andrewducker | Interesting Links for 19-06-2025

1. A friend of mine was offered a robot op in Cambridge UK by a surgeon in the US about fifteen years ago. He turned it down because he was worried about the Internet going down during the surgery.

The surgeon came and did it in person, which allowed the local specialists to see how it was done.

The machine was used by a different specialty for a different purpose; the guy in the States had used it for reason my friend needed it.

7. If I remember correctly my brother's school mandated that blazers came from M+S. Is that an inclusive or exclusive brand ?

One argument I have heard for branded uniform is that it stops poorer children from being singled out for not having the "in" brand.

A decent school will have ways of ensuring that everyone can get the branded gear, whether it is by a second-hand market, subsidy or actually paying for the uniform of those in need. Of course that only eliminates the issue of poverty, not that of not being "in the know", and moves the stigma from the child to the parent.

A ban on a single brand policy risks those who can afford a better quality becoming a snobbish elite that look down on those that cannot.

Of course, wearing second-hand or inherited hand-me-downs risks hurtful remarks whatever the brand.

Nowadays most schools have no budget to help out with uniform costs. So anything that makes them cheaper to buy is good for people that also have no money to pay for them.

And many other countries in Europe have no school uniforms and seem to survive perfectly well.

And many other countries in Europe have no school uniforms and seem to survive perfectly well.

The stories I have read about US schools suggest that clothings choices are a significant part of dividing the children into different groups: geeks, jocks, "the in crowd" etc. Whether that is reality, and which is cause and which is effect ...

From my own history in a school with a branded uniform I can assure you that children can identify a geek in about 20 seconds, no matter what.

It’s more that what you wear, if you have a choice in it, can go a long way to establishing your identity to yourself and/or signifying to your peers what you’re into. When I was in school, nobody cared about what you were wearing very much at all, as long as it covered the important bits. If they were going to bully you, they were going to find whatever reason for it, even if you dressed “well”.

Mind, I went to high school twenty-five years ago in Canada, and I don’t think things were as badly stratified as they can be in the US - or the UK. We don’t (or didn’t, anyway) have hard class divides, and even social groups based on interests were flexible. I - a geek - had friends who were sporty, punk, stylish, artsy, etc, and I’m fairly sure I wasn’t an outlier.

Interesting Links for 19-06-2025

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Branded Uniform

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Re: Branded Uniform

Re: Branded Uniform

Re: Branded Uniform