I was thrilled to see that Kinsale has kicked one off too and they had 103 kids at their first one. Well done!

Annnd I’ve just spotted that they now have one on Sundays in Blackrock Observatory.

If you are anywhere even vaguely close to either club I would encourage you to go with your children. I am absolutely convinced that early exposure to “computers” in a creative setting (not as consumers reading web pages or playing games) gives children a swathe of new opportunities in life that they would otherwise miss out on. They may never be programmers but they may become designers, engineers, scientists or artists.

This is also absolutely not a thing only for middle class, technical parents. The clubs have plenty of spare computers and people there who can help/guide the kids. You just have to be there to mind them

The contact details for the City one are here. It is on every Saturday morning in the NSC in Mahon.

Kinsale details here.

The Kinsale one is on this evening at 7pm in The Trident Hotel. Please contact them if you are intending to go so they have an idea of numbers. They use an SMS system to gauge numbers each week where you just send Y/N in reply to a text message.

Blackrock details here.

Munster Programming Training

I should also mention the granddaddy of them all, the brilliant Munster Programming Training course which has been going for many years in UCC. Coder Dojo founder James Whelton attended it himself so it must be good! It is targeted at Transition Year students as preparation for participation in the “All Irish Schools Programming Competition”. Full details here.

The internet is one place where we see a wonderful synthesis of creativity in design and engineering. I believe you can teach anyone the basics of web development to a level where they can contribute in some way to web applications and mobile applications. Some of the greatest web-apps were built by self-taught people, not Computer Science graduates.

The key, again, is the word “creativity”. We need to take back ownership of that word from those we would traditionally call “the creatives”; artists, sculptors, authors and actors. Just look at something like Facebook and think about all of the people involved in the creation of that. Creative coders, user interface designers, product managers and Ops people all working together to build an amazing system which impacts 700 million people in a positive way.

Yesterday I attended an event which may be one of the most important initiatives ever in changing the mind-set of Irish parents. Cork Coder Dojo was put together by James Whelton and Bill Liao. You probably know that Bill is a serial entrepreneur but you may not know James. He just finished his Leaving Cert.

The Coder Dojo is a weekly meetup where young people can learn the basics of web development and build sites/apps with the help of the volunteers there. Yesterday was the first one and it felt to me like I was taking part in the beginning of something huge. The room in the NSC was jammed with kids of all ages and their parents. James gave a basic intro to some simple HTML and then he and others went around to help.

I was there with our 12 y/o who has just finished primary school. He is a geek but not a coder. We have built Google AppInventor mobile apps but he has never seen HTML. Within 20 minutes, he “got it”. We had fun embedding images and videos and changing colours. We also did some basic styling with CSS. The next step is to look at JavaScript and JQuery to make a site that does something.

The reason I feel James and Bill are on to something is that I could see many of the parents were not remotely technical. This is not geek parents turning their kids into programmers (well, except for me maybe ), this is smart parents understanding that their kids can re-build this country with their creativity and the right skill-sets. I was pleased to see that Simon Coveney popped in too.

Whilst I know that many secondary schools teach some basic web skills to kids, I think it has to start earlier and be driven by people who build Apps themselves. I see no reason why my 9 y/o or even 7 y/o could not learn simple development. They may never use it, but they will always have an appreciation for it. Maybe in some ways not that different to sending your kids to piano lessons.

The intention is that The Coder Dojo will be on every Saturday. I strongly recommend that you bring your children to at least one. Don’t worry if you don’t have a laptop, the guys have spares (and I can bring a spare too). They will also be rolling it out in other parts of the country.

Head on over to the site to find out the details and register your child. You can also follow them on Twitter. I’ll hopefully see you at the next one.

If you know of any such group that are looking for workshops or entertainers then do get in contact with him on pat.naughton@yahoo.co.uk

Quote:

Full Circles African Drumming workshops are an exciting, fun, addition to any festival or gathering that you have planned. We cater for both childrens and adults workshops on the day. In the childrens workshops we encourage parents to participate as well, especially in the case of very young members.

We are fully mobile and can provide up to 40 drums on the day with a variety of shakers bells, and African xylophones. Children and adults learn how to create their own rhythm, sing songs and chants, dance and listen to tales from Africa. Within five minutes we have people playing the drum, grooving, dancing and clapping to an energetic beat.

We cater to your requirements and needs on the day and can arrange a timetable to suit. We have done such festivals as the Dun laoghaire ‘Festival of World Cultures’ 2006 Terriglas Festival Tipperary 2007, Green Gathering 2008, Roundstone Summer Festival 2009, Feile Lispoil Dingle 2009. Bere Island Summer Fest 2008, Belvedere house Mullingar 2010 and all the major Cork Community festivals.Included are a list of schools and centres Full Circle has worked in including references from school.

Enquires are very welcome. As the summer period is a very busy period for us please book early to avoid dissapointment. Full Circle is covered under public liability insurance. Should you also wish to book a performance based percussion group playing and dancing to traditional rhythms from West Africa then contact us on 087 2176460 or e mail. For a preview check out YouTube ‘Nankama Ireland‘ or alternatively ‘Nankama drummers with ark vg dancers cork city‘

PJ Lynch, one of the most celebrated children’s book illustrators, will give a special Children’s Talk on Monday 6th July, as part of the West Cork Literary Festival. He will also give a Public Interview with Robert Dunbar on the evening of July 6th.

PJ has won numerous awards including the Mother Goose Award, the Christopher Medal, three times, and the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal on two occasions, first for “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” by Susan Wojciechowski, and again for “When Jessie Came Across the Sea” by Amy Hest. “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” has sold more than a million copies in the United States alone, and has recently been made into a motion picture starring Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson.

PJ has designed several sets of stamps for An Post, including four Christmas issues. His illustrated version of “The Gift of the Magi” by O Henry is published in October 2008, and PJ is now working on a book about Abraham Lincoln by Rosemary Wells for publication in 2009. He lives in Dublin with his wife and their three young children. His work can seen on his website www.pjlynchgallery.com

As well as Free children’s workshops ranging from creating a picture to reading and drawing, the Bantry based Festival, supported by RTÉ lyric fm, has a host of children’s talks and readings.

Francesca Simon, creator of the “Horrid Henry” books will read from these on July 7th. Saturday 11th sees an afternoon with writer, television presenter and artist, Don Conroy.

On Wednesday July 8th Sarah Webb will read from her novel “Amy Green, Teen Agony Queen: Boy Trouble” while Judi Curtin will read a selection from her “Alice” series of children’s novels. Sarah has written four children’s books as well as eight bestselling novels including, “When the Boys Are Away”. Judi’s first novel for children, “Alice Next Door”, was published in 2005. One of Thursday’s highlights is a reading by Darren Shan. Darren will read from a selection of his children’s novels which are incredibly popular – selling many millions – J.K. Rowling is one of his more famous fans. For anyone who would like to learn the secret to Writing For Children, poet and author John W Sexton will advise on the subject in a workshop during the festival.

West Cork Literary Festival Booking is on 027 55987 email: info@westcorkliteraryfestival.ie

I’m not a religious person but I take some comfort in imagining everyone involved in the systematic abuse of children in the 20th century burning in the eternal fires of hell.

Some comfort in imagining every priest, every brother, every nun, every bishop, every arch-bishop, every cardinal, every papal nuncio, every pope who knew anything about what was happening in this country and DID NOTHING, being raped by satan every day for eternity.

The Catholic Church in Ireland should have all of their lands seized immediately, held by NAMA and sold off when the economy recovers. That money should be ring-fenced to build the best system in the world to take care of children in need in Ireland.

