It’s Gotta Hurt

I was playing some Team Rumble mode Fortnite the other day trying to get headshots with an assault rifle for some stupid quest. Then I got Thundersticked.

I died shortly after that. But not from the stick through the chest!!

Rendition Flight

I’m flying around the world in my Flight Sim – X-Plane. There are communications giving my progress, but I’m in the Caribbean at the moment heading to that hellscape that is Florida. I think my last stop before USA [again] is Havana. But, and this is the most important bit, I landed at Guantanamo Bay air station from the Turks and Caicos. I was in a little private jet and somehow it seemed fitting to land there and then depart quite quickly. I left my cargo there to be abused of process and tortured.

Tripping over Cuba
Aircraft flying over Cuba. Heading to Havana.

The things the “west” have done over the last thirty years distress me immensely. I have a suspicion that if I looked at most of history I would find that it’s all rather terrible and the “west” has pretty much fucked everything up. Anyway, onto Florida where the current governor has banned medical help for women and trans people because – fuck you. I don’t understand people full of hate.

This Shouldn’t Be Here

A while back in the before-reboot-times for this website I spotted something unusual in the wild. I took a picture and here it is:

Vape supplies in the fucking medicine aisle.
Vape supplies in the fucking medicine aisle.

I was in a local supermarket and spotted this selection of vapes for sale in the “health” aisle of the shop. Now, I’m going to say that vapes are intrinsically unhealthy. I know that they are probably healthier than cigarettes or cigars – the more traditional nicotine ingestion methods, but they still contain nicotine. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances we know. Vaping is probably not safe. It’s just better than the alternative. The healthiest thing would be to not use nicotine at all.

I’ll probably be popping into this supermarket again soon to get some cake. I will have a wander and see if this stuff is still in the healthy aisle. Maybe they are hoping to treat this like the “healthier cheese” I see labelled when I go shopping.

Conflicted

I recently found out that I will be getting a medal for the coronation that took place two days ago as I write this. I already have a jubilee medal and the requirements were very similar – basically have been involved for more than five years. These medals spark some very uncomfortable feelings in me. I am a republican and so wearing these seems to signal my appreciation of the monarchy and all they stand for. I haven’t really done anything to deserve the medal. No one died, no one fought, I haven’t contributed to the country any more than in my little corner of the globe. I don’t feel I deserve a medal when compared to members of the armed forces who have most definitely earnt them.

There are other very strong feelings and thoughts about the history of this country and the medals we give out. For instance, if you are “recognised” you might receive an OBE. This is something along the lines of Order of the British Empire. The British Empire. Still, in 2023. Britain banging on about the Empire. The Empire – the forced colonialisation of most of the world. The death and slavery caused by the Empire is something to be atoned for. The Empire was a racist march over lands used by others to steal and enrich this country. The current wealth of the country owes itself to the racism and wankership of our ancestors. Britain pillaged the world for it’s own gain and now it likes to stand on its crumbling step calling out others for being a little naughty.

The coronation puts on show all of the things that annoy me. A hereditary system of governance, plenty of religion, racists [mainly the current government but also most institutions], stupid symbolism, overt displays of stolen wealth, pomp and ceremony as if that makes a difference. What a load of shit.

So I am conflicted. The cognitive dissonance I employ is strong. Fortunately I only need to wear the medals two or three times a year. I will. But not as an endorsement, as a symbol of the recognition of my time spent messing around in the CCF.

Just Another List

I’ve always enjoyed playing computer/console type games. Ever since the classic Commodore 64 with Chuckie Egg and Manic Miner. So, here’s some of the recent games I am enjoying:

  • Fortnite
  • Minecraft
  • Gran Turismo
  • Minecraft Dungeons
  • X-Plane

I tend to have quite a bit of imposter syndrome so I think if I was asked I would say that I’m not a gamer. But then I have nearly 800 hours on Minecraft so maybe I am.

My Tweets

There used to be a page here that had all my tweets from that micro-blogging site Twitter. In January 2023 I deleted my entire Twitter account. It was not a happy place to hang out and I decided that for my mental health it was time to leave. One thing that stopped me leaving twitter for a while was the fact that many of the communications on this site had embedded tweets and linked to twitter. Once I deleted my account it turned out that the embed code still kinda works and you can see the text of my old tweets, but you can’t access the actual look of them. I can live with that.

