Whisper in the Library

We have a good friend who lives in Seattle and frequents the public library near his home.  He uses their computers when his iPad isn't enough.  He'd better be careful now - he's likely to get shot for not whispering in the library.

Guns are now allowed in public libraries in Seattle, thanks to a state supreme court ruling holding that cities have no right to ban guns in public places such as parks and libraries. The board of the library system said it did not have a choice but to remove its longstanding ban on firearms.

Dave Workman, a gun rights advocate, told KOMO News that there’s no reason guns shouldn’t be allowed in libraries. “It’s public property,” he said. “Carrying a firearm is fundamental, individual civil right.”

But Pete Holmes, a city attorney, said he hopes that someday cities will be permitted to create their own gun controls. “It’s just wrong, and it is something that can be fixed at the state level,” Holmes said.

Guns are still banned in schools and courthouses in Washington State. Here is today’s report.

—Jennifer Mascia

A man who walked through a Paramus, N.J., mall firing a weapon and sending thousands of people running Monday night shot and killed himself early Tuesday. Richard Shoop, 20, entered the Garden State Plaza at around 9 p.m., shortly before the mall was scheduled to close, and roamed the hallways before taking his own life. No customers or employees were injured.

—The New York Times

12-year-old Dario L. Datis shot and killed himself at a home in Lower Milford Township, Pa., Monday morning. “Any time a child loses their life, it is very difficult,” said Leah Christman, the district superintendent.

—LehighValleyLive.com

41-year-old Robert Libke, an Oregon City, Ore., police officer who was shot and critically injured as he responded to a house fire on Sunday afternoon, died Monday afternoon. The home’s owner, 88-year-old Lawrence Cambra, had set it ablaze and was running around the property with a gun. Cambra was killed at the scene.

—KOIN.com

Abdul Waqas Hussain, 24, who was shot at his family-owned gas station inPaterson, N.J., on Thursday, died Monday. Three people have been charged with murder. Police say they are responsible for a string of robberies in the city.

—NorthJersey.com

Four people were wounded in a drive-by shooting outside a nightclub inPerris, Calif., early Sunday. A large group of people were leaving when someone drove by and opened fire. Jose Luis Avalos, 36, was arrested. The shooting may have stemmed from an earlier argument.

—The Press-Enterprise

Natasha Clark, 32, and Anthony Torres, 41, were found shot to death inside a home in the Meadow Lakes area outside Wasilla, Alaska, Sunday morning. Both were shot in the head and a pistol was found next to the man. The victims were reportedly involved in a relationship.

—Anchorage Daily News

A woman was shot and killed and two other people were injured in a home on the east side of Indianapolis, Ind., Monday evening. Police are trying to piece together the details of the shooting.

—TheIndyChannel.com

One person was shot and killed while breaking into an apartment in Fort Wayne, Ind., early Monday. One of the apartment’s occupants was wounded. It is unclear who fired the shots.

—INC NOW

Tiara M. Paul, 20, accidentally shot herself in the back of a police cruiser while trying to conceal a handgun from officers in Chicago, Ill., Saturday evening. Paul was stopped by officers in the Armour Square neighborhood for unsafe crossing between cars on a Chicago Transit Authority train. She was charged with two felonies.

—WLS-TV

Loretta O’Neal was shot in the back of the head outside a restaurant inDoniphan, Mo., Friday afternoon. Police arrested the victim’s ex-boyfriend, 45-year-old Curtis E. Ellis. He had been served with an order of protection last month.

—KFVS

A 19-year-old woman was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded inWaldorf, Md., Sunday evening. Police said several people were arguing when a man pulled a gun and fired twice. Officers are working to identify the shooter.

—SoMdNews

A 29-year-old woman was found lying outside an apartment complex suffering from serious gunshot wounds in Polson, Mont., Sunday morning. Police had earlier received a report about a domestic disturbance. Michael James Gardipe, 35, was charged with armed assault.

—DailyInterlake.com

Michael Chrisco, 36, was shot in the face with a sawed-off shotgun in Jackson County, Ore., Sunday night. Investigators said his brother, Joshua Chrisco, 32, shot at the victim’s trailer after a drunken disagreement and the pellets shattered the window and hit the victim in the face. Joshua Chrisco was arrested and his bail was set at more than $2 million.

—Fox 12 Oregon

A woman in her early 30s was shot in an apartment complex in Richmond, Calif., Monday afternoon. No one was arrested, though police said it’s possible the woman knows the shooter.

—Contra Costa Times

46-year-old Jay Seaford was shot and killed after an argument with his wife at their home in Marshall County, Ky., Sunday evening. Deputies said Rhonda Seaford shot her husband in the back with a handgun after a day of target shooting. Their child was home at the time. She was charged with murder.

—WPSD

A 22-year-old man was shot in the foot following a dispute over money inAiken, S.C., Sunday evening. A woman said four people came to her home and began yelling at her, and one of them pulled out a shotgun and began waving it around. He then shot the victim in the foot. The victim refused to press charges.

—Aiken Standard

A man sustained multiple gunshot wounds at a home in Pointe-aux-Chenes, La., Monday afternoon. Detectives are searching for Adam Naquin, 42, who lives at the home. He is considered armed and dangerous.

—HoumaToday.com

One person was shot and wounded at Gonzales Gardens, a public housing complex known for gang activity, in Columbia, S.C., Monday afternoon. A second gunshot victim was being treated at a local hospital and investigators were trying to determine whether the shootings are related.

—The State

A man was shot and injured in east Las Vegas, Nev., Monday afternoon. A police gang unit is searching for the suspect.

—Las Vegas Sun

A man was shot in the stomach with a revolver during an argument over a card game in Wildwood, Mo., early Sunday. The victim was dropped off at a police station. Alfredo Castro, 37, was charged with first-degree assault.

—KMOV

A 19-year-old man was shot several times and wounded while standing outside the McDougald Terrace apartment complex in southeast Durham, N.C., Sunday night. No word on his condition or suspects.

—NewsObserver.com

A man was shot and wounded in Long Beach, N.Y., late Saturday. Police recovered two rifles and have detained a person of interest. No motive was revealed.

—Newsday

A man was shot and wounded while leaving a grocery store in the Hollywood Heights neighborhood of Shreveport, La., Monday evening. No word on suspects.