It is on from 11th Nov to 18th Nov in various locations around the city. I believe the HQ is City Hall and local tech companies will have stands there. Many of the events will be in UCC.

Check out the web-site for a full list of what is happening and make sure to book the ones that require it.

I’d like to go to “It’s Elemental! Role of elements in our everyday life”.

He reported back that he played hurling and soccer. His Nana from Meath better have a word with him about Gaelic Football.

Next week we are sending him in Kilkenny gear to shake things up a bit

Bloody hell, now I have two hurlers in the house. Who would ever have thought?

If your child dies from the side-effects of measles, it’ll be due to you listening to uniformed clueless dimwits like her. Remember that when you are casting your vote. Oh and don’t drink the water, it’s CIA mind control.

UPDATE 1: On a related topic, the HSE have announced that all babies born in Cork from this October onwards will be routinely offered the BCG vaccine against TB. Welcome to the 20th century. Oh wait a sec, that’s over already. Wonder if there will be any civil suits taken against the individual bozos responsible for the current situation between now and then?

Catherine has just pointed me to a story in The Irish Examiner about a woman with TB who worked in two creches in Cork. They are now going to have to test every child in both of those locations for infection.

Other than saving a few quid in the short term, is there any medical reason not to provide it? How would you feel if your kid got TB because some paper pusher in the health service decided Cork people don’t need protecting? Maybe they’d like us all to return to the days of Seán Ó Riordáin living in a shed in the garden writing poetry? “Mar is poll im cheann gach smaoineamh……and the TB ain’t so hot either mum”.

Once again, the advice from the doc was to do nothing and let it heal. He rang the dental hospital and they concurred particularly considering they are his baby teeth.

But we are worried about the full teeth and what the likelihood is that they’ll come down ok. Anyone else have kids where this happened? I’d hate for the poor mite to have to get implants at an early age. I know too many people with those already.

I hope he gets something nice in town with Catherine today. The tooth fairy gave him a tenner cos she felt so sorry for him.

Myself and Sibéal decided to make a mix of tagliatelle and spaghetti. Neither of us had made it before and her excuse is that she is only 3.

I had the usual recipe problem of not knowing which one to use. Jamie Oliver’s Italy book said 6 eggs and 600g of flour and that’s it. Another no-name one also added oil and water and salt. I went with Jamie but the dough was far too dry, so I added a bit of oil and that seemed to do the trick.

I clamped the machine to the worktop and ran into the first big problem, I don’t have three hands. Oh for that extra 1970′s ad washing-up hand to appear. You have to feed the dough in, feed it out on the other side and crank the handle. The first run through was not impressive:

This was mainly because i was attempting to fix a 2 inch think lump of dough through a millimetre wide gap.

Two more attempts went a lot better and we ended up with something which looked vaguely like a long sheet of lasagne. I then ran it through the wider cutters and got my tagliatelle.

Sibéal took over for the narrower cutters and ended up with far better looking spaghetti.

Fatal flaw was then discovered – we hadn’t floured the dough so all the strands stuck together again. I valiantly tugged them apart for twenty minutes, dumped the lot in boiling water and ended up with something that looked and vaguely tasted like pasta. None of the kids would touch it and they were right as the tagliatelle was undercooked and the spaghetti overcooked. Bin.

I’m unfazed and will go at spaghetti again. Or maybe lasagne if I lose my nerve. Any top tips for the next time? Except maybe looking at PodChef Neal’s pasta videos before we start? Should we rest the dough even when using a machine? Was the cheap book right when it said you only need minimal kneading if you are using the machine since it does it for you?

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Anyone out there have recommendations for good exciting reads in Irish for kids aged around 7? Catherine found this site but most of those descriptions sound a bit boring e.g. where is Mamo’s tooth? Does something old fashioned like the equivalent of The Secret Seven or Famous Five even exist in Irish?

Technorati Tags: Irish, Books, Gaeilge, Adventure, Kids+Books