What Every Teacher Should Learn From Bertrand Russell

In each of us is a teacher. To our children, to our subordinates, to our peers, to the less educated, even to the mis-educated, being learned, we have the social responsibility to teach those who need it at some point.  

Who is Bertrand Russell and how can he impact on our modern school of thought?

British historian, social critic, and mathematician  Bertrand Russell is one of the genius and radical philosophers in modern history. 

His, The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: 1944-1969 contains this manifesto, entitled A Liberal Decalogue — a vision for responsibilities of a teacher. Here Russell encompasses — the significance of education, the use of  uncertainty thinking, the importance of critical mind process, and purpose of intelligent criticism.

Here are some of his magnificient meme that makes you double think as you stumble upon his world.

Moreso, on professional teachers, here Russell illucidates the importance of self restraint in teaching and also respect to the students.  

Bertrand Russel 10 Commandments of Teaching

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. 
2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

Mayo, Enero , Abril , Augusto, Julio,...

Since i started this blog, i vowed to produce at least a piece of work everyday . A resolution that i fear i can't carry on though  im doing my best to do so. At least having a goal everyday will give me the discipline to keep on working and see if i can  improve my craft this way.
It's barely a week since i started posting, and now i'm out of sensible ideas to blog on.
So just to kill time, i will write now some sort of memoir and see if it will stand out interesting enough to be published.
What i mean is, who would be interested on the personal story of an unknown someone?
This is one of the benefits of blogging, you can post anything you want. But i'll try my best to keep it bore-free.Promise.
Most of you who don't know me personally, might be puzzled, why the title of this piece. It is just a random Hispanic names of months of the year. What about it and how can it tickle your interest?

Mayo, Enero, Abril, Augusto and Julio 

are my kids.

Five boys that came out of blood, sweat, tears and laughter, me and my trophy wife shared (mostly from her) for sixteen years now.
Reciting these names while filing papers on hospitals, social security and tax declaration offices always make the attending officers smile with the look of .."You kidding ?"
I feel a bit of conceit speaking good and admiring my own sons. As a father at that, maybe it's not normal to chatter about of own .
Is someone raising a brow now grinning and having double thoughts about personality?
He he ..don't bother, just enjoy this piece if you may as i introduce you to my tribe.

Mayo Marte - The Artist

His name is well thought of. It means he was born on the month of May on a Tuesday, hence Mayo Marte.
He was born when we still have no electricity at his Lola's (grandma) house. Me staying at home with my art works and laundries have to look for him for a year while his Nanay (mother) goes to her office.
I'd rather say he's a late bloomer, his .."it's OK" grades would characterize it.
He has special talents in the arts and music. At 4 years old, he can draw cartoon characters so well one might not believe it can be done by a toddler.
He's my son remember? He he ..and he can sing too and memorize songs just from hearing when he was 5.
I have never sat a single teaching session especially devoted to him even with the fact that i teach arts and music.
He is a self-taught musician, artist and a magical performer, literally. I'm not sure if the infant formula has to do with it or it's just hereditary laws in action. I'm inclined to believe the latter.
The internet is a big boon to his special skill and advancement.
Currently, he leads and teaches his school band, mastering all musical instruments i play too ( hmm.. just trying to make a point here) like drums, guitars and  keyboard.
He's their band drummer, and his sticking rudiments are improving as his interest on music hightens.

What's more?He's a fine street magician at par with David Blane.
No kidding!
Waking till the wee hours of the morning just to master those sleight of hands made the finesse of his tricks believable at unbeleivable levels.
My drinking buddies always think they have too much to drink if i call on him to show them his card and hand tricks.

Enero Dominic- The Engineer

"E" as we call him does everything his older brother does.Though a little short of what his brother does, he's still doing a good both in music and the arts.
Born a blue baby and being the second child always put him next in rank in the succession of the siblings but he also have his own set of abilities.
When he was a child he's fond of making contraptions for the things he play. The moment you step on our yard, you will go through maze of  what he call inventions which sometimes gets in your way. Later you will find out, he's there afar chuckling at you as you stumble on the supposed traps that will entangle you. He's crafty, and is always busy on things. He's the fastest toy disassembler i know.
I can still remember when he's crying on his crib, nothing will appease him except a bucketful of plastic clothes pin. The plain rattling sound would catch his interest.
Years later, he would still play with his clothes pins and assemble it to make amazing creations ranging from weaponed robots to elaborate mansions.
 I always wonder what he could have created with Lego blocks if i have the resource to buy a set for him during our tight times.
He never had experienced that.
This building and creative ability later he applied on clay to make models of figures and creatures.
This craftmanship in him now makes him his siblings fixer of things ranging from slippers to bikes, spider cases to makeshift guns.
One more character strength for E is that he's a wise spender and of the five he has the most savings.
I think there's no need now to explain, why the name.

Abril -The Leader

He's the naughty one. You can sense mischief in his eyes .He can never be at the same place for a minute. He's in fact the first of the brothers to be joked that already have a girlfriend. 

He's also  the academic type and always strives to get good grades. 

Hyperthinker and also hyperactive,he's good at sports and always competitive. 

He sings, not the cutie-cutie, but rock and stingy one's. 

The adventurous Grand Theft Auto GTA game cheater type, he's the first of the five to master the internet. 

I can still remember the time when we only have one netbook, and his brothers will call on him if they want to use it. He put a password only he can have access.

He leads his pack. They even call  him boss. You can see it when he treats his classmates at our restaurant for free at luchtime. 

Ha ha. 

And his Nanay (mother)would call on him discretely and say to just bring one friend the next day.

This kid has some kind of charisma even his teachers would notice.

He's a good potitician material  even though i discourage him be one.

He's not afraid of insects and worms or any icky crawling "pukeness". 

He's my massuer by the way, almost every night and mind you , his services don't come cheap!

He was born on a Saturday, and I don't think Abril Satur does'nt have that much cute factor.

Does it?

Augusto Mier -The Macho

We call him Mier. He's the sweet  and caring type. Just like Mayo, he's a bit of a late bloomer. 

He's the tantrum type when provoked and he wants to be in the army! Imagine ?? 

He's currently 8 years old and we know he's got some skills yet to be discovered. 

His caring type can be seen on how he attend to his pets ranging from dog to chickens. 

We have trouble sometimes to have the chicken cooked when the time comes and it got a name! 

Every pet has a name from ducks to hamsters.

His Nanay wants him to be a doctor someday for he's not afraid of blood and stiches.

As for me i see him good for a law enforcer. His physique and  is perfect. The tantrums can be regulated later. He's deligent on assignments. He follows instructions religiously, and does chores with less supervision. Mier does things at his pace and always end up having a good job. He's patient and kind.

Friends and relatives always say he's the manly type and his smile is enchanting .

His sweetness is characterized by him being touchy and tend to linger on someones lap as he feels comfortable even to his teachers.

He was born on Mierkoles, Spanish for Wednesday, and it goes perfectly with his name.

Julio -The Star

The outspoken. The scene stealer . He's the one that no one can touch. I mean by his brothers.

He improves academically, and he sings well. He really can sing, I mean really sing. 

Of the five, he's the most confident and is the crowd pleaser. He's a darling.

He questions almost anything, curiously and can derive generalization out of observations.

He always talk smartly like he's older than his age. He will make a good lawyer someday.

Julio also has a high fashion sense. 

Picks his own garments at the department store and always insist on putting his own clothes to school. 

He's independent enough to stand on his own at a young age.

His confidence come from the security that the full support of his parents is always there and the belief that he will always be our little prince for he's our youngest.

Well, that's what he thinks..

Notice the three more dots after his name on the title..?

                                                                   

7 Survival, Escape and Evation Strategies for Small Business Owners in the Third World Economic Recession

Wikipedia defines recession as a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. 

As a result, household income and business profits fall, while bankruptcies and the unemployment rate rise.Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending.

Given this backdrop, small business owners though greatly affected can still manage to have their business afloat if they just know how to improvise and adapt to the situation.

Here are some ways on how to combat the current economic crisis affecting your small business on a tight budget:

01 Switch to Daily Survival Mode

Analyze your daily expenditures in order to operate your business. 

This may include but are not limited to rent of space, staff salary , electric bill , gas, consumables and any other related expense . 

Most of these items are billed monthly but it's important for you to break it down in terms of  expense per day.

For example, electric bill: if you have Php 3000 monthly bill, then your daily expense for a day is 100.Sum up all your daily expense so you will have an overview of the real money spent in order for you to operate for one day.

Knowing this figure, you can assess your performance daily from your sales minus your expense if you really are profitable on that day or behind the expense you incur.

Keeping tabs on your daily status, you can instantly adjust where to modify operations in order to balance your records so you can be sure to be profitable always, daily.

