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Bryan,
They were plain navy culottes. Yes, Science, Nature, and New Scientist are still going strong. I get Science weekly, but dont have a subsciption to Nature, which I really should get. There is also Scientific American and a free biweekly mag I get called The Scientist, plus gazillions of others. |
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Weren't they green culottes with pale yellow or cream t-shirt tops? Or maybe only Ms Cleary wore the green ones and the girls wore navy. Couldn't get them in my size, I know that!  |
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Hey Sandya - Just shows there are no novel ideas left any more, just developments on a theme. I haven't read Nature (or New Scientist) since 1980, are they still going?
Don't iron your culottes, just throw them against the wall, the wall will iron the pleats in nicely as it rolls them along and then drop them neatly into the drawer....  |
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Sandya is now back-I see I missed a great deal because of the 8 hour time difference!
Christine must have returned to her 'lurking' status in the meantime. Am actually rather intrigued by the ionization ideas because I seem to remember something of the sort being discussed in Science, or a similar periodical, recently. I thought what I would do today is drop my brother a line about the STOOL. He figured the stool was destined for a life of cozy obscurity, in spite of his claims of genius at woodwork, but of course now that has all changed with this site...... Glad to know the guys got muddy boots too. NO we were never required to go out on the field skins only I'm afraid. Besides, mockery would have been our portion if we had, and we got enough from MSS. Cleary and Double as it was. I cannot remember our uniforms in great detail, but I know we had these culottes with zillions of complicated pleats which were the devil to iron (yes we ironed-I still do), though I think they were rather elegant to tell you the truth. |
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Okay, to develop "Chatting rooms"- (Hey - name for a new TV show where the rooms decorate themselves!) a little further (I'll take it off-line if anyone's actually interested, but otherwise I like just boring the pants off you all!  )
I think the original intention was for the rooms to communicate between themselves, prompted by PC, without human intervention. Maybe so the one on the sunny side can tell the others when to adjust their curtains and lights, or maybe so they can see the rain coming and tell the clothes line to retract. Maybe so they know when we're coming down the road, and can stop talking about us and get the dinner going. (Need a paranoid smilie here!) I dunno - I'm waiting for Christine to tell us what she had in mind. Christine asked what could be put into the otherwise poorly-conductive walls to facilitate this infomation transfer.
Personally, with any invention I always look for a way of using what is already there first, as it's a lot more expensive to install something specially.  With buildings, we have air, building materials, decorating materials, power cables, soft furnishings, maybe water and gas services.
- Now, you can use power cables, but they are fixed-path and the power makes a lot of "noise" - they are trying to use it to carry phone, TV and modem signals, though, with some degree of success. - You can use air, although largely non-conductive, as in the example given of the directional mikes and the secret service. - You could maybe use the cellulose or lignin in joists or floorboards (wooden' work, I hear you cry!  ) - In older housing, maybe, but modern stuff is all chipboard, not as good.
- Soft furnishings aren't in use everywhere, neither are water or gas. - I just think it's easier to use paint; it can cover every surface, doesn't matter if the door is open or shut, doesn't matter if its inside or outside, doesn't matter if it's wallpapered over, doesn't even matter if you knock a wall out. You'd still have a circuit. I'll let the matter lie there, as I'm bored now and want to play with a different toy. (Disappointed about your wooden one, Steve!) Still waiting for a call from Loftus Road, though - maybe they are still having a whip round for the phone money? |
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Steve, I think we'll all be disappointed with the answer to your other query, as I suspect the girlies played "Skirts v Shins"  |
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Steve, I shall rise above your Luddite observations, secure in the knowledge that 10,000 cats and 30,000 beakers would be singing a lot more in tune than the 6000 waifs and strays that normally turn up at the Loft! As for your observation about the unwanted kids and cats that might show up in your house, are you telling me that doesn't happen now? I find that hard to believe - having a kid and a cat in your house is like having a magnet in an iron filing factory!  You could always reverse the motor and get rid of them all in one go, surely an improvement!
