mistrustmusic's posterous http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com Most recent posts at mistrustmusic's posterous posterous.com Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:09:12 -0700 Young kids and Facebook #2 - Parents strike back http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/young-kids-and-facebook-2-parents-strike-back http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/young-kids-and-facebook-2-parents-strike-back More on from my recent post about Young kids and Facebook, where I read on my local school's newsletter that some of the 7-11 year olds were going on Facebook. I decided to take matters into my own hands and send an email to the headteacher, asking if they knew there was information readily available on the internet about the pros and cons of children using Facebooks and other social networking sites. I also suggested that they look at sites like Thinkyouknow and maybe list them in one of the newsletters. To my surprise, I got an email back the next day, thanking me for pointing out what I did, and then got a mention in the next newsletter, in a paragraph telling parents about the Thinkyouknow website. So, a big tick for Parent Power! It's probably the first time I've written to the school about anything - probably because it bothers me so much. We'll probably never know if any of the parents take notice of it, but it's a start. However, I'm now waiting for the backlash from parents saying "how dare you tell me how to bring up my child!" It actually makes you wonder why the Local Education Authority haven't issued guidelines to school about things like using Facebook etc. Surely they're the people who have more influence. I think I'm going to have to suggest going in and talking to the staff and kids about all this.... As you may know if you're following my ramblings regularly, I am a Twitterer as well as a Wordpress blogger. As such, I'm interested to read that Wordpress have finally got round to adding a Twitter widget to the list available to those of us with Wordpress.com accounts. I won't go into details about what the widget will do as there's more information about in Wordpress.com's blog post here - "Bring Twitter to Your Blog". However, I'm still not convinced about having all my eggs in one basket - in other words, will people prefer to follow my tweets in Twitter, and my blogs in Wordpress? And finally - for those people who don't know me, or are just interested in the ramblings about Facebook etc., you might like to know that I also make music in my spare time. In fact, I've been quite busy recently with the music-making. I''ve been making my own tunes for a few years, but a chance meeting with a DJ from the Big Chill organisation put me in touch with New Zealand band Pitch Black. I asked if I could do a remix for them, just because 1. I like their music, and 2. for a bit of experience of doing a remix. I sent it in, and they liked it so much they released it on their EP of the title track of their last album, and it's on their new remix CD out in May. Because of that, I was asked to do a remix for Big Chill band Animat for their next single - that's out early May too. Not bad eh? I'm on the lookout for some more remixes to do, but so far, so good! If you'd like to hear the remixes, please go to www.myspace.com/mistrust The tracks on Myspace are: Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals (mistrust - ambiotik remix) Animat - Deep Space Lament (mistrust remix)

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Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:20:20 -0700 Young kids and Facebook http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/young-kids-and-facebook http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/young-kids-and-facebook It really comes to something when your child's Head Teacher has to put a notice in the weekly school newsletter telling parents about the dangers of letting their little ones go on the internet unsupervised. Apparently some of the 7 - 11 year olds at this particular primary school are regulars on Facebook, and are even posting information about which school they go to! Seven years old! I won't go into why these young kids would want to even go on Facebook, but maybe someone could explain in more detail than me. What I want ask is why their parents are even letting them go on. Apologies to some of the parents of this school who may read this message  (if you even know that I blog!), but how on earth can you let your child say that they were born in 1987? Did you know that Facebook only allow over-13s on? I know that younger kids go on there (my 11 y.o. daughter is on it - completely supervised and not allowed to post any messages/comments without me or mrs mistrust approving it first). It makes me wonder if these parents who let their kids go on the internet unsupervised actually about parental controls, or even that they should really be supervising their kids when they're on the web. I'm not saying what me and mrs m are doing with our own kids by supervising them when they're on the web, but as I've said before now in my post "A is for Amazon", I really think it's necessary to let you kids learn the language of the web, and get a grip on new technology, new ways of communicating. However, apart from needing a balance between going on the web and doing real-life things, kids really need to know the pros and cons of going on the internet as soon as possible. My kids are hopefully fairly sensible when they go on the internet, because we haven't stifled them and stopped them going on every site they come across. To me it's like teaching kids to learn to ride a bike. You don't just put a 7 year old on a new bike on a main road, and say "off you go", and let them get on with it. You teach them how to ride the bike, put stabilisers on so they don't fall off, and you teach them what dangers to look out for - "don't go on that busy road until you're old enough", "don't go too fast or you'll fall off". So. back to these kids at the local primary school... it must be a complete lack of ignorance about what's out there on the web, or a couldn't care less attitude, that lets a 7 year old child go on Facebook and post details of which school they attend. Which is worrying. The school is holding a session in a few weeks showing parents how to help their kids improve maths and literacy skills. They should also be holding a session about how to improve parents' and children's awareness of using the internet safely and securely. Finally, if you have a child or want to know more about child safety on the web, please visit Thinkyouknow, which I came across a while ago, and which should help you enormously! Moving my blog... No more posts on here... I've moved my blog and website to  www.mistrustmusic.co.uk

