Recently while writing a letter I came to the realization that I had not actually been taught much English at school, despite having studied it to GCSE.
For instance we still had not been taught how to write proper english, or what a sentence is or a lot of grammar. We had mainly just practiced not studied english as an academic subject nor as a vocational one and thus my command of the english language is not as great as it should be, so I will have to get a book and teach myself which is annoying.
I should have written this nearer to the time, I had a great many more ideas and much stronger feelings about it then.
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Headache
I have been suffering from a headache that consists of feeling like my brain is too big and too hot because cotton wool has been shoved into it.
Twice today I had two crushed paracetamol tablets suspended in a small amount of water, this tasted foul and had to be washed down with a couple of large glasses of water, which made my stomach feel pressurised as well :-)
This evening another attempt to alleviate the pain 3 sachets of infant suspension :-) calpol and a tissue with a few drops of eucalyptus aromatic oil (smells like some sort of sweet possibly a type of mint - brings back childhood memories) the calpol tasted very nice strawberry flavour.
Aroma therapy is a placebo, but perhaps a clever one because though it has no actual physical effects it works on the brain - which is what painkillers do in a physical way. It is quite possible that different smells can create different feelings, certainly smells affect us more than we think.
sorry for the lack of posts busy ill CBA syndrome
Twice today I had two crushed paracetamol tablets suspended in a small amount of water, this tasted foul and had to be washed down with a couple of large glasses of water, which made my stomach feel pressurised as well :-)
This evening another attempt to alleviate the pain 3 sachets of infant suspension :-) calpol and a tissue with a few drops of eucalyptus aromatic oil (smells like some sort of sweet possibly a type of mint - brings back childhood memories) the calpol tasted very nice strawberry flavour.
Aroma therapy is a placebo, but perhaps a clever one because though it has no actual physical effects it works on the brain - which is what painkillers do in a physical way. It is quite possible that different smells can create different feelings, certainly smells affect us more than we think.
sorry for the lack of posts busy ill CBA syndrome
Friday, October 13, 2006
Friday 13th Lucky for some
Today Friday 13th which is supposed to be unlucky - because thirteen dined together and the next day (friday) Jesus died on the cross is supposed to be unlucky. However by dying Jesus saved us. I count that lucky.
Today was A very very good day for me. The best day I have had at this school.
I GOT MY LAPTOP BACK TODAY. YEY!!!!!!!!!
And lots of other cool stuff happened quite a bit of which I can't post here because privacy.
And the sky was abseloutely amazingly beautiful. I like it here.
Soon I will have better internet - e.g. on my laptop. then we talk.
Today was A very very good day for me. The best day I have had at this school.
I GOT MY LAPTOP BACK TODAY. YEY!!!!!!!!!
And lots of other cool stuff happened quite a bit of which I can't post here because privacy.
And the sky was abseloutely amazingly beautiful. I like it here.
Soon I will have better internet - e.g. on my laptop. then we talk.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The laptop will return! YEY!
after an intense email dialouge that lost me another day of having my proper laptop back and iansyst saying they would not give me mine back unless I swaped it for the loan one. I finaly convinced them that since they had said last time that I could have both at the same time in order to transfer the data that they would let me have both at the same time.
*sigh of relief*
I am now very happy.
Very very happy.
I just can't wait to get cogs turning agian.
to regain direct internet acces to my laptop.
to poke the schools filitering with installed programs - with the aim of breaking it (for me at least).
:-)
Sorry for not posting recently intense email discussions take time and I don't have much internet time.
*sigh of relief*
I am now very happy.
Very very happy.
I just can't wait to get cogs turning agian.
to regain direct internet acces to my laptop.
to poke the schools filitering with installed programs - with the aim of breaking it (for me at least).
:-)
Sorry for not posting recently intense email discussions take time and I don't have much internet time.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Teaching teachers Ipods are evil
UPDATED:
Recently I helped (or rather explained that DRM, Ipods, Itunes and Apple were evil while someone else who knew what they were doing helped) a physics teacher get music from one computer onto her laptop without deleting all the music she already had on it. This was done by plugging the ipod in, choosing not to let itunes synchronise it (and delete everything that the computer did not have) and then going onto options and secleting manage things manualy. This means that all the music you want to transfer accross has to be dragged and dropped (in the larger selections the better) rather than happening automaticaly. but it does beat the DRM.
