tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80629402012-01-28T05:34:07.804+13:00Findingsinspired mysteries, mysterious inspirationsTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.comBlogger26001100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-84479295015222793032012-01-27T23:52:00.001+13:002012-01-28T05:34:07.817+13:00GnomonomythicAnd it came to pass that Atlantis had need of heroes. But some had made themselves as unto gods, and hence disqualified themselves; and some had feet of clay, for they were idols; and some disdained the very idea of heroism, preferring other terms more quantitative and less qualitative.
Most disdainful were those who themselves wrote heroic tales, for they pointed out how easy it was to invent Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-61333804256407986242012-01-26T23:27:00.001+13:002012-01-27T22:31:53.195+13:00Transfer WindowSometimes you sit around and let the imagination roam across the imaginary. Surprisingly, one of the ideas that often strolls across the table between one pint and the next is that of transfer windows for teachers.
Can you imagine if you coupled education league tables with teacher recruitment? Your board could authorise a transfer budget, which you could use to poach teachers from rival schoolsTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-22639294729828111782012-01-25T23:03:00.000+13:002012-01-26T04:03:58.208+13:00Pulau Blakang MatiSomewhere on the ridge between Churchward's Mu and Sclater's Lemuria, there is an island. That island is called, by its longest-term inhabitants, the 'Island of Death-From-Behind'. Some wags have therefore concluded that the ancient indigenes knew what a civil service was.
But emerging from the Atlantean towers to the north comes a book, presently being proofed and completed. It is the tale of Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-36648801183029163772012-01-24T19:56:00.001+13:002012-01-25T01:09:08.090+13:00Why Do They Do So Well?There's nothing wrong with élites per se. Even the most egalitarian of human institutions will spawn an élite of some sort, and in most cases, it is this élite which makes history, spinning it out as if it were a particularly recalcitrant fibre being made into some monstrous tapestry.
But because élites are so dominant, because they are the core of every republic and the key to getting things Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-37863977326068222022012-01-23T16:55:00.000+13:002012-01-23T22:01:08.221+13:00Year of the Water Dragon"God is working His purpose out as year succeeds to year; God is working His purpose out and the time is drawing near. Nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be, when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God, and the waters cover the sea."
So goes an old hymn. But the waters really are rising, bringing chaos as ever. For that is the symbolism of Tiamat, old Chaos, Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-40192761435439636822012-01-22T16:36:00.001+13:002012-01-22T21:42:09.420+13:00Water Dragon Year This Will BeThe Chinese calendar allows one of five elements and one of twelve animals to represent each year. The year that begins on 23 Jan is a water dragon year, which of course appears once in every 60 years.
It's therefore fairly appropriate to use the idiomatic blessing 龍馬精神 (longma jingshen) or 'spirit of the dragon-horse' at this time. It alludes to the virtues of the mythical dragon-horse, Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-91165477314373203972012-01-21T19:08:00.000+13:002012-01-22T00:13:31.759+13:00DoubledThere is a rainbow above me
And the ground beneath me.
There is the sky of stars my roof,
And the trees that guard me.
There is cloud against the sun's heat
And the sunlight in day;
There is wind across the moon's glow
And the cold dew at night.
Here with my cat I sit and wait;
Here with my love I drink and dine.
When fifty years are gone
My memories are dust.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-54431979933336478072012-01-20T16:31:00.000+13:002012-01-20T21:38:34.462+13:00Cheetahs and LeopardsI've loved watching cats of all kinds since I was young. I actually entertained ideas of being a zookeeper once. When I was in primary school, I knew the major cats (family Felidae) of sub-family Pantherinae (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard) and that they weren't felines, technically (sub-family Felinae takes care of the domestic cat, cheetah, etc).
I was therefore vastly entertained to see someoneTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-68531776222487954792012-01-19T23:22:00.000+13:002012-01-20T13:30:34.850+13:00Gaia Endrainedi caught this evening weeding's failure
kingdom of greening's greatness
fern-frond flashing furious flora
surging stalks storm-drain seething
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There are some lovely leaves to be seen in that drain. They are deep green, with pink hearts and dappled yellow. There are some tiny fernlets and an accretion of moss. The drain may be discomfited, but Gaia has been poking her elegant nose into the Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-69430946846331354292012-01-18T13:48:00.000+13:002012-01-18T18:55:27.364+13:00Millennium CatalogThe golden cat sits in the golden sun. This is something he has been doing for nigh on a decade now. He is no longer the jumpy kitten he used to be, hurtling around the bedroom and bouncing up and down.
He came to us, abandoned in a storm-drain, at the turn of the century. Now, into the second decade of the new century, there are days on which I wonder when he will no longer be with us.
On daysTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-66131714823837120042012-01-17T23:20:00.000+13:002012-01-18T04:28:25.500+13:00AgricultureI have sown no wild oats,
Have tilled no black earth;
No mystery of Gaia
Surrenders to me.
The vine, date, and olive,
Oak and ash and thorn —
These mysteries are hidden,
I have lost them all.
But I have the black sauce,
And the seed of heat;
The noodle is summoned,
The dumpling is stewed.
I sit in the hot world.
The steam is rising,
The mineral rain falls
Into the sunlight.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-24985836685221614742012-01-16T17:19:00.001+13:002012-01-16T22:31:11.759+13:00Curriculum DevelopmentAs most people know, curriculum is the Latin word for racetrack. It is the course which chariots, horse, or humans run; it defines their ambit, and hence their ambition (which is the driving force behind their performance on the track).
The point about curricula is that they are courses laid out with a certain amount of planning. A straight course, like a 100m sprint, is an explosion of power Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-35485804336699036782012-01-15T23:06:00.000+13:002012-01-16T13:11:29.032+13:00Singular AnswersThere is a human need to find singular answers to questions. There are, unfortunately and ironically, several kinds of 'singular'.
There is the 'singular' that is an apparently unique answer, the lazy form of which is the generic answer decorated and customised to look different from all other variants of the generic original.
There is the 'singular' that is odd, eccentric, deliberately made Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-90541831448410155012012-01-14T07:46:00.001+13:002012-01-14T12:54:15.258+13:00Under GroundsI had a rather peculiar dream last night. My remembered dreams are few and far between, but when I do get them, they're doozies.
I dreamt that I was a sleeper agent for an unknown conspiracy, or at least one I had no suspicion of being related to at the time. For some reason, I was hiding out at my parents' place. When the agents of authority came knocking, I had to escape, a process which Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-70140143617704406822012-01-13T23:53:00.001+13:002012-01-14T04:54:27.117+13:00The Glove Song of J Eugene StiglitzIn the world the tankers come and go
Talking of Michelangelo...
No longer apes and peacocks and brazen locks,
No longer ivory and resin, amber and socks...
Surely is underdevelopment the bane
Say the prophets of the ticker
We should pump it up, inflate the pain.
I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the garment of my mattress flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-75501815151106133852012-01-12T22:30:00.000+13:002012-01-13T18:35:16.815+13:00Mass ProductionWhat is this thing called mass? How is it produced? Why is it apparently an intrinsic property of some parts of the universe? Is it a dimension like space or time? After all, when discussing dimensionality of units, we tend to look at mass, length and time.
These thoughts flashed through my head as someone came up with the fateful words, "Do you teach physics?"
My first response, which Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-36476250869711635982012-01-11T16:02:00.002+13:002012-01-13T07:58:38.790+13:00Language and TruthReading China Miéville's latest book, Embassytown, one has the gruesome thought that Ursula Le Guin and Jack Vance have decided to play a terrible joke by sending young Miéville a bunch of the naughtiest linguistic ideas ever and letting him run wild.
What if language could only express truth as perceived by a sentient biological mind (how ever defined)? There are enormous consequences — for a Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-68497160761705753422012-01-10T23:34:00.001+13:002012-01-11T04:34:41.258+13:00The Pile On My DeskSometimes you think of a post title, and then it occurs to you that 'The Colour Out Of Space' would be an equally good title. It does funny things to your mind.
But here I have in front of me a pile, indeed. And the pile is full of stuff which I am reading, have been reading, or will have read in a while. Besides the obvious fiction, which includes much Peter Beagle (an interest rekindled by a Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-54697361731654972812012-01-09T21:36:00.001+13:002012-01-10T02:40:06.432+13:00Beyond the WeakenedAnd it is the next day the man has a fever but it is not the same man and not the same fever and you drive and she drives and we all drive together the man who would be driving all he might be thinking about is which iron he should use to drive the ball the hole the course of antibiotics and the course of holes are one in his streetlight-revealing nightmare ride the drive is all until you get to Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-74845454667259519052012-01-08T23:33:00.001+13:002012-01-10T02:36:14.607+13:00WeakenedSunday you send the man with the auto-immune syndrome through the barrage of tedium and nightmare sensations that is modern healthcare catheters and all and you wonder why he is confused because you are confused and don't know it and after all why should he not be confused for the light is weak and grey and blue and the staff are greenish grey and blue and the beds are metal or maybe plastic and Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-26156438681974791152012-01-07T00:52:00.001+13:002012-01-07T05:55:19.595+13:00Con-TemplativeSometimes there are awe-inspiring pieces of writing. And sometimes, there are pieces of writing that inspire other things. I have found a template for political speeches of a certain kind. It is here. It has gone memetic.
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"When I made the decision to [execute life-changing event] in [year], [something] was not a key factor. Loss of [precious something], [painful stimulus] on myself and myTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-7351950656496957682012-01-06T18:32:00.000+13:002012-01-06T23:36:28.818+13:00It All Comes Down To ThisEvery year, it all comes down to this, that one's life and its accomplishments and decorations are reified into a single number. That number, no longer satisfied to be half a right angle or the answer to life, the universe, and everything plus three, is the refined prism-exudation of enlightenment. Or so it seems.
It is only the beginning, young Jedi Wyverns. If you truly believed, as your Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-9742303962895925702012-01-05T23:30:00.000+13:002012-01-06T23:32:36.337+13:00ThurpentineIt is serpentine, but lithped. Or perhaps aspiring paint thinner. But it is also the sitting around in crouching wariness or stooped immobility as one awaits the results of other people's labours. O what is that sound, as Auden might have asked.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-26418854684978269362012-01-04T23:02:00.000+13:002012-01-05T04:03:24.255+13:00Jerusalem by the MerlionAnd was that ship in ancient times
Docked at this city's pirate port,
And did the lone wolf's mighty spawn
Hunt fin and scale and fluke for sport?
And did his burning eye see true
The vision of commerce and trade
And was the Venice of the East
Indeed the slave of Mammon made?
Bring them the paper of their chains
Bring them the numbers of their bonds
Bring them the season of the rains
That fillsTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-24392738324443193302012-01-03T23:44:00.000+13:002012-01-04T05:38:17.117+13:00TwitchierOver here, Tuesday is grass-cutting day. The neighbourhood grass-cutter goes from house to house cutting the grass, mowing the lawns, blowing the leaves. The cat gets very twitchy, and so does everyone else.
I fled the house at 2 pm to do some chores over at my parents' place. They had some repairs and other tasks that needed carrying out. We sat down for coffee and pie. It was a good time.
I Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-36049002538428868992012-01-02T05:32:00.001+13:002012-01-04T05:34:36.198+13:00TwitchyMondays are twitchy days. You don't know what to expect, or you think you know what to expect and hate it. And then if the Monday is a holiday, it's worse. It's like having a prolonged Sabbath, which instead of being particularly sabbatical, is overabundant. Twitch.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-80074157910316932672012-01-01T20:00:00.000+13:002012-01-02T01:09:09.254+13:00YearlyLooking back on the year just past, I can now see that the learning experiences I suffered through have made me rethink education. It is becoming more and more true that direct intervention appears to jump-start learning, but habituation is a powerful force and conditioning polishes the responses and reflexes. Learning occurs best after severe trauma, while the brain (if we thought of it as Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-7661935032597435952011-12-31T23:59:00.000+13:002012-01-01T15:24:01.228+13:00The Last of 20112011 was an excellent year. But as it came to an end, I found myself humming and then singing softly to myself a grand old (and very peculiar) hymn...
Jerusalem by William Blake
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-51456835889116872982011-12-30T21:16:00.000+13:002011-12-31T14:22:16.746+13:00Servile CivetsI was in the Tower of the Book again, a pleasant way to while away a Friday afternoon. You could sense the tension in the little crowd to which I was speaking. It was like trying to produce kopi luwak under time pressure.
Everyone was politely engaged, as always. I've been the victim of these hired-gun games before, so I felt a deep sympathy for those forced to listen to me. As the old joke goesTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-12242777083342014782011-12-29T23:36:00.001+13:002011-12-30T05:41:31.877+13:00CatalumaSome time ago, we built a 'guesthouse' for the cat outside. It was a simple structure, designed to provide a refuge from accidentally-introduced dogs, bad weather, and the like.
Effectively, our house cat had become not quite an outdoorscat, but a scrounger at the borderlands. His temperament changed too. It was as if you'd plucked a person from his comfy village hut and given him an apartment Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-76393885280964811932011-12-28T04:53:00.000+13:002011-12-29T11:56:46.771+13:00CatatoniaEarly in the morning, the cat wakes dreaming. His despairing wails tell us what he has learnt: that Eden is gone, and it is not his fault. We know who he blames.
So why does the cat remain near humans?
Because he lives in hope that we will be redeemed, and that, as always, he will be able to sneak in through the door we left open behind us on our return.
Or perhaps, because God told the first Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-25309386486847083222011-12-27T23:08:00.000+13:002011-12-28T23:11:01.316+13:00Catalystit has occurred to me that some of my most serendipitous moments of reflective insight come when the cat has just stuck his claws into my foot. Pain-mediated enlightenment. Feline ideation.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-64967068075178722672011-12-26T18:11:00.001+13:002011-12-26T23:19:39.696+13:00Cat in WinterI live in the tropics, but late December is relatively cool, windy, wet — just as it is in most of the Northern Hemisphere. And the cat, the cat doesn't like it so much.
Today I sat with him. He paced around. The sky was a bright pale grey-blue, like ice. Grey wisps of cloud scudded around. The wind blew dying flowers and leaves into the patio. The cat chased some of them, sniffed suspiciously Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-73824461989778127712011-12-25T20:40:00.000+13:002011-12-26T01:51:07.456+13:00The Hapless Victims of ChristmasForty million turkeys. Children forced at lenspoint into photographic slavery and exploitation. Trees, tall and beautiful, pulped and bleached for discardable wrappers. And these are only the most obvious victims.
The common, circular argument is that this is all somehow good for us because it boosts the economy. But that's dumb. It's like saying that wearing out my knee joints for the sake of Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-7162719891774183002011-12-24T19:10:00.002+13:002011-12-25T19:29:37.664+13:00CrystallomancySo... what do you have to know in order to earn a diploma in gemology? I did some research. The results were pretty uniform. Here is a sample from the British Gemological Association's traditional list, comprising 31 syllabus sections.
1. Gem Materials
Nature and attributes of gems and ornamental materials; factors which influence the value of a stone: beauty, durability, rarity; acceptability.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-76987029302690970012011-12-23T08:49:00.000+13:002011-12-25T06:19:24.285+13:00What on Earth are We Testing?For the last few days, I've been consolidating the myriad reflections of one facet of my life in education. I've been thinking and rethinking my views on assessment and evaluation, simply because there is so much stuff in my head.
What kind of jobs do people want to do? You don't study math so that you can become a mathematician, mostly — you study it because it is foundational material for manyTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-2488869287019904052011-12-22T23:43:00.000+13:002011-12-23T04:49:08.867+13:00On a One-Horse Open SleightTo do things lightly with the hand is what legerdemain is all about; to do things swiftly with the fingers is what prestidigitation is all about. The first term means 'lightness of hand' and the second term means 'fast fingering'.
