Search results for:

I was once riding down the Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons, at bout 60kph and noticed my bar end cap was loose

Aged about 8 I thought it would be a really good idea to run down the side of hay bluff... I ran about 100 yards flew 600 and faceplanted in a bog at the bottom. Never run so fast before or after.

Shooting downhill after college into town in the middle of the road, passing stationary traffic on the left in the rain just after I got my fixie, failed to notice someone indicating right. They pulled out, I missed them and swerved into the back of a lorry instead. Somehow got away with just tearing my shoulder.

Volvic - Filled with volcanicity.

So you can just make up fucking words if you are in advertising then? What difference does volcanicity make? Oh it makes no bloody difference because its exactly the same stuff that comes out of the fucking tap.

Also that cadburys ad with the children and the eyebrows was just too weird for description. Just made me want to beat them to death when I saw it. The Phill Collins drumming gorilla was awesome, why did they repace him with that crap.

Photo sharing site. Like facebook but with better photos and less arseholes.

Wow Dylan, thanks for that, was a really good read. I dont think that here in the UK it's quite as bad as in the US but there were certainly things in there that stood out for me.

The top students learn the system. If they are free thinkers, they hide it, because they’re after top grades and independent thinking is too risky and unpredictable.

I think this is definately true, potential for develpment is being wasted as kids just try to conform to the norm. Inteligent kids should be encourged to be proud that they are different and work to their strengths rather than having to work to cover up their differences.

The most valuable skill you can possess is the ability to acquire useful knowledge and apply it to solve real problems. Once you own this skill, you have all the education you’ll ever need.

This is another really good point. Why do you have to learn the dates of all the Kings and Queens of Britain? It would be much more useful to teach people how to find this information as you would do in real life. Although I dont do History I find the same thing in Maths, why should I be forced to remember all these formulas that I will just be able to look up in real life.

Also I see alot of people with no ability to find information for themselves. So many things can be found just by sticking them into google or Wikipeida and spending a couple of minutes looking. We now have instant access to more information than we have ever previously had with the rise of the internet and it seems such a shame to me that people are unable to use this great resource.

Anther article that guy links to is http://paulgraham.com/nerds.html which struck a chord with me. When you are in school intelectualism is actively discouraged by extreme peer pressure from all the other kids. What Paul says is that Nerds are just thinking at a higher age level and as such dont have the time to deal with the mental burden of social conformism as well. When you get to a certian age then it all evens out a bit so the distinction dissapears.

I am very glad now that I am reaching an age where being a bit smart is less of a social handicap and I guess I am starting to be a bit proud of who I am rather than covering up. It has been a damn long journey through education though and it seems a shame that it should have to be that way. I certainly dont have any answers but I know that change will be needed at some point.

Now come on what is it with education these days?

We constantly read reports that the whole schools system is cracking around the edges, teachers are more stressed than ever, kids are more badly behaved than ever and some people seem to come out of school illiterate and unable to add up. All of this and yet exam results have improved year on year, every year for 20 years... something doesn’t quite add up here.

I am of the belief that the issue is not a superficial one; the problem is deep rooted in the way the educational system works and the way in which it treats learners.

When we first enter school we are taught the basic systems of numbers and words, at this stage the role of the school is as much about supporting personal development as it is the teaching of specific knowledge. Even at this stage there is testing, aged 7 children are expected to sit their first SATS exam and although it is emphasised that the function is mostly diagnostic of the system the exams don’t stop from this point onwards.

Upon moving onto secondary school there is another ramp up in the level of testing and I believe that this means that emphasis on personal development is lost. While we are busy cramming for exams and tests the appreciation of a subject is lost. Teachers of subjects are trying hard to pass on their enthusiasm for the subject that they love but they are constrained by the system which demands objective assessment at all stages. Some way has been made towards resolving this issue with the scrapping of the Key Stage 3 Sats exams which it was concluded had little or no benefit to education and were a bureaucratic nightmare.

Moving on to study A-Level does change things slightly, the reduction in the number of subjects studied means that more time is spent on each so there is a greater scope for exploring the subject in a more interesting level of detail. However the pressure on students is no less intense if not more so, you are now studying subjects that you are interested in so there is no time for wasting. Whereas in secondary school you can go easy in Art and Music there is little of this respite at A-Level.

The other problem is that of the modular nature of most A-Level courses. Now I am not attempting to cast aspersions on the modular system as it does have numerous advantages over the linear style courses. If you have a bad day on the exam then you are not ultimately punished, also coursework broadens the scope of the subject, increasing the skill base of the qualification and meaning that the emphasis is not entirely on exam technique on the day. However the disadvantage is that there are formal exams every 6 months for 2 years. Having just recovered from GCSE's pupils are thrown straight into AS Level module exams, less than 6 months later. The pressure is constantly on to achieve and to pass.

Now this modular nature may increase the pass rates for the exams but at what cost? For a start, less emphasis is placed on the retaining of knowledge, students seem to be encouraged to cram for an exam and then forget the knowledge and move onto the next module. Also there is the constant pressure of having to repeatedly sit exams, this can result in people getting fed up with exams towards the end of their second year and suffering a major decrease in performance as a result. This sort of experience will also reduce people's interest in a subject and would certainly diminish their enthusiasm for studying the subject at a further level.

