"Reading the book is like peering through the windows of a big dolls' house and catching glimpses of lots of well-crafted, ill-assorted, flickeringly lighted interiors. The effect is superficially attractive but unsatisfying."... I might just have to read
The schools are public. The funds to be spent are public. On one side of the table is a public body. Why shouldn't the public have a seat at that table, if only to listen in through the media to the offers and counter-offers?I don't always see eye-to-eye with Zorn, but on this topic he's bang on the money. Go read the whole thing. And then go buy this book. It's guaranteed to set your hair on fire!
Negotiating a contract of this dimension is a major governmental act — far more significant than many of the twists of the statutory knob that must, by law, be performed by legislative bodies at open meetings.
Closed doors are antithetical to democracy. Our traditions tell us that public oversight and input not only help keep officials honest, but also aid them in their quest to represent the will of the people (assuming that is their quest).
In the case of teachers union negotiations, parents are major stakeholders — even more so than most taxpayers — yet are totally shut out of the process until the parties emerge from marathon bargaining sessions brandishing a settlement.
On a snowy Wednesday evening, in a back meeting room at the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, 15 women sat at 15 different tables. Fourteen men sat down with each, briefly, for a micro-date.I actually think this is a great idea. I'd probably bring 911 and Home by Mark D. Paulson. Having a first edition, signed by the author, with a mention in the credits? A guaranteed conversation starter.
As any single woman in a city will tell you, the dating scene is lopsided. Speed-dating sessions at the public library are no different. There were supposed to be 15 guys, but the library had a hard time filling those seats. They had to turn away 25 women.
Because it is a library, they brought books as ice breakers.
The speed someone walks may predict the likelihood of developing dementia later in life, according to researchers in the US.... then I'm going to be sharp as a tack well into my old age.
They also told a conference that grip strength in middle-age was linked to the chance of a stroke.... I'm going to have the ticker of a teenager for the rest of my born days.
[C]ity officials are focusing on a new ordinance — it's set to go into effect this summer — they say will be easier to enforce and finally hold cab companies accountable for repeat offenders they let behind the wheel.This can't happen fast enough to suit me.
"One of the reasons why we took on the challenge of rewriting the ordinance is because we needed it to be clear, crisp and easy to enforce," said Rosemary Krimbel, commissioner of the Business Affairs and Consumer Protection department.
Your Lucky Underwear is Orange |
 You have an intense personality and crave extreme emotional experiences. And your lucky orange underwear will help you take it to a whole new level. Adventure and danger don't phase you - in fact you enjoy dicey situations. You're the first to take a risk, and the first to get the payoff. And while your risks sometimes result in great rewards, they also sometimes result in devastating failures. If you want to have intense moments without always risking all you have, put on your orange underpants. They'll help you experience life with rich emotions, no matter what you're doing. |
Now be honestAnswer if you dare!
You Are Innovative |
 You're the type of person who is always putting a new spin on things. You are very creative. You sometimes feel like you are a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, but that's okay! You'll build your own square hole. You are cutting edge to the point of being avant-garde. You are extremely inventive. You can't help but be original. You love to experiment and try new things. |
"Although Amazon goes out of its way to hide all traces of vanilla Android from its new Kindle Fire tablet, it turns out tech-savvy users can still install select third-party Android applications outside the auspices of the Amazon Appstore. These apps include Amazon competitors, like Barnes & Noble’s Nook app for Android."Which ever one you choose, I'm envious.
Shakira was right: Hips don't lie.I knew that.
"If one would like to 'fake' a certain (positive) personality in order to attract women, this is probably doomed to fail," Fink said. "An individual's body movement pattern is characteristic and any attempt to fake it would result in less positive judgments of that person."
It appears the mind regards a doorway as something experts call an ‘event boundary’, signalling the end of one memory episode and the beginning of another.And here I thought event boundaries had to do with party manners and social mores...
“The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open” — and, in progressive-speak, “The social budget is limited.” (Emphasis mine)Oh, really? And how are all those folks on the public dole going to handle it when they get turned away from the emergency room for their cold and flu symptoms and free pregnancy tests?
Authorities in a state in Brazil's northeast are scrambling to take the fright and the bite off the beach after piranhas sunk their teeth into about 100 beachgoers, UOL Noticias reported.Ay caramba!The problem -- rather fearsome given piranhas' horror-movie teeth and ability to sink them into human flesh -- has been the biggest at the main beach area in Piaui state; authorities said they need to act fast to reduce a piranha overpopulation situation.
