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Well, I have a few words for it, and ?great? isn?t one of them. Perhaps ?misleading.? ?Ridiculous.? ?Offensive.? And plain old ?wrong.? Here are the ?facts? it gives:
Whew! So ? seen any good movies recently?
Source: http://populationconnection.blogspot.com/2012/09/sex-lies-and-awful-video.html
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Dan Hardy usually fights well in his home country of England. For example, check out what he did to Rory Markham at UFC 95 in London.
On Saturday, he will fight Amir Sadollah in his hometown of Nottingham. He's gone 1-4 in his last five fights, but recaptured that knockout ability against Duane Ludwig in May. Will Hardy come up with another fine performance for the people of Nottingham? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.
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An ancient papyrus fragment which a Harvard scholar says contains the first recorded mention that Jesus may have had a wife is a fake, the Vatican said Friday.
"Substantial reasons would lead one to conclude that the papyrus is indeed a clumsy forgery," the Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said in an editorial by its editor, Gian Maria Vian. "In any case, it's a fake."
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Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: If your Web browser told you that your online reading habits leaned toward the conservative or liberal side of the political spectrum, would you seek out more diversity?
Joining a highly charged academic debate over the authenticity of the text, written in ancient Egyptian Coptic, the newspaper published a lengthy analysis by expert Alberto Camplani of Rome's La Sapienza university, outlining doubts about the manuscript and urging extreme caution.
The fragment, which reads "Jesus said to them, 'My wife...'" was unveiled by Harvard Professor Karen King as a text from the 4th century at a congress of Coptic Studies in Rome last week.
Her study divided the academic community, with some hailing it as a landmark discovery while others rapidly expressed their doubts
"It's really pretty unlikely that it's authentic," University of Durham Professor Francis Watson told Reuters after he published a paper arguing the words on the fragment were a rearrangement of phrases from a well known Coptic text.
Watson, who has previously worked on identifying forged gospels, said it was likely to be an ancient blank fragment that was written over in the 20th or 21st century by a forger seeking to make money.
Watson argues that the words on the fragment do not fit grammatically into a larger text.
"It's possible to get hold of an old bit of unwritten-on papyrus and write some new stuff on it," Watson said. "There is a market for fake antiquities throughout the Middle East ... I would guess that in this case the motivation might have been a financial one."
Academic debate
Manuscript experts who heard King's presentation quickly took to their blogs to express doubts, noting that the letters were clumsy, perhaps the script of someone unused to writing Coptic.
Writing from the conference, early Christian scholar Christian Askeland said specialists there were divided between two-thirds who were extremely skeptical, and one-third convinced the fragment was false.
"I have not met anyone who supports its authenticity," Askeland wrote from a session of the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies, where King gave her paper.
In an email to Reuters after the conference ended and before the Vatican editorial, King said: "Whether, in the end, the fragment will be shown to be authentic is still to be finally determined, but the serious conversation among scholars has begun."
During the conference King stressed that the fragment did not give "any evidence that Jesus was married, or not married" but that early Christians were talking about the possibility.
AnneMarie Luijendijk, associate professor of religion at Princeton University, said she concluded that the fragment was indeed an authentic, ancient text, written by a scribe in antiquity.
"We can see that by the way the ink is preserved on the papyrus and also the way the papyrus has faded and also the way the papyrus has become very fragmentary, which is actually in line with a lot of other papyri we have also from the New Testament," Luijendijk told Reuters during the conference.
The idea that Jesus was married resurfaces regularly in popular culture, notably with the 2003 publication of Dan Brown's best-seller "The Da Vinci Code," which angered the Vatican because, among other things, it was based on the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had children.
Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married and the Catholic Church, by far the largest in Christendom, says women cannot become priests because Christ chose only men as his apostles.
Additional reporting for Reuters by Philip Pullella.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49209554/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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In addition to what you eat, you need to watch what you are drinking. The sugars in many beverages, like sodas and juices, will cause weight gain. Also, recent studies suggest that ?diet? sodas are not helpful for those on a diet; they contain aspartame which researchers believe may be just as unhealthy as sugar.
To lose weight, it is crucial that you exercise. However, this does not mean you need to spend hours at the gym everyday. There are many exercises you can do from the comfort of your own home, including working out on an exercise bike or treadmill. Also, if you are a novice at exercising, it is not advisable to workout everyday. Doing so could cause injuries to the muscles or joints.
Before starting any diet or exercise regimen, it is important that you consult with your doctor first. If you have a certain health problem, there may be certain exercises or foods that your doctor will want you to avoid. Speak with your doctor about which specific weight loss plan you are interested in.
The amount of calories you consume everyday is important to losing weight. It is recommended that those not on a diet have about 2,500 calories each day. Obviously, when you are on a diet, this amount should be much less. In the beginning of your weight loss journey, try to have only 1,800 calories a day. Every few weeks, lower this amount by a few hundred until you are around to your optimal caloric goal.
Do not sit on the sofa all day?get up and move! Too much sitting does not allow your body to burn the calories you are consuming. All the food you eat is just going to go to your hips, stomach and other places you do not want it to be. This does not mean you have to spend hundreds of dollars on a gym membership either; taking a walk or job around the block everyday is very good.
Although many people do not realize it, the main cause of weight gain and obesity is just eating too much food. For many, it seems tedious and boring to count calories. However, this is one of the best ways to control your weight. It is very easy to get carried away and overeat when watching television or socializing. Before you know it, you have eaten double the amount of calories you need to maintain a healthy weight. If you are trying to lose weight or even maintain your present weight, calorie counting is a requirement. You will never know how many calories you are consuming if you do not keep track of them.
