Sunday, November 24, 2013

Construction catastrophies

http://g2.nh.ee/images/pix/maxima-choping-center-collapse-analysis-67149538.pdf

This report is an independent attempt to find the
cause based on photographic evidence, numerical and analytical calculations.
Based on photographic evidence presented in media, it is obvious that the primary cause for
such collapse is the steel truss bolted tension connection.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Future for schools

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131107-could-video-games-replace-exams
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131022-hacking-senses-to-boost-learning
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131015-the-classroom-in-the-clouds
"Physical teachers are good, but in most remote places the quality of teacher will be lower than what you can recruit in the cloud. Mitra says that children aged 8-12 years don’t seem to mind. This young generation thinks differently about the need for a traditional teacher than we do. Interms of visions for future education it’s the older generation that thinks like dinosaurs."

Sunday, November 3, 2013

De-privatisation

Is the tide now turning against privatisation? In the 1990s, a wave of sell-offs swept away countless publicly owned enterprises (though privatisation's fans would say that "enterprise" was the wrong word to describe them).
Hard-pressed governments everywhere sold power stations and electricity grids to private companies. If the taxpayer could not afford the huge bills for investment and modernisation, then why not let capitalism bear the burden - and reap the benefits? So ran the argument.
But now the trend is being reversed in Germany. In a referendum in Hamburg a month ago, 51% voted to buy back the energy grid the city sold.