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Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:30:11 -0700 A is for Amazon http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/a-is-for-amazon http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/a-is-for-amazon Not exactly music-related, but some news anyway. I've recently had an article published in a popular e-learning magazine in the USA. I wrote about how young kids are growing up learning the language of the World Wide Web and how we should encourage them to become proficient in using the internet at an early age. The article was reproduced from my own e-learning blog that someone from the magazine found a while ago, and asked if they could publish it. I'm quite chuffed, as you can imagine, and it just adds to the the list of other articles/letters I've had published in the last year or two (eg in Future Music magazine). You can read the whole thing (and the rest of the magazine) online in a virtual magazine reader here at E-Learning Magazine's website (go to page 50 of the NextBook edition.) or see it in its original form on my e-learning blog. Also.... I'm seriously considering moving all my other blogs into one place (here!) as it's easier for me to keep tabs on what I'm writing and who's reading them.

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Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:33:49 -0700 Autism and music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/autism-and-music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/autism-and-music
image: 29 may 2006 - eventful.org.uk - 0008 - (medium) by Headancer/Simon Green (copyright 2006) (link to Headancer homepage) As you'll probably have read on Paul's blog, he's still not back in school. This is having a massive knock-on effect on the rest of family and my in-laws, and is generally causing chaos at Mistrust Towers. Anything from a decent night's sleep to watching tv is being affected as Paul's life is almost completely unstructured and he's having to find things to do all the time, something he finds quite difficult at the best of times. He's getting tired at all the wrong times, just because he's getting really anxious in the mornings from not knowing who may call round to see him (school inclusion people, mainly). If you haven't been here before, he's got Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not otherwise specified, which means Autism/Asperger's type personality and behaviour, hence all the anxieties. What's this got to do with "mistrust music"? Well, for some reason, Paul has decided that he wants to learn to play the drums. That means he wants a drum kit. Not just a basic, cheap kit. A proper one, with all accessories included. Bear in mind that he has a very small bedroom and there's nowhere else in the house that it could go. So that's a non-starter. I've told him we'll get a basic drum pad-type thing - one of those plastic things without about 4 pads on it, with a set of plastic sticks - so he can see how it goes. Judging by his recent attempt to learn to play the guitar, he'll give up if he can't work out how to play a particularly beat. With Paul, it will be as follows: Learn the bass drum, then the snare, etc. Then learn a rock beat, then a waltz, etc, and if he gets stuck on one, he'll pack it in. He also wants to learn keyboards..... He's been fiddling with my old Casio MT31 (which still works after nearly 30 years!) but it's got small keys and he's having problems playing the notes. He's gone onto "Learn to Play.com" or something which has basic riffs to play, and has been practicising the same thing over and over till he gets it completely right. The problem is that there's no audio on the site, so he relies on me to say if it's right. Once again, if he can't play one of the tunes, he'll pack it all in. It's good that he's interested in making music the "traditional" way, instead of using loads of samples in Acid Pro, and he's actually got potential in the technique side of things. He now wants to use my Evolution Midi keyboard, plugged into the computer, and use a keyboard training program. All this means I'm getting less and less time to come up with some new tunes. I've got the playing bug again and I want to do some live work, but there's very little time to do much at the moment because of all this domesticity. The tunes that went to Candycover music library should be live soon, and that could open up some new opportunities, and I'd like to be prepared for anything that comes along. Howeve, anything that will keep him focussed, occupied, and will develop his skills, is something we've got to keep up with. You'll probably have noticed the image at the top of this post. It's a photo by Headancer, one of the Big Chill Forum folk. I asked on there last week if I could use some of the things that have been occasionally posted on the forum, or if anyone could point me to some others I could use to brighten up my blog. So, thanks to Simon Green (Headancer) for use of the image. If you want to see more of his photography, please go to Headancer on Mac.com and tell him I sent you. Please note: All the images used on this site are copyright and should not be used without the owners' permission. The pic I've used is from eventful.org.uk. It reminds me of the fact that I'm off on holiday in about 5 weeks......

