Gaming in the Classroom

Gaming does not mesh with the prevailing educational model.

That said, I find Jenny‘s posts on the GLS conference sessions to be remarkable, if not fantastic. In 1987 or so, I, as part of a class project, attempted to teach history to a recalcitrant bunch of my classmates with the Avalon Hill board games, Civilization and Conquistador. Aside from their utter lack of interest in learning the rules of the game, the structure of the class conspired against using games for learning: there’s only so much you can fit into the period and still be able to pass the standardized tests, especially when you’re memorizing answers and not learning.

11 Whatevers for Only a Penny: A Staple of the Music Industry

If you are of a certain age, you will have been a member at one time of either the RCA BMG Music Club or the Columbia House Music Club. This fine service, like its inspiration, the Book of the Month Club, will send you n number of 8 track tapes records cassettes CDs for only one (1) penny! (And then charge an arm and a leg for “shipping and handling,” for which they settled a class-action suit sometime early in this decade.) A long while back, four years to be exact, I took them up, again, on their fabulous offer. The only catch, aside from the shipping and handling, is that I needed to purchase four CDs within four years. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Except their selection is so boring the only time I bought anything was ten minutes ago, in order to avoid having to pay the inflated price for not buying anything.

In discussing MGM v. Grokster, Paul Hoffman opens his remarks with the observation that the conventional journalists are writing filler.

The media coverage of the Grokster decision is so slanted towards the current big music industry that one wonders if the RIAA has spent more money lobbying the press than they have Congress. Nearly every article I have read can be summarized as “this is good for consumers because now they will be able to buy more music.”

Perhaps this cream of the journalistic crop should venture out into the empty, irrelevant music stores, or join a has-been music club, or listen to the radio. Then they might begin to wonder if the RIAA pays penniless students to fill the seats at the Grammy Awards.

Our Sea

IBM‘s MareNostrum supercomputer in Barcelona sounds like a fun assembly.

With peak system performance of 40 teraflops for the final system configuration and a projected No. 4 spot on the TOP500 list, MareNostrum continues the IBM tradition of high performance computing breakthroughs in the service of scientific advancement—with a twist: MareNostrum is built entirely of commercially available components, including 2,282 IBM eServer BladeCenter JS20 blade servers housed in 163 BladeCenter chassis, 4,564 64-bit IBM Power PC 970FX processors and 140 TB of IBM TotalStorage DS4100 storage servers.

Demand Up, Population Down

Zimran holds forth on how one might arbitrage the existing real estate prices, and then opines,

Finally, I don’t buy the argument that population explains the housing bubble. The population of Massachusetts *shrunk* last year, but housing appreciat[ion] in Boston is the highest in the nation.

I think it’s partly due to a population shift, but need more data. Rather, whatever long-term price stability there will be is due to a population shift. The current pricing is somewhat inflated by low interest rates; I doubt those are sustainable.

Do Not Hinder Them

I was looking for Robert’s Rules of Order the other day, and ran across the site of the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania. That reminded me of the Union-Philanthropic Literary Society of Hampden-Sydney College.

And then, oddly enough, NPR ran a piece on the school closures in Prince Edward County. (I say “oddly enough” because Hampden-Sydney is in Prince Edward County, and a study on those school closures was written by a student of the University of Pennsylvania.) Instead of integrating, Prince Edward County closed all public schools.

But this was just one episode in a wide campaign to avoid integration, part of which was the repeal of the State’s “compulsory school attendance law, making the operating of public schools a matter of local choice.” Since Brown v. Board of Education did not apply to private institutions, those schools remained segregated, or not, in accordance with the wishes of their patrons. Meanwhile, Virginia law provided that students could attend the public school of their choice — at least until Green v. School Board of New Kent County (1968).

In 1973, my mother and one of her friends, Pat Hula, opened the first integrated nursery school in New Kent County: Sunshine Nursery School at Providence Forge Presbyterian Church. For, as the song goes,

Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
All the little children of the world.

Third Annual Father’s Day Weekend in Lake George

We spent our third annual Father’s Day weekend in Lake George, New York. This year was a bit different because someone decided it would be a good time for the Lake George Elvis Festival. The weather started a bit dreary, but by Saturday afternoon it had cleared, and we ended up having a blast. On Sunday, we again sailed on the Minne-Ha-Ha, then after that went up to Bolton Landing to Up Yonda Farm.

