Category: Off Topic
ALERT: A caution on the ongoing hacker attack on the Java programming language
| January 22, 2013 | Posted by kairosfocus under Comp. Sci. / Eng., Culture, News, Off Topic, Society |
Off topic, but important as a service to UD’s readers. HERE. Pardon, I took some days before commenting, until I found some useful info beyond the media panic headlines. Notice the clip from Oracle’s advisory, the link to the FAQ and the further link on gory technical details. The bottomline is that over the past… more
FOR RECORD: A follow up on the implications of turning schools into soft targets in an age of mass attack events
| December 22, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under Ethics, News, Off Topic, Science, worldview issues and society |
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While it is Christmas and we all hope to turn our attention to more pleasant matters, unfortunately there are some concerns that will not wait. So, pardon a few moments to address such. But first , let me wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. Now, in the past few days,… more
A tale of two tragedies, in China and the US — reflections and suggestions
| December 15, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under Constitution, Culture, Ethics, Laws, News, Off Topic, Popular culture, Society |
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Yesterday was a hard day, even for those like me who were quite late to the news. We woke up here to the news on BBC — a Caribbean tradition — that someone in China had attacked a classroom with a knife of some kind and had slashed twenty-two children. This, in a country where… more
A 9-11 Memorial, on 9-11 + 11 years
| September 11, 2012 | Posted by kairosfocus under News, Off Topic |
Today is the 11th Anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. Let us pause for a minute of silence, and remember. (My personal memorial is here.) more
Visible asteroid flyby tonight
| June 14, 2012 | Posted by News under Intelligent Design, News, Off Topic |
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The size of a city block, and you can watch it live on the Web. more
From The Best Schools: Life as a scholar when you can’t say things that are just plain true . . .
| May 18, 2012 | Posted by News under academic freedom, News, Off Topic |
A writer was fired from Chronicle of Higher Education for alleged racism, but … more
Rotating snakes illusion, courtesy New Scientist
| May 7, 2012 | Posted by News under News, Off Topic |
Try it. more
From The Best Schools: Nonjudgmentalism is another name for desertion and cruelty
| March 19, 2012 | Posted by News under News, Off Topic |
Three exceptions to the non-attack rule: people with differing political views, fundamentalist Christians, and rural working-class whites. more
From The Best Schools: “Fix Fishtown Central High” social work schemes: If low self-esteem isn’t really the problem, …
| February 13, 2012 | Posted by News under Education, News, Off Topic |
“The trouble with Fishtown teens’ self-esteem is that it is too often inflated by future sources of trouble. Let’s look at the four Fishtown teen high school dropouts’ choices again. ” more
The Best from The Best Schools … Ritalin Gone Wrong, and Why Money Doesn’t Drive Morals
| February 12, 2012 | Posted by News under Education, Intelligent Design, News, Off Topic |
… a surprisingly level-headed and humane article in The New York Times challenging our newspaper of record’s standard Darwinian-reductionist line on human nature. more
Why proposed improvements to failing schools don’t really work, Part II: Eat Smart!!
| February 7, 2012 | Posted by News under Education, News, Off Topic |
A whimsical look at how an education bureaucracy can bring about improvements despite itself … more
Merry Christmas back in fashion?
| December 25, 2011 | Posted by News under Culture, News, Off Topic |
A tiny minority of state nannies, social engineers, and pressure groups specialize in taking offense, and make their living from it. And they are offended by us unwashed hordes generally, so …. more
Off-topic: Does a man’s honour really “lie between the legs of a woman”?
| December 8, 2011 | Posted by News under News, Off Topic |
In a global society, we need a philosophically coherent means of confronting cultures that believe and act on such views, not an excuse for accommodating them. more
Is it still wrong if another culture says it is right? A teacher’s surprising discovery
| December 3, 2011 | Posted by News under Culture, Off Topic |
“I had expected strong aversion; but that’s not what I got. Instead, they became confused. They seemed not to know what to think.” more
Breaking 11 news …
| November 11, 2011 | Posted by News under News, Off Topic |
Okay, 11 11 11 is fast departing, and no matter how trivial you think it is, it won’t be back for a century. Meanwhile, in other 11 news, courtesy the Toronto Star Do you like playing around with ones and 11s? Take the last two digits of the year in which you were born and… more
Why America might pull through the demographic collapse
| October 31, 2011 | Posted by News under News, Off Topic |
It is mainly religious people who raise children, and more women in America are religious. more
Why Islam is in as much trouble as the West, despite the hype
| October 24, 2011 | Posted by News under News, Off Topic |
Because numbers matter and no one can beat demographic collapse more
I am glad Eric Anderson is happy with his three thousand tyrants
| September 20, 2011 | Posted by O'Leary under Off Topic |
I must have missed the part about the Americans breaking away from Britain so that they could found a society and culture where government polices every aspect of life. Stirring. more
“Atheists Don’t Have No Songs”
| April 5, 2011 | Posted by William Dembski under Off Topic |
Steve Martin performed the following on Letterman a few weeks back: more
Off topic: May the day soon come that you’d have to be Jared Loughner to think growing speech control is a problem
| March 12, 2011 | Posted by O'Leary under Off Topic |
Here tragic mishap says something I could not quite understand, and maybe Phaedros did: In discussing speech controls , as here, I said, Anyone who doubts the story should consider that, in the modern world, huge empires imprisoning billions of people and killing tens of millions, have been based on speech control (implicitly, thought control)… more