This news report comes as no surprise.
While in the past, adults would have helped children in distress or rebuked those misbehaving, there was now “a feeling that it is best not to become involved”, it said.
Report author Prof Frank Furedi, of Kent University, said: “From Girl Guiders to football coaches, from Christmas-time Santas to parents helping out in schools, volunteers – once regarded as pillars of the community – have been transformed in the regulatory and public imagination into potential child abusers, barred from any contact with children until the database gives them the green light.”
This is the consequence of fear-mongering at its finest colliding with years of poor news reporting. Give the public something to worry about, and they will – taking it out of all proportions in the process.
Instead of relying on Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, adults should be allowed to use their “discretion and professional judgment” to decide who should work with children.
Bravo.
I’ve started writing a novel. I don’t have ideas of grandeur or dreams of retiring from novel royalties; I write because I enjoy doing so and because I find it therapeutic. Still, it’s nice to produce legible prose and to do so requires at least a bit of forethought.That’s where The Snowflake Method comes into play.
Good fiction doesn’t just happen, it is designed. You can do the design work before or after you write your novel. I’ve done it both ways and I strongly believe that doing it first is quicker and leads to a better result. Design is hard work, so it’s important to find a guiding principle early on. This article will give you a powerful metaphor to guide your design.
Our fundamental question is this: How do you design a novel?
Thanks Andy
Quantum Physics Made Relatively Easy:
In 1999, legendary theoretical physicist Hans Bethe delivered three lectures on quantum theory to his neighbors at the Kendal of Ithaca retirement community (near Cornell University). Given by Professor Bethe at age 93, the lectures are presented here as QuickTime videos synchronized with slides of his talking points and archival material.
Freeman Dyson called Bethe the “supreme problem solver of the 20th century.” Coming from Dyson, that’s praise indeed.
The Itch is an article from The New Yorker on the neurology behind that annoying sensation we’ve all had.
I warn you, the article is quite icky in places, with a particularly stomach churning case study in one place, but I was quite fascinated to find out that the sensation of the itch seems to rely on itch dedicated nerve cells, distinct from the nerves that transmit pain.
One of the most interesting things is that itch seems to be one of the sensations most sensitive to psychological state. For example, I guarantee you’ll feel more itchy just reading the article (and probably already reading this).
via Mind Hacks
Edit: Kottke has written a good review of the article that is worth your time.
Where the Hell is Matt… again. The third video, available in HD. Featuring Zero-G Matt, no less!
14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Thanks to everyone who danced with me.
All of Matt’s videos can be found on his YouTube Channel, and WhereTheHellIsMatt.com
via Link Banana