In a recent survey reported by the BBC (cannot be bothered to find the link) it showed that people who use the internet lots were significantly less likely to have an ipod than the rest of the population - the reason given was that there is a limited choice of stores for online music for ipods. No the real reason is that people on the internet are more likely to know that ipods (and DRM) are evil.
In a recent survey reported by the BBC (cannot be bothered to find the link) it showed that people who use the internet lots were significantly less likely to have an ipod than the rest of the population - the reason given was that there is a limited choice of stores for online music for ipods. No the real reason is that people on the internet are more likely to know that ipods (and DRM) are evil.
There is a whole campaign - called Defective by design (ipods are defective by design) (ooky picture.
Glossary
DRM means DynamicDigital Rights Management and is where evil companies prevent you from being able to copy music onto devices etc and impose limitations on it through their evil software.(thank you Zzorn for the correction - others see comment)
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Thrice stupid but not forever dumb
Today I felt very stupid on 3 occasions.
This morning I found that after lending my laptop to someone the night before they had watched a DVD on it - I thought the sound was broken and that after exaustive checking for software volume things that the problem was with a slider thing on the side and that the person who I had lent it to had found this straight away. I had come to the conclusion that the sound driver was broken because it was coming out realy realy quiet and had to be boosted on headphones to be heard at all.
In core maths I got my indicies muddled up and ended up with 6-3/2 - 63/2 = k rather than 63/2 - 63/2 = k = 0 and the problem was not managing to do 2 - 1/2 which is pretty stupid.
This morning I found that after lending my laptop to someone the night before they had watched a DVD on it - I thought the sound was broken and that after exaustive checking for software volume things that the problem was with a slider thing on the side and that the person who I had lent it to had found this straight away. I had come to the conclusion that the sound driver was broken because it was coming out realy realy quiet and had to be boosted on headphones to be heard at all.
In core maths I got my indicies muddled up and ended up with 6-3/2 - 63/2 = k rather than 63/2 - 63/2 = k = 0 and the problem was not managing to do 2 - 1/2 which is pretty stupid.
After deciding that my bedroom floor was much to dirty and I would have to hoover it, going and finding a hoover in a cupboard and carefuly hoovering the floor (and the desk because it was getting dusty in places) and taking the hoover back to the cupboard where I found the cleaner who said that she was going to clean my room tomorow this made me feel very stupid.
But I got 23/24 in my chemistry test and got my little fighters AI in my computer game to make it so that they only shoot if they are pointing near the enemy (to within 40 degrees each way) the only bug with that is that it does not shoot if it is pointing at the second nearest one but not the nearest 1 ( but when it is attacking it is pointing at the nearest one so this won't matter unless the fighter is being attacked from multiple directions anyway - and with object avoidance and being shot at from each side it is probably dead anyway) Not dumb just sometimes stupid.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
One should not sleep through ones alarm
It is a bad idea
It causes breakfast to be rushed and muscle burn to occur in the muscles of the jaw. This is an interesting experience.
Thankfuly someone started practising music after they had finished breakfast and this woke me up. My first thought was 'what a nice way to wake up' my second was 'what is the time' my third was 'ahhh!' further thoughts were muddled by high speed dressing followed by running followed by fast eating. but everthing was fine so everythind is alright.
:-)
I do have other posts to post - I just don't have all of them with me.
It causes breakfast to be rushed and muscle burn to occur in the muscles of the jaw. This is an interesting experience.
Thankfuly someone started practising music after they had finished breakfast and this woke me up. My first thought was 'what a nice way to wake up' my second was 'what is the time' my third was 'ahhh!' further thoughts were muddled by high speed dressing followed by running followed by fast eating. but everthing was fine so everythind is alright.
:-)
I do have other posts to post - I just don't have all of them with me.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Poshness in Private schools? (especially boarding schools)
This topic came up for discussion during my art games option (I don’t do art but I get to do it for my games option at least until the swimming pool opens (the terrors of sub-contracting)). People who go to private schools generally are more arrogant and posh (tweed, polo etc.) It comes from it costing lots of money. This does not mean that they aren’t nice people. Everybody is really nice – but then by about 5th form people started growing up (I had despaired that they ever would) and by the end of 5th form everybody was friendly so the feeling that people might be slightly nicer here than they were at my old school is probably to a significant extend biased by the fact that I am now in LVI. But here you have to live with people every day you don’t want to get on bad terms with them.
