And if you come back to check, you’ll note that the truth changes, occasionally.
Truth is, I’m just going for the iPod.
Truth? Try here . . .
September 4, 2007
Leave a Comment » | 
Accuracy, Administrivia, Personal | 
Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
More fiddling with formats
September 4, 2007Several complaints about the template I had been using, especially about the way it loads in Internet Explorer (switch to FireFox!).
Especially if you had problems with the last format, let me know if this one works better.
All complaints happily read. Some even acted upon.
4 Comments | Administrivia | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Little Rock, 50 years later
September 4, 2007
Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, leaves Little Rock’s Central High School after having been denied the chance to enroll. Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called the Arkansas National Guard to duty to prevent nine African American students from enrolling. (Photo by Will Counts – see his series here.)
Elizabeth Eckford graduated*, went on to a career with the Army as a journalist, and is the only one of the nine students (all of whom graduated and did well) to live in Little Rock today. Central High school is a National Historical Monument — and still a high school.
What I want to know is this: The woman in back of Ms. Eckford, face thoroughly engaged in delivering a piece of her mind, I suppose: Who is she, and where is she, today? Does anyone know?
- * Ernest Green was the only senior among the Nine — he graduated in the spring of 1958; the others had a more difficult path. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., attended Green’s high school graduation ceremony. When I met him, he was Assistant Secretary of Labor in the Carter administration. Green is an Eagle Scout.
- Central Arkansas Library System lesson plan on Arkansas’ top ten events in history; the 1957 events top the lists of several journalists. A top ten events in any state’s history might be a good set of activities for any state history course, especially if you can find a list of a top ten from state newspapers or other sources.
2 Comments | 1957, Bill of Rights, Boy Scouts of America, Brown v. Board, Civil Rights, Desegregation, Dwight Eisenhower, Education, Lesson plans, Little Rock Nine | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Sample of Texas embarrassment to come
September 4, 2007The “Godly” mathematics curricula at a San Antonio church school, and the ridicule it’s gotten, give a glimpse behind the curtain of what could happen were the Texas State Board of Education to succumb to sectarian calls to gut evolution out of biology texts.
Mathematician John Allen Paulos — known best to educators for his book Innumeracy — does a column for ABC News’ website. His latest column details some of the history of mathematics and religious lunacy, and problems with creationism; he concludes:
. . . the curricula cited above and others like them are a bit absurd, even funny. In private schools they’re none of our business. This is not so if aspects of these “creation math” curricula slip into the public schools, a prospect no doubt devoutly wished for by some.
One hopes the board will stick with letting the textbooks describe the world the Creator actually created, as opposed to a world created in the fantasies of creationists.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Pharyngula, whose note on this blog‘s original posting of the curricula from Castle Hills First Baptist School is probably what got the attention of Dr. Paulos in the first place; a tip of the scrub brush with lots of soapy fervor.
Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Creationism, Curricula, Intelligent Design, Rampant stupidity, Reason, Religion | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Cuneiform in a digital library
September 4, 2007Irony sometimes means happy surprises. Cuneiform on the world wide web?
The University of California system is working hard to deliver important information to scholars on the web. One of these projects is the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). Here is the official desription:
The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) represents the efforts of an international group of Assyriologists, museum curators and historians of science to make available through the internet the form and content of cuneiform tablets dating from the beginning of writing, ca. 3350 BC, until the end of the pre-Christian era. We estimate the number of these documents currently kept in public and private collections to exceed 500,000 exemplars, of which now more than 200,000 have been catalogued in electronic form by the CDLI.
Some of the photos demonstrate the beauty of everyday history and archaeology. These are instructional photos, but some are works of art. Examples of drawings of the writing are available, which can be used in the classroom to show students what the writing looks like.
The image here is described: The tablet . . . (Cornell 78)
contains an inscription of the Old Babylonian king Sinkashid of Warka/Erech (ca. 1800 BC). (copyright by Cornell University Library)
Obv. 1 {d}suen-ga-szi-id “Sinkashid, 2 nita kal-ga strong man, 3 lugal unu{ki}-ga king of Uruk, 4 lugal am-na-nu-um king of Amnanum, Rev. e2-gal his palace nam-lugal-la-ka-ni of kingship mu-du3 did build.”
Some sites in CDLI allow searches by topic. Students, consider these school tablets, and thank your lucky stars, inventors and the trees for paper and ink. Can you imagine lugging these things in a backpack?