A Striking Day

I’ve been taking part in the teacher strikes recently. Interestingly the disruption would happen whether I went in to school or not. As the managers can’t tell who will be in school they can’t ensure the safety and supervision of the pupils, therefore they have to make decisions well in advance of the day about who is going to be in school attending lessons and who is being taught remotely by staff who aren’t striking. I could turn up to work on those strike days and get paid, but I’m known as one of the more “militant” members of staff and I don’t think politically it would be a good idea to threaten strike and then turn up. I put “militant” in quotes as I’m pretty sure that just means standing up for workers’ rights.

During the most recent strike day I took a trip to Dover Castle and then the Battle Of Britain Memorial, both of these are in a corner of Kent. Dover Castle is impressive and full of so much history from Roman lighthouses to Operation Dynamo planning rooms and beyond. The BoB memorial was poignant.

Junkers Stuka Sculpture
Junkers Stuka Sculpture – Battle Of Britain Memorial

Trying To Get Fit [Again]

I’ve had a pretty rubbish time, health and fitness wise, since November so I’m trying my best to get back into running and also getting fitter. I need to lose some mass and the running will get easier if I do that. Currently I can’t run up the Downs and so that is my aim. To lose enough weight to make my fitness enough to run up the Downs and back down again. Today I ran the furthest I’ve done for ages. It felt good but it fucked me up – I ache and feel so tired!

I will keep going. This week has seen a bit of a turn around in motivation.

Still An Ongoing Mission

I’m still moving on with my around the world mission in X-Plane. In the last communication I was bombing around over Brazil having visited Antarctica. I’m still working my northwards at the moment to complete the east coast of the Americas. I do have some new kit on the flight sim – two desk extensions that hold the HOTAS system.

The updated flight system

So, my last landing was in the Falkland Islands so we shall continue with the next airport visited:

Rio Gallegos International Airport, (RGL/SAWG), Argentina
Comandante Luis Piedrabuena Airport, Argentina
Santa Cruz Airport, Argentina
Puerto Deseado Airport, Argentina
Cañadon Seco Airport, Argentina
General Enrique Mosconi International Airport, Argentina
Almirante Marcos A. Zar Airport, Argentina
Antoine de Saint Exupéry Airport, Argentina
Comandante Espora Airport, Argentina
El Palomar Airport, Argentina
João Simões Lopes Neto International Airport, Brazil
Aeródromo de Belém Novo, Brazil
Diomício Freitas/Forquilhinha Airport, Brazil
Florianópolis-Hercílio Luz International Airport, Brazil
Costa Esmeralda Airport, Brazil
Joinville-Lauro Carneiro de Loyola Airport, Brazil
Curitiba-President Afonso Pena International Airport, Brazil
São Paulo/Guarulhos – Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport, Brazil
Jacarepaguá–Roberto Marinho Airport, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão – Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport, Brazil
Joaquim de Azevedo Mancebo Airport, Brazil
Campos–Bartolomeu Lysandro Airport, Brazil
Guarapari Airport, Brazil
Eurico de Aguiar Salles Airport, Brazil
Una-Comandatuba Airport, Brazil
Val-de-Cans/Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport, Brazil
Macapá-Alberto Alcolumbre International Airport, Brazil
Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana
Piarco International Airport, Trinidad and Tobago
Maurice Bishop International Airport, Grenada
Canouan Airport, Canouan in St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Argyle International Airport, St Vincent
Hewanorra International Airport, St Lucia
Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport, Martinique
Douglas–Charles Airport, Dominica
John A. Osborne Airport, Montserrat
V. C. Bird International Airport, Antigua
Princess Juliana International Airport, St Martin
Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, British Virgin Islands
Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, US Virgin Islands

So, not far to go now. Heading northwards and then I’ll curve over the Arctic to get back home. I’m looking forward to it.

It’s Been A While

I think I’m back. I’ve missed the diary part of this website and it’s time to utilise it again as a repository of my activities and thoughts.

In some ways the technical challenge of doing this has been fun along with frustrating. It turned out I felt useless not being able to check the things I’ve done or films I’ve seen. There’s a lot of effort gone into creating this site and a lot of words have been written. I want to be able to check my flying records wherever I am. I spent quite a while looking at getting my database exported to a word document but none of that was free. I thought about setting up more hosting accounts but that costs more than I am willing to spend in the current climate and so I recently decided it was time to utilise my NAS drive again.

