Italian scientists sentenced to prison for failing to predict earthquake accurately!

Six scientists in Italy have been sentenced to prison for manslaughter for failing to properly predict an earthquake that killed 309 people in 2009. Judges in Italy found the men guilty of giving "falsely reassuring" statements before the earthquake. The scientists lawyers insisted that there is no way of accurately predicting earthquakes. The men have been sentenced to 6 years in jail.

It is pretty much impossible to give accurate predictions about earthquakes, so many believe that sentencing the scientists is unfair. It is hoped that the decision will be overturned.

Read the full BBC report here

Can we predict earthquakes?

Year 12 - Cornwall trip

The details for the trip are as follows:

You must be at school on Monday 19th March at 7.45am - yes, that's early but it is a long journey to Cornwall, as you will know, Cornwall suffers from it's isolation. Journey times are long!

You will be provided with dinner on each night whilst away and from Tuesday morning onwards you will also get breakfast. However, you will not be provided with lunch so need to bring enough money to buy something whilst we are out.

The sort of things you could bring are:
Waterproofs (if jeans get wet they are uncomfortable)
Walking boots and wellies may be useful for beaches
Layers of clothing (it is easier to take off layers of clothing if you get hot or add layers if you get cold) and things to keep you warm (the coast can get windy and cold)
Towel
Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and so on)
Pens, pencils etc


Useful items could include a camera -but you must be aware that the school takes o responsibility for any items that you bring along.

I would hope that we will be back between4-5pm on the Friday, but this is subject to change and you will need to ring parents on the journey back to give them a clearer idea of arrival time.

If you have any questions about the trip you should ask your teacher or email Mr Bains on H.Bains@ksnadmin.ksn.org.uk

Kenilworth Geography department on Twitter

There are now two twitter accounts - one aimed at Year 12 students http://twitter.com/#!/KenilworthGeo12
and one aimed at Year 13 students http://twitter.com/#!/KenilworthGeo13

Make sure you start following for the latest news that relates to the course, exam information and general updates.

World population reaches 7 billion.

When this blog started about 2 years ago, I put a population counter clock in the corner of the page. It read 6.2billion. That figure has now officially hit 7 billion and there has been a lotwritten about what this rapidly rising population means for the future of the world. Below are sme links to articles that will be useful for you and your studies.

Click here to be taken to The Guardian site where they have a large number of articles about the issue. You can enter your date of birth and find out the population of the world when you were born. There are some interactive maps and resources to help you understand what has happened and why.

Click here for a podcast about population growth, questioning whether lots of people is necessarily a bad thing

The BBC also has a large section on the world at 7 billion. Agains you can get an estimate of what umber person you are out of the 7 billion and read information about how they have calculated the population of the world and how we could control it.

Year 12 Cornwall trip, March 21st-24th

Here is some information for you in preparation for next weeks trip

What to take:
You will be provided with breakfast and dinner each day but you will need to make your own provision for lunch. This means you should bring enough money with you for lunch each day. Obviously you can bring snacks and things to bolster your lunches!

You will be provided with bedding at the hostel but need to bring a towel.
You should bring toiletries and sensible clothing. This means if you have waterproofs then bring them, walking boots and wellies if you plan to get into water.The weather can be changeable so you need to be prepared for rain, wind and sunshine! Layers of clothing is the best idea, so you can add/remove depending on the weather.

You may wish to bring some things to keep you entertained, but avoid bring expensive equipment (anything you do bring is brought at your own risk). There is a room with a TV in it and, I think, a DVD player. You can bring a film if you wish, but to be honest there won't be lots of spare time - there's a lot of work to cram in, both during the day and the evening!

Itinery for the trip:
Monday:
Arrive at school for 7.45am at the very latest. The coach will depart at 8.00am - do not be late.
We will stop for a break/lunch on the way and aim to be in Padstow for about 2pm. You will then have an hour to look around Padstow and do some of the tasks you will find in the booklet you are provided with.
We will then head onto the youth hostel at Treyarnon Bay where after settling in you will walk to the nearby beach at Constantine in order to do some measurements.
After the evening meal you will be do some preparation work for Tuesday.

Tuesday:
After breakfast you will go back to Constantine Bay to meet a beach ranger who will talk to you about the management of the area and the sand dunes. You will also take some measurements. This will take till about 10.30am when we return to the hostel to change and then head out for Watergate Bay. At Watergate Bay you will do some tasks from the booklet. Those who wish to surf will have their lesson at about 1pm and then afterwards you will all meet the manager and managing director of the Extreme Sports Academy to see how they have helped with the rebranding of the area.
After all the tasks are completed you will then head for St Austell for a game of bowling and then back to the hostel for evening meal. After dinner you will do some more preparation and answer an exam question!

Wednesday:
Leave for the Eden project after breakfast at about 9.30am. We are booked in for a talk about the impact of the Eden project on the rebranding process in Cornwall at 12.30pm for an hour. You will have some time before the talk and after to explore Eden.
We will leave Eden between 2-3pm and head for Carlyon Bay where at 4pm you will meet a representative from CEG, the company involved in the development of "The Beach" project. Then at 5pm you will meet a panel of local people from the pressure group Carlyon Bay Watch, to hear what their objections to the plans are.
An evening meal is booked for 6.15 at an Indian restuarant. You will need to pre-order your meal, so your teacher should ask you to choose a main from the menu! After the meal you'll head back to the hostel.

Thursday:
After breakfast you will answer an exam question or two before getting the coach home at about 10.00am. We should be back in Kenilworth around 3.30. There will be a lunch stop on the way.

