PRINCE2 and British Computer Society

I took and passed PRINCE2 (2009) Foundation level certification last week, also took the Practitioner level exam but it takes a couple of weeks for the results to come through for that so I won't know for a while if I've passed that. I'm really not sure if I passed the Practitioner or not. If I failed I don't think it will be by much. Apparently there were a lot of complaints from employers that the 2005 exam was too easy so the 2009 exam has been toughened up and the pass mark increased so the pass rate will be lower. They've also introduced a new type of question called Assertion-Reason that test knowledge, reasoning and logic and have abolished half marks (in the 2005 objective exam if the question was to pick two items from a list and you only got one right you;d still get half a mark, now you have to get both right to get any credit at all).

On Saturday I got an email from the British Computer Society to say they've added a professional networking site for members. It was launched today so I signed in and set up a profile. I've also created a couple of groups, one for members in the West Midlands (the county I live in) and one for members involved in Project or Programme Management.

Fake e-mail messages from HM Revenues and Customs

This was circulated at work

Some staff may have received an e-mail message purporting to come from HM Revenues and Customs and suggesting that you may be due a tax rebate. These messages are fake and are an attempt to obtain personal and financial details which could be used to commit fraud or other crimes. HMRC do not communicate with taxpayers in this way.

"Not a glass ceiling, sticky floor"

Gail Rebuck, CEO of Random House publishing (first female to head up a major publishing group), has won the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year. She said that she feels it's not that there is a glass ceiling stopping women getting into the higher levels (i.e. progress so far then stop) but rather that women find it difficult to rise from the lower levels of a company. She said, "Women don't particularly want to progress onto the next stage - it doesn't look very pleasant, because it is full of stress or because it might interfere with other aspects of their lives."

A couple of years ago Harvard Business Review ran an article that similarly cast doubt on the existence of a 'Glass Ceiling'. The article argued that rather than a simple barrier just below the board room women traversed a labyrinth through out the company to progress to higher levels. The HBR article itself is not publicly accessible, you need to subscribe to the magazine, but a similar article can be found here. There's also an article on Bosswoman from Susan Robinson, PhD, referencing the HBR article.

In her article Robinson makes a number of recommendations, most of which relate to the fact that women are far more likely than men to be responsible for caring for dependants and the home. In particular she recommends that women not complain about their home life at work, if they have to leave early due to a family situation they simply state that they have a commitment rather than going into details and that they be realistic about their home and standards of cleanliness, choose a home setup they can easily maintain (e.g. avoid nicknacks that are just dust traps, choose fabrics that are easy to maintain &c) and set realistic standards about cleanliness. There are 168 hours in a week so if we assume 8 hours sleep a night plus 5 days of 8 hours at work and 2 hours commute a day that leaves 62 hours for leisure, eating, socialising, networking (these days a vital part of career development), overtime, cooking, cleaning, paying bills, shopping &c. The more time you spend on cooking and cleaning the less is available for the fun stuff and career development.

The only issue I really have with Robinson's recommendations is that they are firmly entrenched in the presumption that cleaning and looking after the family are the sole responsibility of women. Maybe that's just pragmatism, or perhaps it's surrender. I see it as a social issue that needs to be addressed.

Incidentally, I'm single and live alone. If my house needs cleaning I have to clean it (although I do sometimes bung my nieces (no kids of my own, just two nieces, no nephews) twenty quid to help me with a big 'spring Clean'). I have had to settle on a standard of cleanliness that balances between how clean I want my house to be and the time I'm prepared to spend achieving it. Others may set higher standards, that's their choice but then the time taken to achieve it is therefore also their choice.

What is a manager?

A question was posted on one of the discussion forums I use asking "What is a manager?". I came up with: "A manager is a person employed to facilitate and direct the activities of their staff to deliver to the goals of the company."

Coincidence

I discovered today that one of my colleagues at work was at the same university as me at the same time as me. Well, she started the same time as me but studied a 3 year programme where as I studied a 4 year programme so she graduated a year earlier than me.