All you need is just a simple listing of your daily in and out of cash.

02 Escape from Negative Business Habits

Negative business habits are activities you already are doing but are not aware that has negative impact on your business which ranges from vices to  unbecoming personal handling of transactions.

What are examples 

of negative business habits ?

a. Not recording your daily sales and expenditures since you are just family run business

b. Not separating business money from personal money

c. Not regularly checking stocks conditions and movement 

d. Trusting too much on relatives or employees in handling your business . 
Regular owner counterchecking of transaction is a must.

e. Non improving on service, store appearance, and not inroducing of new items for customer appeal.

All these negative business habits should be changed in order to escape absolute business downfall sooner than expected.

03 Evade all Business Threats

What factors dims the chance of your business to thrive? 

Be it an unruly customer , a relative perpetually asking freebies ,  a dishonest employee , a supplier who can't keep its word  , or even your negative business habits - all these are threats to your business.

Keep away from it. Devise ways on how not to deal or transact with these factors.

In essence, professionalize your business by having a standard operating procedure on running your transactions even how small you think your enterprise maybe.

04 Be Flexible

Since spending is down, it's time for you to reconsider business .This may include price slash for slow moving items,  more friendly service to customers , or special discounts for bulk purchase and orders .
Your goal is to keep business steady even on low profit margin just to keep your customers  and survive the business slowdown .
Being flexible also applies to recalculating orders so as not to over stock and not let your capital sleep on dormant merchandise.

05 Maximize Resources

Everything that has value must contribute to the advancement of your operations. Even that old but functional PC or printer you ditched in your stockroom to give way to the top of the line model that you purchased can have profitable use. Look for ways to monetize all your assets so as to augment your expenses.
Even on manpower and operations, assess activities that can be merged into one sweeping move. Look for opportunities to have new and related business using your old resources .
These things, you can't see when your business is booming but during economic crunch, you must open your mind to any possible extra income that you can do while not actually adding budget.

06 Make Use of the Time While Waiting

Since at this period, business is slow, there will be moments of unproductive waiting, for you and for your employees.
Look for special activities they will be busy of while waiting for business. It's either improving the appearance of your office, store , or any special activity beneficial to your whole operation.
It can also be a short training or upgrade on their knowledge on running your business.
The web is a wonderful resource for them to kill time.
As for you as the owner, spend this time on research and development, travel or anything that could enrich your knowledge on your field of business.

Remember, time wasted is time lost, and it is gold.

07 Be not Afraid

Business is a cycle.
Sometimes down yet most of the time up. You should keep it that way.
That's real business - ups will be more than downs or else you will be out of busines soon. 

The key always is close monitoring so you can modify things as the need arise .
Also bear in mind that all business has maturity period as most ventures now is becoming fad business especiallly small ones. 

Be not afraid if this period will come to entrepreneurs like you.
Given your ability to adapt and locate new opportunity, business characteristics can always be predicted . Being an entrepreneur is a self sustaining culture.
Anywhere you maybe, be it boom days or critical economic phases,business will prevail even in just a small scale level just like big corporations.

7 Unusual yet Effective Ways on How to Really Start a Blog

Blogging is in. It magnifies savvy to an ohhmpt degree. 

In this wired world , being a blogger, elevates oneself from a plain persona to a geeky cyberstud.
Saying, "I'm a blogger ." exudes a degree of thesauric refinement and an authoritative coolness.
So you want to be in the circle of the blogosphere society ?

Have a blog or three .  

Don't be intimidated by the blog's technical voice. It is not . Anyone can do it.
It can be your journal , a techie gibber , an advocate's scream, a theorist suspicions, a killer's diary, or your fictitious autobiography - the possibilities are endless.
Blogging is just a brain calisthenics to whet your senses.
It's a natural brain maximizer and an image booster.
..been planning already to start one but are intermittently set aside waiting for the right moment that will never come?

Here are sure fire ways or  guides on how to really start it :

01 Tell your friends you already have a blog .

(even if you are still yet to do it )

Really, tell them matter of factly that you have just published your newest post.
The reason is,by advance announcement and putting your name at stake, you will be compelled to do it no matter what ; or else you will be your friends object of mockery , losing your credibility and flamboyance by the time they will have the chance to surf for your work.

Remember,say you already have a blog,

Do not ever say you are going to start a blog. 