—ShreveportTimes.com

19-year-old Raymond Mills was shot in the head and killed in the driveway of his home in Miami Gardens, Fla., early Monday. “A child is supposed to bury the mother and now I gotta bury my grandson,” the victim’s grandmother, Dianne Cope, told NBC6. “It just don’t make sense.”

—MiamiHerald.com

A 45-year-old man was shot in the back and collapsed in front of a pizza shop in downtown Trenton, N.J., Monday morning. No arrests have been made.

—NJ.com

Jerrmie Fields, 39, was shot and killed in the Homestead neighborhood ofPittsburgh, Pa., early Monday. Police said the victim was shot multiple times inside a car before being pushed out. Police are reviewing surveillance footage.

—CBS Pittsburgh

Edward Gwinner was shot in the chest and killed in an apartment inYpsilanti, Mich., early Friday. Police said the victim’s sister was involved in a domestic violence incident at a house party and he intervened on her behalf. Witnesses aren’t talking.

—MLive

Two men who allegedly robbed a Reading, Pa., convenience store were shot to death by a man who stumbled upon the scene Monday afternoon. Police said the victims entered Krick’s Korner, pointed guns at the store owner and demanded cash. When the men fled the store they ran into someone leaving an apartment in the same building. He pulled out his own weapon and shot the two men.

—ReadingEagle.com

A man in his late teens or early 20s was shot multiple times and left for dead at an intersection in northeast Houston, Tex., early Monday. A dark-colored S.U.V. was seen fleeing the scene.

—KHOU.com

A man was shot in the leg near a daycare center in central Toledo, Ohio, Monday afternoon. The victim also cut his hand on a fence while fleeing the shooter. No word on a suspect or an arrest.

—ToledoBlade.com

According to Slate’s gun-death tracker, an estimated 10,199 people have died as a result of gun violence in America since the Newtown massacre on December 14, 2012.

From Joe Nocera's blog on the New York Times website.

Pot Versus Booze

This was taken from an article in the NY Times November 3, 2013.  It was written by the Editorial Board.

Americans are growing more comfortable with marijuana, with 58 percent favoring legalization.  Researchers believe they have identified a side benefit to increasing availability of marijuana: It could lead to decreased use of alcohol among young people.

Two researchers - D. Mark Anderson of Montana State University and Daniel Rees of the University of Colorado at Denver - report that legalization of marijuana for medical purposes has been associated with reductions in heavy drinking, especially among 18- to 29- year-olds, and with an almost 5 percent decrease in beer sales.  In addition, the increase in the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 seems to encourage greater marijuana use among people under 21, usage that drops sharply when they reach the legal drinking age.  So I guess young people would still rather get drunk than get high.  For young drivers, alcohol is far more hazardous.

For the most part, marijuana-intoxicated drivers show only modest impairments on road tests.  (If anything, they drive too slowly!)  After using marijuana, drivers overestimate their impairment, so the slow down and increase their following distance.  The opposite is true of drivers under the influence of alcohol.

Related articles

• Might public health be significantly improved by marijuana legalization? (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• Cannabis, alcohol, and public safety: Knowing what you don't know (samefacts.com)

Run For Your Life

When I see a "feel good" story in the news, I am compelled to share it with the world.  There are so few rehab programs that have good success rates in the US I am hoping that this model may catch on.

CORIANO, Italy — It is still dark when Sara Floriddia laces her shoes and goes running on the hilltop roads near the Adriatic coast of Italy. With every mile, she leaves her past further behind.

 Multimedia

New York City Marathon, by the Numbers

Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

Runners from the San Patrignano drug rehabilitation center trained in Coriano, Italy, for the New York City Marathon.

When Floriddia, 34, came here to San Patrignano, one of the largest drug rehabilitation centers in Europe, she had been a heroin addict for five years. She remembers crying, even as she administered her doses.
Now she is a part of an unusual running team of six former drug addicts who will represent San Patrignano on Sunday in the New York City Marathon.

“We are broken vases that have been glued together again,” Floriddia said. “But if we can work and live in a healthy environment, we won’t break again.”

Tucked in the northern hills of Italy, San Patrignano is not a typical training ground for marathoners. It has 1,300 residents at its main facility, which doubles as a small farming community. The addicts submit to a four-year rehabilitation program in which they must cultivate their food, clean their rooms and undertake tasks like making cheese, raising pigs and cows, and producing wine.

And some have become runners. Since February, a top marathon coach, Gabriele Rosa, has been training the program’s team of runners to help improve their self-confidence. The New York City Marathon is a way for the runners to pursue a dream, but there are other benefits.

“We also hope that the visibility of the N.Y.C. Marathon could make our community known and available to other people in need all over the world,” said Letizia Moratti, a longtime supporter of San Patrignano and the president of its United States affiliate, Friends of San Patrignano.

San Patrignano, which was founded in 1979 and has two smaller branches in Italy, is not like many drug rehabilitation centers. It is free, for one. Unless the newcomers need to scale down their use of methadone, residents are not given substitution medicines. They can see a therapist but are not compelled to. Social workers and former drug addicts who have seniority in the program assist those who have just arrived. If necessary, the seniors “crowd around you and talk you off the cliff,” as an American resident put it.

The San Patrignano method mirrors the mental and physical discipline needed to run, forcing the participants to work methodically, Rosa said as his group of runners, who have 3 to 18 years of drug addiction behind them, went up a slope.

“I am confident that they will all finish the race in a good time, out of personal motivation or out of gratitude for this community,” Rosa said.

For many, San Patrignano is family. About a third of the 422 collaborators and volunteers in the community were once residents there. Antonio Boschini, the community’s therapeutic manager, graduated with a medical degree in the 1980s from the University of Verona while living in San Patrignano, where he still lives, with his wife and two children. He is also a member of the running team.

“Drug addicts are not ill people; they are not doomed to lead a life of minor league,” Boschini said. “We need to show it to the world when in New York.”

For Andrea Grossi, 27, running is a challenge requiring his concentration at every step.
“They all know it — I just don’t want to run in the first 20 minutes,” he said. “Then I break that mental barrier, and I love it.”

Grossi recounted his personal victory at the Rome Marathon in 2011. At Mile 23, he thought he could not take it anymore. Fatigue took over his mind before his legs. Yet he would not stop. Training for months and then finishing the race proved to him that he was no longer the boy who provoked 13 car and scooter accidents in a daze of drugs.

“We used to be derelicts of society, people in the corner,” he said, but no more.

For some athletes from San Patrignano, the New York City Marathon is their first important test.
Floriddia, now a nurse in the community, said it was a matter of pride for her to complete the race in less than five hours. She is also racing so that her father, an award-winning road runner now in his 60s, will be proud of her.

“When I was little and we followed him to the races, I hated it,” she said. “At the finishing line, he was drenched in sweat; at times he would even throw up. ‘Why would he do it to himself?’ I thought.”

Now, her raven-black hair stands out as the team’s runners march up a hill in bright yellow shirts. She has never left Europe. She is one of the two female runners flying to New York, and the only one who is still going through the rehabilitation program. She said she felt the need to pave the way for former addicts like her, and for others who needed to learn how to keep their self-destructive tendencies out of their lives.
“At times I worry that when I’ll be out of here, I could get discouraged, bored or be nervous again,” she said. “But now I know what I’ll do. I will run.”

 Related articles

• Marathon Offers Recovering Addicts a Different Path (nytimes.com)

Let's Ban the Box

An 18-year-old gets mixed up with the wrong crowd, gets arrested on a marijuana charge, sent to jail for 6 months, and pays the price forever.  This is happening so often that, in an interview at Taco Bell, a friend of my son's was told, "Oh, everybody we interview has a felony!"  But, needless to say, this kid didn't get a job.  Nor will he be able to rent an apartment.  Or vote when he's old enough to understand how our political system works.  His life will always be compromised because of one stupid night when he was 18.  Finally, states and corporations are recognizing that this is a counterproductive approach.  If  these folks are given a chance, they can be productive citizens, pay taxes, buy houses, raise a family, and not end up back in jail.  This article in the NY Times explains.

"Sanctions that make it more difficult for ex-offenders to obtain jobs, housing and even basic documents like drivers’ licenses only serve to drive them back to jail. With that in mind, a growing number of states and municipalities now prohibit public agencies — and in some cases private employers — from asking about a job applicant’s criminal history until the applicant reaches the interview stage or gets a conditional job offer. These eminently sensible “ban the box” laws are intended to let ex-offenders prove their qualifications before criminal history issues enter the equation.

Earlier this year Minnesota extended its existing law to cover private employers. Now, the Minneapolis-based Target Corporation, one of the nation’s largest employers, has announced that it will remove questions about criminal history from its job applications throughout the country. The announcement represents an important victory for the grassroots community group TakeAction Minnesota, which had been pressuring the company to change.

This comes on the heels of a similar development earlier this month in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown signed a ban-the-box bill that applies to government employers. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission gave this movement a lift last year, when it expanded and updated a ruling that barred employers from automatically denying people jobs based on arrest or conviction records. The E.E.O.C. guidance made clearthat an arrest alone is not proof of illegal conduct or grounds for exclusion from employment. It also explained that employers need to take into account the seriousness of the offense, the time that has passed since it was committed and the relevance of the crime to the job being sought. Given that 65 million Americans now have criminal records, that reminder is crucial."

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/target-bans-the-box/

Related articles

• Target Drops Criminal Background Questions from Job Applications (clutchmagonline.com)
• How to fill out applications when you have a record (snagajob.com)
• Ban the Box Movement Gaining Momentum (joeahamby.wordpress.com)

We Need Data

This is so exciting!  I found out about this from an article in Newsweek, titled "Science Passes the Hat." You have probably heard of Kickstarter and have perhaps even helped fund a project that interests you.  Well, sites like Microryza raise money for scientific research.  Research has been hard hit by cutbacks in funding, and frequently a worthwhile project can't get funding because either the project is too speculative or the project is sound enough, but the researcher is too young and has not yet earned a good reputation.

Since the NRA paid for passage of legislation to prevent the Centers for Disease Control from gathering data on gun violence in the U.S., there hasn't been anyone trying to gather this data in order to persuade policy makers.

Enter Microryza and Bisakha (Pia) Sen, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who raised more than $22,000 to examine the effects of state gun-control policies on firearm death rates, crime rates, and children's access to guns.  Check out the project on the Microryza site:

https://www.microryza.com/projects/gun-control-research-project

Note:  THIS PROJECT WAS OVER 100% FUNDED.  THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO FEEL THIS IS IMPORTANT RESEARCH.

Here is her Microryza proposal:

 This is a timely project because of the newly reignited political debate about gun background checks.Since we will compile and use data that has already been collected by various agencies, we anticipate being able to complete the project and get the papers out within 6 months. This should help inform policy-makers.Also, as funding for gun violence prevention research becomes available again, the findings from this project will serve as ‘pilot studies’ that we can utilize to put together a large-scale project involving more complex data.

What are the goals of this project?

This research project will look at a state’s gun polices (comprehensive background checks, checks for purchases at gun shows, concealed carry laws, ‘stand your ground’ laws) and gun culture (percent of population who are licensed hunters, percent of gun-owning households) affect the outcomes listed below. In addition to a state's own polices and culture, the project will also look at whether the gun policies and gun culture of neighboring states affect the outcomes listed below.
We will examine the following outcomes: (1) Firearm deaths (homicide, suicide, accidental). For homicides we will also examine justifiable homicide (i.e. shooting a felon in self-defense), and homicides where the victim knew the perpetrator. (2) Crimes (burglary, robbery, assaults). This is to examine whether there is evidence that stringent gun laws may reduce the ability of citizens to self-defend themselves against criminals, and thereby increase crimes. (3) Gun access among youth. Specifically, whether youth report carrying a gun, including to school, and being threatened by other youth with guns on school property
The results will be published in quality, peer-reviewed journals. We will also make our gun-policy database available to other scientists who wish to do research in this area.
Up until now this research has not been possible because of a funding freeze. In 1996, lobbying pressures led Congress to cut all CDC funding for research on guns, public health and safety (link). As a result, hundreds of public health scientists who require funding to support their research have not been able to work on this topic. While Obama has talked about restoring the funding, the sequestration poses a major constraint to such research funding.
We are turning to crowdfunding to continue this much-needed research on gun policies and gun violence.

