Graeme’s

Race is arbitrary

Willem Buiter’s blog post on the arbitrariness of racial classifications are spot on. I wonder if he is too decent to realise that the whole point of the concept of race is to divide people; to provide people with a sense of belonging to a tribe. Race is purely whatever society defines it to be. Both the countries I know well, Britain and Sri Lanka, show this.

(more…)

Comments(0)

Freedom for teenagers

In an interview with Psychology Today, Robert Epstein discusses his view that adolescents are harmed by being restricted and infantilised. This strengthens some of my views about schools and over-protective parenting, which I mentioned in my post on the lies we tell children.

(more…)

Comments (1)

Sex and normality

The easy assumption that both The Guardian and Relate make when faced with men who have lost interest in sex have a medical or psychological problem seems to be to be forcing people into a mould of “normality” that is just as bad as Victorian behaviour that we would now find appalling. (more…)

Comments (2)

Limitless stupidity

This is old news, but I only just found someone even stupider than the woman who refused to believe that -6 is higher than -8. Even stupider than Jerry Taylor, City Manager of Tuttle, Oklahoma, who threatened to call the FBI because he could not understand how to configure his computer. The record breaker: another small American city that came close to banning items made using dihydrogen monoxide.

Comments(0)

Nisha Clare Pietersz

My second daughter Nisha Clare Pietersz was born day before yesterday.

She has one older sister, Lucy Tarika.

If you know the derivations of the names (or their Latin and Sanskrit roots) you may notice a pattern.
Both mother and baby are well and full of life.

Comments (1)

How to buy cameras and PCs

Having previously complained about how consumers are too confused to choose complex technology, I am doing my bit to improve the situation with a little explanation, and some useful links. (more…)

Comments(0)

Credit crunch humour

Two outstanding bits of humour:

This cartoon at the Washington Post: found via this blog post.

The Daily Mash understands the government’s action over Northern Rock better than most of the serious media.

On a slightly different topic The Daily Mash also has a good grasp on the future of work: die at your desks.

Comments(0)

Gay English for the hoi polloi

It appears that some people are using the phrase “the hoi polloi” to mean “the elite” rather than “the masses”. I have never come across a better argument for a classical education. (more…)

Comments (3)

Turtles everywhere

I was on holiday last week, which, together with being sick this week, is why things have been a bit slow here. The highlight of the holiday was the invasion of the hotel by 50 or 60 green turtles. (more…)

Comments(0)

Is The Economist still worth reading?

This post on The Economist’s rather bizarre liking for the Bush government (found via Brad DeLong’s post) only highlights what is wrong with The Economist. While it is still often better than the competition, but nothing like as good as it once was.
(more…)

Comments(0)

 

About/contact

Categories

• Books
• Business & Investment
  • Shares
• Economics
  • Market failure
• Humour
• Internet
  • Wordpress
• Life
  • parenting
• Media
  • Wrong
• Politics
• Religion
• Software
• Uncategorized