“Dad why is the grass green?”  “Well son that is a good question, but I don’t know.”  Replies his dad.

They walk a little further past some flower beds and the son asks another question.

“Dad why is that flower yellow and that one blue?”   Dad replies “That is a really good question son, but I don’t know.”

They walk along past the lake and see some rowing boats with people in them, and sure enough the son asks another question.

“Dad why doesn’t that boat with all the people in it sink?” and you guessed it, dad replies “Now son that is a really clever question, but I don’t know.”

After they leave the park and were walking home the son says.

“Dad, you don’t mind me asking you all these questions, do you?”    Dad replies “Of course not son, how else will you learn anything if you don’t ask questions.”

So is this a case of a rather dim, but honest, father in today’s society?

In case you were wondering:

Grass is green because plants use light from the sun to make food.  This is called photosynthesis and uses a compound called chlorophyll that looks green.

A flowers colour is due to reflected light from the pigment in the plant.  There are many reasons that flowers have different colours, with the most important being the benefit that insects derive from flowers being “colour-coded”– pollination.

The standard definition of floating goes like this:

An object in a fluid experiences an upward force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. So if a boat weighs 100 kilograms, it will sink into the water until it has displaced 100 kilograms of water. Provided that the boat displaces 100 kilograms of water before the whole thing is submerged, the boat floats.

So go on, keep asking questions.

Finally, the apple is red because it absorbs all other wavelengths of light other than those which make up the colour red, this one it reflects, which we then see and interpret as red.   But you knew that!

The first was from the Science Daily on 10 Feb 12.   (http://www.sciencedaily.com)

Numeracy: The Educational Gift That Keeps On Giving?

Cancer risks. Investment alternatives. Calories. Numbers are everywhere in daily life, and they figure into all sorts of decisions. A new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines how people who are numerate — that’s like literacy, but for numbers — understand numbers better and process information differently so that they ultimately make more informed decisions.

People who are numerate are more comfortable thinking about numbers and are less influenced by other information, says Ellen Peters of Ohio State University, the author of the new paper. For example, in one of Peters’s studies, students were asked to rate undergraduates who received what looked like different test scores. Numerate people were more likely to see a person who got 74% correct and a person who got 26% incorrect as equivalent, while people who were less numerate thought people were doing better if their score was given in terms of a percent correct.

People make decisions based on this sort of information all the time. For example, “A lot of people take medications,” Peters says. Every drug has benefits and potential risks, and those can be presented in different ways. “You can talk about the 10 percent of the population that gets the side effect or the 90 percent that does not.” How you talk about it will influence how dangerous the drug seems to be, particularly among people who are less numerate.

Other research has shown that only less numerate people respond differently to something that has a 1 in 100 chance of happening than something that has a 1 percent chance of happening. The less numerate see more risk in the 1 in 100 chance — even though these numbers are exactly the same. This has implications for how policy makers and others should communicate about the risks of medicines, earthquakes, climate change, and the stock market.

“Numbers are really just abstract symbols, and we have to bring meaning to them somehow,” Peters says. Think of all the very different ideas that can go with the number nine: 9°F, $9 billion, and a 9 percent chance of a tsunami. “In general, people who are numerate are better able to bring consistent meaning to numbers and to make better decisions,” Peters says. “It suggests that courses in math and statistics may be the educational gift that keeps on giving.”

The above article was written by an American for an American site but the problems of the understanding of numbers doesn’t seem to be restricted to just the USA.

The following article was published in The Sun newspaper on 13 Feb 12.   By Kevin Schofield. http://www.thesun.co.uk.

TENS of thousands of pupils are leaving primary school with the maths ability of a seven-year-old.

The shock findings were revealed in an analysis of last year’s SATs results.

They showed that 27,500 11-year-olds are going on to secondary school with the numeracy skills of kids four years their junior. That is a staggering one in 20 of the total.

Boys perform worse than girls, with 15,600 lagging well behind.

Separate figures published two weeks ago also revealed that one in three GCSE pupils fail to get at least a C in maths.

Critics said the figures showed how Labour had wasted billions of pounds on education spending.

A Government source said: “After 13 years of Labour, too many children are failing at maths.

“Employers and universities complain about the quality of our children’s maths. We have to put right Labour’s failure.” Former Countdown star Carol Vorderman has called for pupils to be made to study maths until they leave school at 18.

