![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Longish piece, with lots of links. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teacher-shortage-quit-public-schools_n_630e5a85e4b0dc23bbec8261
a few long links
2020-07-30 21:17On phonics vs. cueing in teaching kids to read. Fairly long. I find it baffling that alteratives to phonics were ever seriously considered. What do people think the alphabet is for? Mapping letters to sounds in a composable way is the entire point!
https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading
Old urbanism vs. sprawl in Bellevue Kentucky. Not too long. Makes the point that old walkable mixed use neighborhoods aren't just nice, they're more economically efficient -- more tax value, less infrastructure expense.
https://granolashotgun.com/2015/08/31/middle-of-the-road-kentucky/
Two pieces by the same guy on covid-19 aerial transmission and hygiene theater. People should worry less about sterilizing surfaces and more about not breathing each other's air.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/why-arent-we-talking-more-about-airborne-transmission/614737/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/
https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading
Old urbanism vs. sprawl in Bellevue Kentucky. Not too long. Makes the point that old walkable mixed use neighborhoods aren't just nice, they're more economically efficient -- more tax value, less infrastructure expense.
https://granolashotgun.com/2015/08/31/middle-of-the-road-kentucky/
Two pieces by the same guy on covid-19 aerial transmission and hygiene theater. People should worry less about sterilizing surfaces and more about not breathing each other's air.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/why-arent-we-talking-more-about-airborne-transmission/614737/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/
Charter school scams
2015-05-27 01:40Charter school scams: cut funding to public schools, then replace them for "underperformance" with charters that hide or cook their books.
http://www.alternet.org/education/great-charter-school-rip-finally-truth-catches-education-reform-phonies
http://www.alternet.org/education/great-charter-school-rip-finally-truth-catches-education-reform-phonies
Why college?
2013-03-27 08:31Yglesias says college lectures started before the printing press, when books were expensive and being lectured at made sense. Why did lectures survive the printing press? Granted, there's often areas where key knowledge is mostly in people's heads, especially in advanced or in hands-on fields. But we use "some guy hired for his research ability drones on" for settled academic fields, too. He notes that learning calculus in school is socially accepted, while teaching it to yourself from a workbook is 'weird.'
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/26/books_and_moocs_lots_of_ways_to_learn.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/02/27/education_signaling_learning_and_credentials.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/26/books_and_moocs_lots_of_ways_to_learn.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/02/27/education_signaling_learning_and_credentials.html
Earth-sized planet found around Alpha Centauri B. With a three-day orbital period, so kind of hot.
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=25109
"Gay like me"; evangelical pretends to be gay for a year, discovers the closet sucks
http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2012/10/15/when-a-christian-fundamentalist-pretends-to-be-gay/
Tycoon opts for unilateral geo-engineering
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/15/pacific-iron-fertilisation-geoengineering
Side note: AIUI, iron fertilization hasn't done much in past experiments. I marvel that no one's suggested it simply to boost fisheries: more algae -> more plankton -> more fish. The open oceans are nutrient deserts, AIUI.
Online "bullying" by liberals
http://offbeatempire.com/2012/10/liberal-bullying
People objected to Uzbekistan forcing children to pick cotton. The government listened; now they're forcing asthmatic doctors and nurses to pick it instead.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19931639
Mysterious kidney disease is killing sugar cane workers. Leading hypothesies are "handling nasty chemicals" and "they're working themselves to death in the heat". http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/14/kidney-disease-killing-sugar-cane-workers-central-america
Sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, high fructose corn syrup...
I'm sad this never passed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Domain_Enhancement_Act
Ben Franklin, futurist: http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2012-October/074565.html
1998 article on high levels of violence in the South: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/26/weekinreview/ideas-trends-southern-curse-why-america-s-murder-rate-is-so-high.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
The second Cuban missile crisis: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19930260
Atheist science-snark vs. religion: http://i.imgur.com/r3RDQ.png
JPL planetary surfaces infographic: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10795
Rovers; http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10889
Stellar evolution: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10737
There's lots more.
The changing economics of professional chess: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/09/wages_and_technological_change_in_chess.html
The fall of California's colleges, or the Mississippification of CA: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NJ06Dj01.html
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=25109
"Gay like me"; evangelical pretends to be gay for a year, discovers the closet sucks
http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2012/10/15/when-a-christian-fundamentalist-pretends-to-be-gay/
Tycoon opts for unilateral geo-engineering
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/15/pacific-iron-fertilisation-geoengineering
Side note: AIUI, iron fertilization hasn't done much in past experiments. I marvel that no one's suggested it simply to boost fisheries: more algae -> more plankton -> more fish. The open oceans are nutrient deserts, AIUI.
