First here is an article about IBM’s mission control system in Rio De Janero. City geeks will appreciate the glimpse into the future and data geeks will love how they are leveraging all the different sources of information in real time. Government often seems to be slow to adopt technology but once a brave soul is able to demonstrate the value of something it is easier for the rest to follow. That is why I was excited to read that my town council is adopting iPads. Now if only they could do the same for the packets I get as a member of the Inland Wetlands Commission.
The topic of Rush Limbaugh and contraception has been beaten to death in the political press. If you want a good opinion piece on it you should read the one by Nick Kristof. He explains how the right to choose is under assault by the right. A few months ago my Constitutional Law professor gave a talk at the school where he expressed the sentiment that Roe might soon be dead. The right has been hacking away at it slowly and unless the left takes action it will once again disappear.
Finally school reform continues to be a topic of discussion as the state considers whether to implement changes. We are not the only state having this discussion so the New York Times published this fantastic op-ed piece by a special education teacher. From the piece I gleam that while teachers and tenure are the focus of reform we need to look at much more than that. The administration plays an important part in how a school is run and they too should bear some responsibility. To be frank, I do not see education as a policy problem. Only so much can be done at the top because the problems differ from place to place. Even within a place the problems are different for each student. I think the absolute worst thing about the current debate is the vitriol between those supporting and opposing reform; we would get a better result if everyone worked together.
I also wanted to share this video about how videos go viral: