Plans finally sorted 4 2day, meeting with company re. English Club teacher position, then onto Ali Ba Ba-Beef & Beer, Bayterek – Buddy Bears
Aug 22 2009
Babushkas And Uniforms
No, not a link to a real niche orientated web site, but the subject of these two photos, taken on the 4th July, during the continuing celebrations for Astana Day(s).
This first shot was supposed to of just the guys in uniform marching around, but by the time I got the camera out, they had rapidly retreated into the distance, and a gaggle of Babushkas were blocking the frame. Deciding that the contrast between the two groups amused me mildly, I grabbed a quick shot.
Babushkas In Astana Park With Street Patrollers
Later on, we walked through the park, onto the foot bridge over the River Ishim, and up to near Congress Hall (in the old square). They had some sort of civic awards ceremony going on, with interesting dancers, a DJ and various people being awarded for ‘the best teacher in so and so region’. Given the subject, I hadn’t expected to see so much security at the entrance, and within the ceremony itself. You can see the street patrollers (or special forces (!?) if you believe on Astana resident) and police working in perfect discord here. There was also an official competition between the various cafes and restaurants that had set up food stalls in the square, though most entries seemed to be based around barbecued meat.
Astana Day Celebrations Uniformed Security At Award Ceremony
Oct 08 2008
Apples For The Teacher?
That is just so last century. Deciding to offer her tutors something a little extra, an un-named 15 year old girl in Wortley, Yorkshire, baked up some cakes with an added ingredient she neglected to mention… Peanuts or perhaps buckwheat flour? Something else that could have kicked off an allergic reaction in her teachers? No, she (wasted IMHO) added weed (well more likely it was hashish) to the dough, and got her educators stoned. Check out the article for a little more information. The fact that the staff were sent to hospital makes me think she either put a lot in the cakes, or perhaps that the adults weren’t used to the effects.
OK, so that is a Christmas cake, but it looked too pretty not to use 🙂
The girl was lucky in that no charges were bought, but she was obviously suspended, and now attends a different school.
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Jul 02 2008
Over The Top In Sweden
According to this report, a school in Lund, Sweden, has informed a boy that if he hands out his birthday party invites on their property, he must invite all pupils, rather than those he is actually friends with. I would have not raised an eyebrow had they simply been telling him not to bully others, or make fun of someone due to their weight/skin or hair colour, but to tell a child that his birthday party attendees will be controlled by the authorities really does seem totally OTT. Whether general opinion backs the teacher who confiscated all the invitations, or this was a politically correct little authoritarian, I was unable to discover, but the story caught my eye, so I thought I’d pass the link along…
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Sep 17 2007
A Little Late…
Back in school, I remember Mr Owen§ commenting on how whenever advertisers wanted people to inherently trust some spurious claim they made about a certain product, they would use someone wearing a white lab coat to convey the message. Obviously this person was very likely to simply be an actor, but because viewers associated the white coat with scientists, their brain would subconsciously give the statement more veracity in it’s assessment.
So why this meandering introduction? Well a BBC article has detailed a recommendation to be made that hospital doctors should do away with their white lab style coats. The reason? The coats themselves are excellent at spreading infections from one area or patient to another. Again our school teacher also mentioned that you needed to be really careful not to contaminate one experiment with chemicals or reagents from another. Obviously a student’s experiment’s results are not as important as a patient’s health or even life, so I wonder why it took so long for this opinion to make it from a teacher level to health professionals? Also mentioned are the banning of long sleeves where practicable, as well as wrist watches and jewellery, for the same reasons as the traditional white doctor’s coat. I do wonder what women whose religion forbid too much skin to be on display will be required to do?
§ Or it could have been Miss Ribena-Berry, Mrs Dowse or another of our science teachers… this was about 15 years ago now, so I hope you will forgive my fuzzy memory…
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Aug 16 2007
PCC Tests New Teeth
The PCC (Press Complaints Commission) used to only have the power to tell off newspaper publishers for anything put into print, however six months ago, their remit was broadened to include audio and video material papers publish on their internet sites.
The first case to involve these powers was a complaint against The Hamilton Advertiser, that showed video secretly shot in a class room by a pupil. The problem was that the class appeared to have little control placed on it by the teacher present, and the pupils became very rowdy. The pupil that videoed the incident on their mobile phone was apparently trying to prove to her parents that the recent drop in grades was not down to her.
Unfortunately, the Hamilton Adviser published the video without any pixelation, that is to say you could clearly see the faces of both pupils and the teacher. It was this point that the PCC considered most relevant when they passed judgement against the newspaper. Although I am all for the concept of news papers using all the available mediums to get their message across, I do wonder what the editor was thinking when he allowed the video footage to go straight onto the site, without any anonymisation at all.
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Jun 08 2007
Teacher May NOT Be Going To Jail
Following on from the previous article, I thought I’d post this link to a BBC report on an American teacher who has now got a new trial underway.
The original charge? That she gave cause to a room full of school children to see pornographic images on a computer!
So where is the link between that and the Spy Sweeper product I mentioned earlier? It now looks like the PC in question may have been infected with ad ware, which coudl mean that the no criminal act was carried out – just the normal levels of ignorance so often found with PC users. If the PC had been protected, it is quite likely that the pop up adverts would never have been produced, a class full of children wouldn’t have been asking their parents difficult questions (but Mum, why did she have that banana there?), the PC would have been working more quickly on the internet, and most importantly, the teacher herself wouldn’t now be facing the possibility of 40 years in prison!
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May 31 2007
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
This time Mr Hemingway did manage to capture and hold my imagination and interest. We find ourselves in Cuba, in a small fishing village. The old man of the title has been fishing a very long time, and has a apprentice/assistant who cares about the man as more than just a teacher/boss figure in his life.
The old timer goes out to sea, and carries out a long drawn out battle with a Merlin. (Think I spelt that right… a big fish basically.)
The author manages to capture the simple & difficult life the fishermen all went through, and I found myself actually caring what happened to the fisherman, a lot more than when I was reading ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’.
Although set a long time ago, the tension that is built up does a good job in captivating you, and even though I usually choose to read SciFi or Fantasy type books, I was glad I finally got around to reading this.
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May 04 2007
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
After this review, I’m returning to the Dave Barry Series, in case anyone is waiting for the completion…
Anyway, back to the book in this review – Fahrenheit 451. This book is almost a byword for censorship, both of the physical kind (book burning in this case) and of the eventual self-imposed censorship people can place themselves under when they have lived in a repressive society for too long.
The main character (Guy Montag) is a fireman, but not in the sense we would expect. Although his profession’s roots are in putting out fires, their main role is now to destroy almost all books. The government of the day had decreed that all bad influences should be eradicated, and people are encouraged to report on friends, family and neighbours if they suspect they have a secret stash of literature. In this way, many people have drawn parallels between this book and 1984. However the writing style is quite different.
The book follows the transition of Montag from a book burner to a hounded criminal on the run, and the ending is near apocalyptic, with bombing raids on Montag’s home town. Prior to this, Montag looks up an old teacher, to try and help him out.
This is another classic that deserves to be read when you get some free time. If you don’t have any time, make some!
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