ethanthescribe

makoknight @ 01:11 am: oh holy shit awesome
First, new Suikoden game for DS oh my god oh my god oh my god this had better come out in english oh my god

secondly, radio drama of the first Suikoden Game oh my god oh my god oh my god, i will need an english transcript and a copy as soon as it hits

asimmum @ 06:59 pm: Schools catching up?
From http://betch.edublogs.org/2008/08/20/the-truth-is-out-there/:

The school at which I teach, PLC Sydney, was in the news this morning regarding a recent assessment task conducted by one of our Year 9 English classes. The article from the Sydney Morning Herald talks about how this class is pushing the “open book exam” concept into allowing students to use resources that take them beyond the boundaries of the classroom and enable them to draw on outside sources - the web, other books, their own personal networks - using whatever tools they choose - mobile phones, computers, iPods, PDAs, etc - in order to be assessed on their learning.

Following the quote above is an excellent argument for the reasoning behind the move, and an insightful discussion on the state of education in general.

I'll be honest, this actually seems pretty reasonable to me. I went through school when it was still fairly much traditional format. You learned stuff, you remembered it for an exam, you did some analysis of some texts, and you finished school. Do I remember it now? No. Did it prepare me for the world I live in today? Not really. Well, I like being able to spell, use grammar fairly well, and add up in my head or do division on a piece of paper. Does it matter that my school didn't prepare me for my life 16 years later? Not really, because I grew WITH technology. The internet wasn't something everyone had and used when I was in grade 12. I didn't use the 'net until my second year at university. I didn't have an email address until three years after I finished my first degree. Social networking? Never heard of it until three years ago! So no, it didn't matter to me, because I'm a product of the times - it wasn't mixed in my baby bottle like it is with the teens of today (the younger ones of this group who were not even born when I finished high school), but I was able to incorporate it into my learning and employment fairly quickly as it came about.

Schools today are still, for the most part, stuck in that traditional format. Sixteen years after I finished high school, much of what is studied today is still formulated on the old style rules. Small portions of knowledge are given high value, in very structured scenarios. Sure, there are innovative teachers, and schools of innovation, that are making efforts to become more "real world". Is it even feasible, given the change over the LAST decade and a half, that we try to train today's students using today's technology and knowledge methods? Well, maybe it's not perfect, but if we don't at least try to keep up, those kids are disadvantaged from the get go. 

Learning and knowledge has changed significantly in the past 20 years. In the past five years. In the past twelve months. Fifteen years ago, if I wanted to know something, I would look it up in a book, which would usually mean a trip to a school, university or public library. Five years ago, if I needed to know something, I would go to the internet and use a search engine such as Ask Jeeves or Yahoo to look it up. Twelve months ago, I would Google as a first choice. Now, I might ask my social network first, and Google, and possibly CUIL to find an answer, depending on the nature of my knowledge quest. And knowing HOW to find that information, how to use the best search strings to quickly find accurate information, is a skill all on its own. A skill that many of the students of today's schools simply don't have, because we, their teachers, don't teach them how. We assume that because they are technologically literate, because they have grown up in this world of technological change, and can text message or use a remote control faster and better than we can, that they instinctively know how to use technology effectively. Many of them don't. 

The rate of available information is expanding at such an immense speed that it is impossible to be expert in the things we used to be. To continue to expect the "sage on the stage" model of teaching to work is ludicrous. To continue to believe that the act of remembering facts in today's world is more important the being able to effectively access information is a fallacy. No, I don't believe we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, in that I still have faith in the importance of the basics, of the fundamental necessity of learning the structures of learning, the codes of reading, the forms of writing, the foundations of arithmatic. But the essence of how we learn, the methods that we use in the real world...they are very different to what is still being taught in schools, and maybe PLC is making a bold move to try to address that gap between school and life. I will be very interested to see where this goes.