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Wed, 16 May 2007 11:52:37 -0700 Life, the Universe, and my alter-ego http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/life-the-universe-and-my-alter-ego http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/life-the-universe-and-my-alter-ego In fact, I seem to have forgotten who I am. Or at least forgotten that I've got a musical alter-ego who likes making tunes and whose music some people like listening to. There's been so much going on at home and work that it's been impossible to even think about making music recently. Me and Mrs mistrust have been occupied with Paul almost every waking hour (and those times we should be asleep), so there's been no time to think of other things. As you may have read in his blog, Paul has PDD-NOS and has become more and more anxious and socially reclusive over the last few months. Helping him to make some tunes and sorting out the production for him was an excuse for me to get using the music software, but now he doesn't seem interested in creating some of his own tracks and getting some plays. Mrs m and I spend most of the evenings sorting out his needs and then desperately needing a rest when he goes to watch a dvd, or at least checking emails, forums etc.  Last evening I took him to the Trafford Centre (big shopping mall) almost straight after work and got home at 9.30pm, all because we'd promised him a reward for going to the child psychology day unit and seeing the registrar. The result was Gran Turismo 4 for PS2. Come on Paul, get making music again and writing your blog.

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Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:25:04 -0700 Podcasting - well sort of http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/podcasting-well-sort-of http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/podcasting-well-sort-of
Media_httpsmistrustfi_qjlgi
I came across a website called Talkr that claims to let you listen to text-only blogs on your iPod and other mp3 players. The idea looks great for someone like me who wants to have a podcast but hasn't got time to record one. All you do is add your blog's RSS feed to their site, and a permanent link to your blog post, and Talkr will create an MP3 of what you wrote in your post. I tried it on my last post here, and although I was disappointed by the automated female voice, it's really quite good. I can see it being quite useful for people who want to listen to what I've got to say another time, rather than read it in one go. Also, visually-impaired visitors may like it. More features will be available soon! Find out more at Talkr.com or visit the Talkr blog. Try it for yourself and....
Listen to this article

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Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:13:21 -0700 Paul can't open up to people but he can talk to his blog http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/paul-cant-open-up-to-people-but-he-can-talk-t http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/paul-cant-open-up-to-people-but-he-can-talk-t
Should this blog be entirely about music? Comments please! I just wanted to put in a quick word about Paul's blog. Paul Harrison is my stepson, who happens to have PDD-NOS, a condition similar to autism and asperger's syndrome. He's very withdrawn and hates having to meet new people, as it makes him anxious and can't cope. He can't get into school at the moment as his stress levels go through the roof whenever he thinks of being in class - he's 14 y.o. and you just try making him go! The whole thing makes him more anxious and less confident. His school agreed to send him work home, which is a start... We've had major problems getting him to communicate his feelings and anxieties, and won't go to see the pyschologist he's under at the moment, so me and his mum have to keep diaries and try to tell the psych what we think Paul is thinking. He just can't open up to people. Until he discovered I was writing a blog. Now he's blogging all the time. At first it was only to tell people about his music on myspace. Then he posted something about PDD-NOS, I helped him tag it, and he started to get loads of hits and a few comments about how he wasn't alone in the ASD world. People from around the world were writing to him. He's now added more posts, writing about his days at home, and life in general, and he's really opened up in writing how he feels, and actually puts across his anxieties. Whether he's found a way to get more hits than me (he's very competitive) or whether he genuinely thinks he can write down how he feels, I'm not sure. Oh, and if you want to read about music, I've just been signed by a major music library in the UK. Some of the tracks are on musicfreedom.com, so have a listen while you post a comment on here!

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