Files and Records

Punched cards for Babbage's Analytical Engine

Oh, Good. There’s a Tiger Behind Door 3

The way I see it, we've 2 potential futures ahead of us. Behind door 1 is The Terminator future. Rise of the machines. Technology going from being our slave to being our master. And there's plenty of other examples of this in dystopian fiction. On the other hand, we've door 2. Behind door 2 is the Star Trek future. The protopian future...

John Clayton December 30, 2025

Education

The Year of the Reader

The Government has decreed 2026 to be the National Year of Reading (https://www.goallin.org.uk) and with good reason. Reading seems to be happening less and less, not just in kids but…

John Clayton December 17, 2025

Cheesecake Cooking & Baking

3 come along at once

You know the saying, you wait ages for a bus (or a tube train) and then 3 come along at once. Turns out it's the same with cheesecakes. One of…

John Clayton October 4, 2025

Stuff

The Incredible 60th Anniversary of Broadstairs Folk Week

10 years ago, newly moved to England from Shetland, my son's violin teacher - the great and much-missed Pete Shaw -suggested that to further his education in fiddle playing, we…

John Clayton August 18, 2025

open spiral binded notebook on a wooden desk

Stuff

Flexible timetabling for the modern school – Bring out the gunnaries

I was doing the weekly shop today. Supermarket shelves full of stuff to strike dread into the hearts of teachers and parents alike. "Back to school". Seriously, folks, it's only…

John Clayton August 1, 2025

Stuff

Love the art…

Warning, this post contains mention of the works of Neil Gaiman. There's an interesting article over on OpenCulture, "Love the Art, Hate the Artist". It was written before Sandman became…

John Clayton July 16, 2025

Cheesecake Cooking & Baking

Well, it’s definitely green

I have to admit I may have overdone the green. In my defence, I wanted it to be green (perhaps not this green, granted) because the last one was disappointingly…

John Clayton July 22, 2024

Cheesecake Cooking & Baking

Cocktails on the Sun Deck, anyone?

Love a good challenge, me. Eldest's birthday earlier this year. "Can you make a Mojito sorbet?" Hmm... Let me see... Well, of course I can. That turned out well. Not…

John Clayton July 19, 2024

Cheesecake Cooking & Baking

Time for an upgrade.

Right, so you know when you declare "this is it! This is the perfect cheesecake and can't be improved!" the universe is going to come along and force you to…

John Clayton May 14, 2024

Education