Thursday, February 19, 2015

War on Education

It's not just in Texas that state government is waging a war on education.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker made national headlines this month when his proposed state budget redefined the mission of the University of Wisconsin System as "to develop human resources to meet the state's workforce needs." His budget removed "to serve and stimulate society,", "to improve the human condition," and "to search for truth." Although the governor quickly retracted them, the proposed changes generated lots of conversation about the public purposes of college.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Particle Fever (2013)

IMDB
Particle Fever (2013): People behind Large Hadron Collider, humans' largest experiment into universe's smallest things. Inspiring. B+













Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Putting the Squeeze on Group Homes

The Richardson Coalition political action committee included this paragraph in its latest "Richardson News in Three Minutes" newsletter:
The City staff is actively working with an independent legal counsel to evaluate the City's current policies and procedures for processing group home applications.
Source: Richardson Coaltion PAC.
The words that jumped out at me were "legal counsel." That can only mean the city is looking for (legal) ways to put the squeeze on group homes that provide support for people recovering from drug and alcohol dependency. That is, keep more from opening, and who knows, maybe even hassle existing ones out of business.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Virunga (2014)

IMDB
Virunga (2014): Congo national park. Mountain gorillas. Poachers. Oil. Corruption. War. More thriller than nature documentary. Intense. A+