Stand by me…

Yes I know this probably belongs on Oz Politics, but I can’t resist sharing it again here. I first posted the following back in July 2007 on Journalspace, where I think I may just go and say something about Cricket*. Been languishing, the old Journalspace blog, and it is rather pretty…

But after last night’s double act on Seven on Anna Coren’s show, this is quite poignant.

* Done!

If Maths had been like this I may have been interested…

Dear me, there is a nasty left-wing plot brewing in the world of Mathematics of all places, according to Devine pater in today’s Australian.

The square route to hell is paved with good intentions

WATCH out for radical maths, which may be coming to a school near you. Also known as “social justice maths”, it is a teaching theory, gaining momentum in the US, which seeks to use mathematics as a form of instruction in social justice issues.

For example, in studying fractions, a student might be asked to “compare how money spent on military operations could be used to support other important causes (for example, if a bomb costs $10 million and it costs $10,000 to provide health care for an entire family for a year, how many families could get health care for the cost of this bomb?).”

They can’t help themselves, poor lambs…

…or so one might conclude after reading Brain function different between liberals, conservatives: study.

Using electroencephalographs, which measure neuronal impulses, the researchers examined activity in a part of the brain – the anterior cingulate cortex – that is strongly linked with the self-regulatory process of conflict monitoring.

The match-up was unmistakable: respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed “significantly greater conflict-related neural activity” when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine.

However, conservatives were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits “despite signals that this … should be changed”.

Whether that is good or bad, of course, depends on one’s perspective: one could interpret the results to mean that liberals are nimble-minded and conservatives rigid and stubborn.

Or one could, with equal justice, conclude that wishy-washy liberals don’t stick to their guns, while conservatives and steadfast and loyal.

Who said colonialism is dead?

I saw the program on Guam last night on Foreign Correspondent. One can only marvel at the US Military, and at what looks terribly like an arms race between the US and China, with Japan and (in a small way) us Aussies in the frame as well.

Did you know Guam has the odd status of “organized unincorporated territory of the United States”? (Don’t blame Bush for this; it goes back to 1950.) That means they have an internal right to vote, but no right to vote in the US elections, except for a “straw poll” Presidential vote which is not counted in the real vote, and one House of Representatives member who is a “non-voting delegate” not a full member. Not exactly a shining example of a US passion for democracy though…

Yea the great and terrible day of The Bush is nigh…

…and the Moon hath turned to blood seen even unto Surry Hills…

Life is too short to live it as a Republican

That is the motto of Dallas, Texas resident Len’s blog esoterically.net/weblog.

This really should have been on my blog roll long ago. I have been following it on BlogExplosion for some time, and it is always clever and so humane. The pic shows the current (17 August) post: Friday night cartoons: Karl Rove edition. The post before it, Praying for deaths, suggests “If there was ever any doubt that the right wing evangelicals in the United States are just plain nuts, it is gone now…” Fortunately I have never encountered anything quite so sub-Christian as this here in Oz church circles. To cite the news story Len refers us to: