Blog (6,195)
tcr!
· Sep 25, 2012 at 5:53 pm
(Reuters) - School administrators will be allowed to paddle students of the opposite sex under a rule approved unanimously Monday night by the school board in the North Texas community of Springtown.[…]
Under the previous policy, corporal punishment could only be carried out by an administrator who was of the same gender as the student. The new policy says that a school official of the same gender as the student must be in the room where the paddling takes place and that parents must provide written permission for their child to be paddled.[…]
In Springtown, which is northwest of Fort Worth, the paddling of two high school girls by a male assistant principal earlier this month prompted the change in policy.[…]
The Texas Association of School Boards recommends that corporal punishment be administered only by an administrator who is the same sex as the student.
Don’t mess with Texas.
Update:
Reuters glossed over the details regarding the “male assistant principal” mentioned above but Fox News dug a little deeper.
“I did give him permission to swat her,” said Cathi Watts, whose 16-year-old daughter, Jada, suffered bruises on her backside that were visible for more than a week. “I didn’t give him permission to bruise her.”
#justice
tcr!
· Sep 25, 2012 at 2:55 am
Google Maps is the most prominent new feature in an Google Play Books update that also includes dictionary definitions, translations, and more.
I use this app a surprising amount even though I hate reading ebooks. Highlights and notes, though, that’s a w00t.
In related news, the folks behind Project Gutenberg are my heroes.
#google
tcr!
· Sep 24, 2012 at 10:00 pm
In 1988, Richard Lenski, an evolutionary biologist now at Michigan State University, launched the longest running experiment on natural selection. It started with a single microbe–E. coli–which Lenski used to seed twelve genetically identical lines of bacteria. He placed each line in a separate flask, which he provisioned with a scant supply of glucose. The bacteria ate up the sugar in a few hours. The next day, he took a droplet of microbial broth from each flask and let it tumble into a new one, complete with a fresh supply of food. The bacteria boomed again, then starved again, and then were transferred again to a new home. Lenski and his colleagues have repeated this procedure every day for the past 24 years, rearing over 55,000 generations of bacteria.[…]
In Chapter Three, life got better for the feeble citrate eaters. They copied the citT gene, along with its oxygen-switch promoter. Now the bacteria could make even more CitT channels, and thus pull in even more citrate. The bacteria made a third copy, and could pull in even more. Blount and his co-authors proved that the extra copies helped the bacteria this way by defrosting bacteria from Chapter Two and inserting copies of citT into them. Those early citrate eaters immediately got much better at feeding.
The scientists also found other mutations that arose during Chapter Three. While they have yet to figure out what those mutations did, the evidence they’ve gathered so far suggests the mutations allowed the bacteria to break down citrate more efficiently so they could get more energy from their food.
And those scientists sure do have a lot of patience.
Elsewhere:
- Creationist to Bill Nye: Kids should be aware of evolution’s flaws
“Evolution is the fundamental in all of life science, in all of biology,” he says in the video. “It’s like, it’s very much analogous to doing geology without believing in tectonic plates. You’re just not going to get the right answer. Your whole world is just going to be a mystery instead of an exciting place.”
#fishbowllife
tcr!
· Sep 24, 2012 at 6:03 pm
The Breaking Bad win of the evening at tonight’s 64th Primetime Emmy Awards went to Aaron Paul for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. It was his third nomination for his portrayal of Jesse Pinkman and his second Emmy win. “Oh my God” Paul said, accepting the award. He directly addressed fellow cast member and nominee Giancarlo Esposito, calling it an honor to share the category with him and concluded his speech with thanking Vince Gilligan and the writing staff for not killing him off.
Much deserved!
Elsewhere:
- Infographic: The Death Toll in Breaking Bad
Season 5 of Breaking Bad is now over, and we’re all stuck waiting until next year for the last eight episodes. The wait is going to be excruciating. Fans are left to reflect on the season that was, and re-watch previous seasons. Or, they can bide their time over the next year by checking out this infographic I’ve created that details all of the deaths that have occurred in the series, including the cause of death and the responsible party.
- The art of ‘Breaking Bad’
An unusual art exhibit in Los Angeles promotes and celebrates the Emmy-nominated drama “Breaking Bad”.
If you’re not watching the show, you should be.
#tv #breakingbad
tcr!
· Sep 23, 2012 at 8:35 pm
…as imagined by pulp fiction artist Frank R. Paul in 1940. Check out the rest of the collection here, they are pretty awesome. For the record, I do not recommend…
Apparently the shark walri also wear lipstick.
#arts
tcr!
· Sep 23, 2012 at 10:30 am
reddit user jerfoo created a lovely and simple photo series demonstrating the difference between experimental science – testing data and finding things out based on evidence – and dogmatic faith – belief in something rigidly and without wavering.
The writing and photos are brilliantly done. Direct link to the whole image.
#science
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