Another thing to avoid when you are trying to lose weight is all you can eat buffets. Of course, they are a good value for the money and many have great tasting food, but they are detrimental to weight loss. Many times dieters think they will only eat the low calorie, healthy food in the buffet, but it does not happen that way. It takes too much will power to overcome the temptation of the many delicious foods staring you in the face. Another reason people overeat drastically in an all you can eat buffet is trying to get more than your money?s worth.
By following the suggestions in this article, you will have a map to guide you. All it takes is some planning and a lot of determination to achieve and maintain your weight loss goal.
If you would like to get more weight loss tips, then check out Diabetic Meal Plan and Mediterranian Diet
Source: http://www.e-prescribe.biz/health-and-fitness/the-best-powerful-weight-loss-guidelines
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September is National Sewing Month
40% Off Coupon for Regular Priced Fabric
JoAnn?s is a great place for fabric.? They have an amazing selection for all kinds of projects and craft ideas.
Before this month is over, take advantage of offer and get some fabric for your next project.? Maybe something for the holidays??
Click HERE for your printable coupon.? It?s good on-line or in stores.
There are some exclusions so make sure to read the fine print on the coupon.
~Coupon expires Sunday, September 30, 2012
Source: http://truecouponing.com/2012/09/joann-fabric-craft-stores-save-40-on-fabric/
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All structures requiring lighting for safety, as an architectural feature or task level lighting should use a sustainable approach achieving the required effect or satisfying the need with the least amount of energy. Modular lighting controls as discussed in this article can achieve the right combination of security, user experience and significant energy savings.
Source: http://dailytipsforbusiness.blogspot.com/2012/09/architecture-and-interior-design_25.html
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Tags: lighting
Source: http://imageonenc.com/1259/daily-tips-for-business-architecture-and-interior-design/
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\ '); $('#wpl-mustlogin').hide().slideDown('fast'); } ); $('#wpl-mustlogin input.input').live( 'focus', function() { $(this).prev().hide(); }).live( 'blur', function() { if ( $(this).val() == '' ) { $(this).prev().show(); } }); $('#wpl-mustlogin input#wp-submit').live( 'click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); $.post( 'http://sacovokina.wordpress.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { 'action': 'wpl_record_stat', 'stat_name': 'loggedout_login_submit' }, function() { $('#wpl-mustlogin form').submit(); } ); }); $('#wpl-mustlogin a#wpl-signup-link').live( 'click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); var link = $(this).attr('href'); $.post( 'http://sacovokina.wordpress.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { 'action': 'wpl_record_stat', 'stat_name': 'loggedout_signup_click' }, function() { location.href = link; } ); }); }) })(jQuery); /* ]]> */
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In his speech at the U.N., the president will have the chance to distinguish his world vision from Mitt Romney's. Time Magazine Bobby Ghosh and former State Department Egypt Officer Joel Rubin discuss.
By Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News
News Analysis
CAIRO ??An ultra-conservative Islamist cleric in Egypt faces charges of blasphemy after he?allegedly tore up and burned copies of the New Testament at a protest in front of the American Embassy in Cairo.
Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud Abdallah, also known as Sheikh Abu Islam, is part owner of a private ultra-conservative Islamic TV station known as Al Uma and was participating in demonstrations against a U.S.-made movie denigrating the Prophet Muhammad that swept the Muslim world in the last month. (Click here for a video of the demonstration on YouTube).
Egypt?s General Prosecutor accused Abu Islam and his son, the channel's executive director, of insulting religion ??in this case Christianity.?
US embassies under siege; Family mourns former SEAL killed in Libya; Anti-Islamic film actors horrified at lip dubbing; Obama: Egypt neither ally nor enemy; Missile test creates cloud-like contrail; Kate Middleton takes center stage
The case is a rare example of the country?s often-criticized blasphemy laws being used against someone who allegedly insulted a religion that is not Islam. That trial is scheduled to begin September 30.
Is atheism blasphemy?
Another case that has received less attention illustrates the quandary Egyptians find themselves in amid the explosion of protests and expression following the revolution that deposed President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
One Wednesday, a 24-year-old self-described atheist appeared in court to face charges that he was in contempt of religion by posting links to websites that promoted atheism.
Egypt issues arrest warrants for Terry Jones, Coptic Christians
Saber Eyead Zaki also allegedly posted the link to the controversial video that has triggered global protests known as the "Innocence of Muslims" on his Facebook page.
Egyptian human rights organizations have say that Zaki has been tortured and was being held at an undisclosed location. ?His house was searched without a proper warrant when no one was home, they contend.
Security forces faced violent protests in Egypt and Yemen spurred by angry mobs accusing the U.S. of insulting the prophet Mohammad. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
A video posted online shows the moment he was taken into custody?? a mob hurls insults at him and try to attack him as he is being whisked away by police.
As these simultaneous trials show, even sharing an idea is now enough to land you in jail in Egypt. This may seem a contradiction ??given that many Egyptians cite?the explosion of free speech, alongside the right to protest, as a major gain of the revolution.?
So the key question many Egyptians face is: Does more media and the right to protest mean freer speech?
The trials also are the latest examples that the government is taking a zero-tolerance approach to those who would question or criticize religion, let alone mock it and insult it.
Traditionally, this has been a one-way street, with most of those being tried cited for insulting Islam, including famed Egyptian icon and actor Adel Imam. Most insults to Christianity in Egypt have gone unpunished from references in media to derogatory and inflammatory comments made publicly.?
Zoubeir Souissi / Reuters
Tunisian protesters burn the U.S. flag during a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy in Tunis on Sept. 12, 2012. Tunisian police fired teargas and rubber bullets into the air on Wednesday to disperse a protest over a U.S.-made film depicting the Prophet Mohammad near the U.S. Embassy in the capital Tunis.
