49 replies to this topic

[Nichola Boughey]

Hey Andrew...

my brother-in-law ordered from Dell. It was two weeks late, and arrived in three different stages.

1. The speakers.
2. The base.
3. and then the monitor.

Not that I am saying yours won't be fab!

[Lindsay_Merrony]

Awwww! This is my bug bear. But now my head hurts. I have just read lots of websites. Some support my point of view and some support Dafydds.

But get this:

Astronomers designate years prior to 1 A.D. by means of zero and negative numbers, according to the sequence of numbers ..., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, .... Between the year 1 and the year -1 there occurs the year 0. Thus astronomers adopt the following convention:

1 A.D. = year 1
1 B.C. = year 0
2 B.C. = year -1 and so on

Ouch!

I'm going into school tomorrow to tell them I don't know. Time is a relative concept. Is it? What is History? What is the meaning of existence? What are my Learning Objectives?

[Andrew Field]

I'll give this info to the guy who started this all off - this will keep him quiet.

I think we can safely say I was right to be confused!

It's also now 22:05 and no computer has arrived. Wasn't it nice of Dell's delivery people to promise - I even asked them how likely it was they could do it. "It would take a major emergency, Sir."

I think I'll go and watch the news to see what happened.

[Stephen Drew]

Ah, but as an historian you should know that everything is in the interpretation.

A major disaster for the person at Dell might be simply be the canteen running out of Crunchies or the office water cooler being empty.

I believe you are being too narrow in your focus of possible interpretations of the phrase "major emergency"!

[Andrew Field]

Hey Hey!

It's nearly 11pm and guess what...

Yep.

No PC.

[Stephen Drew]

Of course there could be another explanation for your lack of PC.

I believe it is possible that NASA and the Pentagon may have intercepted it on its way from the DELL warehouse. Considering the specs you were describing last night, your system could operate the International Space Station and co-ordinate Gulf War II whilst still running Schoolhistory on the side!

[Andrew Field]

This could be true - Liza (sensibly) suggested that I removed that post though. This is a public board and a few of the less public spirited pupils probably know where I live.

What they don't know is the family of fierce dogs who live in the garden...

Actually, the schoolhistory site is currently based in Texas, weirdly enough. The server I'm using is (to quote) situated in the Houston area of Texas. This is linked to the Internet via fiber-optic connections, that span more than seven diverse backbones and well-known providers including Congent, Sonet and Time Warner. Our systems include a high power UPS generator electrical backup, closed circuit monitoring and redundant air-conditioning systems. Our wide spread hardware infrastructure and additional systems enable us to provide solutions that are of the highest possible speed and quality.

The sign of quality - although I'm not sure about the redundant air-conditioning systems. Why don't they replace them with something that works?

[Andrew Field]

Computer update.

Dell were very sorry. They have promised delivery between 6pm and 10pm this evening.

Hmmm...

[Andrew Field]

Well, its now 8pm and guess what -

a brand new computer...

...still hasn't arrived.

Getting a bit ridiculous now. I ordered it over two weeks ago, whereas I ordered a network switch from another company on Monday night. The network switch arrived this evening, and you know about the computer...

[Dafydd Humphreys]

I spent 45 minutes on the phone after school today trying to get GLS to promise to replace an OHP that had arrived cracked on the 3rd of September. 12 days since I complained and they hadn't done anything.

I bloody ordered the thing in June as well.

[Andrew Field]

These services just aren't like us reliable teachers are they? All my paperwork gets completed way before the deadlines, all the marking done, everything on time.


Now 21:09 - no PC...

[Carole Faithorn]

Any luck yet? (21:50 ish)

[Nichola Boughey]

Give it up Andrew - go back to the typewriters and stenographs.

He, He, He

We are Historians after all.

[Andrew Field]

Nope. Nothing arrives.

The new switch is good though - the connection from our very old computer (166ghz) is really quick now, no waiting for files, and I'm directly connected to the broadband internet connection.

Really not amused though.

Forget typewriters, let's go back to slate.

[Andrew Field]

OK - this is not that bad. We've got a really old PC and a new-ish PC that both still work. Fine. Lucky to have this....

However, having spend a significant chunk of money on a new right-up-to-date PC I should be able to get it. I originally ordered the thing to be delivered before we went back to school!

I had the delivery refunded a few days ago. I wonder what I get now...

Oh well!