I recently joined the cat_macros community. It is full of teh win!
Month: April 2007
Today is one of them days
It doesn't happen often, but today is one of them days when I miss the boys and wish I could go to Canadia.
Dealing with idiots
Anybody who works in a service industry will tell you that clients and users are generally the dumbest people on the face of the planet.
I love my job, but there is one aspect I hate having to deal with and that's having to answer support emails. Generally, they boil down to “I have a problem and I'm too lazy to try and fix it – do it for me because it's your job”. Well, you know what? Dealing with your stupidity is not my job.
I don't mind helping you and telling you what you need to do to get the problem solved, but I'm not going to spend hours at a go to do your job for you. I have my own problems to solve for the job I'm being paid to do.
Also, to those who send emails telling me “I need this feature for the hugely important project I'm working on (that only you and your labmates will be using) and I need it now! Now! NOW!!!!!! So do it!”. Please send those emails to the request tracker. Or better yet, stick them up your ass.
Thank you,
The Management.
More duckies!
The ducks just tell you off if you're walking too close. And by too close, I mean when they're actually underfoot.
This pair just came out of the gym while Phil and I were getting a cuppa tea.
DUCKIES!
It's that time of year again, when the mallards just randomly walk into the caferetia and waddle underneath the tables munching at crumbs while people are having tea.
I love working on campus.
People aggravate the shit out of me sometimes
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.
It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial. There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades – where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem – because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.
The findings have prompted claims that some schools are using history 'as a vehicle for promoting political correctness'. The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked into 'emotive and controversial' history teaching in primary and secondary schools.
It found some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic and anti-Israel reactions in class.
The researchers gave the example of a secondary school in an unnamed northern city, which dropped the Holocaust as a subject for GCSE coursework. The report said teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'.
It added: “In another department, the Holocaust was taught despite anti-Semitic sentiment among some pupils.
“But the same department deliberately avoided teaching the Crusades at Key Stage 3 (11- to 14-year-olds) because their balanced treatment of the topic would have challenged what was taught in some local mosques.”
A third school found itself 'strongly challenged by some Christian parents for their treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict-and the history of the state of Israel that did not accord with the teachings of their denomination'.
The report concluded: “In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship.”
But Chris McGovern, history education adviser to the former Tory government, said: “History is not a vehicle for promoting political correctness. Children must have access to knowledge of these controversial subjects, whether palatable or unpalatable.”
The researchers also warned that a lack of subject knowledge among teachers – particularly at primary level – was leading to history being taught in a 'shallow way leading to routine and superficial learning'. Lessons in difficult topics were too often 'bland, simplistic and unproblematic' and bored pupils.
I completely agree with the quote: “History is not a vehicle for promoting political correctness. Children must have access to knowledge of these controversial subjects, whether palatable or unpalatable.”
As written by elfs: The Holocaust is a matter of historical record. Not one person indicted at Nuremberg tried to claim it didn't happen. You should not be allowed to dictate class curricula because your beliefs contradict reality. This is as true of history as it is of science. Holocaust denial and Intelligent Design are exactly the same in this fashion: those who propound these points of view are wrong and that needs to be repeated every second of every day until they feel absolutely beaten by reality.
History is ugly. It's messy. It hurts. It needs to be told as it is though, and not as we'd like it to be, wearing rose-coloured glasses.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=445979&in_page_id=1770&ICO=NEWS&ICL=TOPART
Peeectuuuures!
Tolstoy, the mighty scavenger waiting for us to leave the driveway so he can go scrounge for food on the countertops:
It's a hard life, innit?
This is how dirty the back patio was…
Nothing more need really be said.
Random graffiti at Norwich Castle:
I bonded with a pigeon:
Right next door to the world-famous Coleman's Mustard shop
The Norwich Cathedral. It's a shame it was such a gloomy day :(
Many more pictures here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/hinxton_easter_2007/ and here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/norwich_mar_2007/
A pictorial post of the critter
I’ve finally pulled the finger out and downloaded a bunch of pictures off of my camera. The two below the cut are of Ginseng.
yes, I am still alive but I feel like shit
I feel completely useless today. Katy has infected me with the most dreaded of diseases, man flu. I'll probably survive, but it's going to be at the cost of several days of moaning and groaning.
A brief recap of recent events:
– Katy's parents came over for 3 days over Easter. We ate too much, drank too much, gardened, and were told that we're horrible cat owners because we do not feed our cat enough.
– Katy had an interview for a potentially better job at a nearby research institute. On paper, everything looks better, with more money for less work. See what happens. She's also sent off (today) an application to become a mobility guide dog trainer for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. They have an opening in Essex, so we'll see what happens with that as well.
– We've been selling off CDs and DVDs that we don't watch or listen to anymore. So far, we've made close to a hundred quid. That's always good.
So yeah. Interesting times.
But I still feel like crap.
My waistline is expanding again
My exercise regime has been shite lately. And by lately, I mean since last october. There was the wedding, then Javapolis, then Xmas, then I just couldn't be bothered. As such, I've put on a stone. This does not please me.
I went to the gym yesterday and was happily surprised that I didn't die. I'm hoping to get the motivation to go every day this week. Katy and I are buddying up to go, as neither of us wants to be bothered otherwise.