What I Wish I Learnt in School

It's almost 2009 and everything we do is evolving. The way we consume media, the way we talk to and meet friends the way we travel and the way we work. The only thing that doesn't seem to be changing much (I could be wrong though) is the way we educate our kids. I only graduated 12 years ago but it seems little has changed. Not that I have actually visited a school to check in.

Here's a list of stuff I wish I had of learnt at school rather than needing another 12 years of hard lessons. I consider myself very lucky and I've seen friends fail at certain aspects of life because they weren't taught simple things.

1: Financial Education:
I think I read this in Rich Dad Poor Dad long ago but why don't schools educate kids on how to manage their money. It doesn't have to be a huge time but teach kids about money and how it works. This is a major point and shit they should even be running free classes for all the people out there with no financial knowledge at all. Don't leave this up to parents to teach their kids or we'll be in trouble. Oh and I don't mean accounting. This subject should be mandatory.

2: The Environment:
Sure ancient history is pretty cool (pyramids and all that shit) but the environment is something that kids should know about.

3: Creativity:
Creativity is not limited to just art subjects. Get the kids thinking for themselves creating things. Every subject should have a creative component.

4: Getting a Job:
I think in my highscool I had one or two lessons on this. It was a quick OK you're about to go out there here's some quick tips.

This point is one major failing of most universities (at least in the design and creative fields) fail. They have just spent 4 years studying design and I have to bend over backwards to get information on a student to ask them for an interview. I also don't think I had anyone come in and talk about "the workplace" or from certain jobs while In high school. You see it in movies with kids having a "career day" but come high school this doesn't seem to be done?

5: How to survive without your parents:
No not an orphan subject but how to cook, clean and live outside of home. I did home ec but it was less about living away from home and more "so you want to be a chef" subject. I wish I was shown how to iron a shirt properly :)

6: Common Sense:
Just in case the students live with parents who are socially backward (read: fuckwits) it should be mandatory that everyone attend a common sense class. Simple lessons on public transport etiquette, how to use an ATM, how to ride on escalators and all the simple stuff that seems to be lost on some people.

It would be great if kids (well teens) were asked to watch talks like the ones on TED or films like An Inconvenient Truth at an early age.

Youtube and Content Ratings

Why doesn't Youtube have a standard for rating content like movies and video games? The USA has the MPAA and Australia has the Office of Film and Literature. I find the Aussie rating system makes much more sense than the USA one. Something rated R in the US is MA here which seems more fitting.

It seems videos on Youtube fall into 2 categories right now. General and 18+ (flagged)

Why not have a system that allows you to choose between videos that are like film and video games. You could also filter out stuff like sex, language and adult themes. That way if I set my Youtube account to say let me see everything, then I never have to click I agee to watch this video. However if I say I will be offended by sex scenes or nudity then it will not let me watch them unless I agree to do so.

In reverse it'll also let me search for videos that contain nudity and sex.

For me I'll watch most things and I;m not that easily offended but for the millions out there that can't even say Hell or Shit then Youtube must be a minefield of scary content.

Treadmill at Work

One of the guys I met judging in the UK was Ben from The Bardbarian Group in the USA. He said his work partner uses a treadmill 8hrs a day 5 days a week. Check the photo here on Make Mag's site. Classic

Ben said the guy is always in a good mood now and healthier as well. I might try this with a rowing machine?!

Robots are Cool

sketch_18, View my Flickr stream here.

I was in the zone when I did these ones. I really like these characters.

Alternative Lemmings

Alternative Lemmings 1997, View my Flickr stream here.

I created these "Alternative" Lemmings back in 1996 or 1997.

From top left: BBoy, Aussie, Hooker, Supermodel, Elderly, Satanic, Chernobyl, Psycho, Atarti Jaguar (This was games console that was never released in Australia, yes I wasn't afriad to tackle the big issues head on with my Lemmings) KKK, Hitler, Badly Drawn and Mafia Informant Lemming.

It's amazing what you find when you don't throw anything out.

How to make fireworks exciting

I like fireworks as much as the next person but find the drawn out displays boring. After a minute of watching the same colourful explosions you get bored. Some like Sydney's New Years display go forever, with no real climax.

My idea would be to cram 5-10 minutes of fireworks into 45 seconds of extreme fireworks. People can go home and still experience the fireworks as they will be partially blind. We also want to see stuff catch on fire. And if possible have some fireworks land near the crowds so you feel part of it. (The ones out of LOTR were a perfect example of this)

No more looking down to stretch your neck only to miss a really big explosion. With my fireworks everything happens before the need to move or even blink. We didn't come to see an opera we want to see shit explode in the sky and say "WOW Did you see that green one!?!"

Karate as a Subject

I've found a site where people can share ideas and give feedback on them. It's prooving a lot of fun to post silly ideas and see what people think. Here's my first titled "karate as a subject"

FFFFC or Fantastic Fucking Finger Food Company

Every time I got to a function I'm always afriad of what crap finger food they are going to serve. Sure swordfish and goat's cheese sound great but they taste horrible. Finger food should be food you would normally eat but in bite size pieces.

The most recent function I attended was the Desktop Create awards and it was the mini pizzas, tiny bowls of risotto and fish & chips that were snapped up before the staff even took 3 steps. The fancy cheesy/meat combination went around 4 times.

Before that was the RE:B00T launch and all the finger food their rocked (except for the goats cheese and swordfish)

While waiting for something good to be offered I came up with the idea to create a finger food company that doesn't serve anything that you normally wouldn't eat and doesn't require you to ask "What is this... Vomit?" every time you see some colourful mush on a biscuit.

While I'll put together a definitive list of the best and worst finger food here's a few ideas for FFFFC that were thrown around the office.

1: Mini Kebabs: The size of a spring roll with chicken, lamb and beef to choose from
2: Single Serve Nachos: A tiny bowls with mini corn chips and nachoe's. (Could also be one chip with nacho's topping)
3: Gelato: Why don't they ever serve a good dessert. Tiny scoops of Gelato in a variety of flavours
4: Toasted Cheese Sandwiches: Call them jaffles if you want them to seem fancy but no one could turn down a mini toasted sanga’.
5: Mini Burgers: I've seen these done but we want quality burgers just smaller.