1 Comment | Ancient history, Archaeology, Geography - Physical, Historic documents, History, History images, Images, Technology, Technology in the classroom, World history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Unstrange maps: Security, health, economics
September 3, 2007Strange Maps features odd maps, often fictional. I like the site, especially for the inherent humor in some of the maps — and since it’s such a popular site among the more than 1 million WordPress weblogs, it’s clear others share my enthusiasm.
There are a lot of unstrange and beautiful maps based on reality, too, used to give a quick, graphic image to the brains of people working on serious problems. Maps guide policy makers, and illustrate geographical range of problems, and sometimes geographical causes and vulnerabilities.
Maps at this site cover a nearly complete range of issues that worry leaders of businesses and nations. I found the site looking for information about malaria.
Of special note is the wealth of information available from the interactive features. Clicking on nations or on symbols on the map provides details of issues the map covers; three tabs with the maps take the viewer of most of the maps to an extensive list of resources on the issue, and case studies, and analysis. These sources seem tailor made to help students doing geography projects.
Issue maps include disasters, malaria, child labor, climate change, poverty, land mine risk, political risk and a wide variety of others. You’ll need Macromedia Flash on your computer; there does not appear to be any way to download the maps, so you’ll need a live internet link to use these in class.
Information from these maps will be more current than any geography, history or economics book. Go see.
Maplecroft is a network of academic and business consultants. These maps are made to help their clients; Maplecroft’s description of the series is below the fold.
3 Comments | Disasters, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Health care, Natural resources, Public health | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Getting Newtonist ideas out of the science books
September 3, 2007When the Discovery Institute’s campaign against Darwin succeeds, will they be content? Remember, the real war is against materialism, DI says. Will Isaac Newton and the materialist theory of gravity be next?
I said, it’s not real, it’s a parody. It’s a parody.
Immediate update: Pharyngula picked up on Tiny Frog’s post, too — a sign the post is worth reading, generally.
Leave a Comment » | Hoaxes, Textbook Selection, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Intelligence: Can it rub off in the classroom?
September 3, 2007Can intelligence rub off from an intelligent classroom to the students?
Educational osmosis is one way to learn, I have found. I think a good classroom is one in which the student learns regardless what the student is doing, even daydreaming by looking out the window. How to achieve that? We’re working on it. In 2007, such a classroom should visually stimulate learning, and do so with sound and kinesthetics, too. Repetition in different media, with different contexts, aids learning and cementing of knowledge. But, I speak only from experience, having taken only a tiny handful of “real” education classes in my life, and they rank at the bottom of my list of useful courses.
Brian C. Smith blogs about education technology from the technology side, at Streaming Thoughts. Some time ago he asked teachers to tell about their ideal classroom technology (my response is here). Now he’s back with results of his survey — what technology do teachers need for educational success?
It may be my fault for failing to make the point, but I think a successful classroom also needs access to a photocopier that can turn around material in short order — a fast photocopier is preferred. Classrooms also need printers.
I also wonder if working ventilation and temperature control for comfort figures into the technology equation.
The ideal classroom technology is that set which allows the student to learn well, with speed and wisdom.
1 Comment | Brain learning, Classroom management, Classroom technology, Education, Education spending, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: Brain learning, Classroom technology, Education, Research, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Barbara Jordan and Lyndon Johnson: An oral history
September 2, 2007Barbara Jordan’s voice was distinctive, and commanding. “The voice of God,” Molly Ivins called it. After Jordan’s death, Francis X. Cline wrote what might be an even higher tribute, saying her voice was “as though Winston Churchill had been reincarnated as a black woman from Texas.” She spoke in complete paragraphs, usually, with words that seemed selected carefully to fit exactly the ideas she presented.
How delightful, then, to read (and perhaps to actually hear) Barbara Jordan describe her fear of stammering in her first meeting with President Lyndon Johnson. The LBJ Library in Austin has a series of oral histories, including this one:
I went up to what I now know was the Cabinet Room. There were other people assembled, people who were active in the civil rights movement. We sat and waited around a table for the President and the Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, to arrive. Well, as I sat there really at the far end of the table, I still said to myself, “Now, Lyndon Johnson probably doesn’t know who I am or what I am about, and my name probably just slipped in somehow and got into that [list].” So the President came in, everybody stood up. He sat down, we all sat down, and we started to discuss this legislation, fair housing legislation. And the conversation was going around the table. The President would call on first one person for a reaction and then another person for a reaction. Then he stopped and he looked at my end of the table, he said, “Barbara, what do you think?” Well, I just . . . in the first place, I’m telling you, I didn’t know the President knew me, and here he’s looking down here saying “Barbara” and then saying, “What do you think?” So that was my first exchange with Lyndon Johnson. I’m startled. I got myself organized, of course, not so that I wouldn’t stammer, since it is not my habit to stammer when talking, and I gave a response and then this conversation ensued.
