SteveBentley

I believe Haweswater in the lake district was built to provide water for Manchester

Search flickr for stuff tagged as creative commons - just check which particular CC license they've released it under and if that's compatible with your use

I guess you have to go down the route of getting management to specify in writing whether PAT or your "real" work is a higher priority. Schedule work accordingly and if things don't get done because you're doing PAT, refer complainants to the appropriate members of management.

If all else fails - that Dissect a Frog kit in Smart Notebook's Resources

It might just depend on whether your email has hit the right person, and how it was worded. Certainly my experience is that there is a culture of collaboration and sharing knowledge between Unis (for example some colleagues are visiting a neighbouring institution - who are seen as a major competitor - next week to take a look at some software they have which we're thinking of buying, and another Uni has given us an online demo of another product we're considering, so we can get a feel for what it's really like rather than what the salesman wants us to think). I'd hope that that spirit would extend to schools too.

Quite so. Let's see what the Health and Safety Executive say on the matter Myth: All office equipment must be tested anually See also the table at the bottom of Simple Precautions - Work using Electrically Powered Equipment I see nothing to suggest anything beyond a quick visual is required for new kit.

Also cycling is explitly banned on some canals - there's a list on that site. Not that it seems to bother the cyclists who race around thinking they have right of way on the towpath of the Huddersfield Narrow, which they're turning into a mudbath despite being prohibited.

Apparently the BBC were having issues with the special stream yesterday that had Chris Moyles doing an "alternative" commentary. But that was probably hosted in a very different way to the main feed.

Or not

You can get the Tattoo for £199 unlocked quite easily, so it will take any network's PAYG SIM - should work out cheaper than contract.

I was thinking more Data Protection Act, but that could work

I presume you've pointed out that you can't be held responsible for any DPA breaches that happen due to the fact that fingers can touch the PDC?

Judging by the only example I've seen of anybody having mentions listed, it looks like it's the number of times somebody references you twitter style, eg @CHR1S but with a specific link on it.

In many respects doing Word Processing "properly" is a bit counterintuitive - there's a perfectly good fonts menu right here, why would you use styles? I think there is a difference between what we, as IT professionals would expect to be in the ICT curriculum and what is actually there though. I mentioned the "Word Processing your Dissertation" sessions I run for final year undergraduate students to a friend who teaches ICT at a secondary school and she said that a lot of what I'm covering isn't part of the curriculum, and there isn't time to teach the useful extras. Yet there is an expectation here that students arrive for their degree as expert users of IT, and as such the IT modules which used to run in the first year to make sure everybody was at least at a simple baseline level have been dropped by most courses. Which probably explains the quite remarkable displays of word processing skills the final years who don't turn up for my sessions have been known to produce. This year's epic was using dozens of spaces to get to the next line because the student didn't know to shift-return to get a single line return.

An analogy: You're taught how to drive in a Vauxhall Corsa. Once you've passed your test you can transfer those skills to a Ford Fiesta quite easily. You turn the headlights on with a control on the stalk in a Fiesta rather than the knob on the dashboard in a Corsa, but you know there will be a control to do it somewhere. Back to word processing: You should be taught that to get to a new page you insert a page break rather than pressing return lots of times, and you've had the reasons why demonstrated (or been given an exercise where you find out for yourself). You're taught where the button for Insert Page Break is in Word 2003 (because that's what you're using) and that other word processors will have a similar feature somewhere. Therefore when you use Word 2007, Open Office or Abi Word, you know that pressing return lots of times is still a bad idea, and that if you hunt hard enough, or look in help, there will be a button for inserting a page break somewhere. It should be about making sure people understand the principles and conepts of why they're doing something.

How about a wind-up gramaphone (1925-31 vintage) complete with Linguaphone record, and a 1940s vintage projection device? All found by builders here a couple of years ago when they took down a wall.

BBC1 is streamed live at bbc.co.uk/bbcone - whether the rights issues will block it is another matter.

This fella is based in South Yorkshire and posts on a number of forums/mailing lists about TV stuff and is very knowledgable Wright's Aerials

That's how it was 20 years ago when I was in year 7 (I feel old now!) although there wasn't an IT GCSE at the end of it for us.

I think the point you're trying to make is that your core IT infrastructure (particularly servers, network hardware) is pretty much a fixed cost, it doesn't change much with differing numbers of users. But if you have fewer kids to teach, then it's a pretty simply logic, however harsh, to say that fewer people will be required to teach them.

OK, if you're serious about this, I'd say 2 is a non-starter, you're going to have a nightmare with people using different kit to teach and to prepare with. Linux clients can be persuaded to authenticate against AD, so if you're keeping some Windows infrastructure to handle the admin network it might be easier to keep your AD infrastructure for authentication, at least for now, otherwise you're looking at OpenLDAP.

As a halfway house - keep Windows but replace MS Office with Open Office? If you do go fully down the linux route, you may need to factor in training for yourself and your team in administering it, and perhaps some external consultancy to be on standby as you probably won't be able to call on the LEA for help should the brown stuff be hitting the fan and you find yourself out of your depth. Not suggesting that you'd ever need to use it, but if you have that back up from the LEA now you need to budget for an equivalent.

Dell certainly do touchscreen all in one PCs (there's a touchscreen version of the Studio One 19 for example), and you could add the TV functionality via a dongle.

The piece of music you're probably thinking of is called "Non-stop" although it's later than the 30's (it was used up until the 80s, believe it or not) it probably fits the bill

Subway Meatball Marinara, with cheese, toasted, on cheese and herb bread. With the usual salad and barbecue sauce.