In a report, she said 22 per cent of pupils aged 16 to 19 are “functionally innumerate” — meaning they have no basic grasp of maths and arithmetic.

It emerged last year that barely half of trainee maths teachers have a top degree in the subject.

And Education Secretary Michael Gove wants to see a greater focus on traditional subjects in a bid to improve standards.

He has also announced plans to open specialist maths schools for the brightest teenagers.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We’re reforming GCSEs, A levels and the maths curriculum to make sure our children are prepared for the modern competitive world.”

Two separate stories from different parts of the world with basically the same theme, maths and numeracy are vital subjects in today’s education system, and we are letting our children down in regards to their numeracy skills.

I read through some of the comments left on the Sun article and one stood out because it is so obviously true. Unfortunately a lot of parents don’t follow this parent’s lead.

“It can’t all be down to the teachers can it? I have 4 children who are 2, 10, 12 & 13.   They are all very good at maths (to name but one).   My 12 & 13 year olds are likely to be sitting their GCSEs early, even my 2 year old can easily count to 30.   Surely parenting plays a part too?   I have always counted etc with mine from a young age.   If you don’t spend time doing the basics how can they possibly learn?   I am aware that all children have a different academic level but surely it starts at home and the teachers should continue from where the parents have started!”

Where do you think the blame lies?   Government, teacher, or parent.

Problem solved, all we have to do to create the next Einstein is to let our kids play board games all day long.   If only!    No it won’t do that, but these figures are not something we can discount.

Interestingly, two studies undertaken by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California indicate that in some situations direct teaching is actually inferior to experiential learning.  Can that be true?   The studies showed that children who are playing develop a stronger sense of creativity and inquisitiveness.   These are qualities that we want our children to have.   This is not to say that normal direct teaching methods are wrong, children still need to know the basic 3Rs before they can utilise and maximise the benefits of game playing.

Is the brain only exercised by playing board games?   Is play only for young children?   The answer to both is NO.  The benefits of play aren’t there just for children playing board games.   The benefits often come in surprising ways. For example, some of the most famous actors/ actresses and sportspeople suffer from extreme shyness and find that role- playing helps them break through into a world of self-confidence and self-esteem.

Robin Williams is an American comedian and actor who was a shy child who entertained himself with his own imagination and creativity

Famous footballer David Beckham, when he is playing football he has all the confidence in the world.

Why do people like to solve puzzles?   Perhaps it is a jigsaw, or a crossword or Sudoku, or perhaps you like to try to work out who the guilty person is in a good “whodunit” book before the end.  Whatever the puzzle or level of skill needed to solve it people actually enjoy exercising their brains

As people get older they instinctively do some of the above because they know it is good for them

Study after study has confirmed it: play is good for everyone. From nursery school all the way up through nursing homes, educators and caregivers are using play to engage the mind and fire the imagination.

Tell yourself this “Play does something to my brain and I’m better for it.”

Alfred Butts, was a New York architect who was unemployed at the time because of the Great Depression in America.    He first called the game ‘Lexiko’ and then ‘Criss Cross Words’ and  in the beginning he made the board games himself at home.

Funnily enough Numenko wasn’t my first choice of names for my board game.   I originally called it ‘Score’ then found out there was a game already with that name so I then changed it to ‘Funumbers’ but somebody had the domain name for that.   Finding a name for the game was almost as difficult as creating it, but we finally settled on ‘Numenko’ which I think was the correct choice.

Butts eventually sold the rights to James Brunot, who renamed it Scrabble.   It was trademarked in 1948 and has since sold over 150 million sets worldwide.   Wouldn’t that be nice.

The layout, the colours of the board, the rules and the game itself have apparently remained unchanged for over 60 years.   Until 2010! When Scrabble allowed the use of proper nouns.   Place names, people’s names and company names or brands now count.   So if you are playing Scrabble you can spell out NUMENKO and score 13 points at a minimum.

Some people reckon that this could cause a power shift between the generations.   Now those possessing knowledge of the music charts could legitimately claim some high-scoring examples such as  N-Dubz (17 points) and Jay-Z (23 points).   Personally I have never heard of them, but then I like Jimmy Shand and ABBA.

Some also say:

“Just because people these days are finding Scrabble too hard to play, the rules shouldn’t be changed.”

“But how will we purists retain our sense of snobbery?”

