| Digital - teacher | Education in a technological world

Neighbours

How can 5 into 3 go? It's easy if you are my neighbours. You have 3 people living in the house, but you have 5 cars that spread themselves all around the street. The result of this? Cars put on other peoples driveways, cars parked on the road blocking driveways, cars parked and stopping me getting into and out of my drive. Grrrrrrr

Mobile again!

Well after what seems like forever, once again I am mobile. The car has been repaired. The new alternator is working, the new tyres don't let themselves down overnight, and what's more the alarm has not (touch wood) gone off randomly in the middle of the night. No more getting up at 5.45am to catch two buses to get to places, and the ability to go somewhere when I want to.

Making a Favicon

I was looking for some information on favicons (those little images that can appear before the http:// bit in the address bar) as I wanted to put one onto my main site. I found a great website that not only offers an online facility for turning any image into a favicon, but also takes large images and splits them into smaller parts, gives you all the html you need to place onto your webpage so that they load and appear in the right place.
Timesaving, and even better - it's FREE!!

Konfabulous

Fancy a widget on your desktop? Try Konfabulator - a great piece of programming that allows you to all sorts of useful information on your desktop (weather / RSS feeds / etc) A great way to personalize your desktop with the information you want.

Where should you live?

On Tuesday night there was a wonderful program of Channel4 - The best and worst places to live in Brtain.
You'll never guess which city was up there in the worst list. Yep, our dearly loved Nottingham. But only in second place?? Please, we deserve to be first on our crime stats alone, never mind adding in the stupid new traffic systems, the education and so many other wonderful aspects of life here.
I felt really annoyed that Kingston upon Hull had beaten us. I mean, are we so bad that we can't even win at losing??
This program has annoyed so many people though; the local paper, the local radio, the local news are all up in arms about it.

I just found it funny. We knew we would be up there. There's no denying it. So, why bother to look suprised when it gets announced. Nottingham is crap. The crime is appalling. Instead shouting at the TV presenters, shout at the local council and government and ask them why they can't solve the problems. That afterall is their job.

Give me my beer

So, with all the problems that the UK is facing at the moment, what is it that the government, the police, and the courts are disagreeing about at the moment;

• Is it civil liberties following the announcement of secret terror courts?
• Is it the re-introduction of acts of treason against extremists?

No, it's much more important than that. It's what time a pub should stop selling me my beer. Seriously.

Yes, I can see their argument that stopping me getting a pint at midnight outweighs the potential for someone to say bad things about the country and try and turn young people against the establishment. I understand how limiting the time I can sit and relax in a pub, trying to forget the state of this country, is much more important than preventing terrorist loss of life.

From the BBC
The council of circuit judges, representing 600 judges across England and Wales, said they were "in no doubt" longer opening hours would mean an escalation in violent crime.
Those offences, they said, would include "rape, grievous bodily harm and worse".
Judge Charles Harris QC was particularly critical of the plans, saying a high proportion of British people become "pugnacious and bellicose" after drinking.

Well, yes I see their point.

After all, there was a time when pubs followed bizzare licensing hours, and stopped serving alcohol mid afternoon until the early evening.  Then there came "All day drinking" and I recall all too clearly the effect it had on the pub I worked in;

• Hoards of drunken 'yobs' trying to pick a fight with the barstaff;
• Drunken people staggering around the streets urinating up lamp posts;
• An increase in crime.

Of course, I am telling big fat lies about this. I worked in a city centre pub when the daytime drinking laws came in to force, and how many people did we have staying in the place all afternoon? Well, here's a clue. Less than 1.

Yep, not a single person rolled up at 11am and sat drinking through until 11pm. They came in, had a few drinks, relaxed, and went when they were ready.
There was no need to force people out at 2pm, just because the law said it had to be done, they left when they wanted.

And the same will happen when the new laws come into effect in November.

I will not sit in a pub at midnight, and think "I have to keep drinking, they don't close yet". When I'm ready, I'll leave.

The only difference will be that I won't be joining thousands of others who have been ejected at the same time in a small area of town.

I'll walk down quieter streets, and even better, the taxi queue will be much shorter.
Shorter queues = less anger. Less anger = less fights. Or am I just missing something here?

So, stop with the scare mongering about all night drinking. Worry me about serious issues, like terrorist threats and global warming. Then let me sit in a pub and try and forget those worries until the early hours when I decide I want to leave.

Oh, and one final point - from the applications submitted already, nine out of ten pubs are thought to have applied to stay open an hour or two later - rather than all night as expected.

Night Owl

Don't you just hate it when you are off work, and on holiday at home and you start to stay up later into the evening each night until it gets to the point when you realise that you are spending the night awake and sleeping through the morning, if not the whole day?
Technically it's a medical condition known as "Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome".
Got me thinking. Maybe Dracula was misunderstood. Maybe he wasn't a vampire, he was just on an extended leave from his job, and got used to staying up late and sleeping in each day and suffered from DSPS. Poor guy, persecuted for a medical condition! ;-)

Film time

I went to the cinema today with the family to see the Tim Burton version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was nice to see a film that actually told the story as was written in the book. Darker, more depressing, and true to the tale telling of Dahl, this version suffered in only one way. Anyone old enough to have remembered the first film would have compared the two, and (as always happens with sequels) they are viewed as never living up to the original. However, for those who have only read the book, this film would have delighted them. Charlies dad, toothpaste factories, Squirrels, and the book ending all made their appearance.

Virtual Flying

I've been playing with the new google earth.
It's brilliant! Try it here

Does your bank like you?

From the BBC;

Bank sorry for 'insult' cash card
A high street bank has said sorry to a customer after sending him a debit card containing the words Dick Head NatWest said it had launched an inquiry after Chris Lancaster, of Essex, received a cash card with the wording: "Mr C Lancaster Dick Head".
A NatWest spokesperson said on Wednesday: "We have apologised unreservedly to Mr Lancaster."
The spokesperson added: "This is completely unacceptable and we have launched an investigation."
The Solo card was a replacement for one Mr Lancaster had lost.
He said he saw the insulting words as he was about to hand over his new card to pay for goods in a supermarket and was so embarrassed he put the card back in his wallet.
As well as apologising, he said NatWest had promised to pay him compensation.