gwendes
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Everything posted by gwendes
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Isn't the result that people end up suspecting you?
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Our cleaners aren't allowed to touch computers. I clean laptops when I reimage them or repair and PCs once a half-term - I only have 100ish in this building though. The main school rarely gets done.
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When I logged in this morning a glaring error leapt out of the page at me. PM's: Unread: 0, Total 17. This might just be me being a total grammar Nazi but there is no need for an apostrophe in PMs. Feel free to destroy me now...
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LOL! seen this one before though
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Replace the battery and CF it? http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/bluetooth-ipod.jpg (above has bluetooth too)
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Hey, he's only human! (I also think he might suggest that God (also himself) determined the rules...) Isn't the difference defined simply by everyone agreeing? I don't know that there are too many examples... Certainly not if you look at history as well as geography...
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Portsmouth includes lots of off-road shortcuts! I agree re Specialized/ Kona/ GT - lovely bikes - but Focus give you good quality frames draped in lovely components for a good saving. If I were richer I'd get something like Focus Zonukwa 2009 Only £629.10 compared to http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Kona_Cinder_Cone_2009/5360039048/ Not on these wages
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Fancy a race?
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WANT. NEED.
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Actually, don't buy that, I'm going to! Remember to get it half price too... Wiggle Cycle to Work
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wiggle.co.uk - can't recommend the Focus bikes enough. Mine's been rock solid for two years. My preferred bike is a hardtail MTB on slick tyres... something like... Focus Northern Lite 2009 Only £524.30 I have the 2007 version of the Northern Lite... Focus Northern Lite 2009 Specifications Frame Sport 6061 Aluminium Frame Fork Rockshox Tora SL Coil with 100mm Travel Rims Concept SL, Eyelet, Disc, Aluminium Front Hub Concept SL, Disc, QR Rear Hub Concept SL, Disc, QR Tyres Schwalbe Smart Sam 26 x 2.125 Cassette SRAM PG-950 9 speed, 11-32T Crankset Shimano Deore, 44/32/22 Bottom Bracket Shimano BB-UN26 Shift Levers SRAM X.7 Trigger Rear Derailleur SRAM X.9 Front Derailleur SRAM X.5 Chain Shimano CN-HG53 Brakes Tektro Auriga Comp, hydraulic disc brake Stem Concept SL 100mm 31.8mm/28.6mm Handlebars Concept SL 31.8mm Saddle Concept SL MTB Seat Post Concept SL Pedals Aluminium cage with Reflector plus http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Continental_Ultra_Gatorskin_MTB_Tyre/5360021704/
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Could be made to take 3 extra days holiday at Christmas
gwendes replied to beeswax's topic in General Chat
We're forced to take 3 days at Christmas - 4 days last year. Caretakers close the school - no choice. -
I suppose it comes down to the fact that I don't think that we now live in an enlightened age where we have come up with timeless rules that will determine the behaviour of mankind forever. We need to look at why we think things are right and wrong and not just accept them because that's the way things have always been. I didn't use the word 'tradition' in a negative way - tradition is sometimes good but it shouldn't be automatically accepted as good or right - we just need to look at other cultures and it's clear that one of us is wrong (if there is an ultimate good or bad). I do think there's a great deal of worth in 'wisdom' and I also think it's very useful to study historical beliefs and compare and contrast. I think that there are biological tendancies - desire to be a member of a tribe or group for example but I think that many things that are 'good' and 'bad' are decided by those groups. I think that murder can be justified in certain circumstances today. In the past murder has been encouraged by many cultures - human sacrifice was very important - it is only wrong by the standards we happen to have set today in this part of the world. I'm just saying that there is no ultimate certainty to be measuring against - it all depends on so many things - that doesn't mean I live my life against the grain of the society I live in - I just attempt to assess situations based on evidence over what others have decided. It's something I think is important. I don't think it's a rule that we've been given or plucked from the universe - I like to be treated well and it seems logical to treat others well in anticipation or response. Not that they don't know right and wrong. We all know right and wrong (hopefully). Our individual right and wrong is based on our biology and experiences, so, had we been raised in a culture that did things that we don't agree with in our culture we would believe these things to be right. Somebody that was raised in a culture we would consider to have 'bad' morals that was prepared to question and doubt the tradition and 'wisdom' would be equipped to move that society forward - anarchy can swing both ways. We must accept Abortion-related violence if we want African-American Civil Rights Movement - see how right and wrong are subjective?
