Links

Whoa. Poland is hardcore. And Russia is thinking about it, too!

Also, the Kennedy broke today. Whoops.

I do wonder why we don't carry the Thriller costume

It's bizarre, but I think the biggest worry that I have these days is that I will run to the bathroom at work, or just into the other room, and when I come back out someone will have run inside, grabbed the $200 'Bad' Michael Jackson costume, and run off in the space of those three minutes.

And by 'biggest' I mean most repeated worry, not most serious. Obvi I'm still worried about global warming, space shark invasions and spiders laying their eggs under my skin.

I could also worry about the 'Billie Jean' or the 'Beat It' costumes, but I'm sure that no thief would miss the comedic value of stealing the 'Bad' costume.

Success!

I PASSED THE BAR!!! After an agonizing morning of tension while the Ibaby server was down (they posted the results alphabetically, and made it to the B's before word got around and everyone tried to login), I got the results around 4 or so. I wish I hadn't been at work, cuz all I wanted to do right then was celebrate. Whee!

The costume shop has been excellent. Today it was really slow, so my staff tried on costumes. One put on the Frank the Bunny suit and just stood in the window, occasionally waving at passerbys. Then she made it Hawaiian Frank: flower leis, hula skirt, and a ukalele. The other girl put on a police helmet, aviator shades, and taped a blue signal light to the top of her helmet. I'm currently wearing a skeleton shirt.

A couple of days ago a cop came in and walked around for a bit with a Tupac mask on.

Halloween is fun.

More just links.

Have you heard of the Arctic Sea? The vessel, I mean. It's recent story is shady, and it just gets weirder.

Bad, bad news. Education bubble in the making? What happens when an education bubble bursts?

I love rational city planning. I wish more places learned from the past on this.

No Ice Age? Does that mean we don't ever have to hear of Ray Romano ever again?

Just links.

Neat. Even if the circumstances are that destructive.

It's postal in this town.

Random psychoanalysis of the British. Andy says it's true that the war is constantly referred to in England.

Facebook is official.

Edukashun?

Chicago schools = Harvard grading system = bunk.

It's frustrating to me that teachers and schools are so consistently blamed for the poor performance of students. Yes, it is the responsibility of teachers to try their hardest to educate their students. But at some point, if the kid doesn't do the work, it is simply beyond the control of the teacher. When that happens, the appropriate thing to do is to flunk the kid.

The appropriate thing for the school to do is to defend the system and the teacher. If the parents try to step-in to change the grades, the system (the school administration) should remind them that the parents role is to make sure the kid does the work and gets educated, not to sidestep the whole point of going to school. If the parents have a problem with the kid's education, they have to pressure their kid, not the school. And if the coaches do it, the system should tell them to go fly a kite. When the administration pressures the teachers to change grades, it undermines their ability to work and discourages them. No amount on the paycheck is going to keep good teachers in the public schools if you do that. It's just not worth it.

Poor Grandma.

Sitting in a hospital gives a person all kinds of time to add new posts.

Like this one!

Right now the nurse is trying to find a good vein to get more blood from my grandmother's arm. Problem is, she doesn't have many good veins in her arms left to go after. And she can't even stay awake while getting poked with needles. Poor Grandma. I hope she gets better soon.

And the official declaration: "You're outta blood." She couldn't get enough to run the labs. Poor Grandma. I hope she gets better soon.

Getting on my intellectual pedestal

Interesting issue, but you know what I REALLY don't like about this article? When Liptak (or his editor) decide to say "friend-of-the-court" brief instead of "amicus" brief. First, the whole plain language initiative is not actually helped, I think, by using an long, awkward phrase like that. And besides, "friend-of-the-court" does not actually make it more clear to the reader what an amicus brief actually is. It's a relatively obscure legal process for the general public, and calling it something else won't actually make more people understand it.

But more essentially, STOP DUMBING DOWN MY NEWS! Just call it what it is.

Or just bring back Linda Greenhouse, I can't imagine she would allow that crap in her articles.

More China trade law stuff

A synopsis of the WTO DSB regarding the China/US dispute over publication-related trading rights and distribution. Also, a link to the panel's decision itself.

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So goes one of the great statesmen of the 20th century.