The soundtrack for this post is provided by Electric Six
I am beginning to form a suspicion.
No more than a suspicion at the moment, but I admit the feeling is growing that I was perhaps incorrect to state – in my Physics Practical exam – that we had been provided with an output voltage of 4000V.
Why, you may ask innocently? Well, when I stop and ponder my result, it does start to sound like an awfully large number of volts. Those signs, for example: “Warning! High Voltage! Danger of Death!”. They refer to figures like 4000V, don’t they? It seems a little… excessive… for Edexcel to insist we work with such a number. How about another number? Such as, oh I dunno, 4V?
There’s another piece of evidence with suggests to my mind that perhaps that is closer to the truth: the large 4 on the setting of the power supply.
Hmm… 4, and 4000. There’s a link there, isn’t there? Why yes, of course! The second is merely one thousand times larger than the first. Almost as if, if I may dare to be so bold, a unit may have gone awry. For the non-Physicists amongst you, consider than a metre is made out of one thousand millimetres. Aha!
Hopefully, some nice examiner will merely dock a point for a unit somewhere, rather than chuckle and then burn the paper 
Don’t worry, I don’t actually think it went too badly, folks 
just the usual twists and turns which accompany the now-slain beast of the Physics Practical. Fire in the disco!
(P.S. Physics teachers are not allowed to read this post without commenting. Sorry.)
With the traditional name restored (though I was growing fond of the new one, to tell you the truth) it’s time to post again. I’ve been having a good few days really, and having productive feelings that I’m actually getting work done. Maths, English and History coursework had already been completed and finalised before Easter, while on Thursday we’re finally starting to write our Individual Assignment for History under controlled conditions, which means it’ll be done by next week. Which leaves only one unit of History for the June exams – Cold War – and I feel quite prepared and happy about that really. We had a mock on Monday morning which felt right, though I guess I shouldn’t comment until I’ve seen the results
Physics needs a bit of loving care and attention, to be honest, and the idea that we’re doing a practical exam next month would be horrific if I had the time to stop and consider it. As it is, I hope that with a bit of revision I’ll scrape something reasonable from this course! My priority is really shifting to English, to be honest, since we have exams on War Literature, Blake and Hamlet which all needs to be revised with quotations learnt and exams practised etc etc. But there’s time, there’s time.
Jeez, congratulations if you’re still reading: that must have been mind-achingly dull to sludge through. As a reward, have a look at this rather wonderful example of London-centric thinking we discovered on one of the displays at school:
Overcrowding is an issue…
It turns out that the population of the United Kingdom is 60,441,457 while London claims the glory of the most populated city with 60,441,457 residents exactly. So what are we wasting time on the other regions for then? 
Today I got exam results: a C – 56/90 – in Physics and an A – 83/100 – in Maths. Which I am pleased about, yes! I may have scraped my A in Maths but I got it, meaning I don’t have to sit the unit with most of the class in June and hence freeing up valuable time for other revision. As for Physics, it should be noted this does make me the second highest in the class and while it’s not great it doesn’t affect my university prospects because no one takes account of my 4th A-Level. So, I might retake it for personal satisfaction (why not?) but it doesn’t worry me.
Yesterday I had the best catered lessons I have ever experienced. Ms Higgs Boson baked us delicious chocolate brownies as a bribe incentive for doing our presentations, while Mr Moore served mugs of tea all round. With chocolate hob nobs. Classy!
Saoirse presenting her communist cake
Proof, if proof be needed, that giving shout outs on this blog can lead to great things. At breaktime today, Saoirse presented me with a homemade hammer and sickle cake celebrating the joys of communism. Exactly the right shade of red, and absolutely delicious.
Thanks, comrade!
My Physics lesson seems to be experiencing a bit of a boom time at the moment in finding creative alternatives to work. Our lovely new student teacher has been graced with the nickname ‘Ms Higgs Boson’ as a result of having a double-barrelled name, a geek joke if ever I heard one. My truly excellent cartoons on the backs of paper towels get stolen by Robert, while I’ve also invented the game of the century with the ‘Ran#’ button on my calculator. Yes, folks, up to know I wasn’t aware calculators could generate random numbers but now I do we’re all making up for lost time with outrages dares based on the unlikely probability of correctly picking the number it generates. I actually lost once – on the “you will buy a Mac” dare – so I’m hoping everyone at Babble has given up reading my blog else I’m in big trouble.
Not to feel outdone, History still features the admirable quest to cast a James Bond movie out of our school’s teachers. Out of interest, Mr Cain is definitely the main villain, while Mr Drummond is in the running for Bond. My dad helpfully suggested Mr Muchamore has to be Q, which I fully agree with. My vote is also with Ms Taylor for M. I hope I haven’t offended Mr Wrigley by telling him he’s slightly too moral to be a main character, probably getting killed off fairly early on. But doing something good. Like, being an informer. Sorry!
Moving swiftly on from school… last night I watched Paul Merton’s final show hosting Room 101. It’s never been amazingly laugh-out-loud funny but always interesting to ponder what you would put in yourself – at the moment my list includes buffets, Michael Winner and William Blake.
Checking the news this evening, I also see the shocking revelation that David Cameron smoked drugs at school. It is newsworthy, though, to note what common drug it was. Personally, I’m beginning to doubt whether Mr Cameron is telling the truth. This guy went to Eton and the best he could come up with was cannabis?! Mark my words – we’ll discover in 10 years time that he was actually brought up on a council estate attending Berkshire Comprehensive.
That reference to the class structure is, in fact, a neat link into my resurrected ‘shout out’ blog posts. Saoirse gets it today for deftly arguing the relative merits of Communism at lunchtime, which I’m sure is boring everyone else to death, but I love. One of the many ways in which I’m criticised is, of course, for sneakily promoting my website at school which – in a very indirect way – must surely bump up by Google AdSense by, ooh, about half a penny. But it’s still exploitation of children by indoctrinating them with advertising on Mr Kanj’s whiteboard. Hehe.
Helen on It’s (waiting) time.: “Fabulous news, congratulations to you both! X” Jun 8, 21:51
