Drugs An Easier Topic for Parents Than Math or Science: Survey

Drugs An Easier Topic for Parents Than Math or Science: Survey: "There's a point in every family when it’s time for the talk. No, not that talk — the science and math talk. The kind of talk that should happen every time your child is having trouble with or even just working on their homework. But according to a recent survey, parents fear these topic so much they'd rather have the drug talk.

"

Los Angeles Goes Google: City Votes To Outsource Email, Web Services

Los Angeles Goes Google: City Votes To Outsource Email, Web Services: "

LOS ANGELES — City Council members tentatively approved a multimillion-dollar proposal Tuesday to tap Google Inc. for government e-mail and other Internet services, a boon for the Web giant as it seeks to wrest market share for office software from rival Microsoft Corp.

The Council voted unanimously for the $7.2 million deal with contractor Computer Sciences Corp. to replace many city computer systems with the so-called Google Apps services.

An amendment added shortly before the vote makes the contract contingent on Computer Science agreeing to pay a preset penalty if a security breach occurs. The contractor's project manager David Barber said he believed such an agreement would be reached.

The city's police officers' union and privacy advocates had raised security concerns over the Google contract because it places data online rather than on individual computers under the city's direct control.

Under the deal, Google will provide e-mail, calendar, online chatting and other services to 30,000 city employees.

The Council chose Google's offer over competing bids from Microsoft and more than a dozen other technology firms eager to score the nation's second second-largest city as a client.

The move will also end the city's 7-year contract to use Novell Inc.'s GroupWise e-mail and record-keeping software, which city workers have complained is slow and crash-prone.

Novell senior vice president said during the Council hearing that many city departments were not using the most recent version of GroupWise and reiterated an offer to provide additional services for free.

'The titans are fighting, and they all want our attention,' said Councilman Tony Cardenas, who sponsored the legislation granting the contract to Google.

The vote came amid a push by Mountain View-based Google to market its "cloud computing" services – applications that run remotely on the company's own servers instead of users' desktop machines – to governments and large security-conscious corporations.

'In our view, this can be a watershed agreement,' said Dave Girouard, president of the Google division that provides business services. 'There's a lot of cities and counties around the state and around the nation who were watching this.'

The shift toward cloud-computing is troublesome to Microsoft, the fortunes of which are largely tethered to operating systems and office software that run on desktop machines, said technology analyst Rob Enderle.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company's failure to seize the Los Angeles contract represented a setback in its efforts to compete with Google for Web-based e-mail and other applications, Enderle said.

'Losing something of this size has to be really painful,' he said. 'It's not the death knell for them, but it's a big red flag.'

Microsoft vice president of state and local government Gail Thomas Flynn stressed in an e-mail that Los Angeles city workers will continue to use the company's Office software.

She said that Glaxo Smith Kline PLC and Coca Cola Enterprises, as well as Ohio's statewide university system and the city of Carlsbad, Calif. use the company's cloud-computing services.

'In any cloud solution the true measure of success lies with standing up and deploying the solution as well as ensuring the security and privacy of citizens,' she said.

Google's e-mail service is being phased in among city workers in Washington D.C. and many large companies, such as Genentech Inc., use the company's suite of online applications.

For Google, getting the Los Angeles contract is a chance to demonstrate its ability to securely handle data for a large number of users, something it is sure to highlight as it seeks more large clients, Enderle said.

Councilman Paul Koretz, who introduced the security breach amendment, voted for the contract despite reservations over whether the company's system had been sufficiently tested.

'It's unclear to me whether we're on the cutting edge or if we're on the edge of a cliff about to step off,' he said.

Proponents repeated a City Administrative Officer estimate that the new contract would save the city some $5 million in service costs over five years, in addition to allowing the city's technology department to shed nine positions.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl said he thought being Google's first big city customer was an advantage, since the company would be especially careful in the knowledge that other governments were watching.

'I don't mind being the poster boy for the big cities,' he said.

More on Google"

YouTubing the liberal arts campus: Washington and Lee

YouTubing the liberal arts campus: Washington and Lee: "

Another liberal arts campus has a YouTube Channel:  Washington and Lee University, http://www.youtube.com/user/joverholtzerwlu.

a href=”http://www.youtube.com/user/joverholtzerwlu”>

Does your campus have a YouTube channel?

