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The following originally appeared in Orion Magazine – well worth a read as a counter-balance to the all too common push towards extreme impulses. By Lowell Monke* THOMAS EDISON WAS A GREAT INVENTOR but a lousy prognosticator. When he proclaimed in 1922 that the motion picture would replace textbooks in schools, he began a long string of [...] Of late given the Australian elections, I’ve engaged in something that I otherwise on the whole consider a waste of time: tweets. Part of the problem with tweets is that one is restricted to 140 characters: whether or not this can genuinely be called ‘micro-blogging’ or not, it certainly encourages depth of neither reflection nor intelligent [...] or why consulting an astrologer may be useful prior to calling an election I had known since prior to the election that the date coincided with Mercury beginning a retrograde motion, and had thought at the time this was not a good time for any election. The results, however, simply did not only reflect a retrograde [...] Given the 2010 Federal election results (still pending), I’ve received (from both local and o/s) queries about how our Australian system of government works, so I thought I’d try and give a very brief overview, with inevitable small ‘errors of exception’. Firstly, we are a Federated Commonwealth of States. In some ways, this is somewhat akin [...] Date: Sunday, morning after 2010 Federal elections. Like many other Australians, I stayed up last night watching the election counting result on the ABC. Like numerous other Australians, I was relieved to see the loss of so many seats previously held by the Labor Party. I write ‘relieved’ for the very reasons I outlined in a [...] A reminder that any parent or guardian may WITHDRAW their CHILD from having to participate in the NAPLAN 2010 tests (at the bottom of this post, I also add some notes regarding other NAPs occurring this year). 2010 NAPLAN tests are due to be conducted between the 11th-14th of May this year (unless a school makes [...] The above titular expansion of the acronym I have increasingly heard used by teachers (retired and active) and other educators… Once upon a time, Victoria (Australia) had a simple register that provided an easy means for schools to ascertain whether or not a teacher had appropriate qualifications. Actually, there were a number of such registers: one [...] What can I say!? It only reflects how strange US society has become, and how its pre-eminence in the world of online downloads leads to quite weird decisions. Cf Need Marijuana? Your iPhone Can Help. It’s OK to have a listing of where to obtain marihuana even in locations where it is not legal, but an application [...] Quite a mouthful, that heading… and considering I also wanted to include something on synæsthesia, I’ve rather narrowed somewhat my ‘focus’! Swine flu pandemic Let’s begin with the last of these first: the flu ‘pandemic’ and the reaction to it by officialdom. I accept that when the first outbreak of this new influenza virus began to make its [...] I’m pleased to hear that ALL students in classes 3, 5, 7 and 9 in Victoria’s largest and oldest Steiner school have been withdrawn by their parents from having had to participate in NAPLAN tests. One would expect that all students in ALL Steiner schools and Steiner-inspired ‘streams’ in State schools would similarly be withdrawn, [...] |
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