Chris Grade 7 graduation

last night Ian & Fay, Megan and I went to Chris's grade 7 graduation cerimony at Oxley school.

The kids had all dressed up (not in uniform) and paraded in by class and took their place on chairs on the stage.  Us parents sat in the body of the hall.  Various kids introduced dignatories of different pedegrees.  We started with a speach advising us that we were not allowed to put any photos we took on the internet.  The Headmaster Mr Slingsby inspired the kids to look to the future.  A couple of polies said a few words of an unmemorable and inconsequential nature but I am sure they were important.  Amazingly both hung around after although I resisted the temptation to instruct them on what their policies should be.

Then each kids name was read out and they walked across the stage and shook hands with their teacher while a small statement of encouragement was read.  All very positive.

When that was done we had some finger food.  I think for some adults, this was their main meal.  Then the kids did some line dances.  Actually most seem to have fun while the adults took photos.  Then us parents were dragged in.  Luckilly the CD jammed halfway through the "Nutbush" so we moved on to a varient of Knights mounts and cavileers and then monte-carlo.  Much less coordination and in both cases the winner was rewarded with chocolate.

In all it was a great night.  Moved along quickly.  Kind of sad in a way.  The end of the enjoyment of learning in primary school where the pressures to "do something with your life" is not relevant.  I reckon it would be fun to get them all back during their grade 12 year for a get together to see how they are all going.

Dan U10 School age swimming champion

Dan has won the U10 school swimming age champion.

Bird scarer - Crazy Man

One of the products we make at work is a pop up scary man.  This fellow usually hides in your field and pops up when the birds arrive and gives them such a freight that they nip over the fence and eat your neighbours crop. 

How does it know when the birds are there you may ask.
Well apart from having some big googly eyes, we also make a radar that detects the birds and tells the scary man when to pop up.

(Not shown is the radar, and the solar panel.)  Also the scary man is normally teamed up with a gas gun but they are somewhat noisy and when let off in suburbia tend to attract the police.

NLTAC

I learned a new acronim on the weekend.
In judging people, once upon a time we had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
And apparantly there are now scales like High Achievement, Very High Acievement.
and
Competent
NYC - Not Yet Competent
NLTAC - Never Likely To Achieve Competence.

The last one is where we prejudge little Johnny and pidgeon hole him during his school life.  The centralised planning and marking systems ensure that such a tag follows him like a bad credit rating.  Eventually he ends up in jail or a milionaire.

Video Take Down - Rights to video kids in public without consent

I have been asked to take down this rather offensive video

It is my understanding that the following are the rules:
a) Anyone can take photographs of anyone (kids or adults) in a public place.
b) The photographer does not need to obtain permission from anyone (parent, child, festival organiser etc)
c) Photographer owns the copyright to the picture. (unless you took the picture as part of your employment - then your employer owns the copyright or if you were comissioned to take the photo)
d) Can publish the photo publicly but not for commercial purposes.  ie you can not turn it into a TV advertisement for some product.
e) Picture must not embarrass the child - The test that is applied is "Would a reasonable adult consider the photo demeaning of the child".  Note what the kid thinks is irrelevant.
f) The picture must not be porn so for example even if taking a picture of a kid in their togs at the beach does not embarrass the kid then it may still fail under the porn test.
g) On private property eg school, sporting club, church youth group, the property owner can place their own restrictions and it is best to get permission from the property owner.  (Somewhere the guidelines for photographing kids sport say that you get the permission from the two team managers)
h) In a situation like a school or youth group, there may be implied expectations of privacy associated with duties of car or Loco-parentis (however that is spelt) and in those cases it is best to clarify by getting all parents to sign a waiver allowing photographs including photographs by other kids and parents as well as photographs that maybe used for promotional purposes.  [I need to find the reference for this]
i) You can not identify kids who are under the protection of the state (Wards of the state)

Government Resources
So what are the rules?

http://www.ccypcg.qld.gov.au/pdf/publications/brochures/children-and-the-media/Corporate-Fact-Sheet3.pdf
Is a fact sheet from the queensland Government titled
Tips for parents on photography of children and young people
Key quotes:

