In todays news...

[Felix]

About time to

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -road-laws

[KungFooBob]

DRINK MORE BOOZE!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62585809

[Greenman]

DRINK MORE BOOZE!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62585809

I might move to Japan. That will boost their alcohol intake up by a good 50%...

[Yorick]

Kin 'ell. The exams must be real easy if hardly anybody fails.

Screenshot_20220818-110521_Samsung Internet.jpg (100.9 KiB) Viewed 469 times

[Cousin Jack]

WTF is the point of an exam with a 95%+ pass rate? Back in the day exams were expected to produce a Normal distribution of marks, and the pass/fail line was set at about 35 - 45%, with the Distinction level at about 85- 95%.
Today it seems everyone must pass, or the snowflakes will get depressed.

[Count Steer]

WTF is the point of an exam with a 95%+ pass rate? Back in the day exams were expected to produce a Normal distribution of marks, and the pass/fail line was set at about 35 - 45%, with the Distinction level at about 85- 95%.
Today it seems everyone must pass, or the snowflakes will get depressed.

They have to keep the numbers up. Otherwise who is going to fill all those Media Studies places at West Neasden University? Got to keep siphoning those £9k a year fees out of the taxpayers pockets to keep those nice little earners going.

There is a danger they'll have to pay some back when they get £27k a year for asking 'Do you want fries with that?'

(Actually, I feel sorry for the kids that are being sold a pup).

[slowsider]

WTF is the point of an exam with a 95%+ pass rate? Back in the day exams were expected to produce a Normal distribution of marks, and the pass/fail line was set at about 35 - 45%, with the Distinction level at about 85- 95%.
Today it seems everyone must pass, or the snowflakes will get depressed.

Old people back then were asking how you could 'pass' with less than 50%

[Cousin Jack]

Old people back then were asking how you could 'pass' with less than 50%

True, one or two of my exams had a pass mark of 65% IIRC.

[Skub]

A very stern lady I know was super academically inclined and taught maths for a living. She was very disappointed in her daughter attaining straight 'A's in her exams and voiced the opinion she herself never had anything less than a distinction in any subject.

[JamJar]

What would be the benefit of failing A level students?

[Cousin Jack]

Separating sheep and goats.

Exams used to distinguish the really clever from the hardworking but dim. They dont do that now.

[slowsider]

Separating sheep and goats.

Exams used to distinguish the really clever from the hardworking but dim. They dont do that now.

Public schools and Oxbridge used to do something similar, but look where that ended.

[Horse]

I can't remember*: do we blame teachers when the kids fail, or pass, exams?

* should have paid more attention at school

[Cousin Jack]

I can't remember*: do we blame teachers when the kids fail, or pass, exams?

* should have paid more attention at school

,We (or at leasr I) should have worked harder), but, like most things in life, kids are responsible for themselves. In today's exam everyone could get an A*.

[Mr Moofo]

WTF is the point of an exam with a 95%+ pass rate? Back in the day exams were expected to produce a Normal distribution of marks, and the pass/fail line was set at about 35 - 45%, with the Distinction level at about 85- 95%.
Today it seems everyone must pass, or the snowflakes will get depressed.

They have to keep the numbers up. Otherwise who is going to fill all those Media Studies places at West Neasden University? Got to keep siphoning those £9k a year fees out of the taxpayers pockets to keep those nice little earners going.

There is a danger they'll have to pay some back when they get £27k a year for asking 'Do you want fries with that?'

(Actually, I feel sorry for the kids that are being sold a pup).

It is turning into a real scam.
I had the chance of doing a PhD - but turned it down because academia was so badly paid. Professor's were constantly looking for grants etc.
Now , if you are chancellor of Sunderland Uni , you are probably paying yourself 600K plus. Now, ask yourself, where is that money coming from?

[Mr Moofo]

DRINK MORE BOOZE!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62585809

I might move to Japan. That will boost their alcohol intake up by a good 50%...

I would love to know where they got that from - that was absolutely not my experience. They drink like fish - and get real offended if you don't also ...

[Greenman]

DRINK MORE BOOZE!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62585809

I might move to Japan. That will boost their alcohol intake up by a good 50%...

I would love to know where they got that from - that was absolutely not my experience. They drink like fish - and get real offended if you don't also ...

That's what i thought. I'm sure i read somewhere on the rank of highest drinking countries that they were in the top 3! It's the BBC, they probably just made it up so we all think we don't drink enough in the UK and go out and drink more more more!

