Archive | August, 2011

In Pennsylvania, Suspicious Erasing on State Exams at 89 Schools – NYTimes.com

4 Aug

We can’t have Truth and Tradition if the schools lie to themselves, to us, and to their students (our children and grand children, remember?) about how things are going.

Never before have so many had so much reason to cheat. Students’ scores are now used to determine whether teachers and principals are good or bad, whether teachers should get a bonus or be fired, whether a school is a success or failure.

Will Pennsylvania do what it takes to root out cheating? Few school districts have. Most inquiries are led by educators who are not first-rate investigators and have little incentive to make their own districts look bad.

via In Pennsylvania, Suspicious Erasing on State Exams at 89 Schools – NYTimes.com.

The Great Hiroshima Cover-up | The Nation

4 Aug

The suppression on which the nuclear industrial complex was built?

In the weeks following the atomic attacks on Japan sixty-six years ago this week, and then for decades afterward, the United States engaged in airtight suppression of all film shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings. This included vivid color footage shot by U.S. military crews and black-and-white Japanese newsreel film.

via The Great Hiroshima Cover-up | The Nation.

Why we need more mentally ill leaders – History – Salon.com

3 Aug

Your book makes a very provocative argument about mental illness. How would you summarize it?

The essential argument of the book is that our greatest leaders often have mental illnesses, and often many of our worst leaders were mentally healthy. Certain leadership qualities are enhanced by mental illness — realism, creativity, resilience and empathy — and that’s why these leaders were great.

via Why we need more mentally ill leaders – History – Salon.com.

The Investment Banker and the Fisherman, Delayed Gratification

3 Aug

[and a bonus joke for free, because that’s how we are in TNT]

Here’a bit of wisdom from Hindi jokes (which, BTW, hits you with about a dozen adds interspersed among the lines of a joke, LOL!).

* * * * *

An Investment Banker was at the pier of a small coastal Indian village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna.

The Investment Banker complimented the Fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked, “How long does it take to catch them?” The Fisherman replied: “Only a little while.”

An Investment Banker was at the pier of a small coastal Indian village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna.

The Investment Banker complimented the Fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked, “How long does it take to catch them?” The Fisherman replied: “Only a little while.”

The Banker then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The Banker then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take dinner with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play cards with my friends, I have a full and busy life.”

The Banker scoffed, “I am a MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.

Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mumbai, then London and eventually New York where you will run your expanding enterprise.” Continue reading →

Small Nations’ Alliance « Second Vermont Republic

3 Aug

Objective: To encourage (1) the nonviolent breakup of meganations such as the United States, China, Russia, and India; (2) the peaceful coexistence of a community of small, sustainable, cooperative, democratic, socially responsible, egalitarian, nonviolent, ecofriendly nations; and (3) the independence of small breakaway states such as Quebec, Tibet, and Vermont.

via Small Nations’ Alliance « Second Vermont Republic.

Thomas H. Naylor: A Community of Small Nations for a Sustainable Planet

3 Aug

World-wide localization. To cure the cancer, shrink it.

I believe it is high time for the smaller nations of the world to begin withdrawing from the United Nations. The U.N. is morally, intellectually, and politically bankrupt. It is time for these smaller nations to confront the meganations of the world and say, “Enough is enough. We refuse to continue condoning your plundering the planet in pursuit of resources and markets to quench your insatiable appetite for consumer goods and services.” These small nations should call for the nonviolent breakup of the United States, China, Russia, India, Japan, and the other meganations of the world.

A small group of peaceful, sustainable, cooperative, democratic, egalitarian, ecofriendly nations might lead the way. Such a group might include Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Could it happen? Who knows. The Soviet Empire fell apart under its own weight, and Russia’s still struggling. Back in 1400 who’d have thought that the British Empire would span the globe. And look what happened to that.

via Thomas H. Naylor: A Community of Small Nations for a Sustainable Planet.

The bankers are eating us alive, Ralph. Run, for the frogs, the kids, and the flowers.

2 Aug

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Fatal Radiation Level Found at Fukushima Daiichi Plant – NYTimes.com

2 Aug

Let’s not forget, the Fukuskima reactors are still leaking radiation into the environment.

TOKYO — The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said Monday that it measured the highest radiation levels within the plant since it was crippled by a devastating earthquake. …

The operator, Tokyo Electric Power, said that workers on Monday afternoon had found an area near Reactors No. 1 and 2, where radiation levels exceeded their measuring device’s maximum reading of 10 sieverts per hour — a fatal dose for humans.

Next year, maybe, they’ll be able to shut it down:

The plant has continued to spew radiation since the disaster, though levels have been dropping. The operator is working to install a new makeshift cooling system by early next year that will allow it to finally shut down the plant’s three damaged reactors.

That effort includes removing thousands of tons of highly contaminated water from the reactor buildings. On Monday, Tokyo Electric also said it will begin constructing a new wall that will extend some 60 feet underground to prevent radioactive groundwater from seeping into the nearby Pacific Ocean.

via Fatal Radiation Level Found at Fukushima Daiichi Plant – NYTimes.com.

Cruel Isolation of Prisoners – NYTimes.com

2 Aug

Who’s the Tomás de Torquemada of the California prison system? Has the US Prison system passed the Inquisition in cruelty? Has it reached the gulag level?

Once used occasionally as a short-term punishment for violating prison rules, solitary confinement’s prevalent use as a long-term prison management strategy is a fairly recent development, Colin Dayan, a professor at Vanderbilt University, said in a recent Op-Ed article in The Times. Nationally, more than 20,000 inmates are confined in “supermax” facilities in horrid conditions.

via Cruel Isolation of Prisoners – NYTimes.com.

Scientists map religious forests and sacred sites

1 Aug

The Oxford researchers estimate that religious groups own about eight per cent of land across round the globe, much of it being covered in forest, and about 15 per cent of the world’s surface is ‘sacred land’ – land that has ‘sacred’ connotations rather than being necessarily owned by faith communities….

The Oxford research team is engaged, firstly, in investigating what legal or official data exists on boundary lines and the rights to the land. Once the status of the land and its boundaries are known, the geographical co-ordinates can be entered onto their database at the Biodiversity Institute.

The researchers will work with groups of many different faiths: those who manage the sacred groves in India, the Shinto shrines in Japan, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which owns 300 fragments of forest including the last remnants of Afro-montane tropical forest containing rare and endangered insects. The religious sites appear to contain a high proportion of species that feature on the IUCN’s Red List (of threatened species).

via Scientists map religious forests and sacred sites.

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