I had used the NAS in the past for hosting but I never really got around the fact that my home IP address kept changing. It was a pain. Since then I have discovered a company that uses dynamic dns routing and can apply this to a domain name. Hence, this site should now work using the old addressing system. I’m currently working on cloud based back ups in case the NAS dies.

Current costs for this website are now around GBP30 a year compared to the over GBP100 I was paying. Mind you, I don’t have a security certificate so maybe that’s the next level of stuff to look at.

This Is The End

I think I am coming to the conclusion of this website experiment. Current feelings are that I will end this site. I will cancel my hosting service. It is reasonably likely I will also delete my twitter account. I think it’s time.

Why Don’t People Think?

So, this morning I had to drive a short distance which in everyday normal experience is only mildly frustrating. I’ve chilled quite a bit as a driver since I got the Prius and I would say I’m calm. However, today was not normal. There was a lot of snow over night and so the roads were covered in ice and snow. The car took about ten minutes to clear of snow and to make sure it was road worthy. I spent time making sure it was safe for me to drive. I tested the roads at the start of my journey, steering response and braking. This seems sensible to me.

As I drove home I could see other cars not really aware of safety or even other users on the road. Plenty of people were driving what I thought was too fast for the conditions. While they not have had a crash the issue is their ability to react to dangers and then being able to control the vehicle and be safe generally. I let this type of driver past me, who wants that kins of twat to hit you from behind?

Then there was the couple of cars covered in snow with only small viewing areas through the windscreen. These are the sort of people who should be banned from driving. Your whole car should be clear of snow and ice. You shouldn’t shed massive lumps of snow as you are going at speed. You should be able to see out of the whole windscreen and side windows. These people are a danger to others and that’s the thing that bothers me. I generally don’t care if you are a danger to yourself, what bothers me is if you could endanger others. /rant.

Don’t Tell Anyone I’m Enjoying This

You know what? I shouldn’t be ashamed of enjoying this game. I think I’d thought poorly about it in the past but I needed to check my privilege. I shouldn’t be gatekeeping what proper gaming is or looks like. It’s not my place to do that. If you enjoy playing your games then go ahead and enjoy it. I’ve been playing Fortnite and I’m enjoying it. I’m also reasonably ok at it. I know my weak points and I’m going to work on those over the next few weeks to try and get a little better.

Fortnite - Rather Good Fun Really
Fortnite – Rather Good Fun Really

So, a week ago or so Epic were offering the chance to gain extra XP by playing some challenges within a website. I’m not sure what their motivation was but I enjoyed it. I had to get 25 eliminations in a day to get the XP. Somehow I got 44!

Fortnite - One Day's Play
Fortnite – One Day’s Play

The next part of this is to get some colleagues from work and create a super-team for smashing all the competitions. This might take some time but would be so worth it.

The Cost Per Unit Time Is Low

I was exploring the options within the PS5 menu and I noticed that the games I play get totalled up in terms of time played. I’m not sure if I was shocked or just pleased at the amount of time I have spent playing. I do know that it certainly justifies me spending the money on the hardware and infrastructure to experience these things.

PS5 screen capture showing amount of time played . . .
PS5 screen capture showing amount of time played . . .

In case you can’t quite see the numbers in the above graphic let me write them down below. I just want to point out that the game could be a PS4 game that is played on the PS5 and register timewise as a PS4 time. Hence, while I tend to play Minecraft on the PS5 its total comes only from PS4 playtime.

  • Gran Turismo 7 – 120 hours
  • Fortnite – 111 hours
  • Minecraft – 722 hours

Now the Gran Turismo times clearly do not include all the time I have spent playing other versions. Let’s be clear. Gran Turismo is 25 years old this year and I’ve been playing it for that long. In terms of cost/benefit I think I’ve done very well.

Rule 134 – This Makes Sense

I’ve had occasion recently to look at things within the Highway Code. I know that they change it year on year and I try to keep aware of these things, but somethings have happened recently to change my mind about road behaviour and so I wanted to know the actual rules.

Maidstone is a somewhat special town with all its traffic glory. There are plenty of places within the town where there seem to be “local rules” and I often describe it as driving in London. You need to know what lane to be in for a junction one mile up the road otherwise it all gets a bit shitty. There are roadworks currently at a junction I use a lot. Two of the lanes now drop down to one lane to give the workers room to work and to be safe. Many, many people try to get into the open lane as soon as they see the signs and this leaves the lane that is closing empty of traffic. This might seem sensible but then I saw an image on [twitter I think] social media that made traffic queuing sense. Both lanes were full and then you merge in turn where the lane actually closes.