The two cases, along with others since the revolution, have really challenged Egyptians definition of free speech and whether the legal system in Egypt is capable of defending the right of people to express themselves freely especially when it comes to the issue of religion.?
Perhaps the biggest challenge to come is whether such limitations will be enshrined in the forthcoming constitution.
Many are already ringing the alarm bells that the new constitution may enshrine restrictions on free speech rather protecting it. If so, many Egyptians will undoubtedly feel that perhaps the one gain the revolution produced in the short run was merely an illusion.?
More world stories from NBC News:
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(US criminal law) Driving under the influence is a serious crime. There are few defenses to a charge of driving under the influence, and anyone accused of driving under the influence should contact a local attorney to discuss his or her options. Most allegations of driving under the influence include officer testimony regarding specific behaviors demonstrated by the defendant, roadside sobriety test results, and blood or breathalyzer tests.
Officer Testimony
Attacking the officer?s perceptions will be difficult, but it will be part of any trial. Officers are trained to detect behaviors and mannerisms consistent with intoxication, and that training is usually sound. Disproving the officers? statements will be challenging. It may be possible to attribute some of the specific observations to specific causes. Fatigue or allergies can cause bloodshot eyes, individuals may speak with a lisp, and people can be generally clumsy.Fortunately, proving a charge for driving while intoxicated usually requires additional evidence beyond officer testimony.Road Side Sobriety Test ResultSobriety tests require strong skills of dexterity and coordination. Under the ordinary stresses of a traffic stop, failing these tests is probable, even for sober individuals. Sobriety tests are rife with opportunities to err, and they exist to give the officer probable cause to arrest individuals for driving under the influence.
Refusal to take a field sobriety test will often lead to an arrest, as officers typically only ask motorists to reinforce what they already believe. However, according to our?DUI attorney in Montgomery County Pennsylvania, it may also prevent the officer from having probable cause to file charges or obtain a conviction.
Blood and Breath Tests
Defective equipment or alcohol absorption patterns can affect the results. Improperly calibrated or defective machinery can produce incorrect readings, but this is rarely an issue. More frequently, attorneys allege that the results are misleading due to the nature of alcohol. This may be the best defense against a charge of driving under the influence.
Fighting a charge of driving under the influence may be possible. Officers may incorrectly assess a suspect?s mannerisms, those individuals may be unable to complete the field sobriety tests, and rising or declining intoxication can provoke misleading results from equipment. It is imperative that anyone charged with driving under the influence retain an attorney.
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Katie Hewatt is a legal researcher and contributing author for the Law Offices of Steven Kellis, a DUI attorney in Montgomery County Pennsylvania, who has 20 years of jury trial experience and is a former DUI prosecutor. Attorney Kellis has been practicing law since 1992 and has devoted his practice 100% to DUI and criminal litigation. Attorney Kellis personally handles every case and has defended countless DUI cases with success.
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Source: http://www.criminaldefenceblawg.com/dui-2/possible-defenses-to-a-dui-charge/
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OS X Mountain Lion: We have access to all types of ways to remind ourselves to do things?whether it's to-do lists, task lists, or calendars. But if you're looking for something much simpler that just reminds you to do something in a few minutes, or an hour, Scheduled Notifications does the job.
Scheduled Notifications sits in your menu bar and works with Notification Center as a lightweight system to give yourself quick reminders. It's not meant as a to-do list. Scheduled Notifications is meant more as a disappearing sticky note that reappears when the time is right. You can set Scheduled Notifications to notify you at a specific time, or just type in something like, "in 20 minutes."
Scheduled Notifications ($2.99) | Source Dump via TUAW
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By Peg Tyre--
September 25, 2012--
The Atlantic--
For years, nothing seemed capable of turning around New Dorp High School?s dismal performance?not firing bad teachers, not flashy education technology, not after-school programs. So, faced with closure, the school?s principal went all-in on a very specific curriculum reform, placing an overwhelming focus on teaching the basics of analytic writing, every day, in virtually every class. What followed was an extraordinary blossoming of student potential, across nearly every subject?one that has made New Dorp a model for educational reform.
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In 2009, when Monica DiBella entered New Dorp, a notorious public high school on Staten Island, her academic future was cloudy. Monica had struggled to read in early childhood, and had repeated first grade. During her elementary-school years, she got more than 100 hours of tutoring, but by fourth grade, she?d fallen behind her classmates again. In the years that followed, Monica became comfortable with math and learned to read passably well, but never seemed able to express her thoughts in writing. During her freshman year at New Dorp, a ?70s-style brick behemoth near a grimy beach, her history teacher asked her to write an essay on Alexander the Great. At a loss, she jotted down her opinion of the Macedonian ruler: ?I think Alexander the Great was one of the best military leaders.? An essay? ?Basically, that wasn?t going to happen,? she says, sweeping her blunt-cut brown hair from her brown eyes. ?It was like, well, I got a sentence down. What now?? Monica?s mother, Santa, looked over her daughter?s answer?six simple sentences, one of which didn?t make sense?with a mixture of fear and frustration. Even a coherent, well-turned paragraph seemed beyond her daughter?s ability. An essay? ?It just didn?t seem like something Monica could ever do.?
