click to embiggen the pictures
San Francisco:
The Farallons:
I'd heard that these islands existed, but I'd never seen them before July 10th--and probably never will again.
Juneau, AK:
Skagway, AK
Icy Strait Point:
Tracy Arm and the glacier:
Prince Rupert, BC:
And my final view of San Francisco and the ship as we crossed the SF Bay Bridge on the way home:
On this trip I saw humpback whales, what I think was a sea lion (the video is clear, I just don't know sea animals very well), and eagles; I did not see any orcas or bears. Bummer on that last part.
Here are some pictures of eagles:
These were taken outside Hoonah, Alaska, the 3rd one when I was on a kayaking tour. Click on the pictures to embiggen them.
These two eagles were in Prince Rupert, British Columbia:
Cambodia doesn't have a long history of peaceful democratic-style government, will their new leader offer a new start?
Hun Sen has been Cambodia’s autocratic prime minister for nearly four decades, during which the opposition has been stifled and the country has grown increasingly close to China.
With his Cambodian People’s Party virtually guaranteed another landslide victory in this Sunday’s election, it’s hard to imagine dramatic change on the horizon. But the 70-year-old former communist Khmer Rouge fighter and Asia's longest-serving leader says he is ready to hand the premiership to his oldest son, Hun Manet, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who heads the country's army...
Many in the crowd spoke of Hun Manet's education — his bachelor's at West Point being followed by a master's at New York University and a doctorate in economics from Britain's Bristol University.
His background has given rise to hope from some in the West that he might bring political change, but it will still take work to regain influence in the Southeast Asian country of 16.5 million, given China's strategic and economic importance, said John Bradford, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“A Cambodia led by Hun Manet might very well be a stronger U.S. ally, but the U.S.-Cambodia relationship can only thrive if it is built on strong fundamentals of common benefit and mutual respect,” Bradford said. “U.S. diplomats should focus on these things.”
Let's hope for positive change.
The foolish idea that teaching kids less math will advance "equity" has spread from California, which has adopted watered-down guidelines that call for delaying algebra, writes Noah Smith. "Cambridge, Massachusetts recently removed algebra and all advanced math from its junior high schools," also citing "equity."
"Progressive" educators will never admit they believe some students just aren't smart enough to learn algebra, Smith writes. But it's "impossible to avoid the conclusion that the idea is to make all kids equal by making them equally unable to learn."
People in the average IQ band or higher can learn algebra. Those who are well below average perhaps are unable to understand algebra's abstractions--but we in the schools shouldn't toss them aside as unteachable. We should teach them something different, and not pretend we're preparing them to attend a university.
Bringing everyone down to the lowest level is the end result of "equity". We should do better than that.
Update: While I was gone, California approved its controversial math framework that helps ensure a race to the bottom:
The California State Board of Education voted to adopt a new—and much-debated—math framework on Wednesday, concluding a years-long process that involved three drafts, prompted hundreds of suggested revisions, and reignited decades-old arguments over the purpose of math education and the meaning of equity.
The 1,000-page framework aims to put meaning-making at the center of the math classroom, promoting a focus on problem-solving and applying math knowledge to real-world situations. It also encourages teachers to make math culturally relevant and accessible for all students, especially students of color who have been traditionally marginalized in the subject.
“The United States has not been teaching math effectively or equitably. We are one of the lower-achieving countries … and California is below the national average in its achievement in mathematics,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, the president of the California State Board of Education, during the board’s meeting on Wednesday. “This is an area of great need, and change is imperative. The same old, same old will not get us to a new place.”
Here are all my posts referencing Darling-Hammond, stretching back almost 15 years.
Should you ever wonder why I question if I'll make it 4 more years till retirement, this is why.
Update #2: More:
One crucial section of the framework emphasizes teaching “for equity and engagement” and encourages math educators to adopt a perspective of “teaching toward social justice.” The CDE and SBE suggest that cultivating “culturally responsive” lessons, which highlight the contributions of historically marginalized individuals to mathematics, can help accomplish this goal. The guidance further advocates for avoiding a single-minded focus on one way of thinking or one correct answer.
Critics argue that the proposed framework does not prioritize academic achievement. Angela Morabito, a spokesperson for the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI), stated, “Despite what the proponents of this plan might say, it’s not really designed to boost academic achievement. It’s designed to further a progressive goal that exists in the minds of adults… The math framework really does show misplaced priorities.”
The CDE and SBE acknowledge that math proficiency has been waning across the state, with less than one third of students meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations during the 2021-22 academic year. Data provided by the departments reveals widening achievement gaps, with math proficiency among Black students more than 30 percentage points below that of their White counterparts.
Sure, I'd love 50% more pay in retirement, but the offer is not enough to convince me to work 3 more years than I'm currently planning to:
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), Chair of the Assembly Education Committee, introduced Assembly Bill 938, a measure that would establish state funding targets to raise teacher and school employee salaries by 50 percent by 2030. This measure seeks to close the existing wage gap between teachers and similarly educated college graduates in other fields. The bill is supported by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), California Teachers Association (CTA), and the California School Employees Association (CSEA), among others. It is set for a hearing in the Assembly Education Committee today.
Specifically, AB 938 would create state Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) funding targets over a seven-year period, with the specific intent of increasing school-site staff salaries by 50 percent by 2030. The bill would establish targets for the state LCFF base grant to be increased by 50 percent by fiscal year 2030-31, while requiring school districts to report their progress in meeting the 50 percent increase in salaries over a seven-year period.
“We need to pay our teachers and essential school staff what they deserve,” said Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi. “Schools across the state are facing a workforce shortage, with many teachers and school employees unable to afford to live in the communities they work in. Moreover, there is a growing wage gap between teachers and comparable college graduates in other fields. That is why I introduced AB 938, to set the goal of giving teachers and staff a 50 percent pay raise by 2030, to not only pay them what they deserve, but also to get more young people to aspire to become educators.”
My retirement pay will be based on my highest annual salary as a teacher.
After hearing, then watching the remainder of, a smash-and-grab in San Francisco, maybe leaving was a good idea even if I didn't have this view of the City and the bridge:
I took video going under the Golden Gate Bridge but it's over 300 MB so I can't post it yet....
Update: Try this link for video :-)
It was a great 10-day Alaska cruise out of San Francisco, just about everything went off without a hitch. I'll endeavor to post some pictures tonight, gotta start unpacking and sorting laundry now....
The hint I gave: Carnival Miracle.
I first saw this ship on my cruise to Alaska in 2014:
I took this picture in Skagway.
Two years later, I sailed on Carnival Miracle on a Mexican Riviera cruise:
I took this picture in Cabo San Lucas.
Assuming all has gone to plan, I boarded Carnival Miracle and left the Port of San Francisco on July 10th and sailed up to Alaska; as of the time I've scheduled this to post, we should be docking back in SF.
I will endeavor to post some trip pictures soon. (Remember, I'm typing this before the cruise) I hope to get some "postable" video sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.
I'm going to take a little break from blogging, will be back in less than 2 weeks.
Here's a riddle as to why: immediately prior to Lent, a wheelchair-bound person could again walk.
Have you heard about the cruise ship that was damaged when it slammed into the dock in San Francisco on Thursday? It was supposed to depart that afternoon for a 10-day cruise to Alaska, but was not allowed by the Coast Guard to leave the port because of damage it sustained. Here's the latest from KTVU in Oakland:
The Ruby Princess cruise ship docked at Pier 27 in San Francisco is ready to set sail with 579 fewer passengers.
The cruise line announced the ship will set sea at 2:30 p.m. Sunday for a 7-day Alaska voyage after getting the green light from the United States Coast Guard. The repairs were reported complete and it passed inspection and certification.
Originally there were 3,256 passengers going on the cruise, but the cruise line said there are now 2,677 guests on the ship. The crew number remained the same at 1,161.
Guests had the option to cancel their cruise with a 100% refund, and also receive a 50% credit for a future trip. Passengers who chose to continue their trip on the Ruby Princess will receive a 75% refund, and a 75% credit for a future voyage.
The ship had smacked into the pier Thursday morning causing a gash in its underside. Crews worked throughout the weekend to repair the hole ahead of Sunday's departure.
The ship will stop in Ketchikan on July 12 and Prince Rupert on July 13, returning to San Francisco on July 16.
It was originally scheduled for a 10-day voyage, but that was cut short due to the damage.
The cause of the initial crash remains under investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard.
You don't often think that something like that would happen in the United States, but it did. The ship is scheduled to leave port in less than 20 minutes as I type this; if you're interested in keeping track of its location I found this web site.
BTW, I'd totally take the 75% refund and a 75% credit on a future cruise. Why would you get off the ship and go home a week early?
Update: It left later than 2:30, but it's on its way.
I couldn't even decide what to excerpt; Joanne did such an amazing job on this post, just read the whole thing.
BLUF: high school "data science" classes will not prepare students to succeed in STEM courses at a university.
My commentary: it's just another way to lower standards, no doubt in the name of racial "equity" or some crap.
Expecting people to work for 9-10 months, even part time, for no pay at all, is an injustice that should be corrected:
A California bill proposes that student teachers get paid for the mandatory hours they need to work to obtain a teaching credential.
Currently, California teachers need to complete 600 hours of unpaid student teaching to earn their credentials, according to California’s Commission on Teaching Credentials. The requirement has been considered a roadblock for teacher candidates who can’t afford to work for free while still being responsible for paying school and living expenses, such as tuition, books and housing.
