A FAREWELL TO STUCK ARMS: The Beginning of the End of Needles.
Archive for 2012
September 17, 2012
AT AMAZON, Fall markdowns on Outdoor Power Tools.
Also, covers for outdoor furniture, grills, etc. As well as markdowns on Outdoor Storage.
IF YOU MISSED IT THIS MORNING, here’s my USA Today column on the Senior Squeeze, the Junior Squeeze, and the Middle-Age Stretch. Enjoy your new hope-and-change economy!
And reader Richard Brady has this take: “Barack Obama has never had a real job in his life — and neither will your kids!”
CAN’T A WOMAN BE A PAKISTAN EXPERT?
Just before the White House announcement of a new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, Obama asked Riedel and his team to come to see him in the Oval -Office so he could thank them. Riedel’s team consisted of an Afghan specialist from the State Department and a Pakistan expert from the CIA. Riedel introduced the CIA analyst to Obama as “the best Pakistan expert I’ve ever seen.” Obama looked at the CIA officer, who was sporting stiletto heels, and said with clear amusement, “You don’t look like a Pakistan expert.”
#WARONWOMEN
LOWER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Top grads want to teach. Why don’t they get hired?
The awkward fact is that teaching in America has become a quasi blue-collar profession mostly shunned by top college graduates. The countries with the best education systems recruit from top graduates. What about our top graduates? A good barometer is Teach for America (TFA), which in 2011 drew nearly 48,000 applicants for 5,200 teaching positions. Those applicants included 12% of the seniors at Ivy League schools.
Here’s the question that never gets asked: What happens to the 43,000 top graduates who wanted to teach but didn’t get an offer from TFA? Nearly all seek other careers.
For the best and brightest college graduates in this country, jobs offered by regular school districts lack prestige. Their accountability-free practices give the best teachers no way to stand out. These young TFA applicants rose to the top of their high schools classes and won admittance to the top tier colleges. They want a shot at shining on the job as well. . . .
The question becomes: What would it take to lure some of those TFA applicants into regular public school districts? It starts with removing some of the blue-collar stigma by tying pay and advancement to actual classroom performance. Exactly the kind of system the Chicago union was resisting. High-performing charter schools have demonstrated that plenty of top college graduates want to teach as long as they are part of a team designed to succeed.
Read the whole thing.
WHEN “CIVILITY” IS JUST A CODE WORD FOR CENSORSHIP. “It was bad enough that the protestors prevented other students from getting to class, in the only handicapped-accessible tunnel I might add, but the campus police aided and abetted the actions of these protestors by forcing students to use other tunnels farther away. I found that to be more offensive than anything that was spray painted on that wall. The offensive graffiti was gone by the next morning anyway before most students would see it. The lesson to take away from this is to be wary of college and university initiatives to promote civility and tolerance. More often than not, they are very vague and tend to punish those with a minority viewpoint.”
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How Women Want To Be Kissed.
CONSUMER PREFERENCES: “Letting women ‘test drive’ larger breasts before a boob job has led to them picking even bigger implants.” “Women who see what life is like with larger breasts (by wearing a big padded bra) end up choosing, on average, breasts 30% larger than what they originally thought they wanted. They tend to come in thinking a C-cup would be right, but end up seeing the D-cup as preferable.”
WITH ALL OUR OTHER PROBLEMS, AT LEAST WE DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING REPLACED BY A RACE OF SUPERINTELLIGENT APES. . . . UH OH: Scientists make monkeys smarter using brain implants. I guess we’ll just have to get ’em too, to keep up: “For the very first time, scientists have demonstrated that a brain implant can improve thinking ability in primates. By implanting an electrode array into the cerebral cortex of monkeys, researchers were able to restore — and even improve — their decision-making abilities. The implications for possible therapies are far-reaching, including potential treatments for cognitive disorders and brain injuries. But there’s also the possibility that this could lead to implants that could boost your intelligence. Here’s how they did it.”
AT AMAZON, it’s the Blu-Ray Deal of the Week.
FIRST THE RUSSIAN WARSHIPS, NOW THIS: Fighter jets in Democratic convention’s military montage were Turkish, not American. It’s clowns all the way down. But hey, Romney’s inexperienced! I’m betting, though, that he’s smart enough to tell the Turkish Air Force from the USAF — and, more importantly, to hire someone who can.
Related: Barack Obama In 2008: You Can’t Stand Up To China While Running Up A “Huge National Debt.” How’s that workin’ out for ya, Barry?
UPDATE: Sorry, I can’t hear you over the shouts of Death To America! from, well, everywhere. The Week: Is Obama’s foreign policy failing in the Muslim world?
HAPPY CONSTITUTION DAY: Observe it appropriately.
Related: Activists Troubled By White House Call To YouTube.
UPDATE: A rather lame response from Conor Friedersdorf, boiling down to a mixture of move along, nothing to see here and, of course, BUUUSSSHHH!
First, is the “secret torture program” he’s talking about the one where the Justice Department investigation was recently closed without recommending any prosecutions? And I — unlike, say, Oliver Willis, — have always opposed torture, though I have entertained some doubts that waterboarding counts. So, apparently, did Holder’s DOJ, which I’ll admit is possible reason for me to reconsider.
Second, Conor makes a crucial mistake here — the things he complains about may or may not be bad, but they are not aimed at Presidents’ political enemies (or inconveniences) within the United States. When a President turns his powers unconstitutionally against domestic political problems, it raises a whole different risk of abuse. That’s what’s involved here. And the notion that this was a routine probation matter fails the laugh test, at least for anyone who actually knows anything.
As for the “literally,” do try to keep up. This is an advanced blog, and expects readers to pay attention.
HOW MILLENNIALS WORK DIFFERENTLY FROM EVERYONE ELSE. “Overall, these findings indicate that millennials are more impatient about advancement or moving, they’re more open to flexible work schedule, and more methodical in their work, yet they show up later and work shorter hours.”
SNOW ON MARS: NASA Spacecraft Spots “Dry Ice” Snowflakes.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DEFINING first date goals. This was never a problem for me when I was dating.
NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE: Nick McCall’s Pacific Time on Target: Memoirs of a Marine Artillery Officer, 1943-1945.
THE REASON FOR PEOPLE’S HOSTILE BEHAVIOR ONLINE? Lack of Eye Contact.
ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC: Kill Sperm, Save The Planet.
STEVE HAYWARD: Pictures That Change Elections?
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: On Those Annoying Relationship Facebook Posts.
PAUL RAHE: