Posts from — October 2004

Top Colleges, Rated by Those Who Chose Them. A group of economists has compiled a new college ratings system that is based on where America's best and brightest decide to go to school. By By ERIC DASH. [The New York Times > Education]

 

The Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities (ssrn.com (abstract only — this might download, though))

[A blog doesn't need a clever name]

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i'd rather have a map of the outcomes of the top 3 people from each high school's graduating class, not one that covers this particular group of people, which are inclined to exactly what they did, cause mommy, or daddy, or counselor x or y, etc. encouraged them.

I think in my high school class, people went to American, Lycoming, and The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. the first two did well, the last quit.

that is my new standpoint on elections. I used to think that you could abstain. I now realize that abstention is a fiction. the truth is, that if you aren't voting, you are saying you like things how they are, and that means you support, in this case, president bush, and want him re-elected. so if you aren't voting against bush, you are voting for him.

Schoolhouse Rock that tells it like it is. Cory Doctorow:

Pirates and Emporers is a pitch-perfect send-up of the “Schoolhouse Rock” musical civics cartoons of the 1970s — easily the most-compelling educational materials aired on US TV — in which the dark history of US international policy (funding terrorists, arming atrocity-mongers) is set to jaunty music and simple animation.

Link

(Thanks, Cassidy!)

[Boing Boing]

This is extremely funny satire, using the framework of Schoolhouse Rock to instruct us about the differences between Emperors and Pirates. Also a very catchy tune. Made my day. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog]

Burka Women.

Burka Women  by Mildred Herman (aka mother of Girl in the Locker Room)

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interesting portrayal…..

The Army Is in Worse Shape than I Thought.

The Blackhorse Regiment is being sent to Iraq. This means that the army is in much more trouble than I had thought. And it drives Phil Carter–who knows whereof he speaks–beyond shrillness:

INTEL DUMP – : The Los Angeles Times provides a long report in Sunday's paper on the deployment of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, dubbed “Blackhorse” for the stallion on its shoulder patch, to Iraq for a year of combat duty. The regiment has long served as as the opposing force, or “OPFOR”, for units from other installations coming to train at the Army's National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Now, with the Army stretched to practically its breaking point over the Iraq and Afghanistan missions, the Army has turned to the Blackhorse regiment for help.

For years, The Box has been a stage for the Army's elite “opposition force” ? soldiers expert at assuming the roles of enemy fighters, be they the Taliban or Iraqi insurgents. Their mission is to toughen new soldiers with elaborate simulations ? staging sniper fire, riots, suicide car bombings and potentially dangerous culture clashes.

Staging such scenes has long been the work of the fabled 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, or Black Horse Regiment. But starting next month, the 3,500-member unit will begin shipping out to Iraq from the Ft. Irwin National Training Center, near Barstow. Deployments are nothing new in the Army, of course, but there is a special sense of urgency about dispatching the Black Horse to tackle situations that it has trained roughly 500,000 soldiers to handle since 1994. Now the bombs and bullets they encounter will be all too real.

“No one ever thought the Black Horse would be taken out of the National Training Center; they are just too valuable here,” said Maj. John Clearwater. “But the Army is stretched too thin, and Iraq is a big mission.”

The article misses the most important point: deploying the OPFOR is like eating your seed corn. This unit is responsible for training other units and raising their level of expertise and combat readiness. The 11th ACR is being replaced by a National Guard unit. That's like replacing the Dodgers with a high school baseball team. Sure, they can both play baseball and wear the uniform ? but one is a whole lot more proficient and experienced at its job. The OPFOR has a reputation as a tough enemy, and that's a good thing because it forces units training at the NTC to become better themselves. By replacing this unit with National Guard troops, the Army has hurt its ability to produce good units for Iraq in the future. Suffice to say, National Guard and active units that go through Fort Irwin aren't going to get the same tough experience they would have with the Blackhorse regiment as OPFOR ? and that means they'll be less ready for combat when they get to Iraq. This is a desperation measure, and I think the Army will come to regret it.

[Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog]

So, let's take the group with the great expertise (they have been doing it since 1994) in training our soldiers to fight terrorists and send them to fight. Well, we have a National Guard unit. Seems like this is a 'pennywise and pound foolish' sort of game. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog]

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this is bad news….

MSU gets $2 million grant to help soldiers become teachers – Gail Schontzler, Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Montana State University received a $2.1 million federal grant Wednesday to expand training programs for soldiers who want new careers as school teachers. The money from the U.S. Department of Education will help 10 or more Western states create a netw [Online Learning Update]

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montana….. hmmm, interesting choice.

Harrison Bergeron.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr's “Harrison Bergeron” was one of those short stories that blew me away as a kid and i find myself still referring to it. In talking about identity online with two friends tonite, we got into a conversation about how digital tools create certain handicaps that, in theory, might place everyone on an equal playing field. I brought up “Harrison Bergeron” and was stunned to find that they hadn't read it. So, i figured that i'd post it here (under extended entry) in case there are others who haven't had the opportunity to read this wonderful short story.

[apophenia]

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the movie isn't half bad either….

Spinger has sprung…. Had a great meeting with folks from Springer… a big german publisher. Lots of other folks there I should mention, but I've not got the list here. It was great and it looks like there are interesting opportunities in the… [Words - big ones and little ones...]

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history in the making

“This madness will not stop….”. Here's a pleasingly blunt essay which takes the radical position that everyone–not just Americans–have moral standing. (I think Jesus Christ… [The Leiter Reports: Editorials, News, Updates]

The essay brings up things we would rather not want to look at. Might does not make right. The Iraqi people did not attack us, nor want to. What moral code allows us to kill tens of thousands of them who have done nothing to us? There are people who now suggest we just drop a few nuclear bombs on them and leave. The sort of hubris that suggests we can simply go anywhere we want and do anything we chose, without fear of judgement or retribution, will be the cause of our fall some day. It has to every civilization that fell for the seduction of power for its own sake. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog]

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nice rant, and pointed too. not all rants are problematic, some are perfectly fine, interesting, and worth paying attention too, this is one of the better ones.

He's our science president, all right… [Pharyngula]

More about the research priorities of this Administration. Not a good legacy. [A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog]

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could be. he certainly has done everything in his power to turn american science into part of the military industrial complex.