“The majority of us play scrabble by our own rules any way.”

Do you use your own set of rules?   That is part of the fun of playing games, making your own “family rules”.   When our family plays Numenko we sometimes make up new rules, like only being able to lay tiles that come to a double digit answer.   A good game should be flexible enough to allow different ways of playing.

If you have your own rules let us know.

Puzzle number 1.

When asked about his birthday, a man said:

“The day before yesterday I was only 25 and next year I will turn 28.”   This is true only one day in a year, so when was he born?

Puzzle number 2.

Using 8 exactly eight times make a 1000. You can use any mathematical symbols.

Puzzle number 3.

Can you arrange the numerals 1 to 9 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) in a single calculation that equals exactly 1/3 (one third)?

A chap wanted to buy a book from a shop but it cost £7 and he didn’t have any money.   He asked his brother for £5 and his sister for £5.   He buys the book and gets £3 change.   He gives his brother £1 and his sister £1 and keeps the remaining £1 for himself.

Now he owes his brother £4 and his sister £4 and he still has £1 adding up to £9.   But he borrowed £10, so where is the missing £1?

This one was more of a conundrum than a puzzle, so I didn’t include the full explanation, just think about it.

Before you scroll down to the answers are you sure you are correct?

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Answers.

Number 1.   He was born on December 31st and spoke about it on January 1st.   Admit it you thought it was February 29th!

Number 2. (two choices)

a.   888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000

or

b.   8888-888 ÷ 8 = 1000

Number 3.

5832  ÷ 17496     = 1/3

Now be truthful, did you work them out first, or did you accidently scroll down to the bottom of the page!

But regardless of those targets I set myself there are certain things you have to do, no matter what.   Like taking Jessie for a walk in the fields before breakfast.   Occasionally we meet up with Deeks, or Diamond which is her posh name, and her owner Paul.   Deeks is a Staffie with bandy legs and a liking for carrying tree trunks, which she seems to enjoy bashing against your legs, accidently of course.   Paul doesn’t like carrying tree trunks.

The only problem with Deeks is that she is a “fair weather walker”.   She does not like going out in the rain and it was raining this morning, so Jessie only had me for company.

The other thing you have to do that is not necessarily in your plans is answer the telephone.   Just as Jessie was getting me ready to go for our midday walk the phone rang.   At the other end was a very nice lady called Shelagh, from darkest Berkshire.   She had bought a board game which she wanted to keep handy for when her grand children visited, and to help her keep her mind alert.

Shelagh, had just received the game and rang me to compliment me on the game, but in typical female fashion slipped in a “but”.

She liked the idea of the game and thought the wooden tiles had a nice feel and smell to them. Wait for it!  Wait for it…. But…….when she went to read the instructions she found that they were written on a shiny paper, in a small print, that wasn’t quite black ink, and she had difficulty in reading them.   “Mind you” she said, “I am not as young as I used to be, and my eyesight isn’t as good as it once was.”

She also said that she couldn’t find any mention of using the S for Start square in the instructions.   The instructions for the S square are mentioned at the bottom of page 1 under Example 2.    But, (this one is mine) I have to admit that the instructions are not as clear and concise as they could be.

During our telephone chat our conversation ranged from the fact that she had been a mid-wife and lived in the house that her family had lived in for 72 years and that the new TV programme Call The Midwife brought back some memories, to the fact that she thought the picture in the Daily Mirror didn’t do me justice.   Lovely lady.

So did I reach all my targets?   No I did not, but(!) sometimes that is not a failure, I learned that I should wear my waterproofs when I take Jessie out for a walk in the rain.   I made a new friend who gave me some constructive comments about Numenko that I will act on when we do our next manufacturing run.   I also managed to email some 41 schools about Numenko, make an appointment to meet a possible distributor at the London Toy Fair next week and talk to Dave of Whereaboutsboardgame fame about his contacting the Oneshow.   Oh and I managed to write this blog.

So if you want to write in about Numenko and maybe slip in a few “buts” please do, we love to hear from you, even Prue from Wagga Wagga.   I kid you not, that is really the name of the town in Australia where she lives.   You think they could come up with some simple names like Auchenshoogle or Auchtermuchtie.

To be truthful I hadn’t given much thought to that particular quote until I saw my picture in the Daily Mirror this week.

