In the span of 18 hours I learned that my RSS manager of choice, Google Reader, is going dark as of July 1, 2013 and that the Godfather of Blogging in the Triad is shutting down his blog for a while. I understand Ed's motivation – I long ago morphed into a leisurely poster here because I just didn't have the time or energy to manage an ongoing dialogue like he has for 12 years – but I'm still really bummed to see him pull the plug. It will be interesting to see if anything fills the online void in Greensboro.
A serious hat tip to Ed for providing a valuable online forum for the Greensboro community. I hope he enjoys the peace and quiet.
If you want to buy me a book I'd like to recommend it be this one:
Hired by ForbesTraveler.com to review some of the most luxurious accommodations on Earth, and then inspired by a chance encounter in Dubai with the impoverished workers whose backbreaking jobs create such opulence, Bob Harris had an epiphany: He would turn his own good fortune into an effort to make lives like theirs better. Bob found his way to Kiva.org, the leading portal through which individuals make microloans all over the world: for as little as $25-50, businesses are financed and people are uplifted. Astonishingly, the repayment rate was nearly 99%, so he re-loaned the money to others over and over again. After making hundreds of microloans online, Bob wanted to see the results first-hand, and in The International Bank of Bob he travels from Peru and Bosnia to Rwanda and Cambodia, introducing us to some of the most inspiring and enterprising people we've ever met, while illuminating day-to-day life-political and emotional-in much of the world that Americans never see. Told with humor and compassion, The International Bank of Bob brings the world to our doorstep, and makes clear that each of us can, actually, make it better.
Most people who have tried sales, and really we've all tried sales in some form, knows that the most challenging and difficult part is "the ask." It's hard asking someone to give you money, or time, or attention. That's why this TED talk by Amanda Palmer is so interesting. Give her a listen:
Maybe it's the online statistics course I'm taking right now, but for the first time in many moons I find myself fascinated by all things math related. This is way cool:
There's a proposed bill in the NC senate (SB 138) that would allow local school boards to offer elective courses in Bible study at their high schools. This would probably cause some consternation with folks who see this kind of thing as violating the separation of church and state, but quite honestly if it's an elective that seems to be a bit of a stretch. On the other hand it does seem to put the state in the position of favoring one religion over others since it doesn't include other religious texts like the Torah or the Koran.
If the intent of the course is not to indoctrinate students but to study how the the Bible has influenced society then it could be seen as a legitimate educational effort rather than an effort to indoctrinate non-religious or non-Christian students. And if that's the case then why not write the bill so that school's could offer similar courses to study the Torah, the Koran or other religious texts that have obviously had a tremendous impact on our world?
Perhaps it would be helpful to look at the text of the bill to see if we can discern the intent. Here it is:
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 2 AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR LOCAL BOARDS OF EDUCATION TO OFFER TO 3 STUDENTS IN GRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE AN ELECTIVE COURSE IN 4 BIBLE STUDY. 5 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 6 SECTION 1. G.S. 115C-81 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 7 "(g4) Bible Study Elective. – Local boards of education may offer to students in grades 8 nine through 12 elective courses for credit on the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament), the New 9 Testament, or a combination of the two subject matters. A student shall not be required to use a 10 specific translation as the sole text of the Hebrew scriptures or New Testament and may use as 11 the basic textbook a different translation of the Hebrew scriptures or New Testament approved 12 by the local board of education or the principal of the student's school. A course offered by a 13 local board of education in accordance with this subsection shall (i) follow federal and State 14 law in maintaining religious neutrality and accommodating the diverse religious views, 15 traditions, and perspectives of the students of the local school administrative unit and (ii) not 16 endorse, favor or promote, or disfavor or show hostility toward any particular religion, 17 nonreligious faith, or religious perspective. Courses may include the following instruction: 18 (1) Knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are 19 prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including 20 literature, art, music, mores, oratories, and public policies. 21 (2) Familiarity with the contents, history, style, structure, and societal influence 22 of the Hebrew scriptures or the New Testament." 23 SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with 24 the 2013-2014 school year.
