Salon Des Geeks

Gonzales Resigns.

I must say that I am relieved. I think that the most importnant thing to reflect on is what we knew at the time of this man\’s confirmation. We knew that he was the author of the infamous torture memo. We knew that he drafted executive orders which flagrantly violated the constitution.

Most damning, we knew from his confirmation, that his conscience held no regret.

Despite this, he was confirmed. So, I do not lay all the blame for his infamy as Attorney General on him. Some portion must also go to us.

Hi all,
I have been remiss in not posting sooner that Martial and I welcomed Xavier Alexandre Michel-Cleland to the world on 7/26. I was going to post pictures, but am not sure how to do that, so perhaps one of the more tech-savy among you (i.e., anyone but me) could help me out. We’re all doing well, although Xavier is the only one who’s getting enough sleep. Well, him and the cats, who are wondering when he’s going back whence he came. Hope you’re all doing well!
Kim

I heard this piece on NPR last week regarding how much (or little) high school students know about economics. Strangely, depending on your news source this is reported as an encouraging or a discouraging amount of economics savvy on the part of America’s youth, but what surprised me about it was that high school students were expected to know about economics at all. In my high school, economics was not touched upon, even for the most rudimentary introduction. No supply and demand, no interest, no unemployment rates, zip.

This led me to wonder, what is essential to cover in K-12 education? Is the goal to equip students for life after high school, to prepare them for college, to “teach them how to learn,” to carve them into good citizens, or some combination of these? Also, how much choice should we give students in tailoring their own course schedules to match their interests and plans? I have a few nascent thoughts on the subject, but am eager to hear the salon’s thoughts first.

I watched the film Stardust the other day and found it utterly charming. Apparently it is based on a well reviewed Neil Gaiman graphic novel. I highly recommend the film to all you salonniers. I really like fables, and this one is so charming that even the sinister murderers are … well… somehow not _that_ bad.