Former Washington, DC schools superintendent Michelle Rhee is a controversial figure. Originally touted (on both the left and right) as the figure who could save the capital’s schools, her standardized test-based decision making, and her apparent eagerness to fire educators, quickly earned the ire of the teachers unions. This fight with the Washington Teachers Union probably cost former DC Mayor Adrian Fenty his reelection, and it certainly cost Rhee her job. Since then she’s […]

Every year, the number of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s for short) committed to reducing climate change, saving the ocean, developing alternative energy sources, cutting down plastic use, not cutting down forests, or myriad other worthy causes, grows. Many of these organizations are staffed by committed, hard-working environmentally minded advocates struggling to make a difference. But, with [...]

A great old government film touting the discovery and promise of Penicillin: Penicillins are a group of drugs naturally produced by penicillium molds. The antibiotic activity of penicillium was first observed by Alexander Fleming in 1928. He recognized the value of what he was seeing, but was unable to isolate the molecule that mediated the […]

coketalk: coverjunkie: Libertine (UK) There’s a new mag in town. Libertine Magazine: “For Interested Women” Founder and editor Debbi Evans explains: “to redefine the ‘women’s interest’ category. In addition to luxury lifestyle content we cover tech, science and business, and celebrate high achieving maverick women for the contents of their brains, not their beds. There is no fashion or beauty content in issue 1, unless you count a piece on the semiotics of handbags. There’s […]

  Dothan, Ala Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection   # 7304   Earlier today Ironorehopper on Twitter notified me of an cluster of unknown respiratory illness in and around Dothan, Alabama.  He (and other newshounds) have been posting local reports on FluTrackers on this thread since mid-afternoon, while Crof has reports here and here.   A search of  Dothan TV stations turns up this from ABC affiliate WDHN-TV; a video of a press conference held […]