Keele was a small university, 5,000 students, but I don't think we moved in the same circles. On the other hand, it's been getting on for 20 years ago we both started and I have a shocking memory for names so we might have met. Also, I was heavily involved in the student's union (I think I spoke at every Union General meeting during my 4 years at Keele bar one) and RAG so there's a chance that she might have seen me pontificating from the lectern or out fund raising.

New Blog - Stephen's SAP Blog

As I'm now beginning to work on SAP I've started a blog about it, mostly just somewhere to make notes about interesting/useful things I come across. If it also helps anyone else then great but if it doesn't then no worries.

One of the things I have noticed, comparing Oracle with SAP, is that whilst for Oracle you can find online free resources at pretty much any level (both official Oracle sites and individual sites and blogs) in SAP there seems to be loads of 'salesy' type sites telling you how wonderful SAP is and how it will revolutionise the way you do business (presumably for the better) and some very in depth technical sites (mostly forums), where you're sunk if you can't get in an manually edit the data and code, there's nothing anywhere in between. There certainly don't seem to be any how-tos, any pages that seem to be telling you howto when they come up in Google searches are actually saying "If you want to find out how to sign up for our course and pay us a lot of money." Of community there seems to be little, aside from the aforementioned bit twiddler forums.

http://stephenssapblog.blogspot.com/

I admit I'm a bit Leonard of Quirm when it comes to blog names.

How about Free Prescriptions for England?

Having read recently about how Scotland and Norther Ireland were soon to join Wales in giving free prescription medicine to all, I thought I'd go to the Nomber10 petitions site to see if there are any petitions to extend that to England. I found 2:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/prescriptionfree/
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Prescription-s/

I would suggest that anyone (in the UK,obviously) who agrees that prescriptions throughout the UK should be free, not just in 'Everywhere that isn't England', signs these. The first closes April this year and the second closes January next year but currently has more signatures. Maybe it will do some good, maybe it won't, but it's got to be worth 5 minutes.

Only 11% of precriptions redeemed are chargable, the vast majority being exempt for any of a number of reasons. In all likelihood the added cost of those 11% being made free would not be onerous. Infact, I do wonder if the costs of administering those charges may not outweigh the income. I submitted an FOI request to the Department of health to find out:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/income_from_prescription_charges#incoming-19483

I fully expect them to come back with one of the normal excuses like "We don't hold that information, try the local PCTs" or "We do hold that information but it will cost too much to collate it and send it to you." Worth a try though. If anyone else wants to submit a similar request to Department of health or their own PCT, have at 'em.

Politicians work for us, if we keep bothering them they might remember it. Squeaky wheel gets oil and all that.

Dumb Spammers

Just received the following spam mail to my work account:

Please note: we tried to contact you several weeks ago, unfortunately we did not receive a response. You still may qualify to become a member and we are extending our invitation to you one more time. As a reminder the date below reflects the initial attempt to contact you. We are providing an additional 5 day extension through November 18, 2008.

Stephen Booth,

I am pleased to inform you that today, October 22, 2008 Emerald Who's Who for Executives and Professionals has selected you as potential candidate into our organization to represent Birmingham, , United Kingdom. Your professional experience with Birmingham Air Conditioning Ltd. as Company Secretary has been recognized and has qualified you to possibly be included. Emerald Who's Who is the authority for professional networking and recognition in virtually every industry across the globe.

Based on the research our team and our affiliates were able to find, you are the type of professional we would like to include as part of our executive and professional organization.
Our members assist each other with business and career opportunities everyday. Emerald Who's Who is consistently helping our members increase existing business, develop new ventures and acquire new contacts, locally, nationally and internationally.

Should you be inducted into Emerald Who's Who, you will also be included in the 2008-2009 edition of Emerald Who's Who for Executives and Professionals. This is an annual edition of accomplished individuals across the world.

Your inclusion into our organization requires that further professional information about you is provided within the next 5 days.

Please note there is no charge to be considered into the Emerald Who's Who for Executives and Professionals.
We have provided the below links to help you submit your information quickly and easily. Both URL's are the same, however should you not be able to click, please copy and paste #2. Please note your information will be encrypted and transferred safely over the internet as we use, the leading security service for security and protection. Your information will also be protected once stored on our secure servers.
> Click on this hyper link
1) http://ewwdirectory.com/ [MUNGED]
Or manually enter the below link into your web browser
2) http://ewwdirectory.com/ [MUNGED]

While our editorial department is continuously working on publishing timelines, I cannot assure that you will be included in our next annual publication featuring all executives and professionals like yourself. If we receive your information in the next 5 days, we can still consider your submission.