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No. I've come to conclusions that I live my life by. I believe that there are things that can be described as good and bad. I don't accept absolutes. Murder is not always 100% wrong for example - I see greys. I don't see a reason for tradition or 'wisdom' to be held as higher than other beliefs - If I subject it to my personal barometer of morality then I might find any belief to be one that I agree with or one that I don't. It all depends where and when you live(d). I don't have absolutes but I don't live my life without reasons to respect others! Everything is open to the question but I don't live my life on the assumption that nobody else exists! I think there's a single basic rule (for the sane) - Do to others as you would have them do to you. Early writers noticed this was a positive human trait and noted it down in one of the religious texts - it actually became quite popular! You don't agree with society and it's rules. You want there to be no rules. You think that not having a firm set of unchanging rules makes people bad? I think it means that they are able to be flexible and therefore as good as it is possible to be.
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People have heard of that - so boring!
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LMFAO! Nice one - I'd have done the same...
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I believe this is ok if you're the sort of Christian that accepts that the Bible must be interpreted. Right?
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Why would I do that? Every one of my beliefs is just that - a belief. I live my life on the assumption that I am right about my beliefs but every one of them is equally open to being shown to be false. It's the only way to fairly deal with any given question- making a judgement based on ever-changing knowledge and experience. Absolutes are pointless. What, for example, were you thinking I might firmly hold to be true? Remember, I don't believe in an ultimate good or bad.
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I recognise my own certainties. I recognise that they are also potentially non-certainties and that they are mine and the only reason to pass them on is a personal preference I have developed for them - some of the reasons I have done this are due to nature and some to nurture. Some are worthwhile and some are not - I'm not realy going to be the best barometer since I have a bias for my particular views. Not that it really matters unless we're going to disagree about things that affect all of society. I just think that it's very healthy to always have the question - you never know which parents or authorities you might need children up to rebel against...
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I think it depends on the child. Even siblings can respond very differently to indentical parenting. I had the same parents as my brother and sister and we all wanted different levels of freedom and boundaries. It's a good general rule but you still need to be flexible with what it is the parents want - these are often just the result of pressures on them. Here you highlight my point. Without going to far in using the example of Sunday school, it offers an absolute set of rules - this is the problem. Guidance needs to be in the form of 'whole world' analysis. Simply obeying authority figures, parents, church, school is not a very healthy thing to do. Children need to understand and be satisfied with the reasons why an action is right or wrong. You seem to misunderstand. I'm not saying children should be dumped into the world, straight from the womb, and told to figure everything out. I'm saying that I will tell my children to look at what I believe and what other people believe and make theior own judgements. There is no reason to 'guide' towards my preferred way of thinking I just personally happen to think that it's the best (but I would say that wouldn't I?) No guidance is ridiculous. In the West freedom offers plenty of boundaries without absolutes (wherever they're from). For example, your commandments: I don't think there's a need to 'guide' to 'Thou shalt not kill' and I think as much as it's true that it's generally a good idea to respect your parents it's a rule that can't stand alone - respect must be earnt and to attempt to force when it isn't deserved is like a broken pencil.
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I just think that it needs to be noted that children are not bad by default. Good and bad are both the product of learned and innate behaviours. For example a child does not need to be thrown into Sunday school to scare them away from behaving badly - they don't have any preference for bad behaviour. Children simply respond to their environment, sometimes in a very unpredicatable manner - people are very much more complicated than we sometimes think! Anti-social is not neccessarily bad although it's not usually an advantage. I know very anti-social children and think that it will make their lives more difficult but I am not the person to judge what they've deemed important. Society is formed of a rich mix of people and there isn't a one-size-fits-all behaviour or morality (however nice the idea)
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I've been sick Sympathy please. Want to address a few points in this thread. Children sometimes do know best. Sometimes children are exactly the people to make a difference. I cite the invention of the teenager in the 1960s. Good or bad it is freedom based on rebellion and it has given us all great things. There is no such thing as 'social errosion' - the same problems have always existed in one form or another. Society isn't collapsing in around us because people now are less interested in a greater cause or higher power. One of my favourite quotes: "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. " - Socrates (469-399 BC) Why does everyone think that children are bad and need to be corrected? Why is there a general assumption that morals only exist as a force that needs to be drummed into children?
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Also @ mark - Would it be accurate to describe your Christianity as an aspiration - an acknowledgement that you are not perfect and can never be perfect but, by knowing this, you feel you are better equipped to get as close to perfection as possible? If that's not right but you understand what I'm saying and it makes sense could you rephrase it more accurately?
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@mark - Do you believe that people behaved morally prior to Christianity? If so then do you agree that all modern morality has similar roots - in our biology? If not - really? Christianity invented morals?
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You can remove 'Thanks!"