Online "bullying" by liberals
http://offbeatempire.com/2012/10/liberal-bullying
People objected to Uzbekistan forcing children to pick cotton. The government listened; now they're forcing asthmatic doctors and nurses to pick it instead.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19931639
Mysterious kidney disease is killing sugar cane workers. Leading hypothesies are "handling nasty chemicals" and "they're working themselves to death in the heat". http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/14/kidney-disease-killing-sugar-cane-workers-central-america
Sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, high fructose corn syrup...
I'm sad this never passed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Domain_Enhancement_Act
Ben Franklin, futurist: http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2012-October/074565.html
1998 article on high levels of violence in the South: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/26/weekinreview/ideas-trends-southern-curse-why-america-s-murder-rate-is-so-high.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
The second Cuban missile crisis: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19930260
Atheist science-snark vs. religion: http://i.imgur.com/r3RDQ.png
JPL planetary surfaces infographic: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10795
Rovers; http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10889
Stellar evolution: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10737
There's lots more.
The changing economics of professional chess: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/09/wages_and_technological_change_in_chess.html
The fall of California's colleges, or the Mississippification of CA: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NJ06Dj01.html
Yeah I'm never catching up. Time to just post stuff.
US claims to opposed Israel's illegal settlements, but also opposes doing anything about it, even mostly toothless things like a Security Council resolution.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110119/pl_afp/israelpalestinianpeaceun
Meanwhile there's been a burst of recognition of the Palestinian state: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and other Latin American countries, joining a wide range of Mideast and African countries. I.e. no one with real weight yet, or willing to use that weight effectively.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Palestinian_National_Authority
Spokane pipe bomb for MLK
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fbi-pipe-bomb-found-spokane-washington-mlk-parade/story?id=12642275
Amish growing at 4-5% a year; 85% retention rate
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/amish-population-growth-n_n_663323.html
Move over vampires: it's Amish romance time!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2010-08-09-religiousromance09_CV_N.htm
Phoenix as future Detroit?
http://actsofminortreason.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-i-learned-in-arid-zone.html
Boston colleges picture
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Boston_area_college_town_map.png
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/gop-senator-calls-federal-laws-child-labor-unconstitutional/
ghost rockets of Sweden
http://passingstrangeness.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/the-ghost-rockets/
Seattle windshield pitting epidemic
http://www.washington.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5136
new cornucopian oil bet a la Julian Simon
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/science/28tierney.html?_r=2
flaws of and changes to AP biology and history
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html?ref=general&src=m
e&pagewanted=all
hey, I forget, were Whitney Young AP science (or just AP) classes
double-period?
Pakistan's young lawyers support Islamic killing of liberal politician
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/world/asia/11pakistan.html?pagewanted=all
law school fraud
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
Senate conservatives out to make US safe for pollution
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47450.html#ixzz1AowLSPEc
US claims to opposed Israel's illegal settlements, but also opposes doing anything about it, even mostly toothless things like a Security Council resolution.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110119/pl_afp/israelpalestinianpeaceun
Meanwhile there's been a burst of recognition of the Palestinian state: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and other Latin American countries, joining a wide range of Mideast and African countries. I.e. no one with real weight yet, or willing to use that weight effectively.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Palestinian_National_Authority
Spokane pipe bomb for MLK
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fbi-pipe-bomb-found-spokane-washington-mlk-parade/story?id=12642275
Amish growing at 4-5% a year; 85% retention rate
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/amish-population-growth-n_n_663323.html
Move over vampires: it's Amish romance time!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2010-08-09-religiousromance09_CV_N.htm
Phoenix as future Detroit?
http://actsofminortreason.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-i-learned-in-arid-zone.html
Boston colleges picture
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Boston_area_college_town_map.png
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/gop-senator-calls-federal-laws-child-labor-unconstitutional/
ghost rockets of Sweden
http://passingstrangeness.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/the-ghost-rockets/
Seattle windshield pitting epidemic
http://www.washington.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5136
new cornucopian oil bet a la Julian Simon
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/science/28tierney.html?_r=2
flaws of and changes to AP biology and history
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html?ref=general&src=m
e&pagewanted=all
hey, I forget, were Whitney Young AP science (or just AP) classes
double-period?
Pakistan's young lawyers support Islamic killing of liberal politician
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/world/asia/11pakistan.html?pagewanted=all
law school fraud
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
Senate conservatives out to make US safe for pollution
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47450.html#ixzz1AowLSPEc
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000635.html
Short entry, a few links, and a zillion comments, on a study saying that a large chunk of people simply can't learn how to program and that their test, which looks for ability to form a consistent mental model of what some code is doing (even if an incorrect model) weeds the sheep from the goats.
Read away.
Short entry, a few links, and a zillion comments, on a study saying that a large chunk of people simply can't learn how to program and that their test, which looks for ability to form a consistent mental model of what some code is doing (even if an incorrect model) weeds the sheep from the goats.
Read away.
