Interesting news stories

Has something in the news caught your eye?

Submitted by Francisco on Sun, 06/03/2012 - 6:12am

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A couple of travel related stories

Submitted by Francisco on Sun, 06/03/2012 - 6:14am.

A reporter comments about finding a universal socket and London now has so many French citizens living in it that they can now vote in French elections.

North Carolinian legislators plan to overrule reality

Submitted by Francisco on Tue, 06/05/2012 - 4:36am.

I saw this story posted in another forum and can't get it out of my head.

NC proposes that sea level rise be made illegal or, more to the point, discussion of sea level rise should be made illegal.

I wonder if anybody had told those legislators the story of King Canute?

Ps.
In that forum an NC resident asked the rest of the forum to remember that the NC General Assembly probably doesn't represent the majority of NC residents on this issue.

Oh man

Submitted by Clare K. R. Miller on Tue, 06/05/2012 - 12:57pm.

That's pretty hilarious. I've seen people legislate against reality in fiction, but I never thought someone would try to do it in real life!

Disbelief

Submitted by Francisco on Thu, 06/07/2012 - 1:34am.

I find it hard to believe that that is happening in a modern democratic state.

People are more likely to die on their birthday

Submitted by Francisco on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 6:31am.

A recent study has found that people are more likely to die on their birthday:

Here's a discussion of the results including possible reasons why that may be (audio) and a deeper look at the figures (text).

The Death of Gitta Sereny

Submitted by Francisco on Mon, 07/02/2012 - 2:36am.

Corrie's description of the faeries they're fighting as "evil" reminded me of a recent story. Sereny was someone who tried to understand those who committed terrible things.

Here's a link to the story (audio).

For those who are not in Britain, the James Bulger case was one where two boys (I think they were under 10 at the time) murdered a toddler. This was in the 90s.

For more details about the Mary Bell case (and Sereny) see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18504725.

Texas Republican Party and "critical thinking skills"

Submitted by Francisco on Tue, 07/10/2012 - 2:04am.

Texas Republican Party wants to ban "critical thinking skills" on school curriculums as it sees those skills as subversive.

Huh...

Submitted by FlowerGirl on Tue, 07/10/2012 - 6:51am.

They also say:
Controversial Theories – We support objective teaching and equal treatment of all sides of scientific theories. We believe theories such as life origins and environmental change should be taught as challengeable scientific theories subject to change as new data is produced. Teachers and students should be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these theories openly and without fear of retribution or discrimination of any kind.

Now, how can you do that without critical thinking? :P

That being said... I think the programmes for the Dutch election are mostly in Dutch. :P

But...

Submitted by Francisco on Tue, 07/10/2012 - 2:03pm.

If they had critical thinking skills they may come to the wrong conclusion. :P

Anyway, to be fair to the Texan Republican Party they aren't unique in their thinking (and as tempted as I am to mention Assad and other dictators, I am talking about something that happened in the UK). In the run up to the 1997 general election at least one senior member of the Conservative Party suggested that some of the problems in society (as he saw it) could be traced back to not having a sufficient appreciation for the British heroes of history (e.g. Nelson).

One of the changes in the curriculum when O-Levels changed to GCSE was that the study of history had a lesser emphasis on "narrative" history and a greater emphasis on assessing evidence and sources.