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Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

bbc.co.uk

71–80 of 106 posts

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#71

I wrote a message in a bottle when I was young. I still have very dim memories of being excited at the possibility that somebody in another country years later would find it. According to my folks, however, there were some issues. First, I was four years old and couldn't write, and second, I threw the bottle into a small pond. But my parents didn't want to dampen my enthusiasm at the time.

heh, beside the joke, I remember being utterly excited just seeing people talk over long distance ham radio by using atmospheric reflections.. someone in california randomly bumping into a russia far of Siberia after minutes of white noise.. super eerie.

That was incredibly attractive to me when I was a kid. Then when I was an adult I worked with some engineers who were hams and suddenly found I could afford the radio kit so I got a license. Almost immediately found out it was all racist old men talking about health problems and religious matters around antennas. Disappointedly I sold all the kit and never bothered again. I still keep the license up to date for when I get old and have health problems to talk about.

Much as most hobbies these days most of the ham operators don’t actually operate stuff as well. They just buy stuff and arrange it and post on QRZ forums about it.

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#72
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the right hands and with the right practice, cursive is beautiful and a work of art.

And the rest of the time it's illegible scrawl and has no place in basic education. Even [0], the US declaration of independence, is horrendous to read compared to this 8 year old girl's handwriting. https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-declaration-of-independenc... ?

I have no problem reading this. You just didn't learn how to read cursive I guess.

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#73
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we're honest, most of the actual content of the first 5-7 years or so of schooling is unimportant and ultimately forgotten, save for reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. Ideally some basic computer use too. But it's not like every moment spent on cursive writing in primary school would be a moment taken away from some critical, core subject. Aside from those few key building blocks, most of what you're doing in…

Maybe forgotten in an active sense, but those years are critical for instilling the passive behaviors and expectations which help make us into productive human resources to serve the economy as adults. Things like learning not to talk until called upon, learning to ask before being allowed to use the restroom or for other bodily functions, learning to be identified by an ID number, learning to answer a daily roll-cal…

You've got some issues you need to sort out. Don't cut yourself on that edge.

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#74
I like futureme.org for the same reason as this woman described.

I try to write a letter every year, addressed to me, and open it on my birthday.

It gives you a lot of perspective. Especially when you read about things you were worried about at the time, most of which just sound plain silly and unimportant even only a year later.

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#75
post #2

Look how neat that handwriting is. None of that nonsense scrawl they introduce in KS2 now (I believe Americans call it cursive)

Some people, including some commenters down thread seem to think cursive is about being fancy. It’s not, it’s an efficiency play for writing faster. That’s of course useless in modern day with so little actual hand writing. So it’s less common in schools

Alas not in the UK, where it's still mandated. Looks like the US has finally dropped this outdated "skill", but not in the 1850s UK

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#76
I've seen so many of these stories recently:

"message in a bottle found after..." - https://www.google.com/search?q=%22message+in+a+bottle+found...

"letter delivered after..." - https://www.google.com/search?q=%22letter+delivered+after%22...

"postcard delivered after..." - https://www.google.com/search?q=%22postcard+delivered+after%...

At least some of these are fake, surely?

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, skilled penmanship and calligraphy is wonderful. But in my personal life, the majority of times I encounter cursive, I can not even read the handwriting, which is, to put it lightly, bad.

I find it interesting that I only ever hear that kind of complaint from Americans. Here in Europe, cursive/script is the basic way you learn writing, you automatically transition to something other later in life ... and we have zero hate for either variant. As for lack of legibility: I would guess US teachers not enforcing good style in preschool and elementary school contribute to that.

https://www.tes.com/magazine/teaching-learning/general/do-we...

Someone defending this outdatd practice despite "the tide turning" against it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41927258

Quoting slow children who can't read by the age of five somehow benefit, and rather than testing what children know we should punish them for not having outdated skills

> In the same way, bad handwriting leads to poorer test scores, according to a study by the Carnegie Foundation. The same thoughts and ideas expressed "in a less legible version of a paper" tended to be scored more harshly.

This form of writing belongs in a museum curation degree, not in primary schools

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#78
post #46
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't remember the last time I wrote anything long form without a keyboard. Is that still a thing enough people do to have strong opinions about this?

Then the zombies happened, and your message to the front couldn't be read, we fell to the hordes because of your lack of skill at cursive thank you the end.

If I want something to be read I will write it in block letters at a perfectly reasonable speed

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#79

Amazing. This message is 12 years old, but I intercepted it just before it was crossing the Russian border. https://photos.app.goo.gl/8HyVefn7oHJTw3xy9 Also I had a message from Japan in a Suntory Whisky bottle, but I cannot find it. Written in Nipponese it was. Achually I have found at least 6 bottled messages. Most of them uninteresting and from nearby.

Did you write back like the letter hoped?

Re: Message in a bottle from Scottish girl found in Norway after 25 years

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning about a load of random stuff in primary school is incredibly important. How else do children find out what they're interested in?

I'm not arguing that primary school shouldn't teach a bunch of random things, just that I think cursive is at least as useful to learn as most of them. Having it in the curriculum doesn't mean less time for foundational material for later years.

Cursive is of absolutely no use to 99.9% of people

Writing short notes legibly is of course useful, reading is essential, typing is essential, learning how to research subjects (history, geography, biology etc) is useful

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