Will’s View

Check it out! I’ve just updated my map page with the new plugin, and it’s all pretty and nice to use and stuff! God Bless the new version of WordPress and Yongfook for providing welcome distraction during exams!

--> Check it out! I’ve just updated my map page with the new plugin, and it’s all pretty and nice to use and stuff! God Bless the new version of WordPress and Yongfook for providing welcome distraction during exams!

While walking around the Law Library today (yes that’s right, I don’t use the Engineering Library, I use the Law Library, because it has nicer seats - they recline like a rocking chair) I saw an avid studier who had brought a desk lamp in from home. Yes, I know, I was somewhat bewildered too. This person had found the lighting supplied by the overhead fluoro lights (and the nearby window) insufficient and had therefore brought in their own halogen desk lamp.

This got me to thinking about the differences in people’s study habits. Some people can only study with rock on the radio; others only in the dead silence of the upper floors of the Law Library; and still others somehow manage to convince people that they can study effectively in groups. And I have recently discovered the key to studying for engineering exams: Print out all the past exam papers you can lay your hands on; read through the notes briefly; try the exam questions until you feel confident. Then, if it’s an open book exam, take these answers in with you. Done.

One final note, if it is indeed an ‘open-book’ exam, then do remember to answer the questions on this year’s paper, and not last year’s. Even if they look the same.

--> While walking around the Law Library today (yes that’s right, I don’t use the Engineering Library, I use the Law Library, because it has nicer seats - they recline like a rocking chair) I saw an avid studier who had brought a desk lamp in from home. Yes, I know, I was somewhat bewildered too. This person had found the lighting supplied by the overhead fluoro lights (and the nearby window) insufficient and had therefore brought in their (More...)

Have you ever reflected on the usefulness of coat-hangers, specifically the metal wire ones? They’ve been around since about 1902 apparently, and by golly do they have a multitude of uses! Their availability and malleability makes them the perfect candidate for so many common tasks - such as breaking into cars and getting better TV reception - that they are a must for every household/wayward youth.

The reason I am going on about a particularly arbitrary topic, is that the usefulness of wire coat-hangers has come in handy recently: I was at work several days ago, setting up for a ‘disco’ when I was asked to hang a mirror ball (or disco-ball) from the ceiling of the venue. This was a challenging task, as the mirror ball was meant for permanent (possibly even domestic!?) installation. Damn. Then I had the idea (admittedly copying off a mirror ball I had seen earlier) of dissecting a metal coat-hanger to provide the necessary support.

This got me to thinking of all the things I have seen them used for: An impromptu aerial on cars and TV sets in sharehouses; hanging mirror balls in difficult places; breaking into yours (or someone else’s) car; impromptu BBQ tonges; and last but not least, hanging clothes.

Would Albert J. Parkhouse (to whom the invention of the coat-hanger is credited) have thought that a relatively simple and yet effective item would have such a multitude of uses? Next time you hang something up, have a little thought for the guy that unwittingly started it all…

--> Have you ever reflected on the usefulness of coat-hangers, specifically the metal wire ones? They’ve been around since about 1902 apparently, and by golly do they have a multitude of uses! Their availability and malleability makes them the perfect candidate for so many common tasks - such as breaking into cars and getting better TV reception - that they are a must for every household/wayward youth. The reason I am going on about a particularly arbitrary topic, is (More...)