Two things stick out over the weekend as getting my eyes open, both taken from the Management Today magazine.
"Educashun, eddecushion, edukashon.
Some tricky news from the education pages this week. First, truancy levels have risen yet again in schools: 794,000 secondary school pupils missed some classes last year, up 100,000 from the year before. Second, on the university front, drop-out numbers are rising, up to 22.6%. 32% dropped out from courses at Bolton University whereas only 1% left Cambridge prematurely, which must tell us something. At the same time, a £400 million scheme which tried to persuade more state school pupils to go to university appears to have flopped. Britain’s universities have some serious problems on their hands at the moment. They are overcrowded, under-funded and offering far too many Mickey Mouse degrees which are of little or no use for graduates when trying to find a job. BA has become Bugger All (with Hons) according to some cynics. We’re not education experts here, mere hacks with not a Media Studies degree among us, but we suspect an inevitable movement now towards differential pricing of degree courses. Worthwhile, popular courses that lead to jobs are going to cost students more."
And...
"Espresso, ristretto, macchiato.
Tall skinny latte with wings or just plain old drip, whatever your taste in coffee we all know that caffeine is bad for you, right? That is certainly what the health police would like us believe, caffeine having joined the ranks of nicotine, alcohol, salt and sugar as the dietary demons of our age, linked by numerous studies to ailments as varied and life-threatening as cancer, heart disease and hypertension. But according to a report in this week’s New Scientist, many of those studies linking caffeine to disease were fatally flawed. Researchers apparently failed to make the connection (readily observable in any coffee bar) that a fair number of people who drink a lot of coffee are also heavy smokers. Nor did they account for the fact that those who avoid caffeine frequently don’t smoke at all. So is it the coffee or the coffin nails that really cause the problems? This dilemma neatly demonstrates an unpopular but fundamental tenet of all scientific enquiry, that knowledge is not absolute but rather a continuum along which we are continually progressing. And also that even really clever people still screw up occasionally." Not much going down at my end this weekend, the only other thing I have to say is I came 3rd in two Poker tournaments and 2nd in another two.
TODAY'S LINKS :: Fun Bubble Game :: Electronic Reusable Paper :: Awesome guitar constructed entirely out of Lego pieces :: Save the Goldfish Game
REMEMBER KID'S :: "Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand!"
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