h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Did someone mention my name?
Welcome to new faces, hope you feel comfortable here!
I have seen dark blue bellpepper, or was it purple? Odd colour for a veggie anyway.
I spent the weekend doing "dugnad" witch means going together with the neighbors and clean out the basement and attic, throw trash and clean up outside the house. I used some hours brushing and hoseing the stairs clean from moss, getting soaking wet in the prosses of course, and now I have very sore arms and stiff fingers. All for the community. Is there an English word for dugnad? It's a very old word.

"Yard sale"

Or maybe Spring cleaning. I can't get used to the time change either. Zeppo is coping by going back to sleep. He will be late for work. I'll be on time but cranky all day.

Spring cleaning, that's what we did at this "dugnad", but we could also have built a new house, painted the barn, fixed a car, or whatever one can do together voluntarily. Voluntary work doesn't quite cover it either because it's not always that voluntarly... But ok... close enough.
I love the longer, lighter evenings, though it's a bit tougher to get out of bed in the mornings.

I really must get around to changing the clock on the video. I keep getting caught out when I glance at it and have the luxurious feeling of being an hour in hand...

Spring cleaning. It's really that time of year again...

I find light mornings make me wake up early. Hence by the time I'm actually suposed to get up I've dozed back off such that I'm all grumpy when the alarm goes off.
Lower Sixth for AS, so sort of half an A level in the equivalent of my fifth year. Am I the only one to be confused by the fact that English Schools have two sixth years?

No Munchkin, you are not!

At my school it used to be called Lower and then Upper 6th, now its Years 12 and 13, but still in a 6th Form Block!

'Lower sixth' and 'upper sixth': what's confusing about that ?

But now, haven't they changed the names of the years? So the 1st year is year seven, all the way up the the unfortunately named year 13?

Simulpost!

What I find even more odd is the fact that the Prof. had to change schools to do these two sixth years. There are just too many levels to the English education system for my liking

I think it's a choice, rather than you have to, although I guess it depends on the school. School leaving age is 16. After that you have options

Did you know that English kids are now the most examined in Europe?

A lot of people do change schools at 6th form level, some have a better reputation for the sciences, others for arts, some allow you to wear mufti (your own clothes not uniform) and others insist you can only stay on for 6th form if you get 6 Cs and above at GCSE.

In Scottish Secondary Schools you go right up to Sixth year (18 years of age) and I've never heard of anyone changing to do their Highers. Oh, and to explain why I get confused, in Scottish schools, you start at age five in Primary One, at a Primary School. After seven years you finish Primary Seven at the same school and move to a Secondary School. At Secondary School you do up to 4th year and your Standard Grade exams. That puts you at 16 and you can leave or stay to do Highers in fifth year. After fifth year you can stay a further year for more Highers, or to do Sixth Year Studies. This is Sixth Year and comes in the sixth year of secondary school. Hence why I find having two sixth years odd. Just a different system and an easily confused Munchkin.

*comes back from acupuncture* sits on the sofa because it won't show the blood*

Now I'm here I can't think of anything to say.

If you think that the English system is confusing, try a school which has seven years at the secondary level and does both Highers and A-Levels and also GCSEs (but not Standard Grades), and which has only six primary years before changing 1 year early to the secondary school.

This is almost as bad as hearing cricket described. Speaking of which, won't that sport be coming into season any time now?

*waves to PWM, pleased to see him back* Monk, somewhere in the blog we've been discussing blue vegetables, existence of, and since I've been studying history/use of pigments for my painting class, I'm trying to find out more about what makes blue corn blue. Got any organic chemists in that monastery?

One other thing I found out, all you painters in the salon: the existence of pigments depends on industry and chemistry. The sciences don't go looking for pigments just for us! At the moment, the cadmium colours are definitely in jeopardy, because everyone wants those poisons taken out of the production cycle. Vermilion no longer exists as a true pigment, only as a hue made of modern pigments, because it was originally made from cinnabar, which is a sulfide of mercury.

Back in earlier times, if you apprenticed out to a master painter, one of your first tasks was to grind pigments into a suspension with some medium such as linseed oil, so that the master could paint. One wonders how many apprentices died early from ingesting these poisons topically!

Hm, maybe instead of boring you lot with this show-and-tell, I should write an entry....

Perhaps I had better stop sucking paintbrushes to get a nice point.

Morning, all!

Sorry - again! - that I haven't been around much. Between the meet, a holiday to Vegas that turned out to not be a holiday at all, and the fact that I will hopefully be moving to SLC by the end of the month... Well, I've been swamped.

Ah well, life goes on, as they say.

Matina, some please. Thank you.

I missed the vegetable discussion. Darn. Anywho, there is a breed of spinach that is entirely blue, as well as a breed of carrots. Also, asparagaus is described as having blue tips.

Speaking of blue, though, I hear Levi-Strauss just cut 3 000 jobs....

Why change schools? A lot of education authorities only run a few sixth form centres (where I was schooled I think there were 3 or 4 compared to 15 to 20 secondary schools).

Lil there is an entry on Blue and blue pigments here in the guide A656804 is the one you want.

I was flicking through some gardening book the other day and it mentioned the million pound (or was it dollars ) prize for growing the first true blue tulip.