For decades, no one at New Dorp seemed to know how to help low-performing students like Monica, and unfortunately, this troubled population made up most of the school, which caters primarily to students from poor and working-class families. In 2006, 82 percent of freshmen entered the school reading below grade level. Students routinely scored poorly on the English and history Regents exams, a New York State graduation requirement: the essay questions were just too difficult. Many would simply write a sentence or two and shut the test booklet. In the spring of 2007, when administrators calculated graduation rates, they found that four out of 10 students who had started New Dorp as freshmen had dropped out, making it one of the 2,000 or so lowest-performing high schools in the nation. City officials, who had been closing comprehensive high schools all over New York and opening smaller, specialized ones in their stead, signaled that New Dorp was in the crosshairs.
And so the school?s principal, Deirdre DeAngelis, began a detailed investigation into why, ultimately, New Dorp?s students were failing. By 2008, she and her faculty had come to a singular answer: bad writing. Students? inability to translate thoughts into coherent, well-argued sentences, paragraphs, and essays was severely impeding intellectual growth in many subjects. Consistently, one of the largest differences between failing and successful students was that only the latter could express their thoughts on the page. If nothing else, DeAngelis and her teachers decided, beginning in the fall of 2009, New Dorp students would learn to write well. ?When they told me about the writing program,? Monica says, ?well, I was skeptical.? With disarming candor, sharp-edged humor, and a shy smile, Monica occupies the middle ground between child and adult?she can be both naive and knowing. ?On the other hand, it wasn?t like I had a choice. I go to high school. I figured I?d give it a try.?
New Dorp?s Writing Revolution, which placed an intense focus, across nearly every academic subject, on teaching the skills that underlie good analytical writing, was a dramatic departure from what most American students?especially low performers?are taught in high school. The program challenged long-held assumptions about the students and bitterly divided the staff. It also yielded extraordinary results. By the time they were sophomores, the students who had begun receiving the writing instruction as freshmen were already scoring higher on exams than any previous New Dorp class. Pass rates for the English Regents, for example, bounced from 67 percent in June 2009 to 89 percent in 2011; for the global-?history exam, pass rates rose from 64 to 75 percent. The school reduced its Regents-repeater classes?cram courses designed to help struggling students collect a graduation requirement?from five classes of 35 students to two classes of 20 students.
The number of kids enrolling in a program that allows them to take college-level classes shot up from 148 students in 2006 to 412 students last year. Most important, although the makeup of the school has remained about the same??roughly 40 percent of students are poor, a third are Hispanic, and 12 percent are black?a greater proportion of students who enter as freshmen leave wearing a cap and gown. This spring, the graduation rate is expected to hit 80 percent, a staggering improvement over the 63 percent figure that prevailed before the Writing Revolution began. New Dorp, once the black sheep of the borough, is being held up as a model of successful school turnaround. ?To be able to think critically and express that thinking, it?s where we are going,? says Dennis Walcott, New York City?s schools chancellor. ?We are thrilled with what has happened there.?
In the coming months, the conversation about the importance of formal writing instruction and its place in a public-school curriculum??the conversation that was central to changing the culture at New Dorp?will spread throughout the nation. Over the next two school years, 46 states will align themselves with the Common Core State Standards. For the first time, elementary-?school students??who today mostly learn writing by constructing personal narratives, memoirs, and small works of fiction?will be required to write informative and persuasive essays. By high school, students will be expected to produce mature and thoughtful essays, not just in English class but in history and science classes as well.
Common Core?s architect, David Coleman, says the new writing standards are meant to reverse a pedagogical pendulum that has swung too far, favoring self-?expression and emotion over lucid communication. ?As you grow up in this world, you realize people really don?t give a shit about what you feel or what you think,? he famously told a group of educators last year in New York. Early accounts suggest that the new writing standards will deliver a high-voltage shock to the American public. Last spring, Florida school officials administered a writing test that, for the first time, required 10th-graders to produce an expository essay aligned with Common Core goals. The pass rate on the exam plummeted from 80 percent in 2011 to 38 percent this year.
According to the Nation?s Report Card, in 2007, the latest year for which this data is available, only 1 percent of all 12th-graders nationwide could write a sophisticated, well-?organized essay. Other research has shown that 70 to 75 percent of students in grades four through 12 write poorly. Over the past 30 years, as knowledge-based work has come to dominate the economy, American high schools have raised achievement rates in mathematics by providing more?-extensive and higher-level instruction. But high schools are still graduating large numbers of students whose writing skills better equip them to work on farms or in factories than in offices; for decades, achievement rates in writing have remained low.
The program would not be unfamiliar to nuns who taught in Catholic schools circa 1950. It is, at least initially, a rigid, unswerving formula. ?I prefer recipe,? Hochman says, ?but formula? Yes! Okay!?
Although New Dorp teachers had observed students failing for years, they never connected that failure to specific flaws in their own teaching. They watched passively as Deirdre De?Angelis got rid of the bad apples on the staff; won foundation money to break the school into smaller, more personalized learning communities; and wooed corporate partners to support after-school programs. Nothing seemed to move the dial.
Her decision in 2008 to focus on how teachers supported writing inside each classroom was not popular. ?Most teachers,? said Nell Scharff, an instructional expert DeAngelis hired, ?entered into the process with a strongly negative attitude.? They were doing their job, they told her hotly. New Dorp students were simply not smart enough to write at the high-school level. You just had to listen to the way the students talked, one teacher pointed out?they rarely communicated in full sentences, much less expressed complex thoughts. ?It was my view that these kids didn?t want to engage their brains,? Fran Simmons, who teaches freshman English, told me. ?They were lazy.?
Scharff, a lecturer at Baruch College, a part of the City University of New York, kept pushing, asking: ?What skills that lead to good writing did struggling students lack?? She urged the teachers to focus on the largest group: well-?behaved kids like Monica who simply couldn?t seem to cobble together a paragraph. ?Those kids were showing up? every day, Scharff said. ?They seem to want to do well.? Gradually, the bellyaching grew fainter. ?Every quiz, every unit test, every homework assignment became a new data point,? Scharff recalled. ?We combed through their writing. Again and again, we asked: ?How did the kids in our target group go wrong? What skills were missing????
