CHARTER SCHOOLS / MARIJUANA

CHARTER SCHOOLS. In her usual penetrating style, Gail Collins discusses several layers of issues raised by the new film "Waiting for Superman", which critiques America's public schools, and appears to advance charter schools as a more viable alternative. It is a well-documented truth that over the past several decades, public schools have been treading water while schools in all other developed nations have been forging past us in reading, math and science skills. Clearly a major overhaul is needed, including (in my opinion) scrapping seniority, requiring all teachers to undergo annual re-training and annual examination of their teaching skills and currency of subject knowledge, and raising the standards expected of students, both for passing a class and for graduation from every level of education. We are producing a nation of illiterate, math-challenged, science-ignorant underachievers whose greatest workplace achievement may be learning to say "Would you like fries with that?"

However, charter schools are a questionable alternative. While they may have value as laboratories for new ideas, their performance has been dismal. Unregulated and unencumbered by universal standards, only 17 percent of charter schools do a better job than the comparable local public school. In Texas, only 37 percent of charter school students passed state academic achievement tests, compared with 80 percent of public school students.

Collins is right -- "the regular public schools are where American education has to be saved." Here is her complete essay. It should be required reading for all educators, school boards and legislators.

MARIJUANA. In case you've been living under a rock, California voters will soon have the opportunity to pass or defeat Proposition 19, which would legalize personal marijuana use, allow local government to regulate the production and sale of marijuana, and allow local government to impose taxes on same. We as a society do move at a glacial pace, with no discernable distinction between rational thought and emotional panic, over certain hot-button issues. I've advocated for forty years that precisely this approach (legalization, regulation, taxation) should replace prohibition, which has NEVER worked. There is an Alice in Wonderland quality to our taking the saner path with regard to much more destructive substances like alcohol or tobacco, yet we resist that path when it comes to marijuana, a measurably more benign substance. Note: it is significant that the bulk of financial backing for opposition to Prop 19 comes from .... you guessed it, the alcohol and tobacco industries. When in doubt, follow the money.

Timothy Egan offers a tongue-in-cheek (and very informative) summary of the history and current status of marijuana laws in this country, along with his own pointed reality check. "Most of the bad things associated with marijuana come from its criminalization. If legalization curbs the violence -- of the Mexican drug lords, of the gangsters who still wage turf wars in parts of California, of the powerful and paranoid growers of the north -- it will have done society a big favor." Ya think?

Bed Crowns

Image via http://sweethomestyle.tumblr.com/

Bed crowns are a great focal point in a baby nursery, kids or teen room. They can be elaborate or simple, wood or fabric. I've included a few bed crown ideas....

southernliving.com

Miss Kris Studio

http://www.artforkids.net/

 

Mirrored Bed Crown 

 

Beloved Wall Mount Bed Crown 

 

State Beds and Throne Canopies 

 Green Sheer Fabric with Great Light Transmission Kids Room Bed Canopy

MEMORY / COYOTES / RELIGION TEST

MEMORY. David Hirschman summarizes in a clear and accessible manner current research on how memory is recorded (and lost) in the human brain. This information is relevant to nearly every human activity, from raising a child, teaching in school, learning a new skill or name, to the loss of memory with aging. Here is a summary of the article:

"Memory isn't like a video or film, faithfully recording a sequence of minute details and storing it all intact. Rather, it's a far more complex procedure, which preserves brain space by filtering out extraneous details while still allowing us to pull together pertinent information about specific events. So a memory is a set of circumstances, details and characteristics strung together -- the brain can recreate events by activating specific strings in "convergence/divergence" zones and then accessing all the scattered details attached to the string.

"We begin to lose memories as we age when our brains have too much of certain molecules called beta amyloids. While at low levels these molecules are required for our normal memory system, high levels hurt intra-brain communication."

For a fuller, more detailed understanding of memory gain and loss, please click on the link to the article.















COYOTES. Among my most vivid memories from twenty years living in southern Arizona is the haunting, howling, yipping chorus of coyotes at night, declaring their territory. Their vocal talents are such that one or a few coyotes can sound like many. Whether viewed as mythic trickster, as God's dog, or as vermin, the coyote is far and away the most adaptable predator in North America. Efforts at eradication have only produced smarter, more elusive, and more numerous populations of coyotes. They are versatile in their hunting -- going it alone, or in packs, or even cooperatively with other species. Unlike the unfortunate wolf, which still hovers within an eyeblink of extinction, coyotes have expanded their range to include forays into towns and major cities.

