Timewarp

Katie pointed out this time-travel shirt to me. ("No, not the time-travel trousers.") What are the time-travel artefacts around the edges?

There's the TARDIS at twelve o'clock, the DeLorean at one o'clock, Hermione's magic necklace at ten o'clock, and the map from Time Bandits at five o'clock. I recognise the whirly thing at nine o'clock but I can't place it. The toaster at four o'clock is confusing me quite a lot. Any other suggestions?

(From http://teefury.com/, in case you want to buy one.)

The purpose of education

In telling stories about my school life, I remembered this one (which reminded me of sabotabby).

Background: In England the state will pay for your education up to the age of 18, two years after the school leaving age. The two optional years are known as "sixth form" and are preparation for university. If this reminds you of the OWL/NEWT exams in Harry Potter, there's a reason for that.

Well, at the start of our time in sixth form, all the students were shepherded into a room with chairs, and the sixth form teachers addressed us thus:

THE TEACHERS: What would you say was the purpose of education?

THE PUPILS: Well, it's to prepare for working life, innit.

THE TEACHERS: Nice try, but no. Employers are always complaining that kids out of school don't know things.

THE PUPILS: Well, er, is it to learn about culture and stuff?

THE TEACHERS: Did you learn much about culture and stuff?

THE PUPILS: No.

THE TEACHERS: Well then.

THE PUPILS: We give up.

THE TEACHERS: Well, you're all in sixth form now, right? So you're the ones who are going to go to university and end up being the bosses in future. So we're allowed to tell you this now, but we weren't before. Education is actually there to keep the bosses up and the working class down.

THE PUPILS: ...?

THE TEACHERS: Your school experience has been pretty crap so far, right? And university should be better, right? So the school experience that the working class gets is crap, and the school experience that the future bosses get is better. That way, the bosses, that's you and us, we get to make sure that the distinction between the classes stays where it is, with you and us on top.

THE PUPILS: ...?

THE TEACHERS: Don't you see what a fantastic system this is?

THE PUPILS: ...?

THE TEACHERS: Well, er, actually we don't believe any of that. We just thought we'd say it because we wanted to see how you'd argue back. And also because you're in sixth form now and you should be exposed to interesting new ideas. And now let's talk about timetables.