?
Maybe the struggling students just couldn?t read, suggested one teacher. A few teachers administered informal diagnostic tests the following week and reported back. The students who couldn?t write well seemed capable, at the very least, of decoding simple sentences. A history teacher got more granular. He pointed out that the students? sentences were short and disjointed. What words, Scharff asked, did kids who wrote solid paragraphs use that the poor writers didn?t? Good essay writers, the history teacher noted, used coordinating conjunctions to link and expand on simple ideas?words like for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Another teacher devised a quick quiz that required students to use those conjunctions. To the astonishment of the staff, she reported that a sizable group of students could not use those simple words effectively. The harder they looked, the teachers began to realize, the harder it was to determine whether the students were smart or not?the tools they had to express their thoughts were so limited that such a judgment was nearly impossible.
The exploration continued. One teacher noted that the best-written paragraphs contained complex sentences that relied on dependent clauses like although and despite, which signal a shifting idea within the same sentence. Curious, Fran Simmons devised a little test of her own. She asked her freshman English students to read Of Mice and Men and, using information from the novel, answer the following prompt in a single sentence:
?Although George ??
She was looking for a sentence like: Although George worked very hard, he could not attain the American Dream.
Some of Simmons?s students wrote a solid sentence, but many were stumped. More than a few wrote the following: ?Although George and Lenny were friends.?
A lightbulb, says Simmons, went on in her head. These 14- and 15-year-olds didn?t know how to use some basic parts of speech. With such grammatical gaps, it was a wonder they learned as much as they did. ?Yes, they could read simple sentences,? but works like the Gettysburg Address were beyond them?not because they were too lazy to look up words they didn?t know, but because ?they were missing a crucial understanding of how language works. They didn?t understand that the key information in a sentence doesn?t always come at the beginning of that sentence.?
Some teachers wanted to know how this could happen. ?We spent a lot of time wondering how our students had been taught,? said English teacher Stevie D?Arbanville. ?How could they get passed along and end up in high school without understanding how to use the word although??
But the truth is, the problems affecting New Dorp students are common to a large subset of students nationally. Fifty years ago, elementary-school teachers taught the general rules of spelling and the structure of sentences. Later instruction focused on building solid paragraphs into full-blown essays. Some kids mastered it, but many did not. About 25 years ago, in an effort to enliven instruction and get more kids writing, schools of education began promoting a different approach. The popular thinking was that writing should be ?caught, not taught,? explains Steven Graham, a professor of education instruction at Arizona State University. Roughly, it was supposed to work like this: Give students interesting creative-writing assignments; put that writing in a fun, social context in which kids share their work. Kids, the theory goes, will ?catch? what they need in order to be successful writers. Formal lessons in grammar, sentence structure, and essay-writing took a back seat to creative expression.
The catch method works for some kids, to a point. ?Research tells us some students catch quite a bit, but not everything,? Graham says. And some kids don?t catch much at all. Kids who come from poverty, who had weak early instruction, or who have learning difficulties, he explains, ?can?t catch anywhere near what they need? to write an essay. For most of the 1990s, elementary- and middle-?school children kept journals in which they wrote personal narratives, poetry, and memoirs and engaged in ?peer editing,? without much attention to formal composition. Middle- and high-school teachers were supposed to provide the expository- and persuasive-writing instruction.
Then, in 2001, came No Child Left Behind. The program?s federally mandated tests assess two subjects?math and reading?and the familiar adage ?What gets tested gets taught? has turned out to be true. Literacy, which once consisted of the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently, and express complex thoughts about the written word, has become synonymous with reading. Formal writing instruction has become even more of an after?thought.
Teacher surveys conducted by Arthur Applebee, the director of the Center on English Learning and Achievement at the University at Albany (part of the State University of New York system), found that even when writing instruction is offered, the teacher mostly does the composing and students fill in the blanks. ?Writing as a way to study, to learn, or to construct new knowledge or generate new networks of understanding,? says Applebee, ?has become increasingly rare.?
Back on Staten Island, more New Dorp teachers were growing uncomfortably aware of their students? profound deficiencies?and their own. ?At teachers college, you read a lot of theory, like Paulo Freire?s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, but don?t learn how to teach writing,? said Fran Simmons. How could the staff backfill the absent foundational skills their students needed in order to learn to write?
Seeking out ideas, DeAngelis took a handful of teachers to visit the Windward School, a small private school for first-through-ninth-graders located in a leafy section of White Plains, a suburb of New York City. To be accepted there, children have to possess at least average intelligence, have a language-based learning disability, and have parents who can afford the $45,000 yearly tuition. Students attend Windward for two or three years before reentering mainstream schools, and because so many affluent children move in and out of Windward, the writing program there, which was developed by the former Windward head Judith Hochman, has become something of a legend among private-?school administrators. ?Occasionally, we?d have a student attend Windward. And they?d come back and we?d find that that student had writing down,? says Scott Nelson, the headmaster at Rye Country Day, an exclusive independent school in Westchester County. Nelson figured that Rye Country Day kids could benefit en masse from the Windward expository-writing program. Three years ago, Nelson sent his entire middle-school English and social-studies staff to be trained by Hochman.
?Writing as a way to study, to learn, or to construct new knowledge or generate new networks of understanding,? says Applebee, ?has become increasingly rare.?
