CNN story about DC school system's radical changes. Some interesting points: 12% of DC 8th graders are considered proficient readers and 8% are proficient in math. New chancellor has closed a bunch of schools, cut administrative staff and fired a bunch of principals. She's also instituted an incentive program for students' good behavior, which can include up to $100 in cash per month. Not everyone is happy.

Cory Doctorow gives his reasoning behind not accepting micropayments for his work. His sunflower analogy is the best explanation I've seen for content creators making much of their stuff available for free.

Google's digitizing and archiving newspapers from all over. Previously they were working with the big dogs like the New York Times and Washington Post, but now we'll be able to see papers from all over. Wonder when the Winston-Salem Journal will go live?