Category Archives: uncategorized

Stephen Downes links to Amy Burvall on her daughter’s reliance on her friend Ellie as a source of information. I think the question in her antipenultimate paragraph: “Do we crave more temporal, less formal interactions, even if it means the … Continue reading →

This article claims that “critical thinking” should not be taught as an independent discipline – largely because success in any particular area is allegedly more dependent on detailed knowledge of that area. But one of the main reasons for teaching “critical … Continue reading →

Inverse Functions are certainly a minefield for students, and the situation is not helped by teachers’ use of sloppy language to describe the concept and the prescription of a mindless ritual for answering assigned questions. This article points in the … Continue reading →

Connie, this is for you: The BBC has an annual series called 100 Women. BBC 100 Women names 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year. We create documentaries, features and interviews about their lives, giving more space … Continue reading →

By Rob CoxNEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) – This is the week when all Americans give thanks for the bounties bestowed on them by the Blessed Creator…   Source: Cox: Liberal elite owe gratitude to Trump voters | Reuters

Source: Munk Debates – U.S. Election This is a very misleading press release! It leads the non-reader to conclude that the resolution was approved by the audience when the “winning” team just managed to reduce its rate of disapproval. This … Continue reading →

In general, I find that commitment to a text which one can interpret for oneself is less harmful than commitment to some class of annointed interpreters of such a  text. And although I don’t share such a commitment myself, I do … Continue reading →

Matthew Buckley is writing a nice series of articles for the Boston Review about The Search for New Physics at CERN . He is aiming to give enough of the background for readers to get an idea of how recent observations may indicate … Continue reading →

Celebrating his status as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, Donald Trump thanked his family and supporters, and was as magnanimous as he could manage regarding his recent opponent Ted Cruz. But he turned somewhat ungracious in his concession of … Continue reading →

British journalist Paul Mason seems to echo Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything in his claim that There Is No Market-Driven Solution To Our Climate Catastrophe But although I am no fan of concentrated private capital I think both of them beg … Continue reading →

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Suggests Canada, Others Will Have To ‘Get Out’ Of Oil (He left off the word “consumption” but I’m sure that’s what he meant)

The Chronicle of Higher Education asks: Does Engineering Education Breed Terrorists? But I suspect that it’s more about whom the discipline appeals to than how they are trained Some things that might attract a person to engineering (not necessarily applicable … Continue reading →

It’s now possible to incorporate very large amounts of variable renewable power like solar and wind into the electric grid cost-effectively without harming reliability. Here’s how. Source: Why The Renewables Revolution Is Now Unstoppable | ThinkProgress This is all very … Continue reading →

According to Shannon Rupp at The Tyee Journo-owned media shop Blacklock’s Reporter battled a breach of their paywall, and won. which she definitely thinks is a “good thing” – contra, say, Howard Knopf and Michael Geist.  

If anything is sillier than demanding “original receipts” for purchases on behalf of an organization it must be the idea of doing likewise for “gifts in kind” – especially since many such gifts are of items purchased so long ago … Continue reading →

I am a member of an organization whose Finance Committee has been advised to require “original receipts” for all reimbursement requests (and also for “gifts in kind”! But I’ll get to that second bit of nonsense later). Now it should … Continue reading →

This is cool because it has several components. That the iron content of spinach is a myth is itself a myth is just the starting point of a fascinating investigation of a number of related myths about how the confusion … Continue reading →

  In a review of Vaclav Smil’s books on global energy use, Tim Maly at The Atlantic, after explaining the virtual impossibility of transitioning to low energy density primary power sources in time to avert potentially catastrophic global warming, tells us that: We … Continue reading →

A recent article in The Atlantic piqued my interest but left me very much unsatisfied as to what, if anything, underlies the “pantone” system. So I decided to Google for more info. The second reference I found was a lot … Continue reading →

According to conventional wisdom (as expressed in ‘Seriously,Science?’ at discovermagazine.com): We all know that plastic is generally terrible for the environment because it doesn’t biodegrade, and just sits in landfills. But why is having carbon locked up in relatively small … Continue reading →