While we in Madison argue over how to spend $300+m annually to educate our 25,000+ children, the Economist rightly points out that
“the world is becoming more unequal and justice demands a remedy. Right? Wrong on both counts” Poverty and inequality….
“Are we going to be replaced by a computer or what?” one veteran baseball scout told The Los Angeles Times last week.
Selena Roberts has a timely look at Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A’s. Beane has made the Oakland A’s winners, despite a very low payroll and competitors with piles of cash (money is not the secret to success).
But what the swipes reveal is how threatening an alternate view is to baseball’s theology.
It’s a threat to inept owners ? and/or a certain baseball commissioner ? who have used their small-market woes as habitual excuses for futility. It’s a threat to Yankeesque teams who spend millions to assemble constellations only to be increasingly grounded by teams of cohesive humans. It’s a threat to romanticized scouts whose legends are built on a 5 percent success rate.
“Everyone thought they had it figured out a long time ago,” said Scott Hatteberg, the A’s first baseman. “Now you have these young guys coming in to mess with it.”
San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club has an interesting interview with Beane and writer Michael Lewis regarding last year’s excellent book, Moneyball.
Ruth Robarts emails her comments on the MMSD administration’s proposed 3% budget reduction along with some alternative approaches.
From the NY Times:
The Camera Never Lies, but the Software Can…
Glenn Reynolds has a nice summary of today’s Washington DC Silent March at the Spanish Embassy.
From Jeff Jarvis: a 4.2MB PDF of El Pais amazing coverage.
Lee Sensenbrenner has a summary of the nearly $10m in proposed cuts to next years $308m Madison schools budget:
The chops fall hardest on custodians, teachers and support staff. But they also take a significant toll on high school athletics, including big fee hikes, fewer teams and coaching positions as well as the elimination of all high school athletic directors.
No upper level administrators would be affected by the proposed cuts.
Additional background here….
liu zen shares a stunning Quicktime VR Scene from China:
Situated in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,
Guilin has always been famous for its scenery and culture.Guilin is a
karst basin surrounded by mountains. The Li River flows through Guilin
from north to south.
Liu’s email: liuyz37@hotmail.com
Wisconsin Representative Terese Berceau emailed me last night that the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office decided to back out of this project.
Gina Barton writes:
Citing both financial and privacy concerns, Wisconsin law enforcement officials have changed their minds about becoming part of a computerized information-sharing network.
The network, funded by a $12 million federal grant, aims to create a clearinghouse of information authorities can use to track terrorists and criminal suspects. Advocates say it simply consolidates data already available to investigators, allowing them to access it more quickly. Detractors worry that it could be used to mine computer files for details about ordinary citizens.
The Madison Metropolitan School District announced their recommended budget cuts [265K PDF] today. (MMSD Budget site)
Barb Shrank passed along two budget documents from a March 1, 2004 presentation to the School Board.
Board of Education Agendas, Minutes & Schedule
There’s been much discussion recently regarding laptops in schools, including a recent chat I had with Madison Superintendant Art Rainwater (MP3 3.7MB – video on the way)
From District Administration:
For those who envision laptop computers in the hands of every student, this may be the best of times and the worst of times. While classrooms using this approach are churning out success stories, growing state budget deficits are threatening future funding, leaving educators to wonder whether laptops for everyone is a great idea that they simply can’t afford.
A four-year, $37-million initiative to provide laptops to all seventh and eighth graders in Maine has transformed middle school classrooms there and generated positive reviews. At the same time, the state’s budget crunch has left the program’s longer-term future up in the air. In Michigan, a plan to equip the state’s sixth graders with laptops recently lost more than half of its $39 million funding before it could get started, thanks to an almost $1 billion state budget shortfall.