Mouthing that , you will be no different from your chatty friends blabbing  things they are about to have or do and later undermined for senseless gibber.

02 Don't Think. Just imagine.

Yeah! Do not overthink on what genre you're going to blog about .

Thinking is different that imagining. 

Deep thinking requires a series of  logical thoughts and afterthoughts;cancelling and reconnecting what's logical and nonesense.
Imagining in contrast, is just a joyous bike ride down into the ravine of your ecclectic experience as defined by your different senses.
Being imaginative has no limits so all you have to do is to just start with anything. Afterall, your main aim is to start first.
Write any subject that comes into your mind. Don't edit yet. You will have plenty of time reviewing your work later. Just keep on pouring all your thoughts and it will just come oozing.

03 Write only when you're busy while doing other things 

Hmm, crazy as it sound, but  this way you'll juice up your mind to scramble and for ideas to write.
In this fast paced social life , gone are the times when you have to wait for a lovely moment, an inspiring scenery for you to scribble spectral thoughts.

'Mind you, you just want to start a blog, and not construct a plotty novel with all the twined characters and twists.

The main reason why it took me time to finally start a blog is my waiting for the oppropriate peace of mind and a quiet place to start.
That perfect time and place did came, but nothing remarkable came out of the supposed productive sessions.
So, decided to jazz things up, with no plans, no conditioning, no flashy gadgets and out of the pale bleu spark of genius, i find myself jotting this crap on a scratch paper.
( I'm also feeding the chickens while reaching for cobwebs that dims our porchlight with hankies wrapping my face to evade microscopic foreign particles that may invade my nostrils.)

04 There are no rules

Nevermind..Of course, there are rules, but what I mean, don't be too rigid. You are still on your virgin post, so its alright to compose just anything as long as you can have your work published.

Your main goal here is to start and not yet to improve your blog .

Almost every blog aspirant fail to start because they're just too engrossed thinking on how to do it properly, nicely, and want their piece outrightly magnificient. 

Write in any perspective, manner, linggo, or style you want and are comfortable.

This will enable you to find your dominant writing style later.
At this stage, experiment. Don't be bothered if you don't have an enticing beginning,contentful body,and an explosive ending( though you may need it to reek interest on your future posts ).

Just start with any matter that comes first - your grammar and your voice will just be honed naturally as you keep on writing and editing your work later.

05 Be natural

Don't overdo it. Don't pose as someone you're not.
Most of the time, first time bloggers will write to have an impression but not to express . If you do this, it will show on your work. It will be either half-cooked, too good to be believable or over-embelished.

If you have some naught in you, don't suppress it. If you like michief, cute! If you like pun, satire or you dare to be outrageously unorthodox, so be it.

You are the master of your own craft.

One thing for sure, you will be as good as your work, so be you.
It's your blog anyway, you can say anything. 

Just remember not to say what you would'nt want others will say to you .

06 Cheat if needed

Ah! everyone's a cheat at some point on their life, and that's a fact hypocrites won't accept.
Your GTA addict gradeschooler does it as well as your district representative.

Of course, you have to seek help from other people's ideas. Though you may not have an original idea, integrating and innovating some of it, you may come up of your own. 

At a minor level, it is acceptable to base your work on anyone's.
All the things that surround us is just an extension, upgrade, or a merger of a formerly primitive idea. The Neanderthals and  Steve Jobs both agree to this thought.

Take refuge on the saying :

Copying from one source is copying but copying from several sources is research!

So, just cheat if needed, but don't copy like a facsimile, or worse cover it up in a translation just like what the slapstick comedian turned dumb senator of  the Philippines did.

07 Defocus

.. on your perceived audience. Just write what you want .Write for yourself. Gratify first your ego to have achieved such a marvelous feat -  to have a blog at last.

Be ready for criticism - both for the constructive and the destructive type. 

Accepting this critical consequence, you are always prepared to thank the former and flash your half-cocked nine-millimeter to the latter.
( He he of course ,I'm joking...)

This is a huge stumbling log for blogger wannabes -  the fear of rejection or oposing views and the self-untrust of producing pieces that is below your peers expectation.
You are you.

Anyone can criticize but nobody can judge your work. 

Think of a segmented audience or niche interest forum that will be congruent to your opus. 

You can never please anybody, so haters gonna hate but you have achieved you goal - to publish your first blog.

Bleee!

Note: The author of this article is not an accomplished writer, yet.. and this is his first blog.