Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

PasturesNew

When the last big bushfires were on (2009?), I was watching them "live" online on a map and listening to live constant bushfire radio coverage. Sites like:
http://mapvisage.appspot.com/fires/FireMap.html
http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?CAT_ID=683

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

Lydia is DD happier now? Is DS OK back at school? All of ours went back today and all seem very happy which is always good. Tonight we have watched dd2s xmas play (dvd came today), I may try and post a link at the other place.

DD seems better for having had a couple of days back. She's now keeping a diary of what happens to her at school - both the bad things (which she considers to be bullying, and some are, but some are her overreacting) and when the others are nice to her. I hope it will help her to get things in perspective, and to the extent that there is actually a problem it will give us some concrete data to take to the teacher.

DS also seems to be OK. He is still more anxious than I would like, but today has been good. For holiday work they had a geography assignment about volcanoes - either make a model one, or write a story about one. He asked if he could do a story as a lego animation, and was given permission. Today they shared their work with the class and everyone gave marks out of 10 to everyone else. Most people gave his animation 10, and the rest gave it 9, so he got top total score for the class, and the teacher asked to keep a copy and showed it to other Y7 classes. He was pretending this was no big deal, but actually I'm sure it was a major boost to his rather fragile confidence.

GDB2222 wrote: »

The carrier bag idea sounds incredibly fiddly. I hope it works out, and you don't have to buy a new iron!

Fortunately she is young enough to accept that the actual ironing has to be done by a grown-up. So she sets it all up ready on the ironing board with the greaseproof paper, and I iron it (in between writing a powerpoint and worksheet for a lesson I'm teaching tomorrow). So the iron is undamaged. And she has been cheerful and willing when asked to tidy and vacuum up after herself, so I'm pleased about that.

GDB2222

LydiaJ wrote: »

Fortunately she is young enough to accept that the actual ironing has to be done by a grown-up. So she sets it all up ready on the ironing board with the greaseproof paper, and I iron it (in between writing a powerpoint and worksheet for a lesson I'm teaching tomorrow). So the iron is undamaged. And she has been cheerful and willing when asked to tidy and vacuum up after herself, so I'm pleased about that.

Brilliant! I'm impressed that she had the skills to do that. I would have got the plastic all over the place, with gaps between the strips, etc. Well done DD! :j

Am I right that the next stage is to laminate that colourful layer onto something stronger?

Generali

Re the guns thing, there is a website that collates opinion polls (thanks Google) and it seems to be pretty unbiased:

http://www.pollingreport.com/guns.htm

"Are you for or against a law which would make it illegal to manufacture, sell, or possess semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles?"

For Against Unsure % % %

12/19-22/12 44 51 5

10/6-9/11 43 53 5

10/11-14/04 50 46 4

The popular version of American history is that they shot their way to liberty against the English oppressors. Generally a small majority of Americans support the legality of 'assault rifles'.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

When the last big bushfires were on (2009?), I was watching them "live" online on a map and listening to live constant bushfire radio coverage. Sites like:
http://mapvisage.appspot.com/fires/FireMap.html
http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?CAT_ID=683

Yes it was 2009 which included Black Saturday. Those bush fires were in Victoria which is to the south of New South Wales.

It was incredible that no lives appear to have been lost so far in these fires. The fire season has plenty of time to go however and there will be plenty more big fires. Almost 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres) have gone up in smoke so far.

The second site you link to is the Rural Fire Service, a group of amateur firemen that fight bush fires. They are amazing people.

LydiaJ

GDB2222 wrote: »

Brilliant! I'm impressed that she had the skills to do that. I would have got the plastic all over the place, with gaps between the strips, etc. Well done DD! :j

Am I right that the next stage is to laminate that colourful layer onto something stronger?

Oh, she did get the plastic all over the place with gaps between the strips. Then she got sad and decided the result wasn't good enough and she needed me to give her a lot more help tomorrow and also better plastic bags - stronger plastic and a wider range of nicer colours. So now she wants to try to buy more bags - which defeats the idea that it's recycling rubbish. This is fairly typical for DD's craft attempts. I am still happy that she didn't (a) burn herself (b) burn the house down (c) damage the iron or ironing board or (d) refuse to clear up the mess. I haven't got as deciding to what lengths I'm prepared to go to help - I've had too much work to do tonight to consider it. However, my powerpoint and worksheet for tomorrow's lesson are ready, as long as I get into school with enough time to copy the worksheets before the lesson starts.

zagubov

This reliance on guns in the US -to maintain law and order, don't you know - does my head in. :mad:

I remember a satirical article once arguing that if everyone carried bottles of nitric acid to splash over other people, then others would carry bottles too for self-defence.

Hobbies like copper-etching would spring up as justification for ownership and there would be enthusiast magazines and shops selling supplies. And every last bit of it as unnecessary and dangerous and pointless as guns currently are.

Switzerland required you to keep guns at home. Finland's hunting mad and has huge legal gun ownership. Yet none have the catastrophic death rate the US has to keep justifying.

We can be too culturally relativistic here. There's "different" and there's "just plain wrong". I can spot which this is. I bet you all can too.

LydiaJ

zagubov wrote: »

We can be too culturally relativistic here. There's "different" and there's "just plain wrong". I can spot which this is. I bet you all can too.

I bet we all can too. I also think we can hang onto our knowledge of what a terrible thing America's gun culture is, while also acknowledging that it is very deeply embedded in their national identity, so that we do not underestimate the extent to which it is resistant to change.

zagubov

PasturesNew wrote: »

Next big spend: That smartphone thingy ... I was all on track to get that when I moved, only without the Internet I couldn't track one down nor choose a provider.... so I think getting that phone's got to happen this week ideally. Huawei G300 (from memory)....

hi PN -you might want to pause for a moment as they've brought out or are bringing out some new models and it might be better for photos than the Ascend 300 that I've got.Maybe have a browse around on this internet thingy.:beer:

vivatifosi

Hi peeps. Am in the Us at mo. The gun control issue, i can see there being compromise in two aread. firstly there will be a ban on some more dangerous weapons, second will be the call for mental health checks.

Re P Morgan, I have no idea what he said in interview because it hasnt been covered here but ive seen him getting the hairdryer on four different channels.

I dont know if it is news in uk but the guy who went on shooting spree drrssed as the joker is going on at mo, plus guy in connectocut had issues, hence mental health and guns being such a hot topic.

Chewy is right re the Nhs comparison too.

Still on phone so sorry for typos