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More Post-Modern and Liberal Arts stuff
Jan. 17th, 2006 10:35 pmAm doing Tang Soo Do again. It's putting a crimp in my budget, and my schedule, but I'll live. They do some Hapkido here as well, so I'm spending a lot more time being thrown to the ground. It's interesting, and I'll have to see if I can continue it.
Was sort of a slow day at work, so I thought about something that's been bugging me since epiphaniebloom poked her head up. Now that I think about it, I think that considering Post-Modernism will tell you a lot about what's been going wrong with Academia recently. Since I only have one horse to ride in my stable (or at least that I'm bringing out) I think I'll ramble aimlessly about Post-Modernism in the context of the unstable relationship between the sciences and the humanities.
( Science v. Humanities: Who Started This Mess? )
Was sort of a slow day at work, so I thought about something that's been bugging me since epiphaniebloom poked her head up. Now that I think about it, I think that considering Post-Modernism will tell you a lot about what's been going wrong with Academia recently. Since I only have one horse to ride in my stable (or at least that I'm bringing out) I think I'll ramble aimlessly about Post-Modernism in the context of the unstable relationship between the sciences and the humanities.
( Science v. Humanities: Who Started This Mess? )
Thoughts on ID and other random things
Dec. 9th, 2005 10:13 pmFeeling sort of scatter-brained today, so I'll give you a whole bunch of stuff:
I suppose I should complain about how, now that there is a forthcoming forum purge on GAFF, all my reviews will vanish into the abyss of the internet, and will never be heard from again. Well, I've decided not to whine. I am wondering though how we're supposed to keep track of what's already been reviewed before reviewing it again.
FFVIII and Kingdom Hearts badfic reviews in progress, but my muse is still missing. Tell her to get back here posthaste please.
Quote of the Day:
From the NY Times Magazine Article on the release of the Norton's Anthology of Children's Literature, regarding Harry Potter:
Mr. Zipes called the Potter books, "the ideological champions of patriarchal society," adding: "They celebrate the magical powers of a boy, with a girl - Hermione - cheerleading him. You can predict the outcome."
Which raises the question, if we could use a word editor to swap the gender, and some of the clothing, of all of the characters, would it then become a good story? Possibly, but this type of logic is apparently beyond me, which is why I would never make a good literature major, I can't just let it go. In this case, I think the underlying lesson is that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Fordham's Review of US State Science Standards for K-12 education is out. You can get a copy here, although they are sort of lengthy. I am glad to report that California officially pwnzers all of you, even though that uppity Virginia is getting close.
Note, this has nothing to do with how well science is taught, only how good the standards are.
And in that note, some thoughts on Intelligent Design:
( Intelligent Design Prepares for the Title Match )
I suppose I should complain about how, now that there is a forthcoming forum purge on GAFF, all my reviews will vanish into the abyss of the internet, and will never be heard from again. Well, I've decided not to whine. I am wondering though how we're supposed to keep track of what's already been reviewed before reviewing it again.
FFVIII and Kingdom Hearts badfic reviews in progress, but my muse is still missing. Tell her to get back here posthaste please.
Quote of the Day:
From the NY Times Magazine Article on the release of the Norton's Anthology of Children's Literature, regarding Harry Potter:
Mr. Zipes called the Potter books, "the ideological champions of patriarchal society," adding: "They celebrate the magical powers of a boy, with a girl - Hermione - cheerleading him. You can predict the outcome."
Which raises the question, if we could use a word editor to swap the gender, and some of the clothing, of all of the characters, would it then become a good story? Possibly, but this type of logic is apparently beyond me, which is why I would never make a good literature major, I can't just let it go. In this case, I think the underlying lesson is that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Fordham's Review of US State Science Standards for K-12 education is out. You can get a copy here, although they are sort of lengthy. I am glad to report that California officially pwnzers all of you, even though that uppity Virginia is getting close.
Note, this has nothing to do with how well science is taught, only how good the standards are.
And in that note, some thoughts on Intelligent Design:
( Intelligent Design Prepares for the Title Match )
Well, that could have gone better
Dec. 2nd, 2005 07:50 pmThis week was one never-ending stream of disasters, starting on Monday and going straight through to me giving up on being anything remotely approaching productive at about 6:30. I had intended on going home early today. Instead, it's another nine and a half hour day at the office, with optional time at home. At least I can take solace in the fact that it isn't just us, everyone's week has been miserable. I especially feel sorry for Run II Sys people, who are probably sick and tired of dealing with all of our production crap. Today was still the best of all, opening with a complete disk failure on one of the production headnodes, resulting in us frantically transferring data to another disk which was then swapped in. There are days when I really hate this system.
Weather is also starting to get cold. It was 10 F (about -12C) when I went to work in the morning, with a fairly stiff wind. I'm going to have to think about wearing my hat more often.
