Nov 17 2007
Cross-posted in Orange.
Once inside a bathroom dreary, while I pondered weak and weary
Over many a quilted rolls of tp on the bathroom stall door
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
Again some one gently tapping, tapping ‘neath my chamber door.
‘Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, ‘tapping ‘neath my chamber door –
Only this, and nothing more.’
Nov 17 2007
Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread
From Yahoo News Top Stories
1 Grim climate change report spurs UN call for ‘breakthrough’
by Marlowe Hood, AFP
2 hours, 31 minutes ago
| VALENCIA, Spain (AFP) – The Nobel-winning IPCC group of climate scientists on Saturday issued their starkest warning yet on global warming, prompting a UN demand for politicians to smash the deadlock on tackling the worsening threat.
In a panorama of the evidence, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared that the impact of global warming could be “abrupt or irreversible” and no country would be spared. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to political leaders to push for “a real breakthrough” at a key conference running on the Indonesian island of Bali from December 3-14. |
Nov 17 2007
There are no numbers here. There will be no links to research backing up my assertions. Because this is not about data, it’s about people. As one teacher out of many I will tell you my opinion. As someone who teaches purely for altruistic and idealistic purposes and has done so for 31 years, I will tell you what I think.
What I do know is that drawing any connection between the performance of students on a high stakes test and the quality of the teacher is tenuous at best. Some might say non-existent. Even if there does exist such a connection, assumptions about what such a connection means really ought to be examined.
How does one tell the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher? I hate that phrasing. Bad Teacher? Really? People are dedicating their lives to doing public service, teaching our young people…and increasingly our older people as well…and other people think they have the right, even the duty, to call some of us Bad Teachers Let’s get out the scarlet letters. Lets burn them at the stake. Bad Teacher?
Nov 17 2007
In the ending minutes of the Democratic Presidential Debate on MSNBC two weeks ago, Tim Russert asked the candidates if any of them disagreed with Sen. Chris Dodd’s recent statement that he supports the decriminalization of marijuana. Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards both raised their hands. Edwards gave his reasons for his opposition:
“I think it sends the wrong signal to young people. And I think the president of the United States has a responsibility to ensure that we’re sending the right signals to young people.”
This is a very interesting statement on the part of John Edwards, and on the part of Barack Obama. Because John Edwards admitted to having used marijuana during the 2003 Democratic Presidential debate sponsored by “Rock the Vote”. Obama has gone even further; in his book “Dreams From My Father”, Obama wrote:
“I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though.”
What is particularly fascinating about these statements by these candidates for the Presidency is that they are supporting criminal penalties which they themselves admit having avoided, which in many cases would not only prevent them from being viable candidates for their current and previous elected offices, but would prevent them from even having the opportunity to vote for themselves. Nationwide, an estimated 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote for current or former felony convictions. Over two million of those Americans are denied the right to vote after having completed their sentence and parole or probation, for the rest of their lives.
Nov 17 2007
A provision of the UCC, as a point of illustration, not necessarily an expression of the governing law in this case (this is not a contract for goods):
Unless otherwise unambiguously indicated by the language of the offer or the circumstances:
An offer to make a contract invites acceptance in any manner and by any medium reasonable under the circumstances. . . . a definite and seasonable expression of acceptance may . . . create a binding obligation . . .
It has been reported that T. Boone Pickens made this offer:
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens' offer of $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Presuming Pickens did make such an offer to “anyone,” his response to John Kerry's acceptance of Pickens' offer seems at material variance to Pickens' original offer. You see, Pickens now is demanding:
Pickens wrote Friday in a letter faxed to Kerry, “I am certainly open to your challenge,” but he said he would not pay Kerry unless the senator first provided him with copies of his wartime journals, as well as movies he shot while on patrol and his complete military records for 1971 to 1978.
Obviously only John Kerry could provide such documents. But Pickens' offer was to “anyone.” I believe that Pickens has now made John Kerry a second offer for $1 million.
It would be interesting if Kerry also accepted Pickens' second offer. One would expect that Pickens will welch on that one too of course. But it would be fun to watch him squirm.
Nov 17 2007
This little tale started itself about a dozen years ago. It was originally a couple of pages, a background for a D&D character. Then came a dream or three which added so much more. Life & Death interfered for many years. I’ve begun dreaming of this tale again, recently. This will eventually be a book, I hope.
So please, go get yourself a tall cold beverage, adjust your reading glasses and settle into your comfy chair and join me in the City of Colours…
If you’re just joining the story, here’s the Link to previous parts
Nov 17 2007
My brain is a bit fuzzy. I know from past experience OTC cold medicines don’t work. Is it too early in the day for a “hot toddy”?
I am feeling all retro today so I am going to cheer myself up with oldies but goodies.
Nov 17 2007
Is that life sucks. It sucks because it is not what we want it to be. It is not what we want it to be because we have very little control over it. We have very little control over it because there are 7 billion other people who also want life to be what they want it to be.
Not to mention stuff like earthquakes and hurricanes and disease….and just stupid random chance.
The real problem is that we have no idea what we are doing. Not only do we have no idea what we are doing….but every time we get close to figuring out what we are doing, everything changes and we have to start over again.
Nov 17 2007
This can’t be blaming the messenger, because the complaint is that they aren’t bringing any messages.
But one can’t help but wonder whether the antiwar movement in this country might grow a little faster if the news media reported on it.
Currently, there is an almost total blackout on coverage.
Case in point: Friday’s Iraq Moratorium.
In small towns and big cities across the country, people held events to call for an end to the war in Iraq. Some were small vigils, but others were clearly newsworthy and video-friendly.
Want to guess how much coverage there was, either before or after?
Nov 17 2007
I have a cold. I am cranky. I want to know why I have to get sick on my days off. Blah. Blah. Life is not fair.
I think I might have already coughed out my creativity in the form of sticky snot.
Feel free to send care packages.
Nov 17 2007
This is an Open Thread: Speed Talking is Allowed
Reports: 2,000 killed by cyclone
DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNN) — More than 900 bodies have been recovered in Bangladesh following a devastating tropical cyclone, but local news reports put the death toll at more than double that figure.
As flood waters recede, aid workers say they expect to find scores more bodies when remote villages are finally reached and the counting is done. They face debris-blocked roads, no electricity and almost nonexistent communications.In addition to the dead, another 15,000 were hurt and 1,000 people were missing, according to a relief official.
U.N. says it’s time to adapt to warming
In the final installment of its landmark report, the climate-change panel says many countries will just have to learn to live with the effects.
By Alan Zarembo and Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
November 17, 2007
The United Nations’ Nobel Prize-winning panel on climate change approved the final installment of its landmark report on global warming on Friday, concluding that even the best efforts at reducing CO2 levels will not be enough and that the world must also focus on adapting to “abrupt and irreversible” climate changes.New and stronger evidence developed in the last year also suggests that many of the risks cited in the panel’s first three reports earlier this year will actually be larger than projected and will occur at lower temperatures, according to a draft of the so-called synthesis report.
USA
Immigration Dilemma: A Mother Torn From a Baby
Federal immigration agents were searching a house in Ohio last month when they found a young Honduran woman nursing her baby.
The woman, Saída Umanzor, is an illegal immigrant and was taken to jail to await deportation. Her 9-month-old daughter, Brittney Bejarano, who was born in the United States and is a citizen, was put in the care of social workers.
Nov 17 2007
This is an Open Thread: Speed Talking is Allowed
U.N. says it’s time to adapt to warming
In the final installment of its landmark report, the climate-change panel says many countries will just have to learn to live with the effects.
By Alan Zarembo and Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
November 17, 2007
The United Nations’ Nobel Prize-winning panel on climate change approved the final installment of its landmark report on global warming on Friday, concluding that even the best efforts at reducing CO2 levels will not be enough and that the world must also focus on adapting to “abrupt and irreversible” climate changes.New and stronger evidence developed in the last year also suggests that many of the risks cited in the panel’s first three reports earlier this year will actually be larger than projected and will occur at lower temperatures, according to a draft of the so-called synthesis report.
USA
Immigration Dilemma: A Mother Torn From a Baby
Federal immigration agents were searching a house in Ohio last month when they found a young Honduran woman nursing her baby.
The woman, Saída Umanzor, is an illegal immigrant and was taken to jail to await deportation. Her 9-month-old daughter, Brittney Bejarano, who was born in the United States and is a citizen, was put in the care of social workers.