At first blush it seems innocuous enough, but you still have to ask why other prominent religious texts aren't included. By not including them it's easy to see how people would assume the underlying intent is to introduce Christianity to the public schools, and as mentioned before it definitely seems to put the state in the position of favoring one religion over another.
Let's end with a fun scenario game:
Bill becomes law.
School district decides to offer Bible elective at its high schools.
Two-thirds of the way through the course a teacher, who's a Baptist, goes out on maternity leave and the replacement teacher is a Mormon.
Parents of several students demand either a different teacher be assigned to the course or that their children be allowed to transfer out of the class without penalty. Their argument is that they don't want their children being fed "lies" by that "cultist."
Wouldn't it be fun to be a fly on the wall of the principal's office that day. Related articles
Pros: Low cost of living, median home price $129,000, moderate climate, college amenities (Wake Forest), high doctors per capita, high Milken Institute aging rank. Con: Crime.
Other North Carolina cities that made the list were Charlotte and Asheville.
Here's an article written by a guy who got to test-drive Glass and came away impressed and convinced that it's not a matter of "if" but "when" we'll see Glass in consumers' hands:
But what’s it actually like to have Glass on? To use it when you’re walking around? Well, it’s kind of awesome.
Think of it this way — if you get a text message or have an incoming call when you’re walking down a busy street, there are something like two or three things you have to do before you can deal with that situation. Most of them involve you completely taking your attention off of your task at hand: walking down the street. With Glass, that information just appears to you, in your line of sight, ready for you to take action on. And taking that action is little more than touching the side of Glass or tilting your head up — nothing that would take you away from your main task of not running into people.
It’s a simple concept that feels powerful in practice.
The same is true for navigation. When I get out of trains in New York I am constantly jumping right into Google Maps to figure out where I’m headed. Even after more than a decade in the city, I seem to never be able to figure out which way to turn when I exit a subway station. You still have to grapple with asking for directions with Glass, but removing the barrier of being completely distracted by the device in your hand is significant, and actually receiving directions as you walk and even more significant. In the city, Glass make you feel more powerful, better equipped, and definitely less diverted…
Is it ready for everyone right now? Not really. Does the Glass team still have huge distance to cover in making the experience work just the way it should every time you use it? Definitely.
But I walked away convinced that this wasn’t just one of Google’s weird flights of fancy. The more I used Glass the more it made sense to me; the more I wanted it. If the team had told me I could sign up to have my current glasses augmented with Glass technology, I would have put pen to paper (and money in their hands) right then and there. And it’s that kind of stuff that will make the difference between this being a niche device for geeks and a product that everyone wants to experience.
After a few hours with Glass, I’ve decided that the question is no longer ‘if,’ but ‘when?’
This Saturday the folks at Wake Forest will be hosting their second TEDx event at Wait Chapel. It looks to be very interesting (I'm excited to be going), but it's doubtful they'll have a "model" presentation. Pardon the pun.
The GAO was tasked with studying the impact of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law to help determine what it's economic impact would be. So what did they find?
The 2008 financial crisis cost the U.S. economy more than $22 trillion, a study by the Government Accountability Office published Thursday said. The financial reform law that aims to prevent another crisis, by contrast, will cost a fraction of that…
The report, five years after the collapse of mortgage-focused hedge funds in late-2007 set off a yearlong banking panic and a deep recession, was published as part of a cost-benefit analysis of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law of 2010. The GAO tried to determine if the benefits of preventing a future economic meltdown exceeded the costs of implementing that law.
"If the cost of a future crisis is expected to be in the trillions of dollars, then the act likely would need to reduce the probability of a future financial crisis by only a small percent for its expected benefit to equal the act’s expected cost," the GAO concluded.
Befuddled 