PC RANT

[dkahn400]

David Hansen wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 17:45:12 +0100 someone who may be Brian Wakem
> <[email protected]> wrote this:-
>
> >>>Electrocution.
> >>>Pupils, teaches, ourselves.
> >>>Inspection of condition prior to setup. RCD.
> >
> >I think I would have answered:-
> >
> >Paper cut from filling in this form.
> >Me.
> >Destroy form.
>
> I should have thought of that. However, as I was typing into a
> Microshit Word document I didn't think of that. Perhaps next year,
> when I fill in the same form.

Delete "paper cut", insert "RSI and eye strain".

--
Dave...

 

[Colin Blackburn]

David Hansen wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 17:45:12 +0100 someone who may be Brian Wakem
> <[email protected]> wrote this:-
>
>>I think I would have answered:-
>>
>>Paper cut from filling in this form.
>>Me.
>>Destroy form.
>
>
> I should have thought of that. However, as I was typing into a
> Microshit Word document I didn't think of that. Perhaps next year,
> when I fill in the same form.

In that case:
RSI from typing this form
Me
Don't bother with form

Colin

 

[David Martin]

On 31/3/05 9:20 am, in article
[email protected], "Simon Brooke"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> in message <[email protected]>, James
> Annan ('[email protected]') wrote:
>
>> Richard wrote:
>>
>>> David Martin wrote:
>>
>>>> "Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won't drown"
>>>
>>> But what are "duffers if not duffers"?
>>
>> Someone didn't go to grammar school...
>
> He does, however, know his literature, and can quote accurately from it.

Indeed, and it was evident a little further on that the recipients of the
message also took a short moment to untangle the meaning.

> Simon, tacking back up the field towards Holly Howe.

;-)

 

[Richard Bates]

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:44:11 +0100, Michael MacClancy
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:22:36 +0100, Richard Bates wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:56:23 +0100, Michael MacClancy
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 18:14:01 +0100, wafflycat wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Michael MacClancy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ... and not because you're one of those snooty grammar school snobs? ;-)
>>>>>
>>>> I do believe you've been watching too much "Tricia", you read into things
>>>> what is not there.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Oh, I wouldn't agree with that. The word 'grammar' was there and I assume
>>>that it had a purpose. You could have referred to 'school chemistry' or
>>>even 'secondary school chemistry', each of which would have been more
>>>egalitarian than 'grammar school chemistry'.
>>>
>>>I only picked up on it because it's not the first time I've noticed this
>>>usage of yours.
>>
>> Have you tried drinking Banks' Bitter?
>
>BTW, didn't your school teach you that the possessive form of a personal
>name ending in s is almost always 's as is Banks's?

Funny you should mention that because the answer is no. I too went to
a grammar school, and whilst they were very good at teaching me
sciences, humanities and football, they were appalling at teaching me
English. At parents evening in my 4th or 5th year my English teacher
commented to my parents that my grammar was lacking and that, for
example, I didn't use the semi-colon. My reply was to ask hiim when he
had ever taught us to use such a device.

I am perhaps in a minority of people who went to a grammar school but
think it did me bugger all use. The careers advisor was horrified to
discover that I wanted to be a nurse (nursing in those days was not a
"university subject"), and succeeded in convincing me that I wanted to
be a dentist instead. Off I went to university to study dentistry and
failed at the end of my first year.

Via a 6 year convoluted route, I finally did my nurse training. I
could have been 6 years higher up the ranks by now...

So I have no problem with the concept of selective eductation but I am
not of the mindset that grammar schools are magical places which teach
snobbery to A level standard.
--
Microsoft Sam speaks his mind:
www.artybee.net/sam_speaks_his_mind.mp3

 

[David Hansen]

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:14:09 +0100 someone who may be Simon Brooke
<[email protected]> wrote this:-

>> Kathy Sykes does it for me, too......
>
>What is it about a PC Rant that brings us all out in lust?

Sorry, not all of us have been made weak at the knees by the
professor.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <BE708B2D.D470%[email protected]>, David Martin wrote:
>On 30/3/05 4:49 pm, in article [email protected], "wafflycat"
><wafflesATv21netDOTcoDOTuk> wrote:
>> "Dave Larrington" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>>> One chemistry teacher wot I had decided to demonstrate the reaction
>>> between
>>> sodium (or was it potassium?) and water, by chucking a large lump of the
>>> former into a glass wossname of the latter. The resultant explosion would
>>> have done the gas board proud, though happily no-one was injured.
>>
>> Potassium. Yor kemistree teechur was mi kemistree teechur and i klame mi
>> five powndz.
>
>Sodium. AN inch cube in a fire bucket was quite sufficient (outside in the
>car park with everyone standing well back) to demonstrate a vigorous
>exothermic reaction.

