“The proposal, which could see the faces of some
of the leading lights of communist history such as Lenin
and Trotsky removed from t-shirts and flags, reflects
a Polish view on communism far different from the rose-tinted
and romantic images often found in the West.
“After experiencing 40 hard years of communism,
as well as the horrors of Nazi occupation, few Poles
have qualms equating under law the inequities of Nazism
and communism.
“ "Communism was a terrible, murderous system
that claimed millions of lives," said Professor
Wojciech Roszkowski, a leading Polish historian and
member of the European parliament.
“ "It was very similar to National Socialism,
and there is no reason to treat those two systems, and
their symbols, differently. Their glorification should
be prohibited." ”
“...In the 2002 memo, the justice department
gave the go-ahead for the CIA to play on the fears of
Abu Zubaydah, an alleged al-Qaida member, a charge he
denies. "You would like to tell Zubaydah that you
intend to place a stinging insect in the box with him.
You would, however, place a harmless insect in the box.
You have orally informed us that you would in fact place
a harmless insect such as a caterpillar in the box with
him." CIA officials say that the technique was
never used.”
on concentration and chess, knowledge and happiness
Chess is an excellent teacher of concentration.
- one lapse and you are probably done for.
Of course, one thing you have to learn
playing chess is that ‘tunnel’ concentration,
where much time is spent on considering just one move,
can lead you into problems. So the chess player learns
to concentrate on that problem also. Some of the very
top players can play at a very high standard, and at very
high speed.
I once asked an IM [International Master]
just what was the essential difference between him and
a GM [Grand Master - top divisional ranking]. He said
it was simply memory, that the GM had seen/ remembered
more patterns. It is now not uncommon for more than the
first twenty moves to be rattled off from memory before
the ‘real’ game starts.
It is only at lower levels that a great
deal has to be thought out on the day. Just as perhaps
a learner driver has to remember where to find the clutch
pedal. I wonder with driving, whether the ego is as bound
up in arriving alive as it is in competing with other
drivers.
But in real life, you often only have
what you know right now, like for instance being at a
chess board, or driving. For example, some people are
quite stupid enough to suddenly decide to do a U- turn
on a road without warning and without checking mirrors.
If you don’t have that unexpected move in your openings book or driving manual,
you can get seriously discommoded. Likewise in some exams,
where even if you have the books, if you are unfamiliar
with details, you may not be able to keep up.
All these things, as is all life, are
time constrained. Even dealing with a person in a panic
attack, or a traffic accident, does not allow the time
to go read in the middle of the process. Another example
- karate: you need a memory of moves from previous training/experience
to do well/to ‘win’.
The most useful knowledge is what makes
you ‘happy’, or whatever. But how do you know
what is ‘happy’ for Jane Goody, or for a swot,
or for an alcoholic?
Many people do not clearly understand
what they mean by ‘being happy’,
and those on the outside are not in a fine position to
tell them. Many people seem never to
have experienced what they would label
as ‘happy’ .
It is a long and strenuous task to
(even try) to build on such foundations.
“The worrying thing is that some leaders in
other countries take Blair seriously.”
It’s obvious to any intelligent
person that Tony Bliar is a mediocrity. However, he has
been able to get popular enough to bring in votes. It
is obvious to anyone with intelligence that Coronation
Street and the like is pap, but millions seem enthralled
by it. And then there is/was Jane Goody.
Some film producers and some politicians
are intelligent, but they are bound to study the reactions
of the public to the likes of Bliar and Goody, however
talentless and insipid those persons may be.
For the job of politicians is to garner
votes from the great unwashed masses, just as it is the
place of film producers to get the unthinking to watch
drivel in order to raise advertising revenues.
The more you reward an activity, the
more of that activity you will get.
Reward people for producing children
and you will get more children. Welfare-providing societies
are tending to reward breeding by the feckless, while
the responsible and thoughtful will be more cautious.
This puts the feckless at a competitive advantage.
Of course, eventually the feckless
will run out of suckers.
Any procedure which limits the breeding
of any section of the world population will end in other
sections gaining a breeding advantage.
Unless you actively want more population,
a citizen’s
wage should only apply to ‘adults’, or
breeding will continue to be a profitable career.
Populations
will tend to fill the ecological niches available to them.
Thus, as one group stops breeding, others will tend to
fill the ‘gaps’. There is a natural process
of populations expanding until they collapse,
then repeating the cycle. For humans to break this cycle
is no easy matter.
Any means to control the population
will end in fascist/socialist force. Note item 4) below,
and the hive ambitions in item 7).
“The complete assertion, practical as well
as theoretical, of the provisional nature of existing
governments and of our acquiescence in them;
The resolve to minimize by all available means the
conflicts of these governments, their militant use of
individuals and property, and their interferences with
the establishment of a world economic system;
The determination to replace private, local or national
ownership of at least credit, transport, and staple
production by a responsible world directorate serving
the common ends of the race;
The practical recognition of the necessity for world
biological controls, for example, of population and
disease;
The support of a minimum standard of individual freedom
and welfare in the world; and
The supreme duty of subordinating the personal career
to the creation of a world directorate capable of these
tasks and to the general advancement of human knowledge,
capacity, and power;
The admission therewith that our immortality is conditional
and lies in the race and not in our individual selves.”