[cheb]

One for Cheb....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment ... cientists/

What is the smell of rain called? The answer is petrichor and it intrigues scientists
In 1964 it was named from the Greek for stone 'petra' and 'ichor', which refers to the golden fluid flowing through the veins of immortals

By
Joe Pinkstone,
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
17 August 2022 • 11:28am
Rain UK
The smell of rain has a name CREDIT: AP Photo/Frank Augstein
It's been a long, hot summer but this week’s thunderstorms and torrential downpours brought sweet relief - and with them the invigorating smell of fresh rain.

And after so long without a raindrop, many Britons are now noticing the scent with renewed vigour and find themselves wondering 'what is that smell'?

The phenomenon has been noted for centuries, and in 1964 it was given the name petrichor, derived from the Greek for stone “petra” and “ichor”, which refers to the golden fluid flowing through the veins of immortals.

It is produced both pre- and post-downpour, with the water forcing the release of aromatic chemicals trapped in rocks and soils.

Raindrops form air pockets on the rocks and soil and allow petrichor-scented compounds to be released upwards into the atmosphere as a gas, like a glass of Champagne.

But while the rocks are pivotal in releasing the smell, the odour itself is generated predominantly by a chemical called geosmin, which is made by bacteria in soil.

Highly pungent
In April, scientists found that geosmin does have a use as it is made by soil microbes to fend off hungry worms.

Dirt-dwelling bacteria, including toxic ones, produce the chemical to keep predators, such as worms, away and the compound builds up in the soil.

Geosmin is also a water contaminant, falling from the heavens when it rains and generating the petrichor scent we associate with a damp spring morning.

The chemical is highly pungent, with just five parts per trillion enough to be picked up by the human nose.

Historically, the scent would have been a harbinger of joy for our hunter-gatherer ancestors as it would have signalled to them that fresh water was imminent. This, some scientists believe, has led to an in-built delight when humans inhale it today.


Scientists from Concordia University in Canada investigated the role of geosmin and conducted various experiments to see how it affected nematode worms.

First, they observed the movement and behaviour of worms when surrounded by geosmin and found they desperately tried to escape its sphere.

However, mutant worms that were unable to smell or taste behaved normally around geosmin. It was also, in and of itself, harmless.

A separate experiment focused specifically on Streptomyces coelicolor bacteria, a toxic bacteria that makes geosmin.

The researchers saw the worms avoid their prey, the microbes, when they could taste the presence of geosmin. In contrast, the genetically modified mutants devoured the toxic bacteria and subsequently died.

“Through our study we found that geosmin in Streptomyces coelicolor, a bacteria that is toxic to nematodes, does not appear to have any role other than as a signal,” says Dr Brandon Findlay, the supervising author of the paper published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

“It doesn’t help the cells grow, eat or divide. It doesn’t ward off predators directly. It just seems to be there as a warning.”

The conclusion that a bacteria produces a smelly chemical with the sole purpose of warning off would-be predators is unusual, and it is thought to be a unique case.

Thank you, I wouldn't have seen that had you not posted it.

[DefTrap]

Separating sheep and goats.

Exams used to distinguish the really clever from the hardworking but dim. They dont do that now.

Well, whatever you think about the pass rate, they still get grades. Presumably shit grade = shit uni and good grade = good uni. There's just countless more places to fill.m

Whilst it's easy to mock, my own experience is that while it might be way easier to get a (any) place at uni these days, you still have to work effing hard to get a decent 1st.

Everyone knows the difference in effort to get a 1st in a proper subject from one of the top 10 Vs a Desmond in catering from scumbag polytechnic.

[Horse]

my own experience is that while it might be way easier to get a (any) place at uni these days, you still have to work effing hard to get a decent 1st.

Everyone knows the difference in effort to get a 1st in a proper subject from one of the top 10 Vs a Desmond in catering from scumbag polytechnic.

When Foal was looking around, all Unis wanted A A B minimum for his subject.

But what if he acheived A B B ?

Of the five Unis:
1. "What do you mean, not getting two As?"
2. Interview, then "A B B - if you make us your first choice"
3. "If you don't get A A B, talk to us"
4. "Well, 2 Bs will be OK"
5. "Come on in!"

He got A B B*, went to '3', got a First.

* Maths, Physics, Chemistry