"

New Bioshock 2 Trailer

New Bioshock 2 Trailer: "It's here:

Everything's bigger, faster, louder -- in other words very sequel-y. But it's still about moral choices, people. You're not actually supposed to enjoy incinerating splicers with your awesome plasmids!
The bits where you're actually underwater -- either you're outside, or Rapture is flooded -- look amazing. The trailer is focused intensively on combat, rather [...]"

The 10 biggest misconceptions we learn in school

The 10 biggest misconceptions we learn in school: "

There are some myths which become firmly ensconced in people's minds, even though they are quite definitely wrong. I saw this on my blog recently, when those commenting on a post about nursery rhymes were keen to prove to others that Ring a Ring of Roses was not written about the plague.

These ten are are some of the best - though I'm not sure they can all be blamed on the school system. Thanks very much to Manolith, and a post written by a teacher, Paul Jury, whose list they are. Please let me know if you can think of any more!

1) Einstein got bad grades in school.

Generations of children have been heartened by the thought that this Nobel Prize winner did badly at school, but they're sadly mistaken. In fact, he did very well at school, especially in science and maths (unsurprisingly). Jury explains this as being down to Americans interpreting Einstein's 4's as D's. Karl Kruszelnicki, however, explains that it was all to do with changes to the system of marking at Einstein's school (back in1896). Either way, the myth is not true, and children do need to work to succeed. Sorry!

2) Mice like cheese

Dear oh dear. While any young child could tell you this, any mice would (if they could speak rather than squeak) explain otherwise. It appears that mice enjoy food rich in sugar, as explained in the Times, as well as peanut butter and breakfast cereals (things, as Paul Jury points out, that are rich in grains and seeds, which they are used to). So a Snickers bar would go down much better than a lump of cheddar.

3) Napoleon was short.

Ah, the aggressive short man (often called, ironically, the Napoleon) complex. Short men love a hero and Napoleon appears to fit the bill. In fact, it appears that a mistranslation explains why some said he was just 5ft 2. He was actually around 5ft 7, completely average for the 18th/19th century.

4) Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.

I don't know how many times I've heard this one and wanted to point out that it's just damn wrong! Edison invented a lot of things - in fact he's one of the most famous inventors of all time - but the light bulb wasn't one of them. What he did was develop a light bulb at the same time as the British man, Joseph Swan, who came up with it originally...

5) Lemmings throw themselves over cliffs to commit suicide

Why do we have such negative opinions of lemmings? The poor old things are sometimes so desperate for food that they do, according to the BBC "jump over high ground into water", but they aren't committing group suicide. Paul Jury blames Disney for showing the lemmings doing this in an early nature film. They've been tarnished ever since.

6) Water flushes differently in different hemispheres

No it doesn't. Sorry!

7) Humans evolved from apes

Darwin didn't actually say this, but he's been misreported ever since. What he did say was that we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor, once, a long, long time ago.

8) Vikings had horns/helmets with horns.

This may upset an awful lot of people, but it's pure myth. According to the Jorvik Centre, it appears that Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns....(I have to say that, until now, I had believed this one!)

9) Columbus believed the earth was flat

He didn't, you know. He may not have known how big the world was, but he wasn't worrying about falling off the edge of it. Read Teaching History on this very issue.

10) Different parts of the tongue detect different tastes

You do have different taste buds on your tongue and some are more sensitive than others. But they aren't divided into perfect, easy-to-teach sections. See BBC Science for more on this...

Read School Gate:

Eight reasons why non-teachers will never understand teachers

Why children should learn about kings and queens

7 ways to get your children to do their homework

"

Ashok Banker, Indian Science Fiction Writer

I ran across this in Wired today. Looks interesting, and might be worth reading?


Ashok Banker, Indian Science Fiction Writer: "

*This guy’s quite a character.

http://worldsf.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/exclusive-interview-with-ashok-banker/

(…)

What made you decide to write in English? Are there any nuances with that particular language that you’re not quite able to accomplish in Hindi?

