Franken declared winner in MinnesotaMaybe my inattention helps!
(& Coleman concedes)
U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq cities
(followed by jubilation of Iraqis asserting their new-found sovreignty)
Boeing Wants You Dead
2 hours ago
Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon, If you listen to popular rumour; From the morn to the night he's so joyous and bright, And he bubbles with wit and good humour! He's so quaint and so terse, both in prose and in verse; Yet though people forgive his transgression, There are one or two rules that all family fools Must observe, if they love their profession. [Yeomen of the Guard, Gilbert & Sullivan]
Franken declared winner in MinnesotaMaybe my inattention helps!
(& Coleman concedes)
U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq cities
(followed by jubilation of Iraqis asserting their new-found sovreignty)
"duck & cover" drills in elementary schoolSo I'm wondering...
(preparing for nuclear attack!)
neighbors building bomb shelters
(ditto)
high school history - AMERICAN history - included a multi-week segment on Soviet Communism... some classes were required to read J. Edgar's Masters of Deceit.
[Fortunately, my history teacher did NOT require us to read this!]
Preach on, Brother Russ, preach on.Yes,... well, it would be more fulfilling if I had the following of a televangelist!
Who's to blame?... forDavid Neiwert over at Crooks & Liars takes Glenn Beck to task, using similar examples. Here's a sample:child-labor laws?
the Pure Food & Drug Act?
the 40-hr, 5-day work-week?
women's suffrage?
the Civil Rights Movement?
Pinko, commie, muckraking liberals and progressives! - that's who... including socialist, God-hating labor unions!!!
The United States has always been an essentially capitalist economic system. However, we have experienced periods in our history where this system has seriously malfunctioned, and we've made adjustments accordingly that have largely worked well making things better.... But go read the whole thing!
One of those dysfunctional periods came at about the turn of the last century, when McKinley was president, corrupt robber barons ran Congress, and the latter-day version of "strict constructionists" ruled the courts. "Laissez faire" capitalism ruled, and America was functionally an oligarchy.
Squeezed out were the working people: the average workweek was 80 hours, there were no weekends, no vacation, only a few holidays, and the barest minimum of pay. Benefits and health care were unheard of. Child labor was the rule.
What happened between then and now? "Progressives" began agitating for better working conditions, and began organizing as labor unions. After a long period of violent repression, these reforms gradually became government policy -- especially in the 1930s under FDR. Americans began getting 40-hour work weeks with weekends off, paid vacations and benefits.
Gates seeks to reassure allies over US role in Afghanistan"12 to 18 months"... that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 Friedman Units.
by Dan De Luce Dan De Luce, AFP
Thu Jun 11, 2009
BRUSSELS (AFP) – US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said he was out to reassure NATO allies over concerns about a possible "Americanization" of the war effort in Afghanistan.
...
Gates said other alliance members shared Washington's view that the international coalition needed to demonstrate progress in the war within 12 to 18 months.
I. Minimal citizenship standards, as measured by voting in past 4 national elections (2002 Congressional midterms, 2004 Presidential, 2006 Congressional midterms, 2008 Presidential).That’s it.
The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that panel members care enough about the issues and their country to have participated in our participatory democracy.
II. Education/experiencea. Highschool graduate + 15 years work experience
b. College graduate + 10 years work experience
c. Graduate/professional degree + 10 years work experience
The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that panel members have some minimal experience living in the real world, and some minimal educational attainment.
Work experience should be measured by consecutive years filing personal tax returns. [Note: currently unemployed applicants ARE eligible, provided only that they have in the past worked for a living!]
III. Disqualificationsa. Convicted felons to be excluded.
b. Anyone who has worked in the financial sector at any level to be excluded (from bank tellers up to Wall Street CEOs).
The purpose of this exclusion is to ensure that the panel provides a counterbalance to the heavily finance-oriented perspective of your current economic advisory team.
c. Anyone who has worked (in a paid position) for a lobbying firm, a political candidate, or a current or former member of Congress to be excluded – to avoid clear conflicts of interest.
d. No more than two (2) panelists to have either undergraduate or graduate degrees in economics, finance, or business.
Again – the point is to limit the influence of presumed “experts” – and to draw instead from the life-experience and common-sense of non-experts.
IV. Demonstration of basic economic/quantitative competence
Panelists ought to be able to pass with a 10/10 score a 10-question quiz which includes basics such as, “What is GDP?”, “What is 7% of $143?”.
[I’d be happy to craft a first draft of the quiz for you!... and, in fact, anyone who can answer the two sample questions above is probably qualified!]
1. Words in and of themselves define reality.If you begin from the premise that all things bad derive from the Left, it's really quite easy to conclude that all things bad are Leftist - and find magical Words to support the conclusion.
2. Words mean what their user says they mean.
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."It can be difficult to engage these folks in honest debate.
[unnamed White House aide, quoted by Ron Suskind, NYT Magazine, 17 Oct 2004]
Everyone Bad Is A LeftyYep - if you're a conservative commentator, anything bad must derive from the Left!
We've spent several years having fundamentalist anti-women anti-gay Muslim extremists being somehow aligned with liberals, and now anti-government anti-Semitic white supremacists are as well.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."I note that Tom Tancredo believes Sotomayor is too liberal... because she is associated with La Raza, which he takes to be the Latino version of the KKK!
[Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter 6]
President Washington Applauds Balloon Pilot
Americans Search Arctic For Lost British Explorer
Rome Invades Britain
New Bridge Sways In Wind
Professional Baseball Clubs Form "American League"
On March 7, 2001, barely a month into Bush's new term, South Korean president Kim Dae-jung made a working visit to Washington in hope of keeping the Clinton policy on North Korea on track under the new US administration. On the eve of the Kim visit, Powell told reporters that the Bush administration would build on the Clinton momentum on North Korea. The White House instantly rebuked Powell, with Bush making it clear that his administration would do no such thing.The fruits of W's misguided rejection of diplomacy with North Korea?
[PART 8: Bush's bellicose policy on N Korea , Asia Times, 5 Jan 2007; emphasis added]
North Korea has actively re-started its nuke program.Quite a coup, W!
North Korea has actively continued testing ICBMs.
... and now, North Korea is playing high-stakes international politics with American journalists.
CARLSON: ... I think we should all sleep better tonight knowing that peace is at hand between New Mexico and North Korea.
[CNN CAPITAL GANG, 11 Jan 2003]
The Obama Effect? Pro-Western Majority Declares Victory Over Hezbollah In LebanonNote the framing: The Obama Effect is first - the eye-catching phrase!... and the explicit Victory Over Hezbollah is prominent. (Recall: Hezbollah is the axis-of-evil-Iranian-supported terrorist group.) THESE are the rhetorical devices we so-called progressives oughta be using FREQUENTLY!]
“I know lots of stupid people who went to Ivy League schools.”Yes, Karl, I bet you do... I can name one of 'em!
1. My interest in it derives from G&S'sIt is that last point to which THIS post is addressed!
The Pirates of Penzance.The Major-General's song:2. It's simply fun!"... and tell you every detail of Caractacus's uniform."(More on which - if you're truly bored - to be found here.)
3. It illustrates a principle of effective training:"Engage as many senses as possible!"
A book was included with the class:My experience re-designing stat classes to be 'experiential' and focused on DOING is that...
Creative Training Techniques Handbook.
- Note the title word: "training" - this is focused on 'training' NOT on 'education'. One of the things it took me way too long to realize as a trainer in industry was that there's a difference between 'education' and 'training'. 'Education' is aimed at 'understanding'; 'training' is aimed at 'changing behavior'.
Random thoughts (things I remember) from the class:Provide crayons & scrap paper to all participants - encourage doodlingSome chord-striking quotations from the first few chapters of the book:pedagogical value: doodling really can promote memory/learningProvide a cartoonish 'course map' to further encourage doodling & using the crayonspedagogical value: helps students figure out where we are, where we're going, and what the objective is... + doodling/coloring promotes memory/learningCheating is good.When I re-designed my stat classes, I almost always started out with a 'final exam' - 10-20 questions to be answered in teams of 2-3If you want students to leave the class knowing how to DO something, build the class around 'em DOING those things!Students were told explicitly: "If you can't find the answer in the student workbook, ask another team for help!"(note: I typically had a LOT of activites designed to drive home this point: "Everything you need to know is in the book, AND YOU CAN FIND IT!")pedagogical value: ALL the stuff you need to know is in the student workbook... AND YOU CAN FIND IT! (... Oh, and, by the way: how do you do things at work? - if you don't know, you ask a colleague!)
(Recall: leaving the class knowing how to DO something is what distinguishes 'training' from 'education'!)"Adults are babies with big bodies."More chord-striking quotations:
(Babies learn by playing - so do adults)
"Learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you have."
"Learning has not taken place until behavior has changed."
(Recall - we're talking about 'training')"You cannot motivate other people."Finally:
"All people are motivated."
"People do things for their reasons, not your reasons."When designing 'activity-based' classes, it's important (critical) to remember that the activities aren't simply tacked on to the material, the activities ARE the material!
1. it takes a LOT MORE up-front work to design the class effectivelyNow you know.
2. it takes a LOT LESS work to teach the class once it's designed (with all materials in place, activities designed, etc.)
Alcock and Brown Fly Atlantic OceanOld News is one of the three periodicals to which I subscribe. It's formatted as a newspaper (typically 12 pages), with short articles from history - from ancient times to WWII. Pictures (all black & white) accompany most articles - photos when available; etchings, woodcuts, paintings otherwise.
Jack Johnson Wins Championship Fight
Lord Grey Reforms British Government
Apple-Tree Grower Inspires FolkloreA Camping Trip with Johnny Appleseed
Old NewsNow you know.
3 W. Brandt Blvd
Landisville, PA 17538-9964
every-other month;or
twice a month.The easiest disambiguation I've discovered is to adopt the British "fortnightly" for "twice-a-month", and to use "bimonthly" to mean "every-other-month"... Tho' "fortnightly" really means every fourteen days, which isn't the same as "twice a month".
the dollar dropped today...Again: it may be time to re-think that European vacation!
how do i know?
eBay! - a "buy it now" item listed at 499.99 GBP is currently at $704.34.
Yesterday it was in the mid-$690s.
Yes - even eBay is a source of financial information!
They didn't applaud murder.As it is, my impression is that once fetus metamorphoses into newborn, they lose all interest in the LIFE before them.
They were pro-LIVING: supporting, e.g.,S-CHIP
Aid to single mothers
Early childhood education