March
6
2010
I grew up on rock music. My parents listened to and played many different kinds of music – some of it was rock music. My father in particular is a big fan of the Canadian rock band, Rush. On a whim, I decided to buy a Rush best-of CD album to listen to some of the classics.
I don’t actually know Rush’s music very well. I haven’t been much of a rock fan until lately, thanks to video games like Guitar Hero & Rock Band. After listening to the album a few times, I have to say that I really, really like this music!
It’s rock, no mistaking it – drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, and maybe some synth thrown in the mix – but it is so wonderfully complex! Rush’s music is complex and takes great skill from all 3 musicians. Yet, not only is it complex, it is wonderfully enjoyable music!
Rush’s songs, from 1974 to 1987 on this album, are classics. They were hits then, and they are still great now.
Having had so much success with this little gem, I decided to buy a Saga best-of CD album. Saga is another one of those classic groups. I had recently heard their song Scratching the Surface on the radio and absolutely loved the experience. It was rich, and while not complex like Rush, it had a completely different feel with an eclectic mix of sounds and moments within the song itself. I remember saying aloud, “This is so much better than today’s rock music. Today’s rock music is boring crap compared to this!”
Indeed, I still stand by that assessment. Much of today’s rock, particularly Top 40 rock, is boring-ass crap.
Anyhow, back to Saga. I bought the album and upon hearing the first 2 tracks, I knew I was in trouble. Skipping forward to my beloved Scratching the Surface was the ultimate test. Saga had converted this powerful, sombre piece into a neutered, mellow, almost folk music piece. It was at least as bad as the other tracks, and possibly worse because I had so recently heard the original version of this track.
Maybe the original songs are good but all got crappified in this album, I don’t know. All I know is that I’m not going to pay money to find out, and for the time being, I have to conclude that Saga is crap.
Here’s some Rush goodness to show you what I mean by good stuff:
Okay, I love the music, but I could really do without seeing the ridiculous 1970s & 1980s rock outfits, rock hair & double-guitars!
This stuff takes me back to my childhood. This is the kind of music I listened to in my parents’ car as a little kid. I know, I’ve been incredibly blessed 
How are the Rush guys doing now, years later? These clips are from a concert in 2005, 30 years after the release of their first album. Take a look, listen, and let me know if you think these guys still got it!
March
6
2010
I know almost nothing about beluga caviar. All I know is that it’s sturgeon eggs, the best stuff is supposed to come from the Caspian sea, and they cost a lot. But why do they cost so much? Can caviar be farmed? What is it like to produce caviar?
This video with Gordon Ramsay takes a look and, if you’re like me, practically everything here about caviar will be brand new to you. Want to see what $20,000 worth of caviar looks like? You’ll see.
Plus you’ll see a great little lobster & caviar recipe that most of us will never actually make
February
27
2010
Gordon Ramsay, from what I can tell on television & via video clips, is a good chef. He knows what he’s doing in the kitchen. But, of course, his training and experience is in western cooking techniques. While cooking is cooking in theory – there are really only so many things you can do to food – how to make one cuisine well is different from any other kind of cuisine. Each type of cuisine requires its own skills and knowledge.
Sushi is considered simple. That’s why there are so many sushi fast-food joints everywhere. Doing it right and doing it well takes skill, though. Doing it quickly takes even more skill.
Gordon finds this out first-hand:
Chinese dim sum is one of those things in the world that doesn’t get much respect. In part it’s because chinese food doesn’t get much respect. Chinese restaurants compete with one another on low price, and they treat their chefs like s***. As the saying goes, if you don’t respect yourself, how can you expect anyone else to respect you?
But, having said that, making good dim sum takes skill. It really does. Once again, Gordon found out first-hand:
Food comes in nearly-infinite variety, and cuisines around the world can very so much from one another – not just in the eating experience, but also in the skills and techniques required to make it good!
February
27
2010
I like food. I like food enough that just a few days ago, I found myself dreaming about food on my subway ride back home after work. Yes, I dream about food.
Cooking something nice at home is one of life’s little pleasures, I think.
Here are two quick little videos, one on scrambled eggs, one on pan-frying a steak. Gordon Ramsay teaches in a very direct, simple manner, and I think you’ll enjoy these little quickie-videos!
Bon appetit!
PS. I have yet to try making scrambled eggs the way he suggests, but I might just have to try it tomorrow morning! After all, Sunday mornings are great for treating oneself to a nice breakfast
North America is Destroying its Future, One Child at a Time
North America, the way things appear to be going, will be left in the dust of the asian powerhouses by the 22nd Century. This will happen for reasons entirely of our own doing. North American prosperity at home & significance on the world stage is being undone one child at a time.
A solid education is the basis for future prosperity. Good health is the foundation for sharp, able minds that can learn, grow, and innovate. I have already posted about the poor health-legacy that we are leaving our kids, so let me now talk a little about the unraveling of our education system – a system which, even in its current state, lags behind that of our international competitors.
Writers, even years ago, compared the education given to North American kids against that given to asian kids, and found the North American system deficient. Yes, the top universities in America, in particular, are powerhouses of research and development, but primary & secondary education lagged far behind. Why?