You will all be fit and well and ready for school on Friday!

Hopefully this answers any questions you have. If you are still unsure of anything then ask your teacher. If you are surfing you MUST have paid your £20 before the day of the trip. I need to give the surfing man definite numbers, so don't think you can oull out on the day!

Apologies to my class for my continued absence. It's not out of choice. Once I have been fixed I shall be back in school, probably after Easter.

I hope you all have a great time on the trip and I wish I was going along as well.

Mr Bains

The Prosperity Index

What is prosperity? This website looks at ways of measuring how well countries are doing

The Legatum Prosperity Index is the world's only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing; unlike other studies that rank countries by actual levels of wealth, life satisfaction or development, the Prosperity Index produces rankings based upon the very foundations of prosperity those factors that will help drive economic growth and produce happy citizens over the long term.

Using their system of ranking countries and measuring prosperity, here are the 10 most successful countries in the world:
1 Norway
2 Denmark
3 Finland
4 Australia
5 New Zealand
6 Sweden
7 Canada
8 Switzerland
9 Netherlands
10 United States

Click on the post title to be taken to the website, where you can see data and maps showing levels of development all over the world.

Over 100 dead and thousands suffering from effects of Cholera in Haiti

It's been 9 months since the devestating earthquake that hit Haiti in January. Although the story might not be in the news headlines as often now, thousands of people are still living in tents in temporary camps.
An outbreak of Cholera has killed 135 people and the fear is that if the disease spreads to these camps, then many more hundreds or thousands will also die. This shows how the effects of earthquakes can be felt for long periods after the actual disaster.

Click on the post title to read the full story and watch the latest video news from Haiti

Typhoon Megi leaves 200,000 homeless in Philippines

Typhoon Megi is gathering strength and heading towards southern China, meteorologists said, after leaving 200,000 Filipinos homeless.

The severe storm left a trail of destruction in its wake after hitting the northern Philippines on Monday.

Officials there said at least 200,000 people remained homeless with the cost to infrastructure still unknown.

The storm is described as the worst in many years, but predictions vary about where it will make next landfall.

People in the Chinese province of Guangdong and Hong Kong are stockpiling food ahead of the storm, which has been gathering strength over the South China Sea.

Ships and fishing boats have been told to stay in harbour, as Hong Kong's weather officials predicted winds of up to more than 185 km/hour(115mph).

Welcome back

Welcome back to school. Hopefully you have had a good rest and are ready to start working again! The blog has had some new information put on it, but will constantly be changing, with the latest Geographical news and advice/tips on how to do well in your studies.

Year 9 will be faced with an entirely new approach to their lessons and should look at the tab at the top of the page for more information.

GCSE students can find out more about their course using the tab at the top of the page as well as looking along the left hand side of the blog. The same applies for A-level students.

There are a collection of podcasts available (see tab at top of page), though these are mainly aimed at A-level students.

If there is anything that you wish to see on the blog, please mention it to your teacher and we'll see what we can do.

If you're stuck and not sure how to revise.....

....try some of these ideas:

Flashcards: On small cards, summarise a case study into one (or both) sides of the cards and refer to it regularly. Make sure that you include key facts and number as you condense the case study to fit the card.

Colour coding: colour code large pieces of text into sections. For example, it could be the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Cardiff Bay redevelopment

Memory tests: You could look at an important diagram (erg the cross section of a meander) for 20 seconds, then cover it over and draw what you remember. Then give yourself another 20 seconds to see what you missed and add it in. Eventually, you will be able to draw the sketch without looking at a copy.

Key words test: You could ask someone to read out 10 definitions and you have to say what the key word is. Then you could try it the other way around which is harder with someone giving you a key word to define.

Spider diagrams (mind maps): Write a key theme in the centre of an A3 piece of paper. Write the sub-themes around it with important ideas and case studies to back them up. Stick your finished spider diagram somewhere visible where you will be able to refer to it often (e.g. fridge door, bedroom wall).

Practice exam questions: Look at the examples of past case study questions. Practice writing responses to these questions using the flashcards or colour coded case studies you have created. There are some past papers and mark schemes under the Year 11 panel on the left hand side of the blog.

Summarising: Condense a section of text into a set number of bullet points.

Reading aloud: Read a case study summary aloud, then try to say aloud all the facts and figures you remember without the summary. You could also read your keyword lists aloud.

Repeated writing: Copy out pieces of information more than one time (five times would be appropriate). The repetition will help you to fix the facts in your memory, which is obviously important with case studies.

Look at the STUDY SKILLS section on the left hand side panel for more ideas and search for "mind maps" to see some examples.

Earthquake in Haiti

On Tuesday a big earthquake hit the poor Caribbean country of Haiti.

The extent of the devastation from the huge quake in Haiti is slowly emerging thousands of people feared dead.

Jordan, Brazil and China have all reported deaths, and France says it fears the Tunisian head of the UN mission in Haiti has been killed.

The 7.0-magnitude quake, Haiti's worst in two centuries, struck south of the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday.

The Red Cross says up to three million people have been affected

The quake's epicentre was only 10 miles from the Capital city, Port-au-Prince, which has a population of about 1 million, and aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 rattled the city throughout the night and into today. Reports on casualties and damage were slow to get out of Haiti due to communication problems.

As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is ill-equipped to respond to such a disaster, lacking heavy equipment to move debris and a sufficient force of emergency personnel.


Click the headline to go to BBC reports about the disaster.