Do What You Love, Unless Your Parents Don’t Like It
Management consultant William Fried has given a presentation entitled “The Secret of a Happy Life” to the same CA middle school for three years straight on eighth-grade career day. In it, he “counsels...
View ArticleThe Rooter Paper
Some enterprising students at MIT submitted an academic paper to the upcoming World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (WMSCI), and the paper was accepted for presentation at...
View ArticleTroy and Josh’s Excellent Adventure
I boggled the other day when I read in the LA Times about 15-year-old Troy Driscoll and 17-year-old Josh Long’s six days adrift in a 15-foot sailboat off the coast of South Carolina. At first I thought...
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Darwin Has A Posse
If you’ve been living under a rock the last few weeks (or the Astrodome perhaps), you may not have heard that the issue of “Intelligent design” is going to court next week. Today I saw one of the most...
View ArticleControversial Books: They Aren’t Just For Burning
It’s that time of year again. September 24th to October 1st is Banned Book Week, sponsored by the American Library Association. This is a great week to go to your neighborhood independent book store...
View ArticleKyle Zirpolo Comes Clean on His McMartin Testimony
I meant to link to his a while back when it appeared in the LA Times, then got caught up in Fitzmas obsessions and whatnot, and neglected to. So I’m doing it now. From Kyle Zirpolo, one of the child...
View ArticleHigh School Football Coach Caught Cheating
Good thing we have high school athletic programs to teach our kids important lessons about the benefits of sacrifice and teamwork and hard work. Oh, yes; and cheating. As reported in the LA Times: San...
View ArticleUCLA Beats USC!
Just engaging in a little wishful thinking. The big game just started, with the noble Bruins 21-point underdogs to those loathesome Trojans. They’ll probably go down in flames, just like Luke will be...
View ArticleThe John Jones ‘Intelligent Design’ Ruling
I meant to link to this last Tuesday, when it was actually news, but failed to do so, dammit. Anyway, I’m linking to it now. From the WaPo: Judge rules against ‘intelligent design’. You can also get...
View ArticleN.J. Teacher Busted for Teaching Creationism
File this one with Monica’s blue dress, Ted Haggard’s recorded phone messages, the cameraphone video of Mostafa Tabatabainejad being tasered at UCLA, and Michael Richards trying (and failing) to be...
View ArticleKai Chang’s Favorite Liar
We have Onan to thank for bringing my attention to this one: My Favorite Liar. As the quarter progressed, the Lie of the Day became more subtle, and many ended up slipping past a majority of the...
View ArticleThe Portland Prom Prank
Apologies, lies.com. I have been neglectful lately. To tide things over until I can obsess properly, I bring you: Portland Prom Prank Probed. As the parent of an almost-17-year-old, I can’t condone the...
View ArticlefREADom of Information
With the economy in shambles and the election as depressing as usual, I thought I’d try to lighten the mood a bit by reminding people about Literary Censorship, and the attempts of narrow minded...
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Primary school teacher who told children: ‘Santa does not exist’ is fired
View ArticleAudiovisual Commentary on Education in the US
Holy smokes; 230 comments? You guys are out of control. I’ve been busy (he whined… again…), but the least I can do is give you a new wall to tag. Here’s a good one: the video from the Sigur Rós song...
View ArticleConnecticut Principal: Gifted 10-year-olds Can’t Handle the Truth about Darwin
Public school students should be taught science in their science classes. I think that’s particularly true in the case of gifted children, from whose ranks we can expect the next generation of...
View ArticleDealing with a Creationist Science Teacher
If you’re the kind of high school science teacher who thinks Biblical versions of our origins are appropriate for inclusion in the curriculum, Dale McGowan probably is not the parent whose kid you want...
View ArticleGalef on the Smartass Curve
Julia Galef, writing at the Measure of Doubt blog, in Math education: you’re doing it wrong, tells a story about her friend J: On the entrance exam for his honors math class, several of the problems...
View ArticleUC Davis Campus Police, Pepper Spray, Etc.
Doubtless you’ve already been pointed to the video of the UC Davis campus police pepper-spraying the student protesters who were sitting on the ground, arms linked, in an effort to prevent the police...
View ArticleAppelbaum on T. Mills Kelly’s (and Students’) Failed Reddit Hoax
From Yoni Appelbaum writing in The Atlantic: How the Professor Who Fooled Wikipedia Got Caught by Reddit. But it took just twenty-six minutes for a redditor to call foul, noting the Wikipedia entries’...
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