Tags: school

makoknight @ 08:55 pm: I don't suppose anyone is recording tonights ABC2 broadcast of Keating! The Musical? I missed the first act.

etfb @ 07:44 pm: Blabbermouths R Us!
Via hrj: who comments the most on my LJ?

( Find out... if you dare! (Or is that care?) )

Well there you go. Didn't expect that at all!

mel_redcap @ 05:13 pm: No no no no no no no no NO!
No, oh noooo, we are NOT doing this again!

Damnit, I got over the stupid frikkin' recurring migraines. I got them under control to the point where I'm off all the meds and I've been having maybe one every couple of months. I can look at a computer screen without screaming pain, I can read, I can knit, I can smell flowers and coffee and look outside at a bright day without collapsing, I am back at work full time, I am doing well at uni, I am WELL. I am not going to go back to having recurring migraines again! You hear me, brain? Stop it!

I got stressed at work, thanks to an IT guy completely wrecking my computer while trying to fix something minor, right before I needed all the programs he buggered to do a priority job. And then I had a migraine on that Sunday, then Monday, then Wednesday, another one yesterday, and today I have a full-blown migraine hangover and an aura that's lasted all day. (I normally get auras about 20 minutes before I start a migraine. This damn thing has hung around for over ten hours, it's making me paranoid.) So as of yesterday my doctor has put me back on the 'sledgehammer meds', but they have to be made up by a compounding chemist (ergotamine and caffeine and something-or-other else is not a standard mix) and won't be ready until Friday at the earliest. Hopefully I won't get another migraine before I pick up my meds, they will do their job, and I will be able to slap this down quickly.

Because quite frankly I would rather shoot myself than go back to the half-crippled lifestyle I was stuck with when I got migraines all the time.

wolfhound @ 02:56 pm: hah finished the first draft
I is happy with it. I shall look at it tonight and make some improvements and then hand it in tommorow

Tags: tafe

cassiphone @ 04:14 pm: Made Art!
Because everyone needs a girlie Dalek bookmark, or one with a few cinematic vampires.

Also check out this amazing necklace which clockworkzero made especially for the auction!

Tags: art that scares you, making art

wolfhound @ 01:29 pm: oops its been almost a week
well craptastic

well not really

hmmm sort of

Im here at college all by self beacuse I dont trust myself (with good reason) at home. I could do this assignment at home but with almost a terrabyte of stuff that I havent watched and a new PS 2 with final fantasy 12 begging to be played (and it was flogged till teusday when I said oh crap Im late for my psych appointment.) So after Psych appointment I did toddle off to tafe. (was it coincidence that the psych is like 50 metres from TAFE I dont think so.....) And Im here again today but Ive got some good work done Im about halfway through... Now if only my pizza would cook......

If its one of the top three it gets shot er filmed rather than taken out the back and shot at dawn.... though there is the gallows here.... but that was for hangings. Ok this is getting silly.

I had a dream the other night and in it I fell in love with someone again or afresh as I still hmmm carry the torch for her, but she was keeping her distance and then she had someone else which perversely made me love her more.... Unless a miracle or two happens Im not going to be with her in real life (and the miracles dont involve bad things happening to other people)

In some what related news as it since then Ive been.... well how do I put it delicately..... my hormones have been running rampant.... which is no help at all as there are no prospects even in the remote distance. So in short sux to be me atm.

Tafe is going well though I may panic about it from time to time but I just have to remember that if I do the work I will pass.....

Tags: update

taavi @ 12:16 pm: RPG trivia
John McCain attacks Obama supporters as being D&D players and therefore unpatriotic. Er, what?
H.P. Lovecraft reviews Whitman's chocolates. Via curufea

uberxael @ 10:30 am: In Which I'm Less Than Metal

So, I was going to post an entry here about how good Amanda Palmer's (formerly of the Dresden Dolls) solo stuff is. Clips for what I assume are the singles are up on youtube, and they're as good as you think they're going to be. Unfortunately, coupled with some of my other comments about music on this LJ, I suspect that would be the nail in the coffin of my metal credibility. So, go to youtube, but don't watch that. Watch, um...Sepultura or something.
...
(Actually, the video for Alice In Chains' Rooster is pretty hardcore - because it has the speech at the start about the guy's dad's experiences in Vietnam, it doesn't have that disconnect you normally get with violence in metal videos. But now I'm making a real point rather than making fun of myself, and no-one needs that.)

ozbookworm @ 10:19 am: My brain was faster than bodies requirement to refresh itself through sleep. So many idea, so little time to implement them!

