On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 11:26:58 +0200, scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:


>> By the time you reach adulthood, you have presumably given up on calling
>> people names because they're "teacher's pet". Question is, how do we get
>> younger children to do that...
>
> Like I said, IME it was the ones from the bottom classes causing  
> trouble. Take them out into a different school entirely, everyone's a  
> winner.
>

I think you're right.
For me the teasing stopped when I switched to an Art School in Grade 9.

-- 
-Nekar Xenos-

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Am 20.01.2014 04:27, schrieb Patrick Elliott:
> On 1/19/2014 11:26 AM, clipka wrote:
>> Feel free to not give a bloody frak about punctuation and grammar if you
>> don't give a bloody frak about whether people actually give a bloody
>> frak about reading your bloody postings. But then I wonder why you even
>> give a bloody frak about bloody posting them in the first place.
>>
> Ok, got a bit.. over the top there myself. Like I said the John in
> another post, its.. something I have trouble breaking. A tendency to try
> to get whole spans of ideas out, all at once, because, otherwise, I
> would have to stop and spend time trying to both hold on to them all,
> and sort them into a sensible order, at the same time. I do better when
> I have the time to rethink them 4-5 times, but.. I am usually pressed
> for time, due to being "in process" to get ready for work when I check
> postings. :p

I was just hoping myself you'd not get offended by this particular 
paragraph of my post - it was supposed to be a humorous reflection of 
the choice of words in your posting, but after the deed I figured it 
lacked any indication to this effect. (Sorry for that.)

I might add that I had much less trouble with your choice of words than 
with your grammar and punctuation :-P, interpreting the former merely as 
the result of a loose tongue (if that's the right idiom) rather than 
attitude towards any person.

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Am 20.01.2014 10:02, schrieb scott:
>> BTW - crosswords are something I hate,
>> because they, frankly, often reference what, for anyone that doesn't do
>> crosswords, are often obscure, or, among the general public, uncommon,
>> references, when/if they don't just stuff something in that involves
>> celebrities, or some other obscura, which no one, other than people
>> obsessed with crosswords, or "popular culture" would give a damn about.
>
> You're getting your crosswords from the wrong places. In the UK at least
> most (all?) of the newspapers run crosswords (and most are available on
> their websites now), it's easy to find one as intellectual or trashy as
> you want.

For Germans, I can highly recommend the "Eckstein - um die Ecke gedacht" 
series of crossword puzzles, published in the weekly newspaper "Die 
Zeit" (or, more precisely, in the "Zeit Magazin" accompanying it); 
common "crossword puzzle knowledge" will not help you there, instead 
you'll need to get all your wits together, as all the descriptions come 
with a twist.

I don't know however whether there are any English counterparts to this.

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On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 19:17:34 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> Maybe. I still think the problem is bigger than just tweaking school
> slightly. Like, we need to make the entire populas regard knowledge and
> skill as valuable things again, rather than something that only socially
> inept dweebs are about...

I think you're right - there needs to be a cultural shift towards 
recognising that brains are important.  Skills are also important, but 
some skills are more valuable for accomplishing things beyond just 
entertainment.

That said, I have a lot of respect for Shaquille O'Neill.  Not because 
he's a basketball star.  He holds a Ed.D. in Human Resource Development.  
He not only went to school, but he pursued a doctorate in professional 
development, which is a field that I have done a little work in (it's an 
"Adult Education" field.

Kudos for him for not just living off his NBA salary, but for wanting to 
better himself and others in the world - to the extent that he earned an 
advanced degree in it.

Maybe if others like him can show that being smart is important, the 
cultural shift will happen.

Jim

-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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> I don't know however whether there are any English counterparts to this.

We have cryptic crosswords!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword

Most newspapers worth reading run them daily.

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On 21/01/2014 8:40 AM, scott wrote:
> Most newspapers worth reading run them daily.

Even the Sun. :-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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> As I say, IME nobody cares if you have a degree. They only care that you
> don't have 3 years' commercial experience.

I'm talking about recruiting graduates, the fact that most jobs are not 
for graduates is irrelevant. Obviously the more experience you have the 
less consideration is given to your education, so when you have zero 
experience, education is the most important thing on your CV. I'd even 
say that which university you went to is more important than what grade 
you got.

> Maybe. I still think the problem is bigger than just tweaking school
> slightly. Like, we need to make the entire populas regard knowledge and
> skill as valuable things again, rather than something that only socially
> inept dweebs are about...

Maybe tweaking school slightly would filter up to the rest of society 
though. Maybe then we would not allow any Tom Dick or Harry who knows 
how to operate a tyre fitting machine to call themselves an Engineer. 
Whereas now we have news stories about hairdressers arguing over whether 
anyone should be allowed to be called a hairdresser or not.

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Am 21.01.2014 09:40, schrieb scott:
>> I don't know however whether there are any English counterparts to this.
>
> We have cryptic crosswords!
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword
>
> Most newspapers worth reading run them daily.

You are being envied.

BTW, the "um die Ecke gedacht" uses the "advanced" (or "variety") grid 
style, which I find more aesthetically pleasing (and which probably also 
makes the puzzle easier; then again, I can imagine that the English 
language might be better suited to cryptic crosswords and therefore 
require less tightly packed grids).

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On 1/20/2014 2:02 AM, scott wrote:
>> BTW - crosswords are something I hate,
>> because they, frankly, often reference what, for anyone that doesn't do
>> crosswords, are often obscure, or, among the general public, uncommon,
>> references, when/if they don't just stuff something in that involves
>> celebrities, or some other obscura, which no one, other than people
>> obsessed with crosswords, or "popular culture" would give a damn about.
>
> You're getting your crosswords from the wrong places. In the UK at least
> most (all?) of the newspapers run crosswords (and most are available on
> their websites now), it's easy to find one as intellectual or trashy as
> you want.
>
Urr.. yeah, its called "buying ones in America". I mean, when the top 
shows on TV are "reality TV", and "paranormal", and the only magazines 
making significant amounts of money are... barely more than rag 
magazines....

-- 
Commander Vimes: "You take a bunch of people who don't seem any 
different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get 
this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem."

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On 1/20/2014 12:17 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>> Obviously enough companies *do* care - and they're apparently not just
>> distinguishing between Oxbridge and "the rest".
>
> As I say, IME nobody cares if you have a degree. They only care that you
> don't have 3 years' commercial experience.
>
Often, in some new tech that has only existed for 1 year. ;)

-- 
Commander Vimes: "You take a bunch of people who don't seem any 
different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get 
this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem."

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