“Jacksonville 'slam' takes philosophy out of the classroom - Florida Times-Union” plus 4 more |
- Jacksonville 'slam' takes philosophy out of the classroom - Florida Times-Union
- Controversial activist to speak at UD Friday - Dayton Daily News
- Twitter's contribution to Modern Warfare 2 - CNET News
- UCLA faculty experts advisory: Mass shootings at Texas military base - Asia Media
- Walking a mile in an immigrant's moccasins - Deseret News
| Jacksonville 'slam' takes philosophy out of the classroom - Florida Times-Union Posted: 05 Nov 2009 04:17 AM PST College students rarely get the opportunity to engage their school president in a heated philosophical debate. But Jacksonville University President Kerry Romesburg - tieless and casually dressed with his top button undone - took to the stage of a downtown bar Tuesday night to field intellectual challenges from students and community members. It's called a philosophy "slam," JU philosophy professor and event coordinator Erich Freiberger said. A speaker is given about five minutes to discuss a contentious topic, come out either for it or against it and defend that position to audience members who provide philosophical interjections. "It's a fun, fast-paced way to take on difficult issues," Freiberger said. "And this event is particularly fun for me because I don't usually get the chance to question my boss." The night's topic was how business and ethics intermingle. The crux of Romesburg's argument was that ethics vary as they pertain to businesses and human beings. As long as they operate within the law, businesses have one purpose - to make money. People, however, are bound by different ethical constraints. That elicited a chorus of shouts and guffaws from one crowd member, who launched into a lengthy side debate with another man who sided with Romesburg. "That must be the slam!" a woman yelled over the verbal sparring. The din of conversation was eventually extinguished by a spectator who shushed the noisier speakers like they were in a rambunctious class. "Their arguments were quite impressive," Romesburg told The Times-Union on Wednesday. "It was a far cry from my usual speaking engagements, but I loved the interplay between myself and the audience." Concocted as off campus and not for credit by professors from JU and the University of North Florida about eight years ago, the slam has never had a solid home base, Freiberger said. Fuel Coffeehouse in Five Points was the main headquarters for a number of sessions, but the relationship eventually soured due to a series of miscommunications. He said they booked a lecture about three years ago and arrived to find a punk band on stage. "Trust me; we get loud," he said. "But it's hard to have a discussion with blaring guitars in the background." And when that venue closed, the nomadic philosophers relocated to 9th & Main, a spacious club in Springfield. It didn't last long. The club's doors slammed shut soon after the first few events. Freiberger said that led organizers to London Bridge, a downtown fixture with a casual atmosphere that meshed with the off-the-cuff vibe of many slam discussions. David Schwam-Baird, a political science professor at UNF and frequent slam participant, said the philosophical showdowns allow for a more freewheeling type of discussion than the traditional lecture setting. And it exposes students to various schools of thought that they might not experience when poring over textbooks. "It's more conducive to critical thinking for some students," he said. "It takes them out of the lecture mind-set that they should passively accept information. They shouldn't think learning is confined to a classroom setting."
matt.coleman@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4654 This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Controversial activist to speak at UD Friday - Dayton Daily News Posted: 05 Nov 2009 12:03 PM PST Home > Blogs > Seen and Overheard > Archives > 2009 > November > 05 > Entry Controversial activist to speak at UD FridayA woman with one of the most recognizable faces from the 1970s will speak 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, at the University of Dayton's Kennedy Union Ballroom. Controversial political activist and history of consciousness professor Angela Davis will be the keynote speaker at the Annual Richard R. Baker Philosophy Colloquium hosted by the university's philosophy department and The Concerned Philosophers for Peace. The speech is free and open to the public. Davis first gained national attention when then California Gov. Ronald Reagan removed her from a teaching post at the University of California-Berkley. The feminist activist associated with the Black Panthers black power organization gained worldwide attention after being accused in the 1970 abduction and murder of Judge Harold Haley in Marin County, California. Her arrest sparked the international "Free Angela Davis" campaign. She was found innocent and has since rallied against racial injustice and been an advocate of prison abolition of the "prison-industrial complex." An author, Davis ran twice in the 1980s as vice president on the Communist ticket. Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Twitter's contribution to Modern Warfare 2 - CNET News Posted: 05 Nov 2009 01:29 PM PST  Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has some inspiration from Twitter. (Credit: infinity Ward)Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 might have been designed by a capable team of Infinity Ward developers, but the company had some help: Twitter followers. Infinity Ward Community Manager Robert Bowling told Develop Online in a recent interview that during the development of the highly-anticipated release, the developer called on Twitter users for help. "During development, if we are sitting in a design meeting and we are arguing about something, no matter what it is, I can just turn to what is now 60,000 people and post the same question," Bowling told game developer news site Develop Online. "'Do we think players will like this?' well why don't we ask 60,000 of them and get a good representation of what we think they may like?" But it was the next statement that might cause gamers participating in social networking to rejoice. Bowling told site that Twitter was "fantastic throughout development" and he "would recommend many, many more people adapted that into their design schedule." Bowling also said that Infinity Ward didn't ignore any responses to its design questions. He said that developers "listened to all" of the suggestions, but filtered out those that didn't match the company's "design philosophy." Suggestions that asked for more gore, for example, ran against the company's design philosophy, Bowling said. Regardless of whether or not Infinity Ward incorporated every idea into Modern Warfare 2, Bowling told the publication that now more than ever, gamers are getting closer to the development process. "The average gamer is so much closer to the people who make the games than they ever were before," he told the publication. "And as a result of that they are so much more developer-aware. No longer is it an Activision game, but an Infinity Ward game, or a Treyarch game or a Bungie game. And gamers know where to go to offer their feedback." Oh, how things have changed. When I was younger, I sent several snail-mail letters to developers asking for design tweaks in some of my favorite franchises. I never heard back. And it seemed that my plea had fallen on deaf ears. Today, things are different. The developers of one of the most highly anticipated games to be released in 2009 were listening to gamer suggestions on a social network? Amazing. Let's hope for more of it. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| UCLA faculty experts advisory: Mass shootings at Texas military base - Asia Media Posted: 05 Nov 2009 02:19 PM PST This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Walking a mile in an immigrant's moccasins - Deseret News Posted: 05 Nov 2009 01:14 PM PST Ben Reed was once a conservative shock jock in his native Idaho. But meeting and falling in love with a Mexican national brought about a change in philosophy. They now live in Mexico. The wedding was all set. The bride would travel from Mexico City to Rexburg, Idaho, where she would walk down the aisle of the Mormon temple in her white dress. She would marry that crazy guy from the radio who had been courting her. Read the full story on MormonTimes.com.
This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Philosophy - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Comments
By unbelievable
November 5, 2009 4:16 PM | Link to this
She probably is advising the Obama administration, like all the other communist advisers he has. Why give these radicals more publicity, unless you are sympathetic to their ideas? Get rid of prisons?? What would we do with the prisoners? Oh yeah, forgot, you don't have to have a solution, just a loud mouth!
By Kathy
November 5, 2009 4:40 PM | Link to this
Unbelievable: You are unbelievable. You are afraid of anyone that doesn't think or look like you. Free your mind to listen to other points of view.
By Freak Lady
November 5, 2009 4:47 PM | Link to this
Kathy, keep smoking dope to free your mind. She is a radical and shouldn't be rewarded.
By JUDI P
November 5, 2009 4:52 PM | Link to this
Yep, let's put everything on Obama. What idiots in this town!!! Not everything is communist in this world. Angela Davis is her own kind of radical—-just like UNBELIEVABLE is his own kind of ignorant fool.
By Philman
November 5, 2009 4:58 PM | Link to this
Jidi the last sentence of the Article said she ran as vice president on the Communist ticket. and Obama is a Communist also, why did he appoint Van Jones green czar, he is a admited commie, so is obamas Preacher Rev. Wright.. you democrat koolade drinkers need to do your homework, open your brain before your mouth..
By irishguy
November 5, 2009 5:00 PM | Link to this
Judi, everything in this world may not be communist but, Angela Davis is! Think she'll tell her audience that communism is the most evil system the world has ever seen. It's responsible for about 8 to 10 times the carnage of Nazism.
By Kathy
November 5, 2009 5:01 PM | Link to this
Freaky lady: That's sounds about right for your name. All I am saying if you don't agree with someone FINE. Everyone has a right to their own opinions. And my bet is that you or Unbelievable have no clue what her position is these days.
By error
November 5, 2009 5:11 PM | Link to this
its Friday Nov. 6, 2009…today is the 5th