I’ve noticed a new and worrying trend amongst certain drivers as I’m travelling around each day, involving sat nav devices.
The manual for TomTom sat navs is quite clear on how and where to mount the unit, and why.
I am seeing more and more people with these things mounted right in the middle of the windscreen – presumably so they don’t have to move their heads to look at it. Only last night I was behind a woman in a black Mini Cooper and the sat nav was mounted right in the vertical centre of the windscreen and considerably to the right side of the rearview mirror.
The problem is that it always seems to be a certain kind of person – a development, if you like, of the chavs and boyracers. I guess the boys like to think they’re riding around the universe in Fireball XL-5 or something. Not sure what the girls do it for (I won’t say anything about navigational ability here).
Joking aside, it’s only a matter of time before someone has an accident and it is lack of visibility that has contributed. The girl I saw last night – and she is one of several this week – flew through a 20mph zone at well above the limit, and zoomed around a corner at traffic lights in typical try-to-rip-the-steering-wheel-off-and-do-it-on-two-wheels chav-like style.
A few months ago I bought a new scanner – an HP G4010. At this time I was using Vista Ultimate (64-bit).
Windows 7 is still unreleased, so anyone installing it needs to be aware that it isn’t yet the full package – and that is especially true of drivers. There are few third party W7 drivers available at the moment – Hewlett Packard informed me that a W7 driver for the G4010 is on the way, but it isn’t available yet.
Now, so far I’ve not had a problem with many drivers or other software. Most of the Vista stuff installs and runs perfectly on W7 , with a few exceptions (but betas are often available). One piece of software I am very annoyed with is Raxco’s PerfectDisk 2008 . Unlike most software, this one is deliberately programmed only to install under Vista so even if it worked under W7 (which is quite possible, since W7 is based on Vista anyway), it is deliberately prevented from installing. In other words, you are forced to upgrade – and I consider that to be a rip-off, even if upgrading is only $19.99.
I was a little annoyed to find that HP’s installer for the G4010 also wouldn’t run at all. No error – it is just deliberately prevented from running on anything other than XP or Vista . I’ve since had a fiddle with W7 and it appears that the drivers wouldn’t work even if they would install, so I’ll have to wait until the full W7 release before HP releases specific drivers.
But this is where W7’s XP Mode comes into its own. The XP drivers install perfectly on the Virtual Machine and the scanner is up and running again. So for the time being, if I need to scan or do OCR, I can do it in Virtual XP and immediately switch to W7 to use the files produced.
Well, the BBC has been behaving as if no one ever – in the history of the universe – has ever got their exam results at this time of year. And once again, record A Level pass rates have been recorded.
I heard a funny job advertisement on Smooth Radio the other day. For anyone who doesn’t know, Smooth Radio is a radio channel which specialises in half decent music part of the time, absolutely crap music for another part of the time, and inexplicable and ne’er-acknowledged silences the rest of the time. The inexplicable silences can be quite a big chunk if the station is going through a bad patch. Oh, and it also likes to arrange for the news, adverts, and music pre-recorded loops to all play at the same time, sometimes. Especially at weekends when there’s no one around to push the right button on the DJ console. Oh (again), it also likes to claim that it doesn’t play the same music over and over (like other local stations do), which is only true if you don’t include Rod Stewart, Michael Bublé, and anything to do with Motown… other than those, they don’t repeatedly play the same music over and over.
Anyway, this job wanted someone with:
…a 1st degree or equivalent and [exceptional] administration skills.
What the hell is equivalent to a 1st class degree? A BTEC? A food hygiene certificate? A season ticket to Stoke City? And it goes to show how valuable a degree really is when they want someone with a 1st who has exceptional “admin skills”.
The Daily Mail did an article a while ago about how questions from past papers were baffling to pupils trying to answer them today. Admittedly, the Daily Mail will no doubt run a series of articles over the next week about how it is ridiculous to suggest exams are getting easier and that it is children getting smarter which explains improving pass rates. Even in one of its more lucid articles from today it quotes…
Mike Cresswell, director general of the AQA, insisted there was no evidence to suggest exams were getting easier.
He said: ‘The improvements differ between regions so naive dumbing-down arguments do not wash.’
We all know this is total bullshit – exam questions are NOT as hard now as they were in the past. So, I did a bit of scouting myself and here’s what I found (this is for O levels and GCSEs, but it holds true for A Levels as well).
First of all, thanks to Maths Answers, I found a few Maths O Level papers from the late 1950s and late 1960s. Anyone who did O Levels will know that the first section always had the “easy”, “quick” questions in it. So from 1957, we have:
1957 O Level Maths Paper – Section 1
And from 1968 (note that there was also a question A6 but I clipped it off just so I could keep it in a graphic the same size as the 1957 one):
1968 O Level Maths Paper – Section A
Now, I hope you’re all sitting comfortably and have been meditating or playing Nintendo DS brain-training games – we’re about to see some modern GCSE Maths paper questions. If you don’t prepare yourselves properly, your brains might explode from the strain…
Here is question 1 from a May 2008 paper (sorry about the formatting – it appears that modern children are all visually challnged and need to have a whole page for each question):
2008 Maths GCSE – Question 1
You can immediately see how standards have not dropped in the slightest – this question is easily as tough as any of those from 1957 or 1968! I mean, is that a nice clip art of the cathedral, or what? And it gets harder. Also from the same paper we have question 2:
2008 Maths GCSE – Question 2
That one must separate the wheat from the chaff. And it moves on to question 3:
2008 Maths GCSE – Question 3
Statistics, too? And now the really heavy stuff… question 4:
2008 Maths GCSE – Question 4
OK. Sarcasm over. I could go on, but you get the idea. This paper was one I picked randomly, but they are all the same.
Now, if you seriously believe that the modern question papers are difficult per se then you have no right passing an opinion on whether or not they are easier than they were 40 years ago – you simply don’t know enough to comment (or you are a parent so blinded by love for your child that you just can’t see facts staring you in the face). They are easy. Extremely easy.
No one who is capable of answering the older papers will be in any doubt that the modern ones are much, much easier. Embarrassingly so. So embarrassingly easy, in fact, that you seriously have to question the suitability of anyone in government or elsewhere – like Mike Cresswell, who argues they are not easier – for the positions they currently occupy. It is extremely unlikely anyone taught the syllabus for the 2008 paper would understand a single word of the 1968 or 1957 ones, let alone be capable of answering the questions, and people like Mike Cresswell are responsible for a wholesale decline in educational standards as a result of their transparent attempts to talk themselves up.
Let’s face it, Mr Cresswell and his kind wouldn’t be in their jobs long if they admitted exams were being dumbed down, would they?
Speaking personally, I can answer every single one of the questions on the 2008 paper without breaking sweat – they are basic general knowledge, with the answer provided in the question itself. But even though I passed Maths O Level (and have a degree in Chemistry), I’d have to do some serious revising to be able to answer a lot of the questions on those older papers.
I can’t believe this is even a debate. Exams are easier now. It’s a demonstrable fact.
EDIT: Suddenly getting a lot of hits from the Vote UK Discussion Forum. Like most forums, it has a strokes-chin-looks-wise-and-says-mmmm-but-I-think-he’s-missing-the-point character who thinks he knows everything.
I should point out once again that the exam papers shown above were not hand picked. They were a random selection from a website from which you can download ANY modern past paper. Getting the old ones was the real challenge.
No matter which paper you take, if it is a GCSE paper then comparing it with old ‘O’ Level papers is like comparing a cat with a horse and trying to argue that they’re the same animal! Unfortunately, this is exactly what the people claiming exams aren’t easier are saying.
Also worth pointing out to Mr strokes-chin-looks-wise-and-says-mmmm-but-I-think-he’s-missing-the-point über-expert that I am a chemist, and that he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover – or a person by their current job.
This post is well past its sell by date now, and its original purpose is long lost. So I’m going to make it a bit more scientific.
Animals which are contenders for having the fastest reactions:
The Mantis Shrimp – it can move its front legs so fast and with such power that it can stun small fish and even break into crab shells or damage aquariums.
Anna’s Hummingbird – can dive at speeds of 89 feet per second (around 60mph)
Speed is relative, though. A small mite in America, Paratarsotomus macropalpis, can run 322 body lengths per second. It’s only 0.7mm long, but it equates to a human running at 1,300mph.
EDIT 18/6/2012: This article was written in 2009, and the spec for my machine then was fairly decent. Now, it’s pathetically out-dated. I am just spec’ing up a new machine which I intend to build during the next month or so.
I’ve been using the evaluation version of Windows 7 and I’ve got to say it is incredibly stable, based on my own experiences. But I’ve just installed the XP Mode functionality, and I’m blown away.
