During one of our local "let's teach ourselves about zoning" webinars, we asked activists to share what they wish they had done back in the day, knowing what they know now. Ordinances around noise (thrum, pulse, hum, etc. etc.) was mentioned more than once.
This is useful and I cannot stress enough that if you want to take proactive action BEFORE a data center is proposed in your community, talk with a local elected about noise ordinances and confirm they include not just volume but also type of noise. It can be a quick easy change!
Seriously, imagine all the soldiers that died of influenza in the 1919 flu hearing that 100 years later THERE IS A VACCINE FOR IT, and the military is not going to require it.
Insanity.
I will never not use an excuse to skeet this: anything written about education under the name John Dewey that's easy to follow, well-written, and child-friendly was actually written by his daughter, Evelyn.
(But that's not really a conspiracy. It's more a #ThanksForTyping thing.)
For fuck's sake, sign up for The Onion, and get a free limited edition IW tote.
A share of merch sales will go to the Sandy Hook families, which will be the first time they get any money since they filed this lawsuit eight years ago.
Legal fees have been insane. Please sign up and help us out!
Pennsylvania's auditor general, a Republican, audited 210,000+ new voter registrations under Gov. Shapiro's new motor voter system to see if noncitizens were registering to vote.
They found one. One.
And that was because a PennDOT staffer erred. It was fixed before the driver left the office.
I’ve had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the piece and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you’re right. So what? Don’t ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again
Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited
Captain reads, "Every classical school is different, but they are bound by a focus on cultivating virtues and teaching the liberal arts of grammar, logic and rhetoric." The picture shows a list of Early Settlers.
Same here. (I'm pretty sure the teacher didn't tell students that Queen Elizabeth and King James were early settlers but it's kinda funny to see their names on this list. Might also be a surprise to the Powhatan.)
Picture form the article shows the back of a child and their work. The work sheet reads "The 13 colonies" next to a work book on the English Colonies. The captain reads, "Students at the academy learn Latin, engage in the Socratic method, and write in cursive."
This picture and caption make for an interesting #PairedTexts. (That's a worksheet. The student is copying from a workbook. The words are printed.)
There are several sentences in this article that made me pause. The use of the word "model" and "teaching method" in particular, I fear, complicate more than reveal.
www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
Studies support certain aspects of the classical model — such as phonics instruction — but generally, research on the schooling method is sparse. Findings are often limited by small sample sizes.
I have a lot of empathy for education reporters. Education jargon is a landmine and crafting a sentence to make it meaningful to the average reader can make it functionally meaningless. For example:
Early voting starts today!
Flourescent orange cover, black text centered, on word per line
Illustration of abstracted hand reaching uo from the bottom holding a flower in thumb and index finger. The title and editor info is contained in the silhouette. The had issurrounded by silimar style flowers and a single bird in combinations of green red and ochre.
#PairedTexts
1) Resistance, Rebellion, Life: 50 Poems Now
2) How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope
Ick.
Schoolmen gonna schoolmen.
I'm seconding the baby. There hasn't been a lot of intentional misdirection and I don't think they would have had Dana mention it as a possibility without a plan for it.
That article about MFL is interesting and this is a wild sentence:
"But since its inception, the group, which fights so-called woke policies in education and helped push what some call FL's "Don’t Say Gay" law, has fueled its share of critics, labels as extremists and public ridicule."
I wonder if some leftists and liberals will pay attention to this. I've seen folks overly praise Rightwing organizing as if it is not subject to the same social forces and interpersonal dynamics as Left organizing. In fact it is: we often just don't have the same visibility into their groups.
If it works with snowflakes as well... my goodness, what a game changer.
NEW: Teenage boys are pulling classmates' photos off Insta and running them through cheap nudify apps and the fallout has now hit nearly 90 schools across 28 countries with 600+ known victims since 2023, per a WIRED/Indicator analysis.
UNICEF estimates 1.2M children were targeted last year alone.
Despicable fucking government.
Ever been interested in the AskHistorians behind the scenes? The fantastic @sarahagilbert.bsky.social has drafted up a fascinating post on the data and shared the Community Survey Results! Explore the surveys methods, & dive into the results, in this great thread:
old.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
Anna's point is spot on and I would offer that the context of her sentence is one of those times when its more accurate to refer to "men" rather than "people."
customer reviews for a local business. First person is an AI-generated white-presenting man named "Anna M." Second person is an AI-generated South Asian woman named "John L." Third person is an AI-generated white woman named Sophia R.
Oh... the laugh I laughed when I went to the website of a local business this morning.
One of the most interesting patterns from last night is that nearly every person who said they currently use a GenAI app used the phrase "discernment." As in, "you need to the ability to discern when AI is [wrong/imprecise/unhelpful]."
It's a funny, interesting word to hear to popular usage.
One of the improvements? Getting the message to those in power that zoning codes need to be updated to include tone, not just decibels.
bsky.app/profile/junl...