Monthly Archives: July 2005

I do think it’s important to be clear about what should and shouldn’t be considered unacceptable at universities. Mac Uni’s Andrew Fraser is being shunted out not because he works on race and crime (as a casual reader of the … Continue reading →

It’s occasionally worth remembering George Orwell’s six splendid rules for writing: Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. … Continue reading →

The number of warnings on the Boston subway at present is extraordinary. At least once a minute, a voice comes on the loudspeaker, urging commuters to report suspicious packages, make sure you take your belongings with you, and speak up … Continue reading →

From the SMH: Respondents were asked whether they were "very comfortable, mildly comfortable, mildly uncomfortable or very uncomfortable with drinking recycled sewage, including toilet water, that is treated to drinking-water quality". Only 12 per cent said they were very comfortable, … Continue reading →

An Australian BASE jumper was killed on Tuesday, jumping off Kjerag Peak in western Norway. Today, his friends announced that they plan to honour his memory by leaping off Kjerag Peak later today.

Amidst ongoing discussion over Richard Florida’s books, The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class (the first apparently beloved by NSW Minister Andrew Refshauge), I just stumbled across an unusual review of Florida’s first book … Continue reading →

When you do a one-off survey of young people, it’s impossible to distinguish an age effect from a cohort effect. It seems not everyone gets this.

President Bush isn’t due to announce his nominee to the Supreme Court for another hour, but the markets seem pretty certain they have the answer. On Tradesports, DC Appeals Circuit judge John Roberts’ current odds are 99%. Full odds over … Continue reading →

We saw Hannie Rayson’s play Two Brothers last night. Since it’s already made its way through Sydney and Melbourne, and been thoroughly dissected there, this is probably only of relevance to Canberrans. My simple message: outside student theatre and performance … Continue reading →

"Speed camera and red light camera ahead" – Look down at your speedo! No, up at the lights! No, down at the speedo! ….

After reading Paul Sheehan’s column today, readers would probably not come away knowing the fact that less than 1% of Pakistani students attend a madrassa. (Part 1, Part 2)

One of the criticisms that’s most frequently heard of teacher merit pay is: Yes, but how do you design a fair performance pay system in teaching? My own view is that this isn’t an insurmountable issue. Indeed, plenty of merit … Continue reading →

There’s an interesting debate afoot on where sociology is going as a discipline. In part, it was kicked off by an opinion piece that Harvard’s Orlando Patterson wrote for the NYT. Entitled "The Last Sociologist", he praised his mentor David … Continue reading →