Wed 07 April 2010 | -- (permalink)

When I hear people using college admission rates as a measure of the effectiveness of public education reforms, or hear people say "you'll never regret getting more education", it doesn't sit quite right. So kudos to Ben Casnocha for pushing back against the rarely-questioned assumption that everyone should go to …

Tue 06 April 2010 | -- (permalink)

Lanugage Log blogger Geoffrey Pullum has started a campaign against Strunk and White's The Elements of Style:

I hoped originally to stoke up the crowd to a huge outburst of anger against The Elements of Style and end the evening with a cathartic mass burning of copies of the book …

Mon 05 April 2010 | -- (permalink)

He liked it, but:

I can say without equivocation that I enjoyed the line as much, if not more, than the iPad itself.

He means that as a compliment.

Sun 04 April 2010 | -- (permalink)

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing says he won't buy an iPad, and thinks you shouldn't, either.  Unlike the old Apple ][ computers that even came with schematics so you could take them apart if you had a mind to, the iPad requires a professional to replace its rechargeable battery, and permission from …

Mon 29 March 2010 | -- (permalink)

...for being willing to buck tradition, tell their lawyers to shut up, and explore ideas like abandoning employment contracts.

Mon 29 March 2010 | -- (permalink)

And 5.8% of them are still alive.

From Bakadesuyo.

Fri 19 March 2010 | tags: apple, bakadesuyo, cdo, children, dailylinks, dinosaurcomics, education, finance, harvard, johnnydepp, michaellewis, multitouch, patents, praise, studying, tenure, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids -- New York Magazine - This link is three years old, but I only saw the article today. Summary: It's far healthier to praise your kids for working hard than for being smart.
• Is group studying more effective?
  • No …

Thu 04 March 2010 | tags: antitrust, bundling, cabletelevision, churchandstate, crime, dailylinks, education, eminentdomain, federalism, ideaguy, losangeles, meritpay, murder, omaha, paranoia, religion, sexting, shopclass, startups, teaching, utah, -- (permalink)

What I've been reading lately:

• Building a Better Teacher - NYTimes.com
  • "Teachers working in the same building, teaching the same grade, produced very different outcomes. And the gaps were huge. Eric Hanushek, a Stanford economist, found that while the top 5 percent of teachers were able to impart a year …

Mon 01 March 2010 | -- (permalink)

So the EU ordered Microsoft to give European Windows users a randomized browser-picking screen instead of just railroading everyone into IE by default. Then the site DSL.sk did some digging and found that the ballot wasn't really random at all. Naturally this was perfect ammunition for the anti-Microsoft conspiracy …

Fri 26 February 2010 | -- (permalink)

Though the article title says that computer models have demonstrated the efficacy of the Golden Rule, it's really "Tit for Tat" (or "an eye for an eye") that is shown to be the optimal strategy in a game involving repeated rounds of the Prisoner's Dilemma. Elegant, and awesome.