Because they are so wary and elusive, wildlife ecologists find that acquiring a deeper understanding of their way of life is "like working with a ghost species." The NYTimes article Mysteries That Howl and Hunt summarizes current research into this virtuoso singer and versatile survivor.

















RELIGION TEST. This cracks me up -- and at the same time does not surprise me in the least. A basic religion test administered to a cross-section of Americans revealed that "most people are deeply ignorant about religion. Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life. On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed questions about their own faith. Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities, Jews and Mormans."

How can this be, especially given that most questions had multiple-choice answers? Simple. Blind faith equates with poor knowledge. Most atheists and agnostics were raised in religious homes, but learned to examine, question and ultimately reject the moral hypocrisies and internal contradictions of religion through reading, thinking, and informing themselves. As Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, explained, "I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than most religious people. Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That's how you make atheists."

For a more thorough description of the survey and how various religious groups fared in their responses, as well as a sampling of the survey questions which you can answer for yourself, please check out the Basic Religion Test article.

OUT OF CONTROL

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN. The parallels to the Vietnam war continue to escalate. We are fighting a guerrilla insurgency with outmoded tactics, and relying too heavily on technology rather than special forces units on the ground. Our military effort in Afghanistan appears increasingly to be running off the rails.

In a report reminiscent of the My Lai Massacre on a smaller scale, we learn today that soldiers are being ordered to deliberately kill civilians who pose no threat. Have we learned nothing?? Mindlessly following illegal orders, whether out of fear of reprisal or simply because that is how thorough military brainwashing can be, is inexcusable. Every single human being wearing a uniform and carrying a weapon is still ethically responsible for his/her own choices. Period. It turns my stomach that the military does not include individual ethical responsibility in its training. I've long thought that the minimum age for military service should be 30, not 18. At least that way low-ranking soldiers would have attained (hopefully) a minimal level of judgment. What a sad commentary on the American way of life that morally intact individuals like Hugh Thompson, Jr., are the exception and not the rule within the military.

Similarly, the CIA is stepping up its use of drone attacks on Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, a non-combatant nation. Can you say "Cambodian invasion"? Like ground soldiers set loose with no clear operational guidelines and half-baked leadership, the use of airstrikes is more likely to kill civilians than actual terrorists -- partly because hard intelligence on the location of targets is quickly outdated, and also because terrorists use civilians as human shields. We continue to generate more and more enemies who (rightly) see us as armed invaders, when the surgical use of special forces operatives (Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and Green Berets, and especially Delta Force, which is trained specifically in counter-terrorism operations) would be infinitely more effective against terrorists .... wherever they may be.

"Just following orders." Ugh. We cannot get out of Afghanistan soon enough.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Outsourcing is metastasizing, and the results are rarely beneficial to the consumer. When you base a domestic production or service in a foreign land, you lose accountability for the quality of the product or service (not to mention the loss of jobs locally). When you farm out a legitimately govermental function to private enterprise ("enterprise" being a euphemism for the concentration of wealth among a few, rather than sharing of wealth among many), you also lose accountability for both quality of service and for controlling costs.

Consider the example of privatizing prisons. Our tax dollars are still paying for the operation, but there's a hitch. We either have to pay more to maintain the same level of service (since we're now contributing to a corporation's profit margin), or we pay the same for a lower level of service (to maintain that same profit margin). Either way, we lose and CEOs gain. The same applies to contracting military operations to private companies like Blackwater.

I recognize that governments often contract with companies for specific services -- say, a construction project or the manufacture of equipment. That should NOT be confused with letting the company take over the decision-making process without the oversight of government, which represents the interests of citizens, not stockholders.

Today's NYTimes reports that the management of more and more public libraries is being farmed out to private companies. I am furious. The public library is a sacred institution. Here too, accountability is removed from the hands of taxpayers, and placed in the hands of corporate officers and stockholders. No good can come of this. Some company wonk is going to decide which books, electronic media and other library services to purchase, and which to deny to the public? That's not a public library, that's a private library. WTF is WRONG with us? Why are we letting our local, state and national political leaders get away with passing the buck?

There are services which only government should be providing -- military defense, incarceration of criminals, maintaining the national parks, improving infrastructure (roads, dams, bridges, rail lines, energy production, clean water and clean air), providing and regulating health care options, and yes, public libraries. That's why they call it government. Those among us who are so mypoic that their motto is "get government out of our lives" have only a surface understanding of how the world works. The key is not less government. The key is efficient and responsible government. If you don't want to pay taxes, just remember -- you get what you pay for.