The Hochman Program, as it is sometimes called, would not be un?familiar to nuns who taught in Catholic schools circa 1950. Children do not have to ?catch? a single thing. They are explicitly taught how to turn ideas into simple sentences, and how to construct complex sentences from simple ones by supplying the answer to three prompts?but, because, and so. They are instructed on how to use appositive clauses to vary the way their sentences begin. Later on, they are taught how to recognize sentence fragments, how to pull the main idea from a paragraph, and how to form a main idea on their own. It is, at least initially, a rigid, unswerving formula. ?I prefer recipe,? Hochman says, ?but formula? Yes! Okay!?
Hochman, 75, has chin-length blond hair and big features. Her voice, usually gentle, rises almost to a shout when she talks about poor writing instruction. ?The thing is, kids need a formula, at least at first, because what we are asking them to do is very difficult. So God, let?s stop acting like they should just know how to do it. Give them a formula! Later, when they understand the rules of good writing, they can figure out how to break them.? Because the tenets of good writing are difficult to teach in the abstract, the writing program at Windward involves a large variety of assignments, by teachers of nearly every subject. After DeAngelis visited the school, she says, ?I had one question and one question only: How can we steal this and bring it back to New Dorp??
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For her part, Hochman was intrigued by the challenge New Dorp presented. Research has shown that thinking, speaking, and reading comprehension are interconnected and reinforced through good writing instruction. If the research was correct, Hochman told DeAngelis, a good writing program at New Dorp should lead to significant student improvement all around.
Within months, Hochman became a frequent visitor to Staten Island. Under her supervision, the teachers at New Dorp began revamping their curriculum. By fall 2009, nearly every instructional hour except for math class was dedicated to teaching essay writing along with a particular subject. So in chemistry class in the winter of 2010, Monica DiBella?s lesson on the properties of hydrogen and oxygen was followed by a worksheet that required her to describe the elements with subordinating clauses?for instance, she had to begin one sentence with the word although.
Although ? ?hydrogen is explosive and oxygen supports combustion,? Monica wrote, ?a compound of them puts out fires.?
Unless ? ?hydrogen and oxygen form a compound, they are explosive and dangerous.?
If ? This was a hard one. Finally, she figured out a way to finish the sentence. If ? ?hydrogen and oxygen form a compound, they lose their original properties of being explosive and supporting combustion.?
As her understanding of the parts of speech grew, Monica?s reading comprehension improved dramatically. ?Before, I could read, sure. But it was like a sea of words,? she says. ?The more writing instruction I got, the more I understood which words were important.?
Classroom discussion became an opportunity to push Monica and her classmates to listen to each other, think more carefully, and speak more precisely, in ways they could then echo in persuasive writing. When speaking, they were required to use specific prompts outlined on a poster at the front of each class.
?I agree/disagree with ___ because ??
?I have a different opinion ??
?I have something to add ??
?Can you explain your answer??
The structured speaking was a success during Monica?s fifth-period-English discussion of the opening scene of Arthur Miller?s Death of a Salesman. ?What is Willie Loman?s state of mind? Is he tired? If he is tired, why would he be so tired?? asked the teacher, Angelo Caterina. ?Willie Loman seems tired because he is getting old,? ventured a curly-haired girl who usually sat in the front. ?Can you explain your answer?,? Monica called out. The curly-haired girl bit her lip while her eyes searched the book in front of her. ?The stage direction says he?s 63. That?s old!? Other hands shot up. Reading from the prompt poster made the students sound as if they?d spent the previous period in the House of Lords instead of the school cafeteria. ?I agree that his age is listed in the stage direction,? said John Feliciano. ?But I disagree with your conclusion. I think he is tired because his job is very hard and he has to travel a lot.?
Robert Fawcett, a loose-limbed boy in a white T-shirt, got his turn. Robert had been making money working alongside the school?s janitors. ?I disagree with those conclusions,? he said, glancing at the prompts. ?The way Willie Loman describes his job suggests that the kind of work he does is making him tired. It is repetitive. It can feel pointless. It can make you feel exhausted.? The class was respectfully silent for a moment, acknowledging that Robert had analyzed the scene and derived a fresh idea from his own experience.
By sophomore year, Monica?s class was learning how to map out an introductory paragraph, then how to form body paragraphs. ?There are phrases?specifically, for instance, for example?that help you add detail to a paragraph,? Monica explains. She reflects for a moment. ?Who could have known that, unless someone taught them?? Homework got a lot harder. Teachers stopped giving fluffy assignments such as ?Write a postcard to a friend describing life in the trenches of World War I? and instead demanded that students fashion an expository essay describing three major causes of the conflict.
Some writing experts caution that championing expository and analytic writing at the expense of creative expression is shortsighted. ?The secret weapon of our economy is that we foster creativity,? says Kelly Gallagher, a high-school writing teacher who has written several books on adolescent literacy. And formulaic instruction will cause some students to tune out, cautions Lucy Calkins, a professor at Columbia University?s Teachers College. While she welcomes a bigger dose of expository writing in schools, she says lockstep instruction won?t accelerate learning. ?Kids need to see their work reach other readers ? They need to have choices in the questions they write about, and a way to find their voice.?
To be sure, the writing program hasn?t solved all of New Dorp?s problems. The high rate of poverty makes the students vulnerable to drug abuse and violence. And in some subjects, scores on the Regents exams this year showed less growth than the teachers had hoped for. Still, word of the dramatic turnaround has spread: principals and administrators from other failing high schools as far away as Chicago have been touring New Dorp. As other schools around New York City and the nation scramble to change their curriculum to suit the Common Core standards, New Dorp teachers say they?re ready.
In a profoundly hopeful irony, New Dorp?s re?emergence as a viable institution has hinged not on a radical new innovation but on an old idea done better. The school?s success suggests that perhaps certain instructional fundamentals?fundamentals that schools have devalued or forgotten?need to be rediscovered, updated, and reintroduced. And if that can be done correctly, traditional instruction delivered by the teachers already in classrooms may turn out to be the most powerful lever we have for improving school performance after all.
As for Monica DiBella, her prospects have also improved. She expresses more complex and detailed ideas when she raises her hand. Whereas she once read far below grade level, this year she earned a 77 on her English Regents exam (a 75 or above signals that a student is on track to engage in college-level coursework) and a 91 in American history (?Yep, you heard that right,? Monica tells me). Although many of her classmates can now bang out an essay with ease, she admits she still struggles with writing. She hurried through the essay on her global-history exam, and the results fell far short of a masterpiece. The first paragraph reads:
Throughout history, societies have developed significant technological innovations. The technological innovations have had both positive and negative effect on the society of humankind. Two major technological advances were factory systems and chemical pesticides.
But Dina Zoleo, who taught Monica as a junior, points out that the six-paragraph essay shows Monica?s newfound ability to write solid, logically ordered paragraphs about what she?s learned, citing examples and using transitions between ideas. Together with her answers in the multiple-choice section of the test, it was enough to earn Monica an 84. She?s now begun the process of applying to college. ?I always wanted to go to college, but I never had the confidence that I could say and write the things I know.? She smiles and sweeps the bangs from her eyes. ?Then someone showed me how.?
Peg Tyre is the director of strategy at the Edwin Gould Foundation and the author of The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve.
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The perception of RIM?s BlackBerry ecosystem is that it?s only meant for business use; too stuffy. The company tried to change that by introducing some standard games to the equation with its Blackberry PlayBook, but it?s handsets remained largely without any entertainment prospects.
With BlackBerry 10?s new touchscreen interface, however, it looks like mainstream mobile games will finally be making their way to BlackBerry devices.?During its keynote today, RIM?s team lead for gaming, Sean Paul Taylor showed off some of the games that will be coming to BlackBerry 10.
Of the four games shown during the keynote, four were rehashes of titles we?ve already seen on Android and iOS including Shark Dash, Jetpack Joyride, and Shadowrun. Each game appeared to run smoothly and without and hiccups, although and real impressions will have to wait until we can actually get our hands on them.?
The one game that did interest us was the space shooter Alpha Zero. RIM says the game is brand new and will make its big debut on BlackBerry 10. Taylor says the game supports multitouch gestures, allowing users to control their ship?s lasers by moving two fingers around the screen.?
That was it for the games RIM was showing off for its new OS. There also wasn?t any mention of the number of games that will be available for the operating system at launch. If RIM really wants to drop its stodgy image, it?ll have to offer users far more entertainment options than what we?ve seen.?
Source: http://blog.laptopmag.com/rim-shows-off-blackberry-10s-gaming-prowess
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By The Associated Press
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten --?St. Maarten police on Sunday arrested a suspect in the slayings of a South Carolina couple whose slashed bodies were found in their beachfront condominium on the tiny Dutch Caribbean territory.
Police spokesman Ricardo Henson said the male suspect was arrested before dawn Sunday and has not been charged yet.
Citing the territory's privacy rules, Henson declined to give further details about the suspect, saying police will issue a statement "as soon as more information can be divulged."
The bodies of Michael and Thelma King were found Friday in their condominium at the Ocean Club Resort on St. Maarten, a 16-square-mile territory with about 50,000 inhabitants that shares a small island with the French dependency of St. Martin.
Tied to a chair
Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos said both Americans appeared to have suffered fatal stab wounds. The woman was found tied to a chair, and the man was lying on the floor, partially over an overturned chair. Both were in their 50s.
Autopsies were expected to be conducted Monday, according to Mos. Relatives of the slain couple have arrived in the territory.
Friends said the Kings were part-time residents of St. Maarten and owned several homes. They also owned a condominium in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Watch video from NBC station WCBD:
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Terry Tamblyn, a resident of South Carolina's coastal city of Isle of Palms, told The Post and Courier newspaper that King was a retired insurance executive who later started a successful printing business that he sold. He said King also owned a couple of restaurants on St. Maarten.
Local restaurant owner Topper Daboul has told The Associated Press that he and Michael King were building a rum factory together on the territory.
'Pains everyone'
Daboul said he last saw King on Wednesday afternoon and "some other friends had drinks with them that night."
He said he wasn't able to reach the Kings on the phone Thursday so he drove to their house the next day and banged on the door. He said he asked a person on the premises to climb over a fence to see if anyone was in the house.
Read more World stories from NBC News
Daboul said the person reported a lifeless man leaning over a chair inside the house.
Shortly after the slayings were announced, the St. Maarten government said "every government resource is being brought into play to investigate and solve this case."
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said she was "shocked" by the murders.
Police said roughly 25 officers were part of the investigative team.
The St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association said it's outraged by the murders, which "pains everyone in the community deeply."
More world stories from NBC News:
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? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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UT Dallas computer scientists have developed a technique to automatically allow one computer in a virtual network to monitor another for intrusions, viruses or anything else that could cause a computer to malfunction.
The technique has been dubbed ?space travel? because it sends computer data to a world outside its home, and bridges the gap between computer hardware and software systems.
?Space travel might change the daily practice for many services offered virtually for cloud providers and data centers today, and as this technology becomes more popular in a few years, for the user at home on their desktops,? said Dr. Zhiqiang Lin, the research team?s leader and an assistant professor of computer science in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
As cloud computing is becoming more popular, new techniques to protect the systems must be developed. Since this type of computing is Internet-based, skilled computer specialists can control the main part of the system virtually ? using software to emulate hardware.
Lin and his team programmed space travel to use existing code to gather information in a computer?s memory and automatically transfer it to a secure virtual machine ? one that is isolated and protected from outside interference.
?You have an exact copy of the operating system of the computer inside the secure virtual machine that a hacker can?t compromise,? Lin said. ?Using this machine, then the user or antivirus software can understand what?s happening with the space traveled computer setting off red flags if there is any intrusion.
Previously, software developer had to write such tools manually.
?With our technique, the tools already being used on the computer become part of the defense process,? he said.
The gap between virtualized computer hardware and software operating on top of it was first characterized by Drs. Peter Chen and Brian Noble, faculty members from the University of Michigan.
?The ability to leverage existing code goes a long way in solving the gap problem inherent to many types of virtual machine services,? said Chen, the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, who first proposed the gap in 2001.
?(Yangchun) Fu and Lin have developed an interesting way to take existing code from a trusted system and automatically use it to detect intrusions.?
Lin said the space travel technique will help the FBI understand what is happening inside a suspect?s computer even if he is physically miles away, instead of having to buy expensive software.
Space travel was presented at the most recent IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. Lin developed this with Yangchun Fu, a research assistant in computer science.
?This is the top conference in cybersecurity, said Bhavani Thuraisingham, executive director of the UT Dallas Cyber Security Research and Education Center and a Louis A. Beecherl Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Jonsson School.
?It is a major breakthrough that virtual developers no longer need to write any code to bridge the gap by using the technology invented by Dr. Lin and Mr. Fu. This research has given us tremendous visibility among the cybersecurity research community around the world.?
Source: Computer science at UT Dallas
Source: http://www.defencetalk.com/project-gives-computers-a-more-powerful-way-to-detect-threats-44707/
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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel (7) passes in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel (7) passes in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
New Orleans Saints cornerback Jabari Greer (33) celebrates his interception with defensive end Will Smith (91) and linebacker Jonathan Casillas (52) in the second half of an NFL football game in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham (80) crosses the goal line for a touchdown as Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Brandon Flowers (24) covers in the second half of an NFL football game in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (9) passes in the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefsn in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas (23) carries as Kansas City Chiefs strong safety Eric Berry (29) tackles in the first half of an NFL football game in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Ryan Succop delivered a huge kick in the gut to the reeling New Orleans Saints.
Succop kicked six field goals, one to force overtime in the final seconds and another from 31 yards to lift the Kansas City Chiefs to a 27-24 victory over the Saints, who remain winless through three games since coach Sean Payton was suspended in connection with the NFL's bounty investigation.
Succop's 43-yard field goal with 3 seconds left completed a methodical comeback by Kansas City (1-2) after the Saints had cashed in on a pair of Chiefs turnovers to go ahead 24-6 in the third quarter.
In storming back to win for the first time this season, Kansas City needed only one touchdown, a 91-yard run by Jamaal Charles, who finished with 233 yards rushing and 55 yards receiving.
The Chiefs also got a safety in the fourth quarter on Justin Houston's third sack of the game.
Drew Brees passed for 240 yards and three touchdowns, but missed all six of his passes through the fourth quarter and overtime, when the Saints were unable to get a single first down.
After Charles' long TD made it 24-13 in the third quarter, Stanford Routt's interception of Brees' underthrown pass for Devery Henderson near the Kansas City goal line thwarted another Saints scoring chance.
Succop field goals of 34 and 38 yards early in the fourth quarter cut it to 24-19, setting up a wild finish.
Houston's sack of Brees for a safety cut it to 24-21 and gave Kansas City the ball with 5:33 left.
Cassel's spinning scramble and 11-yard pass across the field to Jon Baldwin on third-and-10 extended the drive, which also included Cassel's completion to Dwayne Bowe on fourth-and-5 before Succop's game-tying kick with 3 seconds left.
In one of several lowlights for the crew of replacement officials working the game, New Orleans was briefly ruled the winner on the field in overtime when running back Shaun Draughn lost the ball stretching for a first down and safety Roman Harper picked up the ball and ran to the end zone.
The fumble was overturned on video review, but the spot came up a half-yard short of a first down. Charles easily converted a fourth-down run to extend the winning drive.
With New Orleans bringing in the NFL's third-ranked offense and Kansas City's offense ranked fifth ? and with both teams' defenses ranked near the bottom of the NFL ? oddsmakers had set the over-under at 53, higher than any other game this week.
The Saints then opened according to script, marching 83 yards in six plays, helped by Darren Sproles' 47-yard run. Lance Moore made it 7-0 with a leaping, outstretched snag of Brees' 9-yard pass.
After that, however, no team got in the end zone for the rest of the half. The Chiefs' Ryan Succop hit field goals of 25 and 45 yards, and New Orleans' Garrett Hartley hit from 40, and the Saints led 10-6 at halftime.
New Orleans appeared to be taking command in the third quarter thanks to a pair of turnovers by the Chiefs.
First came a fumble by Dexter McCluster, who hurt his shoulder while falling on his own after a short catch, then let the ball go moments before he would have been touched down by cornerback Jabari Greer. Officials initially ruled McCluster down while linebacker Jonathan Casillas scooped the ball and ran to the end zone. The Saints challenged and won a reversal on replay review, giving them the ball on the Chiefs 19. That set up Brees' 1-yard TD pass to tight end Jimmy Graham.
New Orleans then went ahead 24-6 on Brees' 6-yard swing pass to fullback Jed Collins, capping a short drive set up by Greer's interception and 28-yard return to the Kansas City 7.
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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