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Cliopatria

  • Jan 16, 2005

    More Noted ...

    by Cliopatria

    Michael Berube says that the Modern Language Association will not be withdrawing its troops from Iraq. [Ed: craven, left-wing toadies that they are.]

    If you had an interview with Armstrong Williams about the possibility of becoming his ghost writer, it might be a really weird experience and you might just be glad

  • Jan 15, 2005

    Drag Blogging?

    by Cliopatria

    It just seems that I don't have enough time to think deep (historical) blog thoughts these days... so to keep my hat in the ring, I'll go with yet another automotive theme: Drag Racing.

    Drag racing is unusual in that it is both among the most technologically complex of motorsports and also has the most extensive level of grassroots participation. Thanks to John Mason, a brilliant Historian at UVA, we have some remarkable insights into how the sport also manages to break through
  • Jan 15, 2005

    Grading is Academic Freedom?

    by Cliopatria

    Why do we consider grading policy a component of academic freedom? It's fundamental to our job, or it should be, to fairly and competently judge the work of our students, but I don't see how academic freedom plays into it. Quite the opposite, actually: this is an area where informal norms already sharply limit instructors and in which formal norms often do exist.

    Generally speaking, the definition of assignments is up to the instructo

  • Jan 14, 2005

    But Is There a Curve?

    by Cliopatria

    A good friend of mine says that he has stopped reading academic novels because the truth about the academy is far more entertaining. How else to explain the story in today’s Chronicle about Benedict College?

    The South Carolina four-year, accredited, institution describes its

  • Jan 14, 2005

    One week . . .

    by Cliopatria

    The deadline for new rebunk blogger applications is a week from today, Friday, January 21. Please send an email of inquiry, a copy of your vita, and 2-4 sample blog posts to:

    rebunkers@hotmail.com

    We look forward to hearing from you!
  • Jan 14, 2005

    Higher Education and World....

    by Cliopatria

    Tomorrow's Professor just forwarded a list of the top 500 universities in the world. As the introduction says

    Attempting to rank universities world-wide is no easy task [which is why very few organizations have tried to do it] and it is easy enough to take exception to the various criteria used. That said, here is a list of the top 500 universities in the world by rank as determined in a study from the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. A much mor
  • Jan 14, 2005

    The Biggest Relief Operation in History?

    by Cliopatria

    Paul Reynolds, for BBC News (1-11-05):

    It does not detract from the relief operation in Asia to question the title almost routinely given to it as the "world's largest relief operation ever". The huge American undertakings that fed millions of people during and after the World War I rescued not sections of populations but whole peoples. Today they have been largely forgotten.

  • Jan 14, 2005

    More Noted ...

    by Cliopatria

    Greg Robinson will be on FOX television's"War Stories with Oliver North" on Sunday evening at 8:00 p.m. est to discuss the experience of Japanese-Americans in World War II. Before he posts again at Cliopatria, some of our colleagues may want Greg to go through decontamination after appearing on FOX, but think of it this way: he's doing missionary work. Thanks to Eric Muller's"Is That Legal?"
  • Jan 13, 2005

    Tired of the NFL

    by Cliopatria

    No, I am not tired of the product on the field. I love the games. I am scheduling my entire weekend around my Patriots playing the Colts, a team which, if the pundits are to be believed, is well nigh unbeatable. I do, however, wish that those same experts would think back to last year when the dynamic was exactly the same and the Pats once again beat Manning and his minions and went on to win their second Super Bowl in three seasons. I mean, would it kill the Colts to win a game that matters bef
  • Jan 13, 2005

    Noted Here and There ...

    by Cliopatria

    Our friends over at Rebunk are recruiting a few additional members of their group blog. If you enjoy discussing current events in historical perspective, think you know something about sports, and like butting heads a little harder than we usually do over here at Cliopatria, consider the possibility of becoming a Rebunker.

    I'm a big fan of Caleb McDaniel'

  • Jan 12, 2005

    My King Yada Yada ...

    by Cliopatria

    It's that time of year, folks. There was a call from the Washington Post this morning and a request from Minnesota Public Radio yesterday. The questions are almost always the same:"What would Dr. King say about ...?" Iraq? the Bush administration? the tsunami crisis? My sense is that it's not that anyone cares deeply about what King would say or that I have exclusive insight on what King would say. Given what I know, I can speculate that he would have been opposed to the invasion of Iraq,
  • Jan 12, 2005

    Is Cuba's infant mortality rate really better than ours?

    by Cliopatria

    Maybe. In today's NYT, Nicholas Kristof cites that as fact from a CDC report.

    But I have two follow-up questions:

    1) What reason do we have to believe Cuban (and Chinese) statistics? Authoritarian governments are notorious liars, especially in raw data presentation.

    2) Are the comparative data controlled for what I presume to be much higher premie survival rates in the United States?

    U.S. infant mortality rates are indeed shamefully high.
  • Jan 12, 2005

    We Want You!!!

    by Cliopatria

    (Please Note: We will be keeping this post at or near the top of the screen until the deadline, but please do read further for new posts below)

    Rebunk is looking for one new blogger, maybe more. Our regular readers know what we are all about – Rebunk tackles a wide array of issues, from politics and foreign affairs to sports and pop culture. We are not afraid to speak our minds, we respect a certain level of assertiveness if it is backed by facts and a good argument, and we welcome an arr

  • Jan 12, 2005

    Carnival reminder

    by Cliopatria

    Don't forget the first History Carnival will appear on Early Modern Notes sometime Friday (or possibly Saturday depending on busy-ness) and I'm looking for entries.

    I'd especially like to hear from you if you've read - or written - something historical that isn't on the usual well-trodden history blog track: in new blogs (or ones that aren't yet well known), and in blogs that aren't
  • Jan 11, 2005

    Richard B. Speed: Review of Barry and Judith Colp Rubin's, Hating America: A History

    by Cliopatria

    Mr. Speed is a Lecturer at the Department of History, California State University at Hayward.

    “I am willing to love all mankind, except an American.”--Samuel Johnson.

    “ America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.” --Oscar Wilde.

    “Why do they hate us?” The question seems to be on everyone’s lips these days, and everybody seems to have an opinion. According to some observers,