The Professor's Notes

Once again I am befuddled at the complete lack of ability of the local media. In this case, the Centre Daily Times in State College, PA.  In reporting crime for the past week they have two stories that just serve to literally “beg the question.”

Story 1: Alleged Kidnappers Surrender to Police.  In this story 3 men (without description) are said to have lured a 21 y.o. woman into their van and sexually assaulted her.  While the report was filed after 2 AM, there is no hint as to when the abduction and assault occurred.  Oh–and the three men apparently surrendered to police on their own.

Is anyone surprised that the comment section is rife with people challenging every aspect of the story?  Someone was lured (not abducted forcibly) into a van, and the story failed to include any description of the perpetrators.  Not their estimated ages, race, height, or even accents.  And while the report was early morning (2 AM) no indication of the time of the abduction makes things even more “sketch” as the youth today say.

I am like the rest of the more rational commenters on this story in that I believe we wait for all the facts before reaching any judgement.  But this story doesn’t help in any way.  As far as news goes, it creates more questions than it answers.  Is this something we should all be worrying about?  Was this someone that she knew? What was the “technique” used to lure a young adult into a (purple-the only retail we get) van with three men?  And what compelled these men to turn themselves in?

Make no mistake: I am not excusing bad/evil/illegal behavior.  I am saying that this reporting does nothing but feed fear without providing any useful information.

Story 2:  PSU Students cited for trespassing at pool.  This story should be well below everyone’s radar, especially the CDT, but apparently it was made “newsworthy” by the lead sentence:  ”A Penn State student convicted of being involved in November’s downtown State College riot got a citation after police said they caught him and two others at the university’s outdoor pool this past weekend.” The story goes on to say the suspect and his friends were caught inside the fenceline “‘partially clothed’ but hadn’t gone into the pool yet.”

In what world is this a news story?  I worked at several swimming pools and during the summer “fence hoppers” were a common occurrence.  Generally speaking we not only didn’t notice, but we didn’t mind, except in those instances when they felt compelled to vandalize the pool. (And keep in mind, the vandalism usually consisted of simply tossing lounge chairs into the pool.)

No–what made this story “news” is that one of the three was convicted of “being involved” in the “riot” following the firing of Coach Joe Paterno.  Really?  What is the connection?  Does being involved, and caught up in the moment last November make this action somehow more heinous?

What happened is, once again, there is “just enough” information to get the commenters on the CDT site all riled up and full of righteous indignation. They get to once again hate on the vicious criminals that burned their city down.

By the way, for those that missed it on Twitter, I have been quite incensed at the use of the term “riot” to describe much of what happens on college campuses and around the US lately.  Read up on Riots.  REAL Riots.  Riots that, in fact, were occurring simultaneously with the events on US College campuses.    In “real” Riots people die.  Property is damaged in large swaths.

What happened in State College was not a riot.  It was large gathering of students expressing their emotions, and a few, a very few, took an opportunity to commit vandalism.

But we can’t expect it to be reported that way either–since once again, it would involve too much work on the part of local media reporters.

Not trying to cause TOO much trouble here, but over at Dean Dad’s blog he was commenting (complaining?) on the many requirements for his time both professionally and personally.  One comment he makes is about his boy’s school testing “The Boy has his statewide standardized test this month — thanks, President Bush! — so the school is ramping everything up in preparation.”

I am not sure you can blame Bush or anyone in the last decade for the onslaught of standardized testing in elementary school. I remember when I was a wee lad in the late 60s and early 70s we had regular testing as well, that lasted a week or more.

These tests were known by the states from which they came, “The California Test.” “The Iowa Test.” And these tests were often used for placement  in the upcoming two years.

It seems that, with the “no child left behind” initiative the complaint really isn’t about the testing so much as holding the teachers and schools accountable for the outcomes. Perish the thought that, at the end of the day, the producers would be measured by the quality of the output!