I couldn't have done it. I went through an "alternative" credentialing program, where I was an paid "intern" for the 2 years of my program; I would teach during the day and attend classes at nights and on weekends.
No, the majority doesn't dictate when it comes to the rights of the minority--rights win out. But what if it's not a matter of rights, but of preference?
Democrats pose as the champions of democracy—except when democracy doesn’t go their way. After 84% of parents in a Virginia county rejected co-ed sex education and gender ideology in schools, the taxpayer-funded school board dismissively announced that “the majority doesn’t always dictate"...
Despite being paid by taxpayer funds and thus being employees of the district’s parents, the school board has rejected poll results showing that parents in the county overwhelmingly reject gender ideology in schools and combining sex education for boys and girls from fourth grade onwards...
The county’s school superintendent, Michelle Reid, dismissed the survey’s results with the ridiculous remark: “Honestly, the majority doesn’t always dictate, right?”
Indoctrination über alles.
Update: Joanne provides a little more information:
Fairfax County, Virginia surveyed the community on plans to mix boys and girls in sex-ed classes in grades starting in fourth grade, reports Nick Minock for 7News. More than 84 percent said "no," as did teachers (100 to 14) and students (60-20).
Remember, it's not just poor kids who deserve excellent schools:
Sixty years ago this summer, Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood before the doors of the University of Alabama to prevent two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from entering.
Wallace had infamously declared in his inauguration speech a few months before: “Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever.”
His symbolic last stand against racial integration ended when federal marshals escorted Malone and Hood into the school.
The stain of segregation and “separate but equal” schools was slowly coming to an end.
Yet now, 60 years later, look who’s blocking the doors to better schools for minority kids: a new generation of modern-day Wallace Democrats who oppose school-choice programs meant to benefit low-income students, especially black and Hispanic families in districts with failing schools.
We’ve heard a lot of indignation from liberal voices and Democratic politicians in recent days about the Supreme Court decision prohibiting racial preferences in college admissions.But many of these same voices oppose what is arguably the most critical civil-rights issue of our time: the right of minority children to attend great elementary and high schools.
I go back and forth on this issue:
A teacher (assistant) struggling to make ends meet is fighting to win her job back after she was fired for making OnlyFans content, according to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Kristin MacDonald, 35, was let go after eight years as a teaching assistant in Canada when she received a letter from board officials issuing her termination.
“Your misconduct in this matter is egregious,” the termination letter obtained by the outlet read, including multiple reasons as to why MacDonald would be fired.
MacDonald, who said she earned $1,000 CAD every two weeks, turned to OnlyFans to help support her family and young daughter.
“It’s so far-fetched to me. It seems very petty,” the ex-teacher let out in frustration to CBC.
“I feel strongly that in this day and age, we should be able to do what we want as long as it’s not illegal,” she added. “I’m not hurting anybody.”
On one hand, her behavior isn't illegal, so what's the problem? I'm reminded of the teacher who was threatened for having pictures of herself with a rifle on her Facebook page (yes, she won that challenge handily). Are there other legal behaviors, unrelated to school activity, that can get teachers fired?
On the other hand, as a high school teacher I can see problems arising (pun intended) if students have seen their teachers in naked or erotic pictures. Such pictures or similar videos break down that wall of separation that is required for the smooth running of a class.
What do you think?
I can't imagine that this needs to be a national law rather than a school or district policy, but I like the intent:
Cell phones, tablets and smartwatches will be largely banned from classrooms in the Netherlands from January 1, 2024, the Dutch government said on Tuesday, in a bid to limit distractions during lessons.
Devices will only be allowed if they are specifically needed, for instance during lessons on digital skills, for medical reasons or for people with disabilities.
“Even though mobile phones are intertwined with our lives, they do not belong in the classroom,” education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said in a statement.
I know there are teachers who spend class time on their phones, but I am not one of them. In fact, when I get to school, I put my phone and other belongings in a locked cupboard and they stay there until school is out. In that way, I set the example for what I expect of students.
Until recently I was a plaintiff in 2 class action lawsuits, the first against Yahoo! for a data breach, and the second against Qualcomm for what seems to be some monopolistic behavior. To be honest I don't really understand the Qualcomm case, but if they violated the law, there should be a penalty for that.
Today I received my share of the settlement for the Yahoo! case--$61.08. Not a gargantuan sum, to be sure, not one that will allow me to retire early, but not a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, either.
Maybe I can retire after the Qualcomm settlement.
I don't know how scholarly this is, but it sounds good anyway:
English colonists established their first permanent settlement in the New World at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, sounding very much like their countrymen back home. By the time we had recordings of both Americans and Brits some three centuries later (the first audio recording of a human voice was made in 1860), the sounds of English as spoken in the Old World and New World were very different. We're looking at a silent gap of some 300 years, so we can't say exactly when Americans first started to sound noticeably different from the British.
