Archive for June, 2008
It’s those noisy high heels
I’m supposed to be lesson planning, but this article caught my eye.
Women in a northern Malaysian city ruled by conservative Islamists are being urged to forsake bright lipstick and noisy high heels in an effort to preserve their dignity and avoid rape.
Kota Baru, the city in question, is part of Kelantan, a state that has [...]
Filed under: In the News, Women, World | Leave a Comment
Tags: Malaysia, Misogyny, Rape, Women
Mislaid in Translation
My town is probably the only town in Japan with sister schools in Turkey. Over a hundred years ago, a Turkish ship ran aground on the coast here. Most of the sailors perished, but a few were rescued by local people, and Turkey was grateful. There’s a small museum nearby commemorating the event, a few [...]
Filed under: Japan, Japanese | 2 Comments
Tags: Anecdotes, English, Internationalisation, Japanese, Languages, Translation, Turkish
Mark Lynas has written a book on climate change, called Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. I haven’t read it, so I can’t comment on its content (though from the title, I would speculate that Lynas is not a climate change sceptic).
He’s also written an article on the Guardian website about writing about [...]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Science | 2 Comments
Tags: Climate Change, Comment on Comment, Scepticism, Science, The Guardian
The Economist has another example of a graph that tells the viewer, well, nothing.
Last time it was due to comparisons between data sets which weren’t really comparable. This time, it’s an odd choice of data to start with.
Apparently, trade diversity is important. My study of economics did not go beyond A-level, but I’m inclined to [...]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Mathematics & Statistics | Leave a Comment
Tags: Exports, Graphs, Mathematics & Statistics, Misleading Statistics, The Economist, Trade
It’s early summer, the rainy season is upon us and the mosquitoes are out. And this week love is in the air. Or something like that.
Once a week, I attend a cooking class. I’m not a totally awful cook, but I could certainly use the practice. The teacher speaks a little English, but mostly I [...]
Filed under: Japan, Teaching | 3 Comments
Tags: Japan, Teaching, Teenagers
The Booklovers: Chapter One
Previously: Prologue
Vladimir Nabokov
Hello, little girl..
Of course I’d heard of Nabokov before this, and of course I’d heard of Lolita, his most famous and most notorious work. But I had not read it, nor seen the films, so I knew only the barest outline of the plot. It’s a book about a man who marries a [...]
Filed under: Books, The Booklovers | 1 Comment
Tags: Books, Lolita, The Booklovers, Vladimir Nabokov
Gordon Brown would have welcomed headlines pointing out that yesterday’s results were a victory for the Labour government. David Cameron would have liked them to emphasise that the vote was won by pressure, promises and concessions on other issues to anyone who wanted them. I don’t think either of them wanted this.
David Davis’s resignation has [...]
Filed under: Civil Liberties, In the News, Politics | 2 Comments
Tags: 42 Days, Civil Liberties, David Cameron, David Davis, Politics, The Sun, UK, UK Politics
That’s it, I’m leaving the UK
Except I can’t, because I already did. And I don’t believe the best way to solve problems is to abandon them, anyway. But there are days when I really, truly, wonder what the country is going to look like when I go back in a year or two.
The bill to increase pre-charge detention limits to [...]
Filed under: Civil Liberties, In the News, Politics | 2 Comments
Tags: 42 Days, Brown, Cameron, Civil Liberties, Diane Abbott, In the News, Jacqui Smith, Politics, UK Politics
-
Recent Comments
Laura on Gay Marriage Flowchart The same-sex marriag… on Gay Marriage Flowchart Rob F on Gay Marriage Flowchart Bart on “That’s how I was… solongo on “Mainstream” schoo…
Second-hand isn’t necessarily second-rate
When I was a teenager, continously in search of new reading matter, I worked my way through most of Robert Goddard’s books. I liked the plot twists, and the fact that I could read them in a few bus rides.
One day, I had read almost the whole way through one of his novels (I forget [...]
Filed under: Books, Comment on Comment | 1 Comment
Tags: Books, Bookshops, Comment on Comment, Second-hand Books, The Guardian