Toilet paper vs. tissues vs. kitchen roll

I think kitchen roll is better nearly every time, so I've stopped buying toilet roll and tissues, and just use kitchen roll instead now.

Aspect	Kitchen roll	Tissues	Toilet paper
Cheaper	No 1.3 pence per sheet (Tesco Standard 4 roll)	No 1.3 pence per sheet (ignoring triple ply) (Tesco regular 72 sheets)	Yes 0.7 pence per sheet (ignoring double ply and counting 2 rolls to make the same size) (Tesco luxury 4 roll) (standard not available, and not comparing with Everyday Value)
Stays together when blowing nose?	Yes	No - tissue gets stuck in stubble	No - tissue gets stuck in stubble and usually makes a hole in the tissue
Good at soaking up spillages?	Yes	No	Yes, but drips easily
Soft?	No	Yes	Medium
Perforates easily?	Yes	Yes, but sometimes you get more tissues than you want	No - usually end up tearing more sheets in half
Collects dust (lint) when cleaning/wiping glasses?	No	Yes	Yes
Environmentally friendly?	Wiki: Virgin or recycled paper pulp with bleach and resin	Tesco: Wood pulp of forests	Knowledge: usually recycled from normal paper
Can be flushed down the toilet?	No (unless torn)	Yes	Yes
Can be used to dry hands?	Yes	No - doesn't pick up water	No - falls apart at simple tears
Easy to roll back up?	Easy to get back if going slowly	Easy to stack	Can never get back to normal
Good surface area for blowing nose/picking up spillages?	Yes	Medium	No
Falls apart in the washing machine?	No	Yes	Yes
Easy to carry around?	Medium - need a small pouch or food bag to keep clean	Yes - folded pocket tissues available	Medium-Low - as with kitchen roll, but more difficult to unroll

KS3 / KS4 / GCSE Mandatory Subjects

I believe the curriculum and mandatory-ness should be split up like the following.
The current replacement for GCSE, the English Baccalaureate, is still missing some key parts.

Mandatory

• Essentials: Maths, English (Literature, Language), Science (Chemistry, Physics, Biology)
• IT (not ICT - less focus on Office apps and more on Operating Systems, Programming)
• "Food Technology" also known as Cooking!
• P.E. (need to keep our kids healthy) - should be more optional about what types can be chosen, rather than force kids into them
• Mandatory: Athletics and gymnasium sport (fitness)
• Optional: Football, rugby, hockey, basketball, tennis, rounders (aka cricket), badminton, table tennis, archery, netball, trampolining
• Sexual health
• Life skills aka common sense. Respecting others, passive/assertive/aggressiveness, government bodies - see more
• "Citizenship" also known as "Key Skills" - replace with focus on business-oriented requirements e.g. CV building, interviews, work experience, volunteering, vocational study etc.

Optional

• Creative art: Art, Dance, Drama, Music, Technology (Electronics, Design, CAD, Sewing)
• Social studies: Geography, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Politics, Business Studies, Religious studies (should not be focused on Christianity - should cover all the philosophical points only)
• Language: French, Spanish, German etc.

'I have Windows 7. Why do I need to update?'

• Windows 7 mainstream support has already ended, so you'll no longer get free support from Microsoft
• This also means that you won't get any more security updates either, so your computer will become more vulnerable to attack
• You will not get any new functionality introduced in newer operating systems
• As time goes on, some programs will lose support for Windows 7
• Windows 10 is more user-friendly, more efficient, more stable, more reliable, more secure, and has the best device support

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Dealing with the haters of Google Chrome

Example 1

Here is a good example of an angry, stupid internet user who didn't like it when Chrome apparently started crashing for him on a regular basis, so he decided to go on a convoluted and uninformed quest to prevent it from doing updates, and it turns out it no longer crashes now since he updated to the latest version.

Here's what I think:

This guy is complaining about a null issue. The whole point Chrome force updates is to protect stupid users from far more serious vulnerabilities than it's worth not being updated for. And there is a way to prevent it updating, you just have to block Google's update server using your firewall or hosts file.
The correct way to respond to crashes, ever, is to enable crash reports to be sent to the developer, or do some self diagnosis by debugging it yourself, or speak to the developer as the issue was clearly isolated.

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Simulacra that are not longer applicable

Technology has replaced a lot of the ways we do things. Icons are a common representation of things in the real world, which no longer apply to modern technology, yet we don't yet have better ideas for what they represent, so we've kept them.