But what is 'sleight of hand'? 'Sleight' is not the past tense of 'sleigh'. Rather, it is the essence of slyness. The Old Norse has it as sloegð, which seems to me a Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-82167852646231543902011-12-21T12:11:00.000+13:002011-12-23T04:43:15.693+13:00Terms of IrritationI'm not so young now, and not so prone to being lured into energetic disputation. However, I am sometimes irritated enough to fire off broadsides. Occasionally, I have been known to set satchel demolition charges around disputants' positions and blow them up while laughing like a maniac.
Of late, I've been most irritated by the terms 'alternative assessment' (alternative to what?), 'holistic Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-21417222298447268072011-12-20T14:34:00.001+13:002011-12-21T14:39:54.145+13:00Grounds for Refusing to Register a SchoolIn the hallowed temples of the Law in Atlantis are many tablets of Law. Tablet 87 is oft ignored. On Tablet 87, in section 24, one can find these hieroglyphs, or their equivalent. They can be translated as follows, and make interesting reading:
Grounds for refusal to register a school:
24. The Hierophant of the Temple of the Book may refuse to register a school if —
(a) adequate educational Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-27756663609397280472011-12-19T16:37:00.003+13:002011-12-20T21:20:33.275+13:00No Power, No PointI can't remember if it was Edward Tufte or someone else who first said of electronic slides, "No power, no point." I guess the underlying non-point is that if there is no message to communicate, the medium is as barren as any other.
And hence, remember, the message is the key; the medium is the medium. You don't go to a public lecture and ask for the lecturer's slides in advance, surely. NeitherTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-80066988249235929642011-12-18T21:11:00.001+13:002011-12-20T21:14:49.084+13:00HolidayingHolidaying is a state of mind. It is even more obvious when you look at the etymology of the term — a holiday is a holy day, a day set apart for spiritual reflection. It is not of this world. But the only way things can be not of this world is when the human being responds in faith that there are things not of this world, not dreamt of in our philosophies.
And so, I am on holiday. Whenever I Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-81053274855333771402011-12-17T23:59:00.001+13:002011-12-18T05:32:42.038+13:00Kinds of Assessment (Part II)Of course, you can always consider other attributes of assessment when differentiating between the different kinds. You can consider the kind of assessor, the perspective of assessment, and the intention behind assessment, for example. This last is quite different from mere purpose.
1. Differentiated by assessor
1.1 Self: if the assessor is the person or institution being assessed, there is of Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-14062387062914397362011-12-16T23:07:00.001+13:002011-12-17T04:09:17.541+13:00Kinds of Assessment (Part I)There's way too much jargon around, and it confuses the stakeholders in education. If you confuse the stakeholders too much, they might misstake the vampires and die horribly. Heh.
And so, here is my convenient guide to kinds of assessment.
1. Differentiated by benchmark type
1.1 Criterion-based assessment: this type involves an assessor scoring the candidate assessed on the basis of whether Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-17707823722678644702011-12-15T23:53:00.000+13:002011-12-16T05:04:10.146+13:00Elementary TruthsAn elementary truth, by definition, cannot be proven to be true. This is because such axioms, being axiomatic, are assertions of reasonable fact which for many reasons seem incontrovertibly true and yet do not depend on prior reasoning — if they did, they wouldn't be axioms.
This is where faith comes in. How do you know if God exists, if reason is rational, or if the logics manufactured by our Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-41800076942470854472011-12-14T23:57:00.000+13:002011-12-15T05:07:37.588+13:00Yesterday Once MoreIt's been years since I last heard the living voice that was once the most beautiful in the world. And yet, I can remember it over the radio. I feel the lower frequencies tug at the distant heart of my youth, summoning the distant heartache of bereavement, the sense of injustice that one so beautiful had left the world so soon.
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-63759984081605650812011-12-13T10:13:00.000+13:002011-12-13T15:13:59.002+13:00Atheism as a Subset of ReligionOf course, the previous post was also connected to other curious arguments I've been having of late. There are a lot of math and science majors out there with funny ideas.
In one of those arguments, I said that atheism is a subset of religion. A famous atheistic pseudo-argument or joke goes like this: "A monotheist claims that Occam's Razor must reduce the total divinity of a viable religion to Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-43404336224902950222011-12-12T23:49:00.002+13:002011-12-13T15:02:28.949+13:00Naturalism vs ScienceI have recently entered a curious pseudo-argument with some people. The issue has been my contention that science is a subset of religion, to which I got a common reply usually summarised as, "No way!" Well, way.
I would have written this up earlier, except that I was too tired, and fell asleep. Besides, there was the sneaking suspicion that such a simple argument must have been promulgated by Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-56395307694513395002011-12-11T23:52:00.000+13:002011-12-12T07:29:41.488+13:00The Plural of SelfThe plural of self is selves, and if elf, elves; a shelf grows into shelves. And yet, here we are, not really knowing which is self and what is selves.
The fact is that there is no such thing as self; self is an image in the real that is ideal in the way it exists — no evidence can proof or prove the self, but yet it is hard not to think of self. Self, it turns out, emerges from the cocoon of Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-88793063678870868552011-12-10T23:58:00.000+13:002011-12-11T08:08:55.548+13:00The Identifiction of IdentificationThe dusty sunlight made everything slow. We leaned, wearily enervated, against whatever walls we could. And we decided that not being women, we would never be able to understand them1; that not being Hindus, we would never be able to understand them2; that not being physicists, we would never be able to understand them3; and so on.
