Interesting Links for 19-8-2011

[andrewducker]

• A nice guide to how patents are used - to keep new people from entering a market
  (tags: patents software)
• You won't prevent future riots by disregarding the psychology of crowds
  (tags: psychology riots society)
• UK public sector borrowing sees big fall in July
  (tags: deficit government finance uk)
• Enough Already!: a piece of kit that silences your TV whenever certain celebrities appear
  (tags: tv celebrity funny technology)
• The Guardian's review of Let's Kill Hitler tells us nothing _and_ makes it sound great.
  (tags: doctorwho review)
• The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees - and how it might help solar panels
  (tags: science biology design energy nature trees solarpower)
• By guessing how low voltage in a CPU can drop, and applying error correction power usage can drop by 64%
  (tags: power technology computers)
• Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea.
  (tags: inspiration religion meditation life)
• Woot is now in the dictionary (along with retweet and noob)
  (tags: language english)
• There's not really any evidence for single-sex education
  (tags: education gender)
• Sentencing remarks from a judge dealing with rioters
  (tags: riots law uk)
• Candle flames contain millions of tiny diamonds
  (tags: science physics awesome)
• Two Targets, One Bullet: How the Ultimate Sniper Rifle Was Made
  (tags: guns weaponry uk military)
• The anti-libertarian FAQ
  (tags: libertarianism politics economics philosophy ethics government freedom)
• An interesting interview on copyright, Google and possible future approaches
  (tags: copyright law music napster)
• Girl Forced to Apologize to Boy Who Raped Her
  (tags: rape education EpicFail)
• Looks like the UK might have been involved in killing a former UN Secretary General.
  (tags: uk politics usa history africa UnitedNations)

Comments

[pseudomonas]

I recommend the (somewhat dated but extremely readable) http://www.zompist.com/libertos.html

[kerrypolka.livejournal.com]

There's not really any evidence for single-sex education

Ha, this makes it sound like there is a question of whether it exists! ;)

[anef.livejournal.com]

There's no neuroscientific (if that's a word) evidence that boys and girls learn differently or need different styles of teaching. However I believe it has been proven that girls do better in single sex schools, which is a cultural issue.

[andrewducker]

Seems to be the case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-sex_education#United_Kingdom

I'll definitely be sending any kids I have to mixed-gender schools, because having gone to an all-boys school and not actually had any girls in my social group until I hit university, I don't think it's a good thing socially at all.

[anef.livejournal.com]

So you'd choose to improve your sons' social skills at the expense of your daughters' future prospects?

[andrewducker]

I don't think it's healthy for anyone to grow up isolated from 50% of the population. Talking to women that went to all-girls schools they mostly seem to feel that way too.

[naath.livejournal.com]

I went to an all girls school and very much enjoyed the experience. I think I benefited hugely from an environment where girls were expected and encouraged to be good at maths and the sciences (by both teachers and fellow students), whilst I believe a mixed-sex school COULD offer that I feel that the reality is that many DON'T.

[andrewducker]

I accept that this is the case in some ways, but the social effects outweigh it for me. Boys who grow up not seeing girls doing well at maths also tend to have all sorts of preconceptions which probably make society worse for those girls later on.

I feel that the breaking of people into different groups by gender at a young age reinforces the idea that those groups are utterly difference, and that this causes prejudices which can last a lifetime. If we want to build a society where these prejudices are eradicated then we have to place people together, and demonstrate that gender isn't important, the individual is.

The idea that "We have to segregate the girls, otherwise the boys will be mean to them" seems completely wrongheaded to me, when contrasted with "We have to bring them together, and make the boys treat them like human beings if they don't." Anything else leads to the kind of othering that means that boys view girls as "those things you see when you want something you can't get from your normal social group".

(Edit: And vice versa, of course.)

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Couldn't agree more.

Also I never had any boys or teachers tell me I should be crap at maths and sciences at school despite going to a mixed comprehensive. And girl-on-girl bullying was more common than boy-on-girl.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

And of course you can argue it the other way: would you choose to improve your daughters' future prospects at the expense of your sons' social skills?

If co-educational schools are truly good for boys but bad for girls that's an intractable problem. I suspect that this is the case in practice, but it need not be always so, so there can be ways around it. e.g. teach maths separately.

[andrewducker]

Or, indeed, find out _why_ teaching maths together causes problems and fix that.

If it's truly unfixable then fair enough, teach it separately. But I find that unlikely.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

I agree, your suggestion of "get the boys to socialise properly" (and the girls too if need be I suppose) looks like a better solution. Point being, there almost certainly are solutions.

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

My mum sent her daughters to single sex schools and my brother to a mixed school :(

[andrewducker]

I take it you'd rather have been mixed in?

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

Actually, no, I hated my secondary school but not because it was girls only. I never learnt to simper and pretend not to understand things as a teen, which seems to be one of the lessons mixed sex school teach girls unless the teachers are extremely careful. I just think my mum was a massive hypocrite for using other people's daughters to civilise my brother while protecting us from that atmosphere.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Interesting what you say about the Guardian's Doctor Who review. Mr Brixton Brood is currently sulking because he beleives himself to have been spoiled by it, and I am biting my nails down to the quick with the effort of not reading it, on his advice.

[andrewducker]

There are several snippets along the lines of "I can't tell you about the thing with the mice"*. But I didn't consider those to be spoilers as (a)I suspect that they are absolutely tangential to the plot, and (b)I'm not sure I believe them at all.



*not a real example.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I think there are a couple of things that either obvious spoilers or deliberate misleadings. Also, it's sort of a boring article, mainly name-dropping and waxing lyrical about awesome parties. You're missing nothing.

Patent law

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Mr Brixtonbrood also takes agin the article on patent law - "Everyone agrees that patent law is a huge mess"? No, everyone agrees that US patent law as it applies to software is a huge mess, because they're trying to derive it all from one throwaway line in the Constitution, rather than starting from scratch. The UK and EU aren't perfect, but my God, in comparison to the US they're like Wagner compared to Jedward.

(Wagner the composer, not Wagner off the X-Factor.)

[heron61.livejournal.com]

An interesting interview on copyright, Google and possible future approaches

The author closely enough associated with the recording industry, that I regard his opinions with great dubiousness, and his book sounds equally partisan. However, his idea of a blanket license isn't a bad one, the only question being (and it's a fairly huge one) being who actually gets the money. If it goes to recording (and publishing) companies to distribute as they see fit, I strongly oppose it. If someone finds a way to get it mostly into the hands of creators, then it sounds fairly good, but you would need some sort of remotely accurate way to distribute the money.