Kind regards,

Anthony Miller

Research Director

Emerald Who's Who for Executives and Professionals Inc.

954 3rd Ave, Suite 817, NY, New York, 10022
http://ewwdirectory.com/ [MUNGED]

Emerald Who's Who for Executives and Professionals is not affiliated with Marquis Who's Who or any other Who's Who organization or publication.

Thank you for your time, should you wish to no longer receive any further e-mail from us at this address, please follow the directions below.
We make every effort to remove those individuals who have asked to be unsubscribe, however if you have done so via email, and have received this for a second time, we apologize. Please use the unsubscribe link below to ensure you are removed from our invitations. Thank you for your time and patience.

I am not nor ever have been a Company Secretary and I don't work for and have never worked for Birmingham Air Conditioning. Not only are the spamming but also they're spamming the wrong person.

They should be drowned!

Is this a scam? Calls from 01792572140

I've been getting a number of calls from people claiming to work for 3 who then ask a bunch of questions to "Confirm [my] identity", the sort of questions someone running an identity theft scam might ask. I've emailed 3 to check:

Hi,

I have received a number of missed calls from a number apparently in Swansea (01792572140) today I managed to pick on up and the person on the other end identified themselves as being from yourselves. They said that someone would call me to talk about handset upgrades (despite me saying I'm quite happy with my handset and I had selected it explicitly because it is a Skype Phone and I had bought it to use Skype). they then went on to ask a series of questions, "To confirm [my] identity". These questions were the sort that an identity thief would be likely to ask (home post code, date of birth &c) and, as I pointed out to them, they called me so of the two people on the call I'm the one who's identity does not need to be confirmed.

Can you please confirm if the phone number 01792572140 is one you use for outgoing calls (this was the first thing to trigger my suspicions, it's rare for an outgoing line from a call centre to identify itself).

Thanks

Stephen

Hopefully they'll respond soon.

A new stop on the 900 route

I've been thinking of lobbying for an extra stop on the 900 bus route. For those not familiar with this route, it's a limited stop route from Birmingham City Centre to Coventry via Birmingham International station (which links to NEC and Birmingham International Airport). Most of the route is along the A45 Coventry road but between Bordesley Island and Hay Mills Island (also known as Asda Island because there's a large Asda next to it) it goes along Small Heath Bypass, to avoid the heavy traffic congestion in Small Heath. This is a long span without a stop, possibly the longest until it leaves Birmingham International Station towards Coventry (and vice versa on the return).

The extra stop I'm thinking of proposing is at the point where Small Heath Bypass crosses Golden Hillock road (where there is a small traffic island). From what I can see there is ample space before the small traffic island in both directions for a recessed stop allowing for space before the junction to pull out.

A stop there would link the 900 route to the Inner Circle (8) route and to Small Heath rail station. It would also serve Ghamgol Sharif Mosque, the houses near by and the businesses near by. It would also provide an almost direct bus link (either the 900 then walk about a third of a mile or the 900 then take the 8a down Golden Hillock road) to the Ackers activity centre from the centre of Birmingham, Hay Mills, Yardley, Sheldon, Elmdon and all along the A45 as far as Coventry centre.

I guess my local councillors are my best starting point. I'm in the process of formulating my communication and deciding how to send it. This entry is very much draft 0.9.

More calls from 01254277054

Just had yet another call from them (they've been calling me twice a day on average but just silence when I pick up). This time there was actually someone on the line. The call went:
"Hi Stephen Booth speaking."
"Hi, I'm XXXXXXX with GM connect."
"Yes, I've heard of your company. Are you aware that you're calling a number that's registered with the Telephone Preference Service?"
"We're a supplier of mobile"
(interrupting)"Are you aware that you're calling a number that's registered with the Telephone Preference Service and you're probably breaking the law?" (actually I don't know if it's a law or just industry code of practice they're breaking)
"We supply mobile"
(interrupting) "Could I speak to your supervisor or the call centre manager please?"
"" (Silence)
"Could I speak to your supervisor or the call centre manager please?"
""
"Could I speak to your supervisor or the call centre manager please?"
""
"Could I speak to your supervisor or the call centre manager please?"
""
"Could I speak to your supervisor or the call centre manager please?"
(click) He hung up.

