Posts by 81stcolumn
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D'you think they'll ever crush cars that persistently park on teh pavement ?
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Cathy Young begins;
It has been commonly said -- by those who concede that the rates of violence are roughly equal -- that, at the same time, women are six or seven times more likely than men to be seriously injured by their partners. Straus and Gelles (1986) themselves have said this. This is based on their finding that about 3% of female victims of domestic violence, but about 0.5% of the male victims, reported having sought medical care as a result of a dom. violence incident.
Strauss and Gelles (1986) also refer to evidence indicating that injuries may be the result of defensive and retaliatory actions thus, the actual picture is somewhat less clear than has been suggested above. It should furthermore be noted that there appears to be little or no real evidence with respect to self inflicted injuries.The middle section of Cathy Young’s argument is either speculative or refers to non-peer review material which might arguably be placed in the same category as reports from local refuges and anecdotes (I’m also too lazy to track this stuff down).
I took the time however to actually read the paper cited at the end by Cathy (please see the correct citation below). Even by the standards of the time, this was a poor study of limited design. It should be noted above all that this was a study of response satisfaction and response preference not a study of injury or incitement. Specifically, it was based on a relatively small (n=168) convenience sample and was lacking many important validity checks that would lend credibility to more far reaching or more general conclusions not specifically prompted in the title. This is a particular problem with respect to the injury statistics discussed. The statistics reported refer to injuries sustained there is no reference made to the cause or origin of these injuries (there is no definition for seriousness either, hence my avoidance of the term). We might reasonably assume that these injuries were the result of the incident, but to suggest that all of these injuries were inflicted by an opposing party in a dispute would be wrong. That is say the data is insufficient with respect to identifying self-inflicted injuries or in fact injuries sustained consequently in retaliation or self defence.. A compelling but un-provable explanation of the male injury statistics here, is that the numbers were inflated as a consequence of self inflicted injury (from punching walls etc) being reported as a part of overall injuries. I repeat, this conclusion is speculative, it cannot be supported or disproved on the basis of the statistics provided in this paper. Equally any conclusion that suggests males suffer more injuries inflicted by their spouses is equally speculative and un-provable.
I think it fair to say that Cathy Young made an emotive and slightly partisan argument here and failed to reflect effectively on all the evidence available to her. Consequently estimates of 20-30% may well overstate the case and have little or no subsequent evidence to support them. Generally speaking it is better to stick with a research consensus based on primary sources; it is also beneficial to acknowledge more current research when discussing such propositions. As stated up thread; no one has suggested that domestic violence is a unidirectional phenomenon, but arguments about degree and proportion are a distraction when set a against a basic issue of domestic violence - not OK. In this case the simpler message is appropriate and effective and should be employed.
BUZAWA ES & AUSTIN T
DETERMINING POLICE RESPONSE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS - THE ROLE OF VICTIM PREFERENCE
AMERICAN BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST 36 : 610 1993 -
I checked, the Mumsnet thing is real.
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Craig - I think we might have to agree to disagree on this one. After all you admire Thatcher, and that is beyond my comprehension.
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Big thanks to RB et al. It says a lot about PAS and probably less about me that the three best bits of writing ever from my keyboard reside somewhere on these boards. The only downside is how long it takes me to write anything at work. I've started worrying about the my choice of words and idiom, a side effect no doubt of reading and posting here.
It could be so much worse, kiwiblog is what it is but Mumsnet ?. It makes me truly embarrassed to post under a pseudonym.
Oh and in case anybody missed the obits, RIP Harold Pinter.
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Hmmmm I got an Oven glove. Babybloke got a front tooth and a cold, however he thought enough of the story to bash the keyboard gleefully with a desert spoon (toy of the week).
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It may have changed now, but I was often surprised by the emptiness of some of the most verdant stretches of Britain -- North Wales, for example. It was as if it hadn't occurred to the city-dwellers what lay beyond their boundaries.
I wait in anticipation of the day that Gwynedd undertakes a UDI and returns to its status as an independent kingdom (it was the last Celtic kingdom to fall under English rule). There is a rich land and people that sits between the A55 coast road that ferries folks to Holyhead then to Ireland and the A5 which doesn’t actually stop in Betws-y-coed, though there does appear to be an invisible barrier which prevents all but the most bold from going further. Both the University at Bangor and Penrhyn Castle just down the road are steeped in controversy; the former was funded by the disputably “voluntary” contributions of local slate miners and farmers, the latter was almost certainly built form the profits of slavery and the slate mines. A trip worth making is to go to the Royal Academy and take a look at the Watercolours by Turner and the catch the train up to Snowdonia. I am in no way a religious man but the light boiling from behind the clouds captured by Turner and seen for real at Llyn Ogwen on a spring day inspires a sense of godliness and goes some way to explaining the abundance of churches in the area. Typically my old village Deiniolen has three chapels and at one stage had five, though the village itself I reckon only held 200 people if there was a home football match. It should be noted that current statistics estimate there to be one person per 2 hectares in Gwynedd which compares well with the east and south but really nothing compared to New Zealand which is less than 1 (might be wrong on that). The changes in local population continue to be quite controversial not least because of the ongoing battle over holiday homes, which goes some way to explaining the emptiness and relative poverty of many areas. It would be a shame to see some truly welsh/bilingual communities die out up North given the success of the language elsewhere in Wales. Elsewhere communities are looking at new ventures to stay alive such as the community farm/centre at Moel-y-ci for which I am an original shareholder. I don’t miss England a bit, but from time to time I really yearn for the bus ride up the hill to Deiniolen, somehow that always felt like going home despite the rain.
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On firewalls-
If anyone is interested in a good firewall that can now be virtualised it might be worth giving these guys a visit:
I have used the free produc tin bridge mode on a small via micro for over a year - 2 re-boots to date.
Disclaimer; I really, really don't kow these people but was damn impressed by a free open-source product like this.
If this post doesn't really live here please do delete, move elsewhere as applicable.
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@Ben
You are quite right, there are no crystal balls that allow us to predict what literacy and numeracy will amount to in the future. But my point in an abstract way was to ask, does it make sense to formalise and standardise the concept of literacy and numeracy through early testing in schools. I have this fear that the dynamic relationship between literacy and everyday experience will be lost in excessive formalism. At 8years old it is easy to say write this way, at 18 kids already use language in a different way as a consequence of mobile communication. Punishing them for not using old fashioned language runs the risk of them rejecting it altogether. As a result they may lose access to a wealth of useful knowledge. I already have this problem in that I struggle to encourage students to read academic books let alone research papers. The killer line last year was “I don’t do books bro”. Capability to literacy allows for motivation and flexibility in this regard straight teach to the test doesn’t.
As for commodification, commercialisation and spoon feeding, the biggest challenge is not to blame the students, but in some way to encourage them to take a little responsibility for their own learning. Somehow this hasn’t quite emerged as intended from NCEA.
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I don't remember much wagging or bunking the local kids in Wales called it "dodgin"; I seem to remember the odd bout of skiverlitis though.