] As a quick-thinking senatorial aide switched on the
] Senate's public-address system and cued up the infamous
] "Seven Minutes of Funk"? break, Mr. Leahy and Mr.
] Cheney went head-to-head in what can only be described as
] a "take no prisoners"? freestyle rap battle.
]
] Most of the rhymes kicked therein cannot be quoted in a
] family publication, but observers gave Mr. Cheney credit
] for his deceptively laid-back flow. Mr. Leahy was
] applauded for managing to rhyme the phrases "unethical
] for certain," "crude oil spurtin',"? and "like
] Halliburton."

The New Yorker: Shouts and Murmurs

] One of the most commonly used tools for voter education
] is the voter information pamphlet. These pamphlets
] provide a great deal of information about ballot
] issues-and sometimes about candidates, as well. Voters
] may peruse the pamphlet at their leisure, and may even
] take it with them into the voting booth. Clearly, voter
] information pamphlets are a worthy voter education
] effort.

A summary of which states have official voter information pamphlets and how much some states spend on them. In most cases under a million a year.

[ So, what shall we do about it? -k]

Voter Information Pamphlets

] With his frustration mounting this weekend over his
] inability to muscle a budget through the Legislature,
] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called his Democratic
] opponents "girlie men" and vowed to work to unseat them
] in November.

[ Ah yes, both tactless *and* offensive... Mr. S has it all. Seriously though, is he Hans or Franz? -k]

Schwarzenegger Calls Budget Opponents 'Girlie Men'

What I am suggesting here is a program of idea work for educators. Of course it is harder to think about ideas than to bring a programming language into a classroom. You have to mess with actual ideas. But this is the kind of hard that will make teaching more interesting, just as idea work will do this for learning.

An article by Semour Papert published in a special issue of the IBM Systems Journal about the MIT Media Laboratory.

[ A very interesting, perhaps very important, article about the nature of our educational systems. A lot of this resonates with me, having experienced some dissonance with the particulars of education. I was a decent student, particularly pre-college, but always found creative assignments, those which de-emphasised the memorization and reapplication of facts, much less difficult. At the time, I, probably like most people, thought of it as an expression of innate aptitude. I'm simply not good at math or history. I see implications in this article for a concept that i've been considering roughly for some time... that school is often backwards... presenting fact and isolated example, which will lead to a later synthesis... when the student has absorbed enough examples, facts and skills, the conceptual understanding will come, an epiphany. I've had reservations about this method, and without having the intellectual devotion to come up with a solution, have felt that one must exist... that it's probably possible to start with an idea, and let the applications fall out of it.

I probably haven't fully absorbed this, but it's worth applying some time to, i think... -k]

What's the big idea? Toward a pedagogy of idea power

] Many races will be decided either on July 20 or in the
] Aug. 10 primary runoffs. Nearly all contests for judges'
] seats, for instance, will be determined on the 20th,
] despite that their elections are supposedly nonpartisan.

Tomorrow is an election day in Georgia.

[ Yes! Get out and exercise your freedom. -k]

Creative Loafing Atlanta | NEWS & VIEWS | PRIMARY CRIB SHEET

] Most Instant Messenger users broadcast when they sign on,
] sign off, go idle, and flag themselves as away. This
] presence information is typically innocuous, useful for
] knowing if your buddies are available to chat. But when
] monitored continuously, over long time periods, those few
] signals tell a lot. This website lets you record and
] analyze anybody's IM activity.

Somebody is watching you... for someone else.

[ Not suprising... still kinda scary. -k]

IM Watching.net

] ChristianExodus.org is coordinating the move of thousands
] of Christians to South Carolina for the express purpose
] of re-establishing Godly, constitutional government. It
] is evident that the U.S. Constitution has been abandoned
] under our current federal system, and the efforts of
] Christian activism to restore our Godly republic have
] proven futile over the past three decades.

[ It's hard for me to even read this crap it's wrong in so many ways. Just two... A) Establishing religious rules has nothing to do with the constitution. B) Christ wasn't a hateful asshole, so having such opinions sorta disqualifies you from the label "Christian" in my book. Grrrrrr. -k]

Christian Exodus :: Come Out of Her, My People

"TORONTO -- A man caught driving naked from the waist down while watching kiddie porn on his laptop computer has become the first man in Toronto charged with allegedly stealing an Internet connection. Toronto police laid a theft of communications charge after busting a man driving the wrong way down a one-way street, downloading child porn using stolen wireless Internet signals"

[ Wow. Just, wow. -k]

Winnipeg Sun: NEWS - Man takes wrong turn

] his new field of science, called nanotechnology, has
] unfolded so quickly that the recent university courses in
] nanotechnology have had to depend upon compendiums of
] journal articles as their textbooks or books geared to
] majors in a specific field.
]
]
] Now, however, three scientists have pulled together some
] 60 active researchers across many disciplines to write a
] broad-based textbook specifically for students.
] Introduction to Nanoscale Science and Technology, has
] just been released by Kluwer Academic Publishers
] (www.wkap.nl/prod/b/1-4020-7720-3). The book was created
] by James R. Heflin Jr. of the Virginia Tech Department of
] Physics, Stephane Evoy of the University of Pennsylvania
] Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, and
] Massimiliano Di Ventra of the University of California at
] San Diego Department of Physics.

[ Might be good to have this one on the shelf, though i fear the rapid change will make this obsolete rapidly. Still, could be a good foundational book... -k]

New textbook introduces students to the foundations, applications of nanotechnology

] The Philippines' hasty exit from Iraq to meet the demands
] of terrorists threatening to behead a Filipino contract
] worker held hostage received near universal condemnation
] in the world press this week.

I'm reminded of the quote by Winston Churchill:

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

[ I dunno... in this case, we're talking about removing 50 soldiers, about 1 month earlier than planned. I understand that it's dangerous to encourage hostage takers in this way, but if it's a victory for terrorism, it seems kind of a hollow one to me. The scope and scale seems so small in this case as to justify it, assuming it does save the lives of Filipinos overseas.

I'm not trying to belittle their support, but really, it's 50 guys. I don't think it's turning the tide of the insurgency.

Anyway, i see the arguments on both sides of the issue, but I can't really come down too hard on the Philipines for this. -k]

Feeding the Crocodile: Why Manila Caved to Terrorist Demands