Jane Haddam

So John says he knows that the American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand governments evolved from the British, and that they’re similar and different in many ways, but he doesn’t see anything he could use that information for.  And Robert says we don’t have “departments” of alchemy and astrology any more, so philosophy has nothing…

Well, let’s start with–John’s post clarifies a lot of things about this discussion. John says  I see similarities when he sees diferences, but that’s not entirely accurate. He sees differences, and  I see evolutions. The differences between  classical Greece and twentieth century New York isn’t the difference between penguins and hummingbirds, but the difference between…

Okay, I’ll admit it.  John managed to surprise me.  What he said was: >>>Linking Galileo and Aristotle together as part of Western Civilization is rather stretching the idea of civilization. >>>> And I’ll admit to not knowing where to start.   But this is a good illustration of why the Humanities are not just “nice to…

Cheryl points out that a conflict between reason and religion is not the issue in all cultures, and of course she’s right.   You’ll notice I said nothing about the cultures of Asia, where issues tend to revolve around concepts of tradition and authority rather than revelation and the interpretation of revelation.  But revelation and the…

John thinks there’s something wrong with what I’m saying because if I put an Italian and an Icelander next to a !Kung tribesman, I’d also notice their similarities more than their differences. And, of course, I would.  Italians and Icelanders are both Westerners, albeit from two different branches of the larger enterprise called Western Civilization.  …

Let me see if I  can backtrack a little here and do this in order. John wants to know how I’m using the word “culture,” since to him it means things like music and art, and a Wall Street CEO and an assembly line worker would have two entirely different cultures.  He also wants to…

Okay, that’s not exactly nice.  Or sensitive.  Or something.  Bu when I get really weirded out, I start to gigle. I do want to get back to all the things we’ve been sort of talking about–especially whether I, as a taxpayer, am getting my money’s worth when it’s spent on public “universities” that provide only…

Okay. This  is going to be a shortish, odd kind of post. I finished my book today, really finished it, sent copies off to a bunch of people who can help do things like tell me if it makes any sense, so my first inclination was to go running around the house yelling “whee!” and…

Okay, I’ve been working a lot today, and I wasn’t going to post, because I’m exhausted, but yesterday’s comments have me going. First, for John’s benefit, the tier rankings are done by US News and World  Report, and they’re quite up front and transparent about their rating system.  The system they use is heavily weighted…

So, okay, let me try to address some of this stuff in some sort of at least half-assedly systematic way. First, the issue of employers continuing to demand college degrees even after the standards for high school graduation have been raised, if only to whittle down the number of candidates, fails to take into account…