Occupy the 1st Amendment

What direction should our nation take? Will we accept tyranny when directed at the 99% but reject it for the 1%? Hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak to and for the 99%.

Ideas from Evernote

This page from blogger Michael Hyatt shows how important organizational skills are for writing. He's using Evernote (a very nifty application), but the principles are applicable to writing academic essays, too.

Teachers don't need more education or perks!

 Why should teacher's have unions? Why should they get paid well, get paid to become master teachers, develop strong mentoring networks, and get three months off in the summer to just lay around and do nothing (forget that they don't get paid during off sessions)?

"[S]ome policymakers argue that we should eliminate requirements for teacher training, stop paying teachers for gaining more education, let anyone enter teaching, and fire those later who fail to raise student test scores. And efforts like those in Wisconsin to eliminate collective bargaining create the prospect that salaries and working conditions will sink even lower, making teaching an unattractive career for anyone with other professional options.

The contrasts to the American attitude toward teachers and teaching could not have been more stark. Officials from countries like Finland and Singapore described how they have built a high-performing teaching profession by enabling all of their teachers to enter high-quality preparation programs, generally at the masters’ degree level, where they receive a salary while they prepare. There they learn research-based teaching strategies and train with experts in model schools attached to their universities. They enter a well-paid profession – in Singapore earning as much as beginning doctors -- where they are supported by mentor teachers and have 15 or more hours a week to work and learn together – engaging in shared planning, action research, lesson study, and observations in each other’s classrooms. And they work in schools that are equitably funded and well-resourced with the latest technology and materials"

Maybe it's because the US needs to compete with other countries.

Reflecting on death...

From "Etiquette Hell" a post that eloquently expresses how I've felt about bin Laden's death:

With the recent news that US Navy Seals have killed 9/11 mastermind and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden comes the inevitable reaction of some who would dance, literally if they could, on the grave of a dead man.   On the Ehell forum, the decision was made by the moderators to block or delete threads in which people gleefully rejoiced of death.

We should carefully ponder our reactions to the death of any one, including the wicked and evil.  The decision to mete out earthly retribution should be entered into with soberness, solemnity and calm befitting a choice to see justice served.  Otherwise the taking of life becomes trivialized and we are no more civilized than the beasts who wantonly kill the innocent they view as worthlessly expendable.  Nor do we want to rejoice at death lest we show ourselves to be no better than the savages who hung the burnt bodies of US contractors from street lights and danced in joy.  No, I think we are much better than that.

I recently read the following on a Facebook status and it reflects my perspective:

“At this report of earthly justice, I am more sobered than celebratory. I pray that this moment will cause us all to treasure life and freedom, without honoring or affirming vengefulness or bloodlust. And please do not take pleasure in anyone’s entrance into hell or forget the mountain of mercy that we have received.” Don Shorey

Bin Laden was an evil man, he needed to be stopped and held accountable for his genocide.   I won’t weep for him but I will soberly reflect in thankfulness that he can no longer lead others into evil and be grateful for the peace and safety and freedoms we enjoy.

Thinking about education

Repositories

Annotated list of research repositories. VERY useful to students, even if one would not automatically have full access to all of the sites listed (such as JSTOR).

Visual News

It's said "a picture is worth a thousand words" but these may be worth even more as they summarize subtleties that often escape us.

Visual News

Noodlehead: Zippy Wallet Tutorial

I want to modify this slightly to make a clip-on pouch for my Droid.

Noodlehead: Zippy Wallet Tutorial

Khan Academy

Wow! What an amazing repository. If you haven't visited yet, take a chance to learn something new or refresh. Just wish there was a larger humanities section. :)

Khan Academy

Things Organized Neatly

How fun ... and SO not my style! :)

Things Organized Neatly

College Open Textbooks Blog

I need to do more research in this area. I'd like to move away from over-priced textbooks if possible.

College Open Textbooks Blog

Nabokov Theory on Polyommatus Blue Butterflies Is Vindicated - NYTimes.com

Expert testimony: Is it limited to those with degrees lined up behind their names? No.

When one hears "Vladimir Nabokov," it's generally visions of Lolita, not butterflies, that float into view. Yes, Nabokov was an exceptional novelist, but he was also a butterfly expert ... lepidopterist. Of course, in his time, he was accepted as "a dutiful but undistinguished researcher" by professionals and only found vindication of his theories after his death. It was DNA that would prove Nabokov's butterfly migration theories based on "differences in their genitalia."

So, a word of caution about throwing around "questionable authority" accusations: Check out the bona fides first.

Nabokov Theory on Polyommatus Blue Butterflies Is Vindicated - NYTimes.com

A Profile of This Year's Freshmen - Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Statistical insights about students. What sorts of conclusions might YOU draw from this information?

A Profile of This Year's Freshmen - Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education:

New Partners in the Plagiarism-Detection Business - Head Count - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Better pay attention to this, folks. Writing skills are essential to success.

New Partners in the Plagiarism-Detection Business - Head Count - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Biblio Bouts

Very cool way to do research for academic essays. Play the game to end up with a first-rate bibliography.

Biblio Bouts

Second time this season

We've lived in TN more than 5 years, but this is the first season we've had snow more than once, and we've never had enough to slow us down. This time we're definitely snowed in and enjoying every minute of it. Well, I am. Wayne is out shoveling the driveway, so maybe not so much for him.

The dogs have had a blast, especially Sunny whose Husky roots are in heaven in the cold. He was out on the back deck at 1 a.m. enjoying the snow. Winston is far less thrilled, but his magnificent Jack Russell heart does its best to keep up with his bigger pal.

The cedar sentinels run along one side of our property and have more than doubled in size since we moved.

History -- pick and choose at our peril

 The words we choose to embrace -- or reject -- as a society have a profound impact on not only on the way we view the world but on the choices we make because of those views. Yesterday in the House of Representatives the Constitution of the United States was read aloud. That's an admirable thing to do since so many have so little interaction with this pivotal document. However, there was debate about which version of the Constitution should be read. And there is ongoing debate about how to apply the Constitution to our society, which is vastly different from what it was 9/17/1787 ... the day that 42 of 55 delegates signed the document and created "a more perfect Union."

Should it be read in its original version? Should the original text be altered to reflect later amendments? There was a predictable, but somewhat surprising split, with Republicans preferring the edited version and Democrats preferring the original version with amendments. How do the versions differ? The edited version alters the original text based on the amendments that came later. For instance, in the original document (Art. 1, Sec. 2), representation and taxation were determined by "adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." In other words, a slave would be counted as 3/5 of a whole person. In the edited version that would disappear because of the 14th Amendment. If only the amended version was read, a critical part of our national history, that demonstrates the validity of designing the Constitution as a document subject to amendment by the people, would be lost.

Representative Donna Edwards eloquently expressed the importance of full social memory: “Our Constitution is both a strong foundation and a living document that has changed as our times and understandings have changed. I am disappointed that we did not come together to read the Constitution in its entirety to embrace both the full vision of our founders and their fallibility as reflected in the original content and the amendments that have strengthened this great nation. As an African American woman, it is through these amendments and this history that my experience is captured in its entirety. It is imperative that we remember the purpose and interpretation enshrined to a government by the people, for the people.” (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/2011/01/elijah_cummings_constitution.html)

This Year, Contractor Deaths Exceed Military Ones in Iraq and Afghanistan - ProPublica

Has anyone noticed?

"Civilian contractors have been an indispensable part of the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they have returned home without the support available for troops in uniform.

Tens of thousands of civilians have worked in the two battle zones, delivering fuel, protecting diplomats and translating for troops, among other jobs."

This Year, Contractor Deaths Exceed Military Ones in Iraq and Afghanistan - ProPublica: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"