Public Profile for 3FFA

Programming:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=382368#h.pvc5k5peq4a8
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=134491
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cprogramming
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/ios/index.htm
http://www.randygaul.net -Cecil's blog

Random:
5678bam: I agree my recent attempt at trolling was less than admirable.

3 months of registration and a minimum of 250 posts: Marine / Zergling / Zealot

4 months of registration and a minimum of 500 posts: Firebat / Hydralisk / Dragoon

6 months of registration and a minimum of 1,000 posts: Vulture / Lurker / Corsair

8 months of registration and a minimum of 1,500 posts: Goliath / Queen / Reaver

10 months of registration and a minimum of 2,000 posts: Siege Tank / Mutalisk / Dark Templar

1 year of registration and a minimum of 3,000 posts: Ghost / Devourer / High Templar

450 days of registration and a minimum of 4,000 posts: Wraith / Guardian / Scout

640 days of registration and a minimum of 6,000 posts: Valkyrie / Infested Terran / Archon

720 days of registration and a minimum of 8,000 posts: Science Vessel / Defiler / Arbiter

900 days of registration and a minimum of 10,000 posts: Battlecruiser / Ultralisk / Carrier

Disclaimer: I didn't create this list, and I take no credit for it, but thanks very much to the person who provided it!

Disclaimer: I didn't write the below, although I feel that the below is a very good representation of what I am going through and have been going through.

School is weird, downright weird.

It's important to realise how artificial and misconstrued it can become. You have a situation where teenagers spend most of their time apart from adult company inside a building where they generate a separate culture with independent priorities and values. The setting is completely different from the typical workplace where people of all ages mingle and learn to cooperate.
Instead inside a school, you only have your peers. Everyone has very little in common but their age and so a 'perverted' social setting arises in order to determine where people fit into the 'social status hierarchy'.
What decides where you'll fit onto this artificial social ladder is often down to the crudest measurements such as looks, clothes, rate of alcohol consumption (I'm from Ireland), academics, sporting ability etc.
I suppose most would be familiar with some of the points I've mentioned and I understand this to be the root of peer pressure. It can also explain why so many teenagers struggle with forming their own identity Why? because the school setting is so hostile to them.

Personally I don't try to conform to any of those aforementioned denominators. I don't drink, I'm not on Facebook and I don't buy Hollister.
It might sound like I'm a bit square but really I'm not. I go sea cliff climbing, I surf, I read, I programme and I build autonomous robots.
It's safe to say that I'm unique in what I do and, yes, I have included reading in there as well.
Being different then, in this sense means I'm somewhat isolated but I generally feel I have little to gain from most of my peers.

I consider myself intelligent but don't mistake this for arrogance. If, like my school you mistake this for academics then yes, I'm only average.
I don't consider intelligence is be a measurable quality that can be represented by numbers on a page.
Yet this outdated concept is the root of our education system and underpins a great deal of the multibillion-dollar testing industries that feed off public education throughout the world. It’s at the heart of the idea of academic ability, dominates college entrance examinations, underpins the hierarchy of subjects in education, and stands as the foundation for the whole idea of IQ.
It's taken me a long time to realise I am not just another underachiever who has yet to achieve my 'potential' but rather someone whose talent lies outside of the textbook.
I'm very lucky to of read the works of Sir Ken Robinson and Daniel H. Pink before I began setting limits on myself and thinking 'realistically'.

Kudos to the Education System for squashing people's ambitions and urging those to settle for more sensible real-life occupations.

My lessons are ineffectual most days. Might I remind you that I'm eighteen years old. Basic independence & respect that I've taken for granted in the workplace is gone.
I come into my class, sit on my designated chair, do as teacher says and restrain from challenging the status quo.
Independent thought, reasoning and opinion are disregarded for your age and naïveté as if there were a direct correlation.
Sure, questioning is encouraged as it should be, but not when the teacher might feel threatened. Their answer is often to simply state that it's not on the syllabus and therefore irrelevant to 'learning'.
In order to avoid confrontations such as these, most teachers choose to do as little teaching as possible, reciting sentences directly from the book for us to hastily jot down onto sheets of paper.
I learn close to nothing inside the classroom, instead relying on Khan Academy when I'm at home to fill in the gaps. A forty minute lesson can be covered in ten by most accounts.

But what if I don't succeed academically, where does this place me? My Career Guidance teacher should be the one to offer me the best suggestions but she's probably the least qualified to do so.
For instance, we were given an aptitude test one year and I found myself in some of the highest percentiles surprisingly - all except mathematics.
I had a meeting to discuss this with her. I wanted to follow my passion with technology and pursue a career in programming and design.
Her advice based on her findings was that I wouldn't be capable because of my low mathematical abilities. Instead according to the aptitude test I was only suitable to become a 'navigator' - whatever that could be.
Currently I'm a freelance web developer with four clients on the go. I'm still programming and I have yet to find my poor mathematical skills to be a hinderance.

So what if you obeyed the rules, played the system, got good grades and did as you were told?
Well in my school you are awarded with a 'Prefect' badge after a 'democratic' vote. There are eight prefects with a Head Boy and Head Girl included. You're automatically on the board of the school council although it has very little autonomy on issues of any importance.
Needless to say, I'm not a prefect and I probably don't strike you as one. It's typically someone who's a demagogue, popular and who can appeal to their small-minded peers.
This year's Prefects had their badges of honour awarded at a special school assembly where the Reverend came to bless them and the Principal gave his commendations. A very lovely ceremony altogether until the Reverend came back up onto the podium to give his little lecture.
If there really is one frustrating thing about school, it's the unchallenged, sacrosanct position of the Church. That day we had to stand for ten minutes whilst we listened in silence to the Reverend's denouncement on evolution. Terrific and insightful, ending appropriately with the Lord's prayer.

Surviving in an environment as unfavorable as this can be challenging and I'm fortunate my mind is still intact after six years.
Personally, it has been reading that has been my escape all these years. Through reading books I've managed to change my outlook on learning and grow in confidence about my potential.
So despite school, I'm optimistic about the future and I'm looking forward to reclaiming my life back and pursuing my ambitions.

https://chatidcdn.com/chatbar/config/newegg.com/latest.js