In fact, not having perfect labels, nor faces, we would never beTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-15069175824207055052011-12-09T21:31:00.000+13:002011-12-10T02:37:52.046+13:00Homer's CoffeeSit, traveller. Learn.
milk-blunted darkness
bitterness stolen
cassandra silent
will i now insult
by pouring honey
thin sweet suffering
where the beauty now
a thousand ships sunk
fire licking ash shore
drink now, odysseus
wanderer grandson
get of the lone wolf
forget what cannot
release what remains
wine-dark brazilian
Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-84706076255482565032011-12-08T20:32:00.000+13:002011-12-09T01:32:21.272+13:00Chess AssociationsSometimes I look at chess games and the names of the players and I find myself thinking of rather odd things. Right now, the London Chess Classic is on.
I see names like 'Levon Aronian' and I think of a left-handed fishwife. 'Magnus Carlsen' somehow makes me think of Charlemagne. 'Nigel Short' is one of my favourites, as it always makes me wonder what if he had met Mikhail Tal. David Howell is Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-15369865366012712122011-12-07T23:37:00.000+13:002011-12-09T00:42:24.028+13:00Unpublished PostsThere's this button which one has to click in order to actually publish what one has typed. Sometimes, distracted by dinner and other events, I fail to click it. I seldom let this happen too often, but it explains why my posts sometimes appear a few hours late.
Sometimes this is a blessing. I find that occasionally I have typed something nasty or inaccurate which on reflection should never have Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-38168304906377180902011-12-06T19:25:00.004+13:002011-12-07T04:30:57.879+13:00In EarnestToday I spent the afternoon carefully opening many books, the collection of my late principal, a man of great integrity, hugely varied interests, and a magpie mind which seized on facts and built palaces out of them. We were looking through the books in order to sort them out and think of a new home for them. There were more than a thousand of them.
In the curious, vacant disorder that Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-5099929900755944002011-12-05T23:27:00.002+13:002011-12-06T05:39:05.309+13:00Professional SpecializationWhen people find out what I do for a living, the next question tends to be, "So what do you teach?" It irritates me a lot. I mean, if you say you're a doctor, people are not normally so ill-mannered as to ask you, "What specialty?" and I think that's generally true for lawyers and engineers.
The answer I normally give is: "I'll teach anything that I can teach. Hopefully it's something that the Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-59198052474102390822011-12-04T19:31:00.001+13:002011-12-05T06:33:27.604+13:00Word of the Day: HawkerToday I heard that an old schoolmate had insisted that we should develop a new generation of hawkers. At which point, I reflected that I knew at least three definitions of 'hawker' in the sense of 'one who hawks'.
First: a hawker (from a Germanic root-word meaning 'to carry on one's back') is an itinerant vendor. The oddity of course is that street food, the stuff most often being hawked, tends Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-70812237142705347432011-12-03T13:20:00.000+13:002011-12-03T18:28:02.127+13:00Gratitude Memetics (Part II)In the previous post I offered an example of what I've come to think of as 'gratitude memetics'. I realise that although I have quite a clear idea of what that means to me, I haven't shared that.
I define 'gratitude memetics' as the study of memes involving the memorial cultural transmission of a specific form of gratitude; i.e. the gratitude of type G that a person owes another is linked to Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-88480463129073228292011-12-02T16:24:00.002+13:002011-12-03T18:20:54.807+13:00Gratitude Memetics (Part I)For some time now, in the world of academia, some academics have taken to tracing their 'academic descent' — who their doctoral supervisor was, who their supervisor's supervisor was, and so on until you reach the earliest recorded node. The doctoral thesis is an interesting carrier of this memetic record because it is normally the defining moment of the typical academic life.
Strictly speaking, Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-22283546719360683472011-12-01T16:36:00.000+13:002011-12-01T23:48:30.686+13:00GoldenThe cat is gold upon the brown tiles. The sun is less so, on this cloudy November afternoon. His fine hairs stand up as he sweeps his green gaze upon the less-green lawn. His white whiskers twitch, as he sits at my right foot.
That particular sitting-at-my-foot is not a sign of abasement, but a sign of possession. He thinks he owns my foot, or at least, significant access rights to it. If you Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-70233851393197484172011-11-30T23:16:00.000+13:002011-12-01T12:21:59.402+13:00In NovemberNovember, not really there.
A forgotten month, sometimes —
Not quite December,
A prelude to sendings,
A beginning of endings,
Is it winter or not?
Oh! Then suddenly,
Shock of rain rushing over the sea
Into the hills, November!
And it is gone.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-50386787915782731502011-11-29T18:21:00.000+13:002011-11-29T23:28:24.513+13:00Sleight of HandDear Unicorn,
It is all your fault I have resumed my acquaintance with the Beagle. After figuring out why we never talk about my brother, I am now working my way through sleight of hand. The which is now available at the local havens of esoteric tomes somewhere in the middle of the orchard.
We have had a long friendship. Fortunately, it has been sparse and hugely variable. This has made it a Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-19737178567933072612011-11-28T23:59:00.002+13:002011-11-30T17:44:11.306+13:00ZoneZonë is 'girdle' in Greek — a sort of belt, a circumferential locus. When Robin Goodfellow says he will "put a girdle round about the Earth in forty minutes"[1], it gives us a base speed for the faerie folk — since the Earth's equatorial circumference is 40,000 km or so, Puck must travel at a thousand kilometres per minute, or just about 17 km/s.
