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cultural literacy
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teaching &
education
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late
October 2014
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See the backside of the Moon (Earth & Sky) from Chinese satellite Chang'e A week of giant solar flares and a giant sunspot (Earth & Sky) 10x the size of Earth Sun sets while partially eclipsed Thursday, 10/23/14 (Sky and Telescope) in Durham, eclipse starts: 5:58 pm; max eclipse: 6:27 pm, while sun is setting... 17% of sun is covered at max.... and yes, you DO need special glasses to avoid eye damage timing for other US cities? go here where to watch a more complete eclipse: Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles 5:07 pm - 7:39 pm EDT SLOOH Observatories, worldwide 5:00 pm on, EDT Comet to sideswipe Mars, 10/19/14 (Earth & Sky) but nothing to see unless you're a satellite telescope 2-minute video |
The Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning (Earth & Sky) double-disked GG Tau Track Cosmic Rays with your Smartphone (UC-Irvine) after all, is it doing anything else useful? now in beta testing Milky Way's halo stars first to shine in the galaxy (Scientific American) older than the globular clusters stars |
What are Super Earth exoplanets composed of? (Earth & Sky) rocky like Earth? Neptune-like? or a steamy water world? |
Dwarf galaxies dim hope for dark matter (Quanta) dimming the optimistic hopes engendered by recent direct experiments Quiet Quasars found in early universe (Earth & Sky) or how is the early universe different than now? one of the farthest, faintest galaxies ever seen? (Hubble) G2 cloud survives encounter with Milky Way's central black hole (Sky and Telescope) but is it only a cloud - or does a star hide inside? Milky Way has stripped nearby galaxies of hydrogen (Earth & Sky) so they can't form any more stars BICEP2 and the 'detection' of Big Bang gravity waves (Nature) any lessons to be learned? |
LHC: the big reboot (Nature) collider about to come back to life again after a 2-year sleep Auger's search for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays may end (Nature) and they still haven't figured out where they come from |
Why Republicans Keep Claiming "I'm Not a Scientist" (NY Times) “Using that logic would disqualify politicians from voting on anything. " Obamacare: Who Was Helped the Most? (NY Times) mostly the poor and underprivileged... and who wasn't? people in Republican states, who were discouraged (or kept) from participating The American Dream is Leaving America (NY Times) and the evidence ________________ three quite perceptive articles on Obama's leadership 'style' ... and the consequences: Obama and the End of Greatness (New Yorker) Obama's Crisis Management (Business Week) Obama's Failure on Imagination (Salon) ________________ What's the Matter with North Carolina? (IndyWeek) and the companion book Entering North Carollina. Set your Clock Back 100 Years ________________ Why Closing Borders Won't Stop Ebola (New Scientist) Ebola Ignorance Spreading Faster than the Facts (Raleigh N&O) How the Media Stoked the Ebola Panic (Politico) Top 10 threats to Americans (Vox) Are there really no limits to the ignorance of Americans? and America, the Unforgiving (Washington Post) 4000+ Africans dead of Ebola does not draw our attention, but 2 Americans infected, does? ________________ Where is North Carolina's Democratic Party? (Raleigh N&O) mostly absent, and as spineless as the national Democratic party (Salon) |
NC commission: Common Core too difficult for some students (Raleigh N & O) Want to Ace the Test? Get the right kind of sleep (NY Times) who knew there are different kinds for different tests? Poor Kids who Do Everything Right, Don't Do Better than Rich Kids who Do Everything Wrong (Washington Post) this is meritocracy? |
early
October 2014
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Active Lunar Volcanism as Recently as 50 Myr ago? (Earth & Sky) previously thought to have stopped 1 Byr ago Lunar Eclipse starts before Dawn: Wednesday, 10/8 (5:15 am - 7:24 am, or moonset, whichever comes first) no special glasses required!! details for the Triangle and if it's cloudy, watch here (from LA) or here (from many places) Earth's water is older than the solar system (Nature) some of our water must have been made in interstellar clouds October guide to the 5 visible planets (Earth & Sky) Mars & Saturn (and a difficult- to-see-Mercury) in the evening; Jupiter still bright in the AM |
Brightest pulsar ever (Astronomy) 10 million times brighter than the sun.... impressive, for a dead star |
Mapping the Temperature and Water Vapor Level on an Extreme Exoplanet (Hubble) on WASP-43b Wet exoplanet has clear skies (Nature) smallest exoplanet with water |
Another explanation for Milky Way's "missing" satellite galaxies? (Earth & Sky) only 1/2 the dark matter as previously thought? 10 Questions for the Philosophy of Cosmology (Preposterous Universe) do not expect answers |
UNC physicist: black holes don't exist (Raleigh N&O) but I wouldn't bet money on this UNC press release |
