Test
By Ashlar | July 6, 2011
Working?
Topics: newsy | No Comments »
YouTube – Go the Fk to Sleep – read by Samuel L. Jackson
By Ashlar | June 15, 2011
YouTube – Go the Fk to Sleep – read by Samuel L. Jackson.
Topics: newsy | No Comments »
Theme Song (in my Head)
By Ashlar | May 28, 2011
ReadySetGo!
Topics: dorkology, musica | No Comments »
Books of Note: “Beasts of New York”- Jon Evans
By Ashlar | March 5, 2011
A fun, quick read full of action. Animals in an epic battle over life and death! Available from BeastsofNewYork.com in a variety of formats; ePub version is currently free.
Topics: creativity, literalistic | No Comments »
When “Too many, too soon” becomes “Too few, too late.”
By Ashlar | September 26, 2010
A few years ago, a coalition of business people, fringe medical practitioners and D-list celebrities inaugurated a new movement to blame vaccines for autism under the banner of “Too Many, Too Soon” (meaning “Too many vaccines, too soon in life.”) Their assertion that the large number and early timing of vaccines is causing autism immediately came into conflict with reality, but they have a long history of not letting reality get in their way.
A number of people have again and again rebutted and refuted the claims of this hyper-vocal coalition and to do so again might seem pointless, yet here I am (and here you are, too). We have heard – repeatedly – about outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and how even what seems like a small drop in vaccine uptake causes a serious decline in “herd immunity” (a term I can’t bring myself to like). Yet there are other people – including at least one board-certified paediatrician – who claim that vaccinations (some or all) are no longer necessary because these diseases are no longer endemic in the US. In the face of such conflicting claims, how can parents make an informed decision?
In the US and most of the industrialised nations – at this moment – the risk of you or your child coming down with a vaccine-preventable disease is very, very low (there are exceptions, such as pertussis, that I will discuss later). A growing number of people are interpreting that to mean that they (or, more precisely, their children) should no longer have to take the vanishingly small risk of vaccination.
To some extent, these vaccine “freeloaders” are correct – as long as the overall population vaccination rate remains high, their risk of death or injury from a vaccine-preventable communicable disease (important distinction) is lower than their risk of death or injury from other causes (e.g. car crash, slip and fall, choking on food). However, as I’ve pointed out in a previous post , the risk of injury or death from the vaccine is still lower than the risk from the disease – even in the face of near-universal vaccination.
More importantly, the risk from the disease grows rapidly as the number and proportion of unvaccinated individuals increase.
Topics: (special) educated | No Comments »
Pick o’ th’ Moment: “B-sides and Rarities” (album) Deftones
By Ashlar | September 15, 2010
One of my best friends reminded me of how great these guys are– can’t believe it took this long for me to pick this one up. Chino and the boys rock it, yet again. Here is a Sade cover for your perusal and enjoyment…
Topics: musica, podcast | No Comments »
Pick o’ th’ Moment: “The Mix Up” (album)- Beastie Boys
By Ashlar | July 11, 2010
An all instrumental, jam album. Here is “Off the Grid”, which stood out for me.
Topics: musica, podcast | No Comments »
Would You Hire Your Own Kids? 7 Skills Schools Should be Teaching Them | | AlterNet
By Ashlar | May 29, 2010
Would You Hire Your Own Kids? 7 Skills Schools Should be Teaching Them | AlterNet.
Schools aren’t teaching the skills our kids need. Why? May 28, 2010
I’ve spent the last two years researching and writing a new book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Children Need—and What We Can Do About It. I began with several questions: First, in the new global economy, where any job that can be turned into a routine is being either automated or “off-shored,” what skills will our students need to get—and keep—a good job. And what skills are needed for citizenship today? Are these education goals in conflict, I wondered.
With a clearer picture of the skills young people will need, I then set out to learn to what extent we are teaching and testing the skills that matter most. And because we already know that many of our nation’s urban schools are failing, I chose to observe classrooms in some of our most highly regarded suburban schools in order to understand whether our “best” was, in fact, good enough for our children’s future. What I discovered in this journey may come as a surprise to many.
One of my first interviews was with Clay Parker, the President of the Chemical Management Division of BOC Edwards—a company that, among other things, makes the machines and supplies the chemicals for the manufacture of microelectronics devices, including silicon semiconductors and flat panel displays. He’s an engineer by training and the head of a very technical business, so when I asked him about the skills he looks for when he hires young people into the company, I was taken aback by his answer.
“First and foremost, I look for someone who asks good questions,” Parker responded. “Our business is changing, and so the skills our engineers need change rapidly, as well. We can teach them the technical stuff. But for employees to solve problems or to learn new things, they have to know what questions to ask. And we can’t teach them how to ask good questions—how to think. The ability to ask the right questions is the single most important skill.”
“What other skills are you looking for?” I asked, expecting that he’d jump quickly to content expertise.
“I want people who can engage in good discussion—who can look me in the eye and have a give and take.”
“I don’t understand,” I confessed.
“All of our work is done in teams. You have to know how to work well with others. But you also have to know how to engage the customer—to find out what his needs are. If you can’t engage others, then you won’t learn what you need to know.”
Topics: (special) educated | No Comments »
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