CAROLINA NATURALLY

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Keep your eyes open today and watch where you're going, because if you step into the middle of a heated discussion, you might get burned.
The recurring arguments of two people you know confuse you -- why can't they put their differences to rest, once and for all?
Your peacemaking skills are strong, but they are wasted on this duo.
You may think they are making each other miserable, but it's very likely that they enjoy the friction between them.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Jalandhar, Punjab, India
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Warsaw, Mazowiecke, Poland
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Cork, Cork, Ireland
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain
Seoul, Kyonggi-Do, Korea
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland

and in cities across the United States such as Farqua Varina, Raleigh, Cullowhee, Mint Hill and more.

Today is:

Today is Friday, July 22, the 203rd day of 2011.

There are 162 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Rat Catcher's Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

NFL owners approve deal

NFL team owners approve labor deal

The league owners take a big step to end the four-month-long lockout with a decisive vote.

Next step in process

Also:

Finland's high-quality, consistent education system eschews tests, reveres teachers

On Salon, David Sirota interviews Harvard's Tony Wagner about his documentary, The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World's Most Surprising School System, which looks at the way that the Finnish education system delivers consistent, high-quality education without testing, with long holidays for students, and with teachers who are considered national treasures.

There is no domestic testing except a very quiet auditing program to test demographic samples of kids; not for accountability, not for public consumption, and not for comparison across schools. The fascinating thing is that because they have created such a high level of professionalism, they can trust their teachers. Their motto is "Trust Through Professionalism." The difference between the highest performing school in Finland and the lowest performing school in Finland is less than four percent, and that's without any testing at all... Finland is rated among the highest in the world in innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity. It's not your grandfather's socialist country in any sense of the word.
But beyond that, what I find so striking is that the reforms in [the U.S.] have been driven and led by businesses for the last quarter century. It was David Kearns at Xerox and Lou Gerstner at IBM calling for a national summit on education and they didn't invite any educators. They invited CEOs and governors and senators and congressmen.

How Finland became an education leader

Non Sequitur

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Are the repugicans the dog that caught the car?

The ongoing moves in the debt ceiling struggle are fascinating.

I think you are underestimating Obama's tactical ability here. I know you are disappointed on other policy grounds, the only reason I am not is that I didn't think he was as progressive as you did in the first place so I didn't expect as much.

The repugicans are idiots, they have manufactured a crisis here and they are the ones who are unable to move. Boehner has no chance of getting enough repugican votes to pass any increase in the debt ceiling on any terms whatsoever.

There are only two plausible ways out at this point: Boehner passes a bill with the help of House Democrats, almost certainly the clean bill they proposed earlier or the House fails to pass anything and the President invokes extraordinary measures like selling off the contents of Fort Knox.

Obama gave the repugicans enough rope to hang themselves and they did.

Faux news actually had a moment of truth and clarity ...

http://www.boingboing.net/201107211502-tm.jpg

... when it broadcast a live picture of the devil incarnate without his horns hidden for sight.

Redneck 911 call

Emily Sue passed away and Bubba called 911. The 911 operator told Bubba that she would send someone out right away.

“Where do you live?” asked the operator.

Bubba replied, “At the end of Eucalyptus Drive.”

The operator asked “Can you spell that for me?”

There was a long pause, and finally Bubba said, “How ‘bout if I drag her over to Oak Street and you pick her up there?”