Stephen

Nuisance Silent Calls - 01254277054

Once or twice a day for the past few days I've been getting calls from 01254277054 that hang up as soon as I answer. When I called back I just got music so hung up.

I Googled the number and discovered that apparently quite a few people have been having the same problem. Apparently it's a company called GM Connect who are trying to sell new mobile phones to people. The number they're calling me on is one I've only had for about 8 months and don't give out other than to family members and close friends. The number I normally give out is for my Orange phone which is my main number. This number is on 3 and I only have it because my sister and one of my friends switched to 3 and the cost of calling them from Orange (indeed any network other than 3) is huge, my Orange phone bill more than doubled, and I worked out it would be cheaper to get a phone on 3 just to call them on than to pay for the calls on Orange. My 3 phone bill is about £15 a month but has saved me about £25 a month on my Orange bill. Plus the phone is a Skype phone so I can now call people for free on Skype without needing to boot up my PC.

A while back John Hemming MP was campaigning against silent calls (where a call centre uses an autodialer to call you but when you answer there's no agent to take the call). I wonder if he'd be interested in this?

Council strike suspended

The strike by Birmingham City Council staff planned for tommorrow has been suspended when the council agreed to further talks on issues raised by the unions. Further details on the UNISON Birmingham Branch website.

Phones 4 U Suck

Met my sister this afternoon, straight from work. She had to take a couple of mobile phones back to the shop due to problems.

At the end of September last year she bought three phones on contract (one on Orange for her daughter and two on 3 for herself and her husband) from Phones 4 U (the one at 87-88 High street in Birmingham), she also took out insurance on each phone. The insurance on each one is £10 a month, which is a total rip off (the going rate is £2-3 a month). In the shop they said that it was a great deal, unfortunately my sister tends to trust what she's told rather than realising that the people in the shop are paid according to how well they can lie without getting caught out or saying something that is actually illegal (a good deal, but compared to what? A good deal compared to the bad deal they're also offering? They don't have to compare it to the deals being offered by other retailers). She also bought a hard protective case for each phone to prevent accidental damage.

Her daughter's phone was sold as being new but when they got it home they found that there were already phone numbers stored on it, clearly it was a refurb. they went back tot he shop and were told "That's wierd." At this point I would have demanded a replacement but of course she didn't. Recently the speaker has been playing up (crackly) and the 4 and 5 keys have been sticking. So we take it back to the shop. The guy in the shop (I tried to get his name but he wouldn't give it (ignored the question) and everyone else in the shop denied knowing him) first denied any problem with the speaker (apparently he was the only one who couldn't hear it) and said that the keys shouldn't stick (a lot fo things shouldn't happen, but they sometimes do). Then he started saying that my niece must have dropped it to cause the problems so she'd have to pay for the repairs. Finally he agreed to send it in for a warranty repair (which will take at least 2 weeks) but kept going on about how if they found any evidence that it was dropped then that will be a charged repair. He also said that if they sent it in for repair under the insurance (that good deal that costs only 3-5 times as much as every other deal) then any damage would be repaired but they'd have to pay a £50 excess, and excess they hadn't been told about when they bought the insurance.

The other phone belonged to my sister's husband, the screen had failed and developed cracks. He insisted that this must be accidental damage (although how a screen on a phone inside a hard protective case that is supposed to be designed to protect the screen could be accidental damage is anybody's guess). They're going to have that done as an insurance fix and pay the £50 excess.

The whole time we were there we were subjected to dismissive and negative treatment by the staff of phones for you as if it was we who were running a scam rather than them. Utterly unprofessional.

My sister and my niece now don't have mobile phones (imagine, a 16 year old girl without a mobile! How ever will she survive), my sister has had to pass her mobile on to her husband (hopefully that one won't break as well, it's the same make and model).

