Print books attract zero per cent VAT (as they should). Ebooks, despite now being part of the (early) mainstream attract VAT at a rate of 20%. If, like me, you think this is more than a little wrong, you can sign up to a petition requesting the abolition of VAT on ebooks. The acquisition of knowledge should not be taxed …
With a new school year starting this week, it’s a good time to reflect upon why we actually go to school. “To get some GCSE’s etc; so that I can get a job” seems too banal to me, so I thought I would channel my inner Education Minister and offer up a top ten of things we should all learn at school.
1. You set your own level of achievement … and usually hit it.
2. Learn basic maths: you probably won’t use calculus, vectors or algebra, but if you can get percentages, basic probability and how to spot dodgy statistics, your chances of being ripped off in life reduce considerably. Our society is awash with numbers.
3. Learn to play the guitar, not the recorder. You will gain no credibility at a student party or as an adult when you whip out your recorder and bash off a few tunes …
4. Working hard is pretty much the only consistent way to a good outcome.
5. Learn to write creatively. Why? Because so few people actually can.
6. RE is about culture, not God.
7. Get some history: the trajectory of the future is generally determined by the past.
8. Learn to fail and realise it doesn’t hurt (too much)
9. Leaving school is the start line, not the finishing line
I’m going to leave the 10th to the wisdom of the crowd … feel free to add or remove as appropriate.
There’s not really any need to add to the outpouring of comment regarding Steve Jobs’ resignation as CEO of Apple, but it has offered a chance to revisit some of the more sage advice Jobs has offered over the years.
Here’s my favourite:
” When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use plywood on the back. Even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it”.
Beautifully put. All those looking for a way out of the current economic uncertainty, take note
People are annoying. Really annoying. You have this really great idea for a new product and a clear vision for how people will use it. Then bang, they decide no, they want to use it in a different way. Or sometimes, not at all. Or more often, they take time to work out how they are going to use it. Someone has to show them (now that’s original). Take a not so new technology (ebooks) and a user sample of one (me). I’ve been involved with ebooks for ten years and always got how people in academia and the professions could really benefit from ditching those huge lumps of dead trees. But as people always told me, “I will always want my paperback on the beach”. Given that I’m not a professor, a lawyer or an architect, I didn’t buy many ebooks myself.
Now, purely by chance, I’ve found how to use ebooks: on my smartphone and in snippets. When I’ve got a spare few minutes because the train is late or I’m early, I can just flip open my phone and start reading. I have a faddish attachment to books about Chinese history at the moment and they’re super easy to pick up and put down: a dynasty a day, so to speak. It’s a perfect way to fill in time or keep myself occupied at Baristas.
Which gets me thinking. How do you collect up all these real life user stories and use cases? How do you watch them rise and fall; evolve over time? How do you tell others about these user stories, because people don’t always work them out for themselves. Ideas?
There's not really any need to add to the outpouring of comment regarding Steve Jobs' resignation as […]
With a new school year starting this week, it's a good time to reflect upon why we actually go to sc […]
Actually, that isn't what the Daily Mail said. But it's pretty close. An article in the Mail Online […]
It's a given that education is important. It affects the productivity of the workforce and thereby t […]