Find 122 Wednesday-Night pages with David Mitchell and slideshow

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2008

The Long Johns - The Last Laugh - George Parr - Subprime thanks DM

Video 1 hr 17 min 41 sec - Sep 14, 2004 OUTFOXED : Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This ... all » film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.

BBC Global Dimming 50:07 more bbc

Global dimming appears to have lessened the impact of global warming but as we clean up the atmosphere paradoxically the attenuating effect of global dimming also will be lessened, resulting in even more global warming. Scientific temperature models for global warming have failed to take global dimming into the equation. Thus, even the inadequate reduction targets set by certain nations are now being seen as even more inadequate.

You may have seen a related item in today's issue of Global warming 'is three times faster than worst predictions' and refers to research that found Arctic ice has declined by 7.8 per cent a decade over the past 50 years, compared with an average estimate by IPCC computer models of 2.5 per cent. I don't know if this is linked to a change in global dimming but it does show that the scientists' models are in need of improvement.

Parker Mitchell

We would hope that the members of the Committee and all other concerned individuals might study the presentation to the World Bank by Parker Mitchell, Co-founder of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), occasional Wednesday Nighter, and son

2005

Tuesday Jan 17, 2006

We recently received this link to a running total of the cost [$234,327,418,100] of the war in Iraq from Ron Robertson, and, prompted by David Mitchell, wonder whether this could be adapted to the cost of election promises.

Hi Diana [David too]

Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2005
Living in the woods on the banks of a great river distracts me from the
perils facing the world though I do try to read as much as I can [despite
slow telephone dial-up connection]. But it's too depressing to read
things like "intent of the right's new assault on public broadcasting is
not to kill off PBS and NPR but to quietly annex them into the state
propaganda machine. " My knowledge of history is not what it should be but
didn't this sort of thing happen in Europe in the 30s and didn't the
soviets call their national paper 'truth'? How long will it be before
e-mails will be monitored [perhaps they are?] and web sites censored? All
in the name of democracy, no doubt.

As for PBS and NPR it think they've fallen short of what some had hoped; I
recall a few years ago that I heard on NPR that an interview with Noam
Chomsky would be aired later that afternoon. At the appointed time I
listened but no Chomsky. Later I read that the chair [?] of NPR heard the
announcement and ordered that interview cancelled. And with a few
exceptions [like 'Now'], PBS seems better at airing documentaries on e.g.
the sexual behaviour of the hypophysectomized [?] Tse Tse fly than on
pressing American issues, problems and myths. Not that CBC is
significantly better but I think CBC radio tries. BBC is still tops
despite massive budget cuts.

Meanwhile a local issue here is that the Irving interests plan to build a
liquid natural gas facility near Saint John. As is their custom, the
company asked the city to offer help in the form of a tax break. Unlike a
smaller operation in NS which will pay about $5 million tax [so I've been
told] the Irving plant wanted to pay only $1/2 million per year fixed for
25 years! In short they wanted citizens and local business to subsidize
them. AND THE CITY GAVE IT TO THEM! Except for construction, apparently,
it'll only provide about 70 jobs. I've heard of no citizen or small
business owner who agrees with the Mayor but I bet they will re-elect this
crew. Big bullies seem to get their way, whether locally or on the world
scene.

Not changing the subject, you might find this news source of interest
<.tomdispatch.com/ >omdispatch.com/
Here's a snip:
" ...now we know,
< commondreams.org/cgi-bin/ >as
Russ Baker reports, that George Bush had been considering playing the Iraqi
War card not just in April or July 2002, or even right after September
11th, 2001, but way back in 1999. It was then that Mickey Herskowitz, a
ghost writer signed on to do George's official autobiography (the two were
to split the profits), met privately about 20 times with the then-governor
of Texas to discuss his thoughts.

"'He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,' said author and journalist
Mickey Herskowitz. 'It was on his mind. He said to me: "One of the keys to
being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief." And he
said, "My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the
Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it." He said, "If I have a chance to
invade, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to
get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a
successful presidency"...


If humans survive into the next century historians will have great fun
making sense of our generation's geopolitical and economic behaviour,
myths and sacred cows.

With warm thoughts and best wishes to both of you,
David

2003

Saturday Jan 24, 2004 I highly recommend an iconoclastic but generally thoroughly researched investigative journalist, Greg Palast. (It was he who broke the story about the vote-rigging in Florida in 2000 -- in British papers and on the BBC when no US paper even picked it up for ages.)

"Known in Britain as "the greatest investigative reporter of our time" (Tribune magazine), Palast has broken some of the most infamous stories of the past decade, including:

• How the Bush family stole the election in Florida in 2000
• How Bush killed the FBI's investigation into the financing of terrorist organizations by Saudi Arabia, and why
• How Enron cheated, lied, and swindled its way into an energy monopoly
• Groundbreaking reports on the World Bank, the IMF, the World Trade Organization, Wal-Mart and more.