The faerie, it seems, are not faster than light. Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-35570007139164865332011-11-27T21:33:00.000+13:002011-11-28T02:37:15.970+13:00FallenIt has fallen
The moon is larger than it should be
It has fallen
Into the wineglass of my wrath
=====
Strangely these were the lines I remember just after waking up. I had been dreaming of a melodious tiger, who kept telling me, "Daniel just sits there and doesn't do anything." What a day.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-66562454225518308202011-11-26T23:44:00.000+13:002011-11-27T06:02:37.084+13:00MysteriesTonight I was at dinner with many people from 'my' generation. That is to say, people born somewhere (to be generous) from 1960 to 1970 or so.
Eventually, the objective of dinner was fulfilled, business was complete, and we settled down to yarn and tell stories as old people (haha) do. We resurrected many ghosts, even among those not dead: Mannix, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, Knight Rider, The Wild Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-39249220245928347402011-11-25T19:22:00.001+13:002011-11-26T00:23:34.158+13:00Google™ as a Source for Due DiligenceRecently, I learnt that a certain national-level corporate regulatory body had named its watering-hole 'Auschwitz'. I did wonder briefly if the decor matched the name, and I shuddered to think of why these accountants would do such a thing.
I saw a post on someone else's blog, though, which chastised them for this — as well as for naming their food courts 'S21', which this other person pointed Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-71804142227598478462011-11-24T12:55:00.000+13:002011-11-24T17:54:37.679+13:00'Bootleg' DVDsOnce in a while, you make a mistake despite the many clues that you might be making a mistake. I thought those DVDs looked like a good deal.
Clues to note:
1. Site doesn't use https. One has come to expect https, and thus did not notice when making transaction that it was not. Sigh.
2. Price was not only cheap, but in retrospect, way too cheap.
3. Package arrived not only quickly, but way tooTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-24262624862512977762011-11-23T11:24:00.003+13:002011-11-24T17:45:12.227+13:00Heuristic Discipline-Based Approach to Academic EvaluationI've always been rather irreverent with (dis)respect to academia. It comes from having too many academics in the family. It results in an accumulation of mental rules of thumb related to academic life, as well as a sort of facility for generating academic-sounding phrases that can be used to write academic-sounding pieces. Hence the title.
What this piece is about is perhaps not what you came Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-29226915971142469432011-11-22T12:33:00.000+13:002011-11-22T17:32:50.906+13:00Assessment and Evaluation, Knowledge and MindPeople have different philosophies of assessment and evaluation. The kind of philosophy you have depends a lot on your theory of knowledge, and perhaps your theory of mind.
Here are some crude approximations. A theory of knowledge is your concept of what it means to know, and what it means for something to be (usefully or otherwise acceptably) called 'knowledge'. [Good starting link here] A Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-26612699349906761682011-11-21T19:44:00.000+13:002011-11-22T00:45:51.871+13:00Gaming LifeIt is afternoon, or perhaps half time.
I do not know how long my day is, or the state of the match.
But when the night falls, I hope it is sudden.
And when the whistle goes, I hope I am ahead.
It is tournament, or perhaps shower.
I do not know how long the match is, or how much water's left.
But when the games end, I hope I have plus-scored.
And when the tank's empty, I hope I am all clean.
It Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-18831706334865198632011-11-20T23:57:00.000+13:002011-11-21T07:00:37.011+13:00SistrenYes, I've known for some time that the word 'sistren' existed; how could I not, considering my family's religious position? And yet, it has more or less been discarded by the remorseless advance of lexicographic history.
It is a pity that the -en suffix indicating plurality isn't used more often in English. Ah, the children, the children...Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-15141241422607979802011-11-19T23:49:00.000+13:002011-11-20T13:51:15.605+13:00BrethrenIf brothers are brethren, then sisters are sistren. I thought so, at least. And it should be so.
But I was sidetracked by a cistern, and when I got back on track, I found the word 'Cistercian' running around in my head. Sigh.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-89718466559128038892011-11-18T23:51:00.001+13:002011-11-19T05:12:41.604+13:00In the Beginning was the WordI have dreamt about this line before. But it is no falsifying dream that is expressed in this phrase; rather, it is truth of a specific kind. It is Greek truth. En arche en ho logos, as they say.
And here I must make a key digression. In Latin, truth is veritas. The flavour of truth thus described is one involving 'verity' — truth that can be verified by faith or by epistemology. In Greek, truthTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-16800458722997973812011-11-17T20:51:00.000+13:002011-11-18T01:56:48.107+13:00We Never Talk About My BrotherProbably because we talk more about my mother. Haha...
That said, I am now the happy owner of a new Peter S Beagle book, one which I have wanted but which I could not easily obtain when I first wanted it. That kind of thing happens when you're overtaken by life's events: you forget what you wanted as time passes, and it is only serendipity which brings it back to you.
I have imbibed Beagle in Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-86517549806491930032011-11-16T21:19:00.000+13:002011-11-17T02:20:44.281+13:00LanguorCarriage — that which is carried. Baggage — that which is bagged. Luggage — that which is lugged. Language was once much simpler. Now it is knot.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-47297999956169803382011-11-15T11:34:00.010+13:002011-11-15T16:39:07.579+13:00Silly CalculationsP Z Myers (or 'Pharyngula') is one of the best science-bloggers around. He's also generally reasonable. When he uses the word 'silly', it's interesting to see what he thinks is silly. In this case, he thinks that it's silly to call something a miracle just because there are low retrospective odds against it. Of course, his argument is right. No single contingent product of the universe's history Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-92170785709294411352011-11-14T23:51:00.000+13:002011-11-15T05:52:59.856+13:00The Bonfire of the Vanities"Vanity of vanity, all is vanity," saith the Preacher, king in Jerusalem. "Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upwards." And much of this wisdom was the profit of painful years, for the Preacher pondered much, and the words of the wise are as goads.
