Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

zagubov

lostinrates wrote: »

I'm currently thinking I might start keeping my eye out for cheapest gas or oil boiler and tank and have something fitted 'medium term' that requires a tank and refuelling.


If any one hears of someone ripping out a boiler the size of gdb's or there abouts let me know......

Lir, good luck with your heating,

I had to go up inot the attic and attend to our boiler this week and I dread if it stops working this winter, and I'm in the London heated concrete "bubble".

There's a detour on my way to work due to roadworks and I now have to pass, of all things, a coal merchant. It seems like something from another time like rag-and-bone men. I'm such a townie that I assume the rest of the country's like living in a city. I also go past a gun shop which is another reminder I'm not in the big city any more.

lostinrates

zagubov wrote: »

Lir, good luck with your heating,

I had to go up inot the attic and attend to our boiler this week and I dread if it stops working this winter, and I'm in the London heated concrete "bubble".

There's a detour on my way to work due to roadworks and I now have to pass, of all things, a coal merchant. It seems like something from another time like rag-and-bone men. I'm such a townie that I assume the rest of the country's like living in a city. I also go past a gun shop which is another reminder I'm not in the big city any more.

My nearest town, where we have a surprisingly busy train station but no full size supermarket, has two gunshops.

Bizarrely it also has a new wine bar with a sort of alfresco bit on a main road. Not sure about that.

zagubov

I'm getting reminded of "So You Think You Know the UK" by Danny Dorling (who Masomnia's met through work)

He claimed the reason we're not likely to be killed by guns is because we're mostly not farmers or farmers spouses.

Mind you he also said the main reason we don't get burgled is because we'd all need to live well into our hundreds. Small comfort to London-dwellers with our high crime concentration. People I know on and off this thread have all suffered recently.:mad:

Just proofread my post (badly) and wondering idly if there's a rhyme for burgled.

GDB2222

fc123 wrote: »

Today, I had to pack all but essential clothes for the next 2 months and I will now have to wear a rotation of the same thing for 9 weeks from now on .

I do this all the time if possible.

zagubov

lostinrates wrote: »

We have!'t come up with a single person yet who read media studies, but appreciate they probably work with people who did.



On the plus side, I was talking to another young man briefly about art yesterday, who knows ( in his words) no art history but is keen on making art. I was suggesting that an understanding of what's gone before and what happens now contextualises what he produces....and he was talking about access. I was able to say proudly that actually the NBC has had some ruddy decent arts programming recently. Its had DH and I and (thankfully) more knowledgable friends shrieking at the tv pointing out errors at times...but in general its excellent IMO.

Better than nothing certainly. Bbc does stuff like that so well. If people with media studies degrees are involved, ruddy good for them.

There used to be a subject called Communication Studies which was very hard to pin down as to content. I worry that Media Studies has picked up its status.

I've a lot of respect for the course Critical Thinking, even though it is in a sense contentless and is all about delivering skills, but downright useful ones.

I used to teach on a curriculum called the IB which consisted of six subjects from broad areas plus ToK/Theory of Knowledge which is basically epistomology which was a big part of my MSc. Lj'll have covered a fair bit of that in his degree I'm sure.

The A level system used to teach it in a fourth A level called General Studies which was a great predictor of which students will get the better degrees but I'm not sure which universities accept it now and I don't know how common it is currently.:(

michaels

zagubov wrote: »

There used to be a subject called Communication Studies which was very hard to pin down as to content. I worry that Media Studies has picked up its status.

I've a lot of respect for the course Critical Thinking, even though it is in a sense contentless and is all about delivering skills, but downright useful ones.

I used to teach on a curriculum called the IB which consisted of six subjects from broad areas plus ToK/Theory of Knowledge which is basically epistomology which was a big part of my MSc. Lj'll have covered a fair bit of that in his degree I'm sure.

The A level system used to teach it in a fourth A level called General Studies which was a great predictor of which students will get the better degrees but I'm not sure which universities accept it now and I don't know how common it is currently.:(

General studies was one of my 5 A's but it didn't count for uni points - I think my being good at it reflects much more on my up bringing than my own talents. It wasn't a 'taught' course at my sixth form, I think there was an optional 1 hour lecture once a fortnight but no coursework rtc.

lostinrates

iB as in international baccalaureate?

That would be more like what DH did. I'll ask him when he gets in how many subjects he studied to 'a level' standard. Six still seems really small selection still though,mdoesn't it...to say to a sixteen year old (and fourteen year olds, it was hard choosing GCSE subjects...) this might shape your future, what you are doing in a time that's thrice your life span might depend on how well you narrow things down now.

I can see for some fewer subjects is better, and I'm not necessarily saying its wrong, just I think its tough. And that maybe schools and those governing them should be making some choices that pupils and some parents have not the experience nor wisdom to navigate?

vivatifosi

lostinrates wrote: »

On the plus side, I was talking to another young man briefly about art yesterday, who knows ( in his words) no art history but is keen on making art. I was suggesting that an understanding of what's gone before and what happens now contextualises what he produces....and he was talking about access. I was able to say proudly that actually the NBC has had some ruddy decent arts programming recently. Its had DH and I and (thankfully) more knowledgable friends shrieking at the tv pointing out errors at times...but in general its excellent IMO.

Better than nothing certainly. Bbc does stuff like that so well. If people with media studies degrees are involved, ruddy good for them.

There is a brilliant book that puts painters into a timeline and shows relationship between them and their influences. Can't copy and paste URL on tablet, but it is available on Amazon. Called Worlds most influential painters and the artists they inspired, by David Gariff

michaels

zagubov wrote: »

Lir, good luck with your heating,

I had to go up inot the attic and attend to our boiler this week and I dread if it stops working this winter, and I'm in the London heated concrete "bubble".

It is probably not fair for me to mention that I checked out the heating by switching the program back to Heating and HW from Hot water only and put the day temp up from 17 to the winter standard 22 and with 30 minutes DW was asking me to turn it off as the house was feeling too warm....

Masomnia

zagubov wrote: »

I'm getting reminded of "So You Think You Know the UK" by Danny Dorling (who Masomnia's met through work)

He claimed the reason we're not likely to be killed by guns is because we're mostly not farmers or farmers spouses.

Mind you he also said the main reason we don't get burgled is because we'd all need to live well into our hundreds. Small comfort to London-dwellers with our high crime concentration. People I know on and off this thread have all suffered recently.:mad:

Just proofread my post (badly) and wondering idly if there's a rhyme for burgled.

Ha, yes well he decided he was too good for us and went to Oxford. Pah!

Feels like another life now, all that.