Not-Lol. I’ve met this particular cultural bogey before and it remains as unfunny as ever! My mother tongue was English, not Hindi, and in fact, there are more English-speaking people in India than in the US – it’s one of our two official national languages in fact. And of course, you probably know that India has the fastest growing publishing industry and English-literate readership population in the world – I believe our publishing business is No. 3 right now and on track to be No. 1 at this rate in the next two decades or less. I grew up speaking only English, learned Hindi only later in school because it was a compulsory subject (as were either Marathi or French – I took French), and English remains the only language I’m completely fluent in even today. So I have no idea what cultural stereotype you have of me, and am not responsible for it but it’s as offensive as my asking someone named Johnson why he chose to write in English instead of Swedish! Still, I guess you didn’t mean anything by it, so let’s chuckle and move on. :~)

In your opinion, what is the power of writing? Do you think fiction needs to be able to affect change in the world in order to be “good”?

I think writing, like people, either matters, or doesn’t. Sure, it’s possible to simply live, or even to just exist. Just as it’s possible to write without aiming to do anything more than just provide readability. But that’s like the difference between an IV drip and a gourmet meal. The difference between a sharecropper genre whore (like the writers churning out Halo or Star Wars novels, and so on) or a commercial novelist who makes a living while creating work that attempts to do more than simply extend a franchise and delivery mass-consumption product may not seem very vast, but it’s a significant line. Every writer can choose to cross that line, stand and deliver, or sit down and cash the check and shut up. If some don’t feel they have that choice, they’re not just wrong, they’re self-delusional. We all can, and we do, everyday. I’ve made the wrong choices more often than the right ones, I’ve written a whole bunch of crap that probably does nobody any more good than landfills do for the environment. But I ask myself one question now everytime I write if possible, and certainly everytime I finish writing something and consider sending it out for publication: Is this something that only I could write and which says something, however tiny and seemingly insignificant in the larger scheme, that might make a difference to somebody out there? If the answer is no, I caress it fondly and put it away regretfully. Only the ayes go forth boldly into the brave cold world to do battle.

What made you decide to write your Ramayana series? Since it’s not just an epic for Hindus but also a true story, did you receive any criticisms from the literature scene there or the Hindutva movement?

Here’s the interesting thing: I’m not Hindu. Even my birth certificate, which has a slot for Religion/Caste as was mandatory in those days (1964 to be precise) simply says “Indian”. I’m of Dutch-Scots-Irish-Goan-Gujarati-SriLankan parentage, grew up in a Catholic household, in a Christian-Jewish-Muslim neighbourhood, with Parsi and Iranian friends, and never thought of myself as “Hindu” by any stretch of the imagination….

(((It gets even better:)))

The only challenges I faced then, and face now, and will always face I suppose – as will every other writer who isn’t white, Judeo-Christian and/or American – is of getting read and getting published in the UK and USA. Writing is what I do, it’s what I love to do. It’s like breathing. I write. The real challenge is in getting American or British agents and editors to even look at any work by a non-white, non-Judeo/Christian, non-American author, regardless of how good that work may be.

To be honest, I’ve all but given up on getting published anywhere outside India and have stopped trying. The system itself is designed in such a way that it’s become all about pleasing agents and editors, not about writers talking to readers directly. At least in India, the onus of success or failure is still left to the author: If you have something to say here, at least you get a chance to say it and then publishers will see whether enough readers want to read what you have to say or not before deciding to continue publishing you. In the US and UK publishing industries, particularly in the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy, it’s like a coloured man trying to exercise his right to vote in an all-white Southern town in the 1950s. Sure, we have the right. But try getting past those guys in the white sheets and hoods holding the burning cross up high.

I won’t mince words here: SFF publishing in the US today is the Klu Klux Klan of the publishing world. It’s anachronistically misrepresentational in its racial mix, religious mix, cultural mix. The few exceptions to the rule only prove the endemic, systemic and deeply bred bias in the field. There are even editors who claim to champion ‘coloured’ writing, by publishing anthologies that segregate non-white non-Judeo/Christian non-American authors of speculative fiction from their ‘mainstream’ genre counterparts.

