I know that it is only just past Christmas, but thought that you would want to be the first to know that our latest 2009 information brochure is available.

A "must have" for any serious business student or corporate training manager.

email - [email protected] - today & we will be delighted to send you a copy

Happy New Year!

How does your Mistletoe grow?

Mistletoe is a bit weird but kissing under it is quite nice. Learn about mistletoe myths and growing tips here. If you’re more interested in the kissing and would like some lessons in love, say hello to our (very) friendly Flirting Teacher Kitty Stryker.

"It's natural for organizations to learn from mistakes. The problem is, people who propose new checks almost never consider that the check itself has a cost."
....

One of the things I really like about Folksy.com (the UK-based crafts marketplace) is the cool stuff they make to promote the site. Looking through their Flickr stream, there are plenty of other examples of them getting involved with the community of people who make and sell stuff through the site.

There's lots of inspiration there for us at School of Everything - and for any other startup that's trying to find playful ways to spread the word about a useful service.

Probably the smartest piece of advice to any growing organisation.

This week a couple of friends of mine asked me to teach them how the web works, and the basics of what they'd need to know to commission their own websites. So I found myself in the strange position of being their teacher for the evening. I think I did okay, so here's what I did, and what I learnt:

1. I asked them what they wanted to learn. (Easy to miss this one.) They basically had enough questions to build a clear map of the lesson, and it meant I could use examples from their lives to illustrate my points.

A not at all boring article that's full of genuinely good advice on what not to do if you find yourself writing a scientific paper.

Nice piece by respected VC Fred Wilson on how the web is giving 'power to the people' and what this could mean for education.

I noticed recently how much new stuff I'm learning these days. In fact, it feels like I give myself more homework now than I ever used to do when I was at school or university. For example, in the past week I've been:

- teaching myself to transcribe 17th century manuscripts
- helping a friend rewrite a research report on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (which meant getting my head round enough of the science not to mess up the meaning of what I was editing)
- editing a magazine about "commons" and "common sense"
- taking part in an extended email discussion about copyright and ethics

We don't really have a clue, but so far, it looks like it might be ok.