Last weekend, at least 100 bathers were treated at the hospital in Jose de Freitas not far from Terezina, Piaui's capital, after being bitten on the heels or toes at the local beach.
If you have a credit card account with Bank of America or Chase, two of the nation’s largest banks, a major security flaw has been exposed that could make your information vulnerable to an Internet crook – or even a nosy neighbor.Yikes!
Consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky of ConsumerWorld.org, who discovered the flaw, says anyone who knows your phone number and has the last four digits of your Chase or BofA credit card number might be able access your account.
Here’s the flaw Dworsky uncovered: When you call a bank’s automated credit card account information system, the computer uses caller ID to compare the number you’re calling from with the one on the account (usually your home phone).
At BofA and Chase, if the phone number is a match, the verification process is streamlined. Rather than requiring the entire credit card number to be entered, the caller can usually access the account with only the last four digits. In some cases, a zip code is also required.
“The last four digits of your credit card number are just out there so predominantly,” Dworsky says. “If you look at any sales receipt, it always has those last four digits.”
In order for someone to take advantage of this security loophole, they’d have to trick the bank’s computer to make it appear the call is coming from your home phone. Internet “spoofing” sites make this incredibly easy to do. Con artists have been using this technology for years, and it is how those British tabloid reporters were able to hack into so many voicemail systems.
About a dozen trade unions plan to sit out the 2012 Democratic convention because they're angry that it's being held in a right-to-work state and frustrated that Democrats haven't done enough to create jobs.Did you spot the flying pig that just whizzed by?
The move could pose a larger problem for President Barack Obama next year if an increasingly dispirited base of labor activists becomes so discouraged that it doesn't get the rank-and-file to the polls in the usual strong numbers.
The middle class 'rioters' revealed: The millionaire's daughter, the aspiring musician and the organic chef all in the dockIt's an eye-opener, no?
Two-thirds of those who have come before magistrates have been remanded in custody and a large number have been sent to Crown Courts, which have powers to hand down prison sentences of longer than six months.In addition, the papers are shaming by naming names. LOTS of names. Well done.
Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly said: 'Yesterday and today I met court staff and judges who had worked 30 hours straight.
'We will continue to provide all necessary support to the police to ensure anyone involved in this kind of criminal activity is brought to justice as swiftly as possible.'
A Ministry of Justice spokesman added: 'We have enough prison places for those that are sentenced to custody after these incidents. There is substantial capacity in the prison and youth justice system.'
In addition to shutting down Twitter and BlackBerry messaging during civil disturbances, the government is suggesting rioters be sprayed with dye....
Other governments have used brightly colored dye to mark and arrest people. The tactic has been used in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, Hungary, Bangladesh, Uganda, South Korea and Indonesia.
If there’s a warrant out for your arrest, perhaps you should think twice about popping your pimples in a public place.The popping of zits is disgusting, on his back is even grosser, doing it in a public restaurant is appalling.
That’s what police in Florida said when they arrested Owen Lemire Kato outside a Cape Coral McDonald’s in an incident that would make the Hamburglar blush.
As Mr Kato, 23, reached behind him to pop zits on his back for 10 minutes, customers demanded that he leave the restaurant.
A punk rock nine course tasting menu would be a case of Old Style missing three cans that were thrown at the band.Priceless!
"I know exactly what you did. I know you know what you did was wrong. You you did it with full knowledge," Smart said, looking directly at Mitchell, 57, and speaking forcefully during brief remarks in federal court in Salt Lake City.Young lady, I take my hat off to you and your incredible inner strength.
"I also want you to know that I have a wonderful life now, that no matter what you do you will never affect me again," Smart told Mitchell. "You took away nine months of my life that can never be replaced. "In this life or the next, you will be held responsible for your actions and I hope you're ready for that when the time comes." (Emphasis mine.)
But consider this: It's not that Obama can't speak clearly. It's that he employs the intellectual stammer. Not to be confused with a stutter, which the president decidedly does not have, the intellectual stammer signals a brain that is moving so fast that the mouth can't keep up. The stammer is commonly found among university professors, characters in Woody Allen movies and public thinkers of the sort that might appear on C-SPAN but not CNN.And it may just be that if he hasn't thought it out beforehand, he's not quick enough on his feet to formulate an answer readily.
