Endless postings...

Not everything needs to be included on a status-update:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200901u/reblock-yourself

Hypocrisy

Everyone who claims Israel is the evil incarnate should consider these numbers:

http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=78

600,000 to 1,000,000 dead Iraqis?

Our country has unleashed Hell on Iraq. Prosecute Bush for war crimes.

Why didn't we hear more about civilian casualties during the initial stages of the Iraq War?

Not for the faint of heart.

Like everyone who cares enough to click on the link and read my blog, I've been reading about the situation in Gaza. I want to look at how the MSM has covered the current war versus the initial stages of the War in Iraq in 2003.

The media didn't seriously question the motives for war in Iraq. Once the bombs started falling the flaccid coverage turned into testicle time. Geraldo was drawing lines in the sand. Bombs were set to rock and roll on Fox.

The Nation had coverage of civilian casualties. I saw some limited coverage on television but the term "collateral damage" comes to mind. My local paper, The Miami Herald, had a tiny box it would update with civilian deaths on page 24A of the front section.

But now I'm seeing images of dead children in Gaza on the 6:30 nightly news. There's real footage showing the human result of war! Has our media found morality? Are they interested in the entire story now? Are we to believe they are now concerned with civilian deaths in 2009 but unconcerned in 2003?

Was the military pressuring the media from reporting on dead Iraqi civilians? It seems that was the case. Most people realize that seeing the death and destruction in Vietnam helped organize resistance to the war. Consider this quote from 2003,

Lt. Col. Rick Long of the U.S. Marine Corps replied, "Frankly, our job is to win the war. Part of that is information warfare. So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment." [embedded journalists]

Are we content with such a lack of information? How do we go from seeing numbers on a website to real coverage of the human suffering? Shouldn't this still be an issue??

Here's a view from the right:

One story the media isn't telling, because it's impossible to get this story in these circumstances (especially because Israel stupidly won't allow foreign reporters into Gaza) is how much resentment the Hamas policy of using Palestinians as human shields causes among Gaza civilians. Early reports indicate that Hamas mortar teams were firing from the UN School. This shouldn't surprise anyone.

One more thing, speaking of pornography -- we've all seen endless pictures of dead Palestinian children now. It's a terrible, ghastly, horrible thing, the deaths of children, and for the parents it doesn't matter if they were killed by accident or by mistake. But ask yourselves this: Why are these pictures so omnipresent?

I'll tell you why, again from firsthand, and repeated, experience: Hamas (and the Aksa Brigades, and Islamic Jihad, the whole bunch) prevents the burial, or even preparation of the bodies for burial, until the bodies are used as props in the Palestinian Passion Play. Once, in Khan Younis, I actually saw gunmen unwrap a shrouded body, carry it a hundred yards and position it atop a pile of rubble -- and then wait a half-hour until photographers showed. It was one of the more horrible things I've seen in my life. And it's typical of Hamas. If reporters would probe deeper, they'd learn the awful truth of Hamas. But Palestinian moral failings are not of great interest to many people.

Does Africa need God?

Does Africa need Christianity?

I've had this thought many times when faced with amoral students. Some of us need the threat of punishment! All in all, it offers good moral lessons so I'm in favor of religious education. Thinking along the lines of Spore, it's just a step we have to make!

Will Wright's view of education

Thanks to Will Wright and his awesome game "Sim City", I know more about city planning than most people :)

Here's what he thinks about our educational system:


I've always been somewhat disillusioned with the educational system. Some people have said it was originally based on the idea that we're training factory workers, so it was very important to teach them to do some repetitive task for eight hours a day. What's going to be really exciting is when this Nintendo generation gets a little bit older and starts becoming teachers in schools. I think that's going to make a bigger difference than any kind of educational reform ever will. In the future a lot more learning will happen in the home.^[5]

Here I am as a "Nintendo generation" teacher and I'm still trying the same ol' open up your book nonsense! I'm learning more from Spore than from any book! The Sims! It's all about exploring!

Should we pay students to learn?

My first instinct is NO!

But...I was raised in a middle class home with many books and two college educated parents. Taking AP courses was no big deal and I had a desire to learn.

According to this research, it seems that paying students WORKS. What is the cut-off? When should we start paying students to learn?

Also, how can we be sure that teachers aren't fudging data to help themselves or their students? We might end up with another layer of bureaucracy?

Vocabulary Quiz!

In order to help students of all ages with their academic success, I have designed a vocabulary quiz with thousands of words (4,996 in total!). Anyone can gain something from a vocabulary refresher!

http://modernpedagogy.org/SATGame1.zip

It's made with Java so you'll need it installed to run. Don't worry, most computers already have it.

Here are the steps to run the vocabulary game:

1. Download the link above.
2. Unzip it.
3. Click on the 'Shortcut to SATGame' icon.
4. Enter your first name.
5. Test your vocabulary knowledge with any of the given categories.

Give me feedback at david.freer@gmail.com after trying it out!

Vocabulary project is coming along....

I've got organization now ! :)

The project is great. I'm happy. Can't wait to release it.

Learning at home

Bill Gates says he likes a geology course from The Teaching Company.

How can we increase curiosity in students? I'd love to see a standardized test do that.

Is there a correlation between curiosity and performance?