Pingu…

… Yes, the penguin. I found this here video on YouTube -

And it brought back loads of memories of when I watched it as a young one. ^_^ Unlike most things I watched when I was younger Pingu is still entertaining to me… It’s weird, really. O_o

Saturday….

…Is boring today.

I just got two weeks off of school for the Easter holidays, so I get two weeks at home… doing nothing (at least until I’m allowed to eat the chocolate). Today will most likely be like any other boring day… I got a cold out of nowhere last night, so I’m using tissues non stop. But earlier on today I went to the town with my dad while he was running some errands. It wasn’t much, just sending letters and whatnot… But he also went to the music shop to try and fix the needle of our vinyl record player (I just started getting into buying vinyl… It’s cool…) so hopefully soon I’ll actually be able to LISTEN to the vinyl singles I bought. XD

So I’m just here, using the computer, whilst listening to Neil Young (my dad bought his album “Harvest” while in town today, it’s pretty good), and hoping things will get interesting soon.

Animator Vs. Animation

Another funny video I found today.

The Apple iRack

This is officially the funniest thing I ever saw.

Why School Is Bad

This is something I found when I searched “School Is Bad” on Google.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/highschool.html

This is the article -

Why School is Bad for Kids
by Rachel Grobstein

Once upon a time a child is born who, after spending many days blissfully watching how his fingers move and poking at the cat, enters the first year of what will be the focus of the next decade of his life: school.

And so, as he embarks upon his educational career, he learns many things.

First of all, he’s taught that there’s a difference between learning and living – as if learning is here in the school building, and living is outside, and there’s no correlation between the two.

As if what he did for the first five years of his life – like discovering language – wasn’t learning at all.

He learn that to be confused or wrong is a crime. The school wants Right Answers, and he learns countless ways to con the teacher into thinking he knows something he doesn’t; he learns to bluff and cheat.

He also learns to be lazy. Before school began he worked for hours and hours, with no thought of reward, to make sense of the world. But in school he learns that no one does anything they don’t have to and he learns to be bored.

Poor guy.

The ideas above are essentially those of educator and author John Holt, who believes that our educational system misdirects the youth of today. I agree.

Don’t get me wrong. Education is vital. But the system is – like many things – imperfect. And the problem comes with the misconception that learning begins just after the first bell rings and stops after graduation.

Education is a lifelong process and by showing kids that the reward for learning is not knowledge but a good report card, there’s no wonder that the problem is lack of motivation.

I think that the point of education is not to teach what to think but how to think. That way, even if we don’t remember, say, the quadratic formula, we still know how to problem solve. And that way, the FAQs of the classroom – Why should I care? What’s the point of this? Why do I need to know this? – will disappear into oblivion.

Follow the assumed Path of Motivations:

Why do kids learn? To get good grades. Why get good grades? To get into a good college. Why a good college? Because then, as everyone knows, we will be more likely to lead a happy, successful, and fulfilling life.

What a motivation.

Frankly, I think that if people are not learning for the sake of learning itself, they’re missing the point. Why come to a place 180 days out of your year if you have no interest in what you’re doing there besides basically preparing for the rest of your life?

I think that the problem of a whole bunch of ulcerous people run ning around their entire lives worrying starts with the incredible expectations and pressures we’re taught to deal with on a daily basis. And speaking of stopping to smell the flowers, I think it’s impossible when one has four hours of homework a night plus sports and music and art and whatever else one happens to be involved in.

But that’s a separate issue. It’s what comes from going to a successful school – a high stress, high anxiety, AP freshmen, 7 possible majors – successful school.

So much for criticism. What do we need to do? I think, for one, that learning should be a more active process. It’s a bit of a paradox to learn about the world by being taken out of it. We should have time to take more field trips and learn things hands-on in the “outside” world.

There’s something even simpler: we should spend more time working with other students. I’m sure that, with all the criticism of this Main Line environment we life in, no one actually takes the time to appreciate the diversity we do have. And don’t kids learn best from each other?

Let students take more responsibility for their own learning. Does anyone really believe that students won’t notice mistakes unless they’re pointed out or correct them unless we’re made to? In such a case we become less independent and less confident of our own abilities.

And then there are grades. How is it possible, students ask, to stick a number on a piece of writing or a piece of art? Or even more importantly, how is it possible to work and think so hard for a class and then be presented with a load of percentage points?

Because essentially, however grading may be justified or supplemented with explanations, it shows the student that what counts in the end is not whether he has learned the material and will apply it or use it to enrich his life, but that a high number will get him into a good college.

How do you truly measure what someone knows? In the words of Holt: “Let the child learn what every educated person must someday learn, how to measure his own understanding.”

What, after all, is the goal of education? Making honor role? Or making sense of the world?

