Category Archives: personal

Stuff about me (Bernard HP Gilroy), instead of or in addition to stuff about education.

Happy New Year and Happy 2018

Posted on 2017 December 31 by mongreldogs

Just a quick maintenance post.  In the new year I intend — as anyone who writes does — to write more frequently and more broadly.  I don’t expect it, but I intend it.  🙂  

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Facetious blueprint

Posted on 2017 July 14 by mongreldogs

An AI researcher (Kai-Fu Lee) has written an article (“A Blueprint for Coexistence with Artificial Intelligence“) that fails at its own goal, spectacularly.  He assures us we need not end up in the dystopias so common in movies and literature. … Continue reading →

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Lunacon 2014 (2): Saturday

Posted on 2016 February 16 by mongreldogs

Even though Lunacon is over, I’m going to keep writing up my notes and impressions, if only to keep writing in general. Saturday was the busiest day of the con, and it certainly showed in my personal programming grid.  I … Continue reading →

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Marc Cohn @ The City Winery, 2012 Jan 26

Posted on 2016 February 16 by mongreldogs

{This has apparently been sitting in my Drafts folder for four years.  Oops.  I never finished it, so it ends abruptly. -=-BLG} It’s been a while (a real long while) since I’ve gotten to a Marc Cohn show, but this … Continue reading →

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On riots, protests, and the legitimacy of violence (short)

Posted on 2015 April 30 by mongreldogs

For everyone who has counseled the citizens of Baltimore (and Ferguson and…) that “violence is not the answer” and that it would be better if everyone just protested peacefully: 1) As has now been documented extensively, the protests were by … Continue reading →

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What explains the waning influence of research blaming black poverty on black culture

Posted on 2015 March 26 by mongreldogs

Vox has an article purporting to explore “The real reason research blaming black poverty on black culture has fallen out of favor”.  And it’s fine so far as it goes, but it still dances around the reality. Why has “blaming … Continue reading →

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Review: Doctor Who Season 8 Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express

Posted on 2014 October 12 by mongreldogs

Meh. Haven’t we been here before?

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Review: Doctor Who Season 8 Episode 1 “Deep Breath”

Posted on 2014 August 26 by mongreldogs

I finally got around to watching Season 8 Episode 1 (“Deep Breath”) of the revived Doctor Who.   It’s the first one with Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.  (What do we call him, anyway?  Is he the 12th Doctor, even though … Continue reading →

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What is a library?

Posted on 2014 August 10 by mongreldogs

I am far from the first to ask this question in an increasingly-electronic age, and I am sure that my answer will be far from unique.  But my wife and I have batted the question around a couple of times … Continue reading →

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The persistence of “factory”-style schools

Posted on 2014 August 8 by mongreldogs

Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute asks “Why Do ‘Anti-Corporatists’ Defend Factory-Style Leadership?”  There’s a lot in there I’d like to respond to; here’s my first swing at it. It’s easy to blame hidebound educators for educational malaise, and … Continue reading →

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