So let’s break that particular discussion down this way:

1. Can we agree that for any job there should be a way to assess how effective an employee is at performing that job?

2. Should your promotions, or continued employment, be contingent on how well you perform your job?

3. Is the education of children important enough to make sure that those performing their task are doing it well?

If we answer yes to these (and why shouldn’t we?) the then next question, the one that really is the heart of the argument, is:

4. How can we measure the ability of the teachers (employee) to produce the desired outcome (an educated student)?

I would love to hear your thoughts on these… Please, leave your comments and “join the discussion”

An interesting thought comes out as a result of someone on another post writing “I’m so clueless as to why this is even an issue.” He was talking about the issue of Same Sex Marriage. Now, I could assume that he is “clueless” because obviously same sex marriage is wrong, or because it is “right.” But… given recent research from a self-identified liberal academic from UVA, I would predict that David is clueless because the conservative view cannot be understood. I found this research to be quite interesting. The author/professor/researcher Jon Haidt writes in his book “The Righteous Mind” that conservatives are far more likely to understand how liberals think than the other way around. Interesting, is it not?
Something else interesting–Haidt writes on his own site that ” I hardly ever get the chance to meet or talk to conservatives.” So, for those that don’t think Academia is the hotbed of liberalism, maybe we need to re-think that view. (Or, perhaps, this is more about him and a general reluctance of liberals to associate with people they “don’t understand.”)

Another Venture into politics… This one is really REALLY heartfelt…

Here’s what scares me about Obama.  On New Years Eve he signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which, among other things, allows the President to authorize the indefinite detention, in secret, and without legal counsel, of US Citizens.  At the time, he expressed his concerns about the language but promised that his administration would never use it.

Then he (at the beginning of the month) started a campaign to discredit the Supreme Court, attacking them as “unelected people” who should never consider overturning a law (Obamacare) that the majority supports. (Set aside, for just a moment, the thought that he isn’t interested in protecting the minority from the tyranny of the Majority)

He is now running the campaign against Congress, working to do things without them passing laws first. This he is calling “We can’t wait.”

What do you call a President who is actively working to discredit two branches of government that are in place to control the excesses of the other two? A President who is actively working to undermine the “Checks and Balances” protections that our constitution so brilliantly enacted.   A President who has convinced the “Law makers”  to give him the authority to detain and even kill at will?

I hate to say it–but I think the word is “Dictator.”

N.B.:  Now I hope my good friend over at A liberal Dose, and the other one at Pressing the Flesh may actually agree with me on this.   We as a nation must band together. And honestly, at this point, I am beginning to think our only answer will be Ron Paul.  And if you know me, you know I don’t really like that idea all that much.  But at least he isn’t part of the corrupt system.

We talk about the lawsuit brought by the US in the most recent Real Tech for Real People, Episode 110.  While we share our thoughts on the pluses and minuses of the lawsuit, I thought it would be good to share this article from LifeHacker as well.  In this article they discuss the impact the lawsuit could have on pricing.  They write in part:

In a nutshell, this means prices on ebooks went up because the agreement with Apple made it so other sellers, like Amazon, couldn’t lower the price on ebooks.

Three of the seven publishers have already settled with the Department of Justice, but Apple, Penguin, and Macmillan rejected the offer. Now that we know the reasons behind the lawsuit, let’s see if any of this news is actually will have an effect on pricing.

Read the full article here.

I sent this letter to the President of the School Board.  I wanted to share it with you all as well, and if you support CV THON and Drivers’ Education, please, take the time to write him as well.  His email is: jjordan@cvschools.org

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I wanted to take a minute of your time and let you know I am sorely disappointed that Drivers’ Education is being eliminated from the CV Curriculum and more importantly, that the teacher will be leaving the HS and no one else has stepped up to be the faculty advisor for CV THON.

Honestly, I have three points of interest here that happen tointer-weave. First, I believe the of all the courses at a HS that are beneficial, the most beneficial is the Drivers’ Ed course. I have seen places where that course is only taught outside the school, and honestly, all they do is teach driving. The benefit of the course taught in the HS is that there is more thought to the education portion of the program than just the training. By being in a setting with your peers, and having a sense of community that is brought through with this course, they learn more than simply how to pass a driving exam. Read the rest of this entry »

Update:  The Citizen, Bobby Maguire, was given permission to use a 33′ right of way.  In exchange for his use (not ownership) of 1/2 an acre of land, he has voluntarily given to the state 1 full acre, and $15,000.  More than fair, I would say.

I enjoy, no LOVE, my place at Rose Valley Lake in PA. Perhaps you have seen some of my photographs that I have posted here ocassionally, or visited my  sets on Flickr (around Rose Valley Lake and  creeks and rivers)  The beauty remains despite reasonable and rational development.

I love it so much that I am, In fact, disappointed every time I have to leave here to return to “Civilization.” That said, I also understand that private citizens have a right to use their private property in ways that they see fit, so long as the proposed uses are in line with the general guidelines and zoning of the area.

