SXSW cancelled panels about online harassment, giving way to online harassment. In response to criticism, it has brought them back, and added more.

Gamergate Didn't Fade Into Obscurity. We Just Stopped Noticing Its Existence.

It is cowardly to cancel an event because of threats — especially online threats, which are generally nothing but bombast.

Standardized tests can have the effect of racial profiling.

The English Regent's Exam tests for a real skill, and the people who fail that test really lack that skill. Is that important? That depends on what they are going to do.

I speak French well enough to give speeches, have useful meetings with public officals, and write articles for publication (though they require editing by others). But I could not pass the French equivalent of the English Regent's Exam, because there are many French words and idiomatic expressions I don't know, and many references I would not catch.

Would my failure on that hypothetical test be significant? Is my command of French adequate or not? That depends on what activity I am going to do. For understanding le Canard enchainé, I am hopelessly incompetent; for championing free software in French, I seem reasonably capable.

Likewise, whether someone's failure on the English Regent's Exam is a real shortcoming depends on what you want that person to do. If it is to have sophisticated conversations in English the way an educated native speaker can, it is a real shortcoming and you should look for someone else. For college study in a field other than English, the failure at that exam may not matter.

The 'anti-Knowledge' of the elites in Washington goes unchallenged by the established press.

Ohio proposes to legalize selling marijuana, only for certain specific companies that have invested in advance.

New pun: "Trinidadian"