TeachMeet Bolton – June 2011

You know you want to be there…

http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/Teachmeet-Bolton

The Black Hole

The Black Hole written and directed by Phil & Olly and shared by Swissmiss.

Sir Ken, Animated

RSA Animate – Sir Ken Robinson – Changing Education Paradigms

Credit for this wonderful find goes to Steve Clayton.

Goodbye Windows?

This evening, in the time it took to eat a bowl of soup, I installed Ubuntu Linux 10.04 “Lucid” on my laptop alongside Windows 7. Easy. Quick. Efficient.

I’ve since used it to update my accounts, send some emails, etc. without issue. I feel totally at home already and find myself wondering why I haven’t tried it out before now.

So, is it now time to say goodbye to Windows? Well, not quite. I’ll still need the Microsoft OS to run .net applications like Capita’s SIMS – at least until I get the WINE “emulator” to work.

Don’t misunderstand: I think Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system. It’s just that Ubuntu has made me feel like a kid again – albeit a geeky one.

Normal Service Will Resume Shortly

Well, it’s been a tumultuous few months and I’m sorry that my blog’s been neglected. You may have noticed a slight modification of WordPress theme which is a result of an upgrade accident rather than sensible planning. That said, I’m quite pleased with the change of scenery.

My 365 photo venture had to take a back seat while I started the new company. While the project wasn’t abandoned because of a lack of stamina (thanks for the support Karl!), I have a good excuse. I’ve taken quite a few photographs since the last post, so I’ll pop them up here over the coming months.

I’m looking forward to having time to regularly post again. In the meantime, you can follow my Twitter stream here.

Thanks for calling by; normal service will resume shortly…

John H.

365 Photo Project 2010 – Day 41

Day 41 – Wednesday 10th February 2010

#365 | Day 41 - "Trinity Street Junction" - Bolton, England

365 Photo Project 2010 – Day 40

Day 40 – Tuesday 9th February 2010

#365 | Day 40 - "Chimney at Barrow Bridge" - Moss Bank Park, Bolton, England

Taken from Moss Bank Park in Bolton, a view of the old cotton mill chimney at Barrow Bridge.

365 Photo Project 2010 – Days 38 and 39

Day 38 – Sunday 7th February 2010

#365 | Day 38 - "Fog Lamp" - Atherton, England

Day 39 – Monday 8th February 2010

#365 | Day 39 - "Dark Clouds Gathering" - Bolton, England

Challenger

I was the same age as my daughter is now when the space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, United States, on the 26th January, 1986 at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 GMT).

On that fateful day, optometrist Jack Moss raised his new Betamax video camera to the sky over central Florida. The subsequent recording was turned over to an educational organisation a week before his death in December 2009. The Space Exploration Archive has since published the previously unseen footage into the public domain.

 
I remember going into school the next day carrying my Space Shuttle book and was completely distraught that nobody was as upset as I was. I simply couldn’t understand it. I recall telling my class teacher that Christa McAuliffe was a teacher too but she shooed me away saying “it’s nothing to do with us, we’re not Americans”. I was absolutely disgusted. To me the crew of Challenger STS-51-L were not only American heroes but women and men who died in a valiant attempt to expand human knowledge. As such the disaster had everything to do with everyone, American or otherwise.

STS-51-L crew: (front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; (back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

365 Photo Project 2010 – Day 37

Day 37 – Saturday 6th February 2010

#365 | Day 37 - "Collared Doves" - Howe Bridge, England