This makes sense. It shortens the length of the queuing traffic on the road and makes it more fair by insisting that people take it in turns to merge. THIS IS THE MOST SENSIBLE FOR QUEUING TRAFFIC. This is so sensible that there is a rule about it in the Highway Code and that is Rule 134.

Rule 134

You should follow the signs and road markings and get into the lane as directed. In congested road conditions do not change lanes unnecessarily. Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed, e.g. when approaching road works or a road traffic incident. It is not recommended at high speed.

HighwayCode
Highway Code Rule 134
Highway Code Rule 134

The problem with this rule is that people think they need to move over straight away and then they get annoyed at someone “cutting the line” and doing the correct thing which is to use the closing lane until the last moment. I’ve even seem people gatekeep the road by making sure no one can get along the closing lane. These people are wrong and also utter wankers. To be honest I looked this rule up because I want the defence when I get someone complaining about me driving up the empty lane and then merging in turn. Also, I don’t understand why merging in turn isn’t a bigger thing over here. People seem to be right assholes about it all.

It’s Been A While But I’m Back

Last night I powered up Gran Turismo 7 for the first time in quite a while and I enjoyed myself. I even managed to enjoy myself driving Willow Springs which, as a circuit, I don’t like. I did the Circuit Experience section of the game as it’s about thirty minutes play to smash the gold on these. I’m still distracted quite a bit by Fortnite, which feels such a terrible admission but I do enjoy that game. Anyway, I recorded the gold winning lap and zapped it to YouTube.

This Is Not A Healthy Level

It’s been an interesting and emotional few years to be a human on this planet. I’ve really struggled since 2016 and the UK Brexit vote. Then we had Trump, then Covid. Working through these events has taken its toll and I don’t think things have eased up at all since the start of Covid. For me the sheer incompetence of government and those we look at for leadership has been my biggest problem. In a critical time for global politics we have the dregs and shit of the current tory party “leading” this country. Anyway, rather than descend into utter madness I want to consider safe levels of CO2 in the rooms where I work.

To encourage schools to get back in in person teaching during the pandemic the government went on about open windows and flow-through of air. The concept was that if the air was flowing then the virus would be washed outside with lower chances of infecting anyone in the room – made up science I know and very few actual tests completed on this – so as a proxy for “fresh air” which was a proxy for “safe” the government introduced CO2 monitors in classrooms as a proxy for “fresh air”. If the CO2 level is high it means there isn’t enough fresh air and therefore a higher risk of virus transmission.

So all the classrooms in my place of work have CO2 monitors. Anything that follows in this communication is not a criticism of my place of work. It’s more a criticism of the entire sector and the things we have to put up with as we do our best to educate the young of today for tomorrow. The problems are endemic within the education sector because of poor design and a lack of funds.

Here is some information on levels of CO2 that I have found in many places on the internet.

CO2 Levels
CO2 Levels

Here’s what my working room CO2 monitor said at the end of the working day – and I had only had three out of five hours of work there.

CO2 Levels In A Poorly Designed Room
CO2 Levels In A Poorly Designed Room

The temperature of 19C is a sensible level. This was maintained by having the windows shut. But the problem with that is the CO2 levels have hit over 4500ppm. This is clearly into the “headaches, sleepiness etc” levels of bad gas. If they go much higher then I am at risk should I be exposed for eight hours. We all know I am a teacher. These measurements now explain why some children suffer in stuffy rooms. It explains all those headaches. There have always been stuffy rooms in schools and teachers broadly do what they are told. I will try and teach wherever I have to. It’s not like everyone can have their lessons in the best room at the time.

This measurement of CO2 has highlighted just how little we are served with traditional classrooms. The building I work in is a 21C development. But it is poorly designed with very little through-flow of air. The heating is “ceiling based” – I kid you not – there are radiators in the ceiling. To have a breeze in the room I have to open my windows and many fire doors. This is not really acceptable and I work in a good school with decent resources. There are going to be plenty of places where the conditions are much worse.

What I think has to happen is an assessment of all rooms in schools and then redesign of those rooms or buildings. I know that’s expensive. I know it’s not going to happen. I know people have put up with this for all the past times but now we know and we have to opportunity to change things. To make schools healthier and better to work in and learn in.

