Watch your 'facts'

From xkcd:

I like Sundays

No matter how busy you are, no matter how near the deadlines, a day off you don't need to feel guilty about.

Reference material

Amazing what a difference reference material makes.

My attempt at a picture of arm wrestling, out of my head:

After I Googled it:

Easier to draw, infinitely more convincing!

7 billion

People are much more than mouths to feed. They are also hands to create, minds to think, hearts to love.

Brendan O'Neill writing in The Big Issue

Do not be anxious

We learned this in Sunday School last Sunday, and I've been listening to it through the week. A good song as deadlines approach!

How myths get perpetuated

In the course of my work, we sometimes give instructions for children's crafts which involve toilet roll insides. At least, they would involve toilet roll insides, if it weren't for the fact that 'you're not allowed to use toilet roll insides in crafts any more - Health and Safety.' So we make vague references to 'cardboard rolls', or perhaps tell them to cut paper towel rolls in half.

However, I discovered recently that, despite popular belief, there is no law, or even official guidance, against using toilet roll insides. Schools may have their own rules, but there is no sense in which there is some kind of blanket ban. On the contrary, according the the Health and Safety Executive (who are unfairly blamed for a lot of nonsense): "as long as egg boxes and toilet roll centres look clean, there is no reason why they should not be used."

Great! So we can stop beating around the bush and tell people to use toilet rolls again!

Except... no, we can't. If we did, people buying the book would think, 'don't they know you're not allowed to do that?' It would look bad, like we were out of the ark.

We could put an explanation, but depending on the context that might be a bit OTT. And even if the club leaders are convinced, some parents will be horrified if their children come home with crafts made of toilet roll insides.

So we continue to speak vaguely of 'cardboard rolls', and because the myth is unchallenged, it continues...

 OK, OK, I'll get back to work...

Lazarus

We were doing the story of Lazarus in Sunday School. The book suggested a craft which I liked very much. In fact, I thought it was quite cute.

 

My class of 5-6 year old boys were excited to go home and show their parents what they had been making -  

DEAD BODIES!  

(Please imagine this written in a creepy Hallowe'en font.)