Category Archives: culture

53. The South Pacific and Someone’s Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Posted on August 27, 2011 by thormay

This piece was writ­ten while I was a lec­turer in lin­guis­tics at the Uni­ver­sity of the South Paci­fic, Suva, Fiji  from 1987 to 1990. Now it is 2011, but not so much has really changed in the Paci­fic for its … Con­tinue read­ing →

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52. Performance-Linked Micro-Tariffs

Posted on August 24, 2011 by thormay

The let­ter fol­low­ing was addressed to Prime Min­is­ter Keat­ing, 8 July 1995, and later posted on my web­site (http://thormay.net/politics/politic5.html). The reply to me from a min­der was what you might expect: vapid. Nev­er­the­less the points out­lined remain ger­mane to any Aus­tralian … Con­tinue read­ing →

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51. Getting It Done, Or Your Gift For Mine? – An Echo from the Philippines

Posted on August 13, 2011 by thormay

On a stopover in Manila a while back, I wan­dered into a book­shop, look­ing for some­thing that could give me a fix on “the” cul­tural mind­set of the Philip­pines. This is a coun­try with which I have had only brief … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in competence, culture, management, reciprocation, Research & Study, teaching | Leave a comment

49. Cultural Operating Systems – Thoughts on Designing Cultures

Posted on September 5, 2010 by thormay

This (non-aca­d­e­mic) arti­cle cov­ers a lot of ter­ri­tory, noth­ing less than the “cul­tural oper­at­ing sys­tems” within which we live, how they have changed, and how they might be changed. There is a kind of arro­gance in toy­ing with the ele­ments … Con­tinue read­ing →

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37. Some Mysteries of Language Learning

Posted on May 2, 2005 by thormay

Thor May 2005 – 2012 An expert is a fool a thou­sand miles from home. Hav­ing suc­cess­fully failed to learn about nine lan­guages, I’m a vet­eran lan­guage learn­ing imbe­cile, always a thou­sand miles from suc­cess, and an eter­nally hope­ful begin­ner. I’ve … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in culture, Language learning, Machine translation, teaching | Leave a comment

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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