I got my first mobile in 1998, I've had several in that time (including work phones), I now have 4 (two contract on Orange and 3, I got the 3 phone because my sister a one of my friend's had switched to that network and it worked out cheaper to get a 3 contract phone than to call them from my Orange phone), one Pay-As-You-Go and one work. I have had to claim on the insurance a few times due to accidental damage and theft. The most I've ever paid for insurance on a phone is £2.90 a month, I have never had to pay any excess for repair or replacement. I've always gone to the network's own shop (first phone was Cellnet, then Orange and finally 3 for my newest phone). Today's experiences have shown, as far as I can tell, that you should never go to Phones 4 U, certainly never the one on the corner of Birmingham High Street and New Street. I hope they go out of business soon.

UNISON Birmingham Branch gets a website

UNISON Birmingham branch finally has a website. The actual content was written months ago, the hold up has been getting those who hold the login details for the web server to release them, serious case of idiocy and not wanting to release even the smallest bit of power despite not being able to use it.

The layout is a bit crap right now but that's because the person who insisted in it being that way thinking purely in a paper documents. I'm hoping to replace it with something better soon, the important thing was to get something up ahead of the strike next week.

Dyspraxia

One of my colleagues spoke to me yesterday about a friend of her's who has a 3 year old son with Dyspraxia,a congenital disability that I have. Apparently she had told this person about me and said that I'd talk to her friend and the friend's husband about it and how to deal with it. I emailed this to my colleague to pass on.

---

This is the link to the Dyspraxia Foundation web site:
http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/

Whilst they're often confused (even by medical professionals) and
often listed together Dyspraxia is not like Dyslexia. There is some
overlap of symptoms but they are different. For example a common
symptom of Dyslexia is not being able to read, Dyspraxics also often
have problems with reading but for us the problem is more about
parsing the word and working out what it means (especially if it is
used in a metaphor or it's meaning is shaded) rather than not being
able to read it at all. Different coloured paper, coloured glasses or
a coloured sheet of acetate can help a Dyslexic but won't help a
Dyspraxic any more than it would someone with neither condition.

A literal translation of the word Dyspraxia would be "Can't Do" or
"UnPractical". It's a condition, or rather family of closely related
conditions, that has as a core symptom problems with balance and
co-ordination. On the plus side these symptoms fade with age, it's a
regressive condition. When I was young and through my teens and early
adult years my disability was refered to as purely "Lack of
Co-ordination" or "Poor Hand-Eye Co-ordination", the only recognised
symptoms were problems with co-ordination and balance, my problems
with social skills were put down to my being shy or even 'just being
difficult'.

I first heard the term Dyspraxia when I was 29 and visited my GP for a
review of my hay fever medication and he looked at my notes and said
something like "Ah, you're the one with Dyspraxia. Did you now we
have a support group?" My first response was to say no but he
explained that the condition that I'd thought was called 'Lack of
Co-ordination' was actually properly called Dyspraxia and had a whole
host of other symptoms attached, many of which I hadn't know were
symptoms of my disability and thought were something 'wrong' with me.
I also discovered that it is a lot more common than I'd previously
thought and not restricted to men, I'd previously been told it was
three in every thousand males but from what I've read it could be as
high as one on 10 depending on how tightly one adheres to the strict
definition and, whilst it mostly affects males, does affect both
genders. Whilst there's no 100% proof it does seem that Dyspraxia
does run in families so if a child has it the odds are that one of
their parents, usually the father, will also have it to some degree.

Typical symptoms include:

• Problems with balance, tendancy to trip, especially on moving
  vehicles such as buses (if I have to stand on a bus I have to hold on
  to a pole with each hand). To get an idea of the impact imagine
  getting moderately drunk, say 1.5 to twice the legal limit for
  driving, and trying to stand on a moving bus or walk the wrong way on
  an escalator


• Problems with co-ordination, especially things that require a high
  degree of fine motor control such as writing, may develop 'writer's
  cramp' much more quickly than most people


• Lack of empathy and difficulty 'reading' other people


• Tendancy to interrupt


• Problems using moving stairs (feelings of extreme discomfort,
  falling over, tending to go to extreme lengths to avoid and may 'over
  react' if forced to use them)