Related articles

• Pennsylvania Medical Society Says Gun Violence Is A Health Problem (freakoutnation.com)
• Crowdfunding: What's in It for Scientists? (blogs.scientificamerican.com)
• York doctors push for gun violence to be treated as public health issue (fox43.com)

Will We Make it to 10,000?

I haven't posted a Gun Report in several weeks.  Reading about all these people, all over our country, getting shot is so depressing and it makes me so angry that our government lets it happen.  It's beyond dispute by now that the NRA has bought Congress and dictates policy no matter who is elected President, no matter how many citizens protest - nothing matters to our elected officials except the money to help guarantee that they keep their jobs.  Jobs, which, by the way, were never intended to be full-time jobs.  Representatives were supposed to travel to Washington, get the country's business done, and then GO HOME!

Check the link below to find out what the score was in your state this past weekend.  Do you think we can hit that 10,000 mark by the first anniversary of the Newtown massacre?

http://nyti.ms/16EqDRB

Innovation in the Military

Home schooling, unschooling, flipped classrooms - a lot of alternatives to traditional public school are taking place.  One place you may not expect innovation is in the military, but according to an article published in the New York Times, "more military parents are embracing home schooling, rejecting the age-old tradition of switching schools for their children when they are redeployed."

"They are finding support on bases, which are providing resources for families and opening their doors to home-schooling cooperatives."

"At Andrews Air Force Base about 15 miles outside Washington, more than 40 families participate on Wednesdays in a home schooling cooperative at the base’s youth center. This month, teenagers in one room warmed up for a mock audition, while younger children downstairs learned to sign words like “play” and searched for “Special Agent Stan” during a math game. Military mothers taught each class."

"Military families move nearly every three years on average. The transition can be tough for children, and home schooling can make it easier, advocates say. The children do not have to adjust to a new teacher or worry that they are behind because the new school’s curriculum is different."

"Some military families also cite the same reasons for choosing home schooling as those in the civilian population: a desire to educate their children in a religious environment, concern about the school environment, or to provide for a child with special needs."

"Participating military families say home schooling also allows them to schedule school time around the rigorous deployment, training and school schedules of the military member."

“We can take time off when Dad is home and work harder when he is gone,” Ms. McGhee said, “so we have that flexibility.”

"Strong support for home schooling by the military was uncommon in the 1990s, said Mike Donnelly, a former Army officer who is a lawyer with the Home School Legal Defense Association, based in Purcellville, Va. He said that changed in 2002 with a militarywide memo that said home schooling can be a “legitimate alternative form of education” for military children. Most military bases today are friendly toward home-schoolers, he said."

"Lindsay Burchette said she first considered home schooling in 2011 when her husband joined the Navy and they were living in suburban Knoxville, Tenn. Her son, then 8, feared having to start a new school in Pensacola, Fla., when they moved there for her husband’s training and then again within a year when they reached his permanent duty station at Andrews.  “Starting a new school is bad enough, and doing it twice over seemed like a lot,” said Ms. Burchette, a mother of three. “He kind of perked up after we mentioned that. The move kind of changed perspective for him.”  Her family is now preparing to move again — this time to Norfolk, Va., and she is now home schooling her two oldest children.

“I have no issues with public schools or the system,” Ms. Burchette said. “It’s just working for us right now.”

"Like home-schooling parents in the general population, military families at home often use online curriculum and materials to enhance instruction. Some hire tutors for subjects like advanced math or foreign languages."

Home schooling, of course, is not for every military family, military or not. It requires a parent who can stay at home, and who is willing and able to search out opportunities and resources for the children.  But imagine being stationed in Italy, or in Amsterdam, or any other foreign assignment and being able to teach by just taking a walk to the town square.

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Fantasy Football Results for the Week That Was

My son is in a Fantasy Football League (isn't everyone?) and he writes the summary of each week's standings for their League.  I was told that he had a really, really bad week last week.  Here's what he wrote, and if you are a Fantasy Footballer, you will understand it.  If not, posts will be back to normal tomorrow.

Making History by Steve Nikodym, Chandler, Arizona

History was never really my thing in school, but when it comes to sports, I'm not too bad at spewing forth large vats of utterly useless information and meaningless factoids...that being said, you should know that history was made in our league this week folks, and I wanted everyone to share in this record breaking event that will no doubt go down in the annals of fantasy football lore forever...but first, here's a pop quiz for you: Take a look at this list and guess what these sporting events all have in common, culminating in our own recent record breaker... 

High School Basketball, 1990 - Morningside 102, South Torrance 24 (At the Half!) Before South Torrance took their ball and went home, Lisa Leslie went Wilt Chamberlain and scored 100 points...by herself...yes, in a half... 

Soccer, 2001 - Australia 31, American Samoa 0...In a World Cup qualifier...no, Samoa didn't qualify...wait a minute, did you know we had an AMERICAN Samoa soccer team?? Oh, that's right, obviously we don't... 

Cricket, 2007 - Sri Lanka 201, Kenya 27...I know nothing about cricket other than it can last for days, but apparently, a 174 run margin is pretty good. The next closest blowout was when South Africa defeated Scotland in a 130 run three day nail biter... 

NASCAR, 1965 - Ned Jarrett finished 14 LAPS ahead of 2nd place Buck Baker...only 15 of the 44 cars that started the race finished however, actually, that doesn't sound so much like a race, it sounds more like a modern day morning commute... 

Pro Football, 1940 - Chicago Bears 73, Washington Redskins 0...The Redskins had called the Bears "quitters" and "cry babies" earlier in the season, thus becoming the first team to provide what we now refer to as "bulletin board material"...on a side note, no one at the game that day was offended by the Redskins name, just their play... 

Horse Racing, 1973 - Secretariat won the triple crown, setting records in all three races...he won the Belmont by 31 lengths...the literally left-in-the-dust losers were all immediately shipped off to some guy named Elmer... 

Ice Hockey, 2008 - Slovakia 82, Bulgaria 0...It was 31 - 0 after the first period...eventually even the Zamboni had a hat trick... 

And, THIS JUST IN... 

Fantasy Football, 2013 - Multiple Scoregasms 127, LGOP 49...Not only did LGOP contribute to his scoregasmic jackstomping by piling up a putrid league low 49 points, he also became the first team in the modern Fantasy Football era to have a starting quarterback AND a team defense each score a -1 point in a 60 minute game...UNPRECEDENTED!! This immediately prompted "Looks Good On Paper" to change his team name to WIDOPUWEGHOSARMS, which roughly translates to "Whoever I Draft Or Pick Up Will Eventually Get Hurt Or Suck And RUIN MY SEASON!!" 

Weekly Game Ball: In a VON down by the MILLER, a.k.a. Matt Foley, gave himself a motivational speech a few weeks ago and it worked...he announced he was ready to make a run at the playoffs...PLAYOFFS?!? and is doing just that, winning three in a row by scouring the weekly waiver wire and doing a little wheeling and dealing on the side...When asked if this was the key to his surprising turnaround, he replied, "Nah, I just promised my players that if they win I'll give 'em my lifetime supply of GOVERNMENT CHEESE!!" 

The WTF Happened? award: WIDOPUWEGHOSARMS...49 points, another starting WR lost for the year, and bookend -1's on the scoreboard...WTF?!?!...enough said... 

Ca$h Update: High Point Game: You know - 184 

MVP: #18 - 193 

Semi-good luck this week, play MEDIUM, and... stay hydrated my friends...

It's Time to Flip It!

Normally, I quote relevant sections from articles that I find in other publications, but this one is worth reading all the way through.  If you have children in school, or that will be entering school soon, you really need to read this.  I hope this is an innovation that may save all the kids that just get passed through our schools, never really learning.  And the super learners won't get bored, because they will be able to challenge themselves every day.

In traditional schooling, time is a constant and understanding is a variable. A fifth-grade class will spend a set number of days on prime factorization and then move on to study greatest common factors — whether or not every student is ready.  But there is another way to look at schooling — through the lens of a method called “mastery learning,” in which the student’s understanding of a subject is a constant and time is a variable; when each fifth grader masters prime factorization, for instance, he moves on to greatest common factors, each at his own pace.

Mastery learning is not a new idea. It was briefly popular in the 1920s, and was revived by Benjamin Bloom in his paper “Learning for Mastery” in 1968. It has shown dramatic success — compilations of studies can be found here and here.

One of the advantages of mastery learning is that the student, not the teacher, leads — and we know that people learn far better when they are actively involved. The teacher provides materials, tools and constant support. Students set their own goals and manage their own time.

In a traditional classroom, the teacher must aim the lecture at the middle, leaving the faster learners bored and the slower ones lost. Differentiation and personalization are big challenges. But the mastery system allows each student to learn at her own pace.

Mastery also rewards students for actual learning. A student cannot simply turn in a shoddy paper, take the D and move on. If she turns in shoddy work, she can’t move on. She has to keep trying until she demonstrates she fully understands.

Despite these advantages, mastery learning never caught on, mainly because it was a nightmare for teachers. One problem was how to do direct instruction; a teacher can’t give five different lectures in one class. The other was how to test students. Multiple versions of a test were needed so students couldn’t pass them to friends who would be taking them later.

But some teachers are now reviving mastery learning. What is making it feasible is the flipped classroom, a method I wrote about in my most recent column.

In a flipped classroom, teachers make videos of their lectures introducing new concepts and assign them as homework. That frees up precious class time to work directly with students on projects, exercises or problem sets — the stuff that students would traditionally do at home. Now instead, of struggling alone, students can do the most important work with a teacher or peers who can help.

(Incidentally, many of those who commented in response to my flipped classroom column asked: where’s the reading? The answer is: where it always was. Students still read for homework. But in a flipped classroom, they won’t do problems at home any more — they’ll watch the lectures instead.)

Thousands of teachers are experimenting with flipping their classrooms in elementary schools, law schools and everything in between. Jon Bergmann, a former chemistry teacher who used flipped learning and now teaches others about it, lists 15,000 members in the Flipped Learning Network.

But a handful of innovative teachers are venturing further, using the flipped classroom to employ mastery learning — “flipped mastery,” as Bergmann and his fellow chemistry teacher Aaron Sams call it in their book, “Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day.” Since the flipped classroom eliminates the whole-class lecture, they’ve realized, it has also eliminated the reason for students to work at a uniform pace.

Tim Kelly, who teaches math at a high school in Baumholder, Germany, which serves children of United States military families, heard about the idea when he sat next to Sams on a bus trip when they both won the Presidential Award for Mathematics and Science Teaching.  When Kelly came back from the ceremony in December, 2010, he talked excitedly about flipped mastery with his colleagues Corey Sullivan and Mike Brust.  That’s crazy,” said Sullivan; it sounded radical and chaotic. “No way should we ever do that.”

But as spring approached they decided to try it. “We had some struggles with our kids,” Sullivan said. They figured it couldn’t hurt to try something new.

They worked around the clock through spring break to design the course and create materials. “We put in 40 to 60 hours outside school just for a unit,” Sullivan said — and there were 12 units per course. They had to make all the videos; such a quick switch was only possible because they divided the work among them. (They now call themselves the Algebros. They post all their lessons and materials online; feel free to borrow.)

The fourth Algebro, Spencer Bean, who also won the Presidential Award, had stuck with the traditional way. But then his daughter went through Kelly’s flipped mastery Algebra 1 class, and he was converted. “Here I am with this award and I’m going to throw away everything I’ve been doing that I just got an award for,” he said.

Setting up a flipped mastery class is a second full-time job, and the method can also demand more teacher time before and after class to make sure every student gets personal attention. But teachers also say that it saves them time on the paperwork. Tom Driscoll, who uses flipped mastery to teach history at Putnam High School in Putnam, Conn., notes that he no longer has to write daily lesson plans.

Another advantage: less (or no) student work to grade at home. “We stopped grading papers in the sense of taking them home and having stacks and feeling guilty for not doing them,” said Bergmann. “Everything they turned in we went over in class. There’s a lot of teaching in the grading process.“ After the student takes the test or turns in a project designed to demonstrate mastery, the teacher sits with the student and goes over the work, providing immediate feedback. Bloom called this formative assessment. (There’s no reason teachers couldn’t do this in any classroom. But it’s far less feasible when 30 kids are taking the test together.)

“There’s my one-on-one time with students,” said Brian Gervase, who uses flipped mastery in his pre-calculus class at Downers Grove North High School in Downers Grove, Ill. “Let’s look over the work together and make sure you understand this particular skill.”

A typical day in a flipped mastery classroom usually starts with a brief group activity and poll: who needs extra help or is ready for a mastery check?  Then the noise begins — “a 10-ring circus,” Bergmann and Sams call it. “Kids are coming at you all day long,” said Kelly. “The first day, I got dizzy a couple of times.” Driscoll made a three-minute video version of a typical class, which you can see here.

Some teachers offer students a menu of learning activities to choose from, and another menu of ways to demonstrate mastery — that way, a student who does not test well, for example, could still show her understanding. Driscoll allows students to complete three from a list of choices, including writing an essay, giving a speech, having a debate or designing a video game.

In math, multiple-choice tests are more common. Bergmann uses Moodle software, which creates at random a different test each time from a pool of questions the teacher writes in advance (here is a tutorial on using it). A student who can’t show that she grasps the concepts must do more work and then retake the assessment.

Driscoll structures his class like a video game — it’s a post-apocalyptic 2045, and students have to study different civilizations to come up with a way for society to rebuild itself. “You have to complete certain ‘missions’ to move to the next level — some are teams, some are solo,” he said. Sound corny? “Engagement has gone through the roof,” he said. (Driscoll and his fellow Putnam social studies teacher Brian Germain have a lot of creative ideas — their Web sites are here and here.)

It is too early to have formal proof of the effectiveness of this iteration of flipped mastery, and its use is still too limited. (The Flipped Learning Network forum on mastery learning currently has 267 members.)

But teachers who use flipped mastery claim that its efficiency allows most students to do a year’s work in much less time. They build in extra units for advanced students or work with them on independent projects.

They say it’s also a better way to teach slower learners, giving them more teacher attention and personalized instruction. Kelly said that at Baumholder, the math department tries to put struggling students in the flipped mastery class. “As soon as we flipped, we noticed that students’ focus really improved,” said Kelly. “Math teachers get some really bad grades, but that doesn’t happen anymore. Maybe it takes longer, a little more practice, but they can do it. They’re not bombing.”

“Before, some kids would do the minimum amount of work possible,” said Bean. “They’d get by with a C-. Now they know they have to master it to be able to move on. The same kids stay after school to work with me on assignments.”

The truly struggling students might not get through a year’s material. But Brust notes that in a traditional class, they would be learning far less. “A kid who got a D would pass, but he was set up for failure for the rest of his career,” said Brust. “Now it may take longer, but when you’re done you have a solid foundation.”

Tina Rosenberg won a Pulitzer Prize for her book “The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism.” She is a former editorial writer for The Times and the author, most recently, of “Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World” and the World War II spy story e-book “D for Deception.” 

Hey, Baby! Want to Party?

Friends of my children have been known to brag, "Oh, My God, we got so wasted this weekend." And these are girls.  I am concerned about my grandson who will be attending one of the nation's "party schools."  Alcoholism is in his family, and I don't know if he takes that seriously enough.  In other words, drinking - often to excess - is a problem for both girls and boys of a certain age.  One of those problems is alcohol's ability to lessen inhibitions leads to sex.  We all know that because, if you are honest, we have all been there.  When does having sex become rape?  This article from today's NY times says it well.

Nothing Liberating About Being Wasted 

By Koren Zailckas 

Koren Zailckas is the author of "Smashed, Story of a Drunken Girlhood,'' and, most recently, the novel "Mother, Mother.'' She also visits colleges as an alcohol education lecturer 

Alcohol is the No. 1 date-rape drug. That’s not victim-blaming, or anti-women (let the record show a large portion of male victims have been drinking at the time of their sexual assaults too). It’s simply a fact. The vast majority of campus rapes happen when the rapist, the victim or both are drunk. 

And so alcohol education is essential for students of every gender. 

Even when willing partners are sober, communication about sex can be fuzzy. We don’t sit down and make a Venn diagram of what we want and don’t want. Once heavy drinking enters the picture, all nuance disappears. Smashed people converse without any give and take and precious little listening, shouting toward each other as if on separate mountaintops in a heavy fog. 

In my time as a 19-year-old binge drinker, it was impossible to even be aware of anyone else around me, let alone gauge what they wanted from me in an intimate context. Blacked out, browned out, burned out, I couldn’t make even my most primal needs known. It was hard enough to slur “must sleep” or “I’m going to get sick,” let alone “I’m a virgin” or “I’m just not that into you” or even just, “No!” 

Date rape is wrong no matter if the victim is sober or passed out. But it’s important to remember that it can occur when someone schemes to have sex with a near-corpse or when two drunken people drift into a situation that one of them does not want.  

Binge drinking, whether we’re male, female, straight, gay or one of many shades of gray, dulls our senses and slows reaction times, making it harder to identify our comfort zones until we’re frightfully outside of them. 

But date rape, devastating as it was, was only one horrible consequence of my college habits. I felt degraded by not knowing how to feel comfortable in a crowd without a drink in my hand, not knowing how to meet new people without a proffered shot, not knowing how to express romantic interest without slurring sweet nothings in some poor boy’s ear. 

Some may talk about the freedom to drink as heavily as the guys. But in my experience, getting blind drunk was the opposite of liberating. By the time I quit drinking at 24, I felt emotionally like I was 14, the same age at which I’d had my first drink.  

Less Testosterone in the Board Room, Please

Several days ago, I wrote that what we need is more women in government, and apparently, in business, too.  In an op-ed piece in the new York Times, Nicholas Kristof criticizes Twitter for not having any-ANY-women on its Board of Directors.  Here's what he had to say:

"Twitter is on schedule to go public as a company next month, a sparkling symbol of innovation, technology — and stale, old thinking reflected in a board of seven white men.

Twitter users are reportedly more likely to be female, so it’s bizarre to have no women on the board. But the main reason to add women — not just on Twitter’s board, but in politics, business and the news media — isn’t just equity. This shouldn’t be seen as a favor to women but as a step that would be good for all of us.

In business, there’s abundant evidence that inclusion of women in senior positions is linked to better results. Catalyst, a research organization, found that the companies with the most women board directors earned a 26 percent higher return on invested capital than the companies with the least women.