I thought, “ Did the photographer actually think that I looked like that?”   “Is that the best picture out all the ones he took?”

I reasoned to myself that he took the picture just as my face was getting ready to smile.   Let’s be honest we all screw our faces up, just prior to the call of “Say cheese”, trying to get that natural look.

I was so concerned about this that I went up into the loft and dug out the old photo albums to check myself out.   I found a photo of myself in uniform; it was taken when I was in the Army around 1972.   That’s not that long ago.   If you count it in Decades it’s only 4.

I checked myself in a mirror against the old army picture, and apart from a few laughter lines around the eyes, and the fact I was wearing a beret in the picture, it could have been my younger brother, if I turned my head to the side and squinted, a lot.   I have come to the conclusion that the photographer had his lens slightly out of focus, didn’t shout “Say cheese” at the right time and I was trying extra hard getting my face ready to look natural.

While I was having a recuperative cuppa tea and dunking my ginger snaps I suddenly blurted out.   “Is that how other people see me?   Always trying to get my face to look natural”

Cyn tried to reassure me by saying that is not how people see me.   I don’t fully trust her at the moment as she was the one that suggested that my photo in the Daily Mirror looked like I was trying out for the part of the owner of one of the dogs in the Pedigree® Dentastix®  commercial. Jessie seemed to nod her head in agreement with that statement.   Man’s best friend indeed!

Just to show you how confident I am; I will let you compare the pictures that Cyn commented on when she rather unkindly mentioned the Dentastix® commercial.

If you have any comments I will be happy to hear them, and if they are not too rude I will even print them on the site.

Regards

Tom (Too late.   Cyn has already asked “Which one are you?”)

The prize was a bespoke advertising campaign and free help from some mentors.   The local finalists had to attend a Dragons Den-style meeting where they got to pitch their company.

Numenko was one of these local finalists.   We attended the meeting and felt we had held our own against the Dragons who consisted of Richard Cooper Director of ASA Business Development & Quality Management Systems, Annette White Sales and Marketing Director of PC Help Centre and David Tooley, Business Editor.

Unfortunately we were informed today that we were not selected.   Ahh! Shame!  I hear you cry.   Thank you for your sympathy.   We do get some free mentoring advice from Richard and Annette so there is a silver lining to every cloud.

The two winners were Clearhead Media and Printonthat.   Well done to them.

Now around the same time I entered for this competition I wrote to the Biz Bureau page of the Daily Mirror, a column where you can write in for expert help with your business.   Sometimes they pick one of the businesses that write in and do a small story on it.

Well quess who got picked?   You got it in one.   In today’s issue of the Daily Mirror there is a picture of some grinning loony (me) sitting with a Numenko game.

So, back to the heading of this blog.   Should you expect to win every time?   My answer is YES.   My argument is simple, why enter a competition if you don’t expect to win?

I invented a numbers game and so I know the law of averages says that you can’t win every time, and I know that Cyn was just trying to cheer me up, and says that when you enter a competition you “hope” to win and not necessarily “expect” to win.

Do you have any opinions on this point?

As a postscript I will mention that I did send David Cameron a Numenko game sometime last year, and got a nice reply from his office.   You would have thought that he might have put a good word in for us!

As a post postscript I also sent games to HM The Queen, Loose Women cast, Chris Evans and Rachel Riley.   I got replies and thank you notes from HM The Queen and the Prime Minister but nothing from the others.   Not sure what to think of that.

Even Scrooge couldn’t find anything wrong with that.

Read the article, visit the site and if you give a few minutes thought to the concept, you realise it is a Win – Win situation.

• You get to give a present of some cash to someone, which feels good.
• You get a present of your money back, which is nice.
• You get the added pleasure of knowing that your present is actually helping someone to better not only their lives but of their families too.

It really is a Win – Win situation with a bonus Win – Win for good measure.

As seen on The Guardian Money online.
Alastair Stewart, an Ambassador for CARE International UK, described his time in the country as “intellectually and emotionally pounding”. He visited five women who are using small loans to improve their lives, two of whom are widows from the 1995 massacre.
Mr Stewart said of his visit: “As a news man, my time in Bosnia reminded me how desperately close we still are to the atrocities that swept through the Balkans less than 20 years ago. But with Lendwithcare.org there is an uplifting realisation that so much could be done for so many with so little. Having witnessed the massive difference a loan can make to people who have endured terrible hardship, I’m really proud to have made a loan on lendwithcare.org. The lendwithcare.org vouchers represent an opportunity to make an extraordinary gift this Christmas.”
Lendwithcare, an initiative of global poverty fighting charity CARE International UK, allows people to make small loans directly to individuals in developing countries to help them start or expand their own business, helping them feed their families and send their children to school.

