First Blog

Dateline, 3/25/13: The Strongsville, OH teachers on strike for higher wages. They have been on strike for several weeks. Students are being taught by substitutes.  The District's active goal is to make a deal with the teachers.   A bargaining session is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, March 26, 2013) morning.*  According to Superintendent John Krupinski on the requested demand, his answer was short and to the point: "It's unsustainable and unaffordable."  True or not true?  Let's take a look.  I don't see what the fuss is all about in Strongsville, OH.  The unions are protecting their constituency, namely their members.  When all is said, the students are their product, and the school building is their factory. When has any union going on strike worried about their product or the factory for that matter.  Go union!  As long as they are producing a product of competitive excellence, they should go for the gold, the benefits, the job security, the

A. Waste your time! Lots of it.  Some of my most productive moments have come when I was wasting time. B. Rules of Email. Does someone read your email?  The answer is yes.  For most of us it amounts to an application of data mining by dedicated robots by dedicated servers, but serving whom? 1. Never publish anything on email you don't want the world to see. Never publish to friends or family items you do not wish others to see. 2. Never publish anything that has racist, sexual, or political overtones. 3. Publish only plain commentary such as daily business to family or friends. 4. Publish only political stuff that has no personal connection with your affairs. C. Information corrupts integrity; it justifies inspection; it validates commercial gain; it indemnifies politicians.  Information provides the predictive analytics of our time. D. Suicide terrorists are nothing more than contract killers with an ecclesiastical contract and having an arbitrary target. E. Tax looph

The costs of education are astronomical - and rising. Jobs lost to automation, a hot topic in the past century, have been lost for centuries.  There once was a job "purifier" in old England and other countries wherein the job holder would collect animal feces and sell them to tanneries. Until the 1920's (horse) harness makers made a good living. Then came cars.   Until the 1960's there was the job of elevator operator.  No longer as the vast majority of elevators are now automatic.   There are hundreds of examples.  Large categories of jobs have been lost only in the past few decades. Consider Auto Plant Assembly Workers Factory Jobs Farming Telephone Operators Cashiers Tollbooth Collectors Many are no more or a shadow of their former prominence.  What is the reason for these changes?  Technology is one reason and it figures high.  Some jobs just disappear because they were no longer needed.  Equally important is the cost of these jobs as c

Premise: The US performs poorly international math tests, TIMSS and PISA The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. TIMSS is used to compare over time the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. TIMSS is designed to align broadly with mathematics and science curricula in the participating countries. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009001 Overall, the US came in tenth among four graders and ninth among eight graders. On the PISA test, the United States came in 25 out of 35.   China , which did best on the test, cited “ China also raised teacher pay and standards and reduced rote learning, while giving students and local authorities more choice in curriculum.” Comments from the big shots. Education Secretary Arne Duncan , “The results show that U.S. students must improve to compete in a global economy. … This should be a massive wake-up call to the entire country.” Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill