Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

The Cambridge Chat Thread - it's over 90,000!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 5800

Overmars

Does anyone know the nearest place (from centre) to pick up some printer ink cartridges?

Cheers!

Reply 5801

gethsemane342

Original post by Overmars

Does anyone know the nearest place (from centre) to pick up some printer ink cartridges?

Cheers!

Rymans?

Reply 5802

Overmars

Original post by gethsemane342

Rymans?

Ah, good call. Didn't think they sold printer cartridges. Worth a try. :yy:

Reply 5803

Topaz_eyes

Original post by Zoedotdot

The things that I am best at (in order of general success):

Reading
Winning Go Fish
Knitting
Remembering random things like all the car number plates on my street
Reciting Jabberwocky with appropriate voices and actions
Crosswords and logic puzzles
Jigsaws
Writing (ie, the majority of my degree)

I have been noticing a general trend towards a lack of productivity :p:

I'm really good at so many utterly useless things.

Me too! Every time I think of something random I heard once but is stuck in my head, I wish the same happened with the things I should have memorised...

Reply 5804

The West Wing

Original post by Overmars

Ah, good call. Didn't think they sold printer cartridges. Worth a try. :yy:

Alternative - WH Smith :smile:

Reply 5805

Overmars

Original post by The West Wing

Alternative - WH Smith :smile:

Can't believe I forgot these. :facepalm2:

Of course. Cheers :yy:

Reply 5806

gethsemane342

Original post by Overmars

Ah, good call. Didn't think they sold printer cartridges. Worth a try. :yy:

They do

I always buy them there because of the student discount ^_^

Reply 5807

visesh

Original post by Zoedotdot

I'm really good at so many utterly useless things.

Ahem

Reply 5808

Zoedotdot

Original post by visesh

Ahem

Should I have added that I am an absolutely terrible liar? :p:

Reply 5809

ukdragon37

Original post by visesh

Ahem

I would've considered them if I met the national security criteria :frown:

(parents aren't British citizens)

In other unrelated news, lol.

Reply 5810

Craghyrax

Original post by Overmars

Ah, good call. Didn't think they sold printer cartridges. Worth a try. :yy:

TWW beat me. WHSMiths although their stock is usually far worse than Rymans.

Original post by alex_hk90

I don't see the issue with that.

Reply 5811

Zoedotdot

Original post by ukdragon37

I would've considered them if I met the national security criteria :frown:

(parents aren't British citizens)

In other unrelated news, lol.

I know I'm a mod and I therefore probably keep up to date on the forums more than everyone else, but the number of people posting about this as something new is amusing me! The girl's friend made a thread in the Oxford forum posting up her letter about a month ago. I must admit I didn't expect it to make it to the national press, as I think it's pretty juvenile and a very 17/18 year old "I know everything" act to undertake :p:

Reply 5812

Craghyrax

Original post by Zoedotdot

I must admit I didn't expect it to make it to the national press, as I think it's pretty juvenile and a very 17/18 year old "I know everything" act to undertake :p:

Reply 5813

Zoedotdot

Original post by Craghyrax

It reminded me a bit of my friend at school, who claimed that Critical Thinking was so incredibly easy that all the markers were cretins, so instead of answering his final question he wrote a lengthy criticism of the exam itself which fed into a persuasive essay on why he should be given an A despite all the flaws (throughout identifying each of the types of thinking he was using in the essay).

He got an E. Only he was surprised. The moral of the story? Even 'cretins' can recognise when someone thinks far too highly of themselves.

Original post by Zoedotdot

Excellent, I didn't know the letter was on TSR :gah:

It's certainly news to me :tongue:

Reply 5816

TheUnbeliever

Original post by ukdragon37

lol.

Really? I thought it was rather dull. If you discard the derivative snark you're left with nothing of great insight.

Rant

I have an active interest in education generally, and in access in particular. However, I don't feel that simply spouting rude and ill-considered vitriol without making any recommendation to remedy the situation or acknowledging that efforts are being made to do so is an appropriate response. It comes across as immature in both tone and content.

Grr. This story annoyed me.

Reply 5817

Topaz_eyes

Original post by TheUnbeliever

Really? I thought it was rather dull. If you discard the derivative snark you're left with nothing of great insight.

That link made me laugh :biggrin:

I'd seen the rejection letter on TSR and I think it's funny, but ultimately she's only harming herself. I think she might have been better off picking a different college!

Reply 5818

Zoedotdot

Original post by TheUnbeliever

Really? I thought it was rather dull. If you discard the derivative snark you're left with nothing of great insight.

Rant

I agree, the whole thing is a load of ill-informed rubbish. However, I think that what it does tell us is that we need to continue access work even among those students who are applying to Oxbridge, as it seems that even people who visit the universities come away with misconceptions and a poor impression.

Then again, I think there are always going to be people who won't let themselves see the good sides of Oxford and Cambridge because they are so vehemently opposed to them, and also those who will expect to be treated in a certain way by the students and fellows there because of their background. I'm glad I came with an open mind, but there were certainly fears among my friends and family that I would be looked down on when I arrived, and there are definitely class and wealth related aspects that I have struggled with since getting here. For example, I established the other day that I'm the only person in my friendship group who thinks that saying 'I'm going to the bathroom' when they mean they're going to the toilet is something pretty posh. I didn't know anyone who said that before I came to Cambridge, and I would usually say something like 'I'm off to the loo', but apparently that makes me vulgar :p:

Just as an example of the amazing things about Cambridge - I came away from my crisis DoS meeting this morning with an individualised teaching and supervision plan for the term based on how I wanted to structure my preparation for a particular paper (very differently to the department), and the promise of significant amounts of extra support whenever I need it, including weekly meetings with my DoS to make sure I'm doing okay, and the offer of a meeting to draw up a realistic working timetable with me. I suspect this is something that doesn't happen that often everywhere else.

Reply 5819

ukebert

Original post by Craghyrax

TWW beat me. WHSMiths although their stock is usually far worse than Rymans.

I don't think you got it. Its an 'issue', because the myth that you can actually 'follow your dreams', 'do what you love' etc, is only true for people in privileged positions. Most people simply don't have the luxury.

That doesn't make the idea middle class though, no? It just makes the opportunity one for the middle classes only. But that is going to change with better education (I still hold that education is the key to eliminating the class divide). I still think that in theory, an ideal education system would not be geared to churning out professional people, but would be geared to producing people who were developed, knew their potential and could react with understanding to the community around them. And that has to start with the ending of the division between vocational and academic disciplines. And the division between the arts and the sciences for that matter.

If I was only able to take one set of accomplishments from the human race to show what we have achieved, I would take music. Because I think that music is the pinnacle of human achievement. Others might take literature, or poetry, or drama, or dance. I don't think many would take the scientific disciplines. They are achievements, but they are dealing with the world around us, whereas the arts deal with what it means to be human, ultimately. So it puzzles me that music, art, drama, dance, all disciplines involving creativity aren't valued more in our school system. Anyway, Ken Robinson puts it all much better than me, so listen to him :p: