Here I am, thinking that the Morning Coffee is something that I don’t do anymore, and then this pops up:

And now it’s back.

Whatever you might think of the whole Occupy Wall Street movement, what they’re up to now is incredibly awesome. They have started something that they are calling The Rolling Jubilee. Far better than the Jubilee we saw in London this year, the idea is that they raise money, use that money to buy debt, and then forgive that debt.

It’s a brilliant (and simple) idea. Debt can be bought for pennies on the dollar, making every donation received go a long, long way.

For those of you looking for (free) further education, Stanford is offering an introductory course on Cryptography online. For free. I would be doing this if I thought I could find the free 5-7 hours a week to complete the coursework. Plus an extra 5-7 hours in the next week, to make up for the fact that it started a week ago.

Coffee image is of a mug on sale from Diesel Sweeties.
The astronaut in the Apple store is a photo by James Nord.
Webcomic is Cautionary Tales, by Bill Taylor.

Maggie is two, as has been noted.

With the second birthday comes the two year health visit. This consists of a ten minute meeting with a Health Visitor – a poor job description, as I had to visit them – during which I reassure her that Maggie holds a pencil the right way and is reasonably balanced on her scooter (although she does like to crash, and dislikes moving quickly). I, in turn, am reassured that she is “hitting all her development milestones”, and is not so short that I should be worried. Though she is pretty damn short.

And a few more things.

“We’ll see you next year.”
“Her next set of vaccinations will be in about a year and a half.”
“You need to start looking into schools now.”

What?

Yes, now. Schools. For my two year old. And so my internet research skills are now flailing helplessly over the needlessly over-complex school system that exists here in Great Britain. In an effort to figure out how things work, I looked at this article, from Good Schools Guide, which charges parents in return for making some little bit of sense out of the school system. Which I scoffed at, at first, but am now seriously considering.

The article begins:

Pre-conception

Consider the pros and cons of September birthday babes; research suggests their August counterparts remain forever in their schooling shadow…If it’s already too late consider a move to Northern Ireland

The article was not kidding. It is actually suggesting that parents of children born in summer ought to move to Northern Ireland. What kind of fucking crazy idea is that? I mean – if you want to live in Northern Ireland, great. But if you live in say, London, that’s one hell of a move because your child happens to have a July birthday.

After reading a dizzying array of league tables, Ofsted reports, and who-knows-what-else, I now have a short list of things to do (mostly iterations of “check out this school”). And I have suddenly become a much bigger fan of private schools, if only because they tend to have less complex application procedures and no confusing catchment areas.

On the other hand, money.

So apologies if I am confused and rambling. But I am confused, and it makes me ramble.

Who needs an education, anyways?

OK. Maybe the same old style of coffee. Don’t act like you don’t love it.

MIT has long been pretty awesome. They post course materials online, allowing anybody (in effect) to virtually audit a large number of their courses.

This year, it’s set to get better. MIT is unveiling MITx, designed to improve this experience, adding interactivity, online laboratories, grading of completed work, and certificates of completion (amongst other things).

All of this will continue to be free.

Bravo, MIT.

Image is sunlight in her eyes, by Masha Sardari.
Webcomic is Buttersafe.

Photo is Caprebula, by Alexander Semenov. Found at Illusion 360.
Webcomic is Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling.