stupidity

June 2, 2013 Leave a Comment

Digital Learning Without the Digital

As mentioned in a previous rant, we’re trying to define “digital learning” here in the overly-large school district. Assuming the term has any meaning at all. The jury is still out on that part.

Anyway, at one of our community meetings this week, a parent told me an interesting story about digital learning, or the lack thereof.

His son is taking the beginning computer science class at one of our secondary schools (middle and high in one building), a course in which students traditionally learn the basics of programming hands-on, by actually writing, testing and debugging applications.

At the beginning of the year, they were told that all of their projects had to be completed by the first of May, which is about seven weeks prior to the end of our school year.

Why so early?

For the month of May into early June in this school, and pretty much every other one in the system, every student computer is conscripted for online standardized testing.

Thus, for roughly six weeks out of a 36 week school year learning for these students will come to a halt.

But then the same would be true for just about anything you might include in that definition of “digital learning”.

Tags: learning, programming, students, stupidity

March 10, 2013 3 Comments

Our Biannual Stupidity

Daylight Saving Time is one of the dumbest ideas ever created by man.

But that’s just my opinion. Here’s what a scientist with expertise in the matter has to say.

Whether or not DST saves energy [it doesn't] is the least of the reasons why it’s a bad idea. Much more important are the health effects of sudden, hour-long shifts on our bodies and minds. Chronobiologists* who study circadian rhythms know that for several days after the spring-forward clock resetting – and especially that first Monday – traffic accidents increase, workplace injuries go up and, perhaps most telling, incidences of heart attacks rise sharply. Cases of depression also go up. As the faint light of dawn starts preparing our bodies for waking up (mainly through the rise of cortisol secretion), our various organs, including the heart, also start preparing for increased function. If the alarm clock suddenly rings an hour earlier than usual, a weak heart can suffer an infarct.

The reason for negative health effects of DST is that, in essence, the entire world is jet-lagged for a few days. Unlike some animals, like honeybees and reindeer, humans have a very robust circadian clock system that resists abrupt shifts.

DST is a relatively recent invention in human history. In the US, Arizona, Hawaii, and some counties in Indiana refuse to go along with the system, and it’s not used at all in most non-western nations, including China, India and Russia.

It’s not likely our Congress critters would consider dropping the tradition since they can’t get organized enough to work on the real business of the country. Besides, too many of them don’t believe in anything to do with scientific evidence.

However, the keeping of time is basically a concept that’s been determined by society as a whole over the centuries. I wonder what would happen if enough of us just decided to leave the clocks alone next fall.

Think about it, people.

* Chronobiology is a field of biology that examines periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms and their adaptation to solar- and lunar-related rhythms.

Tags: change, daylght saving time, stupidity

November 20, 2012 2 Comments

The Right Answer

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, someone who is supposed to be a front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016*, was asked in an interview “How old do you think the Earth is?”.

His answer:

I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.

I’m also not qualified to answer a question like that but I know how to locate the best information available, so as most intelligent, non-scientists would tell you, the correct reply is “I’ll have to Google that.”

There may be “multiple theories” on the age and origins of the universe, but the only ones that should be taught in science classes are those backed by evidence, not myths and legends.

* The fact than anyone is making that assessment two weeks after the previous election is very depressing.

Tags: creationism, myths, republicans, science, stupidity

October 22, 2012 1 Comment

Dangerous Ignorance

This kind of stupidity has long since passed being funny and is now downright frightening.

Missouri’s Todd Akin, a Representative running for Senator, made headlines through his bizarre misunderstanding of biology, specifically that of the female reproductive system. Overcome by his desire to believe that pregnancy (and thus abortion) shouldn’t be an issue for rape victims, he infamously claimed that the female body could somehow block pregnancy in the case of “legitimate rape.”

But Akin’s (very public) misunderstanding of science pales in comparison to that of Georgia Representative Paul Broun. He’s an MD who is apparently convinced most of modern science is a plot, fostered by none other than Satan. “All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory,” Broun declared, “all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell.”

Pushing it over into scary territory is the the fact that both of these elected representatives hold positions on the House’s Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

And then there’s the chair of that committee who believes that any evidence supporting the idea that human behavior is altering the climate is produced by scientists who are only in it for the money.

These are the people who are helping to set our country’s science policy.

They are also the same people (and there are many more)* who want to infect the science curriculum with their same willful and dangerous ignorance.

*A writer in Scientific American says the anti-science, anti-intellectual movement growing in this country is actually jeopardizing democracy. It’s a long article but well worth reading.

Tags: anti intellectual, congress, science, stupidity

January 18, 2012 3 Comments

Teachable Moment

For those who’ve missed all the shouting in certain circles of the web, today is the day the web goes on strike. At least here in the US, where our congress critters are considering two bills that, quite frankly, should scare everyone who publishes content online.

The proposed laws, as do many these days, have somewhat Orwellian names: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). I mean, who wouldn’t want to join either of those worthy causes?

Well, take a few minutes to watch this video about the many unintended consequences that are likely to come with the vaguely written, open-ended PIPA (SOPA is only slightly different in language but not in the mechanics), primarily written by representatives of the big content producers, the MPAA and RIAA.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

All that, and neither will stop people who really want to illegally distribute copyrighted content.

In addition to violating any number of Constitutional rights, these laws would have an enormous chilling effect on legitimate fair use of copyrighted material as well as the diversity of speech so badly needed in the world today.

Both laws also start with some very false premises (such as piracy is costing the US billions of dollars and millions of jobs), as explained by Tim O’Reilly.

Take a look around the web today and you’ll find many sites have gone dark in opposition to SOPA and PIPA (including Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, WordPress, and several thousand others). I’m sure many people who have never heard of SOPA or PIPA will notice as they try to go about their normal web surfing.

However, although I thought about doing the same – taking this site dark (despite being a very, very small corner of the web) – I’m an educator and it seems to me that helping anyone who arrives here, by design or accident, understand the issues is a more effective way of making the point. Same idea, different style. Thus this post you are now reading (thank you!).

However, no matter which process makes you aware of the situation, as a web user, and probably a web content creator, it’s important to understand just how dangerous this kind of legislation is and why it’s in your best interest to actively oppose it.

Take a few more minutes today to contact your congress critter. Tell them to throw out this crap (be nice :-) and instead work on rules that support genuine net neutrality and fair use.

Then spend a few dollars and join the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization that has been a leader in the fight against this and other attempts to censor voices and ideas around the world.

Tags: censorship, congress, internet, pipa, sopa, stupidity

January 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

We Have The Right to Deceive

The Department of Transportation is telling airlines they have to be honest in their advertising.

Beginning Jan. 24, the Transportation Department will enforce a rule requiring that any advertised price for air travel include all government taxes and fees. For the last 25 years, the department has allowed airlines and travel agencies to list government-imposed fees separately, resulting in a paragraph of fine print disclaimers about charges that can add 20 percent or more to a ticket’s price.

Some airlines are suing to stop the rules on the grounds the government is violating their First Amendment free speech rights.

Is it possible for these companies to get any more contemptuous of their customers?

Tags: advertising, airlines, First Amendment, stupidity