Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1517.

Today's question is, the first in Computers Week, is:
In only a few years, desktop computer hard drives have gone from megabyte size, to gigabyte, to terabyte. What is the next larger term, meaning 10^15 bytes?

Still Not Shopping at Wal*Mart

Here's the email I sent to Wal*Mart today:

It's been a month now since I've been to a Walmart store; my local store in Citrus Heights is not providing shopping bags for purchases, and that's why I have been going to Target and Safeway. I would be happy to shop at Walmart again, but I do *not* want to be inconvenienced by having to bring in my own bags each time I come to shop.

I'm told from past emails I've received from Wal*Mart that this "experiment" in no bags is supposed to end today, and the company will "evaluate" the results to see if they're going to extend this practice to all stores and make it permanent. My guess is that the results were pre-ordained, and Wal*Mart is going to try to save a few cents per purchase by inconveniencing me and requiring me to carry around shopping bags in my car just in case I want to stop at their store. That's not how a company should treat customers.

I'll post their reply to the above email if I get one.

Update: I sent my email to both the local store and to corporate headquarters and got the same form-letter response as I did last time:

Dear Darren,

Thank you for your inquiry. Beginning January 2, 2010, Walmart will remove all plastic bags from the front end in three California stores; Folsom, Ukiah and Citrus Heights. The stores will offer a new type of reusable bag; one for $0.15 cents and another for $0.50 cents.

However, purchasing the reusable bags is just one option. Customers can bring in any bag from home to hold their purchases. The test phase will last only 30 days after which time we will evaluate the test results to determine the next steps.

This move has nothing to do with State or Federal legislation but with Walmart_s zero waste commitment. It is about finding new ways to reduce our plastic bag waste and understand our customer's needs and interest in reusable bags.

Walmart has also committed to reduce its global plastic bag waste by one-third by the end of 2013 - this test could help us make progress towards this goal.

Sincerely,
Walmart Customer Care

This has nothing to do with waste--since I won't have bags to reuse, I'll have to buy other bags, so there's no net loss in so-called waste. This is either a PR ploy to jump on the "green" bandwagon, or an attempt by Wal*Mart to squeeze a couple extra cents out of each purchase by not putting the purchases in bags, or both. I outlined several problems with this approach in my previous post on this topic.

If You Won't Believe Me About Socialism...

...believe Lech Walesa.

Items that stand out (in the video): 1) Lech Walesa tells his American audience that the United States no longer leads the world politically or morally 2) At least one of your Founding Bloggers asks President Walesa if he thinks America is slipping toward Socialism. His Answer? Yes!

Fame Is So Fleeting

click to enlarge

The spike was the result of Instapundit's link to this post. Again, thanks, Glenn!

Saturday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Nevada.

Today's question is:
Martin Luther is widely believed to have nailed his 95 Theses, a denunciation of the Catholic practice of selling “indulgences”, on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany (although there is some scholarly debate as to whether or not he actually nailed them to the door). In what year did Luther “publish” or “post” the 95 Theses, essentially igniting the Protestant Reformation?

Come back tomorrow when we start another Theme Week here at Right On The Left Coast. The theme? Computers!

You're Too Stupid To Know What's Good For You...

...and I, the Nanny State, am going to tell you what's good for you.



Gillespie is correct--requiring each of us to pay for everyone's health care makes your lifestyle decisions and my lifestyle decisions everyone else's business. That's not a society in which I want to live. "I don't think it should be a public matter whether or not I had a Big Mac today or...I went to some kind of health food store."

The blond antagonist in the video believes that too many parents don't know what's best for their kids and hence "the government" should step in. If that good intention isn't another paving stone on the road to Hell, I don't know what is. Gillespie hits the nail on the head--there are certain people who "know" what's best for all of us and they want to boss us around. I don't want to let them.

That's why I'm not a socialist.

The BCS "Problem"

Last month I wrote about congressional attempts to interfere with college football's Bowl Championship Series. Here's another story on that same topic:

The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review.

In the letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that the Justice Department is reviewing Hatch's request and other materials to determine whether to open an investigation into whether the BCS violates antitrust laws.

"Importantly, and in addition, the administration also is exploring other options that might be available to address concerns with the college football postseason," Weich wrote, including asking the Federal Trade Commission to review the legality of the BCS under consumer protection laws.

Several lawmakers and many critics want the BCS to switch to a playoff system, rather than the ratings system it uses to determine the teams that play in the championship game.

Again I ask, is there any reason government should involve itself in how bowl game teams are chosen? What's next, government rules about whether a movie can be called a "thriller" or a "drama"?

People Will Try To Make Hay Out Of This

While I don't believe we should even have a US Department of Education (thank you, Jimmah), if we are to have one, the Secretary can't always be Satan. President Bush's two education secretaries, who, for those who keep track of such things, were a black man and a white woman, were detested by anyone who was anyone in education (so I must not be anyone, because I liked them both). The current secretary, Arne Duncan, can't be Satan, as he was chosen by the Chosen One.

