Again, more tabs than I have time to talk about:
- NASA Public-Affairs Appointee Resigns in Disgrace - So this guy named George C. Deutsch apparently used to attend Texas A&M as a journalist of some repute and left in 2004 to work on the Bush reelection campaign. Several moons ago he somehow got a job at NASA, a position he is seen as largely abusing. Turns out not only was he trying to “silence” various scientific opinions, but that he never graduated from A&M in the first place — despite explicitly saying so on his resume. Oops. And no, even though we are the same age, I don’t recall ever meeting him on campus.
- The two black holes in Intelligent Design - Speaking of newspaper journalism, this is a concise critique of “intelligent design” in editorial form from our friends in Austin.
- Supply Without Demand - Is there really a shortage of mathematicians or scientists? The senior editors of Science - you know, that fairly reputable peer-reviewed journal - suggest no. As does Lew Rockwell.
- Job hunting online gets trickier - So administrative agencies like the EEOC are purportedly legislated “to help” egalitarianize the field of hiring. However, just as “minimum wage” laws have the reverse effects (by creating an artificial price floor, this removes individuals whose productivity levels do not meet this “minimum” standard from the labor market), so to does these new federal rules for job candidates. It is going to be more difficult for people such as myself to rely on simply making a generic resume, as I know must specifically cater a resume to each firm I apply to. This is just one big hassle and helps no one but employees of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission keep their jobs.
- Why Colleges Think They’re Better Than AP - Although a couple years old, it’s still good as it notes the elitist attitude many institutions of higher education try to engender themselves. Fact: very few freshman courses across the country are identical. Yet somehow numerous professors at these dissimilar institutions criticize the AP test which is well, standardized and universal — designed by a group of college instructors and open to changes. This goes hand-in-hand with what the critique of the US News & World Reports methodology of heterogeneous programs being compared — it’s not only futile but impossible to do.
- Calculating Beyond Their Years - Check out the quote from Alfred S. Posamentier. The educator complains about gifted and talented students racing through their mathematical courses to calculus and beyond. He suggests that they miss out on Algebra and Geometry. Guess what math subjects he is an author of? Qui bono anyone?