Category Archives: social issues

Shadi Hamid in DemocracyArsenal

Posted on 2006-06-19 by alan

In democracyarsenal.org, Shadi Hamid makes a Note to Muslims objecting to a the claim by Zaid Shakir that his wish for an Islamic law is shared by “every Muslim who is honest”. Perhaps the wish for a Muslim country governed … Continue reading →

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Iraq’s War Porn

Posted on 2006-06-15 by alan

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Iraq’s War Porn is powerfully written and has stimulated a thoughtful set of responses – well worth reading.

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Follies of the Wise

Posted on 2006-06-14 by alan

This Butterflies and Wheels Article is the introduction by Frederick Crews to his book ‘Follies of the Wise’

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Weapons of Math Instruction

Posted on 2006-06-13 by alan

This has been around for at least a couple of years but keeps returning to the email inbox so I thought I’d point out that although the authors of the joke seem to see “al-gebra” as just a funny coincidence,I’ve … Continue reading →

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Confusion about Wikipedia

Posted on 2006-06-11 by alan

In Edge; DIGITAL MAOISM: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism, Jaron Lanier garbles many concepts. His complaints about Wikipedia are best answered by the response of Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg, who point out his apparent ignorance of the … Continue reading →

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Captain Copyright Caught Copying

Posted on 2006-06-09 by alan

This is amusing but also frightening. Our public institutions are being blackmailed into paying huge fees to an organization which is aggressively promoting a wrong understanding of ethics and the law mainly for the benefit of institutions which have no … Continue reading →

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Dyson on Dennet in NYReview of Books

Posted on 2006-06-09 by alan

Freeman Dyson reviews Daniel Dennet’s Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. He gives what appears to be a fair summary of the book, but takes issue with Dennet’s opinion that religion is harmful and states “I see religion … Continue reading →

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Whiteboard Movies

Posted on 2006-06-05 by alan

Whiteboard Movies

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ALTRUISTIC HORIZONS

Posted on 2006-06-02 by alan

David Brin discusses how tribalism may be an evolved characteristic of humans which appears to follow a pattern in which the scope of altruistic feeling is inversely related to the amount of fear generated by the environment. Good idea and … Continue reading →

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Flemming Rose on “Europe’s politics of victimology”

Posted on 2006-06-02 by alan

Jyllands Posten editor Flemming Rose defends himself re the mohammed cartoons which idiot Mullah Krekar decried as a “declaration of war” against Islam claiming without apprent irony about Western secularists that “as the losing side, they commit violence.” Unfortunately Rose … Continue reading →

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check out mathplayground.com

Posted on 2006-06-01 by alan

This does seem worth looking at for K-8(+) level online math activities.

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Serving Maths

Posted on 2006-05-29 by alan

Serving Maths (at York in the UK) is a project combining various assessment tools in mathematics.

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Nextbook with Goldstein on Spinoza

Posted on 2006-05-23 by alan

Arts&Letters Daily linked to this interview (at nextbook.org) with Rebecca Goldstein (author of ‘Betraying Spinoza’). In her answer to the last question Ms Goldstein asserts that “despite himself, Spinoza identified with Jews”, citing as evidence his emotional reaction to a … Continue reading →

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Dirda on Goldstein on Spinoza

Posted on 2006-05-23 by alan

From the Washington Post (via Atrs&Letters Daily) comes This review by Michael Dirda of the book ‘Betraying Spinoza’ by Rebecca Goldstein.

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AlterNet: Why Religion Must End

Posted on 2006-05-21 by alan

This AlterNet interview with Sam Harris identifies him as a “leading atheist” but the acceptance of authoritative “leadership” is exactly what is wrong with religion and if “leading” is here intended to mean generating new ideas then the word is … Continue reading →

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AlterNet: How the Right Stole the ’60s (And Why We Should Get Them Back)

Posted on 2006-05-19 by alan

AlterNet: How the Right Stole the ’60s (And Why We Should Get Them Back)

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BCcampus Online Communities –

Posted on 2006-05-15 by site admin

BCcampus Online Communities – “BCcampus EdTech Online” will be discussing on-line testing on Wed May 17 @noon

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Silence: A short history of our atoms

Posted on 2006-05-12 by site admin

Silence: A short history of our atoms is actually a posting by Dutch blogger Renee Alkmar about the idea of science as a form of religion. I arrived there via the link from the author’s March21 comment on the Jan24 … Continue reading →

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Philosophy Talk: The Blog: Does Truth Matter?

Posted on 2006-04-27 by site admin

From the ‘PhilosophyTalk’ blog, Ken Taylor’s posting on Does Truth Matter? leads to a discussion in which the question of whether the question has a well defined answer becomes one of the issues to address. But although “Truth matters” may … Continue reading →

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Senator John Kerry | The Right to Dissent

Posted on 2006-04-25 by site admin

Senator John Kerry | The Right to Dissent was linked from David Brin

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