Sunday, December 19, 2004

Education/science/division of the sexes

I learnt something that horrified me today. Thanks to how the government fund schools nowadays, my old grammar school has stopped teaching physics at A-level (16+). It has applied to be funded as a school specialising in drama.

I am on the verge of tears as I think of all those girls denied the chance to study physics. In theory they are allowed to go to a local boys grammar in the sixth form but without good GCSE (15/16 yr old) teaching, they are unlikely to take the plunge and be the token females studying at a boys' school. These girls are now being told yes- you are the brightest females in west-Kent/ east-Sussex but you are not good enough to do physics. How about a little stage-show instead?

I am sickened. How is it that the country is run this way?

What can I do to help? I have thought about writing to the headmistress but don't know what I can offer.

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Update

SLAC (Stanford, California) from 4th January to the 10th. Yes, that is over my birthday. Should be exciting. I worry that it will be way over my head but I guess exposure to information is always good. One day I will understand everything, oh yes. It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

And then I am off for bob knows how long from the end of February onwards. At SLAC. I guess it will be over a year give or take.

Well, I wanted to travel. Hopefully being on the west coast will spur me onto fufilling that other year-long ambition of mine- going to Australia.

Incidentally- I just hit my 6000th post. Here's the evidence:

A couple of months ago I found this in a notebook. I can't remember writing it... but it looks like an alternate beginning for Keppet's Last Stand (part one of the Keppet trilogy).




Tied to rungs in the wall

With each limb held by ropes attached to rings in the wall, Keppet screamed.

“What do you want with me?”

Tears streamed down her face as she withstood bob’s latest torture. Even after nine months, her spirit remained unbroken and she was still human enough to recognise the atrocities being inflicted on her.

“And so ends book 8…” bob snarled at her.

“Please mistress bob… make it stop.”

“Book 9. And so the wheel turns…”

Keppet screamed but nothing could drown out the words, the sniffs, snorts and suggestions of bestiality with a horse called Bela. Keppet tried to think about braids but it didn’t help because braid pulling was part of the torment.

The torment lasted hours. Every time Keppet felt herself becoming unconscious, she’d snap back to reality on the words “I don’t want to be a bloody hero”.

Now and again, bob would poke her with a short leather rod. Keppet would howl with pain partly to humour the sadistic skutter and partly because bob would accompany the jab with a few bars of opera (bob had random Pavarotti syndrome).

Keppet had tried to escape 3 times before- once through the laundry shoot, another time through the garbage shoot and one time by disguising herself as a parachute. No time was completely successful and in the last case this was possibly a good thing otherwise Keppet would have found herself splattered across the English countryside along with whatever poor soul pulled the rip-cord and got Keppet leaping out of the knap-sack and not the life-saving device he expected.

No- none of the escape attempts worked. Somehow, on escaping the basement, Keppet would find herself drawn to the computer and would post messages, giving herself away.



Thanks everyone for well, putting up with 6000 of my posts even if you never read half of them because they were in the television thread.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Morality and Interrogation

Let's try it again.

Toture is wrong. Torture is always wrong.

Below is a quote from the ASTT site (Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma.)


"It is the psychological effects which may, in the long run, be most damaging to the survivor. Whether it be recurrent nightmares, the inability to sleep or the fear of sleep, flashbacks, chronic anxiety, feelings of betrayal, the inability to trust any other person, deliberate self injury, violent behaviors, substance abuse, depression, paranoia or anxiety, these psychological consequences are not only on survivors but on their families, friends and communities as well. "
www.astt.org/AboutTorture.htm

Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma

More information can be found at the Amnesty International Site.

One thing to realize is that when we permit torture anywhere of anyone, we will ultimately realize the impact of it ourselves.

People who are given the duty of tormenting others, people who work in an environment where they have to witness and accept that other people are being tortured are changed as much as the victims of the torture. When something is an acceptable practice, people become desensitized to it. The attitudes go home with them.

Robin Hobb

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

In case I get swallowed again

Farscape season 4- not my favourite season by a long long way.

Paraphrasing myself...

I wish it was a will they/won't they thing- what we had was worse because they were just bloody miserable around eachother.

I then went on to bemoan the lack of Harvey...

Praise the Earth episodes (which showed how much John had grown so perfectly)...

And praise the finale in general ("blue light special" "What does an American want? Democracy? Capitalism!") although I heaped scorn on the idea that it was all about flowers. Bah- that was surreal, yes, but also pathetic.

I mentioned how Grayza went from monster to someone I felt pity for (Crichton suggested she felt "raped" and I blinked and saw all her weaknesses... when her command was taken away from her by Braca/Smithers of all people...). I also raised my eyebrow at how she appeared pregnant in the PK Wars trailer (and warned QuOS not to spoil anything even slightly- no knowing smiles or sage nods please).

I think the only other thing I said was that Scorpy was weak and ineffectual in this season. In my opinion. I had hoped that he strangled Sikozu in the kinky S&M scene but alas she appears in the trailer for PK Wars. It isn't that I didn't like her- I just wanted bad Scorpy back.

(Copies post)