Monday, July 30, 2007
A curious radio silence
I have disappeared of the blogger radar for a while. This is because I discovered the weird and wonderful world of Facebook, and the need for venting my spleen to Mr Anon seems to have evaporated. Once the fad passes, I'm sure I'll be back.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Letter to an ex-teacher
Hello Chris, it's nice to hear from you. I was mildly surprised to see the name John Meigh listed. Is this your middle name?
MGS feels like a long time ago now, I thought you would have escaped. Everytime I pass it with my wife, I point up to the end of the street and say "That's where I went to school," and she replies, "You went to school in a prison?" Ah happy times.
I never did GCSE Computer Science having been pursuaded by Doctor Webb that I ought to take one modern language, but I certainly felt like I had, because for a while it crept onto every CV that I wrote without me noticing how I had somehow accrued eleven GCSEs. You will be pleased to hear I gave myself an A.
I can only ever remember Apple Macs throughout my time at MGS (which must be something like 375 years ago), which had such antiquated technology as a mouse and Windows and something called e-mail. Ho ho ho, how we laugh at these things now! Even in those days there was a heavy predominance on porn. I remember somebody who shall remain nameless bringing in a 3 1/5 inch disk with pictures of lactating women on it. (You might not want to put that in your presentation).
We used the Computers mainly for playing Myst, trying to comprehend the somewhat mystifying Peter Gabriel CD-ROM, and putting together articles for the Alternative Maidstonian, all of which we tried to justify as somehow related to the fine art of Computer Science. I was made a Computer Prefect so I could continue playing on Myst during lunchtimes, with the added bonuses of wearing a colourful tie and being able to shout at 3rd years who jammed up the printers.
I had two Computer Science teachers, your good self (this is while you weren't moonlighting as political correspondent for the BBC under the name of John Sergeant) and Mr Young, who actually did appear to be genuinely young. We couldn't understand what possessed him to become a teacher, especially as he claimed that he used to work for IBM, until we realised that he had been sacked for selling trade secrets to Microsoft. Still, teaching, eh? Poor guy. I hope he's recovered.
I always enjoyed my CS lessons at MGS, but this was because I was a cheeky so-and-so, as was most of the CS class, and it didn't take much effort to get you off at a tangent. It was, however, always interesting and stimulating and taught with great clarity and humour. To have two teachers so enthused with passion for their subject was extraordinarily refreshing, especially given some of the (nameless) other teachers who worked at MGS.
For my final year project, I wrote some graph drawing software in some obscure language I can't remember on the Mac (or was it pascal?). It worked using absolutely non of the standard computing techniques, and came from a brainwave I had in the bath (which is also where I wrote my Latin A level final year project). However, it was so impressive in demonstration, that you on behalf of the school paid me a hundred pounds for it, and I've been living like a Lord ever since. I could hear the howls of dispair and anger from miles away when you realised it was held together with Pritt Stick and luck!
After I left MGS I went on to study Computer Science and Mathematics for a Masters degree at York university.
I got a 1st in my 1st year
I got a 2i in my 2nd year
I got 2ii in my 3rd year
I got a 3rd in my 4th year
I woke up in an alcoholic stupor and got myself a job. I now handle your fire alarm, your burglar alarm, your car tracking device and all the CCTV cameras in your neighbourhood. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
All the best,
John
P.S. Apologies again for putting my chair on your Dark Side of the Moon album sleeve.
P.P.S. I have recently had two a capella pieces performed in York Minster, and have written several novels, some of which you can get hold of for free from (this address). You may want to read Playtime. Some of it could seem eerily familiar.P.P.S My final year project.
2 + 3 A + 6 B ^ 2
2 + 3 * A + 6 * B ^ 2
((2 + (3 * A)) + (6 * (B ^ 2)))
LHS op RHS
and recurse.
QED
MGS feels like a long time ago now, I thought you would have escaped. Everytime I pass it with my wife, I point up to the end of the street and say "That's where I went to school," and she replies, "You went to school in a prison?" Ah happy times.
I never did GCSE Computer Science having been pursuaded by Doctor Webb that I ought to take one modern language, but I certainly felt like I had, because for a while it crept onto every CV that I wrote without me noticing how I had somehow accrued eleven GCSEs. You will be pleased to hear I gave myself an A.
I can only ever remember Apple Macs throughout my time at MGS (which must be something like 375 years ago), which had such antiquated technology as a mouse and Windows and something called e-mail. Ho ho ho, how we laugh at these things now! Even in those days there was a heavy predominance on porn. I remember somebody who shall remain nameless bringing in a 3 1/5 inch disk with pictures of lactating women on it. (You might not want to put that in your presentation).
We used the Computers mainly for playing Myst, trying to comprehend the somewhat mystifying Peter Gabriel CD-ROM, and putting together articles for the Alternative Maidstonian, all of which we tried to justify as somehow related to the fine art of Computer Science. I was made a Computer Prefect so I could continue playing on Myst during lunchtimes, with the added bonuses of wearing a colourful tie and being able to shout at 3rd years who jammed up the printers.
I had two Computer Science teachers, your good self (this is while you weren't moonlighting as political correspondent for the BBC under the name of John Sergeant) and Mr Young, who actually did appear to be genuinely young. We couldn't understand what possessed him to become a teacher, especially as he claimed that he used to work for IBM, until we realised that he had been sacked for selling trade secrets to Microsoft. Still, teaching, eh? Poor guy. I hope he's recovered.
I always enjoyed my CS lessons at MGS, but this was because I was a cheeky so-and-so, as was most of the CS class, and it didn't take much effort to get you off at a tangent. It was, however, always interesting and stimulating and taught with great clarity and humour. To have two teachers so enthused with passion for their subject was extraordinarily refreshing, especially given some of the (nameless) other teachers who worked at MGS.
For my final year project, I wrote some graph drawing software in some obscure language I can't remember on the Mac (or was it pascal?). It worked using absolutely non of the standard computing techniques, and came from a brainwave I had in the bath (which is also where I wrote my Latin A level final year project). However, it was so impressive in demonstration, that you on behalf of the school paid me a hundred pounds for it, and I've been living like a Lord ever since. I could hear the howls of dispair and anger from miles away when you realised it was held together with Pritt Stick and luck!
After I left MGS I went on to study Computer Science and Mathematics for a Masters degree at York university.
I got a 1st in my 1st year
I got a 2i in my 2nd year
I got 2ii in my 3rd year
I got a 3rd in my 4th year
I woke up in an alcoholic stupor and got myself a job. I now handle your fire alarm, your burglar alarm, your car tracking device and all the CCTV cameras in your neighbourhood. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
All the best,
John
P.S. Apologies again for putting my chair on your Dark Side of the Moon album sleeve.
P.P.S. I have recently had two a capella pieces performed in York Minster, and have written several novels, some of which you can get hold of for free from (this address). You may want to read Playtime. Some of it could seem eerily familiar.P.P.S My final year project.
2 + 3 A + 6 B ^ 2
2 + 3 * A + 6 * B ^ 2
((2 + (3 * A)) + (6 * (B ^ 2)))
LHS op RHS
and recurse.
QED
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