There are editors who take non-white editorial assistants or even sponsor non-white writers in the name of progressiveness, and at panels in conventions, the non-white writers are often herded together conveniently. But where are the non-white Editorial Directors, Publishers, big-name literary agents, etc? For that matter, where are the non-white authors? In the ghetto, that’s where. And this ghetto is the size of the planet! SFF publishing in the US today is 50 years behind the rest of the world.

And that’s the reason why the genre itself is being increasingly sidelined, losing sales and readers, and being overtaken by ‘mainstream’ fiction with every passing year. Because like the Klu Klux Klan, nobody respects a closed group of inbred rednecks and crackers. It’s about time the entire genre was dismantled, outed, exposed and shut down. SFF as a rigid, white-dominated, Judeo-Christian-pushing, American nationalistic genre has jumped the shark. The old guard is dead and gone and the young (and old) turks running the show are fighting a losing battle against the very progressiveness and futurism that the genre is supposed to espouse! Besides, SFF has permeated mainstream literature and popular culture. We don’t need to label a book SF or F to cater to the dwindling handful of snobs who think that the term SFF on a book means it’s superior in some way to other books.

For decades SFF has been accusing mainstream literary critics, readers and authors of being snobbish and denying them their due. In fact, it’s the other way around: SFF’s pathetic cries of outrage and refusal to change with the times are proof of SFF’s own snobbishness and bias. SFF is dead and rotting. Long may it stay dead! We who love the elements that make great SFF don’t need the label so Klansmen can recognize work by other Klansmen. We don’t care if our milk was drawn by brown hands, black, or white. We just want our milk!

"

The top 30 books you should read before your Oxbridge interview...

The top 30 books you should read before your Oxbridge interview...: "

So, the applications are in, and all those students who applied for Oxford and Cambridge are nervously waiting to see if they get interviews. But is there anything they can do to prepare?

Well, according to Oxbridge Applications(who help students prepare for entrance to Oxford and Cambridge), there is. They have compiled a list of the top 30 subject specific books which they recommend bright would-be Oxbridge applicants to read as they prepare for their interview over the coming weeks. Read on to find out what they are (the explanations are in Oxbridge Applications own words...)

‘"Reading around your subject syllabus is fundamental," says James Uffindell, the graduate who founded the company in his final year at Oxford in 1999. "It gives applicants the chance to display their powers of lateral thinking, develop their own ideas about a subject and show how they can manage their own intelligence confidently. It can form the basis for stimulating intellectual discussion - the key to a good interview.

"Of course there are thousands of books we could have chosen," he adds. ‘This is just a shortlist of our top recommendations."

However, let me just sound a little note of caution. Don't pretend to have read these books if you haven't. I know of numerous students who have been caught out this way. Mind you, I also know one who was caught out having lied on his form (about reading Tom Jones). He's convinced that, because he then relaxed during his interview (he assumed he hadn't got in) the tutor got to see the "real him" and offered him a place! 

Politics & Social Sciences

Machiavelli, The Prince- rarely seen on Personal Statements, a classic book that analyses the use of power. To quote one Oxford PPE graduate, ‘the book possibly has a permanent home on Lord Mandelson’s bedside table.’

David Marquand, Britain Since 1918 – a superb study of post 1918 British political history.

Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis – a graphic novel about an ordinary girl’s life in Tehran. Beautifully illustrated and an interesting insight into what life might be like under a religious dictatorship.

Sattareh Farman Farmaian and Dona Munker, Daughter of Persia: A Woman's Journey from Her Father's Harem Through the Islamic Revolution - an interesting personal account exploring life as a member of a dynasty important under the old Shah, but who was forced to flee during the Islamic Revolution as a result of her relations and connections.   

Humanities & Arts

Ryszard Kapuscinski, Imperium- Pulling together his journalism from three visits to disparate parts of the Soviet Empire, in the 1960s, mid 1980s and just after the collapse of the USSR, critically acclaimed author and journalist Kapuscinski’s account is easy to read, yet full of terrible but captivating stories.  

Nicholas Stargardt, Witnesses of War– an account of children’s experiences in Germany and the occupied territories of Eastern Europe, Stargardt uses a range of surprising sources such as children’s letters to their parents, diaries and pictures to explore how a whole generation of European children were shaped by the horrors of 1939 – 1945.

Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy – an evocative and highly readable account of Hillary’s own experiences as a fighter pilot in World War II, (he was studying at Trinity College Oxford when he joined up in 1939) in which he was shot down and spent months in hospital, undergoing plastic surgery (then in its infancy) to rebuild his face and hands. 

Henri Barbusse, Le Feu (‘Under Fire,’ in English) – one of the first accounts of the First World War from the perspective of the French trenches.

W.G. Sebald, The Emigrants– four meandering and beautifully written stories of displaced characters. The use of words, the subtlety of the expression and feeling, and the evocation of mood, is Sebald at his best and a classic of our generation.

Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory – broken down into easy to read chapters which make quite complex ideas manageable. They also have lots of suggestions for further reading. Definitely a saviour for lots of English students all the way through to finals.

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women – one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy, responding to traditional eighteenth century political and educational theory that believed women should not have an education.‘

Philosopy & Theology

J.S Mill, Utilitarianism– essential reading for any budding philosopher.  One of the most important and contentious works of moral philosophy. Its articulation of a ‘hedonic calculus’ and its development of Mill’s mentor’s (Bentham) ideas on what makes mankind ‘happy’ make it a classic.

The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Rousseau argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by freely embracing that law as his own.  

John Gray, Straw Dogs – This is a march through the history of philosophy.

Alain de Botton, Consolations of Philosophy– In this, Botton explores different philosophies to cope with the stresses of modern day living. A great introduction to the philosophers he uses, while at the same time being a useful way of feeling better about your life (and not getting in to your chosen university if that is the way it turns out).

Thomas Kempis, The Imitation of Christ– one of the best known books on Christian devotion. An insight into how Catholic devotion was changing in this period in Northern Europe and how far removed it was from common practices today.

Mohsin Hamad, The Reluctant Fundamentalist – A novel exploring how American culture might have fostered Islamic fundamentalism.

Micklethwait and Wooldridge, God is Back, How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World – A new book by Editor in Chief of the Economist and Washington Bureau Chief about the rise of fundamentalism in the West as well as the East.

Maths & Economics

James Gleick, Chaos, Making a New Science - Covering the physical side of maths, this is an accessible introduction to Chaos Theory, which has been quite popular over the last 50 years.

Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money – tells the history of banking, brilliantly written, giving great insights into how globalisation came about.

Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, Nudge – how you can get people to do things by making them opt out rather than opt in – a more psychological approach to economics.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Black Swan – Arguably the most pertinent book to read right now on flawed economics.

Science, Medicine & Engineering

Adrian Vaughan, Isambard Kingdom Brunel – the biography of one of the greatest engineers who ever lived.

Siddhartha Mukherjee, Emperor of all Maladies – a look at modern day views on cancer as a disease and its various treatments.

Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia – Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Columbia University looks at the healing effect of music on the brain. An interesting interdisciplinary approach.

Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution- Everyone has read The Selfish Gene, but this is the latest offering from Dawkins.  With every book, he continues in his relentless crusade against creationist theories. Like his others, this is well written, but be careful not to adopt too many of his opinions without proper thought and deliberation. Even better…what DON’T you agree with?

Steve Jones, The Single Helix– ‘I read this when I was applying’ says one of Oxbridge Applications’ PPP graduates (Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology) – brilliantly written overview of where research currently stands on genetics. Obviously a few years old now, so not fully up-to-date but still fascinating. 

Also, worth noting, Jones has recently published a book called Darwin’s Island. He is a less well known Dawkins, but with similar values and an excellent scientist.  One Oxbridge Applications’ tutor suggests it may be interesting to put his writing in the context of ‘Everyone reads Dawkins, but does Jones give a much better argument?’

Richard Feynman, several different works - From Six Easy Pieces to Six Not-so-easy Pieces, right through to his imaginative Lecture series. A great read from a prestigious and witty physicist. Some would say legendary within the physics community.

Read School Gate:

Oxbridge - one student explodes the myths

Oxbridge interview questions and how to answer them 

Is Oxbridge now discriminating against private schools?

"