When teachers bully
One day in film school, while pitching a documentary about the affects of bullying, I, quite seriously and ironically, was accosted by J. T., my instructor. She told me my idea was “stupid” and proceeded to degrade and humiliate me in front of my peers; a grown man, tears welled inside my eyes. She created a hardened man. This blog is for you, J. T..
In a study that surveyed 116 elementary teachers, 45 per cent of them admitted to bullying their students. Stuwart Twemlow, author of the study, believes this problem is occurring due to a lack of knowledge in the area of discipline. Twemlow also found a strong correlation with teachers who were bullied in their younger years and teachers that now bully their students.
Filed Under Research
Electric cars: requiem for a dream
Once upon a time, there was a world where people were dreaming about clean energy and transportation systems. In that world someone invented the electric car. The electric car looked like a normal car, maybe a bit more futuristic, but didn’t use petrol, which basically means less pollution and less money to the petrol companies.
But one day the electric car disappeared.
Who killed the electric car?
A documentary has been made to answer this question.
Filed Under Environment
German guys: better alone?
Is the glorious German civilization going to disappear from the planet?
If so, it would be the fault of its menwho, obsessed with the perspective of building a future for themselves, don’t seem so likely to have children. At least, this is the sketch we get from a recent survey, lead by the Robert Bosch Foundation. The responses of the 10.017 people interviewed demonstrate that low birth rates and the ageing population are mainly a responsibility of the guys, that in a proportion of 1 in 4 don’t want children, while women who expressed the same wish are 1 in 10.
Filed Under Modern Life
Free speech areas in the universities?
The news: University of Nevada at Reno abolishes Free Speech Zones.
The question: What’s was a Free Speech Zone?
The history: a Free Speach Zone was one of the four small and remote areas where, in that University, a free speech was allowed. This explicity meant that all over the rest of the Campus there was no possibility of free speech. The campus, except for those areas, was considered a non-public forum. This is not just something happened in one University.
Filed Under Human Rights
Instructions for better treatment
TB ward in Lesotho, South Africa.
When keeping track of their patients, the Tuberculosis(TB) outbreak of the 1990’s in the US was contained. Now, TB wards in hospitals are not as hectic as they were 15 years ago. The way in which TB was controlled should serve as a model to treat and contain the spread of HIV/AIDS. An estimated of 20,000 undiagnosed people live in New York, for example, from them 1,000 finds out about their condition when diagnosed with AIDS, a later stage of the virus. This could be prevented like it was with TB. It only requires a bigger effort and better planning. This also works in cities like New York, whereas in poor regions of the world, such patient tracking and treatment is too expensive.
Filed Under World Health
The science of the graffiti
Stop being arrested for writing or tagging on the walls of your city: finally graffiti’s got its official dignity, at least according to what Mr.Roth and Mr. Powderly think. The two fellows, coming from various work experiences, created the Graffiti Research Lab, a centre for the study of graffiti technology based in New York.
The goal of the GRL is “to technologically empower individuals to creatively alter and reclaim their surroundings from commercial and corporate culture”: this means, more than making new graffiti, that the GRL gives graffiti writers new tools and ideas that could help them to perform their art. For instance, Powderly’s LED technology allows the writer to surround his graffiti with a halo of brilliant light, while Roth’s Graffity Analysis uses sophisticated motion-tracking techniques and custom-written code to analyze and record a graffiti writer’s hand movement over time and ghostly reproduce it on some buildings.
Filed Under Modern Life
Muslim hardliners don’t love the World Cup
“It’s nothing but the passion for the game”, said Abdul Rabb when questioned about the lack of praying young people in Kerala. Football, the World Cup, and the schedule of the games are distracting people with their prayers. As it happens in Europe, during matches the city is empty and people are watching a screen where the game is played. This is upsetting the religious unions and leaders in the Muslim district of Kerala. I have to agree, the World Cup is passion, yet it only distracts people every fourth year, it’s not that bad.
Or does anyone think that sport passion can’t go along with truthful faith?
Filed Under Sport