Lord of the Blog
29 Aug 2002
Seriously, now
19:48 Remember Orwell's nightmare vision? Here's a take on British politics which is . . . thought-provoking, at least.
27 Aug 2002
Extreme shininess
10:58 New version of POV-Ray available.
23 Aug 2002
Bouncing babes
08:46 Big wave of the Gilson to Mr & Mrs Genehack on the safe arrival of Rosanna.
22 Aug 2002
Ejumacation
12:18 I am a bear of little brain and long words bother me. However, to me it seems that the ever-increasing success of students in school exams is down to one (or a mixture of) of three things: (1) children are getting smarter year by year, (2) the exams are getting easier, (3) the examiners are fiddling the results. I think we can dismiss #3. As for #1, that is what the government would like us to believe, to vindicate their absurd educational policies and to 'prove' that they don't need to spend more money on education. I find it pretty difficult to believe this one, and all the other evidence points against a linear increase in intelligence for this nation over the last ten years or so. That leaves us with #2 - the exams are easier year by year.
So far, nothing news-worthy. But this conclusion leads us to the logical step in how to address the gender gap in examination results. All we need to do is set different papers for boys and girls. Keep making the papers easier for the girls, but make them even easier for the boys. Of course, we don't publicize the fact that they are of unequal difficulty (or ease) - we say that we are addressing gender-specific strengths and abilities. After all, if the current misadministration is good at anything, it's spin. It might take a few years to get the balance right, and we need to be careful that the boys do not suddenly overtake the girls (rather they should be seen to improve steadily over five years or so), but it should be doable. And maybe we should set papers of differing difficulty for each of the members of the Union, too.
21 Aug 2002
Ouch, that hurt
12:32 Okay, so I'm a few days late, but I've been on leave, yah? Let's hear it for Bill Thompson, who wrote a very interesting piece for El Reg about where the 'net in general is going and what we can do about it. There's an emphasis on the integration of cyberspace with the real world which is sadly lacking in much of today's hysteria surrounding the WWW in particular. He's received a lot of flak, especially from goddamyanks, but it's very thoughtful and addresses some very worrying issues. It's not so much a USA vs Europe thing - although it might seem like it at first pass - it's more of a fscking moron vs those of us who aren't thing.
21 Aug 2002
Science!
11:39 The Hutchison MRC unit is holding a rather spiffy-looking inaugural conference. If you're based in .uk, this may be worth your time. Look out for me.
21 Aug 2002
Shields up, Mr Chekov!
11:37 Star Trek comes to the Army. Not quite what we imagine as shielding - the outer shell actually has to be pierced for the system to work, but it's still pretty neat. Thanks to CK for the link
20 Aug 2002
I'm so high
12:44 It was a bit of a joke back in RAFG that the Brits would be the only guys left to defend when the Reds invaded West Germany on a Saturday - the French/Dutch/Belgians would have gone home and the Yanks were all spaced out. It's true of course - and has now been admitted.
20 Aug 2002
Evolving
11:18 In what I have to admit is a bit of a personal victory, the Biochemist's website is now open to all without registration. This means you can read my review of Chandra Wickramasinghe's Cosmic Dragons. There's also a newsletter you can sign up for - and I encourage y'all to do so.
20 Aug 2002
The carnival is over
11:11 Coming back to work after a holiday is always a drag. I still haven't caught up on all the things I have to do . . . be with you soon.
_
Let slip the blogs of war
01 Aug 2002
Sssh!
15:39 My mate, Roland Hübner, obviously knows something I don't.
Update! SNB Website