That was my first contact personally with Lyndon Johnson.
The glories of oral histories. How can you use this in the classroom?
9 Comments | Barbara Jordan, Capturing history, DBQ sources, Heroes, Historic documents, History, History audio sources, History museums, Lyndon B. Johnson | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
More Latin you should know
September 1, 2007
Bizarro cartoon, by Piraro, 2008 (and a discussion on why the bumper sticker is badly translated)
Oh, I admit it. Sometimes I troll the blogosphere looking for provocation. And sometimes my trolling nets turn up good stuff.
At Joe Carter’s Evangelical Outpost, I found a link to “Latin You Should Know” from Neat-o-rama, When Joe sticks to the factual stuff, sometimes he’s right on.
Here’s the list — but it’s very incomplete, especially for high school students. I’ll append some stuff at the end, Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Famous quotes, History, Literature, S.A.T. and A.C.T., TAKS, TEKS, Vocabulary | Tagged: A.C.T., Famous quotes, History, Latin, Latin Phrases, Literature, S.A.T., TAKS, TEKS, Vocabulary | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Slave narratives in Flash animation
August 31, 2007Wow!
Teachers, take a look at this Flash animation about slavery, from the Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco. Yes, that beautiful, distinctive narrator voice is Maya Angelou — this is a high quality, high-impact presentation.
This MoAD piece, “Slave Narratives,” gives a glimpse of the potential of on-line learning, and what can be done with computers to supercharge a subject. Here slavery is presented as not only a colonial American problem, but is instead carried on through salvery issues in the 21st century. It’s part of the MoAD “Salon,” a site that world geography, world history and U.S. history teachers need to visit right away.
Cyberspace Nova discusses the site in a quick review of recent great Flash animations:
Imagine how it looked like taking a people freedom, torturing them, killing them and moving them far far away from their home. Tears can follow very easily if you just put one picture on your mind how it looked like. Yet, Slave Narrative put thousands of pictures in front of your eyes if you listen to the stories of slaves who lived to write them and share with people that will live after them. Let’s never forget this, because it’s happening today, like some stories from Slave Narratives tell… I love that this site is done in Flash, it is so powerful, it tells a story that we cannot hear a lot… Narrative part not just only justifies use of Flash, whole interactivity makes it great. 5/5
Also look at this photographic exhibit of from MoAD, featuring more than 2,000 photos of people of African descent and places and things important to them — again, with great flash animation.
Bookmark the home page of the museum while you’re there.
1 Comment | Education, Geography - Economic, Geography - Political, History, Human Rights, Museums, On-line education, On-line learning, Slavery | Tagged: Africa, Education, geography, History, Human Rights, Museums, On-line education, On-line learning, Slavery | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
“Teachers are morons”
August 31, 2007Not my view. Vox Day. I can’t resist kicking his arguments when he’s down.
Agree or not? Put it in comments.
5 Comments | Education, Education quality, Education reform, Rampant stupidity, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Vox Day: Trapped in a quote mine cave-in
August 31, 2007Vox Day, who claims to know more than most mortals can even think about, has fallen into a quote mine. (Quote mine defined.) Worse, the mine appears to have caved in.
Vox Day wishes to make the claim that Darwin is responsible for the evils of the Soviet Union. Apart from the prima facie absurdity of the claim, Vox has a dozen highly tenuous links he wishes to torture into supporting his claim, despite their refusal to do so.
This just in: Since I started out on this particular Fisking, Vox has popped up with this gem:
Unsurprisingly, evolutionists are reacting strongly to my column today. They swear up and down that there is no connection whatsoever between evolution and Communism, despite the fact that every single major Communist not only subscribed to Darwinist evolution but considered Darwin to be second only to Hegel as a pre-Marxist socialist figure.