Sadly the "how do we dispose of this big jar of sodium - I know, we'll
stick it in an empty 40 gallon drum and get the fire engine to spray
water at it until all the fizzing stops and then keep spraying water
on it until the hydroxide is really well diluted" incident happened
the week before I spent a day with the site chemist. I'm told it was
great fun though. (On site (airfield) fire engine and crew.)

 

[John Hearns]

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:38:40 +0100, Tony W wrote:

>
> A late '50's penny (1d) banger would have the H&S Nazis rushing for their
> risk assessments and modern kids diving for cover. Yet we carried them
> round in our pockets and threw them at each other, cats,
(cue Miss Jean Brodie accent):
Rectum, Tony! Rectum!

 

[Dave Larrington]

Tony W wrote:

> Burning a 5 mm length of magnesium ribbon is fine. Setting light to a
> significant chunk on the other side of the (large) school field in the
> gloaming such that the whole bloody place was lit up for several
> seconds was much more impressive.

Hoo yuss! Though 'tis said that outside a certain industrial unit in
Bicester can still be seen the marks on the road generated when some bright
spark decided to see what would transpire if a skip full of magnesium swarf
was set ablaze. That must have been really quite spectacular...

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
World Domination?
Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

 

[Dave Larrington]

Tony Raven wrote:
> Danny Colyer wrote:
>> Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
>>
>>> If it worked.
>>
>>
>> Chemistry should work.
>>
>> Remember the rules:
>> It it wriggles it's biology.
>> If it stinks it's chemistry.
>> If it doesn't work it's physics.
>>
>
> ...and if it doesn't work until you kick it its engineering ;-)

In which vein software is the part of a computer you can't hit with a
hammer...

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
World Domination?
Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

 

[Alan Braggins]

Simon Brooke wrote:
>James >Annan ('[email protected]') wrote:
>> Richard wrote:
>>> David Martin wrote:
>>
>>>> "Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won't drown"
>>>
>>> But what are "duffers if not duffers"?
>>
>> Someone didn't go to grammar school...
>
>He does, however, know his literature, and can quote accurately from it.

I was assuming that James was implying that Richard would have
recognized the quote if he had been to grammar school, not that
David's grammar was poor.

It's been a while since I read it though - aren't telegrams normally
all-caps? Or is the quote not the telegram itself directly but someone
reading it?

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, John Hearns wrote:
>On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:44:11 +0100, Michael MacClancy wrote:
>
>>> Have you tried drinking Banks' Bitter?
>>
>> BTW, didn't your school teach you that the possessive form of a personal
>> name ending in s is almost always 's as is Banks's?
>
>Try telling that to St. Thomas' Hospital.

"Almost always" does imply exceptions. The general rule seems to be
"use s's except for things that traditionally don't", which is about
as useful as most English grammar and spelling rules.

Google says "Banks's" is what the brewers use.
http://www.fullpint.co.uk/about/brands.asp

(What's the relevence of that beer to Micheal's original question anyway?
Is it advertised as going well with chips or something?)

 

[Brendan Halpin]

Simon Brooke <[email protected]> writes:

> Simon, tacking back up the field towards Holly Howe.

Fellow-traveller?

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
mailto:[email protected] http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html

 

[Toby Sleigh]

"Tony W" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> By the way, a '50's 3d banger would have the H&S Nazis diving for cover.
> They would probably class them as 'munitions'. They were much more fun
> :~)
>
Did you ever try wrapping one in something like lead sheet, lighting the
fuse then dropping it into a full water butt, marvellous!!

 

[Tim Hall]

On 31 Mar 2005 11:59:06 +0100 (BST), [email protected] (Alan
Braggins) wrote:

>Simon Brooke wrote:
>>James >Annan ('[email protected]') wrote:
>>> Richard wrote:
>>>> David Martin wrote:
>>>
>>>>> "Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won't drown"
>>>>
>>>> But what are "duffers if not duffers"?
>>>
>>> Someone didn't go to grammar school...
>>
>>He does, however, know his literature, and can quote accurately from it.
>
>I was assuming that James was implying that Richard would have
>recognized the quote if he had been to grammar school, not that
>David's grammar was poor.
>
>It's been a while since I read it though - aren't telegrams normally
>all-caps? Or is the quote not the telegram itself directly but someone
>reading it?

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS STOP IF NOT DUFFERS COMMA WONT DROWN STOP.