I’ll have to include the restaurant reviews later; I made note of much of the food 🙂 We stopped by Adirondack Brewing twice — they serve s’mores — and on the second visit I had the sampler. I made notes of those brews as well.

  • Inman Pond Blonde, a good drink.

(Beer in mind that I tasted six 6 oz. samples, and my taste buds may have become less discriminating by the time I made it around the rack.)

  • Their Marzen was eh. I don’t like the style, so this wasn’t too unexpected. What was unexpected was that in combination with my gorgonzola cheese-burger it tasted like honey.
  • Their signature beer, Bear Naked Ale, was dull. It wasn’t bad — just didn’t have an interesting palate.
  • I had their IPA on the first visit. It was typical of the genre, but not outstanding.
  • The Snow Trout Stout was a good one to drink by its lonesome. The gorgonzola destroyed the delicate espresso flavors.
  • The California Steam and Fat Scotsman Ale deserve special consideration. They, and Cooper’s Cave — on tap at the Holiday Inn — have a strange, musty aftertaste reminiscent of a cavern. This musty taste renders them unsuitable for drinking without a companion dish. But when they are combined with tart foods, such as onions or gorgonzola, the must disappears and they reveal a sweetness.

    The Fat Scotsman has a high gravity, with 12% alcohol by volume, that delivers a swift kick even when approached with caution. Again, this is best appreciated with the right food, otherwise you’ll only taste the cave.

    Because of the lower alcohol content, I found myself reaching more for the Steam as the meal wore on. Though since my wife took the keys, I could have downed the Fat Scotsman just as easily. 🙂

  • Adirondack Brewing also offers a London Porter, which I did not try.

By themselves, stick with the Inman Pond Blond or the Snow Trout Stout. With food, either the Steam or the Fat Scotsman will please.

Thank ya. Thank ya verra much.

Spare the Belt, and Spoil the Child

The Big Sister goes to kindergarten in the Fall. On Tuesday, I went to an orientation session about the school buses, where I learned an interesting thing. The buses have seatbelts. The drivers may “suggest” that the children wear the seatbelts, but the children are not required to wear them. At this tender age the children may exercise their discretion in this matter of personal safety, but we adults may not.

I recall in 1980-something when Virginia proposed and passed a bill requiring the occupants of a car’s front seat to wear safety belts. We — that is, the consensus in Highland County — were aghast that the State’s interest in preserving the life of its citizens extended so far as to curtail the risks one willingly undertook to drive a vehicle. We, or at least I, could understand the negligence of a driver in not asking his passengers to wear their safety belts, but to penalize a consenting adult for actions that would harm only him? Such a thing could happen only in a Nanny State like New York.

Now I live in New York, and find that safety belts and seats are required in private passenger vehicles, not in public buses; that the State’s actions in the public sphere are inconsistent with those in the private; and I have to laugh because it so absurd. The State, to which we entrust our children, acting in loco parentis, deems it unnecessary for our children to wear the same belts they fine us for not wearing.

Ha!

On Forgiving Your Debtors

The Group of Eight has agreed to forgive the debt owed them by the poor. I like this idea much more than simply giving poorer nations more money, regardless of how many strings are attached. For one thing, it’s hard to mis-spend not having to pay your bills. Any funds those countries raise can be put to more productive use, if they so desire. If they don’t…

And now that there’s a clean slate, they can accrue more debt!

On Taking

nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

As the number of sellers approaches zero, the value of the remaining properties increases, until at the last, the value of the final of the property is the value of the set of properties. Just compensation in this instance would be the opportunity cost of not developing the New London waterfront, or some millions of dollars.

I’ll likely have more thoughts in this vein after reading the opinion.

Allocating New York’s Electors

The New York State Senate passed S.1750, which, if passed by the Assembly, will modify the way New York allocates its electors.

Modifies the election method for the electoral college vote in the election of the president and vice-president of the United States; provides that there shall be one presidential elector awarded to each candidate who receives the greatest number of votes in a congressional district; provides that there shall be two presidential electors awarded to each candidate who receives the greatest number of votes in the state at-large.

The vote split generally on party lines, so will not pass the Assembly.

Paranoia Will Destroy Ya

Thurston Moore, of Sonic Youth, on mix tapes:

In those days, tape decks were as essential as turntables. And they were as bulky as well. But right around this time, Sony issued the Walkman. These new Walkman players were all about hanging off the shoulder with headphones and bopping around the city listening to tunes. I suppose the record industry expected the consumer to buy cassettes of the LPs, and the consumer surely did, but hey — why not buy blank cassettes and record tracks from LPs and play those instead? Of course this is what every Walkman user did, and before long, there were warning stickers on records and cassettes, stating: HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC! It was a quaint forbear to today’s industry paranoia over CD-burning and Internet downloading.