One piece of software I regret losing (unless I use my old XP system) is Flash MX . I had regularly upgraded my version of Flash, but when Adobe took over Macromedia , it simply became impossible to justify the cost. In keeping with Adobe’s pricing policy, I would have had to hand over close to £400, 4 pints of blood, and probably both kidneys in order to upgrade any further. And when Vista came along, Flash MX ceased to work.
But anyway, I was aware of the so-called ‘XP Mode’ that Windows 7 was going to contain. So I downloaded and installed the necessary files from Microsoft’s site. Installation was very quick – this is something I have noticed with Windows 7 : it is very fast compared with Vista.
Flash MX installed first time and it works like a dream. XP Mode obviously isn’t as fast as plain old XP on a dedicated machine (it is a virtual machine), but it is perfectly usable.
You need to have a decent spec for your PC to get the best out of it. Mine’s running a quad core processor with 4GB RAM, and has a 8800 GTS video card – but as long as your processor can handle VT functionality you should be OK.
Microsoft was doing a special offer until recently, where you could pre-order Windows 7 Professional for £99.99. The email they sent me suggested Windows 7 Ultimate would only be available to OEM builders. However, it turns out that you can pre-order Ultimate for £199.99 or delivery October 22. I’ve put my order in already – I’m glad I missed that special offer deadline, as I was going to pre-order the Pro version.
In Europe, Windows 7 is shipping without Internet Explorer – the E version – and there’s also a version without Windows Media Player – the N version. Bloody stupid EU!
I want a PC I can use, not one I can boast about having Linux on to my idiot mates.
EDIT 30/09/2009: I’ve noticed a few people searching for the preorder deadline . Microsoft did offer a special price if you preordered before a certain date, but this expired in early August. I missed it myself, but I am glad I did – the offer was only for the basic and professional editions, as I was given to believe that the Ultimate edition would only be available to system builders. It turns out you WILL be able to buy the Ultimate edition.
I have preordered mine, and it is due for delivery on or after 22 October 2009 (the release date). You can preorder the other versions too (click here for the Microsft order page (out of date) or here for the (cheaper) Amazon page (out of date)) – but not with any special pricing that I am aware of. The Ultimate edition is priced at just under £200.
EDIT 18/4/2011: Just for completeness, I am using XP mode on my Windows 7 Ultimate system (and have been since Windows 7 was launched) and it is incredible.
News At Ten just came on… I was casually listening to the headlines. Bill Clinton in North Korea, British Army and Sikorsky helicopters, and so on.
Then there was the last item:
Britain’s best loved carp is dead – caught 64 times. But why did she die?
I think I could take a wild guess at that.
If these few words are insufficient to satisfy your urgent need for more information on this (and if you are a fisherman, this probably applies to you), you can listen to an idiotic radio interview on the BBC website. Some clown is trying to say it died from a nut allergy!
NOTE: THIS IS AN OLD STORY FROM 2009 AND 2010 – IT HAS NO RELEVANC E IN 2013 AND ONWARDS…
I haven’t found an official announcement yet (I have now – see the edit at the bottom of this article), but on this forum a BSM instructor is saying that their cars are changing to FIAT 500s.
So, all the doom-and-gloom halfwits were wrong (as usual). BSM is still going to survive, and it will be with FIAT 500s instead of Corsas and Astras. Good luck to all BSM instructors.
The only people still mouthing off are the usual morons who think they know it all. Seeing as a lot of instructors teach in Yaris and other cars which you’d expect to see parked outside an Old Folks’ Home, they can’t really shoot their mouths off too much about FIATs, can they?
If I find anything else about this I’ll add it to this post.
EDIT 23/07/2009 #1 – I didn’t know FIAT were in the frame for the BSM contract, but whilst doing a bit of scouting I found this from May. FIAT is offering free dual controls on cars to instructors in a bid to increase their use as school cars. It isn’t directly connected with the BSM deal (which I haven’t seen officially announced yet), but it does tie in if it is true about the deal.
I must admit that the 500 does look a bit small, even though it is a nice car otherwise. But you have to face facts: a Corsa wasn’t exactly big, and no one complained about those. I’m sure there will be plenty of complainers.
