Further to this, here’s a little more from Keith Windschuttle’s lecture, History, Truth and Tribalism:

“One reason I chose to cite this passage from Bhabha* was because… it contains terminology such as ‘synchronic’ and ‘diachronic’, which no self-respecting, theoretically correct postmodernist would use today. For these are terms that derive from the now out-of-date theory of structuralism, which has since been completely superseded by the theory of poststructuralism. One index of the achievements of academic theory today can be gauged by its waste matter; that is, the range of concepts and methods jettisoned along the way to its present position. The great majority of these concepts were adopted not because of their intellectual weight or clarity but because they were mouthed by whoever was the then prevailing theoretical guru…

No-one bothers any more with once solemnly-made distinctions within the field of semiotics between the ‘signifier’ and the ‘signified’ or between ‘denotation’ and ‘connotation’. Indeed, whatever happened to semiotics? All these concepts are now museum pieces. Yet in the 1980s, each was taught as gospel by the same people who are now recommending a postmodernist or a cultural studies approach as the definitive word on their subject. One can only feel terribly sorry for the generations of humanities students once forced to dutifully learn and regurgitate these now dead and useless concepts.”

*Homi Bhabha, former professor of English at the University of Chicago and a “leading voice in post-colonial studies.”   

There’s been a shocking lapse in standards over at the Normblog profile. Ahem.

Your very own pet fat. “5lbs of anatomically correct body fat.” To hold, to hug, to inspire. // Iranian Nostalgia. Counter-revolutionary pop music. (H/T, Harry’s Place.) // The mechanics of moving sidewalks. The nuts and bolts of a bold tomorrow. (1900) More here. // Extreme precision instruments. Microtweezers, microgears, a peg four microns wide. // The in-car phonomograph. // Bread wrappers we have known and loved. (H/T, Bedazzled!) // The Museum of Online Museums. // The living do not outnumber the dead. And possibly never will. // Electronic bubble wrap popper. For when you get the urge. More here. // The dramatic chipmunk. Or perhaps it’s a prairie dog. Sound essential. (H/T, Ace.) // Yes, I’d like one of these. // Brian Micklethwait on cranes. Big metal ones. // Mary Jackson ponders a date with Slavoj Žižek. With or without his detachable phallus. // The Daily Kos digs Hamas. // The antipodal map. Wherever you are, find the other side of the world. (H/T, Coudal.) // A movie gallery of hyperspaces, surfaces and autostereograms. // Via Coudal, the Monty Python Video Wall. // Ikuo Oishi’s Ugokie-Ko-Ri-No-Tatehiki (1933) // Comic book gorillarama. // Going Steady. (1951) Marie and Jeff are going steady. But is it a good idea? // Roger Moore and Tony Curtis fight crime, with flair.