Month: August 2011
The Robber Barons of Academic Publishing
Truth from George Monbiot: http://www.monbiot.com/2011/08/29/the-lairds-of-learning/ My own particular beef in this area, in addition to all those he has articulated so nicely, is online journal subscriptions. If a university subscribes to a paper journal for 20 years, then quits the subscription, it has an archive of 20 years worth of journals in paper form that…
Confessions of A Bad Teacher
http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/08/29/confessions_of_a_bad_teacher
Philosophy Education Sorely Needed
Alex did a Philosophy and Reason course in Year 11 and 12 that she enjoyed very much, and I have been saying for a while that *all* school students should learn philosophy. Philosophy is, in my opinion, no less important than English, maths and science in preparing students for life. Excellent points made in this…
Good stuff from David Friedman
I’m not an atheist, and I have to admit I have issues with the approaches of some of what P Z Myers (whose stuff I like a lot) calls the ‘gnu atheists’. This blog post from David Friedman is a very nice rebuttal to some of their more simplistic arguments: http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/2008/01/atheism-and-religion.html Most of the gnu…
So, I guess we’ll stop hearing the gloating about ‘Climategate’ now
I’m joking, of course: people who don’t care about the truth don’t care about the truth. But here’s some for people who do: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-22/climate-change-scientist-cleared-in-u-s-data-altering-inquiry.html
An Aesthetic1
To me, this is beautiful music. Not rough, tough, scary but beautiful. Clearly there is something about taste that is innate and something learned: as some of you know, ABBA was my gateway drug and it takes some listening to ‘get’ everything that’s going on in this… I’m not sure whether I have a point…
This
We don’t need draconian new laws. We need to chill, and individuals need to take responsibility, but what we’re doing is working: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/death-on-aust-roads-down-22pc-in-5-years/story-e6freonf-1226115243096
And, for Mark, a balanced take on the riots
…which makes pretty much the point he made about the rush to judgement. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/england-aflame-and-everyones-too-quick-to-blame-20110813-1is35.html I guess I need to remember that you’re not all in my head. My biased posts were posted as a counterbalance to bias I’d read elsewhere, and I know both perspectives were needed to make sense. But if you hadn’t been…
More good sense on the UK riots
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-12/london-s-rioters-are-thatcher-s-grandchildren-commentary-by-pankaj-mishra.html
Always knew Russell Brand was more than just a pretty face
Saying some of the things I wanted to say about the UK riots, only better: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/11/london-riots-davidcameron?CMP=NECNETTXT8187
Sense about the stock market
http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/sorry-to-be-so-sober-but-the-world-is-not-ending-20110809-1iku7.html
Why I’m ticking ‘No religion’ on the census
…despite the fact that I do have confused, confusing, postmodern, nebulous theistic leanings… Basically, there’s no box available for ‘post-Christian’, although that’s probably the most apt description for what I am. I’m in an on-going, multiyear process of thinking through life, the universe and everything: here are a few of the waystations, but there’s lots…
Fukishima – Colin Peters brings some truth on Twitter
I’m sorry, I feel a rant coming on. Fukushima is not “the worst catastrophe in the history of the world.” Unless, possibly, your *only* measure of how catastrophic an event is, is in Bq/m^2 The tsunami on the same day killed more than 15,000 people. Bhopal killed as many or more. The 2004 tsunami killed…
Teacher Quality Matters More Than Class Size
Who knew? http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/08/06/good_school_excerpt (well, I did…)
One for Mark Patterson
From Pharyngula: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/08/i_guess_im_going_to_have_to_ge.php I’m by no means the gleeful atheist P Z is, but I seem to recall you making the ‘no new DNA’ claim in the fairly recent past.