Schools Out...

Today, I wore my school uniform for the last time. About bloody time too. Wearing a uniform not only classifies you as a more-or-less faceless element, just another student in the old exam factory, it also classifies you as a school pupil to boot. More to the point, it seems to carry with it the idea that all those wearing it are just kids, which is particularly hateful if you aren't one. You become just another teenager; forget being treated as an adult, if you wear the uniform, you seem to be automatically stuck with all the prejudices held against your age group. Sure, when I'm out of the uniform I generally have that to put up with too, but at least then it is by choice; any aesthetic one adopts necessarily brings preconceptions with it, but at least by choosing the aesthetic you can choose the preconceptions. Sure, people say "oh, but you look so smart and grownup" and suchlike excreta, but that's the point. In school uniform, you're just a kid trying to be grown up at the very best. And if I'm going to put up with being looked down on as a teenager (by some, I might add, many people are of course far fairer in their outlook) I may as well have the damned freedom to look like one.
I'm aware of all the arguments in favour of uniforms, and broadly speaking I can see their value, and would agree that they are, at least, a necessary evil. But that does not mean that i have to enjoy it, thank you so bloody much. So good riddance to the damned thing.
And now, the long dark wait for exam results... ah, fuck it, I'm going to enjoy the summer and forget about that.

Offerings from the Open Source gods...

I've come across a website just yesterday showcasing some of the very best open source software out there, and some of it really is very high quality indeed, including an open source alternative to photoshop; now there's a good way to save a lot of money. This is a site that should be visited by anyone who hasn't already got the software and has a brain, which may quite possibly mean you.
Recently I've stopped using Internet explorer in favour of the brilliance that is Firefox (except for a few cases where it won't access, for instance, music videos on Yahoo). Tabbed browsing is a boon, but the best thing about it is the plethora of easily accessible and incredibly simple to install extensions available for it. For instance, a few short downloads done, and i can preview google entries by holding the mouse over the site name, instantly translate any page in a wide range of languages whilst still retaining the original format and so on, download embedded items (ie Flash) from pages, access random well-rated sites according to subject preferences (allowing browsing in the truest sense of the word, which I've always felt was missing from the net), and so on. You can even customise the appearance of the browser very easily using downloadable themes, which is fun if not terribly important. Also useful is the way the toolbar incorporates a quicksearch function using Google, Yahoo, Answers.com, creative commons, amazon, chambers dictionary and eBay. Oh, and you can add more search engines if the need takes you.
What else... oh, and it incorporates a built-in download manager, which is a real help. And a JavaScript console, though I don't use this as I can't code. All in all, it's a much more complete, well-featured and customisable web explorer than IE, and YOU NEED IT NOW!

GET FIREFOX

Fluidiom blog

Here is the new(ish) fluidiom blog; pretty soon there'll be a new fluidiom version out with some new features that should be fun to play around with, and I'll be interested to see what sorts of beasties evolve from this.