I think you're right about her having personal reasons for this. I watched her video on GAC after writing the comment above. I think what it has in common with the capitalism video is that she is trying to back up a personal bias with poorly reasoned and evidenced arguments.
It's possible that she's a great scientist, I don't know enough physics to tell whether there is a dissonance or whether it's all snake oil. My skepticism comes from seeing such (conscious or not) intellectual dishonesty on her part
These are fair criticisms. No matter which side of the 'capitalism is good' debate you are on this video was so bad, with errors of history and even of definition, that I was left doubting how good a scientist she actually is.
On the back of his Ambient 4 album Eno gave instructions for a cheap way of getting a sort of surround sound using a third speaker. I did this as a teenager with my mediocre record player and a small speaker with almost no bass - it worked surprisingly well
Nah - I think they're daft kids and Shakespeare is showing us that. The play begins with Romeo utterly in love with Rosaline - what's that for if not to show us not to take his feelings for Juliet too seriously
And Juliet's 13 - which was very young for marriage even at that time. Certainly not what would have been considered 'adult' then
It compares badly. Unfortunately too much private research is allowed to be kept secret - but what is known indicates it's of poorer quality - judged by the kind of metrics the Cochrane Institute use.
Goldacre's book (he also has a blog) is well worth reading - describing _many_ ways in which drug companies can cheat.
Private R&D is around 60% - however a large part of that is making minor changes to existing molecules in order to obtain fresh patents.The bigger, riskier research is done by the NIH and other publicly funded bodies. See
Also - the quality of privately funded research is much worse, with non-reporting of negative results, data dredging and other dodgy activities being routine - see
Mine were all older than that when they went, IIRC they were 8, 11 and 13. I don't think there are many kids under 7 there right now. I'm surprised by that Neill quote tbh, I'd have thought that the worst part of schooling occurs when you're older.
As for going for just a year or two - not sure I can give advice on that. Zoe Readhead, the principal, is very approachable - she could help you there.
If you've any questions you want to ask me offline, I'm at <hn user name>@gmail.com.
I sent my three children to Summerhill - the youngest is still there. I think your impressions were correct - I certainly consider it to have been a great success.
One of the kids was of an academic bent, she studied hard and now seems happily set on an academic career. The other two boys are obsessed with music, and got/are getting the minimum number of qualifications to allow them to go to music college. That seems to be a common pattern at the school - kids figure out what they want to do, the qualifications needed (if any) and get them. Of course, being teenagers, they're perfectly capable of screwing up - but I think, if anything, putting responsibility for their lives in their own hands makes that _less_ likely, rather than more.
One other data point I have concerns bullying. On my first visit we attended one of the meetings where there was a case about some young boys, around 12, who had been picking on one of the kids. On older boy, maybe 14/15 at the time, tore into them. His outrage was something to behold. I remember thinking that if I was 12, and a teacher had disciplined me for bullying, my attitude would have been 'yeah whatever' - but to have an older boy do the same would certainly have had an effect.
I'm lucky to have been able to afford this - if I couldn't I'd probably opt for unschooling, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling. Having had experience of democratic education, I now view mainstream schools as as somewhat bizarre, unpleasant institutions, and certainly wouldn't want to send my kids to one.
I train three times a week - as little as twice a week is enough if you're pressed for time.
My back problems gradually improved over two years of training. I had a disk that had slipped gradually over the previous several years. Exquisitely painful episodes 3-4 times a year. Certainly not helped by my weight and lack of muscle tone. After a year of lifting I noticed that I recovered from these episodes quicker, and that the intervals between them were longer. I think it's well over a year now since the last. Obviously, don't even think about lifting if you are currently suffering back pain.
I believe there is general agreement that any strength program will be based around low-rep sets of exercises that involve a large number of muscle groups. Typically squats, power cleans, dead lifts, overhead presses and bench presses. Rippetoe's Starting Strength book and DVD are an excellent introduction to these. Eventually (6 - 18 months) you will plateau and need to change program. I'm currently using Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 and so far am very happy with it, but a beginner will progress faster with Rippetoe.
If you don't mind some extra, unsolicited advice;
- start with much lighter weights than you think you can handle and aim for regular, small weekly increases - even a pound or two is fine and quickly adds up.
- Be prepared to end a session the moment you feel any discomfort in your lower back, and don't return until it clears up completely. I didn't do this at first and each time ended up unable to train for a fortnight.
- technique matters. While these lifts are nothing like as complex as the olympic lifts, there is still some technique that you need to learn for your safety, and also to allow progress to occur. If possible film yourself from time to time to check you're not developing bad habits.
I've had my bodyweight (110 KG) stuck on my chest with no ill effects other than embarrassment. As the parents say, simply slide the weights off, or ask anyone nearby for a hand.
One thing that is extremely dangerous is using the 'suicide grip' when benching - i.e. having the thumb and fingers on the same side of the bar and simply resting the bar on the palms. It's stupid, but a surprisingly large number of lifters use it.
Same here - literally life changing. I tried free weights a few years ago after reading the article - loved them - bought the Rippetoe book and didn't look back.
I'm 46 now, before I began I was overweight and had frequent, severe back problems. I'm now two stone lighter, hell of a lot stronger and my back is just fine.
Did you consider using the approach taken by http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/? In that case each chapter was put online as soon as it was written, and then rewritten after taking account of comments. Only when it was finished was the hard copy published.
In the end it made for a far better book, and I believe the author made as much money, possibly even more than if he had followed a more traditional process. In any case I don't suppose you were planning to retire on the proceeds of a book on Vim.
Best of luck, however you choose to write it. I look forward to reading it.
https://www.youtube.com/live/Uu_03mUPgHU?si=ggJYSJH8SUy0AcKO