Posts by John Armstrong
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Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Cheers. Brings to mind an election night conversation in which a friend said that she had voted for national because she felt that in these difficult times what is needed is a decisive majority government unencumbered by the need to consult / negotiate.
But isn't consultation / negotiation the fundamental point of democracy, and (within reason) the consultier the better? I guess the nub is where you draw the 'within reason' line..
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Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Heh John Key just Godwin’d himself on breakfast TV :).
Bit more info for those of us at work?
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Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Sacha,
Can we please not abbreviate the Maori Party like that.
And 'MP' is doubly confusing given the presence of the Mana Party on the scene..
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"After a productive day in the garden I tried to get my wonderful greens back into the house but, labour as I might, I couldn't. My key was bent."
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Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to Kate Hannah,
It appears that our intersubjective spaces are in broad alignment;)
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Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to John Armstrong,
I thought the term 'blue skies' referred to scientific research for its own sake
Edit: Or, of course any other kind of research..
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Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to Kate Hannah,
I'm not sure; I thought the term 'blue skies' referred to scientific research for its own sake, as opposed to scientific activity aimed towards particular - often economic or commercial - ends. Given the context of the discussion, I assumed that 'science' referred to research more at the commercial end of the spectrum.
Which, I hasten to add, I have no problem with (Monsanto-style scientific imperialism excepted..). My concern was simply about the prospect of an even drier funding stream for the social sciences / humanities than we have now. Money is tight, and more money for science is likely to mean less money for everyone else (in Universities, at least). That's a concern, because I believe that the humanities have as much to offer as science or anything else in the creation of a better society.
As for the question about whether history is a science, Bart: that's a big ass can of philosophical worms. My answer would be that academic history is increasingly about the study of subjectivities, which is probably a wee way away from what most science (claims) to be about.
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Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to Bart Janssen,
the only way such a transformation can occur is if we (and the govt that represents us) invest dramatically more in scientific research.
As someone working in a university history department, I'm not sure I like the sound of that.
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Cracker: Spotted, in reply to Gareth Ward,
And the flag would be a mess...
God and imagine their national anthem. T'would go on for hours.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
To this end, DARPA hosted a workshop called “Stories, Neuroscience and Experimental Technologies (STORyNET): Analysis and Decomposition of Narratives in Security Contexts.”
Jesus that is properly frightening. It's bad enough seeing the Herald publishing wilfully misleading photographs of balls flying between uprights simply to reinforce the 'Wayne Barnes is Incompetent' narrative.. (He said, desperately trying to stick vaguely to topic..)
Although, I suppose in another way it's just business as usual but with a fancier name.