There is no evidence Stalin or Lenin ever subscribed to evolution theory, and at any rate, Stalin expressly rejected Darwin and evolution, eviscerating the Soviets’ lead in genetics in 1920 by banning the teaching of evolution, banning research in evolution or research that had Darwinian overtones, stripping Darwin-theory subscribing biologists of their jobs, exiling a few to Siberia and death in several cases, and executing a few just for good measure. In place of evolution, Stalin backed Trofim Lysenko who advocated, apart from his creationist-like hatred of Darwin, an odd, almost-Lamarckian idea that stress in utero would change characteristics.
So, for example, Lysenko ordered that seed wheat be frozen, and then planted in winter. The freezing, the Stalin-Lysenko idea held, would make the wheat able to grow in cold weather. The crop failures were so spectacular that at least 4 million people died of starvation in the Soviet Union. By 1954 the crop failures were so massive the Soviet Union had to purchase wheat from the U.S., with loans from the U.S. These loans crippled any hope of the Soviet economy ever breaking out of its doldrums, and started the long slide to the collapse of the Soviet Union. You’d think Vox Day, who professes to be a libertarian and a Christian, would approve of the collapse of the Soviet Union by any cause — but he does not approve of the collapse if it came by a lack of evolution theory.
Vox Day never lets the facts get in the way of a rant. (As evidence that Marx was so deeply influenced by evolution theory, Vox notes that a fellow who knew Darwin, Edward Aveling attended Marx’s funeral. If that doesn’t convince, you, Vox says, Aveling later wrote an article saying it’s true, Marxism was based on evolution theory. So take THAT all you people who think Marxism emphasizes collectivism and the state: Darwin’s individual competition for survival is the REAL root of socialism. No, I’m not making this up — go read it for yourself. Then get some facts — read this account, which includes the guest list of Marx’s funeral. There were only nine people at Marx’s funeral, and Vox got the guest list wrong: Aveling wasn’t there. One more Vox claim refuted.)
Back to the regularly scheduled Vox Day quote mine cave-in, below the fold.
54 Comments | Accuracy, Bad Quotes, Bogus history, Capitalism, Charles Darwin, Communism, Economics, Evolution, History, Uncomposted Organic Fertilizer, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Tagged: Accuracy, Bad Quotes, Bogus Economics, Bogus history, bogus science, Capitalism, Charles Darwin, Communism, Evolution, Voodoo history, Voodoo science, Vox Day | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Giant spider community – in Texas, of course
August 30, 2007Bug Girl has all the details — spiders being closer to her blog’s core topic — but this news is just about 90 minutes from here, much closer for North Dallasites.
Did you see the giant web at Lake Tawakoni State Park? It was on the CBS Evening News tonight, and it’s all over the blogs today. The Washington Post has this delightful quote (delightful to those of us who think of all the West Nile virus that won’t be spread):
“At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland,” said Donna Garde, superintendent of the [Lake Tawakoni State] park about 45 miles east of Dallas. “Now it’s filled with so many mosquitoes that it’s turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs.”
Ah, the screech of millions of mosquitoes, about to be eaten.
By the way, DDT kills these spider very well. DDT spraying, in such a case, is a favor to the mosquitoes — spiders can be significant contributors to pest control.
And, it’s pronounced tuh-WOK-uh-nee. Named after a local tribe of Native Americans, “a Caddoan tribe of the Wichita group.”
1 Comment | Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, Natural history, Science, Texas, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Life-saving mine communicators: No deal, operators say
August 30, 2007Via The Pump Handle, a very good blog on public health issues, we get an article by Tom Bethell noting that a revolutionary mine communication system saved 45 lives in Utah during a mine fire in 1998. Unfortunately, most U.S. mine operators refuse to use the system, including the Crandall Mine in Huntington Canyon, Utah, where nine miners have died in the last three weeks.
Bethell is an old United Mine Workers Union writer, and might be considered biased because of his past affiliations. However, I’ve watched his work since I staffed the Senate committee that dealt with mine safety, and my experience is that his work is very good, tilted toward workers and increased safety for very good reasons.
Bethell’s article ran in the award-winning weekly newspaper, The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Kentucky — operated by Tom and Pat Gish since 1956. Though nominally a small-town weekly, the newspaper’s influence is multiplied by solid reporting and followup on stories and issues that are vital to the local community. Coal mining is a big part of life in that area of Kentucky.
I cannot improve on Bethell’s writing, nor on the drama his story has naturally from its topic and the tragedy it reveals. Bethell’s article is below the fold:
2 Comments | Disasters, Government, History, Science, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 