I’m not sure if the car FIAT will be supplying is a 3- or 5-door, but either way it raises some interesting questions about the proposed requirement for all ADIs to sit in on candidate tests. It is likely to be a tight squeeze in most cars for many ADIs, but a small car like the 500 just doesn’t seem to be designed for an ADI (and possibly the examiner’s superior doing an assessment) sitting in back during a test. Maybe the DSA will see sense and change its plans for this to be a requirement of all tests…
EDIT 23/07/2009 #2 – The BSM Instructor Academy site refers to the 500 and Grande Punto, and that they will be discussing the launch this evening (23/07). Maybe it isn’t just the 500 ADIs will get. More information as it becomes available.
EDIT: 24/07/2009 – I notice that the BSM site has taken off the announcement of the launch it was doing yesterday (which makes sense as it is no longer going to happen, as it has happened), and still there is no official news that I can find.
EDIT: 27/07/2009 – I found some more references on the FIAT Forum here. From what people are saying the car that will be issued has no air-conditioning, and will be the basic 1.2L model. Longer-serving instructors will get the ‘sport’ edition (I’m guessing this will have aircon).
As usual on a web forum, there are the usual crop of ‘experts’ telling you how bad the cars are. I noticed elsewhere someone questioning the ‘reliability’ of these because he’d heard a single story of a clutch going after 12,000 miles. I guess he conveniently forgot (or didn’t see) the raft of stories over the years about Corsas and other cars’ clutches sometimes going after 9,000 miles. It happens and is not an indictment of the car. No one will sell a car which has a clutch that fails after 12,000 miles on every one sold!
It’s a car, for Heaven’s sake. The only issues I can see are no aircon and its size. But lets not forget the huge number of ADIs who don’t use the aircon anyway (because it costs money, though there’s usually some other reason given), and the fact that only the largest of ADIs won’t fit in the 500.
EDIT 28/07/2009 #1 – At last we have something official. This is from The Times.
Apparently, FIAT will supply 14,000 cars over 4 years – although it doesn’t say if BSM will be paying for them or not (the Vauxhall ones were free, and it appears that Vauxhall trying to charge was a main cause of the breakdown of the original arrangement). BSM franchisees can expect to start seeing their new cars within 3 weeks – again, it isn’t clear if the roll out is as the existing car lease expires or an en masse replacement to get rid of the Vauxhall stock as soon as possible.
On the basis of new drivers tending to buy the model of car they learnt in, FIAT is offering a discount on new cars of £500 to those who trained with BSM.
It’s interesting that some of the comments on the forums were that it was ‘a girlie car’. According to the Times story 60% of BSM’s pupils are female.
The story also suggests that the new deal will result in a significant loss of market share for Vauxhall, which is already experiencing difficulties.
I think there are still some details which BSM franchisees will be interested in missing from that story, but at least it gets things out into the open.
EDIT 28/07/2009 #2 – And there are now further news sources picking up on the story…
BusinessCar, AMOnline, Sky… in fact, take a look at Congoo for dozens of news stories. But remember that you read it here first. Several days before, in fact.
The online version involves a number of stories, but obviously they’re all geared towards having a dig at Labour .
Yesterday, the news included advice for pregnant women to avoid situations where they might increase their chances of getting Swine Flu . Commonsense would suggest that pregnant women should avoid any situation whereby they might contract a potentially nasty illness – colds, normal flu, anything. So the news yesterday was just reminding people who might not be all that bright in the first place to be just a little bit careful. This is exactly what the Health Secretary has said: be careful, just as you would anyway.
All of this is because a woman – one woman – died from the illness shortly after childbirth (at a time when she was vulnerable to such infections and their effect on the body).
Of course, saying nothing at all would have had the journos at the Daily Mail crying for blood. Labour blood. And saying something has had exactly the same effect. No surprise there, then.
There’s a photo in the online story linked to above: people at Gatwick all wearing face masks (I seem to remember some other such stunt during the last Armageddon ( Bird Flu )). Talk about stirring up fear deliberately.
Of course, politicians don’t help themselves. One cannot help but wonder at the mental state of someone who would declare that Swine Flu is a ‘bigger threat than terrorism ‘, as the Home Secretary said yesterday.
It isn’t. Swine Flu is just flu. It’s no big deal – well, no bigger than normal flu. If you get it, you feel ill – like with flu. Some people can die, just like with flu.
I am seeing more and more people with these things mounted right in the middle of the windscreen – presumably so they don’t have to move their heads to look at it. Only last night I was behind a woman in a black Mini Cooper and the sat nav was mounted right in the vertical centre of the windscreen and considerably to the right side of the rearview mirror.
