Learning from our Fathers

Life should be full of fun. OK. Maybe a few problems thrown in. That's life. And I've a message for you today not unrelated to learning.

I guess the message is that we have benefited from the hard work and creativity of our past generation, well those over 65.

Many have given their life to bringing up a family, giving their children opportunities they never had, and encouraging them to better things. Some parents didn't have that attitude and their children didn't have the best upbringing, but that doesn't mean they didn't try, maybe they had problems of their own.

My point now is that this generation are often being neglected and I was really sad to hear about the elderly couple who dialled 999 because they were lonely and isolated. The local bobbies who called expecting an emergency realised the situation and stayed for a cuppa. The article written by Dr Max Pemberton in the Daily Mail on Saturday 14th November talks about loneliness and the fact that it is estimated that about one million people go without talking to another human being in over a month, and that this has both a psychological and physical profound effect. We all know that their used to be a community spirit around but this has gone. Now we don't often know our next door neighbour.

Christmas is the time when the appeal goes out: Look out for your elderly neighbours and why not invite an elderly neighbour in for Xmas dinner. This is all very good but this should be a round the year effort. I delivered meals on wheels for a year finishing a few weeks ago and was staggered by the number of older people who never see anyone, and often have relatives no too far away who don't bother to call. I was actually losing considerable money offering this service but I didn't stop because I felt I couldn't dessert my customers. Finally I was forced to stop. Whether I was right or wrong is immaterial. What matters is that we can all finf an hour a week and there is just no excuse for not seeking our a lonely neighbour.

Yes! Some will be cantankerous and grumpy but stick with it. You may be surprised and certainly you will get a new outlook on life. And these older people all have amazing stories about a life long gone. PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY.




Some of the skills that many of us have lost are knitting, sewing, darning, gardening and creative hobbies. My mother taught me to iron shirts, clean shoes so they gleam, sew on a button, knitting a hat and how to cook well. I learnt great gardening techniques from my father who always had fresh vegetables ready for the table. In fact on a Sunday we always picked vegetables and fruit and dug potatoes ready for lunch. And to get good crops I learnt how to prepare the soil and grow from seed. I'm sure these skills aren't being passed on nowadays. How do you feel about this?

I hope you have something to think about in this post. I hope I've encouraged you to take some action. Make a comment.

 

Socialcam gone Native Video on Facebook and Twitter is here

Hi Guys

Socialcam is dead. It's official. Or it will be on Friday 29th October 2015. It was founded by a small team of 4 people and was a spin-off of JustinTV. I will miss it.

Socialcam was launched in March 2011 and on 17th July  2012 was acquired by Autodesk for £60m. went from zero to ths staggering amount. So in just 551 days Now just 3 years on it gone.

If you are over 40 you'll remember the days of the first computer game with the ping-pong ball. Days before digital cameras, let alone smartphones. Now video is beginning to rule, particularly with the advent of Native Video for Facebook and twitter.

Just to remind you, native video is dropped straight of your smartphone onto Facebook or Twitter with no interface such as YouTube or Vimeo. This has just recently been launched and you may not have noticed but there is now a tab on Facebook for your videos. With

editing apps it's now not just possible but downright easy to edit in-phone and add effects too. Take a look at your Facebook page and check out the menu: Timeline - About - Friends - Photos - More, Click on More and the top item is Video, That's where all your videos go. Now I don't expect many of you have much there but this is the future - and you will.

So to download just bring the video up as you do with a photo and look for the "Share" sign. Click and it will bring up a variety of possibilities. Click on the Facebook symbol and its done. Add some text, post and its done.

I used to take the video and upload onto Socialcam, this was programmed to relay to Twitter wwhich shared with YouTube and Facebook. So for minimal effort I would be on all 4 within 20 minutes or so. Now if you want to be ranked and found on Google you must download onto YouTube because Google doesn't pick up anything on Facebook.

As a bonus I just found this video on YouTube of Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak "Woz"talking not just about how he met Steve Jobes when he was a student and Jobes was just 16 years but how the two worked closely together, Woz being the creative guy and Seve being the marketeer, and how well that worked.

But interestingly he went on to talk about how to become the best at anything. I have the same ethos. If you dig deep and learn everything you can about anything you'll become an expert. I've always said that if you read a book about your subject for an hour a day, you will become an expert in 3 months. Obviously we aren't comparing this to a university degree but in my experience an enthusiastic positive approach will take you much further that any disinterested person with a higher education.

Take a look at this video that was with a 14 year-old. Woz is very open and gives some good advice.

Make your future. Invest your spare time now and make a better life.