John Taylor Gatto knows a thing or two about the American school system… and, I’d argue, his points translate to all kinds of other school systems. Here are a couple of worthwhile, angering, stirring essays: The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher How public education cripples our kids, and why
Month: October 2005
Decorum
This is one thing I think we miss. We miss, meaning we as a society long for it, we wish we still had it around. Or, at least, we think that we do. Or, at least, some os us think that we do. Not that your ancestors and mine are all that likely to have been courtly, or refined. Most of our ancestors were not like that. Most of us Westerners’ ancestors — those of us of European extraction, I mean — were drinking liquor all day long because the water was poisonous. They were dying at age thirty of …
Thule Society Club Meeting in Shangri-La Next Tuesday (To Discuss the Akashik Records)
One of the things I haven’t mentioned much here, but which I suppose might be interesting, is the a fascination I have always had with the cheesy supernatural-conspiracy literature that has always (until I moved to Korea) been widely and cheaply available to me. I have never much been into things like those writings about The Illuminati, or the Masons, or the Rosicrucians; I’ve never cared much for anything in the style of JFK… but if you give me a Budd Hopkins book, or something by Whitley Strieber, or just about anything from Erich von Däniken — I know the …
Traneimation
Here’s a funny little animation based on John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. I’m not crazy about it but it is kind of neat as a one-time diversion. (via a thread on Last.fm.)
That’s Where Beck Got Them….
Those funky string lines, that is. What’s that song by Beck with the wonderful string lines, from I think it was the Sea Change album? Oh, yeah, “Paper Tiger”. Well, anyway, the bulk of the good stuff was stolen from Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson. Maybe that’s credited somewhere. Actually, a little judicious Googling shows that Beck was pretty forward with the information, but still, it’s kind of a surprise and certainly, to me, a disappointment that so much of what I like about that particular song was simply a copy-and-paste job. Though, at least, it makes me think …
Writing Your Own Reference Letter
I guess this is normal practice at a lot of Universities, here, or so I’ve hard from other teachers. You write your own reference letter and then email it, and it gets printed and stamped by the person who is or was your supervisor. I suppose it’s one way to make sure you get the reference letter you want, but it’s odd. Doesn’t this result in other people basically knowing you’ve written your own reference letters? Doesn’t it mean that people all read them knowing you’re writing about yourself? I find it kind of interesting, though, since, as a blogger, …
Robert Lowth, thou art mine enemy
Finally, the evidence against the prescriptivists that I have longed for all these years is here, in the biography of Robert Lowth (provided by Wikipedia).
Praying Mantis Eats Hummingbird (Bird Watcher’s Digest)
I was sure I linked to this last summer, but can’t find it on my site now. Praying Mantis Eats Hummingbird is about the most exciting thing I think will ever be posted on Bird Watchers’ Digest. (via BoingBoing)
Do it the Japanese Way
This is how they do it in Japan. “It” meaning folding T-shirts, of course. I think I found this on a certain Hominid’s site.
Odysseus’ Ithaca Found?
So it seems. For almost 3,000 years, its location has been a mystery, but classical scholars around the world are now convinced that a British businessman and amateur archaeologist with a passion for Homer has found the island of Ithaca, home of the Greek hero Odysseus and the site of his palace. Say thank you to Marvin for this one.