• Bad at sports (will go to kick a football and miss, can't catch
  something thrown to them, can't hit a tennis ball with a tennis
  racquet &c)


• Excessive emotional responses, may have fits of anger or frustration
  


• Untidy dress, rumpled clothes and may have problems buttoning a
  shirt (out by one matching buttons to button holes or may skip a
  button or button hole)


• Generally untidy (messy bedroom, untidy work area &c) but
  obsessional about order in specific things (e.g. CDs have to be in a
  specific order or grouping that may seem unfathomable to others and
  have to be put back into the cases as soon as they are removed from
  the player)


• Problems developing physical strength, may be much worse on one side
  than the other


• Problems gripping things, again may be much worse on one side than the
  other


• Tendancy to take things literally and to express oneself literally


• Inability to play a musical instrument


• Difficulty sleeping, both difficult to get to sleep and difficulty
  staying asleep


• Easily distracted


• Can't draw or paint, when try they look like those produced by a
  small child (I'll bring in some of my paintings sometime)


• Problems hearing speech when there's lots of background noise (one
  of the things that M****** does that really drives me up the wall is
  in a meeting he'll start whispering in my ear whilst management are
  talking, if I listen to him I literally cannot hear them and if I
  listen to them I literally cannot hear him)


• Tactile defensiveness. Physical contact with another person can be
  very uncomfortable, this is one of the symptoms I have to a much
  higher degree than most dyspraxics


• Strong dislike for change that can result in extreme frustration and
  even anger, in particular where change has happened when they weren't
  present


• Problems with memory, especially names and instructions (if you give
  me a set of verbal instructions by the time you've reached number 4
  I've probably forgotten number 1)


• Poor posture leading to health problems and pain (back ache,
  shoulder pain, neck pain)

There are many other symptoms as well. It's important to note that
other than the first two on that list the rest can be explained by
labelling a child as 'lazy' or 'rude'. Indeed that's how I was
labelled through most of my life and sometimes still am. Also not all
dyspraxics have all the symptoms or necessarily the same symptoms
(although the ones listed above are very common and the first four are
pretty definitive). For example a fairly common symptom is not being
able to relate a map to the physical world it represents, this is not
something I have ever had major problems with, although I do often
find it easier to navigate a map if I turn it to match the orientation
of the physical area (so if I'm facing south I'll turn the map so it's
upside down), similarly a commonly described symptom of Dyspraxia is
having problems seeing how things fit together (pattern matching
problems, navigating a maze, jigsaws or seeing how the parts of
something fit together to make the whole) but it's not something I've
ever had problems with.

In terms of dealing with it the most important step is the diagnosis.
Because so many of the symptoms can be written off as being the result
of laziness it's important to recognise them for what they are,
symptoms of a disability. As an adult it's a great relief to discover
that some of the more steress causing aspect of your life are finally
explicable.

Once you've identified the particular symptoms of someone with
dyspraxia, in particular a child, there are loads of ways of dealing
with them. Based on what I've read I think something that is
important for someone who doesn't have Dyspraxia dealing with someone
who does is that due to the symptoms relating to perception a person
with Dyspraxia literally does not see the world the way you do, or to
put it another way we see the world literally and without emotional or
other shading. Something I found very hard as a child and still do to
a degree is around time. If someone says they will come and see me at
three o'clock my first reaction is to expect them to show up at three
o'clock, probably not two fifty nine and certainly not three oh one.
Intellectually I know that three o'clock doesn't mean three o'clock
but my subconscious.

The major issues and how you solve them will vary from person to
person. You have to find out what the symptoms are for yourself or
the person you're dealing with and fit to them, a standardised
solution won't work. Below are some possible things, they may work or
they may not.

