Why do people do things that are silly, wrong, and dangerous, when they KNOW* that they are silly, wrong, and dangerous?

Why don’t people say “No”?

I’m more interested in the behaviour of the people than the behaviour of the lions. A🧵

https://x.com/AnimalPlanet/status/935931872307269632?t=7UhRUqEFAtQX9_RzXnVXiA&s=19

The most dangerous movie ever made. 'Roar' is a 1981 movie about a family that lives with 150 lions, tigers, cheetahs and jaguars.

Most of the lion attacks were real, and usually resulted in actual injury to the cast and crew.

Why didn't they say "No." or walk away?

Trick or treat!

I'm wearing a Vitacore CAN99 mask here, but check out the bag of treats. Hundreds of nose foam inserts!

A Canada-focused Halloween thread about less-than-perfect masks.

There will be scary stuff in this🧵- will it attract any ghouls or trolls?

#YallMasking I've made lots of posts about different masks this year.

I'm wary of making people feel frustrated or disheartened. Hearing that there are “better masks” available in other countries could be scary.

It might make people give up.

Weighty Ghost (Wintersleep cover)
H/T @MeInYYJ

It's the weekend. I really want a beer!

But I had Covid at the start of the month.

I'm largely recovered, but I'm going to wait before I have a drink.

A🧵about drinking, being sober, & Covid.

There will be music. Some after a few beers.

What are you drinking this weekend? Alcohol is an issue for anyone trying to stay Covid-safe.

It's very easy to portray Covid-conscious people as joyless scolds.

It's not a surprise if bosses in the drinks industry & hospitality sector are opposed to Covid-safety.

Sober (Lorde cover)

We need to learn about Covid.

My children wear masks in school. I've borrowed my son's coat for this photo.

Someone in his class told him he has “main character energy".

A🧵about learning.

#MainCharacterEnergy I teach. I wear a mask.

This doesn’t make much sense to my colleagues, or my students.

This is because they haven't learned about Covid.

They don't know what it can do.

Or maybe they do, but they don't feel comfortable talking about it.

Some people asked me how I got COVID when I wear an FFP3 to teach.

So I thought I'd revisit "The Swiss Cheese Model" to explain. A🧵

As the diagram shows, it involves firing lasers at cheese.

The cheese blocks the beams. The more layers, the fewer lasers get through. Incidentally, I was taught by Professor James Reason, the originator of the model, when I was an undergraduate.

Many years ago.

If someone is trying to prevent accidents, then a good principle is to use "Lasered Protections".

You can't tell from this video, but I had COVID when it was recorded.

I seem fine, but I'm not.

And if you knew what COVID can do to children's bodies, it would scare The Living Daylights out of you.

A thread on “asymptomatic transmission” for Global James Bond Day. #JamesBond Covid is 007. If caught, the British government will deny all knowledge.

@007 #JamesBond #JamesBondDay

My children have a new Headteacher.

In attendance assembly today, he told the children that he has now had 8 Covid infections.

My children told me that he said this “rather gleefully”🧵1/4 My son said “I have never heard anyone mention “paracetamol” quite so many times in a short space of time.”

The new Headteacher said that he'd never had a day off, even when he had Covid, apart from when he was forced to isolate. 2/4

I teach. Part of my job is to prepare students for the world of work.

But my most successful students won't work in the way I do.

The world of work has changed since 2020, and it isn't going to change back.

A🧵on attendance, uniform, and working from home.

And ties. I don't do home or hybrid working. I'm in the minority compared with other people with a university education. For a few weeks in 2021 I worked from home.

It will be my LEAST successful students who are most likely to have to attend in-person work.
. forbes.com/uk/advisor/bus…

World Health Network has created a magazine for children and families.

Issue #2 is out now and we are looking for submissions from children and families for future issues.

You can submit via the WHN website.

Full🧵below.

whn.global/kidszone/
I don't let my children use social media.

Occasionally I show them an article or thread, but X is not safe for children to use independently.

But like you, I rely on this place for information & support. My children could use a secure, curated space to find out about Covid,

This is the #TourdeFrance mask.

It wasn't close. There was a clear winner.

This🧵includes wildflowers.

#YallMasking #CovidIsNotOver In an update of a thread I made last year, I took a selection of #FFP3 respirator masks out for a 30 mile cycle ride.

I'm going to tell you my favourite - I'm more scientific than @UKHSA and @LeTour

I've taught Sport & PE.

Sport = Good

I'm playing several games here, but none of them are on the shelves behind me.

I'm playing a status game.

More importantly, I'm helping my children to play status games too.

It's one way we help them to keep masking. A🧵that might help you too.

#CovidIsNotOver #MaskUp My children are lone-maskers in school. They could stop at any time, worn down by the pressure to conform.

There are several reasons they have lasted so long. One is their status.

I'm stealing ideas from "The Status Game" by @wstorr

My son has read it. I'm part-way through.

I'm a science teacher in England.

I do something that few British teachers do.

It's hard feeling like the only one.

There are lots of reasons why it's hard. One is a cognitive bias called "the curse of knowledge"

Fortunately, I have some understanding of psychology. A 🧵 If you are a teacher, you should understand "the curse of knowledge", because this cognitive bias makes you a less effective teacher.

But for some of you, it puts your health at risk.

It shapes your decisions.

Can you guess what it is that I do?

https://x.com/EvidenceInEdu/status/1804942494964060304?t=2D16Wc9lHIhXJ9DEl_cz5A&s=19

This is it. This is the School Uniform mask.

Black Laianzhi KN100 HYX1002

A🧵about layered protections in schools, and why schools might choose, or choose not to have uniforms.

Do you think schools should have uniforms?

#CovidIsNotOver #CovidIsAirborne If you follow me, I know it's not because you want to hear me sing. You know I have some children who learn in a mask.

One of my sons has been learning to play this on keyboard. Me too.

F G Em Am F G C Am

Fortnight (Taylor Swift cover)

Children can learn in masks.

UK Science teachers

Here is an easy opportunity to show scientific ideas changing over time.

2 mins in a lesson.

At GCSE, you teach that communicable diseases spread via droplets.

The World Health Organisation has now announced that Covid transmission is "airborne". A🧵 Here's a BBC bitesize representation of what you teach, and what the @AQA exam board require. It aligns pretty closely with this World Health Organisation message from 2020, which is incorrect.

The GCSE Spec has not changed, so you have to teach an idea that is wrong.

Sorry.

I've just finished work and I'm about to cycle home. These marks are fresh.

I plan on wearing these forever. I don't forsee a time when it will be safe to take them off. I will also encourage the children I teach to wear them. Forever.

This🧵is not about

#CovidIsNotOver masks, or respirators. We will get Covid under control, and respirators will be something we use on occasion.

But cycle helmets - we will need those forever.

The good news is that we can MAKE children wear them. I did this last year.

https://twitter.com/Ninawildflower/status/1682671483221340163?t=9p5dZL7Uch0Kz4KDzlo41w&s=19

In the UK, very few people wear a mask like mine. Very few people want to talk about Covid.

But millions of people are still taking some sort of protections against Covid. This might mean working from home, or reducing time spent in crowded places.

These things help. A bit. 🧵 I've met people who don't go swimming "too many viruses", spend less time in the pub "it's not the same", & avoid buses. Everyone buys more online, and schools do more online assemblies.

They don't discuss Covid, but it helps. A bit. Just not very much.

People still get sick.

I teach science. Throughout my career, students have asked me

"Sir, what will happen if we DO eat the chemicals?"

Listening to some of the testimony of scientists at the UK Covid Inquiry, I can only assume that THEIR science teachers encouraged them to eat the chemicals.

A 🧵 "Sir, what will happen if we DO drink the copper sulfate?"

"Probably nothing interesting, but you may have to go to hospital. Hospitals are busy, and you will need to wait. That will be boring."

I'm not a data account. I can't tell you about Children's A&E wait times.