HTH STOP HAND STOP


Tim

 

[JLB]

Tony W wrote:
> "Pyromancer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as JLB
>><[email protected]> breathed:
>>
>>
>>>There has to be some balance. I enjoyed metalwork at school but I've
>>>got doubts about the occasion (mid 1970's) when we were making things
>>
>>>from cast aluminium; one of my friends dropped a crucible of molten
>>
>>>metal on the concrete floor and, propelled by vapourised moisture from
>>>the floor, the whole class, assembled to watch, was showered with drops
>>>of liquid aluminium. Clothes smouldering, hair burning and an
>>>unfortunate few clutching their faces while stumbling about screaming.
>>>Nobody was blinded. Perhaps it's not worth trying to prevent such
>>>things. If you've got children how would you feel?
>>
>>That's the problem - people elevate "my child!!!" to a status higher
>>than society as a whole. This is bad for society.
>
>
> The problem is that the H&S Nazis are now going too far. They are trying to
> eliminate risk and so are reducing the educational worth of any activity.
> Risk is good. We have to learn to handle risk. It is when we cannot -- and
> I fear we are breeding a generation unable to evaluate and compensate for
> risk -- that accidents happen.

Would you be so good as to state who the H&S Nazis are, where they can
be found and what power they have to inflict all this misery? Apart from
a load of tabloid tosh I'm having trouble finding the basis for these
stories. People seem to be frightening themselves (aided by the
sensationalist make-it-up media) about all this alleged repression as
much as anything.

It's certainly not easy, for example, to fit your description with the
views put forward here, which concerning learning to handle risk appears
more or less to agree with you.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/sensiblehealthandsafety/index.htm

Completely contrary to your "They are trying to eliminate risk" it says
"In a nutshell: risk management, not risk elimination."

--
Joe * If I cannot be free I'll be cheap

 

[James Annan]

David Martin wrote:

> On 31/3/05 12:33 am, in article
> [email protected], "James Annan"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>Richard wrote:
>>
>>
>>>David Martin wrote:
>>>
>>
>>>>"Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won't drown"
>>>
>>>
>>>But what are "duffers if not duffers"?
>>
>>Someone didn't go to grammar school...
>
>
> Someone who didn't spot the quotes indicating that this was a
quotation, in
> this case from a childrens story.

Oh, come off it, _everyone_ knows that quote.

James

 

[Michael MacClancy]

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 13:39:54 +0100, JLB wrote:


>>
>>
>> The problem is that the H&S Nazis are now going too far. They are trying to
>> eliminate risk and so are reducing the educational worth of any activity.
>> Risk is good. We have to learn to handle risk. It is when we cannot -- and
>> I fear we are breeding a generation unable to evaluate and compensate for
>> risk -- that accidents happen.
>
> Would you be so good as to state who the H&S Nazis are, where they can
> be found and what power they have to inflict all this misery?

Well, quoting from Sandy Morton's post that started this thread, there's at
least one in the BBC.

% I was phoned this morning, day of the hire, by the researcher to say
% that the person in London in carge of health and safety would not
% allow children to cycle on the public roads.

> Apart from
> a load of tabloid tosh I'm having trouble finding the basis for these
> stories. People seem to be frightening themselves (aided by the
> sensationalist make-it-up media) about all this alleged repression as
> much as anything.
>
> It's certainly not easy, for example, to fit your description with the
> views put forward here, which concerning learning to handle risk appears
> more or less to agree with you.
>
> http://www.hse.gov.uk/sensiblehealthandsafety/index.htm
>
> Completely contrary to your "They are trying to eliminate risk" it says
> "In a nutshell: risk management, not risk elimination."

It's quite possible for the HSE to say one thing whilst overzealous H&S
officials do something else, isn't it?

--
Michael MacClancy

 

[Dave Larrington]

James Annan wrote:

> Oh, come off it, _everyone_ knows that quote.

/I/ didn't.

--

Dave Larrington
Public Skool Ignoramus

 

[Zog The Undeniable]

Sandy Morton wrote:
> Hi
>
> RANT ON>
>
> About a month ago I was asked by the BBC to provide hire cycles for a
> family day out on Cumbrae. Programme was Cbeebies.
>
> I was phoned this morning, day of the hire, by the researcher to say
> that the person in London in carge of health and safety would not
> allow children to cycle on the public roads.
>
> How pc is this - kids would have had a great day out - adults would
> have been comfortable - and - some mindless unthinking moron with no
> knowledge of the situation interferes.
>
> Helmets (sorry) would have been provided foc and the cycles would
> have been in A1 condition.
>
> I hate the stupid little mindless morons who try and appear to
> succede in running our lives.
>
> Auntie had previously arranged ukp15 million indemnity insurance -
> what a waste of money.

Possibly the BBC are afraid of being sued despite your insurance.

One of the major problems with today's society (and what will force a
MHL if anything) is the constant insistence on this and that by
insurance companies trying to avoid liability. There is a perception,
probably shared by the insurers, that the number of personal injury
claims is skyrocketing with all those ambulance-chasing lawyers, but
IIRC this is false.

 

[Zog The Undeniable]

Tony Raven wrote:

> Yet they routinely let their reporters drive while talking to camera

And TV companies still let Tiff Needell et all drive like complete
morons on public roads (sliding cars round corners is not a good example
to set even if he is an experienced racing driver).