politician was propelled with a pair of size 10 stinky boots, let alone the president of the most powerful country in the world.
After 8 years in service, George Bush finally showed that he is capable to do one thing well: to duck a flying shoe.

That is something special to commenorate.

Try your skill too :
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/crappy_flash_games.php?gamename=bushoes

H and M experience

Date : Yesterday
Time : Around closing time
Venue : H&M store, Milan
Position : Outside male fitting room

“Hey boys, we are closing now.” The salesman spoke loudly to those inside the fitting rooms. He then pushed a cabinet to block the entrance to the fitting rooms so to prohibit customers from entering.
In a higher octave, he yelled to his colleague with the intention that everyone can get an earful, “Anna, if customers want to use the fitting room, tell them instead of messing around, better to come earlier to shop and hurry up.”

What a shock! Did I hear him right? What kind of attitude is that? We purchase the goods with money, not asking for alms. A little respect to the customers is the minimum thing a salesman can offer. Maybe he fails to realise that his monthly pay check is dependent on the customers. If nobody buys, the company will have no money to pay his salary.

Well, on the other hand, some salesman get promoted to become managers. Those ignorant ones will remain as salesman forever.

Say Cheese

Some people are so amazing. They possess a rare ability to bear an identical smile in each and every photo. How they do it? So perfect they are, they retain the same measurement should you want to verify with a ruler. Do these people practice smiling in front of a mirror on a daily basis?

“Ready? Say cheezeeeee.” Upon that cue, they mechanically flash their perfect smile like switching on a neon sign board. That is the only expression that they consider best looking. And that will be how others will see them in the photos, always. But does it really reflective of the them as humans? Aren’t human beings suppose to be more expressive in the animal world?

If they look at their past photos, surely they will not be able to evoke any memories of their emotional state at those occasions. That is because their expression gave no clues. No matter where they are, they appear all the same in those photos. Only two things vary: the background and the clothing. So what is the point of taking different photo? Isn’t it easier and cost saving to Photoshop the same subject on different background?

We cannot have the same mood all the time. Sometimes we are ecstatic, joyful, pleased, amused etc. Although some aspect of us may be less flattering but it manifest our inner moods at that moment, which is more valuable. Having that perfect smile in the photo is fine. But it is boring and fake if every photo is like that. So what if you do not look pristine in a photo? It is the same you. You with additional personality. So get up and do not be afraid to show the other side of you.

Imperfection is perfect!