I long ago figured out why religion is trouble. The stakes are very high. If religion describes reality ontologically, then disciplines like Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-52835535930499325332011-11-13T23:44:00.001+13:002011-11-14T23:15:28.708+13:00Gaps in the ClockworkPerhaps the most infamous idea of how God and Science fit together is the 'God of the Gaps' concept. This is the general idea that whatever Science cannot (yet) explain (a 'gap') is God's due. If the explanatory universe is of constant volume, then God's role thus gets smaller and smaller, or at least, more and more involuted.
But the real gap in all religions is more fascinating. The real gap Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-32054735728125123592011-11-12T20:25:00.001+13:002011-11-13T01:26:38.590+13:00LunchtimeIn the rushing of the noonday hour
A fly descends
In hot oil and busy elegance
A meal is served
Hear one moment of silence
Between wingbeat and heartbeat
The sacrament of food
Consumes the moment
Lays it out to later
Autopsy of words
The smoke pours out
The heat returns
The daylight's messy business
Heads to evening's dusty doomTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-80220614227223033652011-11-11T11:11:00.000+13:002011-11-11T16:32:12.179+13:00Education and the EliteSomeone just told me, "The goal of education is not to create an elite, but to provide people with the knowledge necessary for them to then help improve society."
This is an excellent topic for an essay. It should be set for an exam question or something — just tack on the word, "Discuss."
I would say that most people would want to believe that the goal of education is not to create an elite. Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-57061554846907313032011-11-10T09:41:00.001+13:002011-11-13T04:05:45.476+13:00Word of the Day: Iconditioning (or iConditioning)Today, I am going to perform an act of the much-reviled derivative neologising. That is, I am coining a term that is so obviously piggybacking on current trends that I feel a little bad about it. The new word is 'iconditioning', or perhaps 'iConditioning'.
Some people have used the latter term before, I should imagine, with the intent of labelling those who have bought into the late Steve Jobs'sTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-46235554818438027222011-11-09T19:48:00.000+13:002011-11-10T00:52:15.178+13:00Pop CapIn Flanders fields the poppies grow
But not on sleeves the players show
For FIFA says 'political'
And so remembrance has to go.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-27090625806978942972011-11-08T23:11:00.000+13:002011-11-10T00:13:22.666+13:00ShortnessAttention span. Moment. Elect. Arc. Point. Not.
I'm here. Abbreviation will be the dth'f m.
Anorexia. Anonymosity. Acronym.
Skin.
Bone.
!Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-22875295463836727462011-11-07T17:32:00.000+13:002011-11-07T22:38:24.382+13:00Data EncodingToday I had the misfortune to be looking at the latest draft output from one of the Ministries, those warded Grand Temples of the Meritokratia of Atlantis. The earnest young priests had coded two different functions with the same range of codes, then used that range of codes differently elsewhere.
Here is an hypothetical example of how it would have worked in practice.
Let's say that a person Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-24496326426438289092011-11-06T23:53:00.000+13:002011-11-07T05:18:39.927+13:00FootlooseThe past will always find you. Sometimes, the results are beautiful; sometimes, tragic; sometimes, both. And at other times, who knows? Remember the river of lights down the freeway in the dark, remember that the opposite of light is not necessarily dark, but delight.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-48385909866097435872011-11-05T20:37:00.000+13:002011-11-06T01:37:45.980+13:00Dictionary, Lexicon, EncyclopaediaSometimes, I am asked on what authority it is that I give definitions for terms. Why should my definition of 'science', or 'humanities', or 'education' (etc., etc.) be used instead of that found in the venerable Oxford or Merriam-Webster or whatever dictionary tome is the flavour of the decade?
The answer is a simple one.
A dictionary is a compilation of diction — that is, the uses to which Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-54778651179944732242011-11-04T23:41:00.001+13:002011-11-05T21:39:54.326+13:00The Neglected OceanSomeone just pointed out to me that Perth, Western Australia, is an Indian Ocean seaport. Heck, so is Adelaide, capital of South Australia. In fact the Indian Ocean stretches from 20°E to 146°55'E, which makes its westernmost port probably Port Elizabeth in South Africa.
Most of human trade and civilisation over the span of our history has traversed this neglected ocean. Egypt's only ocean Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-26476931893979515002011-11-03T13:37:00.001+13:002011-11-03T18:37:10.900+13:00Assessment and EvaluationIn education circles, these two flap around like much-reduced versions of Odin's ravens. Yet they are not a symmetric pair, or even orthogonal. They are linked by differences that were once obvious and are now subtle, much as 'right' and 'wrong' are, but not quite.
Assessment (from Latin assidere = 'sit down beside', 'be continually present with', 'constantly attend to'), implies that you sit Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-6918876662518233092011-11-02T23:28:00.002+13:002011-11-03T04:33:23.356+13:00Tall, Dark, HandsomeFrom an ancient newspaper, I found this:
Mr. Oldham is a tall, thin, dark gentleman, with a directness and simplicity about him that assure you of his sincerity. There is an entire absence of cant or any stock phrases as he prays, and his voice is not pitched to an artificial tone. His language in his sermons is simple in the extreme, indeed you feel he is talking to you not preaching, and the Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-77154609237873451822011-11-01T23:59:00.000+13:002011-11-02T05:24:37.754+13:00WorkThe work pours in. I am too busy, and it feels good. Today I had coffee with Gnomus. He is in a good place too. Life is bright. Work makes it so.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-63596468288107869362011-10-31T13:06:00.003+13:002011-10-31T18:08:25.238+13:00DauntlessOn All Hallows' Eve, we remember the departed saints. It is a good alternative to Samhain.
