L33t Links: The Dissenting Voice

[l33tminion]

Sure has been a while since I did one of these, but here are a few recent tidbits.

Teach A Kid to Argue: On why teaching kids good argument skills is a better idea than you might think.

The Upside of Ugly: On plastic surgery and technological solutions to social problems.

Jay-Z’s "99 Problems," Verse 2: A Close Reading With Fourth Amendment Guidance for Cops and Perps: Musical "life lessons for cops and robbers".

The Problem with Witness Testimony: One thing people should keep in mind, especially if they ever serve on a jury in a criminal trial.

The Toothbrush That Saved the ISS: Low-tech solutions in a high-tech setting.

Six Thoughts on the Case of the Breast Feeding Professor: The discussion prompted by this story is way more interesting than the story itself. Also, this.

Why Greece's Neo-Nazis Are So Popular: Not so different from other historical occurences.

Life Spans Shrink for Least-Educated Whites in the U.S.: Dimitri Orlov saw this coming.

The Spiritual Crisis of Zionism: A fascinating essay in response to Beinart's The Crisis of Zionism.

Comments

[zinnia-zeroth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for drawing my attention to the Upside of Ugly piece.

[solomon garner (from livejournal.com)]

Teachers should not be breastfeeding during class. They should not bring their kids to class. Basically what this commenter (http://www.amptoons.com/blog/2012/09/13/six-thoughts-on-the-case-of-the-breast-feeding-professor/comment-page-2/#comment-248398) said.

[l33tminion]

The thing is, I don't think that's the question this debate centers on at all. Of course Professor Pine was aware that she shouldn't bring her child to class. Why do you think she had day-care in the first place? The question is, given a last minute emergency that precluded day-care, would the students (many of whom commute) have been better served by having class canceled entirely. Professors shouldn't cancel class at the last minute, either.

There's a reason why I say that the reaction to this story is more interesting than the story itself. What's more interesting is how squeamishly people react with regard to issues that involve babies and motherhood (reaction to public breast-feeding just being a particularly dramatic example of that). It's not like every sub-optimal decision a professor makes becomes a national news story.