Yet, since he, like everyone who's not involved in education, sees that we can and should do better in education, well, he's Satan, too, in the eyes of most in the field. I'm wondering what, if anything, the NEA will have to say about this comment:

I’ve spent a lot of time in New Orleans and this is a tough thing to say but I’m going to be really honest. The best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina.

Ohmigod! He didn't really say that, did he? Let's call for his resignation! Before we get our panties in a bunch, though, let's read his next couple sentences:

That education system was a disaster. And it took Hurricane Katrina to wake up the community to say that we have to do better. And the progress that it made in four years since the hurricane, is unbelievable. They have a chance to create a phenomenal school district. Long way to go, but that city was not serious about its education. Those children were being desperately underserved prior. And the amount of progress and the amount of reform we’re seeing in a short amount of time has been absolutely amazing. I have so much respect for the adults, the teachers, the principals that are working hard. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to students at John Mack high school there.

I didn't think "Searchlight Harry" Reid was out of line for using the word "negro", and I don't think Duncan is out of line for saying what he did. Anyone with an ounce of integrity has to admit that he, like Reid in the instance I mentioned, is correct.

Now, if one of President Bush's secretaries had said something similar, well, the press would have exploded; instead, with Duncan, we get a blurb on an ABC blog. This story might get a little traction, but certainly not as much as it would have under a Republican administration.

To be honest, I hope the NEA and other usual suspects do criticize Duncan for saying this. It would show, yet again, that they don't really care about education or about teachers, they just care about getting more money for their own self-aggrandizement. And if they think they can score some cool points by attacking the Secretary of Education for saying something as obvious as the nose on his face, you can bet they will.

Retirement

A student graduating high school this year will about be old enough to be President of the United States before I'll be able to retire, but my retirement, or at least considering the financial part of it, is already looking rocky:

CalSTRS' investment losses have left the system underfunded by $42.6 billion, with almost double the unfunded liabilities it had estimated 19 months ago.

In a report on the $131.9 billion system's website, Jack Ehnes, CEO of the California State Teachers' Retirement System, estimated its defined benefit program would run out of money by 2045 without an increase in contributions by school systems, the state of California or teachers.

Mr. Ehnes says CalSTRS has no authority to impose such an increase, unlike pension plans in other states. Instead, he says the California Legislature must approve such an increase, but he concedes that action this year is unlikely given the political climate and California's $20 billion budget deficit.

California teachers already contribute a higher percentage of their income to CalSTRS than workers contribute to social security. There have been proposals in the past to increase all three components: the state's contribution, the school district's, and the teacher's. Expect to see such proposals revived.

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Peter Marshall.

Today's question is:
Which state is known as the Silver State?

Horndog High

Hey, I didn't give the school that moniker, but it seems to fit:

New shenanigans have come to light at James Madison High School, where two teachers were recently caught naked in a classroom and another was punished for getting too close to a student.

The latest scandal involves Madison High gym teacher Lisa Guttilla, 37, who was arrested Friday for feeling up a 14-year-old girl, police sources said.

The student attended private Poly Prep Country Day School, where Guttilla was a part-time volleyball coach.

"Felt up". Now that's some quality journalism there.

And giving hickeys, among other things, to 14-year-old girls? What was this woman thinking? Ew.

Two Versions of Anne Frank's Diary?

Apparently, Anne’s father, Otto Frank, the sole survivor of the “Secret Annex,” felt the need to censor his daughter’s most intimate thoughts as well, eliminating about 30 percent of the original diary published in 1947.

He omitted parts where Anne criticized her mother and other Jews living in the confined quarters as well as some sexually suggestive references.

However, during the 50th anniversary of her death in a concentration camp, the Anne Frank Foundation published the unedited definitive version in 1995.

I didn't know about that. So what's the issue?

A version of an iconic autobiography detailing a young Jewish girl’s two-year experience hiding from Nazis in a cramped “Secret Annex” has been pulled from the shelves of Culpeper County Public Schools.

“The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition,” a vivid memoir of Anne Frank’s private thoughts during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, will no longer be assigned to CCPS students, according to Jim Allen, director of instruction for the school system...

Citing a parent’s concern over the sexual nature of the vagina passage in the definitive edition, Allen said school officials immediately chose to pull this version and use an alternative copy.

I'm sure most of us who've read this book read the bowdlerized version, unaware that any other version existed.

State of the Union Address

You can probably look at the title of this blog and ascertain what I thought of last night's speech. So many others have commented, though, that I have nothing new to add. I'll offer these three links, though, with which I readily agree.

What struck me most, though--and these thoughts are all addressed in the links above--are the following:

• Attacking the Supreme Court as he did had to be unprecedented; it was certainly rude and ill-advised and does not show respect for separation of powers, a cornerstone of our government.
  