I accept that there are better ways of getting food, drink and dirt onto walls, but not along them, but where's your rebuttal of the self-decorating paint tin? Eh? Eh? As for leaning against the wall for fun, well, it only works if it's ionised. Although you'd never know, to look at the youth of today, who seem to derive enormous benefit from it! Thanks for the critique, though (and tell Steve T I've moved! )
If that's all you could come up with, maybe I'm onto something!  |
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Steve, what makes you think that me removing your mail was an accident? Actually, I did re-load the page without checking for messages that may have arrived within the previous 10 minutes, and so your message was probably an arrival within that 10 minutes if you get my drift waffle waffle stuck against walls cats with aluminium collars being wafted at great speed into the net at Loftus Road HELP I THINK IT'S CATCHING! Where's Sandya? It's about that time of day.. |
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Sorry to repeat myself, but my previous posting seems to have disappeared. Maybe while Stev was fixing the book with sticky tape. So here it is again ...
The book certainly has got corrupted. Bryan appears to be talking complete gibberish. I knew it was a mistake releasing him into the community. If I am following his drift: The objective of room-to-room communication would become possible (?) Surely this is called shouting, and has been perfected in our house by the kids. A paint surface that attracts and holds all the dirt in each room. Yes we have that too. The kids "waft" the dirt to one corner of the house, i.e. their bedrooms. Now sticking the kids to the wall I can see positive advantages with. But are you proposing to get my kids to wear aluminium collars so that I can hurl them out of the cat flap at great speed ? So far, so good. But what is to stop every similarly dressed child, cat and drinking vessel from the DMGS canteen arriving in my house when you reverse the motor ? And as for Loftus Road are you suggesting that a crowd of 30,000 aluminium beakers and 10,000 tom cats will be an advance ? Can't we have an aluminium insert placed in the ball and have it wafted to the net (preferably the opposition net for a change). Covering the walls in drinks and sandwiches ? Its the kids again. So to conclude, my kids are made of aluminium and driven by wave ionised effects ? Q.E.D. Leaning against the wall could be fun ? You must get out more. And finally Bryan, yes Steve Terry is much bigger than you. And he knows where you live ! |
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Bryan, you are 100% correct as ever on the sports kit. Even sadder than knowing where my wooden stool is (stool Bryan, sorry to disappoint everyone), I still have my amber-and-purple hooped football socks. I have been known to wear them too, when I need to keep warm (or to be seen in the dark). If they are a fashion item I might wear them this weekend to impress the kids, or to the next reunion !
Now to my burning question of the day. When we played 5 a side footie in the gym, it was never a matter of different colour shirts, but shirts v. skins. Did the girls do the same when playing indoor sports ? And where could you get tickets ?  |
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Sorry, the board was corrupted this morning (my fault). It's now fixed and open again for messages. |
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Morning folks! I feel so much better after that 5 hours sleep! I had a feeling I'd got over-tired and been unforgiveably rude to Mr Terry, so anxiously re-read my submision - nope, I see every word was justifiably cruel, I was just being my usual nasty, intolerant self! Sorry for any offence, Steve. (You are still bigger than me, I guess...  While asleep, I set my logic circuits to work on the "communicating rooms" requirement for Christine. It occurs to me that what is actually required is some form of ionised paint, and a feedback control mechanism. This could lead to all sorts of interesting possibilties..... Firstly, of course, the objective of room-to-room communication would become possible; it would be using a flood-feed technique, of course, so might be difficult to achieve precise control. However, todays sophisticated control circuitry would make a few of the following ideas feasible, so I'll offer them up for what they're worth, while all you good folks are at work. 1) An end to hoovering! Anyone who has ever used a "mountain breeze" room air ioniser will have noticed the thick layer of black dust it soon picks up. Proper control of the ionisation charge on the paint surface would attract and hold all the dirt in each room. Applying and reversing the charge in a wave pattern would "waft" the dirt to one corner of the room, where it would be swept into a shute and disposed of (preferably into the compost heap). 2) No more hooks! Anyone who has ever rubbed a balloon will know you can stick it to the wall. Sewing in some tabs to clothing would make it possible to stick your coat to the wall when you come in...the wave technique could put it away for you! Lets see the kids get round that one, then!
3) Cheaper heating! Fitting a small linear motor to the cat flap, and an aluminium collar to the cat (or small child!) would prevent unnecessary heat loss caused by the said creature pausing half way through the flap to decide if it's really warm enough to be going out. For half an hour. (The effect would be similar to that of a bouncer's grip on a drunks collar during an eviction from licensed premises, only faster! They use linear motors to sort aluminium fronm scrap on conveyors, the Ally scrap is flung sideways off the belt at great velocity!) Reversal of the motor by use of a simple switching mechanism could be used to rerieve said child/ cat at dinner time; the range is dependant on the motor size. I suppose the technique could also be used to increase attendance at Church (or Loftus road....)
4) No more decorating! I suppose with a bit of work, you could get the wave ionisation effect to put the wallpaper up for you. Maybe even spread the ionised paint! 5) And it makes tea! Well, the Teasmade would make the tea; the wave effect could deliver the cup to you, though, providing the door wasn't shut. And the paper. And the mail. And a sandwich. 6) Relaxation, anyone? Leaning against the wall could be fun! 'Nuff said.
Get the patent application in quick, Christine, before someone beats us to it! I don't think I was ever taught by Behmber; then again, I don't know much algebra, that probably explains it! The DMGS library failed to teach me how to play cricket; (so did the PE teachers, but at least the library tried!) However it did introduce me to Asimov and the world of Sci Fi, for which I'm very grateful. I still have the books I bought in the book fair (I got "I Robot", the other lads got "1066 and all that!") I never read the old Phoenixes or Punch, being naive in the ways of the world in those days. I did read most of the encyclopaedias, though!! I love libraries even today, but fear their days are numbered. I used to love hockey - we never played Shinty (hockey with walking sticks in the "Cage") - but we had the advantage of decent clubs (supplied by Raj Kapoor) and also the knowledge we were avoiding Rugby. On balance, hockey hurt less and was less far to go. I empathise, though, 'cos I felt exactly the same sentiments playing football, at least for the first 4 years. We had a choice of kit, white shirt or amber-and-purple shirt, knee socks (purple and yellow hoops, very fashionable today my daughter tells me!) and shorts, I used to wear all of them, with a vest and gloves, in layers. I looked like a short Guy Fawkes with someone elses joke ears on! Sometimes Watkins would be cruel and make us be "men" and only wear one layer. The field got so muddy you ended up as tall and heavy as Jonah Lomu by the end of the first half. If you were unlucky, the huge pile of mud would fly off one boot as you ran along, leading to an instability in your gyro-balance mechanism and the tendency to run in circles until the other heap fell off.
I never got fit until I started Karate with Steve Smith, years after school. Why didn't we do that at school? Time to get the wall to make me another cup of coffee; see you later (unless you turn that web-cam off... |
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That reminds me, I think my copy of Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is overdue. Is the school library still there, and do they impose fines? |
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Final thought for the day-there was some speculation further back in the postings-deeply buried in fact-about WHAT exactly Mr. Behmber taught...... in fact it was ALGEBRA. And yes, I remember his often falling asleep in lessons. Amazing man.
HOWEVER, one thingIi used to do was read old Phoenixes in the library, and there was an old one with a notice-must have been during the war-of the birth of a daughter to Mr. B. Her name was and I daresay still is, Anne Marigold, which I think is very pretty, and which is why I remembered (or is it Rebehmbered?) it all these years.... Which brings me to the DMGS library. I spent much time there-it was a wonderful library. There was an entire series of bound volumes of Punch going back to the middle of the century before last...full of strange Victorian jokes, and dispatches from the Crimea, but immensely interesting. I also remember a book on alchemy, many classics, and all sorts of wonderful stuff for browsing.... |
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Well guys, I see serious effort was expended on today's posts while I was at the College of Engineering. Now, if I had been more on the ball about the stools, I could have got some expert advice from the guys over there-and gals actually as the Dean is a woman....and we would have been able to take the stools to a whole new level. Literally, because as they are I am sure they are excruciatingly low.....