In the recent government shutdown debacle, some of the first efforts at hammering out a deal to end the crisis came from a group of women in the Senate who were disheartened by the political paralysis. Time magazine’s headline online was: “Women Are the Only Adults Left in Washington.”

In the midst of the 2008 economic cataclysm, there was introspection about whether the overwhelmingly male leadership in finance led to a macho culture of excessive risk-taking. A British study found that trading behavior reflected testosterone levels in employees’ saliva: The more testosterone, the more risky the trades."

So, my DH is probably right again.  He always says that if it makes sense financially, companies will do it - whatever "it" is.  Maybe we will seen more women leading Fortune 500 companies and then running for office.  I know I will be tempted to vote for any female candidate after this recent political season.

What The Country Needs Now - More Women

Don't you love it when you think of something and then the very next day you see your same idea on the news, or in the paper?  It happened to me today.  Yesterday I wrote that our government needs more women because they are the only courageous ones.  And this morning, here is Robert Redford on CNN, making a similar statement:

(CNN) -- Robert Redford says bigotry, fear of change and a determination to personally destroy President Barack Obama have paralyzed the U.S. government.
Women and young people are the answer to fixing the gridlock that has partially shut down Washington, the actor told CNN on Tuesday.

"Give them the reins," Redford said. "I think they can do better than we have."

"Susan Collins, who is a Republican, is saying: 'Enough of this. This is not the job I signed up for. I've got to do something,' " said Redford, referring to the U.S. senator from Maine. "So she's bringing a bipartisan group together of women. I think the future should belong more to women and young people."

Women must save the country "because a lot of men that were in control were behaving stupidly," Redford said. "I mean, sometimes you say: 'Can we actually be this dumbed down, or am I actually hearing what I'm hearing from some of these people? Are they really, is that really happening?' It's sad."

So, support women candidates!  There is a possibility that women are accustomed to making decisions for the family, sometimes at personal costs.  Maybe they can do the same for the country.

Gutless Wonders

Listening to Sen. Lindsey Graham a few minutes ago, I was reminded of my post of a few days ago.  He said that for two weeks Obamacare has been a disaster, but it hasn't been reported because the media was concentrating on the shutdown and the debt ceiling.  He went further to say that in a few months, Democrats will be coming to Republicans begging to fix Obamacare.

So, we will see what happens.  The truth will make itself known.

Now the biggest concern is whether or not there will be any elected officials who have the guts to possibly lose their job to do the right thing for the country.  Graham is afraid that we are going to be another Greece.  And, frankly, I think he is right.  The only ones with any spine, any real courage, are the women, and there are not enough of them.  For myself, I think I cannot vote for any incumbent in the next election.  Even dear old John McCain.  I think he needs to come home and tend his roses.

No, It Wasn't Like Apple Maps

White House officials declined to identify the private contractors who had built the acclount creation function, citing a decision to keep that information private. They said the contractors had moved that part of the new system to beefed-up hardware and were busy rewriting the software code to make it more robust and efficient.

Computer systems are not new. They have been around a while: banks manage to have systems that serve millions of people without a glitch; even government has programs that work.  Social Security checks arrive on time, Medicare pays thousands of doctors, hospitals, and labs.  The VA runs arguably the best health care system in the U.S.  So why was the roll out of Obamacare just a disaster?

The success of this program depends on millions of people signing up, so shouldn't that have been a basic priority - that the system could handle that amount of traffic. Hell, ask Zuckerberg how to do it!  I think it's important for us to know how this happened.  Was there simply not enough time for any company to complete this task successfully?  Do we not have enough computer programmers?  Did the government hire a company who outsourced the coding, so that no one ends up taking responsibility?

If anyone out there (inside the beltway, perhaps) knows WHY this happened, I would appreciate a response.  I don't really care about the WHO, but I don't see how we can trust the government to do anything much if we think this can happen again and again.

What part of Non-essential Don't You Understand?

Just curious - has the government "shutdown" affected you personally?  In our household we have not  seen any effects.  I am assuming that Ron's Social Security check will arrive at the bank as usual.  We are not trying to visit any of the national parks, so no problem there.  Of course, I would be upset if we were planning a trip to Glacier and found it closed, but, hey, it's already snowed up there, so pretty soon the Going To The Sun highway will be closed for the winter anyway.  

I read that all "essential" workers were still working, and it was only "non-essential" workers were staying ofy the job.  Ummmm, wonder what would happen if the definition of non-essential were actually applied?

Hit 'Em Where It Hurts, Boys!

This is great news!  When businesses are hurt financially by supporting the gun lobby, that is a powerful incentive for change.  This article appeared online at Media Matters.  Red highlights are mine.

"NBC Sports will not be a sponsor of the nation's largest gun trade show next year, a spokesperson confirmed to Media Matters. The network had served for several years as a top sponsor of the event, which has billed itself as a show of industry strength against stronger gun laws.

"Our level of sponsorship has varied each year, and this January we will not be sponsoring the show because it does not make business sense for us at this time," said the NBC Sports spokesperson.

The Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show calls itself the "the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries" and "the world's premier exposition of combined firearms." Manufacturers use the event to show off their latest products, typically including an array of assault rifles, tactical shotguns, and pistols with high-capacity magazines.

According to its organizer, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (the trade association for firearms manufacturers and dealers), the trade show is also "a powerful display of industry unity and its resolve to meet any challenge affecting the right to make, sell and own firearms."

In January, NBC Sports returned as the sponsor of the show's New Product Center, "the showcase for innovative, new equipment being introduced to the hunting, shooting, outdoors and law enforcement markets," using the event to promote their hunting programming. That sponsorship drew criticism since it came in the wake of NBC Sports host Bob Costas' on-air censure of the nation's "gun culture" and the December 2012 mass shooting in Sandy Hook, CT.

While NBC Sports will not sponsor the event, their executives will be at the show conducting meetings and entertaining clients, according to the network's spokesperson, who stressed that the network is participating for the show's focus on hunting and outdoor sports, not firearms.

The statement comes just days after a controversy involving the network's firearms programming.

On September 29, NBC Sports announced that it had cancelled the National Rifle Association-sponsored hunting show Under Wild Skies. That program came under fire after the network aired an episode in which an elephant was shot in the face twice by host Tony Makris, a prominent NRA strategist."

