<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ">G'day <BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ">A little humour .....</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">A language teacher was explaining to her class that in French, </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">nouns unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">designated as masculine or feminine. </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">"House" in French, is feminine-"la maison"</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">"Pencil" in French, is masculine - "le crayon" </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">One puzzled student asked, "What gender is computer?" The </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">teacher did not know and the word was not in her French </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">dictionary. So for fun she split the class into two groups </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">appropriately enough, by gender, and asked them to decide </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">whether "computer" should be a masculine of a feminine noun. </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Both groups were required to give four reasons for their </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">recommendation. </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The men's group decided that computer should definitely be of the </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">feminine gender ('la computer"), because: </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">2. The native language they use to communicate with other </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">possible later retrieval; and</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">masculine ('le computer") because: </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">time they ARE the problem; and</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had </SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Comic Sans MS; min-height: 18px; "><BR style=""></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The women won. </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR><BR><DIV> <DIV>Graham Gales</DIV><DIV>Bright P-12 College</DIV><DIV>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </DIV><DIV>IPM, Science and Maths Teacher</DIV><DIV>Timetabler/ Daily Organiser</DIV><DIV>Gifted & Talented Co-ordinator</DIV><DIV>Heir apparent to the Chief Cook and BottleWasher</DIV><DIV>Understudy to the general Dogsbody</DIV><DIV><BR><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV> </DIV><BR><p></p><p><b>Important - </b>This email and any attachments may be confidential. 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