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User pages for Zwackus:

Sensei, graphu? Graphu?

by Zwackus
Fri Jun 20th, 2008 at 06:52:07 PM EST

I have recently switched jobs, and am now a real and proper teacher at a combined middle/high school in a dumpy city on the outskirts of Tokyo.  Follow me below the fold for an amusing tale of teaching, English, woe, and a subject near and dear to the hearts of ET readers everywhere . . . graphs!

Read more... (31 comments, 762 words in story)

Insane Policy Ideas - An end to advertising

by Zwackus
Wed Jan 30th, 2008 at 07:54:36 AM EST

A common theme in the various discussion on this site is that it's important for the left to have alternative ideas ready and waiting, so that when the moment comes it can be seized.  Every so often a discussion of possible policy solutions to the diverse ills of the modern world comes up, but it seems as if it would be a topic worthy of more regular attention.

So, I thought maybe I'd try and help get things started with an idea of my own.  Should this provoke an intriguing discussion, I may post more, and make it a series of sorts.  Feel free to join in the fun with your own policy ideas!

This entry tackles the problem (at least, I think it's a problem!) of advertising, and proposed a rather radical step - its complete abolition.

It's not called "Insane Policy Ideas" for nothing!

Read more... (40 comments, 1042 words in story)

Rural Population Decline

by Zwackus
Sat Sep 15th, 2007 at 10:53:31 PM EST

A recent discussion in the daily news forum got me thinking about the issue of rural population decline in developed countries.  I have a sense of the problem in Japan and the US, but I'm curious about the situation in other parts of the world, and I wonder what the community thinks about the issue.

Articles and discussion after the jump.

Read more... (10 comments, 1333 words in story)

Russian "Corruption" in the NYT

by Zwackus
Wed Jun 14th, 2006 at 06:34:19 PM EST

I found a somewhat puzzling article in the NYT international pages this morning over coffee.  It's a really quite confusing report about what could either be a trade dispute, a regulatory conflict between the Russian government and transnational capital, or plain old corruption.  So, I thought, maybe somebody here could clarify what exactly is going on.  More on the flip.

Full text of the article should be available here

Read more... (8 comments, 378 words in story)

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