Some things you just have to live with and tolerate. For example I
have to live with the fact that any contact with another person is
uncomfortable to me but it's going to happen as part of normal life.
Shaking hands can feel like shaking a slimy fish and a 'bone-crusher'
hand shake is absolute agony, a pat on the back feels like punch, a
touch on the arm can feel like either being touched by something slimy
or burn like having an acid or alkali solution poured on. A hug can
feel like being crushed. Those things are going to happen so I just
had to learn to brace myself and deal with it. Avoiding contact or
trying to explain that it's uncomfortable just leads to being seen as
rude/antisocial or makign a fuss over nothing (one of the people on
the NJB insists on giving everyione a huig and kiss goodbye, she may
as well punch me in the face as do that). Also Dyspraxics often have
behaviours that puzzle others, for example you know how when you go to
a cafe or a pub that serves food there's often a little pot on the
table filled with different sorts of sugar/sweetner or sauces, well in
those situations I have a strong compulsion to sort them so that all
of the same are together and they are neatly lined up with similar
colours separated by dis-similar colours (so sachets of chili sauce
and tomato ketchup (both red) have to be separated by, say, mayonaise
(tends to be blue) or horseradish (tends to be very light creamy
brown)).

Other stuff can be accomodated with little effort, e.g. don't change
things around without warning [1] and only make small incremental
changes with time in between to get accustomed to the new environment,
avoid unnecessary metaphor, realise that someone with Dyspraxia might
need a little longer to digest new information, may have difficulty
telling when you're angry/upset/happy and may act inappropriately
because as far as they are aware their action is an appropriate
reaction to the situation &c.

The major issues and how you solve them will vary from person to
person. You have to find out what the symptoms are for yourself or
the person you're dealing with and fit to them, a standardised
solution won't work. Below are some possible things, they may work or
they may not.

Co-ordination problems in things like handwriting can be handled by
allowing extra time and opportunity for frequent breaks, in school the
best thing the teachers could have done for me would be to provide
handouts with the bulk of the text of the class which I could then
annotate rather than expecting me to copy reams of text off the black
board or an OHP. Problems with balance can be addressed by making
sure that in areas where it's likely to be a problem (e.g. on a moving
bus or stairs) they have something to hang on to. Apparently there
are physiotherapies that can help but I doubt that someone with
Dyspraxia (unless it's very mild) could achieve complete normalcy.

Problems with sleep can be handled by allowing for a nap during the
day and a later bed time (so let a kid of an age where you'd normally
expect them to go to bed at say 8pm stay up till 9 or 10 but let them
take a nap at lunch or tea time[2]) and minimising light and noise in
their bedroom (double glazing, thick curtains of a dark material (on
both sides) that extend further around the window frame than normal,
close fitting door &c)

Minimise background noise and avoid situations where two or more
people are talking to a person with dyspraxia at the same time.

Give instructions in writing rather than verbally and break tasks down
into chunks.

Stephen

[1] e.g. When I go to a fast food place (e.g. KFC, Burger King &c) I
always have the exact same thing, only changing when they change the
menu so forcing me to change
[2] There actually a lot of evidence that our pattern of stay up for
16-18 hours straight then sleep 6-8 hours solid is unnatural and what
we should really be doing is sleeping less at night but having a
siesta or two during the day. Far better for our health.

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Lectures

My alma mater just emailed me about a couple of lecture series they're running:

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Why not retain your intellectual faculties at the white-heat they enjoyed while you were at Keele!

WORLD AFFAIRS LECTURE SERIES

The World Affairs Group has drawn up an extremely stimulating series of lectures and speakers for their 2006-2007 programme. All Lectures start at 7.30 p.m. in the Westminster Theatre, Chancellor’s Building). Please note course fee below.

