Richard III final resting place - exciting debate even now?

It seems amazing that Richard III's final resting place can excite controversy even now, 500+ years after his death but it really can. on one side we have those arguing he was an anointed King of England and therefore is entitled to be buried in Westminster Abbey, on another that he was a Yorkist King who spent the last 12 years of his life in the North of England and had made his own plans to be buried in York Minster, and finally another point of view that he should be buried in Leicester cathedral. Why Leicester? Well, that's where the dig that may have discovered him (we await DNA testing) was based and the Richard III society has worked for some time with Leicester University and Leicester Council to bring this about.

Personally, I am most happy really that it stirs historical debate about the man. Was he the man-monster the Tudors portrayed or a paragon of virtue who lived up to his own motto of 'loyalty binds me'. probably neither, somewhere in between and very much a man of his time one imagines, but it is great to see history stirring debate and shows how passionate we can be about our heritage.

If I had to pick I'd say York Minster as that was his choice, what he had planned and he was  Yorkist King based in the north. (But perhaps I have a vested interest in that view being a yorkshireman myself!

Perhaps this punishment would be a little harsh?

http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/10/08/republican-candidate-fuqua-endorses-death-penalty-for-rebellious-children

Having looked at the (above) news item, I was left in no small state of wonderment! According to this good old conservative christian American gentleman the best way to deal with wayward children is to execute them!! Or at least to paraphrase the wonderful insanity of the man he 'does not believe execution would have to be used often on a child who defied their parents' ( once is probably enough unless they mis-behave enough to return as zombies one might surmise!). This he says would act as a deterrent to other misbehaving children. Might one also suggest it would imply some kind of radical social breakdown were parents wantonly practising infanticide to deal with their wayward offspring?

Of course, he's not suggesting this isn't done properly. No, they would have to 'follow the proper procedure in order to have the death penalty executed against their children'. This by the way is an actual quote, not a comedic mockery of an over zealous religious fundamentalist caricature.

Proper procedure?!? How can there be a proper procedure for ordering the execution of a misbehaving member of ones own offspring. Now parents WOULD carry some incredible authority under such a law but then again so did the national socialist in Germany thanks to some of their laws and in neither case can be claimed a moral high ground.

All we ask for is rationality, reason and fairness in life and we'll all get along fine - even without recourse to executing our children!

Girls CAN do physics!

Recent reports have suggested that the ratio of girls to boys taking physics as a choice, particulary at A level is a massively uneven one. It would seem that many girls do not consider physics an option. The underlying question must be what is dissuading them? In my case (speaking from the male side of the gender spectrum) it was not that I didn't enjoy physics, one was just not good enough at the underlying maths to pursue it.
That would be a reasonable explantion, except that I am confident that as high if not a higher proportion of girls are competent enough in mathematics to pusruse this course.

Unfortunately, despite this being the 21st Century there has to be a genuine concern here that one of the reasons for this is gender stereotyping. The idea that physics is just not for girls (as ridiculous as that sounds!). Statisitcs may support this too, whilst only 20% of students chosing physics are girls in other sciences the split is much more even, 50/50 for chemistry and actually 55% girls for biology. So why physics? Is it because it leads to engineering, astrophysiscs, theoretical physics and lots of potentially male dominated worlds? Who knows?

What I do know is this, no girl/boy should be dissuaded from doing ANY subject because of peer or social pressure. Social conformity may be one of the most restricting and noxious social ills we face. Be what you wnat to be, do what you want to do and attempt to achieve whatever you can in whatever area whatever your gender!

Phillipine cyber crime law - protection or control?

The new cybercrime law has come into effect in the Philippines. Overtly it is designed to protect people from cybersex, child pornography, identity theft and spamming. Which all sounds very noble. Except for the fact that those things could be policed in different ways. Pornography can be blocked by the state, spamming halted and identity protected legally. There seems to be something much larger at play here. The Philippine state is effectively taking away freedom of speech and the right to individual expression. I say this because the new law also includes a proviso for libel as a cybercrime punishable by up to 12 years in jail. No-one would advocate people hiding behind their twitter avatars and blog identities to hurl vitriol. At the same time however criticism of government in rational debate is a healthy thing and this may undermine that. Humour is always a great weapon in any political situation and social tyranny can be undermined by making the tyrannical appear ridiculous. Will this not stunt such possibilities. The Philippine government can be applauded for any attempt to stamp on legitimate cybercrime - cybersex and the rest, but they should not be this draconian to the point of strangling their own people's ability to express themselves through open criticism.