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Here's a thought.  When Obamacare is fully implemented, and, in spite of the Tea party, it will be, there will be millions of people who will now have health coverage who never did before.  Those people were the ones who showed up in emergency rooms and whose bills were absorbed by the hospitals (or paid by charging those with insurance astronomical amounts). We have already heard that we will need young, healthy people sign up or the arrangement just won't work.  So now the insurers will be paying the bills for folks who weren't part of the system.

But here's what I am anxious to see: will the insurers start looking for ways to save money?  I think we can assume they will.  So, they will start campaigning against fast food, against HFC syrupy drinks, for more exercise, and, most importantly, for more gun control.  When these insurers start paying out thousands and thousands of dollars to cover costs to treat a victim of a drive-by shooting, they will look for ways to keep that kid out of the hospital.  Maybe the government will then have a group pushing for reducing gun violence that is as persuasive as the NRA is in pushing them to do nothing.

Where's the Science?

Last week, when gunshots rang out in the Capitol, there were legislators who hit the floor on their bellies, under a desk if possible.  I wonder how many of them were praying, "God, please don't let him have an assault weapon!"  Fortunately for them, this time it was law enforcement doing the shooting, but one of these days . . . . . . .

In an interview with Slate on Sunday, Garen Wintemute, a professor of emergency room medicine and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, revealed why gun research is such an uphill battle in the U.S. While guns claim 30,000 lives a year and injure 75,000, “federal funding for research is less than $200,000 a year,” he told Tiffany O’Callaghan. “In contrast, public health research on motor vehicle accidents—which also claim 30,000 lives each year—receives close to $4 million.”

This is not an accident—it is a result of a deliberate lobbying effort begun in the mid-1990s, Dr. Wintemute said. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon:

“There is a proposal in Congress to allow for $10 million in research funding. But I suspect it essentially has no chance of making it. Even if it did, our Department of Health and Human Services prohibits any of the funds from being used, and I’m quoting directly here, “to advocate or promote gun control.” That means even if I had money to do the research, it would be a crime to talk about the policy implications.”

According to Dr. Wintemute, disarming society isn’t an option—there are 300 million firearms in circulation. What works are background checks—specifically, weeding out those who are prohibited from owning firearms, such as people with a history of violent misdemeanors and alcohol abuse.

If you are interested in seeing how many people died from gun violence in your city or state, here is the link to the entire Gun Report article.

http://nocera.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/weekend-gun-report-october-4-6-2013/

It's Always About the Money

When trying to understand why somebody does something, or especially trying to understand government or business decisions, my husband has a theory that holds up most of the time: It's always about the money.  Try it, see for yourself.

In California, the Legislature has made a very sensible decision that will benefit a lot of people, but, as usual, it's about the money.  The New York Times Editorial Board wrote this summary:

"The California Legislature passed a bill last month that bars government agencies from asking job applicants about criminal convictions until the agency has determined that the applicant meets minimum qualifications for the job. This measure will help remove unfair barriers to employment that keep millions of qualified workers trapped at the margins of society. Gov. Jerry Brown should sign this sensible bill.

This measure follows a good trend of policy makers’ starting to recognize that locking ex-offenders out of the job market is a bad idea. Without the ability to find work, many newly released prisoners are likely to fall back into behavior that will land them back in jail."

California has been broke for so long that they are finally realizing that if all those people who were sent to jail on non-violent drug possession charges when they were 18 could now get real jobs instead of working part-time for minimum wage, the state would gain more tax dollars.  Wonder why it took them so long to figure out that it costs the state money to incarcerate these kids, but it gains the state dollars when they can be productive citizens.

Truth Will Reveal Itself

The truth will always make itself known.  When I was younger and less wise and patient, I would argue my point of view or my opinion to the point of being extremely annoying.  I finally realized that this was a non-productive approach, especially with my husband and children.  I know people now who haven't figured this out and it's frustrating to have a conversation when we don't totally agree on everything.

I wish I could convince the Republicans in Washington to back away, wait and see, and have faith that if "Obamacare" is as dangerous as they think it is, the truth will become obvious in a very short while.  And, if they are right, the people will be marching in the streets for changes or repeal.  However, if they are wrong and everyone is happy with the Affordable Care Act, then they can hope no one remembers how wrong they were.

So, next time you find yourself arguing about something, stop and ask yourself if this is something that you can trust truth to reveal itself.

Are You Confused?

Maybe it's just the beginnings of Alzheimer's, but I am confused.  The Republicans are willing to shut down the government in order to stop the ACA which opened up exchanges yesterday and enrolled lots of Americans who did not have any health insurance on September 30th.  So, hasn't that horse left the barn?  Why keep trying to take away all options for millions of people?  If those representatives are hearing from a MAJORITY of their constituents that they object to the Act, they can act rationally to change the act in ways that Democrats and Republicans can agree on.

I truly believe that social media will play a major role in denying these politicians a return trip to Washington when their elections come up.  Remember who voted against the budget, and say No to them in November!

Obesity Action

Now here's a good idea - Banner Health Weight loss Center is sponsoring a walk in the park this Saturday at Freestone Park in Gilbert, Arizona.  Walkers can complete as many laps as they see fit.

It's time to bring the problem of obesity out of the category of "unmentionable" health issues and do something about it publicly.  We dare not call anyone fat; we tell our children that it's rude.  Even the nurses at my doctor's office are fat.  There is no other word for it.  But talking about "obesity action" seems to have become acceptable.  Maybe when clothing manufacturers start labeling large sizes Obese, More Obese, and Disgustingly Obese, maybe some changes will be made.

High School Musical 4 - Troy Goes to Rehab

So sad to learn about Zac Efron's recent stint in rehab.  Drugs are so accessible in our neighborhoods, our schools, and on the streets, it's amazing that anyone under the age of 30 can say they've never done drugs.  And when you're a superstar, everyone is trying to please you, some of them no doubt by sharing drugs with you. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that hosts at parties in Hollywood offer cocaine  to guests like we offer chips and dip to ours.

Zac needs to meet someone, get married, and have a family.  Joe Walsh said he couldn't stay clean until he found something he wanted more than he wanted to get high.  When you look at your children and see how much they need you that can often be the motivation to give up the partying.

We lost Cory Monteith; I  pray we don't lose Zac.