• How funny was it for him to tell us about all the taxes he cut (Yes, Barack, you're known as a taxcutter. Right.) and then, just a few moments later, blame the current recession in part on President Bush's tax cuts.
• The guy still sounds like he's campaigning. You'd think that after Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, he'd sound a little chastened or at least conciliatory. Instead he was cajoling and needling, doubling down on his past mistakes. This is not how you make friends and influence people.
• Keep blaming all your problems on President Bush, Barack, because no one's buying it anymore. As others have said, man up. Put on your big boy pants and act like a President.

Those were my thoughts during the speech. What are yours?

Fun Bridge Design Contest

West Point, our nation's first engineering school, is sponsoring its 9th Annual Bridge Design Contest. Students aged 13 though 12th grade can participate, with a chance to win a $5000 scholarship or a laptop computer.

Contestants (individuals or teams of 2) will download free, easy-to-use software to design a bridge--further details are available at bridgecontest.usma.edu. The contest ends in March, so have your students start now!

"West Point provides this contest as a service to education--and as a tribute to the Academy's two centuries of service to the United States of America."

Thursday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
High card (no pair), one pair, two pairs, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush.

Today's question is:
Who hosted the game show The Hollywood Squares?

Instalanche

Every non-liberal blogger hopes and prays for a link from Instapundit. Why? Here's why:

click to enlarge

Thanks, Glenn!

If She Can Do It, I Can

Even though I've been teaching for 13 years, I still make less than the average pay for teachers in my district and for teachers in the state, all because I don't yet have a master's degree. Well, if this lady can get a degree, I should be able to:

It was Harriet Richardson Ames' dream to earn her bachelor's degree in education. She finally reached that milestone, nearly three weeks after achieving another: her 100th birthday.

On Saturday, the day after receiving her diploma at her bedside, the retired schoolteacher died, pleased that she had accomplished her goal, her daughter said. Ames had been in hospice care.

"She had what I call a 'bucket list,' and that was the last thing on it," Marjorie Carpenter said Tuesday.

Ames, who turned 100 on Jan. 2, had earned a two-year teaching certificate in 1931 at Keene Normal School, now Keene State College. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse in South Newbury, and later spent 20 years as a teaching principal at Memorial School in Pittsfield, where she taught first-graders.

Good for her for going strong! On the other hand, I hope to live longer after getting my next degree than she did.

Bribing The Top Students Not To Go To Charter Schools

Erin pretty much nails it when pointing out that at least in one district, as in so many others, the top students are not always a priority, and neither is an efficient use of "technology":

From the Arizona Daily Star

Nearly 900 eighth-graders have left the Sunnyside Unified School District since 2006 to attend private or charter schools - costing the district about $3 million in state funding.
And the Tucson Unified School District - the largest in the city - has lost about 8,300 students to charters over five years - some 3 percent of its enrollment. Such losses would have cost the district an estimated $36 million in state funding, although officials say some of the students have returned.

TUSD has tried for years to find ways to stop the hemorrhaging - bulking up its niche programs, studying who's leaving for where, and advertising its extracurriculars to parents and students. Last year, the district budgeted almost $420,000 for school-choice exploration. The initiative encourages schools to transform, offering a special focus or learning model that would draw in and retain students.
Now Sunnyside is thinking about how to stop the losses.

Administrators have come up with a $213,300 plan to keep eighth-graders from leaving by loaning laptops this summer to qualifying students and enrolling them in a college-prep program. Teachers will receive laptops and the district will begin an online learning program and look into providing area families free Internet service.

It's telling that the school district is looking at college prep as an afterthought and a stopgap. And it's sad that the loan of a laptop (over the summer! when it will mostly used for surfing and social networking!) is supposed to counteract the schools' failure to do their jobs during the school year. But the kids leaving the district schools aren't thinking about laptops or afterthoughts--they and their parents are looking for "smaller class sizes, innovative teaching and assurances that their children will become college graduates."

Some people have no clue.

Here We Go Again

My "favorite" news source, the Associated Press, posts a story, written in the past tense, about tonight's State of the Union Address--an address which won't occur for over an hour. I caught them doing this over a year ago, when they wrote about the outcome of the vice presidential debate before it even happened.

Click the picture to enlarge. Note the time in the bottom right corner; the address is scheduled for 6 pm PST.

Here is some text from the article:

Hoping to rescue his prized health care overhaul and revive his presidency as well, Barack Obama appealed in his State of the Union address for support for the plan that is in severe danger in Congress, urging dispirited Democrats not to abandon the effort.

"By the time I'm finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance," Obama said, according to excerpts of the Wednesday night address released in advance by the White House. "Patients will be denied the care they need. Small business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether. I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber." (boldface mine)

Granted, the author acknowledges that the comments were released in advance. That doesn't justify writing as if the president has already given the address.

Does the AP have any credibility?

Update: Welcome fellow Instapundit readers (thanks, Glenn, for the link)! Please feel free to poke around my site--I hope you'll like it enough to come back and visit again some time.

Wednesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's trivia, which I'm surprised no one answered, is:
44 BC.

Today's question is:
What is the progression of winning poker hands, from high card to royal flush?