I would definitely send my children to a state primary school and then to a school that would stretch their abilities – be that comprehensive grammar or if I can afford it private. I would not however send my children to boarding school until at least LVI unless I really had to and only would at all if they would benefit from it. I go because I did GCSEs which tie into A-levels not Highers (and A-levels are better anyway J).
So I have rambled on long enough I think.
I would definitely send my children to a state primary school and then to a school that would stretch their abilities – be that comprehensive grammar or if I can afford it private. I would not however send my children to boarding school until at least LVI unless I really had to and only would at all if they would benefit from it. I go because I did GCSEs which tie into A-levels not Highers (and A-levels are better anyway J).
So I have rambled on long enough I think.
Munro Club
Recently I went on the Munro club and it was fun.
We climbed up two mountains! A small one and a big one next door. We climbed vertically 1200m (lots of down in between the ups (a computer program calculated this we are not that sad))
For the majority of the time we were climbing through cloud. Which meant we missed the wondrous beauty of the Scottish countryside in terms of the views. “When the weather it good there is nowhere I would rather be” to quote one of the other people. It was still fun even if we were walking through cloud. The pace was faster than I am used to when hill walking with family and we did not stick to the paths so much – more taking a short cut straight up and scrambling along sheep paths. There were some nice bilberries en-route and we were provided with pack lunches which contained a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a bag of crisps, a chocolate bar, a can of fizzy drink (cococola zero is just as disgusting as the diet) and I was given at least 2 snack sized chocolate bars when I ran out of food. I also took 3 chocolate digestive biscuits with me and half of one escaped into the bottom of the bag and was crushed into a paste over stuff that was in the bottom – not nice.
When we had lunch we had it in a nylon shelter thing which is a bit like a large upside down bag that you sit inside – there were five boys in total + one leader (perhaps girls don’t like hill-walking?). It was amazing how much warmer it was inside the shelter with the wind taken out of the equation and 5 people inside (not enough space for the leader to fit in as well).
My trainers are still soggy and I should be using walking boots next time though even people wearing those got soggy feet. It did not really rain but the damp was penetrating.
All in all I enjoyed it – though I hope for better weather next time.
We climbed up two mountains! A small one and a big one next door. We climbed vertically 1200m (lots of down in between the ups (a computer program calculated this we are not that sad))
For the majority of the time we were climbing through cloud. Which meant we missed the wondrous beauty of the Scottish countryside in terms of the views. “When the weather it good there is nowhere I would rather be” to quote one of the other people. It was still fun even if we were walking through cloud. The pace was faster than I am used to when hill walking with family and we did not stick to the paths so much – more taking a short cut straight up and scrambling along sheep paths. There were some nice bilberries en-route and we were provided with pack lunches which contained a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a bag of crisps, a chocolate bar, a can of fizzy drink (cococola zero is just as disgusting as the diet) and I was given at least 2 snack sized chocolate bars when I ran out of food. I also took 3 chocolate digestive biscuits with me and half of one escaped into the bottom of the bag and was crushed into a paste over stuff that was in the bottom – not nice.
When we had lunch we had it in a nylon shelter thing which is a bit like a large upside down bag that you sit inside – there were five boys in total + one leader (perhaps girls don’t like hill-walking?). It was amazing how much warmer it was inside the shelter with the wind taken out of the equation and 5 people inside (not enough space for the leader to fit in as well).
My trainers are still soggy and I should be using walking boots next time though even people wearing those got soggy feet. It did not really rain but the damp was penetrating.
All in all I enjoyed it – though I hope for better weather next time.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
I HATE FILTERING
The IT department is preventing me from saving changes to the layout of my blog!
So I am stuck with stuff in the wrong place and looking stupid.
It does show off the new link list I have made but that is supposed to go right down the list below archives - bah.
curses on filtering by IT departments and on DRM because that is evil to.
