Author Archives: thormay

29. The American Beacon of Post-Industrial Failure

Posted on May 28, 2004 by thormay

Amer­ica is a bea­con of failed post-indus­trial civ­i­liza­tion. The bea­con might or might not be a tele­vi­sion mock-up, but for the rest of us (non-Amer­i­cans) this glitzy haze is what mostly blurs our hori­zons. The fail­ure emerges from try­ing to … Con­tinue read­ing →

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28. The Case for Favoritism

Posted on July 12, 2003 by thormay

Imag­ine the per­fect mer­i­toc­racy. Now think again. In our per­fect mer­i­toc­racy prizes go to the most able, the most wor­thy, the best … But who is to decide the most able, wor­thy or best ? A fair sys­tem you say, … Con­tinue read­ing →

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27. How to Get The Degree You Want, OR Are You A Fake?

Posted on June 6, 2003 by thormay

Two top­ics are put through the min­cer here. The pre­lim­i­nary sec­tions are a dis­cus­sion about the nature, mean­ing and value of aca­d­e­mic qual­i­fi­ca­tions. The sec­ond part (the orig­i­nal post­ing) puts a spot­light on one uni­ver­sity (Green­wich Uni­ver­sity, Hawaii) which actu­ally … Con­tinue read­ing →

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26. So You Wanna’ Write a Poem??

Posted on June 1, 2003 by thormay

In another life, before blogs took over the world, for a cou­ple of years Thor was the Writ­ings Edi­tor for an expa­tri­ate com­mu­nity web­site in South Korea. He there­fore saw a lot of awful writ­ing, and some that was pretty … Con­tinue read­ing →

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The paradox of scholarship: pissing on every lamp post

Posted on July 2, 2002 by thormay

If I have been able to see fur­ther, it was only because I stood on the shoul­ders of giants [Isaac New­ton, 1642 – 1727] Newton’s com­ment encap­su­lates the ideal of schol­ar­ship, though not its con­stant out­come. Schol­ar­ship is often con­fused with … Con­tinue read­ing →

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19. Unseen Grammar – Suspecting The God Of Cracks Between The Floorboards

Posted on June 21, 2001 by thormay

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel; But it is on the space where there is noth­ing that the use­ful­ness of the wheel depends. We turn clay to make a ves­sel; But it is on the space where … Con­tinue read­ing →

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16. Individualism or the Group ?

Posted on March 1, 2001 by thormay

Indi­vid­u­al­ism or the Group? Thor May Wuhan, China 2001 The lady on BBC radio was mak­ing a pitch to teach social anthro­pol­ogy to the unwashed masses of the air-waves. There is, she said, a range of cul­tural types whose two extremes are … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in culture, evidence, individualism, proportion, Research & Study, truth | 1 Comment