September 28th	Prof Paul Rogers	Bradford University	“A War Too Far”
October 5th	Prof D Stevenson	L.S.E.	War and Peace in the 20th Century
October 12th	Dr C Spence	Director Middle East Studies Chatham House	“Iran”
October 19th	Dr D Nussbuam	Transparency International Berlin	World Wide Corruption!
October 26th	Sir Digby Jones	Chief Ext C.B.I.	Globalisation – Threat or Opportunity?
November 2nd	Lembit Öpik	Lib Dem MP	Northern Ireland
November 9th	Anas Altikriti	Moslem Council	“Iraq” – a case point of Western Moral and Ethical Decline
November 16th	Bruce Kent	Vice President, Nuclear Disarmament	Getting rid of Nuclear Weapons and War
November 23rd	Dr G Watts	Science and Medical Author BBC Broadcaster	Mice, Molecules, Men. Moral Ethics and Biological Medicine
November 30th	Prof Alex Danchev	Nottingham University	Terror and Torture
December 7th	Prof M Temple	Staffordshire University	Politics and the Media
December 14th	Dr Tim Jones	Innovara, London and Amsterdam	The World in 2026!
December 21st	Lindsay Whitehouse	Deputy Governor Werrington Young Offenders’ Institute	Dealing with Young Offenders
January 4th	Annual Dinner	Keele Hall	Sir Stephen Lander – Director General Serious Crime Squad; Former Head MI5
January 11th	Werner Sabiers	German Journalist	Germany Today
January 18th	Prof L Scott	Aberystwyth University	Intelligence in Crisis from Sept 11 to Iraq!
January 25th	Dr S McKenzie	Keele University	Looting the World’s Culture Heritage
February 1st	Dr M Breen Smyth	Aberystwyth University	Reconstruction – Northern Ireland, South Africa and the Middle East
February 8th	Dr P Bou-Habib	Essex University	Justice for the Old and Young
February 15th	Prof D Dorling	Sheffield University	The World as You Have Never Seen It Before
February 22nd	Dr M O’Neill	Loughborough University	Immigration
March 1st	Prof P Styles	Keele University	King Coal is Buried but is he Dead Yet?!
March 8th	Dr P Fysh	Nottingham Trent University	Racism in France
March 15th	Dr D Maxwell	Keele University	Zimbabwe
March 22nd	Prof N Wheeler	Aberystwyth University	Humanitarian Intervention
March 29th	Dr D Dunn	Keele University	Thinking about Peace
May 3rd	Lord Carlisle QC	House of Lords	Terrorism and Civil Liberties – Where Now and Next?
May 10th	Dr S Sharma	Keele University	India
May 17th	Prof M Dando	Bradford University	Biological Warfare

“There is
a lot of evil in mankind

And we
have to be constantly vigilant to combat it

But there
is a lot of good in mankind

And
properly nurtured it will always triumph!”

Gandhi

Course fee
£25. Pensioners £13. Unemployed and Students free. Please make cheques payable to “World
Affairs”.

Why not
try the first three lectures free of charge? This course is dedicated to the
principles of free political debate. You must, however, have the tolerance to
accept that others may hold opposite views! If you want further information,
please ring Owen Powell on 01782 534934.

INAUGURAL
LECTURE PROGRAMME

DATE	LECTURER	TITLE
Tuesday, 3 October 2006	Professor Matthias Klaes	An Introduction to Commerce in Five Aphorisms
Wednesday, 25 October 2006	Professor John Wearden	The Perception of Time
Thursday, 9 November 2006	Professor Steve Cropper	Playing a part: on organising and evaluating collaborative action
Tuesday, 5 December 2006	Professor Serguei Semenov	Imagine and Discover: medical Imaging
Tuesday, 16 January 2007	Professor Andy Dobson	Political Animals
Thursday, 1 February 2007	Professor Jo Laybourn-Parry	Antarctica – the edge of existence
Kh Mm Thursday, 22 February 2007	Professor Stephen Wilkinson	Choosing Children: the ethics of selective reproduction
Thursday, 8 March 2007	Professor Richard Hays	Education or workforce strategies? The precarious position of medical schools.
Tuesday, 27 March 2007	Professor Ronnie Lippens	Whither Critical Criminology?
Wednesday, 2 May 2007	Professor Chris Main	Does the Reign of Pain fall mainly in the Brain?
Tuesday, 15 May 2007	Professor Tom Scharf	The Extremes of Age: Challenging Poverty, Promoting Inclusion

ALL
INAUGURAL LECTURES COMMENCE AT 6.00 p.m. IN THE WESTMINSTER
THEATRE, CHANCELLOR’S BUILDING

Apologies
to those unable to enjoy these events due to
distance.

forever:
keele
John Easom
International Alumni Officer
Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG
Tel
00 44 (0)1782 583370 Fax 584422
Moved house or job? Don't forget to let the
Alumni Office know... www.keele.ac.uk/depts/uso/alumni

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The World Affiars doesn't look that interesting but some of the inaugural lectures do. If it weren't for the distance I'd seriously consider going.