Things that make you go hmmmm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BygVPwdMFOU

"I'm Spartacus and so is my wife."

Ditto : http://nymag.com/arts/art/profiles/58864

Genesis P Orridge lives on (even if Throbbing Gristle do not).

Seven Sharp, some theatre production of the film Carnival of Souls complete with live acting/music sound effects. Looks awful.

Going on about re-discovering this film that's been hidden from audiences.

Erm it was on TCM about a month ago...

Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School pupils are frequently reminded of its rules, the head teacher said

Two teenage boys have been sent home from school after refusing to shave off their beards.

The 14-year-old Muslims are pupils at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School in Accrington.

Lancashire County Council said the boys had been sent home but could return to school once they had shaved their beards off.

The boys have refused to shave, saying they believed it was part of their faith to keep the growth.

According to Muslim tradition, Prophets including Muhammad, Jesus and Moses were all bearded.

Some Muslims feel it is a blessing to adopt those facial characteristics.

Last week they were placed in "isolation" because they had failed to comply with rules about appearance.

The school said the boys must be clean shaven and that pupils and parents were made aware of this before they started the school.

The father of one of the boys, who did not want to be named, told BBC Asian Network that he had received a call from the headmaster on Tuesday telling him his son had been sent home.

The two pupils were part of a group of students who were told in June that they must remove their facial hair before they returned for the new term.

A third Muslim student who was also barred from the classroom said: "I didn't have a beard, so I was shocked when I was taken out of my class.

"I've had a moustache since I was 10. I did not have any sideburns but the teacher said I had a beard, so I had to shave it off or go to another school."

The boy complied with the request, but his father said the school should "change the rules".

"There are a lot of Muslims who live near the school as well as Christians," he said.

"A lot of parents are worried about this."

About a third of the 750 pupils at the school are Muslim.

The school's head teacher Xavier Bowers said he would later be meeting members of the Muslim community and Imams at a community centre.

In a statement issued by the school, Mr Bowers said: "We believe that it's important to be clear about what we expect from students in all aspects of school life, including appearance and uniform.

"When disputes arise, we do our best to deal with them in a reasonable and understanding manner, and to resolve them to everyone's satisfaction if at all possible."

He added pupils and parents were frequently reminded of the rules on appearance.

Impressive that one lad has had a moustache since he was 10, He will be the guy that tries to get a round in when they go to the pub.

That school is f*cking stupid if this story is to be believed.

As I understand from my R E classes, baby jeezus and other bible blokes had beards -  so this is hypocrisy

Similar thing happened when I was around 10. I had a Howard Jones type hair cut, (first in my school), and they tried to get me to have my spikes cut off. I won when me mum went up the school and kicked their arse.  

Unreal, I'm no fan of beards on young blokes but if they friggin wanna have a beard then they should be allowed to have a beard. It's a beard not a pierced bell end.

I'm still trying to figure out why Muslims would be at a Catholic school?

"Just popping out to the shops.  I'll be back before you know it"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11140641

"Lundy spent days watching the Bathurst motor racing on TV and catching up with his family."  Hmmmmm!!!!!

I just don't get the fascination with following a guy who is out on bail (the case yes but bail??) 

We really do not have anything newsworthy if this is what gets written about.

Whats 'beyond the darklands'? I'm not familiar with that sorry.

A TV Programme that investigates certain murders from New Zealands past.

Went to a BBQ tonight, same old "bring some drinks and something for the BBQ and we'll supply the rest". But what made me go hmmm was someone brought along a fucking subway platter....wtf?

When I go to a barbecue here in Auckland I'm expected to bring 2 bottles of fizz (preferably chilled, preferable French) but no food because no way could I hope to match the food on offer.

Why does every loaf of bread have an odd number of slices?0

along with every other OCD fanatic on here!

2 simultaneous slicers always leaves one piece in the middle?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/31/man-80-fights-bear-survives

In the region of Yakutia, one town witnessed six bear incursions in a month, and local authorities reported hungry animals breaking into people's houses and emptying the fridges. 

I'd be mightily annoyed if one got into our fridge and ate the dinner leftovers - they are my lunch for the next day or two.

At least they don't switch on the PS2 and beat my career stats on FIFA 13 I suppose.

Edumacashun.

NZ seems to be paralysed by a highly politicised primary school teaching profession that has a poor ability to teach science and maths with an intractable bias against comparing results between schools.

Now some universities are coming out and saying that NCEA "achieving" levels for science and maths in secondary schools do not prepare students for tertiary level courses, but this is disputed by secondary schools:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11164854

I wonder how much of this is "business as usual" - secondary students have always struggled to adapt from a highly structured teaching system to a self-motivated tertiary education system (i.e. developing an independent work ethic).  

Of more concern is this statement: "One submission to the TEC from Victoria University and Wellington Institute of Technology said students who received merit or excellence NCEA grades generally coped well with tertiary study. But most who got an "achieved" grade did not, and many would've had a "fail" grade under the old system."

Interesting choice of words - I thought labelling kids a "fail" was not appropriate anymore (the NZEI mantra)?

No idea, but looking at my pub quiz success I do think folk are just not given a basic general knowledge over here, I imagine it's the same back home.

Good example, I'm sat in our staff room with 3 women, in their twenties, all who have degrees and they are doing the daily crossword, (something I suck at). The clue was something like what's another word for a Dromedary. None knew what a dromedary was. I'm listening to this for 5 minutes as they tired to work it out and said "It's a type of Camel". They look at me blankly. 

I thought education across the board is considered to have been dumbed down over the last 20 years or so?

It's a type of cigarette?

If thats a Camel smoke it'll be pretty strong.

The bactrian ones are twice as strong.

*cue The Goons jokes about gorillas and baboons*

Someone please enlighten me as to the difference between a newspaper's "opinion piece" (in print or online) and a blog (like Whale Oil) or even the rambling angst in fora like YF.

Cheers

So that's FUBLU and Ali G, but what about opinion pieces and blogs.

New Zealand's Got "Talent"...almost went on a Dingo Son diatribe tonight...I mean, really?

Someone actually watches that? Hmmmmmmm