It just hit me, I could also get a consultant to diagnose the problem with my boater too (Bryan thanks for your kind words)....A knowledge of basic engineering principles all those years ago might have prevented that most sordid catastrophe.... And garnered immense praise from Mr. Hislop, who if my brother's reminiscences serve me, rarely doled it out. To return to the real purpose of this site, I need to come up with a few more good stories. Christine, do you remember those cruel, cold, DAMP (not really WET) winter afternoons when we were forced by Mrs Double to play hockey in the mud? My God, those are among the worst memories of my life! I was absolutely useless and despite all my efforts to stay as far away as possible from the game (much crafty subterfuge), got whacked on the head with a hockey stick more thn once! The worst part was scraping the compacted mud off the spikes on my boots..... Vile. There was a variation called shinty that we sometimes played-colder and even less inspiring. I didnt mind netball as much, but frankly was never much good at sports. However, as we all need to exercise, I think it was good that we were made to get some before we got too fat and lazy. |
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To Steve T:
Steve, having re-read my previous missive to check for typos, maybe I was unreasonably dismissive of your earlier post; that probably stemmed from my initial observation that roots can't originate from phospholipids, they originate from germ cells in seeds; also, phospholipids are too complex to be taken up by roots, which are limited to water and other simple chemical compounds. All phosphorylcholine is of course synthesised, otherwise it wouldn't exist, so you aren't developing a synthetic version, you're developing a new method of production. If a thin barrier of water was an efficient barrier to the body's defenses then nothing invasive would ever be attacked in the blodstream. I see no reason why a coronary implant should need contact lenses, unless you are seeking to cure the poet's announcement that "Love is Blind". Now you've been reasonably dismissive'd I shall go to bed happy while you enjoy yourself picking my arguments to pieces, secure in the knowledge that I can always claim I was over-tired! |
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Well, I know it's late, but even I have to do computer maintenance sometimes! I go off-line for a few hours and what happens? The board goes potty with stuff just dieing to be retorted to! I feel like Chandler in the one where he wasn't allowed to make any smart responses! 
So, here they all are (let me out of the box, Joey!) Christine: your walls - surely in this analogy, cells would communicate by calling (i.e. air movement) through the air bricks? However, if your intention is to get radio waves (or similar) to go through shielded bricks, you either need some form of conduit for the waves to travel through, which it seems to me you'd use either wires, optics or metal sheathing to achieve, or to think more "out of the box" altogether. The intelligence services, for instance, use high frequency directional microphones to pick up vibration patterns from speech on glass window panes very successfully. More detail on what you're trying to achieve will get you a better, more focussed solution (I used to play with ideas a lot when I had to work for a living!) Steve B: Why did you get to make a wooden tool, when we all had to make stuff to sit on....  Oh, wait a minute, I see! forget I asked, no ones business but your own... Can't wait to see the photo!!
I only got to make a stool, which my Dad has; if only you'd asked last Friday! Sandya: Speaking for myself, I'll settle for your molten boater!
Mick: If that's Jagger, clear off - you never came to see us in Hanwell like all your contemporaries....
Steve T: You don't spell www.bollocks.co.uk like that!
Sandya: I take it by "great things" you mean what you do at work, and not what we're actually doing here? (Apart from Stev, that is!) |
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Hi Steve,
Very exciting! Thats an excellent point-I do think we had good teaching at DMGS, especially (for me) in biol-I'm sure Miss Woodalll and Mrs Massen et al would be really proud of all the things we are doing now! |
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Oh god , what have I inspired ? Possibly the wierdest web page on the net ? Stools I have known and built. Maybe this is why the ladies (of our year) are either lurking or staying away. Just nothing to compare to a finely crafted wooden stool. 
Also are we forgetting the possibility that great works of art may have survived. Anyone willing to admit to still having these, even if their survival is blamed on doting parents ? We have some black and white examples from the Phoenix magazines, but how about some examples photographed in living colour.
I must go now. The nice men in white coats have asked me to turn off the computer. |
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I believe my parents still have my "Hislop" inspired stool. Not sure what they keep it for but next time I go round there I will take a photo.
Sandya I noticed you mentioned the complexity of celluar membranes. Funnily enough my business roots originate from the isolation of a phospholipid called phosphorylcholine, which is found in abundance in the outer membrane of red blood cells. This zwitterionic headgroup of this compound has a high affinity for water molecules which means it displaces proteins which might adhere to it. By developing a synthetic version of phosphorylcholine we are coating medical devices with this polymer which hides it from the body's natural defense mechanisms owing to a thin barrier of water. We are currently applying this technology to implantable coronary stents and contact lenses to great success and will soon leverage this application to other indwelling devices to improve patient outcome. You can check us out on www.biocompatibles.co.uk. It's strange to see what dissecting worms gonads in Miss Woodall's class can lead to!!! Steve T.
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