From Earthquakes to Schools

Earthquake in Japan

The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.


"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).


Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html?hpt=T1


Japan: Update

An explosion shattered a building housing a nuclear reactor Saturday, amid fears of a meltdown, while across wide swaths of northeastern Japan officials searched for thousands of people missing more than a day after a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The confirmed death toll from Friday's twin disasters was 574, but the government's chief spokesman said it could exceed 1,000. Devastation stretched hundreds of miles (kilometers) along the coast, where thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers cut off from rescuers and aid.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake




Transparency

Although I’ve been talking about “transparency” for the past few weeks, I’ve done so without offering a precise definition of the term. The complete definition is one that we’ll work towards over time. For now, let’s look at three core characteristics of a transparent organization.

Clarity

Confusion, uncertainty, and ambiguity are a big part of life…..

Single Version of the Truth

This is a term borrowed from data warehousing and master data management. Any time information is copied and moved around, you run the risk of entertaining conflicting, often competing, versions of reality……

Two-Way Street

Closely related to the idea of a single version of truth is the recognition that transparency must be reciprocal. ….

http://www.transparencyrevolution.com/2011/03/transparency-three-basic-considerations/



Wisconsin Republican Senators get DEATH THREATS

State Sens. Joe Leibham and Glenn Grothman said they are among as many as 18 Republican senators who received a death threat following their votes to eliminate most collective bargaining powers for public workers.

The threat was sent in an e-mail late Wednesday with the subject, "Death threat!!!! Bomb!!!!" according to a copy of the letter released by Grothman's office. The e-mail also was addressed to Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20110311/WDH0101/303110067/Multimedia-18-GOP-senators-report-getting-death-threats?odyssey=tab


Update. The police have gotten a confession from a woman but the name hasn’t been released yet.

Kyoto Protocol.

…. Those of us present in Madrid in 1995, WHEN A FINAL DRAFT WAS APPROVED BY THE SCIENTISTS, BECAME AWARE THAT THE CRUCIAL LANGUAGE WAS CHANGED AFTER ITS APPROVAL AND BEFORE IT WAS PRINTED. While this has been hotly denied by the perpetrators, the evidence is quite clear; one only has to compare the two documents. DR. FREDERICK SEITZ, one of America's most distinguished scientists and President Emeritus of the Rockefeller University, had this to say in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on June 12, 1996:

"In my more than 60 years as a member of the American scientific community, including service as president of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society, I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED A MORE DISTURBING CORRUPTION OF THE PEER-REVIEW PROCESS THAN THE EVENTS THAT LED TO THIS IPCC REPORT."

And he had good reason to be upset because here are the phrases that were deleted from the final draft:

"NONE OF THE STUDIES CITED ABOVE HAS SHOWN CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT WE CAN ATTRIBUTE THE OBSERVED [CLIMATE] CHANGES TO THE SPECIFIC CAUSE OF INCREASES IN GREENHOUSE GASES."

"While some of the pattern-base studies discussed here have claimed detection of a significant climate change, NO STUDY TO DATE HAS POSITIVELY ATTRIBUTED ALL OR PART [OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE OBSERVED] TO [MAN-MADE] CAUSES. Nor has any study quantified the magnitude of a greenhouse gas effect or aerosol effect in the observed data - an issue of primary relevance to policy makers."

"Any claims of positive detection and attribution of significant climate change are likely to remain controversial until uncertainties in the total natural variability of the climate system are reduced."

"While none of these studies has specifically considered the attribution issue, they often draw some attribution conclusions, for which there is little justification."

"WHEN WILL AN ANTHROPOGENIC EFFECT ON CLIMATE BE IDENTIFIED? IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT THE BEST ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS, `WE DO NOT KNOW. "


BUT THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE WAS ADDED IN THE "REVISION":


THE BODY OF STATISTICAL EVIDENCE IN CHAPTER 8, WHEN EXAMINED IN THE CONTEXT OF OUR PHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE CLIMATE SYSTEM, NOW POINTS TO A DISCERNIBLE HUMAN INFLUENCE ON THE GLOBAL CLIMATE. [IPCC chapter 8, p.439]….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/good_bye_kyoto.html

The global warming scam has been that since the beginning of the IPCC.  The group started with the answer they wanted and have labored to support it.  Sometimes they did outrageous things like the above.  Other times they simply ignored evidence to the contrary. 



American Education

…. In effect, American public education is a huge jobs and union dues creation program costing taxpayers unimaginable sums of money. SO, WHY AREN'T WE GETTING BETTER RESULTS? Why have American kids who once led the world in academic achievement fallen so far behind in world rankings in math and science?

UNIONS POINT THE FINGER IN OTHER DIRECTIONS. SOME OF THEIR CLAIMS HAVE MERIT: parental interest and involvement have declined in many districts; disciplinary problems exist almost everywhere; cultural influences interfere with learning; mandatory mainstreaming lowers the common denominator. But, while acknowledging all of these things, teachers and their unions must face the significant contributions they've made to the problems.

WHY WON'T THE UNIONS DISCUSS MERIT PAY FOR TEACHERS OR AGREE TO ELIMINATE TENURE? Teachers know who the good teachers are, and the good ones aren't afraid to be measured on results. TEACHERS UNIONS DEDICATE TOO MUCH OF THEIR TIME AND TOO MANY OF THEIR RESOURCES TO PROTECTING UNDERPERFORMERS.

Teachers and their unions resist the argument that principals and school boards should be able to dismiss incompetent teachers. In fact, EDUCATORS AFFIRM THAT UNION PROTECTIONS MAKE FIRING A TEACHER -- EVEN A BAD ONE -- NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. The unions argue that, without contract protections, teachers would be at the mercy of their employers.

In other words, they'd be just like private-sector working Americans. The teachers' unions' detachment from the practical reality of private-sector workers tells us something about how the public schools they control can fail to educate children:

IF A TEACHER CAN'T BE DISMISSED FOR DOING BAD WORK, WHAT'S THE INCENTIVE TO DO GOOD WORK?

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/challenging_the_teachers_union.html

Education is too important to simply keep throwing money at.  We've gone from 25.8 students for every teacher in the 1960s to 15 students per teacher today, and we haven't gotten the results we were promised.