Nine Shift

Mozilla and Khan non-profit in name only?

Alan Barnicle, a Phd student at the University of Wisconsin and assistant in UW's nationally known IT department, either calls me out  over Mozilla's and Khan Academy tax status - - or discovers a disturbing new situation of for-profit entities pretending to be educational non-profits. Which is it?

Clearly, both are technically non-profits. But I cannot find a Board of Directors for Mozilla, can you?  And I would like to see the salary of the CEOs of both, as I will guess they both make salaries common in the for-profit sector and very uncommon in the non-profit sector. 

This is part of a disturbing trend of for-profiteers trying to undermine public education, including continuing education.  We have seen a major decline in public participation in continuing education over the last two decades due solely to economic inequality.  

An annual fall scene: geese stay in our town until the lake freezes and the leftover corn in the cornfields are covered with snow.

 

 

Telecommuting helping to reduce driving

Telecommuting is one of the factors in decreased driving. Here's a story about the Twin Cities, where light rail and trains are being built. Interestingly, the transportation official cited is still clueless about the long term downward trend in driving. Thanks to Kevin Czmowski for sharing the link,

Tax on Marijuana Ain't Nothing

15% Tax ain't nothing. I did Q&A this week with a book club reading NineShift in Denver. Soon they will vote on taxing marijuana at 15%.  15% is outrageous for taxing anything else, but for marijuana no one will object. It means millions for Colorado to invest in education and infrastructure. Same thing happened 100 years ago when the income tax was introduced to fund the new century.

Photo: Shoreline on our lake with the leaves now in the water.

Historic Day for Minnesota and Wisconsin

An historic day today.  It was announced today that Amtrak will start using the St. Paul Union Depot shortly after Thanksgiving.  Only a few weeks left to see history change overnight.  Here's the beautiful but empty St. Paul Union Depot as it is today.  In a few weeks it will still be beautiful, but busy and crowded for the rest of our lives, and the rest of the century. 

Do Teachers Want Girls to Learn More?

Do teachers want girls to learn more?  This is the first time teaching Gender in the Classroom  I have gotten the impression from my teachers that they do not want their girls to learn more. We know teachers don't want their boys to succeed more, but not wanting their girls to learn more is new. Girls get good grades just for sitting in the chair and turning work in on time. It now seems teachers are just fine with that.

Changes are coming as the College Learning Assessment (CLA) exposes GPA as the false measurement it is. But it would help if teachers wanted their girls to learn more too.

Past peak in fall colors up north, but still pretty this week.

Huge Victory for 21st Century This Week

The Tea Party cave-in this week on getting changes to healthcare is a huge victory for the 21st Century.

Exactly 100 years ago we began experiencing the same big Wins for the 20th century, with income tax, food and drug act, 40 hour work week and so on.

It looks more and more like the Affordable Healthcare Act is here to stay, and that's a good thing for everyone in society. 

Leaves up north this weekend. We're "past peak," you can now see the lake. The Tea Party is also past peak.

Try Understanding the Tea Party

Maybe we should at least show more sympathy for people in the Tea Party.

These are people whose way of life, and the values of that way of life, is disappearing. And there's no way out for them.  They are, in the main, older people with a high school degree who have seen their wages decline. Many of them have seen their jobs eliminated.  And there's no way out. 

Yes, we need to defeat the Tea Party.  Yes, we need to move ahead.  But maybe along the way we could show a little more sympathy for the people whose way of life is being destroyed by the Internet.

Cyber barons. Listening to a story about Amazon's Jeff Bezos, my brilliant co-author Julie Coates noted how his story is very much the same as Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie and the Robber Barons 100 years ago. He puts other companies out of business, refuses to have AC for his workers, and of course is the 12th richest person in America. My "favorite": he patented one click ordering so no one else can have it. It's like a patent on bread.

Understanding the Stalemate in Washington

Understanding the stalemate in Washington. The news media does not seem to explain this very well. Just like 100 years ago, we have a stalemate because some people oppose the new century.

They oppose the new century because it means their entire way of life, including their values, is disappearing. That's what's going on. In 1913 farmers were just as angry as the Tea Party is today over their way of life disappearing. By 1920 the new century had won and the two political parties came together on major social issues, just like they will in 2020.  Farmers of course lost, and indeed their whole of life did disappear.

Women, autism and STEM

My brilliant co-author Julie Coates sees a mathematical consistency between autism and STEM. We know 20% of one sex has a gender trait of the other sex. One of 50 boys has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, while one of 250 girls has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, exactly 20% of males. Males go into STEM, only 20% of engineers and other STEM professionals are female. She's not saying every female engineer is on the autism spectrum, but we know Edison, Gates, and many more male inventors are. It's what I learned this week