And They block BoingBoing which I think could tell me how to get round the filtering - they were right they said they were being filtered by filter companies and they are - evil filteres.
haha I managed to add boing boing to my google homepage - so if they tell me how in a new post then I can use that.
They also block a page that tells you how to instal a program to get around filtering called circumventor.
so this is the page to get around stuff.
I have found the list of things you can be blocked from or for
Inappropriate software – password crackers, credit card fraud utilities etc.
Time wasting
Denial of service
Explicit material
Bandwidth consumption
Spamming
Hacking
Software piracy
Unauthorised use of confidential documents
Representatives of the BPI Anti-Piracy carry out surveillance of Internet sites and traffic, looking for instances of illegal music use, with a view to possible prosecutions.
For your information, the following activities are illegal, if done without the express permission of the copyright owners, and could lead to prosecutions and disciplinary action:
· Making a copy of a CD that you own, (done)
· Copying songs from a CD that you own on to your hard drive or any other storage device,(done)
· Making a cassette tape from a CD that you own, (I have copied music from a casset to my computer does that count?)
· Copying a CD belonging to a friend,
· Sharing music files across a network,
· Engaging in file trading of music,
· Downloading music from the internet to your hard drive or any other storage device (done but legaly)
All music is owned by someone. A company or an individual owns copyright to the music. There is copyright in the composition, the lyrics, the arrangement and the sound recording. The term of copyright protection lasts for 70 years after the composer dies, so all the music you are likely to download or copy will be protected by copyright. Under the law, only the copyright owners have the right to reproduce their music or sound recording.
WHAT ABOUT FAIR USE?
For example: it is a violation
to misuse Internet Relay Chat (IRC) software to allow users to hide their identity, or to interfere with other systems or users (the purpose of IRC is to allow conversation between people without them having to know each other or be sure of the others identity)
to send chain letters (oops I have done in the past - but only good ones)
to leave your computer logged on and unattended (I have certainly done that - not that it is connected to the internet or passworded or anything)
Oh and the stupid IT department has managed to write protect the folder we are supposed to put stuff in we want to share with other people at school. silly people.
So I am stuck with stuff in the wrong place and looking stupid.
It does show off the new link list I have made but that is supposed to go right down the list below archives - bah.
curses on filtering by IT departments and on DRM because that is evil to.
And They block BoingBoing which I think could tell me how to get round the filtering - they were right they said they were being filtered by filter companies and they are - evil filteres.
haha I managed to add boing boing to my google homepage - so if they tell me how in a new post then I can use that.
They also block a page that tells you how to instal a program to get around filtering called circumventor.
so this is the page to get around stuff.
I have found the list of things you can be blocked from or for
Inappropriate software – password crackers, credit card fraud utilities etc.
Time wasting
Denial of service
Explicit material
Bandwidth consumption
Spamming
Hacking
Software piracy
Unauthorised use of confidential documents
Representatives of the BPI Anti-Piracy carry out surveillance of Internet sites and traffic, looking for instances of illegal music use, with a view to possible prosecutions.
For your information, the following activities are illegal, if done without the express permission of the copyright owners, and could lead to prosecutions and disciplinary action:
· Making a copy of a CD that you own, (done)
· Copying songs from a CD that you own on to your hard drive or any other storage device,(done)
· Making a cassette tape from a CD that you own, (I have copied music from a casset to my computer does that count?)
· Copying a CD belonging to a friend,
· Sharing music files across a network,
· Engaging in file trading of music,
· Downloading music from the internet to your hard drive or any other storage device (done but legaly)
All music is owned by someone. A company or an individual owns copyright to the music. There is copyright in the composition, the lyrics, the arrangement and the sound recording. The term of copyright protection lasts for 70 years after the composer dies, so all the music you are likely to download or copy will be protected by copyright. Under the law, only the copyright owners have the right to reproduce their music or sound recording.
WHAT ABOUT FAIR USE?
For example: it is a violation
to misuse Internet Relay Chat (IRC) software to allow users to hide their identity, or to interfere with other systems or users (the purpose of IRC is to allow conversation between people without them having to know each other or be sure of the others identity)
to send chain letters (oops I have done in the past - but only good ones)
to leave your computer logged on and unattended (I have certainly done that - not that it is connected to the internet or passworded or anything)
Oh and the stupid IT department has managed to write protect the folder we are supposed to put stuff in we want to share with other people at school. silly people.