It’s Been More Than A Fortnite

Recently I’ve been persuaded to have a go at playing Fortnite. The last month has been an interesting time learning all the little ways that Epic Games manage to keep the interest within Fortnite. There are lots of challenges and quests that can be completed alongside the actual game of trying to kill everyone else. If you don’t know this game is based on Battle Royale – kill all the others until you are the only survivors. It’s actually pretty good fun and I have enjoyed learning things about the maps, the weapons and the gameplay.

Fortnite Levels - It's Been About A Month
Fortnite Levels – It’s Been About A Month

I never thought I’d be into different skins and customisations in a game. I’ve quite enjoyed putting liveries on Gran Turismo cars but not ones that I’ve had to work hard for, or even pay for. If it ain’t free I’m not having it. Except, I have done that in Fortnite. I’ve paid for a decent looking glider that I will try and embed in another communication – it’s loosely based on the Grumman Goose. I’ve also paid a little money for some rather cool looking skins, and they were in the sale so that’s probably OK? Anyway, I’m an adult and can spend my money on whatever I want I guess.

I’m currently at level 184 or something. The shiny skin I have in the image took a fair amount of play and even trying third party games which are generally quite shit. You get bonus XP for completing tasks and the XP goes to give you levels. I will admit, I am hooked, and with other people in my team we can regularly come in the top 5 on the island so I enjoy this game a lot.

Zero Day Festival – Electrowerkz

Last night I went to Electrowerkz to see a couple of bands as part of the Zero Day Festival the venue was running. It was nice to be back in London, I stared at some buildings as though I’d never been there before, some parts of London surely are pretty. This festival had a number of bands I wanted to see but none more important than Grausame Töchter. I’d been aware of this band for a while but had never had the opportunity to seen them before. I do love the Electrowerkz venue – I still don’t really know my way around and the place just feels “down to Earth”.

Classy Venue Warning
Classy Venue Warning

I drove to the Big City as trains are never as convenient and more expensive [that’s what privatisation does for you]. I found a car park and also chatted to reception to make sure they would be open when I returned. Then Smith and I walked down to the venue, a couple of minutes walk away. There was a band on as we arrived and so we watched them for a while. Patenbrigade:Wolff were on stage. They were dressed in orange boiler suits but in a road maintenance way rather than a scary-Slipknot way. I enjoyed this band and have since got two of their albums.

Patenbrigade:Wolff at Electrowerkz
Patenbrigade:Wolff at Electrowerkz

The music was well constructed and had a good variation. One of the singers just seemed to spend most of the time drinking beer and dancing around. There was a female singer and that was a nice change to their set. Overall I was impressed enough to buy some merchandise. This is mostly because it’s a high-viz jacket and I might wear it at work.

Patenbrigade:Wolff at Electrowerkz
Patenbrigade:Wolff at Electrowerkz

Next up was Grausame Töchter. I knew this was going to be a performance piece and I was looking forward to it. Their songs are super catchy and I think I’m probably happy I don’t know what the lyrics are about. Especially after some of their stageshow.

Grausame Töchter at Electrowerkz
Grausame Töchter at Electrowerkz

I really enjoyed the show and the songs. Some aspects were very slightly disturbing but I guess that’s what good art will do. There was, at times, a naked woman on stage who, in the act, seemed to be forced into killing themself along with holding up placards with various sexual references. The backing singer of the band was a part of Nachtmarh when I saw them at M’era Luna this year. At the summer show she sprayed the audience with water from a water gun. This time she sprayed the audience with a white substance from a giant syringe.

Grausame Töchter at Electrowerkz
Grausame Töchter at Electrowerkz

This show was great fun and I really enjoyed it for the visuals and the music. I knew it would be a “performance” and it turned out to not disappoint. Last on stage were [:SITD:] and they were pretty good. I didn’t enjoy them as much as the second act. For me they were a solid good set, I jus think they lack something in their stage show but each to their own I guess.

[:SITD:] at Electrowerkz
[:SITD:] at Electrowerkz

Overall an enjoyable evening. I beat the Google Maps time for getting home without actually speeding so that was nice. It took two thirds of the time to get home as it did to actually get to the parking spot. London is annoying at times. Anyway, overall, a really enjoyable evening and one that I’ll remember.