Teachers cannot teach if they cannot enforce discipline in the classroom. Kids cannot learn if they are allowed to listen to music, play video games, text message, or to indulge in any other distractions so that they do not have to pay attention to the teacher. I was appalled to hear from my teacher friend that she and her colleagues are not allowed to take the MP3 players, PSPs, or cellphones away from students. They are not allowed to do anything but give an evil eye and repeat, ad nauseum and without any power whatsoever, “Stop that, and pay attention!”
Kids aren’t dumb. They know when someone is merely all-talk and no-action. The current climate – and we can only blame ourselves, the general population amongst which the parents of schoolchildren come from – has stripped teachers of discretionary authority in the classroom. They are, in essence, 3-dimensional video recordings, not people, not teachers.
Distracted kids cannot learn. Simple as that. By stripping away teachers’ authority to maintain discipline in their classrooms, we have taken away their ability to remove distractions from the classroom.
No Child Left Behind sounds nice, but it’s a load of crap. We live in an age of political correctness gone amok, where doing things for-show is often more important than doing things for-results. Kids need good self-esteem, yes, but telling them they’re doing great when they aren’t, or pulling everyone back so that the tail-enders don’t feel diminished is putting things ass-backwards.
Kids should feel good about themselves for what they have accomplished – and kids can accomplish a lot if you guide, encourage, discipline, and teach them. They should not feel good for simply sitting there and breathing.
Do you remember report cards? They tell parents how their kids are doing in school. How well are they doing compared to the expected standards? How well are they doing compared to their peers? A, B, C, D, or dare I say it, F, meant something. Now Ontario is changing to something akin to “Doing well, doing alright, could be better”. The idea is to move away from ranking kids, or making them feel like they need to be pushing harder, or making parents or teachers feel like they could be doing something better to help, teach, and guide the kids.
It’s easy to make sure every kid feels like they’re an ace. Dumb everything down, pull every kid down to the lowest common denominator. Then, you can be sure you will have schools that, as the infamous saying goes, “every kid is above average”.
Homework is an absolutely necessary part of education. In part, it is important because of the explicit lesson that the kids are learning from homework: arithmetic, grammar, reading comprehension, analytical skills. But the other part, the implicit lesson, is just as important: perseverance, discipline, the rewards of hard work, self-reliance, teamwork, and very simply, the ability to learn better.
I was shocked at a Christmas lunch with a number of managers from work when the discussion touched upon homework for kids, and one manager said aloud, “I don’t think kids should have homework. We don’t take work home after 5, so why should they take home work after class ends?” I didn’t know what to say to that. I thought at worst he was a singular aberration. Unfortunately, other managers in the group nodded their heads in agreement. Holy cow, I found myself in the midst of managers who are themselves educated and should know better!
Kids have a lot to learn. In just about 12 years, from age 6 to 18, kids have to learn and internalize an incredible amount of information and knowledge. There’s no way around it. Literacy is not optional. Facility with numbers is not optional. Knowledge of history, geography, and science is not optional. An appreciation for arts, culture, and language is not optional. The ability to intelligently assess, analyze, and synthesize is not optional. These are all varied and complex areas that kids must learn about from scratch, or else they will not be able to compete & thrive in the modern world. That is a lot to ask of a child to learn, and not a lot of time to do it.
Not everything can be taught in the classroom. This is the case even with university students and students in professional schools. At least as much is learned by a student on his or her own, as is learned in the classroom environment. Just as with an athlete, the coach or teacher only guides. It is still up to the individual to take it further, and to continue to learn and practice on their own.
Most disturbingly is the lesson given to kids who are not given homework or are not required to do it. They are told that they only have to do the bare minimum – show up, sit in the chair, and be alive. They miss out on the lesson that hard work creates rewards, and that there are some things that can only be accomplished through hard work.
Finally, learning must be continuous or else one loses momentum each time it stops. Imagine an Olympic athlete training for 9 months, and then doing absolutely no training for the next 3 months. What would happen when they resume training? They’d suck. Big time. They’d have to take the first month or two when they return just to get back to where they were when they took a break. Maybe more than just 2 months. That means they’ve lost at least 5 months of development compared to someone else who continued to train.
This is what happens when we give our kids 3-month summer vacations every year. Is it any wonder that those kids at home or abroad who continue to learn year-round excel compared to their peers who do not?
Do you remember what happened when you came back to school after summer vacation? Your handwriting sucked. Writing with a pen or pencil on a sheet of paper felt strange. Something similar happens to kids’ other mental facilities through disuse. Those kids who are fortunate enough to be sent to summer programs of various kinds to keep learning would have kept the momentum of learning & development going. Those kids who were allowed to veg in front of the TV, play video games, and just go out to the mall or the park every day, would need to build up momentum once again.
We are not conditioning our kids for excellence. Though we mean well – we want kids to be happy, to enjoy life, and to have good self-esteem – we aren’t preparing them well for the future that lies ahead. There is competition in the workplace. There is competition in the economy. There is competition between national economies. Though competition is no longer a matter of life & limb, for most of us, it is still there.
There is a saying that he who is taught in the strictest school shall win. It is not the strictness that is important – that is only a means, and can be enforced in enlightened ways, not through corporal punishment. What is important is the development of the pupils – our children, our future – so that they can excel and win, and in so doing, create prosperity, happiness, and well-deserved self-esteem for themselves.