If you youngsters don’t have tape decks, you can share your mixes at The Art of the Mix, or the iTunes Music Store.

Parking Case Studies

Consider the case of a restaurant which wants to occupy a local historical landmark. All goes swimmingly until the owner finds that the town requires ten more parking spots, but the owner cannot add those ten spots because half of the lot is wetlands. Why does the town require the parking? So the restaurants clientele won’t park along the street or in the adjacent lot (which the town also required)? Perhaps the owner is willing to take the risk that he’ll lose 10 tables by not having sufficient parking. That doesn’t matter to the zoning board of appeals, and now the property is back on the market, with the price adjusted for improvements.

Or that of the sporting goods store next to the bike trail, which jealously guards its parking spots with both gun and dog, despite having no observed customers or weekend hours.

In the former case, I would permit the business owner to accept the risk of lost business. And if the cars overflow into the street or the adjacent lot, then that’s more sales tax or parking ticket revenue for the town. And perhaps the neighbors can work out an arrangement. In the latter case, parking meters should do the trick.

The Economics of Government Schools

This year’s Mahopac Central School District budget proposed to increase our property taxes by approximately 10%. We rejected it by 2 to 1. While I do not like this increase, it seems like a good value, does it not? For about $7,100 per year, my daughters will receive a pretty good education. But is it? Are these prices fair, either to property owners or to parents?

As this increase is presented in terms of supply and demand — we’re expecting more sixth grade students therefore we must hire more teachers and build more classrooms — let’s consider how supply and demand affect the cost of public schools. First, the government artificially stimulates demand, through attendance requirements and truancy laws. Then, the government restricts supply by establishing school systems, and fixes a price floor through property taxes. Non-government schools will always be more expensive than the government school because those costs are in addition to the property taxes.

The Future of Television?

In a BusinessWeek article on how Microsoft is causing SBC to fall behind schedule — thanks, Bill — the authors don’t question a key market assumption.

Most analysts believe Net-delivered programming is the future of TV since it potentially will allow providers to deliver many more channels than are currently available.

Most analysts are idiots. Is there such demand for millions more channels of the same old shit?

In other news, it looks like the AP has made the same error in their story on the FCC‘s changing the deadline for digital television equipment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Television viewers who crave the crisp, clear pictures of digital TV got a boost Thursday when the government ordered manufacturers to include the technology in all midsize models by next spring.

Video afficionados already have digital equipment, so they have no bearing on this regulation.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to require televisions with screens from 25 inches to 36 inches be digital-ready by March 1. That is four months earlier than the commission decreed in 2002.

The article notes that there is little market demand for the new equipment, because televisions without the digital tuners are, surprise, less expensive.

Why, one wonders, are we mandating the inclusion of digital broadcast tuners in television equipment when only

[a]bout 12 percent of U.S. households rely exclusively on over-the-air broadcast signals for their television, according to a CEA survey. Eighty-six percent have cable or satellite TV subscriptions, and 2 percent do not have any television.

Oh, that’s right, because

Once traditional analog signals end, households without a digital TV that rely on over-the-air signals would have to purchase a converter box to continue using their analog sets. Those boxes can run upward of $100.

So I should spend $400 on a new unit with the digital tuner when I can wait until the analog broadcast stops and then spend only $100? That doesn’t sound fiscally sound.

At least the Chairman recognizes some sort of market pressure.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said if Congress sets a deadline to end analog broadcasts, the resulting demand for converter boxes would drive down the price.

But then, here’s the kicker:

Congress also is considering a subsidy program to help offset converter costs for low-income households.

WHAT?! We’re going to pay the poor to watch TV?! Because we’ve artificially increased the cost of their boob tube?

Transition

Does anyone pay attention to SGI anymore?

Some years ago, SGI decided to discontinue development of systems using the MIPS processor, and to pursue development of Intel Architecture systems. Their first models ran Windows NT, but nobody cared, so they switched to Linux. Linux is an easier migration path for developers who wrote for IRIX. But it was still work to move from IRIX on MIPS to Linux on IA-64.

Now, with the use of Transitive‘s product QuickTransit, those legacy applications can run seamlessly on SGI’s new Prism line of “visualization systems.”