Greg Palast reports the news he couldn't get the corporate media to cover"

His latest is at www.gregpalast.com/ [where he tackles Bush's 'new educational eugenics' in his state of the union. Also, the book review at the bottom of this page is frightening in its implications (no doubt the same thing occurs here and elsewhere).

Click on 'columns' for a brief description and link to various articles in the USA and UK (e.g. his story on the so-called Venezuelan attempted coup is reminiscent of the plot against, and murder of, Pres. Allende on (coincidentally, 11 Sept. 1973) by the same crew).

2003

Friday Jun 13, 2003 fiscal imbalance is equal to $44.2 trillion.

This 2' TV ad [for Honda, shown in the UK] is fascinating in what it portrays. Apparently it took over 600 tries before the sequence worked out! It's worth 2' just to see the creative Rube Goldberg mind at work. I don't know if it would ever be useful entertainment at a future Wednesday Night but will leave that to you.
Chears David Mitchell

David Mitchell’s intellectual background is extensive although he thinks of himself primarily as a psychologist turned cybernetician/operational researcher. His undergraduate studies resemble a patchwork quilt, including aspects of electrical engineering and chemistry along with sociology and religious studies (B.Sc., mirabile dictu, from the University of King’s College/Dalhousie University). He worked briefly as an engineering assistant in telecommunications engineering and also in generation and distribution of electricity. He also completed an Internship in Medical Social Service and worked part-time in book publishing.

Dr. P. David Mitchell

David holds a holds a Master’s degree from Dalhousie University in Experimental/Clinical Psychology. He began his teaching career in Psychology initially at the University of New Brunswick and then Mount Allison University. At Mount Allison he established an animal lab and introduced a lab component into his courses.

His Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland was in a ‘Multi-disciplinary Behavioral Sciences in Education’ doctoral programme where he combined Psychology with Operations Research, Information Systems and Education. While at Case he served as Evaluation Research Co-ordinator for a US Office of Education sponsored national TTT project on the Training of Teachers of Teachers (which was intended to introduce major changes in American education but which showed him how the political structure overrides educational decisions). At the end of his formal education he reflected that he had successfully passed at least one course in some 23 different departments as diverse as ancient Greek, Civil and Electrical Engineering, English, French, History, Mathematics, Mineralogy, Sociology and Physics -- but wondered if he ever would be an educated person.

In 1969, he became the first Director of the Graduate Programme in Educational Technology at Sir George Williams, now Concordia University. David was instrumental in revising the curriculum and expanding the programme from one and one-half to eight full-time, and 15 part-time, faculty members and over 200 graduate students. In 1982, as Principal Investigator of a large research contract, David established and directed the Centre for System Research and Knowledge Engineering at Concordia. Several projects later, in 1992 he relinquished the directorship to engage in rigorous analytical research and theory development. This includes investigation of the theory of numbers and measurement theory which should, but often do not, underpin educational and psychological measurement with the result that commonly used parametric statistics may be invalid and new approaches to measurement and evaluation are needed.

An internationally recognized scholar, David Mitchell has 86 refereed publications in areas as diverse as his background and another 32 chapters, monographs or un-refereed articles. He has made 163 conference presentations in Canada and internationally (to associations of educators, engineers, management scientists, psychologists and cyberneticians). His research interests include: systemic modeling of education systems (including “intelligent multi-media tutoring systems, distance education, professional schools); learning styles and strategies; critical analysis of research paradigms; application of fuzzy set theory to educational variables; conversation theory.

David accepted an early retirement offer from Concordia University and now, as Professor Emeritus, is an independent researcher, writer and consultant. But he still doesn’t know what he wants to do when he grows up.

Sweep of award in education technology
Nov 18, 1999 Finally, retired Professor P. David Mitchell was given the Prix Phillippe-Marton for contributions to the advancement of educational technology in Quebec and the rest of Canada. His contributions include fundamental publications contrib- uting to definition of the field, and he was the principal architect of both the Sir George Williams MA (1969) and the Concordia doctoral program in the subject.

Or If Technology is the Answer, What Was the Question? by P. David Mitchell

On Wednesday-night.com

Medicare US from David Mitchell

Mitchell-Files a collection on notes on Canada Heakth care for Wed 1045

search this W-N site | #2 W-N search

see Parker Mitchell his son | also Brain Drain

see Parker Mitchell | Canada25 | 998

Diana ue 4/20/2004

Thank you for that url. You may have discovered, as I just did, that EWF is linked to EWB. Their web site says: "Engineers Without Frontiers addresses engineering-based challenges of developing communities through partnerships that foster cultural, educational, and technical exchange.

"EWF-USA is the US affiliate of Engineers Without Borders - Ingénieurs Sans Frontières (EWB-ISF), originating in Canada in 1999. EWB-ISF was founded on the belief that engineers and community members can work together to identify and solve technology-based problems, employing solutions that can be locally sustained, leading to an improved quality of life."

The Science and Development Network is very interesting. I'll explore it later.

In haste, David