• A floppy disk icon for saving something - most prevalent in Office applications
• A symbol of a telephone for the dialler app on mobiles
• Encyclopedias - Wikipedia is now a digital encyclopedia rather than tens of volumes

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"Is it OCD to create a spreadsheet of your fridge?"

I don't think it's OCD per se, nearly everyone, including myself, stares inside the fridge or their cupboards to know how much they have. I've done it with the freezer once because it gets so full.

I guess therefore that a spreadsheet is just a portable version of the same information (a simulacrum, i.e. a digital shopping list for when you're out) & helps to remember what items you're missing entirely.

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Internet Replacing

Inspiration: http://www.theallium.com/engineering/computer-programming-to-be-officially-renamed-googling-stackoverflow/

The internet has replaced many forms of information source.

• Computer programming = Stack Overflow
• Writing an essay = Wikipedia
• Going to the doctor = WebMD & eBay
• Renting from Blockbuster = Netflix, Torrents
• Phone call = Skype call / VOIP
• Listening to the radio = iTunes & Spotify

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FAQ for Windows 10

Should I 'reserve' my upgrade?

Yes. Choosing to reserve your upgrade means your device (computer or tablet) will be eligible for a free upgrade for a year. Free upgrades are only available each and every device that prompts you.

Should I upgrade immediately on July 29th?

No, I don't recommend jumping straight into it unless you have backups of everything first. Wait a week or 2 until all the issues have been worked out (same thing happens with Apple). Use the app in the system tray to tell if everything will be compatible.

Can I just get an ISO and start again?

Yes, ISOs will become available that can then be burned to DVD or used to make bootable USB sticks for the install. Your machine will then stay on the free licence after the install, as long as your computer previously showed you the 'Reserve your upgrade' offer.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-10-faq

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Advice for if you feel you are overachieving or underappreciated at work

Overachieving

I know how it feels when you overachieve but get nothing to show for it. I'm sorry for you, it's not a nice feeling. You almost feel betrayed a little bit, and feel existential about doing any work anymore. If you're passionate about your job, so I know it can really get you down because it feels a bit like a personal attack. Sometimes its good to talk to your manager about it, unless you bite the bullet.

The justifications are:
1. If you didn't get a performance grade above meeting your expectations, then others' work is being valued more, or has been more important in the last year. It's a bit of a PR stunt really. If your client has given the company great feedback and made a big difference, that's where the salary rises go. 

2. You kind of have to do the impossible to get far. Obviously it's not an exact science, but I'd imagine you have to be working way beyond your hours (e.g. til 8 or 9pm) on occasion, (only if others can identify that you have done so), work on the weekend when appropriate, and most of all, think about what the client really wants & do whatever you can to get there, and get ahead of the game with them - predict what they want. Plus you have to be an all rounded person - you need to know a lot about everything and always be available to help others, even if it means you have to work late.

3. Another way to look at it is responsibility: the more responsible you are for more things, the more people will know your name.

Underappreciated

If you are on a fixed salary, then maybe it's not worth trying to impress anyone too much, or devote your life into the project (even if it interests you), as you won't be well rewarded yet.

If you feel you are at level higher than your pay grade, that's 2 reasons:

1. Do you have degree? A degree says to everyone that you deserve better. Until you've proven yourself, no matter how good you think you are, it's worthless to anyone. It's like saying you're a doctor after you've read 300 books on being a doctor, but you didn't go to university or do a degree. Would you trust that person?
2. Many companies values its clients & money more than it does the personal careers of each of its staff. In other words, they don't care that you're good at x, y and z, they only care that you've actually made the company some money. It's not about what you have the potential to do, it's about what you've actually done - how much money and time have you saved the company. Not how intelligent you are. Intelligence isn't rewarded, making money is.

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How to let off steam

Everyone deals with stress in a different way.
Exercise, creative work like art, meditation, and ranting. Destructive forms also occur like aggression towards others.

For me, playing games is usually my outlet.

• FPS/Action - Lets out any anger I have pent up
• Puzzle/Adventure/RPG - For something constructive
• Casual - For when I'm bored or waiting on public transport etc.

So generally I prefer games with short term fixes. Long term games, like strategy, don't reward me enough. I like to be in with the action. 

Competitive or multiplayer games aren't really my thing - often MMOs are very competitive and need a lot of dedication to actually be decent (e.g. learning the mechanics, collecting resources etc.)

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