Quote	Coment
"It is important that children and young people feel confident about their achievements, and having a visual record of successful moments, such as winning a sporting event, can reinforce this."
"It is prohibited under s189 of the Child Protection Act 1999 to publish information which identifies, or is likely to identify, a child or young person in the context of intervention by the child safety system without the written approval of the Department of Child Safety’s Director-General2."	We obviously do not know if any of the kids fall into this category so we do not name any kids.
Private property There is a common law understanding when a person enters private land that they consent to any requirements that the property owner may impose upon them. This means the property owner, for example a school or sports club, may not permit photographs or videos of events held on their land to be taken. However, there is nothing to prevent a person from taking photos from outside the borders of private land, regardless of the property owner’s preferences.	Not private property. -> Public property
Public places There is currently no one specific piece of legislation preventing people from taking photos of children and young people in public places, unless the person photographing or filming creates a ‘public nuisance’. This only applies to the photographer or camera-person if their conduct is ‘offensive’ or ‘threatening’ and likely to interfere with public enjoyment of a public place (under s6 of the Queensland Summary Offences Act 2005).	Well even that sounds logical.
Indecent photographs of children and young people It is against the law to take indecent3 photographs of a child under the age of 16, or to involve a child in any material which exploits them.	Well if the choir uniform is indecent then we are really in trouble.

COPYRIGHT
There was a suggestion that the video violated the copyright of the choir uniforms or words like that.
This web site "http://photorights.4020.net". (although it is focussed on NSW law, it is very likely that it is equally applicable in QLD because I believe copyright is a federal issue).
states
"no part of the Copyright Act prohibits any kind photography!"

MUST CHALLENGE
It seems (although I do not have a reference) that the school does have to challenge my taking and posting of the video otherwise they could get into trouble for not exercising some kind of care and diligence thing.  And I of course have to smile politey and publish anyway - quite legally.

This and that

SUNDAY 

CANOE GUIDE
I have been doing a course with Queensland Canoing to become a Flat Water Canoe Guide.  Two weeks ago was the the training weekend.  Today I did the practical assessment.  It went well.  Tomorrow I submit the written assignment.

SUN EVENING
We all went to Indooroopilly Church for the Tony Pitman Christmas Pageant.  It was a play with puppets and real actors (kids) about the struggles that Mary and Joseph had getting to Beathlehem.  Some comic levity included the camel drivers going on strike, Herods soldiers with an ichariot 4.1.

SATURDAY NIGHT
Megan and I went to Megan's school (work) F* Christmas F* Party.  It was F* held at the F* Sit F* Down F* Commedy F* Club.  The comedy was at least funny in between the F*ing. A real challenge would be for a comedian to entertain us with out F*ing.

SATURDAY DAY
Worked on my canoe assignment and then went  10pin bowling with Dan at the Boys Brigade break up party.

spicks and specks

 Last night (30-11-2011) Megan and I went to the Spicks and Secs show.  (Spicks and Specs is a music quiz show that ran on ABC TV finishing up last week after a 7 year run).

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/spicksandspecks/

They have a live show finale that they are touring Australia.

So we are sitting in the audience and the show starts and after the opening number that had the boys dressed as girls it is announced that contestants will be drawn from the audience following a short audition.  The audition consisted of Adam, Alan and Myf asking the audience music questions.  If you knew the answer you stood in your seat.  These were pretty obscure questions so it was pretty easy to spot who was standing first.

Pretty early on a fellow in a long sleeve brown shirt with a yellow tie stood up and as with all contestants, was asked his name.  Turned out to be something like Ross Philip Michael smith or something.  He successfully answered the music question and then they asked him his job and he advised the audience that he was a director of investigative tax recovery for the tax department.  Well now the audience has someone to hate and I am thinking "plant".

Pretty much the final question and Megan dug into her extensive array of resources and managed to make it up on stage where quite by luck she is standing next to the tax dude in a team of four led by Alan Brough.  They battle it out with Myf's team of four and in a tense battle Alan's team win by a point carried by Megan and the tax dude.  Myf's team is sent back to their seats and Myf gets to choose two members of Alan's team and what in hindsight was a way to ensue a decent finale, she takes the other two members of the team leaving Megan paired with the tax man.  Of course they trounce Myf's new team and then finally it was one on one.  Megan vs the tax man.

Both got 4 out of 5 with "Look what they've done to my song".
Entering the final count down, it was Neck and Neck.  Megan got in some good answers but the tax man was quicker on the buzzer just a little more often and he pulled ahead and eventually one the night by a couple of points.  At the end of the night, He won a tee shirt and a trophy and Megan got a tee shirt as runner up.

A fantastic night.  Afterwards we celebrated with a wine at a local bar and I basked in the reflected glory as total strangers came and congratulated her and some stayed and sat and chatted at our table.

Here she is beside the amp racks









Actually, upon reflection, I suspect the tax guy was a plan to cover for the ABC only having one trophy and they have to recycle it at each show thus manipulating things to ensure the outcome.  (:)