Visit lendwithcare.org and make a loan to an entrepreneur – from as little as £15.

The Numenko team hopes you had a good Christmas, and we wish you all the very best for 2012.

Santa Claus is generally depicted as a plump, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots.

According to a tradition which can be traced to the 1820s, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, with a large number of magical elves, and nine (originally eight) flying reindeer.    Santa Claus is believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behaviour (“naughty” or “good”) and to deliver presents to all of the good boys and girls in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve.    He accomplishes this feat with the aid of the elves that make the toys in Santa’s workshop and the reindeer that pull his sleigh.

Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Sinterklaas. He was a 4th century Greek Christian bishop of Myra.   Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor.

Numerous parallels have been drawn between Santa Claus and the figure of Odin, a major god amongst the Germanic peoples prior to their conversion to Christianity. Odin was sometimes recorded, at the native Germanic holiday of Yule, as leading a great hunting party through the sky.   Two books from Iceland compiled in the 13th century from earlier sources describe Odin as riding an eight-legged horse that could leap great distances, giving rise to comparisons to Santa Claus’s reindeer.

According to some traditions, children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw or sugar, near the chimney for Odin’s flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat.    Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir’s food with gifts. This practice still survives in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands and became associated with Saint Nicholas.    In other countries it has been replaced by the hanging of stockings at the chimney in homes.

In the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, tradition holds that Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) and his aides arrive each year by steam boat from Spain in mid November carrying a book that contains notes on all children that indicate whether the child has been good or naughty during the year and gifts, chocolate letters and spice nuts to be handed to the well-behaved children.  During the subsequent three weeks, Saint Nicholas is believed to ride a white-grey horse over the rooftops at night, delivering gifts through the chimney to the well-behaved children, while the naughty children risk being caught by Saint Nicholas’ aides that carry jute bags and willow canes for that purpose.

In the 1840s, an elf in Nordic folklore called “Tomte” started to deliver the Christmas presents in Denmark.  The Tomte was portrayed as a short, bearded man dressed in gray clothes and a red hat.  This new version of the age-old folkloric creature was obviously inspired by the Santa Claus traditions that were now spreading to Scandinavia.  By the end of the 19th century this tradition had also spread to Norway and Sweden, replacing the Yule Goat.  The same thing happened in Finland, but there the more human figure retained the Yule Goat name.  But even though the tradition of the Yule Goat as a bringer of presents is now all but extinct, a straw goat is still a common Christmas decoration in all of Scandinavia.

Father Christmas dates back at least as far as the 17th century in Britain, and pictures of him survive from that era, portraying him as a jolly well-nourished bearded man dressed in a long, green, fur-lined robe.   He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, and was reflected as the “Ghost of Christmas Present”, in Charles Dicken’s  festive classic A Christmas Carol, a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.^]

Pre-modern representations of the gift-giver from church history and folklore, notably St Nicholas and Sinterklaas, merged with the British character Father Christmas to create the character known to Britons and Americans as Santa Claus.

The Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of Santa Clauses is held by Derry City, Northern Ireland. on 9 September, 2007.   A total of 12,965 people dressed up as Santa or Santa’s helper brought down the previous record of 3,921, which was set during the Santa Dash event in Liverpool City Centre in 2005.    A gathering of Santas in 2009 in Bucharest, Romania attempted top the world record, but failed with only 3939 Santas.

Now some people don’t believe in Santa Claus, but I know he is real because I went to visit him in his home near Rovaniemi, a town on the Arctic Circle in Lapland.   You can see a video of me meeting Santa for the second time,when I show him a picture of me and my cousin Ronnie meeting him the first time in Glasgow in 1952, and giving him a present of a Numenko board game.

Numenko visits Santa

For those of you who are unsure of the names of Santa’s reindeer they are as follows:

• Dasher ·  Dancer ·  Prancer ·  Vixen ·  Comet ·  Cupid ·  Donner ·  Blitzen ·  Rudolf

Happy Christmas from all the team at Numenko.