Brain 1
Body 0

Methinks it might be time to give the body a little assistance tonight......

ripley_larkham @ 09:48 am: relief kit
I have recently had my first few days of relief teaching.

One of the things I have been advised to get/have at different points by different teachers is a "relief kit".

From my limited understanding this is a magic bag of goodness which can keep an entire roomfull of rowdy students quiet and content for an hour or so. I understand it normally contains some find-a-words or soduku and a few decks of cards.

I would actually really appreciate knowing what more experienced teachers and even students thought I should have in my relief kit.

daemonsorceress @ 09:29 am: I'm still packing?
I was a stewardess on a plane, and people were getting off as we'd landed. One of the other stewardess' asked me where something was, and in an exasperated voice I asked her how would I know? Some people stayed behind on the plane, and with the other stewardess they began to rob the plane, opening up some cabinet and removing items from it. *shrug* I went back to where my stuff was and started to pack, but it was a problem, I had a lot of stuff and it was so scattered around. Whilst packing I found a very small alarm clock, and as I touched it the hands started moving. I realised that it was a timer for a bomb and I'd just set it off, so I gently put it down and continued packing. I got off the plane, trailing my suitcase behind me and entered the airport, going up the thin ramp towards the doors to the main section. The ramp was very thin, maybe 8" wide, and the doors left a similar gap between themselves and the wall. It was tricky, though not difficult to walk up the ramp, and the doors opened as you got close enough, but you felt as if you'd have to squeeze through that small gap. I wandered through the airport wondering where I'd find someone to tell about the bomb.

tillianion @ 08:15 am: Labor propaganda or good advice?

etfb @ 10:58 pm: Slice Of (White Trash) Life
Sitting on the bus, working on Captain's Log on my laptop of course, I overheard a conversation. Actually, I couldn't help overhear, since the guy was sitting in the luggage rack directly behind me. I couldn't see him, but I heard plenty. It started with him abusing his girlfriend to her face for something or other -- he resented the lack of "respect" she was showing by making some kind of plan for the evening, telling him about it in advance and then (oh my god!) expecting him to follow through with it. Conversation ranged widely on how useless his deadbeat druggo friends were, what total [anglo-saxon monosyllable]ing [anglo-saxon monosyllable]s they were, how he could never rely on them, the useless [anglo-saxon polysyllable]s... primarily, it turned out, because they never seemed to want to spend any time with him.

Here he is, a girlfriend-abusing, friend-belittling, foul-mouthed white-trash wanker (in, as I saw later, motorcycle leathers despite not owning a motorcycle)... and his friends inexplicably didn't want to hang out with him.

A mystery, truly.

If this had been written by a student in drama class, it would have been marked down for its anvilicious heavy-handedness. No subtlety in this portrayal of a complete bastard; no shades of grey, no "so much good in the worst of us", just a relentlessly loathesome villain with no redeeming qualities. But it was life, not fiction, and you can't deduct marks for the universe, I guess.

Was very glad to come home. Here's hoping the guy's girlfriend finds the will, or the help of her friends (who don't seem to hate her as much as his hate him, hence the initial argument), to leave him and find someone better. And then, here's hoping he gets the motorbike to match the leathers and wraps himself fatally around a speed camera pole. Because his life is sorely lacking in irony, but these things have a way of balancing out in the end.

benpayne @ 07:22 pm: Background TV
There are certain shows that, while I may like them while I'm watching them myself, when they're on in the background while I'm trying to read or work are the most annoying shows in the world!!

