Grade inflation in British universities

Degree results obtained by The Sunday Telegraph show six out of 10 students were handed either a first or an upper second in 2010, compared with just one in three graduates in 1970...

The latest data shows that the criteria for awarding degrees has changed dramatically - despite complaints from many universities that grade inflation at A-level has made it hard for them to select candidates...

The universities awarding the highest proportion of firsts or 2:1s last year were Exeter, where 82 per cent of graduates received the top degrees compared with just 29 per cent in 1970, and St Andrews – Scotland's oldest university, where Prince William met fiancée Kate Middleton – where the figure was also 82 per cent compared with just 25 per cent in 1970. Imperial College London and Warwick both granted 80 per cent firsts or 2:1s last year, compared with 49 per cent and 39 per cent respectively in 1970. At Bath University the figure was 76 per cent last year compared with just 35 per cent in 1970...

"There has been compromise across the system and employers no longer fully trust degree results, and tend to look back to A-level results as a more reliable indicator...

More at the Telegraph link.

Photos from Afghanistan

Door Gunner Petty Officer Richard Symonds of the Royal Navy wears a Santa Claus outfit as he delivers mail and presents to troops around Helmand province on December 25, 2010. (REUTERS/Sgt Rupert Frere RLC/Crown Copyright)

An Afghan woman clad with a burqa listens to speeches during a demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Dec. 10, 2010. Several hundred demonstrators, some holding photographs of the victims of three decades of war, shouted for justice and peace Friday in the Afghan capital, just hours before a suicide car bomber blew himself up in the east killing two civilians. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

An Afghan artist removes rubbish in front of her graffiti in an industrial park in Kabul December 19, 2010. A group of women in burqas rises from the sea to symbolize cleanliness. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani)

Spanish soldiers carry construction materials and equipment for the establishment of the new Observation post Echo in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on Dec 16th, 2010. (ISAF Public Affairs)

Four photos that for various reasons I found particularly striking, from a set of 43 impressive images at Boston.com's The Big Picture.

Europe by night

Photo taken by Douglas H. Wheelock, astronaut aboard the International Space Station.  Aurora borealis in the distance above England.

Credit, via Dark Roasted Blend.

Perfect square

The numbers to the right of the decimal point form a perfect magic square: "Each row, column, and diagonal adds to 81.'

I'll accept the assertion as truth, but can someone explain WHY this is true?  I know there are some readers of this blog with quite advanced math skills.

Found in the Futility Closet - the source of many of my best math posts.

"Dogs are Awesome"

There were a few unsettling moments in this montage, when I thought dogs were being encouraged to do unsafe stunts for the camera, but overall it is quite enjoyable.

Runner-up for Mental Health Break of the Year at The Daily Dish.

The "Ground Zero Mosque" as manufactured news

The graph above shows references to the Ground Zero Mosque as compiled by Google News' timeline.  Here is some analysis from a column at Salon:

It evolved into the national political obsession of the summer and, finally, into a midterm election issue. And then, just like that, it disappeared...

News of the proposed Islamic community center first broke in a front-page New York Times piece in December 2009, but it garnered very little attention. The attention it did receive -- including from the likes of Fox News -- was positive...

The first peak in the coverage came when a wave of national Republican figures weighed in. Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty each took shots at the project and its organizers...

The second peak in coverage came in mid-August when President Obama weighed in at a press conference, citing religious freedom. Those comments gave political reporters an excuse to keep writing about the story for weeks.

But then, after a last gasp in October in the run-up to the election (including a few memorable anti-mosque campaign ads), the story all but disappeared. What changed? Well, on the ground, exactly nothing. The organizers had not changed their plans. Fundraising continued.

There can be no single explanation for why a news story of this magnitude disappears. But, given the timeline here, it seems likely that the electoral calendar played a role. National Republicans who used Park51 as a bludgeon against Democrats suddenly were less interested in talking about the project after the election...

Looking back now, it's pretty good evidence of a manufactured story when coverage spikes and then vanishes, even as nothing has fundamentally changed.

More at the link.

An unexpected copyrighted book

The Telegraph has a New Year Literary Quiz.  I won't duplicate it here; those interested can take the quiz (and view the answers) at the link.  But I will blog this most curious item:

Question:   Which 1611 book is still not out of copyright in Britain — because the rights are held in perpetuity by the British Crown?

Answer:  The King James Bible (or Authorised Version)

?? !!!