Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Britisch library makes google search deal

Article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13836332

Summary:
Thousands of pages from the largest collection of historic book is soon to be found on the internet. The Britisch library has made a deal with google. It allows readers to view, read and copy more than 250.000 text dating back to the 18th century. The library gets more than one million visitors a year and now want to "make the texts available to the whole world. We believe that we are building on this tradition of giving access to anyone, anywhere and at any time".

Reaction:
It think this is a really interesting article. I like the fact that the Britisch library has made a deal with google. We live in a modern world where you are able to find almost everything on the internet. It is a little bit out of date to still have to go to the library to find certain texts. Not a good thing for the libraries though. I work in a library myself and the internet and all the e-readers are making me to having to find another job soon. People don't go to libraries, they look on the internet.

Harry the parrot is lovesick

Article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13760667

Summary:
Harry is an African Parrot, who has lived with his owner David all his life. Suddenly, he started vomiting. His owner thought he was sick so he took him to the vet. There they found out that Harry was lovesick. He is in love with his owner David! At first, he thought they had to be seperated but the vet had an other idea. They found a partner for Harry and it worked! Harry stopped vomiting and he and David remained good friends.

Reaction:
I think this is a very cute story. I like the fact that they also put little stories like this in the newspapers, a relief between all the stories about war, death and crisis. I hope David and his two parrots live hapily ever after!

Animal experiments

Article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9705039

Summary:
The welfare group Animal Aid has launched a campaign to boycott 4 leading medical charities. They are accused of supporting horrific animal experiments. Animal Aid is asking the community to stop donating to Cancer Research UK, the Britisch Heart Foundation, the Alzheimer's Society and Parkinson's UK. Those charities are said to use mice, monkeys, pigs and dogs for experiments. In a reaction, the director of Cancer Research UK says: "Research involving animals remains essential to to understand, prevent and treat cancer. For those experiments, we use maggots, fruit flies, mice and rats only.

Reaction:
I think this has always been an interesting discussion point. Everyone is shocked when they see images of animals in medical experiments and want to take action against that. But on the other hand, when the charities will have to stop doing research to find a medicine against cancer because they can not do tests on animals and there is simply no relyable alternative, the community is mad again. They should look at it from different angles. If those people would kill a fruit fly or a mouse when they found one in their home, they should not say anything if experimenting on those same animals could find us a medicine against cancer!

No time to feed and wash the elderly

Article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8585086/Home-help-so-poor-for-elderly-it-threatens-most-basic-human-rights-claims-report.html

Summary:
Home help for the elderly is so poor nowadays that it 'threatens the most basic human rights'. The visits of the carers are just 15 minutes in some cases, leaving the people to choose between a cooked meal or a wash. It also happends often that people are left in bed for 17 hours. One woman claims: "I was put in bed at 5pm and was not helped to get up until 10am". The level of care is putting the basic rights such as the right to life and the right to live free of inhuman and degrading treatment, at risk.

Reaction:
I think this is a really interesting article with shocking facts. The elderly who can not do anything on their own, should be getting good caretakers. It is ridiculous that they have to choose between a cooked meal and a wash! But I do agree with some of the reactions I have read on the website. Where is their family? I have worked with elderly as well and often I was the only person they saw in weeks, that is really sad. If there are not enough caretakers, the family members should go visit them and cook or clean the house!

Prince Harry returns to Afghanistan

Article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-harry/8578644/Prince-Harry-to-return-to-Afghanistan.html

Summary:
Prince Harry has often expressed the desire to return to the active front line. Now he is going back to Afghanistan next year, when he has finised his Apache pilot training. Harry will fly a £40 million AH-64 attack helicopter in operations. Only the top one in every 50 pilots is able to fly one of those and Prince Harry is one of those. He has been told by his instructors that he has a 'natural flair' for flying.

Reaction:
I found this a really interesting article. I am happy for Harry that he can do what he wants, serving his country in Afghanistan. Usually, members of the royal family are protected by lots of bodyguards wherever they go and I can imagine that they would think this is too dangerous. He is the next one in line ifsomething happens to William. But still they let him go there and I really like that.

Monday, 20 June 2011

Pupils should study maths to 18

Article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8572959/Pupils-should-study-maths-to-18-say-experts.html

Summary:
According to experts, it is necessary that pupils are forced to study maths until they are 18 to prevent students from leaving school with extremely low math skills. Universities have become more mathematical in the past years but the number of students with the appropriate level of math skills has not risen enough to match this. The level of mathematical skills of the students aged 18 in Britain is lower than in other developed countries. Professor Julia Higgins says: "All young people should study some form of mathematics to the age of 18 in order to better prepare them for higher education and the world of employment".

Reaction:
I agree with letting pupils study maths until they are 18. Math is a very important subject at school, not only in school but also to reach the right level of higher education and have sufficient calculating skills in their further life as an employer. In high school, I have only learned to do maths with a calculator and that is not a good thing. The students get used to having the calculator and have problems with counting and calculating without a calculator. I think it would be a good idea to introduce this idea everywere. Studying maths will help everyone in their further life.

Super Grade

Article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8581926/New-super-grade-to-mark-out-brightest-pupils.html

Summary:
Britain's biggest exam board is introducing a new "super grade" for exceptionally high performance in maths. They fear that there are too many students that are already on a A-level or an A*-level. Introducing  the "A* with distinction" for the very highest performers will help to motivate them to try to master the most difficult skills and be rewarded for this. The new grade will be introduced by AQA in September. Researchers from Cambridge University say; "once one exam board does this, the others will follow".

Reaction:
In 1974, they introduced the A*-level to pick out the brightest pupils. Nowadays, 7,5% of the students are being awarded this grade. I think it is a good idea to introduce a "super grade" for the highest performers on universities. Students that are already on a high level usually did not feel motivated to study even more because they would get the highest grade anyway. The A* with distinction is a motivation for those students to get back to work and make sure they get that high grade.