One such show is the Gilmore Girls. When watching it, cool. When it's background noise, arrrgh! Spike through the skull!

Another such show, I've discovered, is Friends! God, when did their voices become so *annoying*??

cloudsprite @ 06:25 pm: The Omnivore's Hundred:

"Below is a list of 100 things that some random person on the internet think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all.
...
Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
Etc.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Tags: food, meme

cassiphone @ 05:21 pm: Genderbending in Tights and Cloaks
Jennifer Fallon pointed out this article on the lack of female superheroes in recent pop culture, as well as some intriguing gender issues to do with the Batman film franchise. I'll skip past the gay Batman stuff, because it's been said lots before. What caught my eye was that, the author, Dr Yvette Blackwood, points out something I've always noticed, which is the deeply uninteresting role of the love interest in the Batman films.

While Kim Basinger's Vicky Vale and Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle were quite dynamic characters who contributed something to the overall Batman story, the later films featured a series of dull, unbelievable female characters whose only role seemed to be to reassure the audience that Batman was not gay. And of course, to get a female celebrity name attached to the film. The Elle McPherson character in Batman and Robin was an all time low, though I also count Nicole Kidman's weird therapist and Katie Holmes' Rachel Somebody in that category (I haven't seen the latest film, but assume that Maggie Gyllenhaal is given less to work with than an actress of her calibre deserves - feel free to let me know if this isn't the case but no spoilers please, I do plan to see it soon).

Part of the reason why this has been so disappointing is because the Batman universe is so rich with amazing, interesting and dynamic female characters who have so much to offer a story beyond being a potential Batbonk. I'd rather have an Oracle, a Huntress or a Renee Montoya turn up in the Batman movies as a supporting but unromantic character than see yet another attempt to show that, shock horror, Batman is unlikely to ever have a stable, healthy relationship.

[No, I haven't made any mention of Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. It requires too much pointing and laughing. Do I lose all credibility if I admit that I kind of liked Alicia Silverstone's cheesy Batgirl? All wrong, of course, but so cute... yep, okay there went my credibility, whoosh out the window]

Anyway there was I, all het up by thoughts of gender and superheroes, and I thought I'd check out what other articles Yvette (who teaches gender & pop culture at the Uni of Tasmania, and once got me in to do a lecture on women in SF fandom history for one of her courses) had written over on ABC Unleashed.

Why can't boys wear pink? was one that grabbed my attention, mainly because the discussion of boys wearing fairy dresses struck a chord with me (Raeli has a boy friend who was so impressed with her fairy dress he requested one of his own, and the two of them play adorably together). I was particularly intrigued by Yvette's discussion of villains in pop culture (summed up by examples from Disney films) and how commonly villains are "coded queer" in order to appear threatening and strange.

All crunchy gender-bending thoughts, which come at a good time for me as I am currently writing a paranormal romance novella which has accidentally turned into a substantial exercise in traditional role reversal. My hero is a female character who is old, damaged and bitter, in true hardboiled detective style, and the supporting "love interest" male character is younger, an object of desire fought over between hero and villains, and the plot only started really flying for me when I gave into the inevitable and "damselled him up," that is - put him in a dangerous situation so the hero can rescue him.

Possibly I should admit that I am still giving my boy more interesting things to contribute to the story than at least three Batman love interests put together. So not complete role reversal!

Tags: reading, superheroes, writing

fishlivejournal @ 04:46 pm: Religious art question
Given the number of artists, historians, and just generally cultured people on my flist, someone should know:
Are there any decent art works of Jesus with the elderly? The default is surrounded by children of course, and I've seen many with him watching over an adult in a crisis situation, but never one with the elderly.

Given the way our old timers tend to be abandoned into nursing homes to die or otherwise ignored, it's a gap I'd like to fill, if only by publicising existing works.

curufea @ 01:12 pm: Imperials integrate into San Francisco


Tags: 3d, humour, video