Took the first two modules.

Passed them.

# Concepts of Information Technology (IT) - 94%
# Using the Computer and Managing Files - 100%

It's all multiple choice questions, right or wrong, or computer-graded simulations. Not difficult tests but I was pleased with my results. In fact, my head of department screamed with joy at the 100%, which was nice.

That might be of passing interst to our readers


1) Torchwood starts October 22nd. The opening trailers look ... yummy.


2) Read this. The Government is apparently in total shock.

3) Tomorrow I do Parts 1 and 2 of my ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). Much egg will adhere to face if I fail.

I have a friend whos turning fifty soon and, as one of her presents, I want to give her something about the net/computers etc.

My plan is to give her a series of 50s ….

Fifty useful things to do on the net …
e.g. World Clock
One Look Dictionary

Fifty fun things to do on the net …
Swedish Singing Horses


Fifty cool things to do/see on the net …


Fifty useful pieces of freeware/shareware …
ColorPic
Google Earth

And perhaps:
Fifty good blogs to read …
Daily Kos"

Fifty ways to personalise your Google page …
Google Sightseeing

Does anyone have any suggestions for any of these?

This has come up (arising from the vexed question of how to seve tea properly) on a game list - where it's leading into a discussion of U and non-U usage.

I thought I'd see if people can spot all the details that make the speaker in John Betjeman's marvellous poem so thoroughly nouveau.

I'm sure there's some I'm missing too ...

( Read more... )

Greg has just told me something.

As some of you know, he works in publishing. He's in secondary (K12?), and one of his colleagues is in primary. As designers, they act as liaison between the artists (illustrators) and the editors.

Well, today Greg's co-worker had a worried phone call from a studio. They were worried about fitting these new characters into Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

"New characters?" said Douglas.

Yes. A brother and a sister.

Well, that was all right. There's no reason why the author couldn't write in a brother and sister for Goldilocks.

Only ... these weren't Goldilocks' brother and sister. They were the bears' brother and sister ... and the art house wanted to know how they were meant to accommodate them - especially when there is legendarily a lack of extra utensils and furniture in the bears' place ...

A question was asked to Straight Dope ...

Dear Straight Dope:

I was recently in the company of a person from Latvia who
told me that their dollar has always been worth more than
the American dollar. I found this hard to believe and
looked it up and sure enough, it is almost double the
U.S. dollar! How is that possible if we're the richest
country in the world? How are currency rates determined?
Why is the British pound always worth more than the U.S.
dollar and what's up with Latvia's dollar being worth
more than ours?! Do they have a lot of gold in their
hills? Is it oil? Has the whole world gone crazy? Please
help, I'm . . . --Losing It


I'll say you are, mate.

See the full exchange ...

This is the list of health warnings that can go on EU cigarette packets (they're currently seeking 'graphic' illustrations to go with them).


* Smokers die younger.

* Smoking clogs the arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes.

* Smoking causes fatal lung cancer.

* Smoking when pregnant harms your baby.

* Protect children: don't make them breathe your smoke.

* Your doctor or your pharmacist can help you stop smoking.

* Smoking is highly addictive, don't start.

* Stopping smoking reduces the risk of fatal heart and lung diseases.

* Smoking can cause a slow and painful death.

* Get help to stop smoking: (telephone/postal address/internet address/consult your doctor/pharmacist).

* Smoking may reduce the blood flow and causes impotence.

* Smoking causes ageing of the skin.

* Smoking can damage the sperm and decreases fertility.

* Smoke contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.



Makes me glad I gave up (but I still miss it, a good six years later).

All right. It's ... well ... not spring cleaning. Late summer cleaning.

Today the kitchen and bathroom ...

Tomorrow ... gulp. Living room. Bedroom. Argh.

I am not keeping this journal often enough.

I am not writing enough - even when I make time. Today I had a day off work, and really I did NOTHING ... aprt from a bit of shopping and a bit of cleaning ...

This is not good.

We have a poet coming to stay on Saturday, so some house cleaning is essential. We cannot depend on his seeing us as charmingly eccentric - a shame, but there it is. Greg, of course, is a poet - and will be reading twice at this weekend's festival. We must get on with getting him PUBLISHED!

He has had the idea, as he has a beautiful voice, of recording some of his poems on CD and selling those. Certainly, I think there'd be some demand. Perhaps this should be a project for the second half of the year ...

And other news ... Yesterday we had a new TV aerial fitted (yeah!). Our old one was tiny - I suspected the previous house owners had it installed sometime in the sixties. It was a simple bar with crossvar bits along its three foot length.

The new one looks huge and sophisticated in comparison ... I said to Greg that it looked like we wanted to talk to Mars.

The reason for the upgrade was so that we could convert to digital TV. We can do this with a simple box - for £100 and no charges we'll get half a dozen new channels and interactivity. Of course, if we went the satellite or cable route, we could get hundreds of channels ... but we're not that fussed. Also we'd have to pay ongoing monthly fees ... and it simply isn't worth it. A dozen channels and a DVD player ... what more do we need?

Well, obviously a fast and powerful PC with a broadband connection.