I was engaged in an exchange of posts in a forum I frequent concerning the state of American schools. (OK, actually it was about teaching things like comparative religion in the public schools to start, but the discussion widened.) The problem we face as a society is that, on the whole, our children are receiving a less than adequate education. For one thing, the way the school year is currently configured, there is simply not enough time to teach our kids what they will need to know to be effective adults. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that the people who have been advocating year around school schedules are right.
 
Specifically, the school year should consist of three terms, a trimester system, with two 14 week terms and one 15 week term. That leaves 9 weeks of vacation time for school districts to apportion out as they see fit. I could see something like: last week in December and first week in January, two weeks in April, one week in July (over the 4th), three weeks in August and one week in November (over Thanksgiving). That gives schools 43 weeks of instruction time. Take another five to seven days off for national holidays and school professional development days, and actual instruction time ends up at about 42 weeks per year. Currently most states mandate about 180 school days per year. This would raise the total to about 210. That's about a 17% increase in class days and it eliminates the long summer vacation which usually results in the first month of the fall semester being devoted to "refreshing" what was taught the preceding year.
 
I wouldn't want to make this proposal too detailed since I think individual school districts should be allowed latitude to come up with schedules that fit their constituency. Of course, rather than call for a trimester system, the same results could be attained simply by mandating a 210 day school schedule--that's 210 days with kids in the classrooms--then arrange the schedule in whatever manner an individual school board might see fit. However, the trimester system seems to be the most elegant solution.
 
The trimester system could be readily adapted by secondary schools (i.e. high schools). Make each course worth one credit per trimester. Require 60 credits to graduate from high school. Set up a core curriculum of required courses--something on the order of:
English and Literature: 8 credits
Math: 8 credits
History and social sciences: 8 credits
Foriegn (second) Language: 8 credits
Physical science: 8 credits
 
This would leave room for electives and advanced placement courses and would give us people ready to be productive members of society. Anyhow, this is what I've been thinking about this weekend.

Update on deregulation. Seems the interstate trucking industry was deregulated in 1980. Out of the 50 largest interstate trucking firms existing at the time of deregulation, exactly 4 are left today (Source: CNBC interview 9/24 with CEO of Roadway.) That is not what deregulation is supposed to accomplish. Rather than more competition and diversity, we have less. Once again the conservative right was totally and completely wrong in their their approach and execution. And these are the same people who have a lock on access to Bush and who are arguing incessantly for war with Iraq.
 
I don't trust them or their judgement further than I could throw the Washington Monument...

News: When is hacking a crime?
 
OK, I'm not a fan of the creeps out there who spend their feeble, wasted lives trying to do damage to other people's computers and data. I am a fan of people who look for flaws (read bad programming) in software and then force the software makers to fix said flaws. If software makers did not, periodically, have their virtual feet held to the figurative fire, we would be awash in badly designed and badly executed software.
 
Which is why I think the above link should be must reading. Somehow, the "gray hats" of the article must be protected from the corporate and governmental types who would restrict them.
 
Read the article.

Bottomless pit threatens phone industry
 
Well, Stanley, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into. I direct that to those brilliant people who decided that Ma Bell should be broken up and subject to the gentle suasions of a competitive market. What we are risking here is the destruction of what was (and still is, although just barely) the finest telephone system in the world.
 
They say that phone service has gotten cheaper and that innovation has increased. To which I reply that I'm not all that sure that those are good things in this instance. There was a lot to be said for telephone system that works as a regulated utility.
Aside: I might say that the same thing can be said for our airlines. Competition seems to be eliminating all the grace notes of air travel. In other words, it is no longer fun to take a trip (which is probably why all the major airlines are hurting these days. DOH!)
All I can say is that I'm not gonna be real happy when I wake up one day and find that all the pieces of Ma Bell have come back together, albeit in a slightly different configuration, and that this new entity will be basically operating in an unregulated environment. Then do prepare to be liberally and royally screwed while the politicians play catch-up.

Last weekend, from 8:30am Friday morning until 6:00pm Tuesday evening, my wife and I were custodians of our granddaughter. If you haven't noticed by now, as of this coming Saturday I'll have been a grandfather for 8 months. Anyhow, while we loved having our Dulce here with us, we found out why God gives babies to the young--by Tuesday night, we were exhausted!
 
We took her to the Woodbridge Mall on Saturday where we bought me some much needed clothes and her a new car seat. However, the real fun of the trip was watching her reaction to this new experience in her life. She has been to the Bridgewater Commons mall, but that place is not nearly so big and glitzy as Woodbridge: All those shiny things! All those bright lights! All those people!! It was very cool! I loved the way she absorbed all those sights and sounds like a little sponge.
 
Being a grandfather does have its perks, it appears. As long as they are here, I'll take the downside (I ain't getting younger) with at least a little grace...

The stock market is falling again. I'm pretty much sitting on the sidelines watching the train wreck take place these days, but it is still painful. I mean, what are people thinking? There are over 6 billion people on this planet, and the number keeps growing every day. The only way we are going to be able to survive as a species is to utilize all the high tech gizmos we can lay our hands on. That means that the high tech, and related, sectors of the economy should be strong and leading the charge.
 
So, what do we get instead? We get the bejeezus being knocked out of those stocks. Now, unless you are a stock trader, the daily or even yearly fluctuations in price should not mean a great deal to you. What you want out of the economy is for your investment in something today to be worth more than inflation's bite maybe 10 years out. But there is a rub here: when stock prices drop significantly, the perception by many people is that the economy is in trouble. While that perception is often true, in some cases it is a false indicator, and that is the problem today. However, even though the underlying reality militates for a strong economy, the psychology of the market is leading us in the opposite direction. That leads corporate decision makers to start making pessimistic assumptions about the economy, and, thus, they cut back on expansion/purchasing plans. The prophecy of the doom-sayers becomes self-fulfilling.
 