Where the Tea Party Rules (Rolling Stone) and, not coincidentally, where things are bad and getting worse 10 Fossils that Explain Life on Earth (Washington Post) from first fossils to first footprints The Evolution of Evolution (Nature) is it punctuated or gradual? the debate goes on Ebola and Obamacare (Real Clear Politics) Republican governors' hypocrisy exposed: _____________ Dueling Views on the issues of the day: Bill Maher is not the only one who misunderstands religion (Reza Aslan, in NY Times) apparently we should not judge Islam by what many Muslims actually think or Sam Harris vs. Ben Affleck, the post-mortem (Sam Harris blog) and with some choice words about the above Mr. Aslan _____________ Amazon must be stopped! (New Republic) Monopolies are still evil (despite what the idiotic Peter Thiel says) or Amazon is Not a Monopoly (Atlantic) _____________ Panetta Exposes Obama as Mere Professor-in-Chief (Daily Beast) Obama ‘avoids the battle, complains, and misses opportunities’ or Leon Panetta is What's Wrong with Washington (Daily Beast) why should we buy anything he says? _____________ 2014 Nobel Prizes in Physics, for LEDs in Medicine, for 'brain GPS' in Chemistry, for single-molecule spectroscopy _____________ Why the South is the Worst Place to Live (Washington Post) in 10 charts Reforming Campaign Finance (New Yorker) Lawrence Lessig battles 'Citizens United' What's your "state" of well-being? (OECD) nations and US states rated... NC is here the only 'good' news? we're 9th in 'civic engagement'... really!?! How to Steal Things, Exploit People, and Avoid Responsibility (Atlantic) reparations, part 2 The Revenge of Rand Paul (New Yorker) can he survive his (father's) past? Why Weren't Alarm Bells Ringing? (NY Books) how we arrived at the (economic) mess we’re in ... not so many realistic ways to get out |
Throw out the College Application System (NY Times) in favor of assessment teams? dream on.... Saving Public Schools (The Nation, special issue) including The Last Teacher (or, What happens when your teacher is a robot) and The Un-Accountability of Charter Schools The Value of a College Education (Washington Post) best line: Peter Thiel, #293 in wealth... #1 in questionable ideas The Plot Against Public Education (Politico) how b/millionaires are ruining our schools..... and how money appropriated for schools of the brick-and-mortar variety is actually being used for advertising and politics and to fatten the portfolios of virtual school proselytizers and promoters It's official: NC is worst state overall for teachers (WalletHub) NC ranks 50th in Opportunity 45th in Academics ... NC makes the bottom 5 in Teacher Salaries and Education Spending per Capita... gee, maybe this is why: NC ranks 2nd last in this year's overall ACT scores one place better than 2013's last-in-the-nation effort... NC is 2nd last in Science, Reading, & English; (thank you Hawaii!) & 9th worst in Math |
late
September 2014
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Maven arrives at Mars (NASA) it will orbit (and study the atmosphere) not land How many stars in the night sky? (Sky and Telescope) 4500! but only 35 if you live in a city and.... The Night Sky is Vanishing.... Can We Bring it Back? (Vox) not likely Landing site on comet chosen (Rosetta) landing scheduled for November 11 NASA picks 2 private spacecraft to replace its Space Shuttle (Vox) SpaceX's Dragon V2 and Boeing's CST-100 |
First water-ice clouds outside the solar system (Earth & Sky) on a nearby brown dwarf Nearby Supernova's companion, finally uncovered (Hubble) the companion triggered the supernova via the type IIb mechanism |
Planck speaks: bad news for gravitational waves (Preposterous Universe) says BICEP2 results "could be" entirely due to dust (although that's not quite the same thing as saying it is) Nature weighs in Finding Dark Energy in the details (Quanta) an interview with Dark Energy Survey's Joshua Frieman Why the universe is filled with spirals (New Scientist) CO-molecule observations show that galaxy collisions leave behind spiral galaxies (a surprise, because the previous explanation was that collisions produce dust-less giant ellipticals) the discoverers' press release (NRAO/ALMA) with animation of a galaxy collision Earth & Sky weighs in with longer story Smallest galaxy with a Supermassive Black Hole (Hubble) was the host galaxy once huge, and then stripped by a companion? How much inflation happened in the Early Universe? (Preposterous Universe) Quasars now have their own 'Main Sequence' (Sky and Telescope) and Astronomers Finally Understand Quasars? (Earth & Sky) apparent brightness depends on only two things: efficiency of black- hole feeding & viewing angle New Milky Way catalog: 219 million stars (Earth & Sky) but that's only 0.1% of the total in our galaxy |
AMS Detector on ISS finds evidence for dark matter? (CERN) first-ever excess of positrons in cosmic- ray experiments is certainly evidence of something A 6-minute cartoon explaining Quantum Computing (PhD Comics) Mr. Higgs' un-celebrity (NY Times) (why) the Higgs Boson won't destroy the universe (Matt Strassler) you can now go back to sleep First molecule captured in transition between quantum states (UC-Irvine) so where's the promised movie? Why the rash of 'Federalists' criticizing Neil deGrasse Tyson? "Mr. Serial Fabricator" part 1 part 2 part 3 (The Federalist) the right-wing shows its illogic... its claim being that if NdT gets a quote wrong about ex-President Bush, his scientific claims must also be bogus.... take that, evolution and climate change! "Mr. Smug Condescension" (The Federalist) |
Americans for Prosperity (Koch-founded/funded) mail incorrect voter info/forms to many NC voters (Raleigh N&O) and unintentionally, I'm sure... AFP calls errors "minor" Inside the Koch brothers' toxic empire (Rolling Stone) toxic to air, water, and climate -------------------------- take your pick of Americas: the dark side America Out of Whack (NY Times) the bright side Snap Out of It (our pessimism)! (NY Times) -------------------------- Climate Science is Not Settled (Wall Street Journal) a rational article on climate change in the WSJ!?!?! although many climate scientists don't agree On a Warmer Planet, Which Cities will be the Safest? (NY Times) Alaskans, stay in Alaska! Why Control of the Senate (to be decided in the 2014 elections) Matters (NY Times) Climate, The Courts, The Future Why I Hope to Die at 75 (Atlantic) "living too long is a loss" and a response Why I Want to Live Long and Burden My Children (The Federalist) the title tells it all To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party (book excerpt, Washington Post) or how the GOP alternates between conservatism and caring about the common people Hey FCC: Do your job and stand up for Net Neutrality (Sen. Ron Wyden, Guardian) and not Big Cable ------------------------------ new news about the dismal economy Why Economic Growth hasn't translated into Income Gains for the Average Family (NY Times) per capita GDP is up 20%; median income is down 10% since 2000 and why this is at the core of Congress's dysfunction (New Yorker) with less to go around and increasing inequality, squabbles intensify even 'laissez faire' writers agree (Washington Post) economy works well only for the upper-middle-class ------------------------------ the millenials' peril: sharing & disrupting vs. owning & executing Goodbye, Organization Man (NY Times) what happens when we value disruption and creativity more than execution Millenials: Falling Behind (Washington Post) the inevitable result of a generation that prefers a sharing society over an ownership society? The Great Unraveling (NY Times) a world adrift, where libertarianism and isolation rule ------------------------------ In the Heart of Mysterious Oman (NY Review of Books) the world's most unknown country? Players of violent video games are more violent people (Vox) but correlation is not causation ------------------------------ maps World's Happiest Nations in 1 map (Vox) Is the Money Flooding in for Campaign Advertising Really Working? (538) the maps say yes ------------------------------ |
Inside the Backlash to Common Core (Mother Jones) A drastic change in NC School Funding (Raleigh N&O) school funding for the new year now tied to previous year's student numbers, rather than projected enrollment for the year.... got 3000 new students this year? (like Wake & Meck. Co.) .... well, too bad! Actually, public schools are getting better, not worse (Washington Post) maybe, but v e r y v e r y s l o w l y UNC trying to lure more students online (Raleigh N&O) but only because it's cheaper, not because it's better The Hi-Tech Mess in Higher Education (NY Books) reflections on the purpose(s) of college How Teaching Became the Most Embattled Profession (Fresh Air, 1-hr podcast) a talk with the author of Teacher Wars Teacher for America is finally listening to criticism (Vox) but overcoming charges of 'cultural tourism' and promoting high teacher turnover won't be easy and Wendy Kopp's lame response (Washington Post) |
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early September 2014 |
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the Moon is interesting again (NY Times) sparky lightning at the polar regions where temps are 30 K; clues to its Theia-based origin, and an understanding of why the maria are all on the Earth-facing side Asteroid fly-by this Sunday, 9/4/14 (Earth & Sky) less than 10% of moon's distance |
Half of all exoplanet host stars are binaries (NOAO) Do exoplanets change type? (Sky and Telescope) are hot super Earths the core remnants of hot Jupiters? |
Why the Milky Way has fewer satellites than expected? (Royal Astro. Society) but their answer requires interaction between dark matter and light in the early universe.... and anyway, isn't it a bit disconcerting that the great majority were found only after 2003 ?? Forget Virgo, Milky Way's home supercluster is identified (Nature) Earth's new address: Solar System, Milky Way, Laniakea (with video)... SC 100x larger than previously thought (included: a new definition of supercluster) even more maps at Vox Building the Giant Ellipticals Cores (Sky and Telescope) why did ellipticals grow from the inside out whereas spirals grew both their cores and their arms simultaneously? |
First Entangled-Photon Image (of a cat, of course) on Film (Nature) the photons used to generate this image never interacted with the object, while the photons that illuminated the object were never seen by the camera from the COSMO 2014 cosmology meeting: 3 experimental attempts to constrain the properties of dark energy (New Scientist) including Chameleon screening (does the solar system's density screen us from dark energy forces?) Looking for a quantum of spacetime (do we live in a 2-D hologram?) Phantom Menace (does dark energy's density change with time?) Closed Time-Like Curves and the Quantum Evasion of the Grandfather Paradox (Scientific American) as usual, SA overbills this as "Time Travel Simulation Resolves Grandfather Paradox" |
new in science Stonehenge: much bigger than we thought (Washington Post) Superhenge (U of Birmingham) Spinsosaurus: bigger than a T Rex (NY Times) it swam and ate sharks Death Valley's Slithering Stones: Mystery solved (NPR) the ice did it research article (PLOS One) What if the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted? (Vox) 1 cm of ash in Chicago and pretty much all points west (with helpful maps) ------------------------------ What to Do about ISIS (opinion) the dismal state of NC politics An Empty Race for US Senate (Raleigh N&O) the "most moderate" senator vs. one who is proud of giving minimal raises to teachers while giving a $1 billion tax cut to the rich For Tarheel time, just set your clock back 100 years (Raleigh N&O) says former chancellor of UNC-Wilmington NC among the five worst states for hunger (Raleigh N&O) thank you AR, MS, TX for not making us the worst... 25% of NC children lack adequate nutrition NC's $10 billion Medicaid bill (Raleigh N&O) NC taxpayers could spend more than $10 billion by 2022 to provide medical care for low-income residents of other states while getting nothing in return ------------------------------ The day that North Carolina almost disappeared (Raleigh N&O) about the hydrogen bomb dropped near Goldsboro in 1961 that didn't explode the subject of Eric Schlosser's talk at NCSU 9/9/14 ------------------------------ Black(s) and White(s) in America (in random order) The Black American Experience (New Republic) the disadvantages of growing up black in the US Honest Talk on Race (NY Post) it's all about black culture When Whites Just Don't Get It (NY Times) we need to wipe away our self-satisfaction with racial progress When Whites Don't Get It, Part 2 (NY Times) the backlash.... and the comments to the column show the need for a Part III, IV, ... Beyond Black & White (Real Clear Politics) racial tensions won't disappear until everyone starts listening to voices whose opinions differ with their own Ferguson Is not about Black Rage (Washington Post) it's about white rage against progress Blame the Racism of Liberals (Town Hall) Racism is perpetuated by liberals' culture of victimhood Stereotypes (Daily Beast) the core of racism is cops vs. young black men... what to do about it? ------------------------------ |
Education is a Headliner in NC (Raleigh N&O) the GOP-dominated legislature didn't consider a raise until they went home for 2013 break and constituents told them to forget re-election unless they raised teacher pay Long-term Approach needed for Education (Raleigh N&O) "It would take a new NC teacher 20 years to earn the starting salary in Houston" ... "many (NC) politicians have the short-term mentality of Wall Street traders" ------------------------------ those never-ending college rankings the most economically diverse (NY Times) UNC is 3rd; Duke, 30th what a surprise... rankings for everything you can think of (Raleigh N&O) most Beyonce, hippie haven, ... and the US News' list is out.... find it elsewhere ------------------------------ On The Value of College Why don't more Men go into Teaching? (NY Times) isn't the real question why don't more talented people go into teaching? (and the answer: the stranglehold of 'education schools') College is a Ludicrous Waste of Money (Robert Reich, in Salon) we need to open alternative gateways into the middle class Demanding More from College (NY Times) a plea for students (and others) to seek out people and opinions that are not in their present comfort zone The Trouble with Harvard: The Ivy League is Broken and only Standardized Tests Can Fix It (New Republic) Stephen Pinker responds (pretty dismissively) to the most-read article in the history of the magazine... a bonus includes a three-paragraph (!) description of an educated person... followed by a plea for meritocracy-based admissions... (what?!? we don't already do that?) The Truth about Grades at UNC-CH (Raleigh N&O) transcript grades will now come with the mean grade in the class Colleges' Dirty Secret (Raleigh N&O) poorly-paid adjunct professors now make up more than 50% of university faculty The College Majors Most (and Least) Likely to Lead to Underemployment (Washington Post) least underemployed: engineering, law, physics, geology & math... you can probably guess the most underemployed ------------------------------ The Evaluation of Teachers Imagining Successful Schools (Raleigh N&O) How a useful and helpful system might work and, the opposite: Defining what a "good teacher" is (Raleigh N&O) if you want to read about how NOT to evaluate teachers, this is it |
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