Assembly OKs bills to change California schools

Assemblymen Tom Ammiano, left, Mike Eng, center, and Kevin De Leon listen to the debate over a controversial education bill. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times / January 5, 2010)

Parents would be given more power to transfer children out of poorly performing campuses and petition for changes, including removal of the principal. Teachers unions oppose the provisions.

My concern is that this move is going to enable a class system where the rich kids get good education and the poor go to underfunded schools. All children should be getting the same quality of education, and this move is going to change that.

Go here to read the whole story.

The Ten Worst Muppets

 Even the best shows on Television have bad characters.

And like anything on the internet, this list has been made before. However, those other lists include characters such as Miss Piggy, Sam the Eagle, Animal (one of the BEST Muppets), and even Kermit!

Blasphemy. So here is the real list of Muppets who suck.

1. Pepe the Prawn

What in the hell is this? He’s scary looking, that’s all, and he makes me not want to watch.

Go here to see the rest.

Why Are We So Blind to the True Horrors of War?

If we really saw what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be harder to embrace the myths propagated by our warmongering government.

“In Peter van Agtmael’s "2nd Tour Hope I don’t Die" and Lori Grinker’s "Afterwar: Veterans From a World in Conflict," two haunting books of war photographs, we see pictures of war which are almost always hidden from public view.

These pictures are shadows, for only those who go to and suffer from war can fully confront the visceral horror of it, but they are at least an attempt to unmask war’s savagery.”

Go here to read the rest.

This article first appeared on TruthDig.

Photo source greatdreams

3-D TV! It was entertainment destiny

I’m not surprised that 3-D technology has come home. Our TVs serve many functions now. The picture is really lifelike if you have blue ray, or one of the new generation of plasma TVs.

Read about other trends expected to dominate the show, which runs Thursday through Sunday in Las Vegas. TVs that connect to the Internet and mobile digital TV will also be displayed. It sounds like a nerd holiday. If this is your thing, it sounds like fun.

Before its official opening, visitors stroll the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a major showcase for new entertainment technology. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press / January 4, 2010)

Why The Chicken Crossed the Street

Pierre liked good wines and wasn’t afraid to go out and look for them.

He is known on the boulevard as a gentile- chicken with class.

Photo via Funny pics

If the US won't stand up to China, who will?

Here’s a very good editorial by Wei Jingsheng, a prominent Chinese dissident who spent 18 years in Chinese prisons. China is a major trading partner with the US, so we ignore (aside from useless rhetoric) their human rights violations.

I call it “Dancing with the Devil” and when the music stops we all lose! China holds billions of dollars in American debt, and they can play that card anytime they feel like it.

Wei Jingsheng now lives in exile in Washington. He’s the chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition and president of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation.

Excerpt:

“Though diplomats from Germany and Australia were among the two dozen people allowed to observe the “public trial,” the fact that no one from the American embassy was admitted should be read as a particularly clear and open challenge to the US.We Chinese are intimately acquainted with this authoritarian arrogance.”

Go here to read the whole article.

Image source via cryptome.org

What do dogs, cats, and PTSD have in common?

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 01/03/2010 01:27:24 AM PST

While I was petting my pug and doing some online research the other day, I ran across an interesting item about an Iraqi war veteran who has a Psychiatric Service Dog to help with his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

A Colorado mailman made news recently, when he was allowed to bring his service dog along on his mail route. I'm not talking about an attack dog. There's a huge difference between them and service dogs. Paul Gernert of Colorado Springs was the first postal carrier in the country allowed to bring his Psychiatric Service Dog to work.

Go to The Times-Standard for the rest of the story.

Photo via bralexlabradors

UPDATE (Noon)

7 web sites that have picked up today’s column so far:

frenchbulldog

twitter/leonepret

PetPedia -The Pet Encyclopedia (1/3/10 - Pet News)

Dogster – For the Love of Dogs

Well Bred Pets (under recent headlines 1/3/10)

North Coast Blogthing (under 1/3/10 Op-Ed)

Pubsub (under 1/3/10 stories of the day)

UPDATE (3:00 p.m.)

brokencontrollers

Petpress (Sun.Jan3)

 

 

Do you know what an Autostereogram is?

A random dot autostereogram (left)encodes a 3D scene which can be "seen" with proper viewing technique.

An autostereogram is a single-image stereogram (SIS), designed to create the visual illusion of a three-dimensional (3D) scene from a two-dimensional image in the human brain. In order to perceive 3D shapes in these autostereograms, the brain must overcome the normally automatic coordination between focusing and vergence.

The simplest type of autostereogram consists of horizontally repeating patterns and is known as a wallpaper autostereogram. When viewed with proper vergence, the repeating patterns appear to float above or below the background. The Magic Eye books feature another type of autostereogram called a random dot autostereogram.

One such autostereogram is illustrated above left. In this type of autostereogram, every pixel in the image is computed from a pattern strip and a depth map. Usually, a hidden 3D scene emerges when the image is viewed with the correct vergence.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kobe Bryant: the best player on the planet!

Kobe did it again last night against the Kings. He took a last second buzzer beater – hit it – and won the game.

That’s the third time this year he’s done that. He also leads the league in scoring (just over 30 points per game) and is playing with a broken index finger and hyper extended elbow!

I’ve been a Laker fan since they moved to LA in 1961. Fair Warning: despite the fact this isn’t a sports blog, I’ll be making comments on the Laker’s activities every now and then.

Here’s a link to the LA Times article and video about last night’s game.

Photo via Sports Illustrated

Texting while driving, public smoking, cooking with trans fats targeted in states' 2010 laws

In this file photo taken Dec. 15, 2009, Tina Derby sends text messages while driving in Concord, N.H. It will be harder to legally text while driving, eat fatty foods and light up in bars and restaurants under new laws that take effect across the country this year. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File) (Jim Cole, AP / December 15, 2009)

Go here to read the whole story.