_____Boozer and his former wife, Cindy, say the Osorios promised 1,000 percent returns from projects that benefitted disaster-stricken areas.When you truly believe you're going to get returns like that, you might want to remember Bernie Madoff and how well promises like that worked out for his clients.
You don't wait to find clarity a few days after you begin a war. You'd better have complete clarity before you ever give the order to fire in the first place.Too right.
They spent their whole lives together and their love was plain for all to see.What a lovely love story! (And the photos are gorgeous.)
_____By way of summary, President Obama has developed a doctrinal approach to international affairs that differs not only from that of his immediate predecessor, but from any doctrine ever embraced by any major power. He eschews the notion of national interest, pays undue deference to international actors who may or may not mean us well, and deploys American troops without clear objectives or lines of command.Go read the whole fascinating piece here.
In short, he has delivered precisely the foreign policy that he promised to deliver. [Emphasis mine]
Apparently so:Not only will your tax dollars fund NPR, now they’ll fund the BBC.That's just... swell.
These kids are bypassing all the tricky stuff. It's like teaching a young man to hunt by having him hold an arrow and then throwing the deer at his hand.Too funny!
That's just too cute for words, and I'm sure his daddy will approve!Our school day in Chicago is so short that by the time a kid graduates from high school, she will have been in the classroom four years less than her counterpart in Houston. As I heard Rahm Emanuel put it, a kid in Houston essentially has an extra entire high school education when compared to our kids. Four more years of education!Who will fight this effort the most? The teachers union, of course.
The statistic is equal parts sad and telling, and makes me realize why NASA is headquartered in Houston and not Illinois.
I don't care how advanced a curriculum is, there is no way a kid can compete with a four-year disparity. And that is just compared to Houston. I shudder to think how students in Japan are eating our kids' lunch, as there the school year is about 240 days, not a measly 180 days like ours.
It reminds me that instead of having high-brow debates about the best way to educate our kids, we should instead be doing something extremely low-brow. My wise mother simply called it "tush in seats." That is, we need more tushes, in more seats, for more hours. Only once that happens should we turn to other curriculum debates.
The White House is ramping up an effort to promote a nationwide competition to decide which high school wins a commencement speech by President Obama.Ya think? That's just a sad state of affairs.
An internal White House memo indicates that the White House is facing a shortage of applications less than a week before the deadline.
The competition was extended from the February 25 deadline until Friday, March 11 after few schools met the original application deadline. CBS News has learned a White House Communications Office internal memo dated February 22 noted "a major issue with the Commencement Challenge."
"As of yesterday we had received 14 applications and the deadline is Friday," the memo said. The memo also urged recipients to, "please keep the application number close hold."
A follow-up memo on February 28 reported receipt of 68 applications. Noting the competition among more than 1,000 schools last year, the memo said, "Something isn't working."
_____
The last you heard from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, he was filibustering President Obama's tax-cut deal with the GOP. Today, the Independent and self-described socialist has his eyes on a different Washington target: the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.Right on, Senator!
Sensing an opportunity in Chinese President Hu Jintao's stateside visit, Sanders is attacking the museum for its practice of selling tchochkes made abroad—mostly in China—in the gift shop.
“We’re participating in Spay Day, although nearly every day is Spay Day for us,” Fasseas said. On a regular basis, PAWS Chicago offers free, or low-cost spaying or neutering several days a week — Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It’s free for pet owners on Medicaid or public assistance. They also offer free procedures for pets and owners who live in the following zip codes — 60617, 60619, 60620, 60621, 60628, 60629, 60636, 60639. Otherwise, the fee to spay or neuter a cat is $25 and $125 for a dog. Participants must pre-register. Call (773) 521-7729.Outside of Chicago:
To find participating vets, clinics and pet centers nearest your, visit humanesociety.org/spaydayfind and type in your zip code.Spaying or neutering your pet is a kindness to the animal.
(One day I will have one of my very own, just you wait!)
_____When confronted with the allegations of force-feeding the activists meat, using them as ad hoc latrines, leaving them incapacitated in fast food restaurant dumpsters, and ‘farting on their heads,’ the organizer declined to comment in detail. “That’s just our secret handshake,” assured the organizer.I apologize to no one for laughing myself silly over this. (Thanks, Denny!)
“All of the sudden, I realized, my God, am I 16 again?” she said “What’s the matter with me? I was sitting there hoping he’d call! It just surprised me that I was having that good of a time.”Love is not strictly the province of the young... and we should all be thankful for that!
