Psychology presentation redux

Yesterday, I received the result of the Psychology presentation I performed last Tuesday. I received a Merit, which is lower than a Distinction but higher than the Pass grade I was expecting. A close classmate and friend in my group, however, received a Distinction for her presentation, which both pleased and surprised her and brought her several well-deserved congratulations.

I am pleased and surprised with my result, too. After I thought my presentation performance was subpar, I had almost dismissed the possibility of receiving anything higher than a Pass. According to my Psychology teacher, my presentation was comprehensive enough to warrant a Merit and it was because I had not expanded on a few points - likely due to nerves - that kept me from earning a Distinction.

Anita Rani

As I have mentioned in previous posts (here, here and here), I have watched Strictly Come Dancing with my grandmother. This year, I chose to watch just the results show at the end of each week rather than both them and the main programme. My favoured contestant to win was Anita Rani, who is usually a presenter on Countryfile and several other TV shows.

Unfortunately, Rani was defeated in last night's results show for the semi-finals. The contestant who was victorious over her was Katie Derham, who is also a presenter and also a newscaster.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/dec/14/why-anita-rani-lost-out-in-the-strictly-semi-finals

Now that Rani is out of the competition, I'm not really sure whom I want to win now. If Derham were to win, it would be the first time that Anton Du Beke, her professional dance partner, has ever won Strictly Come Dancing.

Twisted spire

When I visited Chesterfield yesterday, I ensured I photographed the spire of the Chesterfield Parish Church, all called the Church of St Mary and All Saints:

On all the other days when I've seen the spire, I've usually been sat in a car while passing through Chesterfield or when stuck in a traffic jam. It made a pleasant change viewing it from the base of the building.

Pronto

Today, I rode the Pronto bus route from Nottingham to Chesterfield. The Pronto service is operated by Trentbarton and another bus company, Stagecoach, and it usually runs between Nottingham and Mansfield but every half hour on weekdays and Saturdays, it continues to Chesterfield in Derbyshire. The journey lasts for about 1 hour and 40 minutes and in both directions the bus stops for several minutes at Mansfield's bus station.

The Pronto buses are pink and purple, and are Trentbarton in their outward design; here is the one that carried me to Chesterfield:

On the inside, they look like Stagecoach buses with some Trentbarton-like banners above the windows:

I previously mentioned Chesterfield in one of my posts about visiting Chatsworth House.

"The Tenth Doctor meets Holly from Red Dwarf"

Putting aside my opinions about the post-Paul McGann Doctors, I do think this is a clever video mashup of the Tenth Doctor with Holly from Red Dwarf:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG_Cg6FwZrk

While it's funny to me because I've watched Red Dwarf and Doctor Who, I think the scenes that were chosen for the mashup can be enjoyed by people who aren't familiar with either.

"Hi, Billy Mays here"

The other day, I stumbled across this tribute video to Billy Mays:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb9vOp7wCqQ

I remember Billy Mays from the early/mid-2000s when he starred in infomercials promoting OxiClean. He promoted a whole range of products, such as Awesome Auger, Gopher and Zorbeez but he was most famous for his OxiClean promotions. He was also known for his booming voice, which became his trademark, along with his catchphase, "Hi, Billy Mays here".

Mays died in June 2009 of heart disease. I hadn't seen him on TV for a few years by then but I remembered him well and I recall being saddened by his death.

Out for this evening

I am currently on my third bus of the day, as I am spending this evening out. I will likely not have time to write a blog post when I return later so I though I'd write a "bus post" to explain why. See you tomorrow!

Psychology presentation

The Psychology presentations began today. Four other people and I were all randomly selected to go first, with me being the last of the five to present. The five who presented only did so to each other; no one else was allowed to stay in the room and they were free to return home if so desired.

Everyone thought that everyone else performed better than themselves. I stumbled near the beginning of my presentation in that I blanked; fortunately, since it was early on I was allowed to restart and once I did, I followed through with my presentation with only a few missteps but overall, I performed okay and I was my biggest critic. This is the only presentation the class is required to complete for this course.

First graded assignment

A few weeks ago, I had a graded assignment to complete and hand in for a Monday morning. Well, I handed in that assignment on time and today, I received my result: a Merit.

A Merit is a very good result. A "Pass" is the lowest successful grade for an essay whereas a "Distinction" is the highest. Since I ended up finishing the assignment in one weekend at the last minute, I had expected only a Pass at best but I was pleasantly surprised to have received a Merit. This is the first graded assignment I have completed so far, ever (the GCSEs used a different criteria).