So why does the education system place such an emphasis on continual assessment? Well to an extent assessment is necessary, as it is in all areas of life, to ascertain a persons current level of knowledge and determine whether or not the work done has had a significant impact on their amount of knowledge. Assessment is very useful to determine whether or not teaching methods and techniques are effective, and the information collected can allow a teacher to improve their teaching methods in order to better deliver their knowledge.

I think however that a certain amount of the testing is driven by the current popularity of league tables. Schools are ranked on their performance in the exams and are subsequently rewarded for doing well. In our performance related culture, we naturally want to send our children to the school with the best results, to give them the best foothold in the world. We see a school as less suitable if its results are not as good as the school across the road. Although the exam results do reflect in part on the overall performance of the school, these are not the only things to take into consideration. The league tables do not measure the personal development of the children or extracurricular activities or pastoral support.

This pressure on the school to achieve the best possible exam results then filters down to the teachers, who know that the security of their jobs is dependant upon their pupils achieving good results. This leads to exam based teaching methods, teaching the children only what they need to know to pass the exam. Since no account is made for encouraging interest or excitement in a subject, the pupils just feel that they are being pushed through a boring system that does not benefit them. Since the pupils are not interested they are less inclined to work hard, subsequently exam results will be poorer than they could be. This leads to the pressure on the school increasing and we have the increasing pressure cycle.

At the end of their academic careers, young people come out with some arbitrary qualifications and find themselves under prepared for the world of work. All those years of hastily cramming for an exam and then forgetting the knowledge afterwards seem somewhat wasted, although the time spent was under fulfilled and more could potentially have been achieved

The worst thing is that the majority of teachers feel the same as the children. They want to teach a subject that they enjoy and pass on that enjoyment to their pupils, however they are entirely restricted to what is on the exam syllabus and are often unable to find any time to teach anything else.

Had too much time to think about this... about 13 years to be exact :p

Alternatively I could sculpt one from papier mache... I think I would trust it more.

Also cycling in normal shoes knackers my (overly bendy) feet, so I need that extra rigidity.

My pedals unclipped while forcefully slowing down the other day, nearly faceplanted into the back of a van... definatley new cleat time for me.

Each unto their own I guess. Darwin always gives me hope. The theory of evolution says that brakeless riders will either get more skilled and live or be less skilled and fail to reproduce...

As for BMX's, their image has been badly damaged by 16 year old kids who steal things and ride around with 4 inches of arsecrack showing because their jeans don't fit. If I bought one I would instantly be sterotyped as a granny stabbing rude ugly teenager (which I like to think im not).

If you have a tight link where you break it, what can you do about it??

I always seem to get a tight link when I break but no amount of poking/oiling/hitting with hammers seems to loosen it.

Also:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

<3 really love this album.

Hmmmmm just discovered that my chainring is nowhere near circular... both tight and loose chain in one rotation.

My Solution: Ignore it HTFU and ride :D

+1 for Giordana. Got some from Epic last year and they have been excellent. Assos would be lovely i'm sure but at 5 times the cost you have to cycle some serious miles to justify them... or just not be a broke student I guess :p

Aye, thought the arms were a bit tight and i'm proper lanky, definatly a thin cut. Still you cant go too far wrong for that sorta money.

Wearing 2 pairs of aldi socks now... heatings gone again and its damn cold in here :p

Got some black plastic ones which will do you. No straps tho... was vaccuming the garage the other week and the end got caught up under the roller and it got shredded it in a cloud of acrid black smoke... but I digress :D

Damn... just spent another 30 quid :p

Did get 2 pairs of socks, some gloves, a softshell and a shirt for my trouble though. Proper bargain, even if it only lasts 12 months then its still cheap. Careful of sizing, it's a bit on the small side, I had to go for XL instead of my normal Large.

^^ Is that the one that gives you venereal diseases?

Bump.

Might be worth a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbGfwzMZAEM

Her voice is just... :o

Dont regret the time you spent with her. The whole thing has changed and shaped who you are as a person and that isn't a bad thing. I have been chasing someone who doesn't give a toss for a couple of years now and although it mostly seems an awful and painful waste of time, I can see that it has changed me and the way I think. When I get the balls to get the hell out and move on then I will be a much stronger person for it with some pretty cool memories too.

I think just take it a day at a time, dont drink and really try to enjoy the little things in life, birds, blue sky, the tactile gorgeousness of a brooks saddle etc

AFIK you can use 700 tubes.... the 20mm difference in diameter or whatever it is is taken up by the stretchyness of the tube.

At the bottom of the page under tubes Sheldon suggests they are interchangeable...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/630.html

Looks really weird but just try his improvised tool with the big bolt, worked wonders for me.

http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html

Halfway down the page under fixed cups.

Oh so thats what it is.. found one of these at the back of the garage the other day and chucked it away, had no idea what it was for :

Team Pro for me - just beautiful, comfy over short and long distances.

That pro above looks legit to me and if it gives you comfort for another 10 years then thats 3 quid a year which aint bad.

Epic mouse hover fail. ;)

That hover thing is actually quite awesome... need to make my site do that now. There's the potential for hours of fun there.

Ordered an HTFU wristband from Oz the other day. Hopefully it will piss off all the christians who keep trying to give me "love jesus" wristbands.

48:17 but every time I go out I feel compelled to sprint everywhere too fast so a spinnier 19t is on the way.