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Michael Gumbrell

public service announcement

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During this heat wave you will hear many messages, and see thousands of Facebook post's about taking care and looking after yourself in this heat wave...

here is my own public service announcement...

'husbands- whilst paying compete attention to the world cup,and quite right too, you may not have been aware there is a heatwave sweeping the country... due to the extreme heat and blistering sunlight you need to take extreme care.

Is your partner, you remember her, the one who walks past the T.V and says 'watching the football again?' a red head?

If so please be aware that redheaded partners can suffer with exposure to any sunlight, let alone this kind of blistering heat and extreme sunlight.. your red headed partner is at risk in this weather. If your partner is suffering from the extreme heat you may notice the following symptoms;

Drinking 28 cans of diet coke every day.

Erupting into billions of freckles.

Her complexion changing from Milk white to Lobster red in milliseconds.

Large floppy hats appearing all over the house and in your car.

Maxi dresses

Red heads have also been known to prowl around in this extreme heat muttering 'where are my bloody sunglasses, i know i left them here somewhere'

I am only joking of course, with the greatest of love for my darling red headed partner Ros,

Who, in this weather, incinerates faster than a vampire exposed to a single shaft of sunlight....


Permalink 1 comment (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Monday, 2 July 2018, 19:21)
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Michael Gumbrell

Linkedin..

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Edited by Michael Gumbrell, Sunday, 1 July 2018, 11:11

I have my doubts about LinkedIn,

i get so many requests to 'connect' and so many people trying to sell and instigate transactions through LinkedIn.

I must admit i do not advertise my phone number through the app... i keep my number private, i tend to lean towards the idea that if i wish to do business with someone, i will phone them and politely discuss the possibility by qualifying them, very gently of course, then politely suggesting there could be opportunities to do business.

I rarely do any business directly online without any form of verbal conservation with any potential clients.

however so many people on LinkedIn seem to think that just spamming on my page or through email will generate my custom. This is not my preferred way to do business and to be frank it pisses me off....

however not as much as the posturing on the comments section, people posting meme's and articles which perfectly sum up their own perceived shared brilliance in motivating people or being ethically driven to succeed and achieve success. It is all so false and contrived, and yet people think it will be well received and even believed.

It did used to frustrate me, until a chap i know posted this meme, which i believe sums up the whole ethos of self promoting bullshit that gets posted on LinkedIn...

This is quite brilliant,


Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Sunday, 1 July 2018, 16:40)
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Michael Gumbrell

Views

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22,000 views... how wonderful.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to visit my blog.

It is much appreciated.

Permalink 3 comments (latest comment by Bemonkles, Thursday, 5 July 2018, 16:45)
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Michael Gumbrell

Children Studying

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Looking forward to next Saturday.. it is open day at the university of Portsmouth.

Taking number one son to the open day, he is down to start Politics and international relations in September.

I had a look at the course modules... looks very interesting.

He can extend to 4 years and do a one year placement between year 2 and 3... the university has some excellent placement options.

Number one son is very lucky..looks like an excellent course.

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Michael Gumbrell

Sunny days

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Too hot to work...  too hot to work,

Must get some work done...

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Michael Gumbrell

SFE

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What is going on with student finance england?

I am now on my second week of trying to apply for my next student loan.

Will the SFE website ever work again???

Permalink 7 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Wednesday, 27 June 2018, 07:47)
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Michael Gumbrell

Summer reading

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I am enjoying the BK book of economics.. i am up to the 1800's already.. you can never get enough David Hume in your life..

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Michael Gumbrell

Views

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And in other news, the counter went past 21,000 today!!

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Michael Gumbrell

Summer reading

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I changed my mind about my summer reading.

To get my next module DD209- ECONOMICS of to a good start, i bought Das Capital by Marx, the communist manifesto by Marx and Engals and People, interest and money by Keynes.

I also bought the DK book of economics.

So that will give me some light summer reading.

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Thursday, 21 June 2018, 19:35)
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Michael Gumbrell

And the counter says. .

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So it was a few days after the exam, but the counter has made it to 20,000 !!!!

That is mad really, that so many people take the time to read my posts.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to visit my blog.

I think i might try and be a bit more interactive from now on... instead of just posting closed questions and statements, post more open questions and generate more conversations with comments left on posts?

So lets try this one.  

Will you be doing any extra study activities during the summer? Or will you just enjoy the time off?

I have never read Richard Dwakins ' the bi-cameral mind' and i think it would be rewarding to read it, so that's my summer suggestion. What would be yours?

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Monday, 11 June 2018, 18:32)
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Michael Gumbrell

The long wait

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So my exam result is scheduled to the 17th of July; so begins the 5 week wait to find out the result.

And i am 136 views away from the magic 20,000 views.


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Michael Gumbrell

And i'm done.....with Philosophy

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Got the exam done.. 

Went alright, i did questions 2, 8 and 11.

Which in Philosopher bingo is...

Hume, Kuhn and Nozick, which almost rhymes....

Happy to be finished

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Michael Gumbrell

The exam venue

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Well here i am, sitting in the car park outside the exam venue. 2 hours early, but better to be early than be in a rush and risk being late.

So a bit on bonus revision time, a spare 90 minutes to sit in the car with my books and try and gain one last burst of insight....

