29 Aug 2009
Reading by the Numbers

This is what happens when you try to quantify subjective value: you can see how many points your favorites would get you here.

Librarians and teachers report that students will almost always refuse to read a book not on the Accelerated Reader list, because they won’t receive points. They base their reading choices not on something they think looks interesting, but by how many points they will get. The passion and serendipity of choosing a book at the library based on the subject or the cover or the first page is nearly gone, as well as the excitement of reading a book simply for pleasure.

(link) [New York Times - Sunday Book Review]

21:19 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Toyota pulls plug on US factory

Well, not really. It seems as though most of these jobs will just be moving south and east a bit:

Leaders from San Antonio and the state had been working to lure Tacoma production to the San Antonio Toyota plant through an incentives package laced with tax abatements and economic development funds.

Is this what we've come to? A state versus state bidding war using taxpayer monies to enrich corporations? Political pull as the main determining factor in facilities placement? Where's Wesley Mouch when you need him?

Toyota pulls out of a production plant in the US it jointly owns with General Motors, the first time it has abandoned a factory.

(link) [BBC News]

21:14 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link