Traditional universities and accreditation bodies are becoming hide-bound by the intrusion of business practices. Could a new form of accreditation circumvent that?
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Guns are a problem, and poor mental health care is a problem, but the real causes behind tragedies like Sandy Hook go much deeper.
Continue readingI have watched the debate between climate scientists and the global warming deniers with a great deal of frustration, but until recently I could not articulate clearly why I found it so exasperating. It seems that the denier camp has … Continue reading
I have not been able to post much on Cogito! in recent months, but there are some things that will make me dust off this blog. One of them is the Bay Choral Guild, particularly after last night’s brilliant performance … Continue reading
I like to talk up the idea of “guerrilla scholarship”, which which I define as the notion that one can do serious scholarship outside the embrace of academia. But this story takes the “guerrilla” part to a whole new wonderful … Continue reading
General Education was designed to help students gain the ability to appreciate life, but when life kind of sucks because you don’t know how you’re going to pay the bills or where your life is going, it really is amazing how immersing oneself in some excellent creativity can nurture the soul.
Continue readingMass that has defined Christian liturgy since the early Church represents what, on the surface seems like one of the great challenges in the musical arts: given a set text, one that the listeners historically knew by heart and had heard literally thousands of times, find a way to make it new and interesting.
Continue readingSomeone is going to explain this to me, if there is any reasonable, rational or believable explanation to be had. The Neocons are at it again, this time beating their well-worn drums of war on Libya. As reported in consortiumnews.com: … Continue reading
One of my favorite performing groups, the Bay Choral Guild, began a three-night series of concerts featuring choral music written by living, West coast composers. This unusual format produces what I think is one of the richest and most deeply-textured performances by BCG in recent memory.
Continue readingAccording to a 2007 diplomatic cable, Dr. Sadad al-Husseini, who is the former Executive Vice President for Saudi Arabia has overstated the size of their reserves by about 40% or 300 billion barrels. Dr. al-Husseini also believes that as a result Saudi Arabia will have trouble meeting its production goals and cannot therefore help keep oil prices in check.
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