Baby Nursery: Decorating With Fabric

Check out how cute this "fabric" nursery is! The fabric selection is fantastic and look at that quilt...wow!!  I'm really loving the name "Eliana" appliqued onto fabric and displayed in embroidery hoops above the crib. Nursery by Gina Marchica. Baby nursery using quilts .

Another baby nursery using a great selection of fabric...

 

Amy from the b-line created this modern, fun baby nursery using a selection of various modern print fabrics. She used  Benjamin Moore EcoSpec Egg Shell in Gray Horse 2140-50 paint on the walls. 

 To see which fabrics were used in the fabric collage, check here.

Wooden Embroidery Hoops, Set of 4

44'' Wide Michael Miller Summer Soiree Chevron Aqua Fabric By The Yard

 

Quilts, Bibs, Blankies...Oh My!: Create Your Own Cute & Cuddly Nursery 

HUMAN ASCENDANCY / DIGESTION

HUMAN ASCENDANCY. In my Philosophy of Biology class, a quarter century ago, the professor suggested that the evolution of three traits accounts for the eventual rise to dominance of homo sapiens -- large brains (abstract thinking), bipedal posture and opposable thumbs (freeing our hands to use tools). There is, of course, much more to the story, and reading the thoughts of any evolutionary biologist -- Stephen J. Gould and Richard Dawkins are good starting pointa -- provides evocative insights into our development as a species.

A new study by anthropologist Pat Shipman introduces an intriguing hypotheses -- that the appearance of a symbiotic relationship between humans and animals (initially as hunter and prey, and currently reflected in our relationships with our pets) helps to explain the development of more sophisticated toolmaking, the development of language, and even the advent of art. I highly recommend Drake Bennett's article on Shipman's work -- whether you accept the premise or not (and not all scientists do), I suspect you will discover that Shipman's research will resonate, and provoke new avenues of thought. I've found that controversial ideas often provide the seeds for the transformation of our knowledge to new realms of understanding, and even new disciplines within science. This may be one such idea. Your cat, dog, horse or parakeet will likely agree.

Digestion. Speaking of science, I love the intro to this gee-whiz article -- "Science is inherently cool, but gross science is even better ... Using a combination of computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark were able to visualize the entire internal organ structures and vascular systems of a Burmese Python digesting a rat." See the entire article for a series of images that record the digestive breakdown of said rat. Below is a picture of the entire snake at mid-digestion -- definitely click on the image to enlarge, then click again on the enlargement for fullest detail. Snakes are so damn cool !!

How To Make A Cupcake Stand

A cupcake stand is a perfect way to display your cupcakes. I've included instructions on how to make a quick and easy cupcake stand.



Supplies:

10" and 13" cake boards or (thin wood cutout)

1/2 yard fabric for bottom cupcake layer

1/3 yard fabric for top cupcake layer

2 1/4 yards ribbon

fabric glue

couple (pvc pipe) purchased at Home Depot $2



optional:

spray paint

elastic

Step 1: Cut fabric a little larger than the board and attach to the board with glue or spray adhesive. I happened to sew elastic around the fabric edges and "slip covered" the board. I couldn't find a cardboard cake board without scalloped edges (which won't work with the ribbon trim), so I jigsawed 2 circles out of very thin pressed wood. How many "layers" to the cupcake stand will depend on how many of these boards you will make and decorate. I made 2 boards - 10" and 13". You could also use wrapping paper instead of fabric to cover the boards.



Step 2: Place board on a cake stand (cake pedestal) and attach ribbon to the edges of the cake board with fabric glue.



Step 3: I spray painted a piece of PVC pipe fitting a bright pink. This PVC fitting is called a couple and needed no cutting - it is for the center to hold up the next cake board. Instead of spray paint, you could wrap the pipe with ribbon and use glue to adhere the ribbon to the pipe.



Step 4: Assemble pieces on top of one another - make sure to center it. I did not glue the middle coupling piece to the board. If you would like more support, you might want to glue this coupling to the board. I made my cupcake stand so you can easily store it and also redecorate it for the next event.





This size cupcake stand holds 14-20 regular size cupcakes. If you need a cupcake stand to hold more cupcakes, start with a large layer base and add 3 layers. Can you tell this was made for a Luau party?



An inexpensive way to add cupcake toppers is to use hanging string decorations. This was purchased at the dollar store and each hibiscus flower was cut from the string. I ended up with 42 cupcake toppers for $1.







Hope you like the cupcake stand tutorial. REPOST : )