jmak

If you want to force them to use Docs, Sheets etc, you could just uninstall MS Office....

I was a double spacer having followed the Pitman typing course - on a computer [emoji2357] Of course I now double space at the end of most sentences - and Google turns it into a full stop and a single space. I had a boss who endlessly put double spaces in the middle of sentences. Type some words, press space, stop and think, press space and start typing again. First step on any proof reading was find "double space" and replace with "single space". Usually had to be run three or four times to catch all of them. That and character limits on SMS messages was what finally converted me, but it's a hard habit to break.

For the woodpeckers and tree creepers that prefer a vertical perch?

Should have been coaster instead of rambling: Audacity played it straight away. Thanks for the advice.

I know a couple of people who work on ITU and they said even people who have symptoms bad enough to need treatment on their ward are often testing negative a couple of times before getting a positive. The tests seem to not be that sensitive.

Both spot on. Tried Audacity and asked it to import filename.mp3 and it said "What? You mean this AIFF file you've pointed me at? Sure, no sweat - let me just make a copy to make sure I don't corrupt the original while I mess around importing it." Never trust a Mac user*: Me: Are you sure it's an mp3 file? User: Yep. Created it in Sibelius and exported as mp3. *That's probably not fair. "Never trust a user" is probably almost equally true... I was under the impression VLC could play AIFF files though...

Maybe I'm over reacting... On reflection, I guess if it's one of the properly secured platforms, it's actually minimal. I'm reading too much of the hype about unwanted attendees. I was also thinking about safeguarding issues and monitoring/evidence to protect the school in case of accusations of wrong doing, but that probably only applies to pupils. Apologies - I'll put my tin foil hat back in the cupboard...

I've been sent an mp3 file along with a group of about 10 others as an attachment to an email. Everyone else has opened it with no problems, but I can't make it play. As they're all musicians and I'm the only techie, it's a bit embarrassing [emoji20] I've tried on 2 different Windows 10 machines, a Chromebook, an Android tablet and two Android phones with different OS versions. On the windows machines, I've tried Media Player, VLC, Sibelius and Musescore. It's a 16MB file which appears to download fully. When I try to play it on Media Player, it says it's playing but doesn't progress through the track, although I can select any point in the track. When I use VLC, it has a long think and then plays a few squeaks and clicks. I've had someone who's used it successfully forward another copy and get the same result. I've also had a copy of the music sent as an aiff file, which does play, but it's missing the click track, so it'll be difficult to record my part accurately enough to mix later. Any ideas?

I think I can imagine why you want to do this; for ad hoc (social) meetings to replace popping along to the staffroom to see who's there for a chat - which seems like a positive thing to do to help keep everyone in touch while we're in lock down. Am I along the right lines? Reason for asking is that I think your biggest issue is process, rather than technology. An always open video meeting seems like a significant security hole. Technically, you could create a staffroom Team or Group and use the meet now/instant meeting feature, but if someone had to be first, no one would start the meeting. Sorry it's not an answer - just checking I haven't got the wrong end of the stick and also pointing out that you need to carefully consider security risks.

Working for me - hope that's helpful, rather than annoying...

I think the "email our database" phrase is crossed wires. I'd interpret it as "send a copy of or link to the recording to all the contacts we hold in our MIS." Obviously I don't have context (like the kind of stunts a particular teacher might have tried to pull before), but it sounds like the teacher wants to do something friendly for new pupils and the community. You're right that there are copyright concerns, but my initial reaction is that it would be good to find a solution for someone trying to do a nice thing.

I find that lying was the most successful way to get past that stage. Contact them once, find out what the required answers are (eg when they ask what BIOS and driver version, give some random possible answer from the available options on the Dell download site). If they say "ah, that could be the problem" offer to go away and install the version they want. Contact them the following day and tell them you've done what they asked and it's still the same. I had some very long phonecalls where they asked if I'd updated all drivers etc and I foolishly admitted that I hadn't (I had checked that it was irrelevant) and they waited while I did it. After that - yeah, just plain lied [emoji57]

When I bought it, I paid for the same number of users as I had in our FTE EES/OVS calculation. You allocate the licenses per user - if you don't have a license for each user, you'll have gaps in your security. Pretty sure that allows you to apply it to pupils, but we didn't use it for ours, so can't be sure on that.

From this post early on, I can't see a single Team being the best option for users. Lots of other good advice above - and I didn't see anyone advocating using Channels as the way of dividing up content/users. Did your university give any reason for why they weren't keen on multiple Teams?

Careful with that [emoji51] Definitely appear in the brass category for BBC Young Musician. Also in brass quintets. And often in the pub with the other brass players [emoji57] Edit: Some entertaining answers given by clarinetists here: http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=161459&t=161459 Edit 2: As I don't want to become an amphibian, I should make it clear that I wouldn't dream of speaking for @witch but 100% of the 2 French Horny Dudes[emoji769] I know consider themselves brass players.

It's the perfect time: you won't be heard above the baby [emoji16] (But don't play when it's asleep.)

What do people think about the Covid-19 tracking apps, e.g. https://covid.joinzoe.com/ run by Kings College, London? How about if it was being run by Google? Or the government? What if instead of being used to track the spread of the epidemic, it was being used to facilitate release from lockdown? And if the counter point that if you were diagnosed with the virus, it could be used to enforce isolation for individuals and their household? My general stance is that I don't trust anyone with my data, but do accept that there's sometimes a trade off in prepared to make if I understand what benefit I receive. (My entirely subjective views: I let Google have quite a lot, because they're basically trying to sell me stuff and I can choose to ignore it and some of their services are very useful to me. I have resisted Facebook for years as I think they're primarily trying to carry out social engineering and generally spy - and they're sneaky about how they gather it however, I've recently given in as the rest of my family have chosen to use WhatsApp to stay in touch and it's more worth giving them my data as the price for the communication with my family.)

I didn't get SIMS Parent App running at my school, but did use it at another school and thought it worked well from a parent point of view. We tried really hard for a couple of years to get good data in our MIS and succeeded, which made it much easier in subsequent years. My catch all was once a year to send an email to all parents (and in latter years put a link to a Google form to submit updates) and then a paper letter with a report of contact details held in SIMS including the text: We have sent you an email today. If you haven't received it, we don't hold the correct contact details for you. Please contact the school office. You could do similar with a text message. You should hold at least one set of contact details for each student.

Do you have SIMS Parent App or the free version, SIMS Parent App Lite? Parents can sign in to that with either a Microsoft or Google account. You could then send a blanket text to all parents asking them to log in and check that their contact details are up to date. Should be done once a year anyway.

I usually make my own pastry, but it's easier to get ready made than flour at the minute. I'll be buying cheese sauce mix next...

One of our regulars is veggie quesadillas. Fry onions, green peppers, fresh chilli. Add dried oregano, and ground cumin. Cook until soft. Meanwhile roughly mash two tins of black beans. Combine with the fried mixture once it's cooked and add grated cheese and fresh coriander. Divide mixture into tortillas. (I cover half and then fold it over as it's easier to manage, but you can just sandwich the mixture between 2 tortillas if you prefer.) Dry fry until tortilla is lightly browned and cheese is melted. I then usually serve with home made guacamole, but couldn't get avocados last time I was shopping. Black beans were the only type of beans left on the shelf though. The only other essential non store cupboard item is the pepper and colour isn't essential. Substitute chilli powder or flakes if you don't have fresh. Spice and herbs help, but non essential. Usually a breakfast dish for us.

Thanks all. I think I might buy one of each type. The issue is I'm hoping to avoid is being stranded by the side of the road. The tyre would be paid for by the lease company, but I have read that the "standard" spare that the recovery companies carry won't fit my car and it can't be towed, so I'd have to wait for a flat bed. Turns a 10 minute annoyance into a wage of half a day.

Has anyone used anything like this before: https://whiterosetools.com/products/sealey-temporary-puncture-repair-kit-tubeless-tyres-off-road-vehicles? I've always ordered a spare wheel for my cars, but new one doesn't have anywhere to put one. From everything I've read, some is worse than useless (usually didn't work and permanently wrecks otherwise repairable tyres).

Fair comment. Also this: https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/31/boris-johnson-sparks-security-concerns-revealing-zoom-id-cabinet-meeting-12489236/ If you believe the Downing Street statement, it's all covered by various mitigation options including not reusing the same meeting ID, but at least the story gives you some evidence that it's not all roses. Also mentions that it's banned by MoD.

Agree with everything @Norphy says. Given what is available free through MS and Google, I personally can't see the need for a dedicated platform - they perform the functions that I thought were useful for VLEs and are easier to set up than Moodle. As we don't know how long lockdown will last, it might be worth trying to get something going on a "rapid deployment" basis. Still needs planning, but it's potentially an opportunity where staff are more open to spending the time learning to use it properly and tech support teams might have more time to dedicate to implementing it.