“They speak about, 'If everyone starts having
eight children or 12 children, imagine in three generations
what we'll be able to do,' " Joyce says. "
'We'll be able to take over both halls of Congress,
we'll be able to reclaim sinful cities like San Francisco
for the faithful, and we'll be able to wage very effective
massive boycotts against companies that are going against
God's will.' ”[Quoted from npr.org]
“The biomass of the Earth's ant population is
four times that of us humans. Annually their calorific
consumption is the equivalent of 10 billion people.
How is it that all that industry and endeavor isn't
over-exploiting the Earth?” [Quoted from cohesive.uk.com]
“I need some time to decide whether to read this as George Lakoff's
description of what Barack Obama would be thinking if he were George
Lakoff, or as George Lakoff's attempt to convert Obama's English into
a code no one can understand without the aid of George Lakoff.
“In the event the sheer length and density of this essay does
not drive away readers altogether, the takeway message is in Lakoff's
fourth point: the necessary condition for anything any American does
to live an American life is the American government. Dependency is empowerment.
The stimulus bill, which is all spending (plus tax cuts) and no tax
increases, is about empowerment, and progressive tax increases, which
Obama has not proposed, are also about empowerment, since they are the
price Americans must pay for their empowering dependency on the government.
“That's George Lakoff's moral vision. I'm not entirely sure it
is President Obama's.”
The commentator does half-miss the high probability
that Lakoff is, in fact, aware his comments are systematically highly
biased and intentionally so. This is of deep dishonesty but, of course,
the means justifies
the ends in socialist religious apologetics.
“...Who's here? Only half the class, but it's 9am so not too
bad. By 9.30am, 80 percent have arrived, most without pen or paper.
Various excuses are relayed such as "I couldn't get out of bed";
"I had to take my sister to school'; "I missed the bus"
... and then there are the ones who come in and sit down without saying
anything at all. Teenager time is different; it works on at least a
half hour delay.
I hand back the homework from last week (it doesn't take long as hardly
anyone did it) and then tell them what we're going to do in the session.
By the time I've finished, half the class are texting on their phones,
two students say they need to go to the lavatory (not to be seen again
for half an hour) and one has to take yet another urgent call and leaves
the room. The rest are either slumped head down using their arms as
a pillow, talking loudly to each other, or combing their hair (with
a mirror on the desk). Everyone has their coats on - no one ever takes
their coats off in a class these days. I struggle through, trying to
engage the students in a debate about public service broadcasting and
the BBC Licence Fee using activities that will hopefully keep the students
interested - small group work, debate, presentations to class - but
as hardly any of them watch the BBC, it feels like pushing treacle uphill.
I struggle on as they will be examined on it in four months time although
sometimes their apathy can be quite overwhelming." [Quoted from
telegraph.co.uk]
The situation is ridiculous. And now look behind the
apologism and excuses of union teachers and other parasites.
“Though the students said there was the same sort of disruption
in their classrooms, they were surprised at the racist insults in the
French film and the teacher's failure to challenge them. "If someone
wanted to say something about race in school here they wouldn't, because
it would turn into a big issue," said Maxine. "Over here the
teacher would be on it very quickly, even if it was a joke." ” [Quoted
from guardian.co.uk]
That is, any rudeness or disruption is acceptable,
except ‘racism’ of course.
“Despite government initiatives to support teachers, keeping
discipline is becoming a growing struggle, says Chris Keates, general
secretary of the NASUWT. "Our members say they are maintaining
high standards of discipline but it is becoming harder to do. The low-level
disruption is becoming more regular. It doesn't matter whether you are
in the inner city, or the leafy suburbs or out in the country, teachers
are dealing with this sort of behaviour and have to be constantly vigilant.
They can't relax for a minute and by the end of the day they are totally
exhausted."Despite government initiatives to support teachers,
keeping discipline is becoming a growing struggle, says Chris Keates,
general secretary of the NASUWT. "Our members say they are maintaining
high standards of discipline but it is becoming harder to do. The low-level
disruption is becoming more regular. It doesn't matter whether you are
in the inner city, or the leafy suburbs or out in the country, teachers
are dealing with this sort of behaviour and have to be constantly vigilant.
They can't relax for a minute and by the end of the day they are totally
exhausted." ”
These conditions are ridiculous. And they lead to
absenteeism, nervous breakdowns, and just about any who can getting out of the job.
There is no excuse for acceeding to such work conditions.
“Headteachers of the schools [filmed], which were not named,
blamed Mason [the temporary teacher/film maker], saying she was an ineffective
teacher who lacked up-to-date behaviour strategies...”
Of course, they did. They’ve already got out
of the classroom. Don’t rock the boat. I have my sinecure now and
I don’t have to deal with the problems any more. Why do you suppose
such schools rely so much on supply [temporary] teachers?
And what lies beneath the surface in the Groaniad’s
skimpily ‘reported’ item?
"Where would you like to go?" asks Phillips [the headmaster].
