Ha! Yes! 10-11 year olds are just old enough to have a decent conversation with and not too old to enjoy having conversations with us adults! I love 'em!

On education in this country. Could have been filmed earlier today...

...could have been filmed yesterday!

What is "deskilling" when it's at home?

It does mean meeting kids where they are, developmentally. No reason to get rid of 'reading' the pictures, or skipping a word if you can grok the meaning without it....it's all part of early literacy.

Decoding is only one part of learning to read..and 3-5 year olds are not all ready for it - some kids not til 6 or 7 - and you can't force it on them. Also, kids who ARE early readers (3-5) do not learn to read through decoding...and nobody learns to read ONLY through decoding.

If you find any science that justifies pushing phonics down to 3 and 4 year olds, do find us a link...

Well fact-checked, Fred, you devil, you!

Well fact-checked, Fred.

You know what? They've always been the bad guys for those who don't value democracy, don't value all people equally, and, whether openly or stealthily, are hell-bent on making the world over in their image....

Same here - did a lot of good, too - but it barely stems the tide...

I'm with the authors of this article - it is BAD science. For one thing, who says we haven't been teaching phonics all these years? Only the SoR fanatics. SO damaging to insist on phonics and ignore the rest of early literacy development. As a teacher-trainer/mentor, I saw a lot of this in ECE.

Private schools are actually worse, often. They're commercial enterprises and we've all been brainwashed by the hype around test scores...so they buy into the need for instilling obedience and compliance, too.

America Was Never Meant to Think too Hard He is in the fifth grade when they stop asking him to read full books.

Democracy dies w/o critical thinking - and it gets buried early.

A large majority of our schools...still...value compliance over critical thinking...still...

I suspect this structural disrespect for thinking in the U.S. has fluctuated depending upon how authoritarian leaders are. NOW, tho, WHEW!

Trump's Board of Peace is active...quietly:

"Asked why the disarmament of Hamas had not been completed after months, Eide pointed to the absence of police force or an international stabilization force — both promised in Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza."

Live people...doesn't complain about dead people so much..

Groups Sue Administration Over Approval Of Ultra-Deepwater Oil Drilling Project In Gulf Five Gulf and environmental groups have sued the Trump administration over its approval of BP’s new ultra-deepwater oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico.

"BP’s first completely new oilfield in the Gulf since the company’s Deepwater Horizon disaster 16 years ago.

It will be deeper than Deepwater Horizon, and in riskier waters... drilling 6 miles below the sea floor, deeper than the height of Mt. Everest"

www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2026/04/grou...

"genuinely crazy how maga is running the same playbook as the birchers. it even explains thiel's weird concerns about one world government

theyre awful in ways that must be understood"

What on earth prompted this line if country, lol?

a cartoon of a man eating a bowl of popcorn ALT: a cartoon of a man eating a bowl of popcorn

the huge gap between what AI engineers think and what software engineers think is fascinating

the AI engineers dont understand software engineering well enough to predict its future

the software engineers dont understand AI well enough to predict its future either

enjoy the ride, avoid predicting

AI could be the end of the digital wave, not the next big thing The AI boom is more likely a marker of the end of the 50-year digital boom than the start of a new wave of innovation.

AI is indeed the end of the digital wave and not at all the next big thing

AI is just software

thenextwavefutures.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/a...

I'm happy to agree, though it's not my field!

Interesting. Fairly low participant numbers...and each study had different demographics.

Two things can be true at the some time:

1.) If you're reasonably careful, AI can be INCREDIBLE

There's lots of reason to think it's bad, so I claim value specificallt in generating code

Realtalk: many of us put YEARS into building open source, *publicly owned* code. It's fair game for AI

2.) You can be thoughtful about which companies you support

For whatever reason, the AI industry has so many crappy people in it. Everything they say or do is some new kind of extreme that seems so obviosuy bad you're genuinely horrified anyone with power would do it

Cancel culture those mfs

Trump avoided punishments for his post-2020 abuses, but many of his lawyers did not For the attorneys who helped fuel the president’s efforts to remain in office, the consequences have been severe. Take John Eastman, for example.

And they remain mystified as to why it's so hard for them to find real lawyers who will work for him...

Eastman: disbarred

Giuliani: disbarred

Chesebro: disbarred

Clark: facing possible disbarment

Ellis: law license suspended

www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

I dont't think you can separate the post-2012 racial gap in voter turnout from the GOP's sustained push for voter ID and general focus on faux "ballot security" policies

Is this true?

They Buried This Idea for 200 Years. Now They're Selling It Back to You. You’re a data scientist with thirteen years of experience.

Fascinating: a guaranteed income - a floor - gives poorer people more choices...and that's why some folks vote against it every time!

"Sit with that sentence. The floor would allow poor workers to be more selective."