Lower than a Pass is a referral, which is given if somebody has not reached all the grading criteria necessary to meet a Pass; however, it is possible to receive a referral, to go back and meet the criteria and still earn a Merit or a Distinction. A Fail is issued if someone does not do the work at all.

Jimmy Carter victorious

Back in August, former US President Jimmy Carter announced that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer and that the cancer had spread around his body. The prognosis for him appeared poor, given his age and the extent of the cancer.

Well, last month he said that his response to the treatment was going well and today he declared that the brain cancer is "gone". Carter has done it: he has defeated brain cancer. Even with the resources at his disposal being a former president, defeating cancer at 91-years-old is a tremendous feat.

Congratulations, Jimmy Carter; this is excellent news!

Nottingham buses in 1990

After a Google search to see what Nottingham looked like in 1990, I came across an article in the Nottingham Post that featured a video that showed what the buses in the city looked like in that year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRNdfOypWa0

From that article I was linked to another, which showed Nottingham buses in 1994:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfRlvS9Om4k

The major Nottingham City Transport and Trentbarton buses have drastically changed in appearance since the 1990s.

Whack a pomegranate

Tonight, my grandfather utilised a method of quickly extracting the edible seeds from a pomegranate. He cut the fruit in half, held each half over a bowl and whacked them with a wooden spoon, which caused the seeds to fall into the bowl. Within five minutes, the seeds were ready to eat; there was no need for him to spend ages picking the fruit apart.

My grandfather said that he had read years ago about this trick with pomegranates but had not used it before tonight. For years he thought it might have been a hoax but he mentioned that he checked again earlier and found sources that confirmed its existence:

http://www.nwedible.com/get-the-seeds-out-of-a-pomegranate/

Unless it's something you enjoy doing, no more picking pomegranates apart!

"She's the One" - Robbie Williams

This is probably my second-favourite song by Robbie Williams, following "Angels":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVaRHJn_dgM

It's "She's the One", taken from Williams' second studio album, I've Been Expecting You, and was included on The Ego Has Landed, which is his first compilation album. The song is often thought to be an original by Williams but a band called World Party wrote and composed the song initially; however, Williams' cover is definitely the most known version.

I wrote about "Angels" here and first mentioned Williams himself in an early post of mine. Both it and "She's the One" were the first of his songs I properly heard, not including anything he sang with the band Take That or any of its members or anything I heard in a film.

Good deed, sad end

I read this article about the good deed that Matthew Jackson performed for Jamie-Lynn Knighten:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3336516/Man-dies-day-pay-forward-good-deed.html

Less than a day later, a car accident killed Jackson. I honestly don't understand it when people who are genuinely kind seem to die young whereas people who have been vile to others appear to live beyond the average life expectancy. This is a generalisation, of course, but it's a pattern I've noticed.

Feeling rude on the bus

My Villager bus to Nottingham this morning was half-full when I boarded, which was unusual because it's normally around a third full when I board in the mid/late morning but there were still plenty of seats left. As my bus continued its way through the town, it rapidly filled and before it reached the main stop, it had reached its carrying capacity and the driver had no choice but to drive past people wanting a ride.

I was in an aisle seat from the start and before the bus reached the town's main stop, the man next to me indicated that he wanted to move. I thought he wanted to get off the bus; as such, I moved out of the way and moved into where he was sitting before, as is the standard practice. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't departing: he had moved so others could sit in his place and, by extension, mine.

As such, when I realised this I immediately felt rude and like a douche. While I'm sure the man did not intend to guilt-trip me into moving so others could sit down, his actions had that exact effect and when the main stop arrived, I departed the bus right there and then - even though it was within the same town - rather than face an uncomfortable ride to Nottingham with the feeling of "sitting where I wasn't supposed to and knowing it". I do not know if anyone thought I had been rude but my leaving the bus meant others could sit down, which negated any accidental rudeness on my part, as far as I am concerned.

It could be argued that my leaving was cowardice on my part and that I should have surrendered the seat and stood; however, it could also be argued that I did not violate any rules and that I was fully entitled to move to the window seat after thinking the man wanted to leave. After all, the people who were standing directly next to me, while being significantly older, were not in desperate need of seats and no one else was bothering to give up theirs. At any rate, my leaving freed up space on the bus, so it could also be argued that I was willing to catch a later bus just for someone else's comfort, even if I was pressured into it.

I have offered to give my seat to others before but people rarely accept such offers unless they are truly in need of sitting.