The real danger is that the companies and technology we are going to desperately need in the near future will not be available because we have killed them now.
 
What is that old Chinese curse? "May you live in interesting times."? Yeah, I think that about describes the opening of the new millennium. I just hope we survive these "interesting" times...

OK, the first thing I want to note is that, as I write, I'm listening to "Starman's Neverland" on www.live365.com. This is extremely mellow music. It fits my current mood to a "T". I heartily recommend it to all and sundry.

It has been an eventful couple of days since I last posted. I've been avoiding doing this because, frankly, I knew that I would want to write a lot about what was going through my mind and happening in my life, and I wasn't sure I wanted to commit that much time to my Blog right now. But, I do need to write about some things...so I'll try to get as much in as I can before I have to stop.

CNN.com - Bush to seek approval for action against Iraq - Sep. 18, 2002
 
I'm not even sure we really elected him president. I'm damn sure that we didn't elect him "God". He is asking Congress to abdicate in favor of...himself. This is not a case of Saddam actually attacking anybody: there is just the threat of an attack. But, correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't that the situation that pertained from 1946 until the present vis-a-vis both the former USSR (and now its constituent states) and the U.S.? The whole world has lived with the threat that an unbalanced Russian or American leader could wipe out most life on this planet with the push of a button.
 
I don't like Saddam Hussein one little bit. I think the world would be a better place if he were no longer on it. However, I think that there are better ways to eliminate Saddam than by invading his country with a sizeable military force. Specifically, I'm thinking of a couple Special Forces "A" teams each with a master sniper armed with a .50 caliber sniper rifle. Sooner or later, Saddam is going to be on the reviewing stand for some parade. The .50 caliber sniper rifle is accurate at some 2 miles (plus) range. Hell, the shooter and his team would be two blocks away before the bullet hit...and another two blocks further away before the sound got to the bodyguards.
 
Never take credit for the shot. Speculate like mad about all the potential shooters out there. Solemnly avow that we "would never" stoop to political assassination. Give the boys who did the job just about anything they could ask for...on the Q.T....and then get on with life.
 
That, my friends, is what a real President would do in a situation like this. But, then, the Shrublet is not a real president, I guess, because I certainly don't expect him to do something like this...No, I expect him to try to finish what his daddy couldn't. I expect him to commit the U.S. military to the "cleansing" of Iraq. And I expect us to become hated the world over. I expect the occupying army in Iraq to take constant casualties from a populace who would rather die than see us telling them what kind of government and which leader they should adopt. I see Americans and American corporate Icons around the world becoming "legitimate" targets in certain fundamentalist minds. In effect, I see, with the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Terrorist War against the U.S. picking up a couple notches of intensity.
 
What I don't see is any good coming out of this. And that scares the bejeezus outta me.

News: Windows Media Player 9--no uninstall?
 
Well, once again Redmond, WA's Evil Empire shows its true colors. What were we thinking when we thought breaking the company up would be too draconian. As I see it, the move to make everything an "O/S upgrade" is an attempt to make any future attempt to break up the company undoable. I use Windows Media Player v7.0 for exactly one online music site (The University of Pennsylvania's WXPN's online stream is only available via Media Player v7,) for everything else I use either RealPlayer or WinAmp with the latter being my "preferred" player.
 
The arrogance of Microsoft in forcing their media player on the public should boggle the mind, but, it is almost shrugged off as "business as usual." Call it a vestigial remnent of my youthful rebeliousness, but the more Microsoft tries to dictate how I will "compute", the less likely I am to use their products. I have been threatening to go to Linux (or Mac OS X) for about a year now, this is just one more push in that direction. Oh, btw, for all you who use a Mac O/S or an earlier version of Windows (that is any version other than Me or XP), there will be no Media Player v9 for your O/S's.
 
And the encircling ropes squeeze tighter....

The reason the Haloscan comments weren't working earlier today is that they were being hit with a DOS (Denial Of Service) attack. A DOS attack means that the server in question is being swamped by an overwhelming number of false requests. This means that either some jerk, who missed out on the last 50,000 years or so of Human evolution, is causing this out of the smallness of his being or some bad guy is doing his share to attack the shameless agents of satan. In either event, males who behave like this should end up singing soprano in the boys choir (so as not to be able to pass their obviously flawed genetic material on to another generation). Women who engage in this sort of behavior should be sent to cloistered convents where they can spend the rest of their lives contemplating God (or their navels...whichever); they can be let out immediately after they experience menopause...the whole object of this exercise is to remove that persons genetic contribution to the species gene pool. However, I would make their release conditional on their never having access to a computer or the Internet again in their lifetimes.
 
Of course, denying a person access to a computer from this time forward dooms said person to life as a second class citizen in any computer literate society. Not that a non-computer literate person could not/cannot achieve a position of wealth, power and/or fame in a computer driven society, it is just that that sort of achievement is rapidly becoming extremely difficult. Thus, computer hackers should be sentenced to lives somewhat down the foodchain in our society. Works for me...

Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us in, Stanley. Which is my way of bringing up the fact that Haloscan is among the missing this morning. Attempts to access their home page, pings and even trace route fail to find them. And that means that their servers must be off line. I hope that this is not a systemic problem... or that Haloscan has quietly expired and shuffled off this mortal coil. Right now, only time will tell. Until it does, however, if you want to say anything to me, you'll have to use Email.