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November 29, 2005
movie preview
Well, I enjoyed it.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 8:29 PM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2005
go home
It’s been so long since I posted I’ve been getting concerned messages. Now that I’m ill, I’ve got a minute to post something. I could tell you about Ohna’s mad work, Kiloh’s exams (2 school exams this term so far, a recorder exam coming up on Monday the day before another school exam on Tuesday - she’s asked Ohna and me if we can give her one each next week just to keep her up to speed), Apoa’s drama and her broken guitar (she’s currently using a 3/4 size guitar with a broken body and poor tone and will have to play a concert with it on Saturday and then do an exam with it next Wednesday) or my busy times at work including my trip to Dubai tomorrow, but the really burning issue on my mind right now is Go Home Productions which is full of (free downloadable) treats. There’s lots of brilliance here but I’d maybe start with ‘Strung Out King’ and ‘Marvin’s Not In Love Parts 1 & 2’. Remaining musical, Kim bought me ‘John Peel - A Tribute’ when she was down. I wouldn’t have thought of buying it, but it’s really great and does take you back to 10 o’clock on a weekday evening in the 70’s (in my case).
B-)
Posted by Billy at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)
November 8, 2005
i can't buy a new iPod with a 'highly commended'
Poor Robbie
He goes through an emotional rollercoaster at the Chichester Open and all I can think about is the literary quality of one utterance in his post (not really, of course ;-)
He might not get his iPod, but he did paint some bloody good pictures.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
mike's stem cell diary
Independent - Pioneering cancer treatment
Mike is a parent at Kiloh’s school who’s been going through a new kind of treatment for leukemia. He’s in the Independent today. His blog tells the story of his treatment so far.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
November 4, 2005
out of joint
Now I’m really getting confused. I’m getting emails inviting me to events that happened a couple of days ago and I’m having phone calls where me and the other speaker seem to be in different zones and reference points. This time travel is trickier than I thought.
B-}
Posted by Billy at 2:32 PM | Comments (0)
primary people power
Last year, one of the classes at Kiloh’s school were looking at environmental issues and became interested in what happens to batteries when we throw them away. They were horrified when they found out what happens after you throw a battery in the bin. I went in to class with another grownup to talk about it with them. The kids set up a box at school where everyone could bring their batteries and another grownup has been driving to Barnet where they have a proper battery disposal scheme to get rid of them. The kids also wrote letters to various people including the council about it. Last week, they were awarded a Better Haringey award for ‘Best environmental innovation’. The next step is to write to the council again and point out that it would be odd if they didn’t introduce a scheme to dispose of batteries properly after they’ve given this award for this reason.
B-))
Posted by Billy at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)
connection
The server is back and the emails we’ve missed from the past week are slowly coming through. The timelag is a bit weird. The library has just warned me that some books will become overdue if I don’t return them by yesterday and Jon Snow emailed to say that Downing Street says Blunkett won’t resign but that I shouldn’t faint if he does. On that topic, I have to say that I find it impressive that Blair and Blunkett can keep straight faces when they offer their comments on his resignation, and surprising that journalists let them finish their utterances without falling about laughing. Is there any other walk of life where you respond like this when you mess up?
Slightly relatedly… Despite being a bit of a gooner, I’m being tempted at the moment to look at Arsene Wenger’s latest comments in class. In the context of questions about Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, he said ‘When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent’. He is now angry that journalists suggested he implied Mourinho was stupid. Doing! (Picked this expression up from students yesterday, so not sure whether I’m using it properly, but it is a beautiful word).
Unrelatedly… Mai just dropped by with some delicious-looking sweet food which I’m going to try when I have a coffee with her later on. I feel a bit guilty as these are traditional things to eat for eid and I haven’t spent the last month fasting to prepare for them.
B-)
PS Just received another email from Jon Snow. The pressure is increasing on Blunkett, it seems. I’m betting he’ll resign before the end of the week…
Posted by Billy at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)
November 3, 2005
blustery day
It’s a classic blustery autumn day, leaves spinning through the rain on the way to campus and cars shaving me and trying to send me spinning with them. Perfect day for pausing to look at all the amazing work that Robbie has been working through the night on.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 10:10 AM | Comments (1)
November 2, 2005
isolation
Big problems with the servers at work. Email has been broken since Monday and they’re now saying it might be the end of the week before it’s working again. If anyone needs to contact me, best to use one of my other email addresses, e.g. billyclarkie a la mac dot com or billyclarkie a la gmail dot com
The academics are divided into those who feel liberated and those who feel like their life support system has been cut.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 3:24 PM | Comments (0)
November 1, 2005
do the maths
Education Guardian - Do the maths
I thought this article by Jonathan Wolff was a nice, clear discussion of what’s been going on in universities recently. Fairly depressing reading. I particularly admire him for admitting that he doesn’t know what the solution might be to the problems he identifies. I have to say, though, that I didn’t enjoy this sentence:
But taught students must be
I’ve always felt bad about journalists using this kind of construction (not that Jonathan Wolff is a journalist, really - he’s head of philosophy at UCL) as it seems like a fairly crude way of trying to sound authoritative. This one is particularly bad, but it is a useful example of how something short and simple can still cause a bit of a processing hiccup.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)