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Michael Gumbrell

259 to go

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So the exam is tomorrow, i am all revised out, and am ready to go, i downloaded the last 6 years of exam papers, i am doing questions/revision for Book 1 -The self, book 4- Knowledge and book 6 - political philosophy. Checking the questions from the previous six years, i can answer all the potential questions- apart from 2016 when then threw a cheeky- what does novak's public address thought experiment show- question.... That's is the only curve ball question i found. Just in case they do wish to drop a curve ball in this year, i have revised Thomas reid's major/general objection to Locke's position of personal identity.

So this is it, i have really despised this module, and tomorrow i will be finished with it and philosophy for good. I am happy about that and i hope i do myself justice in the exam.

GOOD LUCK to everyone tomorrow.... may the revision and remembering gods be with you... and may your work books fill with retained knowledge that is both relevant and answering of the questions asked of you.

As for the 20,000 views by tomorrow target, i am 259 short, and i cannot reasonably imagine many of you will be surfing blog posts tonight, when we still have revision to do.. so i think i will miss by a couple of hundred, not that 19,800 views is anything to sniff at.

So lets do the exam thing tomorrow, stay focused everyone and stay on target... and may your arguments be incisively inductive, unless you are doing Maths, Physics, Chemistry or Law, then let them be deductive... Piori and postpiori and all that......bloody Rene Descartes....

#bloodyA222

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Wednesday, 20 June 2018, 21:43)
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Michael Gumbrell

335 to go...

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The revision is going well...and

Only 335 views to go to hit the magic 20,000 views, with 2 days left to the exam.

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Michael Gumbrell

Nearly there...

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I had the ambition to reach 20,000 views by the time i sit my exam on Tuesday.

Only 494 views to go..

How fantastic.

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Michael Gumbrell

Finally TMA of A222

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Got my final TMA06 back.

The last essay of #bloodyA222...

I got 60%, so i end up with an OCAS of 60% for the module, so a grade 3 pass in O.U speak, or a 2:2 pass in normal undergraduate speak.

Just happy to be shot of this module in all honesty, it has been awful.

So just the exam to knock out and i can move onto the first economics module.

Lets hope the A222 exam goes okay.

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Michael Gumbrell

New blog post

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Edited by Michael Gumbrell, Tuesday, 29 May 2018, 20:28

I went to Cornwall for the bank holiday weekend.

Visited two amazing places.. the eden project and the minack theatre.

Two examples of what individual spirit can achieve, both very inspirational places to visit

Rowena Cade spent 35 years building the Minack Theatre, by her own hand, assisted by her gardener, Billy.

And Tim Smit founded the incredible Eden project...

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Michael Gumbrell

One week to go.

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So by this time next week, i will have done the exam.

Hopefully everyone's revision is going well.

I have one week left to pick up 600 blog views to hit my 20,000 target by the time i have finished the A222 exam.... here's hoping!!!!

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Tuesday, 29 May 2018, 20:33)
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Michael Gumbrell

Hits

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The views counter is chugging along nicely, about to pass 19,000.

Will it hit 20,000 before my philosophy exam on Tuesday 5th of June?

Do the Open University give extra credit for 20,000 blog visits? In case the exam does not go well?

So place your bets; will the counter hit 20,000 before i sit my exam at 10:00 am on Tuesday 5th of June 2018?????

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Michael Gumbrell

Exam tutorial

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Well the exam tutorial this year was the opposite of the last 2 years.

For the last 2 years only 4 or 5 of us turned up to the tma tutorials, with suddenly 16 people turning up for the exam tutorial.

This year we have averaged 10 for the tma tutorials and only 4 of us turned up to the exam tutorial.

Hopefully everyone who did not come to the exam tutorial is well advanced with revision and confident for the exam.

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Michael Gumbrell

Getting published

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There used to be a joke in our house... there are 5 of us in here.

Only published authors were allowed certain Privileges... the wife ( published social work articles) and our youngest- Ella-13 ( published poems in anthologies) held the privileges..

Until the local micro news site i volunteer for decided to publish an anthology of work. I am in the anthology and so  now have access to the same privileges Ros and Ella do..

That made me happy... i now have access to the same secret stash of choccy diggies that the girls do... don't tell James and William.. unless they can get published too.

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Michael Gumbrell

Views

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And thank you for visiting my blog.

18,500 views.

So i might get to 20,000 by the time i get to halfway through my degree ( June 6th 2018)... yes i am counting.

Half way through and potentially 20,000 views.

I will be proud of that.

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Michael Gumbrell

No more philosophy tma's

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Well, my struggle is almost over... i wrote my tma6 this week and got it submitted... so only the exam in three weeks and thats philosophy done.

Philosophy done and never to be returned to.

I will have 2 economics and one more politics module to due.

So my philosophy exam is on Tuesday 5th of June 2018...and that will be my exact half way point... it will be 2 economics and one politics to the finish line.

So quote an emotional time... it is just a shame that at the moment the strongest emotion is contempt. I have little but contempt for this philosophy module... i can't say i have hated every moment of it... the first two weeks were okay ( probably because i had not worked out what was going on in those first two weeks) but after that initial period of grace, the contempt started to build.

I have the exam revision lecture tomorrow, so just stomach that and did the exam done and i will be free.

FREE... in the John Locke essence of ''natural freedom' or Berlins essence of ' negative freedom'?

Either way, to quote Bob Dylan....

" i shall be released "

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Michael Gumbrell

Final tma

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Time to write my final tma of this module. Then just the revision and i am out of it.

Happy days.

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