June 2011
5 posts
Proof that education quality is a function of... →
Two of the three major international tests—the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Math and Science Study—break down student scores according to the poverty rate in each school. The tests are given every five years. The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first...
Location of Rebecca and Warner’s Wedding
The basic route to Snipes farm from either the Chapel Hill University Inn or from the Aloft Hotel requires that you get on the bypass around Chapel Hill and go towards Carrboro, which is west of Chapel Hill. Here is a map showing the route from the Chapel Hill University Inn (A) (you may have to click on view larger map to see the route - is this a Google Maps bug?):
View Larger Map
And here is...
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
5 posts
Moving my party to the left
In the last few years, I’ve tended to interpret Paul Krugman’s realization that “… those who cling to the belief that politics can be conducted in terms of people rather than parties … are kidding themselves.” According to Krugman, things changed in 1994 “…when radical Republicans took control both of Congress and of their own party … and the...
I'm going to drink more espresso!!
Click to Enlarge By Policy Expert
Disconnected Americans
I found this insightful and provocative comment in a discussion about the role of western technology in the Egyptian revolution:
Americans are possibly the most disconnected population on the planet. A very high percentage of Americans are wealthy enough to purchase the reality they want and the rest have a full selection of illusions to indulge in at all economic levels. I cannot imagine...
Make Things
I think there’s a lot of wisdom in this article.
As I read this, I thought about my own hesitation to join TechShop or a local Arduino Meetup. And I realized that making is like writing. We write to find out what we think. That’s exactly the reason for making things.
March 2011
4 posts
Watch50th Birthday of the Peace Corps - party in Chapel Hill
1 tag
February 2011
5 posts
3 tags
I feel as if I've punched a little hole thru...
There are surely other ways to do this, but I’m elated that I can now watch Al Jazeera English’s live feed on Facebook.
I imagine that my feeling is a pale imitation of how my Tunisian and Egyptian friends feel as they break through to the outside world with Facebook and Twitter.
This also reinforces my feeling that we are fighting the corporations trying to control our lives. They...
January 2011
19 posts
2 tags
1 tag
!! مـبـروك
On 2011-01-28 Tunisia got 6 new ministers. Among them is a former student of mine that I taught at the Lycée de Gafsa while I was in the Peace Corps:
Mme Habiba Zéhi Ben Romdhane : Ministre de la Santé publique
Le Pr Habiba Zehi Ben Romdhane, originaire de Gafsa et spécialiste en médecine préventive, a un véritable parcours militant à raconter. Par respect pour la religion, elle porte...
Oh boy....
from slashdot:
“PhysOrg reports on a study by Robert Rowthorn, emeritus professor at Cambridge University, that predicts that the genetic components that predispose a person toward religion are currently “hitchhiking” on the back of the religious cultural practice of high fertility rates and that provided the fertility of religious people remains on average higher than that...
3 tags
WikiLeaks and Tunisia
Today’s NY Times has an article on WikiLeaks and Tunisia. It it we find this gem:
An upbeat August 2008 cable giving Condoleezza Rice, then the secretary of state, a survey of Tunisia before a visit reported that “Tunisia styles itself ‘a country that works’ .” The writer added, “While Tunisians grumble privately about corruption by the first lady’s family, there is an abiding...
Tell us something that we didn't know
CNN: “Former President Ronald Reagan’s youngest son suggests in a new book that his father showed signs of Alzheimer’s disease while he was in the White House.”
So-called conservatives
There’s a new Fourth Amendment case before the Supreme Court (link). In brief, the police forced their way into an apartment because “they smelled burning marijuana” [good reporting would say “they said they smelled…”].
What really angers me is that I know exactly how the so-called “conservative” justices on the court will rule. The great...
“But why does [Jared Loughner’s act in shooting Rep. Giffords] have to be...”
– Cenk Uygur
Watch
Some of my photos
My picasaweb links are not publicly searchable, but they can be accessed if you have the URLs. So here are some:
Winter 2010
Kelli, Rebecca and Warner
Rebecca and Warner’s engagement party
Trip to NC mountains with Mark and Xandra, 2009
Hike to Mt Leconte, 2010
“Reminiscing on his June 2001 meeting with Mullah Omar, veteran correspondent...”
– Scott Atran: Talking to the Enemy: How to Turn the Taliban Against Al Qaeda
Reading?
Empathy in student-aged Americans has declined dramatically in the last 30 years, and narcissism has increased. Here’s a possible explanation (my emphasis):
The types of information we consume have also shifted in recent decades; specifically, Americans have abandoned reading in droves. The number of adults who read literature for pleasure sank below 50 percent for the first time ever...
December 2010
10 posts
“In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country,...”
– Fran Lebowitz
This wasn’t capitalism. This was greed.
I broke out laughing when I read the following quote from a New York Times article on Nevada’s terrible economy since the housing bust.
Robert A. Fielden, an architect and urban planner in Henderson, said the state has been particularly hurt by real estate speculators who flipped property for profit and then just walked. “We have never faced anything like this before,” he said,...
If you want net neutrality and don't vote for...
… don’t come whining to me. (Not that you would, of course.)
We should all support the EFF
I already contribute to the EFF
And it’s because of things like this:
In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers. Closely tracking arguments made by EFF in its amicus brief, the court...
5 tags
Low Taxes Are the Problem, Not the Solution →
Raise taxes for the rich.
Advice to religious marketing departments
University of Grenada researchers took a sample of 288 children, aged between 8 and 12, along with their parents, tutors and teachers and analysed how adults’ understanding of the concept of death affects children’s attitudes, fears, beliefs and approaches to death.
Their principal findings seem to be:
People with a university degree fear death less than those at a lower literacy...
I still like Libertarians better than Republicans
I can’t help admiring Ron defense of Wikileaks. That said, I think Libertarians live in fantasyland when they think about the economy, and their lock-step voting with Republicans in congress is also a sign that they are not as principled as they think.
“Wikileaks is not attacking the US government; rather, it’s acting to...”
– Charlie Stross
November 2010
4 posts
“Umberto Eco: The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history...”
– Umberto Eco: ‘We Like Lists Because We Don’t Want to Die’