14 Feb 2007
Texas Gov. Proposes College Exit Exams

So can I take the test without attending classes and get a degree? If not, why not? If so, what's the point of a four year test prep course?

College students who are about to graduate at public universities may need to get their No. 2 pencils and Scantrons ready. There is a possibility they could be revisiting the days when they had take a standardized tests.

(link) [North Texas Daily]

via U.S. News & World Report

21:40 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

The Quantum Computing Conundrum

Well, if a true quantum computer, there'd damn well better be some uncertainty...

Scientists know what quantum computing is supposed to do. They just don't know whether or not it really works. By the Associated Press.

(link) [Wired News: Top Stories]

21:35 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Dobbs: Drug war costs more lives, money than Iraq

If you actually need proof that Lou Dobbs is an idiot, look no further. He reads the statistics right and calls the Bushies to task for misreading them, admits we've been losing this "war" since it's inception, and then calls for "victory"! What the Hel does that mean? Throwing more good money after bad? "Cracking down" even harder?

When we will learn the lesson we should've learned in 1933?

We're fighting a war that is inflicting even greater casualties than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, incredibly, costing even more money. We're losing the War on Drugs, and we've been in retreat for three decades. Whatever course we follow in prosecuting other wars, we must commit ourselves as members of this great society to only one option in the War on Drugs -- victory.

(link) [CNN.com]

21:30 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Music execs criticise DRM systems

Ah, business thinking! "Our customers would like it, and we'd certainly make more money, so therefore we mustn't do it!" Simply breathtaking.

More people would buy digital music if hi-tech locks were removed, say music executives.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

14:32 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Digging Out

Well, as you can see, my cows have replaced the equipment they were using last month with something a bit more appropriate to the season. Water is now ice, and the only use for snorkels now is breathing while burrowing through the drifts!

Speaking of drifts, there's about a six footer in the driveway behind the garage, and another three or four footer directly behind the garage door. That'll need snow blown out - no way to shovel those puppies.

Our official snow total was 16" in Thorntown - don't know if we hit that here on the farm, but we got well over a foot. Hel, we might have passed the official mark for all I know - the drifting is so bad that I don't know how anybody can sort it out.

Well, enough of a break for now - it's back to my shovel. I still need to get the driveway cleared even if I can't make it to work today, because I'm supposed to get a delivery of chicken feed this week, and he's gotta be able to get the truck up to the bulk tank to pour it.

And by the way, Francie is still pregnant, bless her little goat heart! Helping her deliver last night would have been a complete impossibility. And the roof panel stayed attached, although I'll have to fix it before spring. So I did get a bit lucky. Now I get to go back outside!

10:34 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link