Watching Rugby: school Rugby.
Loud
Violent fast moving game.
Lots of people jumping on top of each other in big piles. I don’t know the rules.
I do know that every player playing is better than I would be, and that must confer some kind of respect.
I am watching two games simultaneously though I could be watching three. I don’t know the score or who is winning. Apparently the relative school sizes are important and are against us. I think the tide is against us on at least one of the games though we are putting up firm resistance.
The ball just smashed into the stand beside me and a few moments later it was tumbling from great height down the slope in front of me and hit someone on the back.
Ohh first injury one player off. That is why they need subs. I did not see what happened. In the game with the first injury we had been forced into our 22 and the other side scored a try 5: nil down the other game is going much better only 1 : nil down. (I know a little of the technical terms from a bit of rugby training I had before I got myself transferred out to do other things instead).
There is definitely a reason why they wear weird helmet things, crashing headfirst towards the ground does not look fun.
70 minutes is a long time to sit in the cold – mental note next time wear a coat; this is Scotland.
Now I see why the headmaster told us to be courteous and sportsman like in assembly rugby is an emotional game.
Violent fast moving game.
Lots of people jumping on top of each other in big piles. I don’t know the rules.
I do know that every player playing is better than I would be, and that must confer some kind of respect.
I am watching two games simultaneously though I could be watching three. I don’t know the score or who is winning. Apparently the relative school sizes are important and are against us. I think the tide is against us on at least one of the games though we are putting up firm resistance.
The ball just smashed into the stand beside me and a few moments later it was tumbling from great height down the slope in front of me and hit someone on the back.
Ohh first injury one player off. That is why they need subs. I did not see what happened. In the game with the first injury we had been forced into our 22 and the other side scored a try 5: nil down the other game is going much better only 1 : nil down. (I know a little of the technical terms from a bit of rugby training I had before I got myself transferred out to do other things instead).
There is definitely a reason why they wear weird helmet things, crashing headfirst towards the ground does not look fun.
70 minutes is a long time to sit in the cold – mental note next time wear a coat; this is Scotland.
Now I see why the headmaster told us to be courteous and sportsman like in assembly rugby is an emotional game.
Award assemblies – long and boring.
Prize giving and book signing ceremonies where you have to clap continuously are tiring as well as tedious.Followed by class crosswords! At last my reading of fantasy comes in useful the person who stands in duel(I have not explained this well) is called a second. And I know what tacky means (like glue was the clue). Anyway I know words. :)
(note both pictures are random)
Kayaking!
Recently I did my first kayaking on a river which was also my first kayaking for a while. It is much more interesting kayaking on rivers than on lakes. Much easier to capsize – you have to adjust your edge using your knees especially when crossing the current if you let the current side lean down then the pressure will build up and you will flip.
I managed to do the whole long trip without capsizing despite not having a bung (I did not realise this till I got out). I did however have to get out and walk for a shallow bit – I was not going anywhere and was only damaging the bottom of the kayak.
Kayaking is fun.
I managed to do the whole long trip without capsizing despite not having a bung (I did not realise this till I got out). I did however have to get out and walk for a shallow bit – I was not going anywhere and was only damaging the bottom of the kayak.
Kayaking is fun.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
The etiquet of Kilt wearing
Today (last Sunday (notepad post)) was the first day I had to wear a kilt. I found there is more to it than I first thought.
Firstly you have to wear a sporn with your kilt otherwise you are not decent (despite wearing a pair of shorts and pants underneath) secondly you have to wear garters on you socks to stop them falling down. The socks are long reaching almost to the knee.
Firstly you have to wear a sporn with your kilt otherwise you are not decent (despite wearing a pair of shorts and pants underneath) secondly you have to wear garters on you socks to stop them falling down. The socks are long reaching almost to the knee.
Wearing a kilt is an interesting experience. The bobbles on the sporon beat like a small drum as you walk. I can easily se the disadvantages of wearing skirts when you sit down you have to smooth your kilt underneath to prevent sitting on it in an uncomfortable way - and crumpling the back. Also it is more airy than trousers and so chilly in cold weather. Which makes it hard for me to see how it came to be the national dress of Scotland which is often cold; especialy in the morning. I can however see that skirts could be an advantage in hot weather.