In a note that's only of interest to two people on my FL, I spoke briefly to Alan Weinstein today. I swear he looks younger than he used to. I went to his LIGO talk a few weeks ago, and he also seems more energetic than he used to be. This confuses me.
So; to amuse you, or infuriate you, or whatever, I'll give you some thoughts that I had on the week before Thanksgiving, on reading some of the articles in Slate's College Week. And even better, it's basically unedited.
Ha ha! I sense big flames headed my way.
( More Thoughts on the Liberal Arts )
Weather is also starting to get cold. It was 10 F (about -12C) when I went to work in the morning, with a fairly stiff wind. I'm going to have to think about wearing my hat more often.
In a note that's only of interest to two people on my FL, I spoke briefly to Alan Weinstein today. I swear he looks younger than he used to. I went to his LIGO talk a few weeks ago, and he also seems more energetic than he used to be. This confuses me.
So; to amuse you, or infuriate you, or whatever, I'll give you some thoughts that I had on the week before Thanksgiving, on reading some of the articles in Slate's College Week. And even better, it's basically unedited.
Ha ha! I sense big flames headed my way.
( More Thoughts on the Liberal Arts )
Starting to Get a Little Cool Around Here
Oct. 29th, 2005 12:47 pmI've been sick recently, which is probably being exacerbated by the fact that things are starting to get a little cool around here (since I'm from southern California I can skip the normal machismo and tell you that I find it a bit cool these days-although not cold yet). Unfortunately, I think I'm still a bit sick, which just tells you about the content of this entry.
So, I've decided to get a little more warmth around here, and what better way to do that than another attempt to solicit a batch of flames from my friends list?
However, seeing as I didn't get much on the flamey side the last time around, I've got to come up with something better. Last time I did Science and Academia. This time I'll add on to it one more topic to attack, Feminism. If this doesn't get me flames, I may have to resort to actually coming up with creative opinions of my own.
Actually, I have more than a passing interest in this topic. I'm especially curious to see if either![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
virgi or mergle decide to show up and comment, as both of those ladies are much more familiar with the terrain I'm about to begin to traverse (they will also probably flame me to a crisp, since I'm not being very tactful, or coherent, these days-or so I've been told). I've also picked a time when Larry Summers has more or less faded from the headlines to avoid knee-jerk reactions. But I'll even take knee jerk flames if they're good.
( The Debate Summers Didn't Start: The Gender Ratio in Science and Engineering )
So, I've decided to get a little more warmth around here, and what better way to do that than another attempt to solicit a batch of flames from my friends list?
However, seeing as I didn't get much on the flamey side the last time around, I've got to come up with something better. Last time I did Science and Academia. This time I'll add on to it one more topic to attack, Feminism. If this doesn't get me flames, I may have to resort to actually coming up with creative opinions of my own.
Actually, I have more than a passing interest in this topic. I'm especially curious to see if either
virgi or mergle decide to show up and comment, as both of those ladies are much more familiar with the terrain I'm about to begin to traverse (they will also probably flame me to a crisp, since I'm not being very tactful, or coherent, these days-or so I've been told). I've also picked a time when Larry Summers has more or less faded from the headlines to avoid knee-jerk reactions. But I'll even take knee jerk flames if they're good.( The Debate Summers Didn't Start: The Gender Ratio in Science and Engineering )
Because Nobody Wanted It
Sep. 30th, 2005 08:41 pmI must admit, I'm disappointed in my Friends List. It seems that, although I have chosen intelligent and thoughtful people, the number of people on my FL who are wont to begin foaming at the mouth in rage and proceed to attack me intellectually form a very small minority. In fact, I don't think I've ever been able to entice anybody into a fight at all.
Well, that won't do.
So I'm being forced to take drastic measures. In an attempt to instigate some manner of conflict, I am now going to castigate the Liberal Arts curricula in American Universities. In the process I will probably end up insulting half of the Liberal Arts majors in the world, several of whom appear to be on my friends list. But that's okay. I can handle your flaming. Bring it on!
...please?
( Liberal Arts and the Sciences in US Universities )
All right, if that didn't get somebody angry at me, I'll have to resort to demanding money in exchange for writing crappy fanfiction.
Well, that won't do.
So I'm being forced to take drastic measures. In an attempt to instigate some manner of conflict, I am now going to castigate the Liberal Arts curricula in American Universities. In the process I will probably end up insulting half of the Liberal Arts majors in the world, several of whom appear to be on my friends list. But that's okay. I can handle your flaming. Bring it on!
...please?
( Liberal Arts and the Sciences in US Universities )
All right, if that didn't get somebody angry at me, I'll have to resort to demanding money in exchange for writing crappy fanfiction.
