Monday Links from the Science Park vol. CXC

[EternalOptimist]

Unless you try you'll never know.

You'll never know. Unless you have a crack

[darmstadt]

You'll never know. Unless you have a crack

I know what its like, I had a crack:



Butt no longer:

[vetran]

I'll defer to Mitch's expertise, It does make me nervous though, maybe I'm from less adventurous stock.

[d000hg]

As others have observed, if you have the talent to be a top flight artist(e) of any sort or a sportsman that should be apparent well before you leave school or have to decide about higher education.

Unfortunately, having the talent doesn't mean you'll make it. The majority of young people ticking all the boxes towards a career as a professional footballer never get signed... there are more amazing 17 year old footballers than there are spots for them... presumably the same is likely in dancing.

[Spacecadet]

[Spacecadet]

• From the Omni Archive: Dune - "[John] Schoenherr’s illustrations are among the most celebrated of science fiction artworks; he showed, like Richard M. Powers, that science fiction art could be mature and painterly, worlds away from the lurid pulp exaggerations the genre had cultivated since its inception. The first artist to tackle the desert planet Arrakis, his Dune illustrations in particular have become archetypes by which Frank Herbert’s universe is visualized." Lots more good stuff will surely be emerging from the vaults of Omni through the Omni Reboot project

I noticed this massive rip off when browsing amazon for the book

[Mich the Tester]

Unfortunately, having the talent doesn't mean you'll make it. The majority of young people ticking all the boxes towards a career as a professional footballer never get signed... there are more amazing 17 year old footballers than there are spots for them... presumably the same is likely in dancing.

Yep, one thing though; from my experience and looking at others who tried but didn't 'make it big', most people who give up a lot to try and be the best at something in their youth actually turn out to do quite well in life, even if they leave the 'qualifications' until later. There's a simple reason; they generally aren't quitters. In sport, or dance in the example, they've had to deal with f**king up at the big moment and then picking themselves up again, they've learnt to push themselves, they've learnt to take lessons from defeat, and these things serve them well in life. Of course, there are exceptions, but I think most people who strive to reach the top in one field of endeavour will find a way to at least do OK in something else.

[d000hg]

That's an interesting viewpoint, I guess it goes two ways - you take that drive and determination elsewhere or you get bitter about losing your one big shot.

[darmstadt]

Quite an interesting article about how one German football club looks after its young players here: How Germany went from bust to boom on the talent production line | Football | The Guardian

eiburg place great emphasis on academic work, so much so that they like a selection of their staff to come from a teaching background, so that they can provide educational help whenever it is needed, including on the way to matches. It is not uncommon for players to do homework on the coach. Streich says that clubs have a moral obligation to think about what happens to those who fail to make the grade.

"When I went to Aston Villa eight years ago I told them our players, under-17, 18 and 19, go to school for 34 hours a week," he says. "They said: 'No, you're a liar, it's not possible, our players go for nine hours.' I said: 'No, I'm not lying.' They said: 'It's not possible, you can't train and do 34 hours of education.' I said: 'Sure. And what do you do with the players who have for three years, from the age of 16 to 19, only had nine hours a week of school?

"They said: 'They have to try to be a professional or not. They have to decide.' I said: 'No, we can't do that in Freiburg. It's wrong. Most players in our academy can't be professionals, they will have to look for a job. The school is the most important thing, then comes football.' We give players the best chance to be a footballer but we give them two educations here. If 80% can't go on to play in the professional team, we have to look out for them. The players that play here, the majority of them go on to higher education. And we need intelligent players on the pitch anyway."

[vetran]

Quite an interesting article about how one German football club looks after its young players here: How Germany went from bust to boom on the talent production line | Football | The Guardian

Eiberg, Eiberg cummon you bergers!


common sense and compassion that shows why Germany does so well.