Keith Hudson wrote:
Hi Tor,Among old-timers on FW, I think we can speak bluntly, so please don't take
offence at the following. (snip)
Bill Ward said the following last January and I feel it bears repeating:
At a meeting of the American Heart Association one year a bunch of
cardiovascular surgeons said that the reason that there had been a 30%
drop in cardiovascular deaths in the previous ten years was that open heart
surgery was up 30% in the same period. A
biostatistician friend of mine got up after that and showed that
beer consumption was up 30% in the same period and said that it was truly
the increase in beer drinking.
By the way, no one has ever been able to show any relationship between health services in the US [except for immunizations] and improvement in health [except for the health of health care workers].
I love teapots, tempests and all that and no one does it better than you Keith but I don't have time so I must not play. By the way are you the Reggae Keith Hudson? I went looking for your site but all I found was dubbing and reggae. Mike G. told me that your site was a good one.
I've been working on our Chamber Opera Center national network, brainstorming, unions, etc., and trying to conquer my reservation Algebra so that I can use the complexity formulas some of my board members have been sending me. Good stuff, but I don't yet see the difference between complexity and the statistical work we did years ago in pedagogy and educational research. But it does show another way of looking at the same issues and appreciating the past. I have taught for forty years and get a feeling of Maoist romanticism when I hear the proposals for revolutionizing the schools and other institutions including the government. I like my schools holistic and my governments stable so that everyone else can develop around the tree of their deep roots.
As for golden eras, I generally find that they have more guilt than gold and that includes stats from old sources. No one bit on the population question that I had for Ishi and that is too bad because such devices along with rewriting the language are used to create mischief in the real world, i.e. what was a nation historically is now a "tribe" with all of the commensurate lack of privileges accorded contractually. But I have to get back to this article John Warfield just sent and hope you are doing well with your marketing the great choral performing arts of the past.
I agree with what Walker said since my experience resonates with his work experience as well. I tend to move slower since I past fifty and I never agreed with Mao about the need for his constant revolution. I tend to think that all forms have a cycle and that they are either renewed at the end of put on the shelf for a rest while something else is used for a while. Sort of like the NYCity transit system of public and private carriers. One's down while the other is up and then they flip. They keep each other humble and honest.
As for Tor, I wouldn't just kiss off a 1990 reference. Think of
how they will use the current unemployment figures, you doubt, 140
years from now. Think also if policy is based upon those
government figures as proof of some outlandish future idea's validity.
Could you pass me tea and a scone?
Regards,
REH
