Sunday, July 21, 2013

About the human memory - for anyone who's interested.......

This past week was pretty busy - not just trying to keep the huge semi-desert garden area around my Pinery home looking good, but meetings with blokes who were in their 60s or more.

Memory was joked about lots of times..............and, as it is something that aggravates me daily ('where's my pen?' 'Where did I put my trowel?' 'Penknife. I had a penknife?'), very early this morning, around 3 a.m. I think, the thought came to me that I ought to write a POST in my BLOG about memory.

And I knew just how to start it.

Well, it's now way past 11 in the morning, I remembered that I wanted to write a blog about memory, but, damn it, I've forgotten how I wanted to start it off........................

Saturday, July 20, 2013

For Brits - my age - over 70

Although I followed rugby more than soccer, I remember Bert Trautmann, the BEST goalkeeper of his time.

July 19, 2013

Bert Trautmann, Who Won Iron Cross and F.A. Cup, Dies at 89

By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Bert Trautmann had jumped out of planes as a paratrooper in Hitler’s Luftwaffe, endured capture by Russian, American and Free French troops, and eluded them all until the British finally seized him and locked him in a prisoner of war camp.

But it was his exploits on the soccer field that built his legend — and not in Germany, but in England.

There were, for example, those last extraordinary minutes of a championship game on May 5, 1956: “I flew forward, and he came into me — it was like a train crash. I got his thigh in my neck and in a moment I was gone.”

Trautmann, the goalkeeper for the English soccer team Manchester City, was describing a punishing on-field collision in which he had made a save late in the game.

He staggered. He could not straighten his head. He could see only fuzzy black-and-white silhouettes. But he stayed on the field — substitutes were not permitted in those days — for 17 more minutes, making more spectacular saves, unaware that he had broken his neck.

And so it was that Manchester City defeated Birmingham City that day, 3-1, and won England’s prestigious Football Association Cup. Trautmann learned of his neck injury in that “train crash” of a play three days later. Doctors said he had barely escaped paralysis or even death.

Manchester City said Trautmann died on Friday in La Llosa, Spain, the town near Valencia where he lived. He was 89.

Tall and blond, Trautmann had grown up in Germany as an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth, then served with a Luftwaffe paratrooper unit on the Russian front. He was awarded five medals, including the Iron Cross.

On his fourth and final capture by Allied troops, a British soldier greeted Trautmann with the words “Fancy a cup of tea?”

As a prisoner of war in England, Trautmann began kicking a ball around with other prisoners, and soon local people were coming to watch him. After his release in 1948, he chose not to go back to Germany and hooked up with a local semiprofessional team. In 1948, Manchester City, a member of England’s First Division, a precursor of today’s Premier League, signed him.

More than 20,000 people demonstrated against his hiring. Season ticket-holders threatened a boycott. Letters of protest poured in. “Does City expect supporters to go and watch a German playing football with men the Germans tried to kill?” one letter writer asked. Taking the field for his first match, Trautmann was met by chants of “Sieg heil!”

But the unmistakable soccer prowess he had gained in Germany soon won over the fans. After City visited London to play Fulham and lost, 1-0, sportswriters concurred that the score could have easily been 6-0 had Trautmann not made a number of dazzling saves. Players from both teams lined up to applaud him.

Trautmann’s acceptance by fans was aided by Dr. Alexander Altmann, a Manchester rabbi who had fled from Hitler. Rabbi Altmann issued a statement saying that Trautmann should not be punished for his country’s crimes. Manchester City’s captain, Eric Westwood, who had fought at Normandy, calmed the team by saying, “There is no war in the dressing room.”

When Trautmann returned to Germany to visit his parents at the end of the season, Manchester fans sent along a trunk of condensed milk, homemade cakes, bacon and other foods for them. They also gave him an envelope addressed to “Mum and Dad.” It contained 50 one-pound notes

By season’s end, Trautmann was called “Britain’s best-loved German,” though even his biggest fans conceded that it was not a hotly contested title in those years.

Bernhard Carl Trautmann was born in Bremen, Germany, on Oct. 22, 1923. He enrolled in a Hitler Youth division when he was 10, part of the first generation to join. He loved the uniform and the emphasis on athletics. He joined the Luftwaffe at 17.

He later said that his training as a paratrooper had made it easy to perform acrobatic dives as a goalkeeper. He knew how to fall to the ground without hurting himself, he explained.

As German forces began their long retreat from the Russian front, he slept in trees to stay out of the clutches of partisans. The experience made him fearless, he said. When he began playing for Manchester, he declined to wear goalkeeping gloves; the English winter was mild compared with Russia’s, he said.

In his first six years with the team, Trautmann was the rock of its improving defense, missing just five league games. In 1955, Manchester City made the F.A. Cup final but lost to Newcastle, 3-1. The next year, Trautmann was named “footballer of the year,” the first goalkeeper to win that distinction.

Bobby Charlton, one of England’s soccer greats, called Trautmann “the best goalkeeper I ever played against.” Charlton played for Manchester United, City’s crosstown rival.

“We always said, ‘Don’t look into the goal when you’re trying to score against Bert,’ ” Charlton added. “Because if you do, he’ll see your eyes and read your thoughts.”

Lev Yashin, a Russian whom many consider the best goalkeeper in soccer history, said: “There have only been two world-class goalkeepers. One was Lev Yashin; the other was the German boy who played in Manchester.”

