* Scientists Discover Ancient ‘Magical’ Amulet With Odd Two-Way Inscription
Bookmarks: Amulet • R.I.P. Andre Crouch • Schools should teach against date rape? • Individualization in the classroom • The One Universal Secret To A Lasting Marriage • When a loved one has mental illness • A genetic predictor of breast cancer
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The text and accompanying images clearly indicate that the object was created by someone who subscribed to a mixture of Christian (or Jewish) and pagan beliefs. This would have been circa 500 C.E., in Cyprus. Such a mixture is called “syncretism.” The authors of the Old Testament history books disapproved of the shrines on the “high places” for reason that syncretic worship practices occurred there.
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The author, Vanita Sundaram, senior lecturer in education at University of York, seems to me to have an inflated notion of schools’ ability to solve every conceivable social problem. First, I don’t know where such instruction would find its place in the curriculum. The schools I am familiar with have their hands full already simply struggling to impart literacy. Second, her article reports absolutely nothing that might substantiate the thesis of her headline.
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In another case of — belling the cat — “educators'” and “reformers'” seeking to burden schoolteachers with more than they can bear — the author argues that individualized instruction, in the classroom, simply isn’t practicable.
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“Luckily, new research has boiled the key to spousal success down to one simple tip. And this tip holds true worldwide, across cultures, ages and incomes: Find a significant other who is also your best friend.”
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This is principally a memoir of this one woman’s grief. I cite it to illustrate the heartbreak and havoc mental illness can wreak in life, given the prevalence of mental illness among the homeless.
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Another memoir. I was struck by this passage:
“BRCA was the first genetic marker identified for hereditary forms of breast cancer. Testing positive for this mutation means a 50 to 80 percent chance of getting breast cancer, and a 27 percent chance of ovarian cancer, with a little pancreatic and melanoma thrown in for good measure. * * * With BRCA, now a known part of my family’s DNA, my siblings and children’s chances of testing positive would be 50 percent.”
That’s a shocking statistic.
Reblogged 2020-11-19.
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