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Showing posts from 2014

The Crony Capitalism of Common Core

When people talk about having standards , it’s with the shared assumption that standards are a “good thing.”  When we talk about minimum standard for something, we’re talking about a baseline, below which is considered unacceptable.  When we use the phrase  “a standard of excellence” we associate the word standard with an ideal that we should all strive for. It’s not accidental then that the Federal government, in a well intentioned attempt to direct the path of education in the country, used that word to introduce the Common Core State Standards.   Common Core is a set of standards for elementary and secondary education that are meant to provide a guide to educators and parents as to what should be taught in schools. According to the Common Core website , “Building on the excellent foundation of standards states have laid, the Common Core State Standards are the first step in providing our young people with a high-quality education. It should be clear to ev...

Rick Marciano for State Representative in Beverly, Massachusetts

In the 6th Essex race the Salem News editorialized: “... Parisella has certainly earned another two-year term...”  Apparently the editors have not been reading the excellent reporting of Paul Leighton who detailed the conflict of interest complaint filed against Parisella and his subsequent quitting of his job. And though that weighs on my mind, I’m voting for Rick Marciano because of 3 votes Jerry made.   24 Hour Review Time for Bills Vote # H2015.1 This was a vote on Amendment #1 to the Joint Rules for the years 2013 and 2014 (H2015). Supporters sought to require the budget to be posted online for 24 hours before a vote, after it emerges from the Conference Committee. -  Rep. Parisella voted against this Requiring Committee Votes to be Published Online Vote # H2015.3   This was a vote on Amendment #3 to the Joint Rules for the years 2013 and 2014 (H2015). Supporters sought to require committee votes be published online. Rep. Parisella voted against this Requi...

Apple is giving away all your stuff in the iCloud

I've used the login name "fishdan" since 1996 -- I own it about everywhere it's worth having.  Because I'm old, my primary usage is via yahoo, but I'm also fishdan@gmail, It's my primary interface to all things google, including my google+ account and the account I sync my android phone with. Because I'm a good doobie I use  2 Stage verification  with this account.  This has been a minor pain in the ass, but it always seemed like a good idea, and I'm rarely that far from my phone. But because it's not my #1 account, I only check the email every other day or so. Imagine my surprise when I looked at it today and saw the following: Yep, 20 emails from Apple.  I knew that wasn't going to be good. Here's the first one: Full disclosure -- I don't own an Iphone and I'm not really a consumer of anything in the ITunes Universe.  I do have a few AppleIDs,  the most critical being professional ones related to being in ...

seeing the progress of Windows Update in windows 8

Just upgraded to windows 8, and I'm not happy about a lot of it, but I kept digging to see if the answers I wanted are perhaps in there somewhere. Most particularly I was very frustrated that I could not see the progress of windows update as it ran from the app.  It took me a long time to figure this out, but  if you go to the control panel in the desktop and look at windows update there , you get to see it all as it happens!

Charity must begin at home

We have changed ourselves as a country and as a people when we think that the social safety net MUST come from government. When my grandparents came to Lynn in 1904 they came to a community that took them in and shared responsibility for them. If a kid was misbehaving, the first adult in the neighborhood to it would pass that information on to the parent. If someone was struggling their family was invited to dinner. Simple concepts that are rarely practiced any more. Charity does more than help the recipient -- it integrates the giver into the community. We learn more about ourselves and our communities through our own acts of charity. In particular we learn that our society is not as hopeless as the doomsayers would have us believe. If we can all find a way to be a little more involved and have a closer relationship with our neighbors, we would find that we can solve more problems. Sadly, some people would rather wash their hands of the responsibilities of humanity. When I hear p...