With a new semester starting, it's only apropos to mention the back and forth I've been having about the Principles and Practices Engineering Exam, which probably seems like a pretty arcane topic...until two Kansas State academics noted that women have a lower first-time pass rate than men do. That occasioned an article by Toni Airaksinen …
Sometimes Our Goals and Those of the Chinese are the Same
In this excellent article about eventual Chinese rule of the Internet, the first goal of China is this one: Cyberpower sits at the intersection of four Chinese national priorities. First, Chinese leaders want to ensure a harmonious Internet. That means one that guides public opinion, supports good governance, and fosters economic growth but also is …
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Banning Infowars is Easier Said Than Done
The efforts so far by most of social media haven't quite panned out as expected: Silicon Valley's coordinated purge of all things Infowars from social media has had an unexpected result; website traffic to Infowars.com has soared in the past week, according to Amazon's website ranking service Alexa. Well, that didn't work, not yet at least. …
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“Survival of our Democracy” Depends Upon Who We Are
One can feel the panic come through the screen: Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is calling on other tech companies to ban more sites like InfoWars, and says the survival of American democracy depends on it. “Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to …
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Sometimes Doing No Murder Can Get You in Trouble
The Old Grey Lady weighs in on Pope Francis' death penalty ukase by invoking the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill": Pope Francis’s condemnation of capital punishment is simple and unambiguous: It is inadmissible. No exceptions for especially heinous crimes; no loopholes allowing execution when other lives might be in jeopardy, as in past Catholic teachings. …
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My Last Facebook Post
I know this sounds a little dramatic, so an explanation is in order. I started on social media nine years ago, all the while continuing this and (later) the other blogs and websites. I've used several techniques to automatically disseminate these blog posts. I've always had a problem with doing every post manually. Keeping the …
The “Debt Direction” of the British Empire Needs to be Reversed
While musing over what's the "morally appropriate language" one should write in, Arundhati Roy was confronted with the following: Only a few weeks after the mother tongue/masterpiece incident, I was on a live radio show in London. The other guest was an English historian who, in reply to a question from the interviewer, composed a …
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You Can’t Always Get What You Want When You’re the State Church
That was certainly the case with Peter Ball, whom John Major appointed to the see of Gloucester, much to then Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey's horror: LORD CAREY has expressed his horror that the former Prime Minister John Major was persuaded by a senior aide to choose Peter Ball over another candidate for the see …
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Chesterton to be Canonised? Bossuet Hasn’t Been Either
His canonisation is being considered: Is he or is he not on the road to being canonized? In the coming weeks, the fate of Gilbert Keith Chesterton will be known. Soon, all eyes will turn upon Canon John Udris as he presents his written report to the bishop of Northampton, England, with, thereafter, a decision …
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My Review of Duane Alexander Miller’s Two Stories of Everything for Global Missology
Recently Duane Alexander Miller, a long-time friend of this blog, wrote Two Stories of Everything: The Competing Metanarratives of Islam and Christianity. My review of this excellent book is here at Global MIssology.