After his playing days, Trautmann coached and managed soccer teams and headed an effort by the German soccer federation to promote the game in developing countries like Burma and Tanzania.

He is survived by his third wife, Marlis, and several children.

In 2005, Queen Elizabeth made him an honorary officer of the Order of the British Empire.

“Ah, Herr Trautmann,” the queen said at the time. “I remember you. Have you still got that pain in the neck?”

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

My second PACE 'I am a scientist' class - for parents AND their young scientists

Today, July 17th, 2013, I start my second round of workshops at PACE, the large community center on Main Street, in Parker, entitled,
I AM A SCIENTIST.

This evening, starting at 6:30, young children, who will be addressed as Young Scientists, will work with their parents (Adult Scientists) on a range of fun, 'hands-on', scientific activities that I have used countless times with countless children in countless classrooms.

I hope it all goes as well as my first round of five classes (see BLOG POST: MY FIRST PACE WORKSHOP for children and parents) when everyone had fun, when the adults really did work with their young scientists and not do everything for them).

Here's the proposed agenda for the evening's science workshop:

- I'll be there very early and set up the tables in a semi circle. Children (the youngest, I believe, is 4 and the oldest is 14) will sit and face me......their parents will be on the opposite side of each table.

Adults on the outside, young scientists on the inside, sitting close to me and my table of resources

- Resources (all recycled material, plus scissors and glue, which I've been collecting for the past month) will be set out on each table.

I will welcome everyone and begin by telling them about my 71st birthday walk, and showing them as I talk what I found, stressing how I keep and save the best in a tin, a ROCKBOX, or, in this case as it was a special day, in an old cigar box - and that I return the rest on my next walk:

I will show my ROCKBOX, made from an egg carton, and hand out one to each young scientist, encouraging them to use it the next time they go out for a walk in the countryside.

Then, I shall tell about the birthday walk I took on my 5th birthday, about my childhood, how my mum and dad set me on the track of becoming a scientist by taking me to the beach and the country lanes around my home. This will give me the opportunity to tell them my wishing rock story (see BLOG POST: I'M a COLLECTOR)

I will give each young scientist a wishing rock...........collected long ago from Lariggan Beach in Penzance, and and ask them to keep their wishing rock in their tin .........and thus make their first POCKET MUSEUM.

I will show some of my pocket museums.

An arrow head

A special walk

Humming Bird nest

- Then, when I know I have the young scientists in the palm of my hand, I will introduce the first science challenge: building a bridge from newspaper. This activity focuses on team building between the adult and the young scientist. The bridge, incidentally, has to hold the weight of brick!

- When I've tested every bridge, we will work on a range of FLIGHT activities, starting with a simple boomerang.

** I'll take some photos and put them on this post and share with you how the evening goes.

Well, many more kid scientists came than I expected, but, fortunately, I had resources for everyone. And what excitement and anticipation they brought with them as they came into the room!
This is what they saw in front of them for Class One: Making Things Fly...

The kid scientists sat close to me as I began the class......and they were GREAT listeners!
When we started with the activities:

....the room was soon filled with the excited buzz of young scientists at work.

I loved every minute of it!

Dad's watching............

Flying time!

'Do you need some scissors?'

'Watch me, watch me!'

The world's SMALLEST papercopter

There was the greatest buzz!

The time went so quickly. I didn't get but halfway through the planned activities before the 90 minutes was up. I'll hold those until next week.

It was really a great night of science. The adults were super with their young scientists, helping, supporting, advising, explaining......but mainly letting the kids explore and enjoy.

Then yesterday, some feedback .......I received this email from one of the adult scientsits who brought her two children to my first class, and again to my second:

Hello,

My two scientists love their science teacher....you inspire them!! They love sharing with you because they know and love that you have a true appreciation for things. We had that wood for years and they would never let anyone else have a piece including their friends because they knew it would never be appreciated or treasured. Then, they met you and without hesitation, Neil wanted you to have a piece and couldn't wait to give it to you.

When we went on vacation and hiked to Fish Creek Falls, my two kids kept said, "I wish Mr. Paull was here will us, he would love this". Then when we tubed down the Yampa, all I heard was, "Mr. Paull would be able to tell us about those birds and their nests" and "Mr. Paull would know what kind of fish that was." Then there was the bike ride and Mr. Paull this, and Mr. Paul that....

Needless to say, you were on vacation with us and I loved every minute of it! We actually wished you were physically there with us!

Thanks for being GREAT!

We love you!

Flippin' 'eck!!
PAYDAY!!

CLASS TWO

How Things Move.

Activities I had planned (and included in the handout for the parents) included:
Making a FLIP FLOP, a Can Dragster, a Starbucks Dragster, a CD machine, and a Marble Run.
I started off the evening by telling the children about the day I found my amber on Lariggan Beach.......what happened when I took it to school to show my teacher......and showed them my OXO tin where I have kept it safe for over 66 years.

Then, we made FLIP FLOPS - and the young scientists were off and running - literally, around the room, showing each other what they had made.

The BEST marble run!!

Timing the descent of the marble

'Mmmmm.....this seems to work really well!'

'That's my young scientist!'

Starting the soda can dragster!

Again, the evening went too fast and I didn't do all that I could have and should have done. Hey, hey, the fun and joy of teaching...............

I'm already making adjustments in what we shall be investigating next week in Class 3.

Class 3

I arrived well over an hour before the start of class, rearranged the tables and set out the resources.
The plan was to build a bridge, the highest tower, then a paperplane launcher..........and more