The “Friends of Rose Valley Lake” are stepping beyond the bounds of good citizens, as they are now seeking to block an individual from using his property in accordance with the zoning laws of the area. They are asserting that by granting this man access to his property (through the State fish commission property) he will somehow be violating the law.

They write on their homepage that:

” The ‘intent’ for Rose Valley Lake, was to ‘prevent developments . . . and retain the area in generally primitive conditions,’”

They then are somehow complaining that this citizen is willing to “trade with the PFBC one acre of land (generally inaccessible to the public) and $15,000 in exchange for an expanded farm lane right-of-way through Rose Valley Lake.”

Apparently the fact that he isn’t asking for a flat trade of one acre for another, but rather giving the state the land, AND $15,000, isn’t sufficient. Also, apparently the statement that the one acre of land is “generally inaccessible to the public” is meant to imply that is somehow a negative. Interesting in that many believe that in order to meet the objective of maintaining land in “generally primitive conditions” we should keep people from going there. (Remember, the biggest enemy of National Parks tends to be visitors to those same parks….)

One final comment from them. They are argue that the proposed trade would be for an “expanded farm lane right-of-way through Rose Valley Lake public lands in order to facilitate private development.”

Note this citizen isn’t proposing to DEVELOP public lands. He is simply seeking access to his privately owned property, so that he can exercise his legal right to develop his property as he sees fit, in accordance with the local zoning ordinances.

I ask–who are the unreasonable ones?

Also, they are requesting people sign their petition, but there exists no comparable avenue to elicit support for the land owner.  I have created a form, and would appreciate your taking the time to respond.  And for the record, I am interested in learning about BOTH sides of this.

Anyone reading my blog for any period of time knows that I love the Kindle’s highlight and notes features.  I wrote a macro for the original Kindles (that works on the Kindle 2 as well) to take the text file and make it a very nice readable document in Word.

One drawback had been that Amazon never explained how to get to the highlighted texts or notes when you were using a Kindle app–whether iPhone or Android.

Luckily others have deciphered this for us, and have developed a program that will generate a text file from the data file.  (The information in the apps is stored in *.mbp files, because they, like the core Kindle format, are based on the MobiBook standard.) Read the rest of this entry »

Genesis 10 is a company that focuses on delivering performance and matching the right people to the right tasks for companies. They have also started an outreach effort to help returning Vets transition to the workforce. From a recent email:

On Veteran’s Day, Genesis10’s founder and CEO Harley Lippman and newly appointed Manager of Diversity and Veterans Relations, Richard Sanchez, were interviewed by MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan about the challenges American Veterans face transitioning their careers from the military to corporate America. Watch the clip here:

Working with Genesis10 means working with a company that is dedicated to serving our community where and when we can. Veterans Outreach is our latest initiative whereby Genesis10 will partner with clients to identify opportunities for U.S. Veterans. Using training and mentoring programs in place internally and through external partners, Genesis10’s Veterans Outreach will prepare and support Veterans during their career transition from the military to the private sector.

If you know a Veteran who may benefit from this program, we want to know. You or the Veteran can send a message directly to G10Veterans@genesis10.com. Please share this message with your network. We ask you to help us spread the word – because by working together we can connect and support the men and women who served to protect our freedoms with new career opportunities in business and technology.

I would encourage everyone to share this post, the video link, and the email address with anyone who is either a veteran, or knows a veteran–or knows someone who knows… (you get it–tell everyone!)

Must content and delivery be inextricably entwined?

For centuries our ability to gather content and disseminated wirh tide is not just to the content but to the media and the physical media that was used for delivery. If you wanted to read a book you would buy both the content and the delivery media simultaneously. The words in the paper on which they were printed or written were forever enmeshed. Even in recent decades with books on CD or tape you were still purchasing both the delivery media and the content as an inseparable unit.

We have an opportunity to day with the development of digital content and robust data exchange standards to forever separate the content from the media, or at least that will we use to receive the content. We’re at a crossroads. We can choose to follow the path of standards allowing users to decide on the delivery mechanism they prefer, or we can continue to develop content for delivery in specific devices and tools.

We’re currently entering a world where we have a wide variety of choices for the personal technology we use to access media. For instance, we have both been nearly ubiquitous iPad and now more and more android tablets on the market. We’re also seeing the early stages of windows eight tablets being previewed. If we take a device centric approach content will be developed and delivered as operating system specific applications. This will enable content creators to leverage the unique creative aspects of each of the operating systems and the devices. Read the rest of this entry »