I was pleasantly surprised at Douglas Rushkoff's article that advocates teaching kids in the U.S. how to code (program, for some of the rest of us) a computer. I'd like to add some personal experience to this, as coding has been a large part of my computer experience. Almost forty years ago, my father and …
Charlie Crist: When Diversity Doesn't Quite Work Out
He officially becomes a Democrat: Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to formally join the Democratic Party – making the announcement via Twitter after a fist bump from President Obama – suggests to his critics a savvy political chameleon prepping for a 2014 gubernatorial run against Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Few tears shed over this …
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Please Don't Stop Barack Obama From Skipping Town
Some people are trying though: A new petition gaining ground on the White House website calls on President Obama to cancel his estimated $4 million vacation and devote the money instead to helping victims of Hurricane Sandy. The petition, which was created just two days ago, had 872 signatures as of 8:45 am ET this morning and …
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Look Beyond…
Could not resist posting this one... https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/d0OYDuuRrec?version=3&hl=en_GB The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the best part of Roman Catholicism, and songs like this only made it nice. HT Old Folk Mass.
When Oystermen Offend the Earth
When they're leasing public land, and that must be stopped: Kevin Lunny’s struggle to keep his family’s oyster farm running in Point Reyes National Seashore appears to be over, closing out an era of oysterman plying the park’s pristine waters and ushering in the nation’s newest ocean wilderness. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement Thursday …
Pat Robertson not a Creationist? That Depends Upon How You Define the Word
Up in Richmond, they're aghast at this latest oracle from the Tidewater: Televangelist Pat Robertson challenged the idea that Earth is 6,000 years old this week, saying the man who many credit with conceiving the idea, former Archbishop of Ireland James Ussher, “wasn’t inspired by the Lord when he said that it all took 6,000 …
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Reply to Giles Fraser: The Effects of Bullying Cut Both Ways
I think the Canon has really stepped into it on this one. In his editorial re the defeat of women bishops at the recent Church of England synod, he tells the following tale: There was this lad at school who got bullied all the time. When he wasn't being bullied he was being ignored. He …
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How to Lower Carbon Emissions: Tank the Economy!
Nothing to it, really: It's a message no one wants to hear: To slow down global warming, we'll either have to put the brakes on economic growth or transform the way the world's economies work. That's the implication of an innovative University of Michigan study examining the evolution of atmospheric COâ‚‚, the most likely cause …
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Playing the Cards We're Dealt
My regular readers are probably aware that, among my other activities, I'm pursing a PhD in Computational Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. It's been an experience for several reasons. Starting such a degree in my superannuated condition wasn't an easy thing to do for that reason alone. Being both on the faculty …
Rubio's Not a Scientist, but They're Not Either
He fields the usual trick question: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio declined to firmly answer a question of existential importance in an interview released Monday. An interviewer for GQ magazine asked the Republican, a Catholic and potential 2016 presidential candidate, how old planet Earth is. Rubio didn’t give a direct answer, but suggested children should be …
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Positive Infinity 