how to work this.

Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Chris Malcolm said:

Quoted message said:

all fail.

That's a nasty old-fashioned concept. Educational research has
established that failing people leads to feelings that one hasn't done
very well

There's also the phenomenon of the computer game, traditionally played
solo against the computer, usually with the aid of "cheats" to help less
capable players to beat the computer (if easy mode is too tough for
them). This has also contributed to the expectation of winning every
time. I've seen younger folk have tantrums when they can't beat the
computer - "this is a stupid game - I'm not playing this again".

Oh Yeaaah? Who sent me the cheats for TOCA2and CMR2?
--
A Grass

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:26:07 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote
|
| >which had it's own syllabus for it's entrance exam.....
|
| Sorry - my random apostrophe generator kicked in....

Possessive of "it" is "it's"

--
Dave F

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

I've also read on a website the building called Claerwen two miles to
the east of the pools is a bothy.

This one?
http://tinyurl.com/552y5
--
I try to be a good example to my children, but they just see me
as a dire warning.

Fran said:

I've driven up there with the boys once. Just went to the end of
what passed for a recognisable road (I was in the red minibus so
any further would have been impractical)

Just as well, it turns into a mire further on!

Quoted message said:

Thanks. Yes, it is certainly on the damp side; however soft
ground appeals to me as a bed under the tent so as long as it's
not absolutely sodden, leaving me sleeping below ground level...

I'd say that's quite a possibility in that area!

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

I noticed that Message-ID:
<[email hidden]> from Fran contained the
following:

Quoted message said:

Sad to report though, there are
also teachers around who agree with the new-fangled attitude of
not telling the silly little osds that they're shaping up to be a
waste of space.

I'm a teacher, or was. I work as a college lecturer now.

IME the kids are well aware that they are a waste of space. The
difficulty is getting them to do anything about it.

Give them time. While they're young they tend not to realise the
difficulties they've made for themselves; however when they try
to get a job they may realise that what they really need is to go
back to college and get that maths or English GCSE after all.
That's when their education can really start - when they realise
that it's actually a Good Thing and possibly even something to be
desired.

I have no problem with people failing things - I've failed a few
things myself. The thing is to react positively... "OK, I'm not
an academic, and I'm never going to be able to pass exams, but
hey, look at this fantastic painting I've just done!" Or, "Look,
I'm not a bright spark, but I know all about loyalty and I can be
a really good friend should you ever need one. And if you'd like
any help with anything you've got my phone number..." There's
more than one way to be a success - life's not just about passing
exams.
--
I try to be a good example to my children, but they just see me
as a dire warning.

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

(I do hope no-one is offended by the Off Topic question. I am
genuinely interested).

Not offended here, certainly. I'm going to look at it again in a
bit and think about an answer.
--
I try to be a good example to my children, but they just see me
as a dire warning.

Dave Fawthrop <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:26:07 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote
|
| >which had it's own syllabus for it's entrance exam.....
|
| Sorry - my random apostrophe generator kicked in....

Possessive of "it" is "it's"

No, it's not!

"It's" is a diminutive of "it is".

alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe is thataway >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have no connection with the teaching profession, apart from my father,
sister, aunts, uncles etc.
--
Gordon

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:26:07 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote
|
| >which had it's own syllabus for it's entrance exam.....
|
| Sorry - my random apostrophe generator kicked in....

Possessive of "it" is "it's"

No 's not. It's its.
--
I try to be a good example to my children, but they just see me
as a dire warning.

Fran said:

I have no problem with people failing things

The NLP approach to this is that there's no such thing as failure.
Failure simply means that you've learned how not to it next time!

Seriously, if you take the "try and try again" approach, failure can be
very useful, it does give you useful information. Sometimes I play a
wargame and get slaughtered, then I try again and use a completely
different strategy. Sometimes it can take me quite a few attempts to
figure out the best strategy, and I end up becoming a better player as a
result. Failure really can be a useful learning experience.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Fran said:

Quoted message said:

I've also read on a website the building called Claerwen two miles to
the east of the pools is a bothy.

This one?
http://tinyurl.com/552y5

Don't think so. Moel Prysygau? Can't see that name anywhere on the
map. I'm pretty sure it's called Claerwen, that's the name written
right next to it on the 25k map, and there are no trees around it.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:47:55 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| Dave Fawthrop <[email hidden]> wrote
| >On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:26:07 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
| >wrote:
| >
| >| Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote
| >|
| >| >which had it's own syllabus for it's entrance exam.....
| >|
| >| Sorry - my random apostrophe generator kicked in....
| >
| >Possessive of "it" is "it's"
| >
| No, it's not!
|
| "It's" is a diminutive of "it is".

Sometimes, but not as used above.

--
Dave F

Dave Fawthrop said:

| "It's" is a diminutive of "it is".

Sometimes, but not as used above.

Not sometimes - always.

Its - possessive. Cf. his and hers.

It's - contracted 'it is'.

--

Paul

(Watch this space)

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 15:10:13 +0100, Paul Rooney <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Dave Fawthrop said:

| "It's" is a diminutive of "it is".

Sometimes, but not as used above.

Not sometimes - always.

Oops - always a contraction, but not necessarily of 'it is'.

Quoted message said:

Its - possessive. Cf. his and hers.

It's - contracted 'it is'.

Oops - or of 'it has'.

--

Paul

(Watch this space)

Dave Fawthrop <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:47:55 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| Dave Fawthrop <[email hidden]> wrote
| >On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:26:07 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
| >wrote:
| >
| >| Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote
| >|
| >| >which had it's own syllabus for it's entrance exam.....
| >|
| >| Sorry - my random apostrophe generator kicked in....
| >
| >Possessive of "it" is "it's"
| >
| No, it's not!
|
| "It's" is a diminutive of "it is".

Sometimes, but not as used above.

Which is why it does not require the apostrophe!

Its possessive does not have an apostrophe, thus it's incorrect for me
to write: "which had it's own syllabus".

The correct construction would have been: "which had its own syllabus".
^^^
I didn't want anyone to think I don't know that!
;-)
--
Gordon

Gordon said:

Quoted message said:

There's also the phenomenon of the computer game, traditionally
played solo against the computer, usually with the aid of "cheats"

Quoted message said:

Oh Yeaaah? Who sent me the cheats for TOCA2and CMR2?

Ah but there's "cheats" and there's "cheats". This is part of the
problem of the cheat culture, certain aspects of games these days are
being included as cheats when they aren't really cheats at all.

For example, in Toca Race Driver, two of the cheats are Sim Mode and
Realistic Damage. This is totally [censored] backward! Sim mode and
realistic damage should be the default settings, Arcade Mode and No
Damage should be the cheats!!! The cheat culture is becoming so firmly
entrenched that many people like to cheat as the default, so those who
want to play the game properly actually have to go to the hassle of
activating the cheats! Insane or what?

Anyway, as you know, the reason I sent you those cheats was simply to
unlock all the tracks and cars, which is hardly cheating. In a
"serious" racing game they should all be available anyway, as they are
in most. Imagine if you bought the UK scenery disk for FS2004 and found
that you couldn't fly around the Peak District until you'd completed
landings at six airports in SE England first! Unlocking is fine for
arcade shoot-em-ups, but not for serious sims.

On the other hand, if you like to drive Toca cars with turbo boosts and
bouncy wheels, what can I say...

Ever tried CMR2 in a jet? Or a hovercraft?

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 15:18:39 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Dave Fawthrop <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:47:55 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
wrote:

| Dave Fawthrop <[email hidden]> wrote
| >On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 14:26:07 +0100, Gordon <[email hidden]>
| >wrote:
| >
| >| Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote
| >|
| >| >which had it's own syllabus for it's entrance exam.....
| >|
| >| Sorry - my random apostrophe generator kicked in....
| >
| >Possessive of "it" is "it's"
| >
| No, it's not!
|
| "It's" is a diminutive of "it is".

Sometimes, but not as used above.

Which is why it does not require the apostrophe!

Its possessive does not have an apostrophe, thus it's incorrect for me
to write: "which had it's own syllabus".

The correct construction would have been: "which had its own syllabus".
^^^
I didn't want anyone to think I don't know that!
;-)

It's the law of Usenet: when you make any comment about the lack of
education, you automatically [censored] it up!

--

Paul

(Watch this space)

Fran said:

Have you got a GR please, so I can look it up on mutleymap? All
my paper maps are unavailable.

It's just one click to the east of the map you showed me.
www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=52.2882&lon=-3.7461&scale=25000&icon
=x

Looks like you can drive all the way there but my memory of the place
when I passed by (pushing a bicycle) was of a huge boggy mess (that's
why I was pushing the bike), but it might be alright from the west. My
approach was from the east.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Fran said:

Quoted message said:

I've also read on a website the building called Claerwen two miles to
the east of the pools is a bothy.

This one?
http://tinyurl.com/552y5

Don't think so. Moel Prysygau? Can't see that name anywhere on the
map. I'm pretty sure it's called Claerwen, that's the name written
right next to it on the 25k map, and there are no trees around it.

Have you got a GR please, so I can look it up on mutleymap? All
my paper maps are unavailable.
--
I try to be a good example to my children, but they just see me
as a dire warning.

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

| >Possessive of "it" is "it's"
| >
| No, it's not!
|
| "It's" is a diminutive of "it is".

Sometimes, but not as used above.

Sorry, you're wrong. It's is short for 'it is'; the possessive
does not have an apostrophe, any more than hers or his do.
--
I try to be a good example to my children, but they just see me
as a dire warning.

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> said
<snip>

Quoted message said:

I once made a comment on an RPG newsgroup about RPG games being
impossible to complete without cheating, i.e. saving and reloading
whenever one of you characters dies, and a huge uproar ensued. Most
were deeply offended by my use of the word cheating and insisted that
saving and reloading couldn't be considered cheating since they were
options provided in the game. I tried to explain that the save feature
was there because the games take far too long to play in one sitting,
not in order for you to undo anything bad that happens to you in the
game. I couldn't get through to them though, they absolutely would not
accept the concept that they were cheating and pretty much crucified me
for suggesting such an offensive thing. I was gobsmacked at the unity
of their reactions.

Actually my main point was these games seem to be designed so that they
can't be completed *without* cheating, I certainly couldn't.

There are several games around with 'iron man' mode, but the main
problem with 'if you die you can't reload' is that people are
discouraged from exploring the whole envelope of what the game designer
built. I mean if I had gone to all that trouble to code neat graphics of
you burning to a crisp when you p1$$ed off the Dragon, I'd be really
disappointed if nobody ever found it because they were tippy-toeing
around in totally paranoid mode (as one should in the real world).

Save & reload has been with us nearly forever (certainly all the way
back to 'Adventure', although 'Nethack' managed without. I wish someone
would get it implemented for Real Life (tm).

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.