Schemathings

I’ve started blogging over at Not an MBA, a collaboration among several writers interested in current business administration and entrepreneurial topics.

I’m listening to my favorite radio station right now – WPKN and the program right now is an interview with the James Kakalios, author of “The Physics of Superheroes”.

The author is explaining the ‘one time miracle exemption’ for superheros. They have to obey normal laws of physics, which he explains throughout his book, and he concludes the book with a chapter that explains the exemptions the superheros have been granted

We heard about Flash, The Atom, T.H.U.N.D.E.R., the X-men, WonderWoman and many others.

A good discussion of the legacy of the hard sci-fi era, silver age of comics, etc. I wish there were an mp3 archive

I decided to call in and point out a cool place I ran across in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Superhero Supply Center, a retail store that sells superhero supplies to fund a non-profit that does reading programs for kids. A good place to buy invisibilty spray and costume your superhero (or villain) alter ego. I also threw in a few sci-fi authors who were in the hard scifi camp – Larry Niven, Isaac Asimov, Vernor Vinge, etc.

The author’s site is at The Physics of Superheros.

I just finished reading The Flickering Mind. I have to say I was a little less impressed with the book than I had hoped. It didn’t feel like a balanced ‘investigative journalism’ report so much as an effort to prove the author’s point – that computers in school are a waste of time and money. There’s always a feeling of the story being balanced but then some weasel words and questionable comparisons cause me to doubt the objectivity, and therefore a creeping loss of faith in the author’s integrity.

A few simple examples from the chapter about Renaissance / Accelerated Reader program:

“.. while this could change, the feat has generally remained beyond the skill of the average teacher. It also seems to remain beyond the skill, or the interest, of the average software producer.”

So – we are discussing something that is beyond EVERYONES skill, but since software producers are evil then we have to make them not interested as well?

Also in this chapter we learn about ‘The Creative Research Lab’. The author spends about 7 and half pages on a pretty cleverly disguised ad hominem attack to undermine any credibility the company may have. Renaissance’s president was formerly the president of Best Power (us IT guys know them from their UPS systems). Here’s subtlety for you:

“Before long the company was selling thousands of power inverters and transformers to survivalists, private companies, and other customers across the nation.”

Why are survivalists first on the list? That particular section of the chapter has many, many other examples to plant subtle fear and loathing in the hearts of parents and educators. Mission accomplished Mr. Oppenheimer?

With such inconsistencies in reporting throughout the book that I CAN detect, I have to assume there are many more that I wouldn’t recognize, since I don’t take part in the enormous educational complex with all its constituencies (I recall being told by a friend that there are more SCHOOL SYSTEMS in the United States than there are McDonalds).