Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

Generali

Hey Viva. Hope your rellies are ok in QLD. There's been some more rough weather in the area with a lot of power lines down and some localised flooding.

Nothing like as bad as last year but there's another day of it to get through before things calm down again.

vivatifosi

SingleSue wrote: »

So explaining to a child why the child may be doing something is good but they also need to know that the bullying is still wrong.

Sue this is such a brilliant post (the whole thing) I wish I could thank it twice. Very thought provoking.

I should also send my congrats to middle son on doing so well in his exam and also being such a burgeoning music star.

vivatifosi

Generali wrote: »

Hey Viva. Hope your rellies are ok in QLD. There's been some more rough weather in the area with a lot of power lines down and some localised flooding.

Nothing like as bad as last year but there's another day of it to get through before things calm down again.

Thanks Gen, wasn't aware so will keep my eye to. I think it is still south of them at the moment (more Brisbane-ish) but looks like it will hit more tomorrow. Really appreciate the update.

vivatifosi

NPs who missed going to Uni or who like to still take the odd unit to keep their skills up might find this article interesting. It is about the growth of good quality, free, uni-level content online:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/11/online-free-learning-end-of-university

Long article but worth reading.

zagubov

vivatifosi wrote: »

NPs who missed going to Uni or who like to still take the odd unit to keep their skills up might find this article interesting. It is about the growth of good quality, free, uni-level content online:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/11/online-free-learning-end-of-university

Long article but worth reading.

Thanks! Saved all those to my favourites.

Used to work for the OU (stopped when we started a family)and would like to again. Think it's one of the best ideas the UK ever had.

Tomorrow's world once had a special where they predicted we'd all live in single rooms in high-rise buildings with wall-to-wall TV screens and computers and no need to go out.

Starting to sound less daft as years go by

vivatifosi

zagubov wrote: »

Thanks! Saved all those to my favourites.

Used to work for the OU (stopped when we started a family)and would like to again. Think it's one of the best ideas the UK ever had.

Tomorrow's world once had a special where they predicted we'd all live in single rooms in high-rise buildings with wall-to-wall TV screens and computers and no need to go out.

Starting to sound less daft as years go by

I love the OU, its what enabled a working class girl like me to get a uni degree. I'm gutted that it's charging such high fees now. However the article has made me realise that once these online courses get organised and hence recognised, that there will be pressure on distance learning providers that could force the price down again. I'd be interested to hear jelly's view of the impact on FE too. Where the teaching isn't in an applied subject such as hairdressing, then there must be a lot of opportunity for DL there too.

lostinrates

I looked at ou and cannot really justifyi the cost. ...not for me now.

Zag,. No I never did answer my own question, but haven't chased it yet. Oooops.

zagubov

vivatifosi wrote: »

I love the OU, its what enabled a working class girl like me to get a uni degree. I'm gutted that it's charging such high fees now. However the article has made me realise that once these online courses get organised and hence recognised, that there will be pressure on distance learning providers that could force the price down again. I'd be interested to hear jelly's view of the impact on FE too. Where the teaching isn't in an applied subject such as hairdressing, then there must be a lot of opportunity for DL there too.

I can tell you now that in FE the impact's limited. And likely to remain so for ages (if not forever) as distance learning's fine for adults but a minefield for younger people.

Suddely remembers there's Australians on this thread who probably know of good counter-examples.

vivatifosi wrote: »

I love the OU, its what enabled a working class girl like me to get a uni degree. I'm gutted that it's charging such high fees now. However the article has made me realise that once these online courses get organised and hence recognised, that there will be pressure on distance learning providers that could force the price down again. I'd be interested to hear jelly's view of the impact on FE too. Where the teaching isn't in an applied subject such as hairdressing, then there must be a lot of opportunity for DL there too.

One of its many positive points is that it enables you to get a broad as well as a deep education. A big bugbear with the A level system to me is how you're forced into a narrow discipline cluster at 16. A really bad plan.

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

In terms of the antibiotic resistant TB, is it a strain that isn't picked up by vaccination? If not, can we vaccinate it out instead?

the vaccine works by putting a non-pathogenic strain of bacteria which is very similar to m. tuberculosis (the main cause of TB) into you, letting your immune system recognise the shape of the bacteria and make antibodies which bind onto it. in simple terms the antibodies mark the invading bacteria for destruction by your immune system. your body remembers how to make the antibodies so that if, in the future, the real pathogen comes along, it can destroy it before it takes hold.

there are a number of different mechanisms of antibiotic resistance - e.g. sometimes a bacterium becomes able to 'digest' the antibiotic, but in other cases the structure of the bacterium's cell wall evolves to be able to prevent the antibiotic penetrating it in the first place. theoretically it is possible that such a resistance mechanism may change the physical structure sufficiently that the antibodies created by the vaccine cannot bind to the cell wall.

the BCG vaccine that is used to vaccinate people against TB is actually pretty rubbish. it does not offer anything like 100% protection, and its effects decline over time - some trials reckon after 20 years the vaccine's effects are gone. it also, rather oddly, appears to only really work in colder climates.

people have been trying to develop a new vaccine for years, and more recently there has been intensive designer-drug research. i spent the third year of my university course trying to identify sites in the m. tuberculosis genome to attack with drugs. it was bloody boring, and as far as i know, 12 years later, no-one has really got anywhere with this sort of research.


antibiotic resistance is very worrying. and it's not like you can do anything personally. whilst you might refrain from running to the doctors to demand antibiotics every time you are ill, that matters not a jot if (a) everyone else is doing it around the world and (b) people are feeding antibiotics to livestock as a "dietary supplement".

SingleSue

zagubov wrote: »

One of its many positive points is that it enables you to get a broad as well as a deep education. A big bugbear with the A level system to me is how you're forced into a narrow discipline cluster at 16. A really bad plan.

Middle son's school are losing so many students to other 6th forms that they have offered to run any course my son and his bandmates want (music related that is) after they got wind that all 4 of them were looking at going to a different 6th form.

They see the lads as people who could be influential to others in their decisions (plus they are amongst the gifted and talented group), so are trying to stop the rot and being more creative in the type of courses available.

It actually suits middle son, after his initial look at the different 6th form, he discovered that he wouldn't be able to combine his love of music with his love of physics and maths due to the nature of courses available (he would only be able to do the music qualification), so despite this other 6th form being the best place to go to for music, it wouldn't give him the wide variety he wanted....oh and staying at his current school is a hell of a lot cheaper as no real travel expenses, can get up later and home earlier and no hassle with non running trains!