Month: August 2011

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…

http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/08/29/confessions_of_a_bad_teacher

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…

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

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…

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

…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…

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-12/london-s-rioters-are-thatcher-s-grandchildren-commentary-by-pankaj-mishra.html

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

http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/sorry-to-be-so-sober-but-the-world-is-not-ending-20110809-1iku7.html

…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…

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…

Who knew? http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/08/06/good_school_excerpt (well, I did…)

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.