The late and nearly-sainted Dauntless has long been a hero of mine; my great-grandfather was his student. But writing about him is difficult for that very reason. What can one write about one's heroes?
One duty of the historian is to tell the truth as much as it can be discovered. Another duty is to keep Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-8509023716691798522011-10-30T18:53:00.007+13:002011-10-30T23:59:57.101+13:0021st Century Competencies, Skills, WhateverIn the New World, they have decided that the 21st century (10% of which has already passed us by) requires the development of three main clusters of skills:making use of data/information/knowledge;
making decisions concerning individual and social life; and
creating useful outputs by synthesis and/or collaboration.
In Atlantis, they have decided to describe these clusters as:civic literacy/globalTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-29926646230206228992011-10-29T22:42:00.001+13:002011-10-30T03:49:17.761+13:00Terra Nova (TV Review)I've just watched almost two hours of nonsense masquerading as science fiction. Incompetent and wooden acting coupled with much wincing from the audience. Found myself rooting for dinosaurs against whiny teenagers, and authoritarians against unlikeable rebels. Great pain. Will not go there again.
This is my review. It was painful writing it too.Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-6802098738328715672011-10-28T13:18:00.000+13:002011-10-28T18:18:44.206+13:00COPSSometimes, people ask me stuff like, "What is the model on which you base your ideas about curriculum planning and development?"
To be honest, I don't have one of those name-branded models. I've read too much stuff to attribute my ideas to specific researchers or specific models. What I think is a reasonable answer is this: In any endeavour targeted at humans, we begin with the human basis, andTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-15966393331254612302011-10-27T18:42:00.000+13:002011-10-27T23:43:02.828+13:00Burial GroundsIn some cultures, people are buried. In some, they are left in the cold, clear mountains to be carried away by ice, air and raptors. In others, they get funeral pyres or cremation. Sailors used to be buried at sea.
In many cultures, we honour dead ancestors in their absence. We remember them in stories and images, in spirit and in essence. After all, they are the people whose lives gave birth toTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-21757841546500116922011-10-26T18:48:00.001+13:002011-10-26T23:48:53.159+13:00Pragmatism is Not the Opposite of IdealismAs I've implied before, 'real' and 'ideal' are related but not necessarily opposed. The truth is that 'ideal' is what we reason or imagine the perfect to be, while 'real' is what we actually have.
In between 'real' and 'ideal' is 'practical'; it is what we can successfully work towards. Similarly, pragmatism is somewhere between realism (this is what is) and idealism (this is what it would be inTrebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-14710833923911522832011-10-25T18:18:00.002+13:002011-11-24T14:17:38.432+13:00Responses (Nov 2012) — SummaryThe list of topics for November 2012 (with some of my responses) is summarised in this post.
Can we have beliefs or knowledge which are independent of our culture?
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. — Arthur Conan Doyle. Consider the extent to which this statement may be true in two or Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-74120926936823341092011-10-24T23:59:00.000+13:002011-10-25T06:02:17.847+13:00Responses 006 (Nov 2012)The final question in the Nov 2012 list of topics is this: The ultimate protection against research error and bias is supposed to come from the way scientists constantly re-test each other’s results. To what extent would you agree with this claim in the natural sciences and the human sciences?
I like the way this question sets up little traps. 'Ultimate', 'supposed', 'the way', 'constantly' — Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-35834802506425510652011-10-23T23:34:00.001+13:002011-10-24T04:34:58.822+13:00Responses 005 (Nov 2012)The penultimate topic (Question #5) in the list reads: "Habit is stronger than reason." To what extent is this true in two areas of knowledge?
It's a bit of a let-down compared to the other five topics, and that is why mainly two kinds of students will attempt it: the brilliant risk-takers and the unimaginative. What I'm a little irked about is the lack of attribution: if George Santayana did Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-53388632125074567752011-10-22T23:04:00.002+13:002011-10-23T04:04:47.103+13:00Responses 004 (Nov 2012)The infamous list has thrown up an uneven field of obstacles as usual. Obstacle Question #4 asks: What counts as knowledge in the arts? Discuss by comparing to one other area of knowledge.
This is a hoary old chestnut, so to speak. The debate over what constitutes 'the arts', and hence by extension what counts as knowledge in the arts, is a very old one. The crafty Greeks got around it by using Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-69924198982613298382011-10-21T23:59:00.002+13:002011-10-22T05:47:30.437+13:00Responses 003 (Nov 2012)The short list for the year ahead has this as Question 3: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." — Albert Einstein. Do you agree?
I think this question is one of those trivial ones which can be made important by deliberately Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8062940.post-43479715941732032992011-10-20T14:08:00.000+13:002011-10-20T19:08:21.450+13:00Responses 002 (Nov 2012)The Nov 2012 list really throws up some interesting problems. Here is Question 2 on the list: "It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." — Arthur Conan Doyle. Consider the extent to which this statement may be true in two or more areas of knowledge.
(Note: As usual, the context of this Trebuchetnoreply@blogger.com0