So the first three Rubus Experiments have concluded. Link here.
The next three will launch in 2014.
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Saturday, 23 February 2013
Odd maths
So I've picked up on a pattern involving square numbers. I've been running numbers all morning since I spotted the pattern and I'm convinced that this is actually a thing. Okay, here goes:
If AxA=B
And (A-1)x(A+1)=C
Then C=B-1
Or
4x4=16
(4-1=3)x(4+1=5)=15
15=16-1
5x5=25
4x6=24
6x6=36
5x7=35
And so on. I haven't yet found a set of numbers that this fails on, provided that you start with a number timesed by itself. Is this like a known thing? Does it have some kind of a name? Because it's pretty cool - useless, but cool.
If AxA=B
And (A-1)x(A+1)=C
Then C=B-1
Or
4x4=16
(4-1=3)x(4+1=5)=15
15=16-1
5x5=25
4x6=24
6x6=36
5x7=35
And so on. I haven't yet found a set of numbers that this fails on, provided that you start with a number timesed by itself. Is this like a known thing? Does it have some kind of a name? Because it's pretty cool - useless, but cool.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Cool Animal of the Month, 02/13: The Shouty Corvid of Twickenham
I haven't yet gotten a decent photo, but I'll update this when I do. The Shouty Corvid of Twickenham is a bird - possibly a raven but I reckon it looks more like a carrion crow - who hangs around on King Street in Twickenham. Its main pastime is perching off the end of bus stop roofs and shouting at passers-by. I have no idea why the Corvid does this, but being such a character it's become very much a feature of the high street here.
Serious gardening next week.
Serious gardening next week.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Jam
So I caught a tutorial on jam making by Emma from the Butch Institute. Gets home and made half a litre of raspberry and bramble jam, and some scones. I haven't yet attempted to clot cream.
OM NOM NOM!
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
The joy of sales
Today I got a knitted fleece, a weatherproof fleece, and a fleece-lined goretex jacket all for £80. I haz a warmz. Slightly disconcerted that I now take a size 14 in outdoor jackets. I don't mind, but it's weird. I'm 9½ stone just now, at my heaviest I was 11 stone, yet at 11 stone I took a size 10 and at 9½ stone I take a 14. How in the hell does that make sense?!
Monday, 21 January 2013
The Burchill Fiasco.
Read this,
and this,
and then this.
To those involved on the ground it's a game of Oppression Olympics, but to those running the Observer it's clickbait. The controversy brings in readers, and the spike in traffic bumps up the Observer's advertising revenues. That's it. All the pain and the upset, the division, activists making enemies of those who should be friends, the abuse, the hounding, the forced-outing, the public harassment; it's all so the Guardian group can make a few extra quid.
Shifty bastards.
and this,
and then this.
To those involved on the ground it's a game of Oppression Olympics, but to those running the Observer it's clickbait. The controversy brings in readers, and the spike in traffic bumps up the Observer's advertising revenues. That's it. All the pain and the upset, the division, activists making enemies of those who should be friends, the abuse, the hounding, the forced-outing, the public harassment; it's all so the Guardian group can make a few extra quid.
Shifty bastards.
In defence of schools
Schools are too quick to close these days. When I was a kid we trudged through a foot of snow...
But what's changed?
When I was a kid, the buses and trains were run differently than they are today. Buses worked in the snow. Trains had a limit, but when that limit was reached the Men In Orange would be out on the line with shovels. Transport did what it said on the tin back then. Today the trains shut down with no prior notice whatsoever once the snow gets past an inch.
Insurance was different too. Snow cover is hard to afford these days. Slipping on ice is now a suing matter, while back then it was one of those things.
Staff who work with students have less autonomy today. This is partly understandable; endless paedophile scandals and the general underfunded crapness of social services has led to overtightening of rules. Where it gets to the point where a teacher cannot help a child put on sun cream, or hug a child who is distressed, I for one think it has gone too far.
Yesterday, the buses would run, kids could be gotten home safely. If the worst came to the worst and a freak blizzard of biblical proportions snowed the town in at the last minute, the kids could be bedded down in the school hall and the cafeteria set to the bulk output of hot chocolate. It never happened, but if it did then the teachers would get on with the job and be praised for it.
Today, the buses won't run, parents will need to leave work early and drive their kids home (if they can). If the kids are kept in and our hypothetical blizzard happens, the teachers will be slammed for failing to foresee the unforeseeable, parents will become hysterical, the Sun will screech "but what if there'd been a paedo in there?!?!?!", and somebody will get sued into next Tuesday.
Headteachers today must - with no warning whatsoever - pre-empt the point at which the trains will shut down, the buses will stop running, and get the kids out with time enough to get them home. Heads must judge if it will snow enough to shut the transport the night before, and decide if the two hours teaching they'd get done are as good as a wasted day.
You'd need a masters in geology and the wisdom of Solomon to balance all this and, inevitably, the balance will be gotten wrong. It is natural therefore to err on the side of caution. I don't envy them the task.
But what's changed?
When I was a kid, the buses and trains were run differently than they are today. Buses worked in the snow. Trains had a limit, but when that limit was reached the Men In Orange would be out on the line with shovels. Transport did what it said on the tin back then. Today the trains shut down with no prior notice whatsoever once the snow gets past an inch.
Insurance was different too. Snow cover is hard to afford these days. Slipping on ice is now a suing matter, while back then it was one of those things.
Staff who work with students have less autonomy today. This is partly understandable; endless paedophile scandals and the general underfunded crapness of social services has led to overtightening of rules. Where it gets to the point where a teacher cannot help a child put on sun cream, or hug a child who is distressed, I for one think it has gone too far.
Yesterday, the buses would run, kids could be gotten home safely. If the worst came to the worst and a freak blizzard of biblical proportions snowed the town in at the last minute, the kids could be bedded down in the school hall and the cafeteria set to the bulk output of hot chocolate. It never happened, but if it did then the teachers would get on with the job and be praised for it.
Today, the buses won't run, parents will need to leave work early and drive their kids home (if they can). If the kids are kept in and our hypothetical blizzard happens, the teachers will be slammed for failing to foresee the unforeseeable, parents will become hysterical, the Sun will screech "but what if there'd been a paedo in there?!?!?!", and somebody will get sued into next Tuesday.
Headteachers today must - with no warning whatsoever - pre-empt the point at which the trains will shut down, the buses will stop running, and get the kids out with time enough to get them home. Heads must judge if it will snow enough to shut the transport the night before, and decide if the two hours teaching they'd get done are as good as a wasted day.
You'd need a masters in geology and the wisdom of Solomon to balance all this and, inevitably, the balance will be gotten wrong. It is natural therefore to err on the side of caution. I don't envy them the task.
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