Category Archives: ‘Culture’

'Culture', Science and Edumacation

I Know Everything

McArdle has a great post about the arrogance of graduate students.

But I have to agree with some of her commenters. This is a far more common attitude among social science grad students than physical science ones. I know my share of arrogant physicists and astronomers, but the ratio is much smaller. The reason is because science itself is very humbling. I think I’m pretty smart — the test scores say so — but grad school sometimes made me feel like an idiot and nature always does. There’s nothing to take your ego down like having a paper turn out to be complete bullshit — or seeing a paper by a respected peer turn out to be bullshit. Nature has a way of proving us wrong over and over again. It’s difficult to think you know everything when you are confronted by your ignorance on a daily basis.

'Culture', Law and Order, Politics, Science and Edumacation

Aussie Linkorama

  • Our stupid War on Drugs ruins another good life. But hey, if she wanted to live in housing, she should have turfed those troubled kids to the streets.
  • Is it just me or is there something a bit racist in the desire of rich westerners to keep uncontacted tribes out of contact?
  • More education dumbassery. Let’s not let smart kids get ahead of everyone. It’s not like we need smart people to solve our society’s problems or anything. We’ll just elect Obama and everything will magically heal.
    • 'Culture'

    Words

    Is it just me or is it getting almost impossible to register for anything on the web these days? I appreciate the need to stomp out spam, but the word recognition software is getting the point where I can’t read the heiroglyphics. And of course, if you screw up one field, you have to do it all over again. Ugh.

    'Culture'

    Life On The Streets

    One of the few indulgences I gave myself on my birthday was the third season of Homicide. I still think it’s the best cop show ever made. It avoids both the silliness of Law and Order/CSI and the over-the-top “grittiness” of The Shield. Case go unsolved. The cops are good but flawed. And I’m still shocked that Andre Braugher’s career never really took off. He’s the main reason to watch the show. That’s not to slight the awesome work of Yaphet Kotto, Mellissa Leo or Richard Belzer.

    Strange to say — the show made me miss Baltimore. A little bit.

    'Culture'

    Galactica Observations

    I’m only a few episodes into the season — I’m catching up on my DVR — but it looks like this season is going pretty much like the last three. Lots of noise; little revelation. Watching BSG make me appreciate Babylon 5 all the more. Like BSG, B5 was a show that has many mysteries and secrets. Unlike BSG, B5 was written so that a smart and attentive viewer could see what was coming.

    Developments on BSG tend to be random. The big “reveal” last year was the identity of four of the remaining five cylons. But how much indication had been given before that these four were cylons? None. It was like their names were drawn out of a hat. The status of Tigh, in particular, is a big problem as he’s been around for decades — meaning the Cylons had humanoid version during the First War. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

    What’s really laughable about the identities of the four is that their survival of the destruction of Caprica was completely random. Less than 50,000 people survived that holocaust but somehow four (probably all five) of the cylon models managed to make it, including one who was rescued from Caprica at random.

    The cylons are the ultimate plot device. They can always have hidden programming to make them do whatever the writers want. We want to shock audiences by killing off Cally? Hidden programming. Shooting Adama? Hidden programming? Surviving the seemingly hopeless attack at the end of Season 3? Hidden programming.

    I still watch the show because it’s entertaining. I’m enjoying the ride, even though I expect the final destination will make no sense. But the attempts to forecast what will happen are laughable. It’s clear that the writers are making it up as they go along.

    Final thought. Is it just me or is Tricia Helfer looking slightly less anorexic this season? She almost looks hot. Still, I’d take the healthy-looking Katee Sackhoff or Grace Park over her any day.

    'Culture'

    No Cycle For You

    One of my pet peeves — overprotective parents.

    Parents’ fears about road safety are turning children into a lost generation of cyclists, says a government-backed agency that promotes cycling.

    Four out of five children are banned from cycling to school by their parents, a poll of 1,079 parents for Cycling England suggests.

    This compares with the 35% of parents who were allowed to bike to school when they were children themselves.

    Launching Bike to School Week the group said road accidents are declining.

    The survey found 81% of parents ban children from cycling independently.

    This was creating a new breed of “cul-de-sac kids” restricted to cycling only in their own road and neighbouring streets, Cycling England warned.

    Fat, lazy kids. But at least they’re safe. Or not, since cars are more dangerous.

    'Culture'

    Observation

    Even when your career is hanging by a thread and the NSF is hacking at it with all its might, the Brandenberg Concertos can make you feel better. A world that can produce such exquisite music can’t be all bad.

    Boy, did that sound music snobby or what?

    Update: (Pretension Alert) The 3rd Concerto may be the most perfectly balanced piece of music ever written. My tastes roam far and wide in the classical ouevre and there is some modern music I like — at least when Sue plays it. I’ve come to accept, for example, that it is possible to like Dido and still be heterosexual. And Purple Rain is one of my favorite albums. But my heart truly lies in classical, especially Stravinsky, Wagner, Beethoven and Bach.