This is the exact point I try to raise when I tell my parents that school is bad. =P

Get To Know Me :D

Name:	David
Birthdate:	September 12 1993
Birthplace:	Ireland
Current Location:	Galway, Ireland
Eye Color:	Brown
Hair Color:	Browny-Black
Height:	5″ Something
Weight:	…
Piercings:	None
Tatoos:	None
Boyfriend/Girlfriend:	Uh… XD
Overused Phrase:	“Overused phrase”
FAVORITES
Food:	Pasta, pasta pasta pasta, or ice cream.
Candy:	Anything fruit flavoured, but not gooshy and runny
Number:	10, 27, 72, 978, etc.
Color:	Red
Animal:	Dogs, Cats, uh…
Drink:	*Shrugs Shoulders*
Alcohol Drink:	I don’t drink
Bagel:	I dunno
Letter:	Q
Body Part on Opposite sex:	O_O …. Guh…
This or That
Pepsi or Coke:	Meh
McDonalds or BurgerKing:	Meh
Strawberry or Watermelon:	Watermelon
Hot tea or Ice tea:	I hate tea
Chocolate or Vanilla	Chocolate (But not chocolate ice cream)
Hot Chocolate or Coffee:	Neither
Kiss or Hug:	Hug (I didn’t really have a real kiss yet…)
Dog or Cat:	Dog
Rap or Punk:	Punk fo sho. I’m a rebel. >=D
Summer or Winter:	Summer
Scary Movies or Funny Movies:	Funny Movies
Love or Money:	Both
YOUR…
Bedtime:	Depends, I never get tired until 1:00 am for some reason so on school days I go to bed at around 11:00pm, on weekends and holidays I go to bed at midnight.
Most Missed Memory:	… I’m not gonna say it, kinda private.
Best phyiscal feature:	O_o
First Thought Waking Up:	“WAH! Now I’ll never know how that dream was going to end!”
Goal for this year:	Survive. O_O
Best Friends:	I don’t have any real friends except one…
Weakness:	If I tell you… *looks around*
Fears:	Sometimes dark, and the feeling you get when a spider goes up your back. O.O
Heritage:	… Uh, Irish. xD
Longest relationship:	*Blushes*
HAVE YOU…
Ever Drank:	No
Ever Smoked:	No
Pot:	No
Ever been Drunk:	No
Ever been beaten up:	Yes and it still hurts
Ever beaten someone up:	No
Ever Shoplifted:	Once when I was six, but I paid them back.
Ever Skinny Dipped:	No
Ever Kissed Opposite sex:	*PRIVATE MATTER*
Been Dumped Lately:	No
IN A GUY/GIRL
Favorite Eye Color:	Blue…
Favorite Hair Color:	O_o Uh… Black or brown, or browny-black
Short or Long:	Uh…
Height:	Same as mine.
Style:	…Me no know
Looks or Personality:	Personality
Hot or Cute	Cute ^_^
Drugs and Alcohol:	NOT IN A MILLION YEARS
Muscular or Really Skinny:	Neither, dammit.
RANDOMS
Number of Regrets in the Past:	Infinity
What country do you want to Visit:	?
How do you want to Die:	Old age
Been to the Mall Lately:	Not lately…
Do you like Thunderstorms:	NO. NO NO NO.
Get along with your Parents:	Yes (98% of the time)
Health Freak:	I dunno
Do you think your Attractive:	No, I think I’m teh ugly.
Believe in Yourself:
Want to go to College:	Maybe
Do you Smoke:	No and never will
Do you Drink:	No and never will
Shower Daily:	… >
Been in Love:	… … … …
Do you Sing:	Sometimes, at my guitar classes
Want to get Married:	Someday…
Do you want Children:	Yes, and I don’t want them to become spoilt brats like most kids are today.
Have your future kids names planned out:	… No.
Age you wanna lose your Virginity:	O_____O
Hate anyone:	A million people and they hate me too.

Daylight Savings Time

Well, as some of you know, last night in some countries we had to set the clocks an hour forward due to Daylight Savings Time. Which meant one important factor…

ONE HOUR OF OUR LIVES TAKEN AWAY.

I’m angry. I want my hour back and I want it now. >.

Treasure Island

I decided to re-read Treasure Island last night. Why again? Because, it’s a good book.

The problem with deciding to re-read things is that you already know what’s gonna happen and about 99% of the time end up not finishing it again. Hopefully this time it won’t happen because Treasure Island is a good book and hopefully it would be fun reading it all over again because maybe now I can understand some parts of it. =P

Maybe afterwards I can re-read Tom Sawyer too. xD

One Euro Richer

Tom was just walking around town, nothing special about today, nothing at all. But then on the way home, he noticed a little stall outside someone’s house. A quite bored looking man was sitting behind it, and there was a banner on it saying “Give Me A Euro”

Tom was confused, so he walked over to the stall. “Excuse me, but what exactly is this stall for?”

“Gimme a euro and you’ll see.”

Tom was in a rush, but he was also very curious to see what this man was on about. He brought out his wallet and gave the man a euro. “There you go. Now what?”

The man behind the stall looked at the euro and put it in his pocket. He then sat back and stayed quiet for a few more minutes.

Tom was getting impatient. “Hello?”

“Yes?”

“I gave you a euro, now what?”

“I’m one euro richer. Thanks for being a nice customer.”

THE END

My Desktop Background

Here’s a picture of my desktop background. I made it myself using GIMP 2.0, an image editing program that’s like Photoshop, except free and probably not as good to use. Besides all that, it’s probably the best picture I ever made with it. Take a look for yourself -

*Click image to make it biggerer*