When Kilts were first made they were big enough to ve the blanket for two people and they were more like togas and therefore much warmer.
Kilts can cost from 200 - 400 pounds (the pound sign is not working when you press it you get # ahhgrh) but I got mine for 40 pounds on the inerenet (nylon rather than hadmade wool) . You also have to wear a kilt Jacket with it and that cost over 100 pounds - extortionetly expensive, and very itchy. I feel more than slightly stupid wearing a kilt.
It is a long way ot Edinburgh in a rattling bus, nice scenerey and sky though.
Please bear with the low frequency of posting - I don't have much time and getting to an internet connected compueter is harder than usual.
Still no scanner working! and all they need to do is login! :(
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Boarding school
I have now started at boarding school for the first time and I will now tell you about it.
Boarding school is... interesting.
The boarding house is far enough from the main buildings for it to be worth cycling there - but you aren't allowed to but it is not to far to walk.
I like the IT department better than the one at my last school already - despite their accidental failure to create an account for me at the beginning was swiftly remedied and I found that the space available on the system is all that you will need and that the only limit they put on you is that if you put lots of music on it then it will be deleted.
Also it is apparently possible to install programs onto the computer without administrator access. something I am thinking of taking advantage of before they fix it - if they intend to fix it.
ahh it seems that hole may have been fixed humbug.
But complete school coverage with wifi network and lots of space still great - I think I should recommend them some free software software seems to be a department which is lacking.
Okay the IT department is lazy and incompetent.
it still has not managed to make the @ key work - it is still found under the " key.
It still has not managed to get a single scanner to work - and all it needs to do is to log on as an administrator and then plug the stupid scanner in.
It has discovered all the problems with cloning - even cloning computers - a computer stuck in continuous restart was cloned and so the poor teacher lost address books and stuff. at least one computer does not have a sound card - how is a teacher supposed to show a video without one?
Food
The food is certainly more fatty and salty than I am used to - worse than my old school and much worse than home (where salt and fat are down to fanatically low level (DAD)). Chips every day this week for supper - and a couple of times for lunch as well (cook was ill or something and this should not happen normally) but fried eggs, hash browns, cream, bread and butter pudding made with butter (it does not need the butter). The food is however quite nice, and I can have grapes with every lunch meal. which is nice.
Sorry for the late arrival of this post - I started it ages ago but my loan laptop has no Internet connection as it has no wireless ability and it is not worth upgrading it as when I get my normal one back after the inordinately long time they have spent fixing it. More to come soon.
Boarding school is... interesting.
The boarding house is far enough from the main buildings for it to be worth cycling there - but you aren't allowed to but it is not to far to walk.
Also it is apparently possible to install programs onto the computer without administrator access. something I am thinking of taking advantage of before they fix it - if they intend to fix it.
ahh it seems that hole may have been fixed humbug.
But complete school coverage with wifi network and lots of space still great - I think I should recommend them some free software software seems to be a department which is lacking.
Okay the IT department is lazy and incompetent.
it still has not managed to make the @ key work - it is still found under the " key.
It still has not managed to get a single scanner to work - and all it needs to do is to log on as an administrator and then plug the stupid scanner in.
It has discovered all the problems with cloning - even cloning computers - a computer stuck in continuous restart was cloned and so the poor teacher lost address books and stuff. at least one computer does not have a sound card - how is a teacher supposed to show a video without one?
Food
The food is certainly more fatty and salty than I am used to - worse than my old school and much worse than home (where salt and fat are down to fanatically low level (DAD)). Chips every day this week for supper - and a couple of times for lunch as well (cook was ill or something and this should not happen normally) but fried eggs, hash browns, cream, bread and butter pudding made with butter (it does not need the butter). The food is however quite nice, and I can have grapes with every lunch meal. which is nice.
Sorry for the late arrival of this post - I started it ages ago but my loan laptop has no Internet connection as it has no wireless ability and it is not worth upgrading it as when I get my normal one back after the inordinately long time they have spent fixing it. More to come soon.
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