h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[Amy P]

That sounds very much like my little corner of Germany (to be honest - all little corners of Germany). Just about half the houses in my village have flagpoles (we don't but i want one) and they usually don't have much on them except for the football fans who permanently fly the Borussia Mönchengladbach flag. And occasionally incomers with other football related insignia.

At Schutzenfest time or other religious holidays our village flag (white and blue) is flown just about universally, and during the world cup or the European cup (football) German flags appear everywhere (if they don't have a flagpole they are draped between windows, hung from balconies etc etc. We do that too (often we don't bother hanging out the England flag... is embarassed about how awful our footie team is)

Quite honestly I love seeing the German flags everywhere - the Germans are finally feeling comfortable about who they are. It really became A Thing when the world cup was held here - and since they won it, some of the flags haven't yet come down.

There is a french family in our village who always have a tricolour flying, and a couple of Scottish families one village over. During football occasions you'll see all sorts of other national flags appear, especially Italian and Turkish ones. I love it.

And, of course, we fly a Yorkshire flag on the 1st August. [still waiting for a "white rose" smiley]

I don't think I see a single flagpole on a regular basis.

I do love the idea of someone flying the jolly roger.

Deb

It took me a while to register that they have two Jolly Rogers, a skull and crossed bones and a skull with crossed swords.

I respect Plato, but I've had to remind myself that he lived so long ago that he didn't have the benefit of more modern outlooks to help him refine his message. In his "Republic," he thought the ideal state would assign its oldest and wisest citizens to match up young couples. Take Plato with a grain of salt. There might not really be a perfect ideal somewhere with which Earthly entities can be compared.

I'm not even sure that it was a good idea for Plato to popularize the Socratic method. Look at the grief which the method caused Socrates himself! If you try to be a latter-day Socrates, you might very well find yourself in a pickle .

Yes, I like some ideas that Plato wrote about, but when I researched my h2g2 University project A87808008 there was a lot that wasn't so admirable (and indeed it could be that the ideas I liked were not what Plato thought, but rather examples of opposing views...)

Yes, according to Plato, Socrates was done for teaching young people to think, which is often considered a dangerous pastime...

I said this last year and I make no apologies for repeating it. Do something amazing.

One in three people will need a blood transfusion at some point in their life.
38% of us know someone who has needed a transfusion.
One in 30 people are blood donors.
Only 4% of the population who *could* give blood actually do.

Donated blood keeps for 35 days and more than 6,000 donations are needed every day to keep stocks across the UK. Some blood groups are needed more than others. As the winter starts, donations drop, and at the moment there are only enough stocks of O- to last about 3.5 days. Check the daily changing stock levels here: http://www.blood.co.uk/about-blood/stock-levels-statistics/

My mum is O-. When AML was first diagnosed she was given regular transfusions, she hasn't needed any for a while but she will.

I've been a donor since I was 19, my daughters Sunshine and Moonlight give regularly too.

Are you healthy, over 17 and able to spare an hour 3 or 4 times a year? If so, do something amazing. If not, find someone who is and encourage them to donate on your behalf. Please don't leave it to someone else. http://www.blood.co.uk/
#giveblood

[Amy P]

definitely give blood. My military friends with O- were practically chased around until they were ready to give their next lot (which they did willingly, it has to be said)

I go every 3 months, and in January I will take Gruesome #1 (at her request) who reaches the minimum age for blood donation here in Deutschland

I wish I could but no-one wants mine. I would if I could, although saying that I never did when I was younger and not on all the medication. I don't know why and I do regret it.

Deb

A bit of a quick and lazy post today, mainly because it's already tomorrow. But I do love a good infographic and the BBC has some fascinating ones about London today, so take a look.

12 data maps that sum up London:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29915801

[Amy P]

Deb

I'm just posting something so I don't miss a day, but there's nothing much to say! I have such long working hours, all teachers do. According to the Government, they already know the average teacher in the UK works a 50 hour week. I think that's carefully worded, but if that's the mean average, it means that half the teachers in the UK work more than 50 hours a week. I know I do.

The new Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan has launched a workload survey. This intention is for teachers to share "their experiences, ideas and solutions on how to manage the teacher workload".

Note that's manage the workload. Not reduce it. In my opinion, I think schools are understaffed, vacancies are unfilled, unqualified or inexperienced people are filling gaps, working outside their area of expertise and teachers are required to complete tasks that do not require a degree or teaching qualification. Yet suggestions to sort out the recruitment and retention crisis don't seem to be ones that are put forward, or at least not ones listed by the government as responses they've already had.

The published list of suggestions so far:
more planning, preparation and assessment time
reducing data collection requirements
clear guidance about what evidence is expected during Ofsted inspections
realistic expectations for marking pupils’ work
improving IT systems and programs to make them more user-friendly and efficient
trusting staff to plan lessons effectively (unless there is evidence of an issue with planning)
short, effective meetings and fewer of them

Strangely, some of these are very similar to the "21 tasks" list of things that teachers shouldn't routinely do, which was agreed by the unions and listed in the Pay and Conditions Document in 2003. This list then disappeared from the Document in 2014 because the School Teachers' Review Body decided it was "unnecessary".

Is it just me? They remove the list of things designed to reduce workload, and then ask teachers about what could be done to reduce workload, then publicise responses similar to the ones that have been removed.

Anyway, if you know a teacher in the UK, tell them they have until the 21st November to respond. If they're not too busy that is.
http://www.gov.uk/government/news/tens-of-thousands-of-teachers-join-the-workload-challenge

All I can say is "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" - in fact I think things get worse not remain the same. The evidence has been available that teachers, nurses, police are all drowning in paperwork.

[Amy P]

Deb