As for the "why," though, one big factor in the divergence of the accents is rhotacism. The General American accent is rhotic and speakers pronounce the r in words such as hard. The BBC-type British accent is non-rhotic, and speakers don't pronounce the r, leaving hard sounding more like hahd. Before and during the American Revolution, the English, both in England and in the colonies, mostly spoke with a rhotic accent. We don't know much more about said accent, though. Various claims about the accents of the Appalachian Mountains, the Outer Banks, the Tidewater region and Virginia's Tangier Island sounding like an uncorrupted Elizabethan-era English accent have been busted as myths by linguists.
Talk This Way
Around the turn of the 18th 19th century, not long after the revolution, non-rhotic speech took off in southern England, especially among the upper and upper-middle classes. It was a signifier of class and status. This posh accent was standardized as Received Pronunciation and taught widely by pronunciation tutors to people who wanted to learn to speak fashionably. Because the Received Pronunciation accent was regionally "neutral" and easy to understand, it spread across England and the empire through the armed forces, the civil service and, later, the BBC.
Across the pond, many former colonists also adopted and imitated Received Pronunciation to show off their status. This happened especially in the port cities that still had close trading ties with England — Boston, Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah. From the Southeastern coast, the RP sound spread through much of the South along with plantation culture and wealth.
After industrialization and the Civil War and well into the 20th century, political and economic power largely passed from the port cities and cotton regions to the manufacturing hubs of the Mid Atlantic and Midwest — New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, etc. The British elite had much less cultural and linguistic influence in these places, which were mostly populated by the Scots-Irish and other settlers from Northern Britain, and rhotic English was still spoken there. As industrialists in these cities became the self-made economic and political elites of the Industrial Era, Received Pronunciation lost its status and fizzled out in the U.S. The prevalent accent in the Rust Belt, though, got dubbed General American and spread across the states just as RP had in Britain.
I'm not a fan of "soft" r's. It's waw-ter, not wooah-tuh.
And how we speak in California is General American now :-)
The Supremes have ruled, in the Students For Fair Admissions case, that Harvard and UNC (and probably every other school in the country except Hillsdale) used race in admissions decisions in an unconstitutional manner. Hallelujah, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
The lefties are howling that the decision is raaaaaaaacist, that it perpetuates white supreeeeeeeeeeeemacy, and that in order to strike back at the evil white people, so-called legacy admissions at universities should be scrapped:
The next big fight over college admissions already has taken hold, and it centers on a different kind of minority group that gets a boost: children of alumni.
In the wake of a Supreme Court decision that strikes down affirmative action in admissions, colleges are coming under renewed pressure to put an end to legacy preferences — the practice of favoring applicants with family ties to alumni. Long seen as a perk for the white and wealthy, opponents say it’s no longer defensible in a world with no counterbalance in affirmative action.
It's a stupid argument, like most leftie arguments. We didn't fight a civil war over legacy admissions.
However bad their argument, I agree with their solution. As a taxpayer, I want public universities as well as private universities that get government money to be focused on education. I want admissions based on merit and academic achievement. I don't care who your parents are, I don't care if you worked at the soup kitchen, I want my tax dollars to support academic excellence.
So I'm all for getting rid of legacy admissions, especially for marginally-qualified students. I also support getting rid of athletic scholarships, especially for people who have no academic chance of graduating; let the major sports leagues create their own minor leagues. Let's get our schools back in the business of educating.
Update, 7/2/23: I think the left missed its target, as I don't think you'll find a tremendous amount of support for legacy admissions outside of those who fund or receive them. It's not the "bullseye on the right's chest" that the left hoped it would be:
In reaction to the Supreme Court ruling that race-based affirmative action violates the Equal Protection Clause, there has been a lot of what-about-ism.
The biggest what about is college legacy and donor preferential treatment, meaning applicants who have an alumni family connection or who were related to a major donor received preference. As if those preferences somehow excuse the illegal racial preferences that permeate higher education...
Lower and middle income white students also are disadvantaged because they receive zero preference: Not race, not legacy, not donor. The legacy and donor preference may benefit wealthy whites, but they also increasing benefit wealthy college-graduate blacks and other non-white groups.
So it’s a mixed bag, and a what-about-ism that really doesn’t even answer the question of whether racial preferences are unconstitutional.
But to the extent “eliminate legacy and donor preferences” is a dare, I accept it and agree. By all means eliminate the corrupting influence of legacy and donor admissions preferences.
I'm glad we can find this common ground with our friends on the left.
This comment on that post was 100% correct:
Update #2, 7/8/23:
