LASER PHYSICIST F. J. Duarte , Laser Physicist (Optics Journal, Rochester, New York, 2012) © ISBN: 978-0-9760383-1-3 (printed version) ISBN: 978-0-9760383-2-0 (electronic version) Date of publication: May, 2012. Politics in academia.. lasers in the Cold War... the decline of an industrial icon (Eastman Kodak) towards oblivion... ethics in research... perspectives on quantum mechanics and reality... perspectives on morality, mortality, and the big question Laser Physicist provides a first hand account of academic politics at Australia's Macquarie University during the "revolt of the sciences" that led to the reform of its degree structure. Chapter 2: Sydney Soon after I began my presentation, the male Aussies started to smile nervously and then began to laugh… and laugh. Chapter 3: Macquarie In his memoirs, John Ward makes reference to my political contacts (Ward, 2004). Chapter 4: John Clive Ward 4.2 Reminiscences His directness and frankness often got him at odds with managers and administrators. 6.3 Moscow
The Enlightenment of Charles Manson I was listening to the clip Matt Staggs posted on here the other day of Alan Watts expounding on the Buddhist concept of “No Self” so I clicked on it in YouTube to see what else came up, and there I found this little clip of Charles Manson answering the question of “Who are you?” After listening to Watts, Manson’s answer struck me as profound. “I am nobody”, was his answer, basically. I had seen other Manson interviews. I particularly like the one with Geraldo Rivera. I clicked on some more links and discovered an interview of Manson being interviewed by Charlie Rose, one I hadn’t seen before. I am struck by how confidently Manson, who appears to be just over 5 feet tall, walks into the room in comparison to the three enormous correctional officers who accompany him, all ow home appear to be slightly nervous to be on TV. Rose: Do you have friends you can talk to? Rose seems to establish early on a pattern of steering the conversation continually from the interesting to the banal:
The State, the Deep State, and the Wall Street Overworld In the last decade it has become more and more obvious that we have in America today what the journalists Dana Priest and William Arkin have called two governments: the one its citizens were familiar with, operated more or less in the open: the other a parallel top secret government whose parts had mushroomed in less than a decade into a gigantic, sprawling universe of its own, visible to only a carefully vetted cadre – and its entirety…visible only to God.1 And in 2013, particularly after the military return to power in Egypt, more and more authors referred to this second level as America’s “deep state.”2 Here for example is the Republican analyst Mike Lofgren: There is the visible government situated around the Mall in Washington, and then there is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists at the White House or the Capitol. DEEP STATE n. The Deep State, The Shadow Government and the Wall Street Overworld Thereafter
Freedom to Tinker — Research and expert commentary on digital technologies in public life Job security is a thing of the past - so millions need a better welfare system | Guy Standing | Comment is free So, millions of British workers are anxious and frustrated. Is anybody surprised at the precariousness revealed by the latest Skills and Employment Survey, published on Monday? The national survey, carried out every six years, shows that more employees feel insecure than at any time in 20 years; that work is being intensified, with people being asked to do more and work longer; and that for the first time people working in the public sector feel more insecure than those in the private sector. The reasons for this are clear. All governments since Margaret Thatcher's have promoted flexible labour markets as the right response to globalisation, without radically altering the social protection system in order to cushion workers against the inevitable insecurities that arise. As long as this consensus prevails, more and more people will join the ranks of the "precariat", and the insecurities confronting people will continue to multiply and intensify. Britain is not alone, of course.
New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart In her keynote speech at last year's annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch were behind a product on the shelves. Burner figured the average supermarket shopper had no idea that buying Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper or Dixie cups meant contributing cash to through its subsidiary Georgia-Pacific. Similarly, purchasing a pair of yoga pants containing Lycra or a Stainmaster carpet meant indirectly handing the Kochs your money (Koch Industries bought Invista, one of the world’s largest fiber and textiles companies, in 2004 from DuPont). At the time, Burner created a mock interface for her app, but that's as far as she got. Follow @Clare_OC
Jeremy Scahill and Noam Chomsky: The Truth About America's Secret, Dirty Wars May 16, 2013 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. The following is taken from a transcript of a special event featuring Jeremy Scahill and Noam Chomsky with Amy Goodman hosted by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the American Friends Service Committee of Massachusetts, the Cambridge Peace Commission and the Community Church of Boston that was broadcast by Democracy Now!. The event covered the subjects explored in Scahill's new book, Dirty Wars. Jeremy Scahill: I’m really honored to be here with both Amy Goodman and Noam Chomsky. And I like to think of the footnotes in my book as a tribute to Professor Chomsky, because one of the first things I do when I look at a book is to check out the notes in the index to see how serious the book is, how serious the author was about citing every fact that he states in the book.
The Rise of Anti-Capitalism Photo WE are beginning to witness a paradox at the heart of capitalism, one that has propelled it to greatness but is now threatening its future: The inherent dynamism of competitive markets is bringing costs so far down that many goods and services are becoming nearly free, abundant, and no longer subject to market forces. While economists have always welcomed a reduction in marginal cost, they never anticipated the possibility of a technological revolution that might bring those costs to near zero. The first inkling of the paradox came in 1999 when Napster, the music service, developed a network enabling millions of people to share music without paying the producers and artists, wreaking havoc on the music industry. The huge reduction in marginal cost shook those industries and is now beginning to reshape energy, manufacturing and education. Now the phenomenon is about to affect the whole economy.
Los sociólogos defienden la pulcritud de sus métodos frente a la lectura periodística de las encuestas Cualquier manipulación en una encuesta tiene su origen en la elaboración de las preguntas. La lectura de los datos depende de “cómo se vea la botella, medio vacía o medio llena”. Si a usted le preguntan “¿Quién debería liderar un pacto de Estado?”, tendrá X opciones para responder; pero si le preguntan “¿Qué le parece que el Rey propicie un pacto de Estado?” “El 74% quiere que el colchón del déficit sea para bajar impuestos”, es otro ejemplo más reciente del mismo diario. ¿Se puede hablar de objetividad? “Hay medios que tienen años de experiencia en elaborar, a partir de los datos, lo que se lee finalmente en prensa; los hay -incluso- que plantean las preguntas”, explica José Luis Rojo , sociólogo de Sigma-Dos , la empresa de opinión que trabaja para El Mundo . Ferrándiz (Metroscopia): “Cualquier manipulación en una encuesta comienza en la elaboración de las preguntas” Resultados parecidos, titulares opuestos No es, sin embargo, así. Lo extraño: las coincidencias Tu voto: i 1 Vote Me gusta: