Teacher Suspended, Seed Magazine Banned, Teh Gay Blamed. [Greg Laden's Blog]
Dan Delong teaches English at Southwester High School in Piasa, Illinois. He has been suspended for assigning an article originally published in Seed Magazine called "The Gay Animal Kingdom." If you are a teacher you know what to do.. download that article and assign it to all of your students as soon as possible!!!!
Here is a press report on this astounding event.
Here is a blog post by Jonathan Turley about The Banning.
Here is Mike Dunford's blog post: Seed Magazine in the Classroom: Grounds for Suspending the Teacher??
On the Origin of Witches, Broomsticks, and Flying [Terra Sigillata]
This post appeared here originally on 31 October 2007
Have you ever wondered, perhaps on 31 October, why witches are depicted as riding brooms?
The answer is alluded to by Karmen Franklin at Chaotic Utopia in her post as to why witches need to know their plant biology.
The excerpts I'm about to give you come from a superb and accessible pharmacology text entitled, "Murder, Magic, and Medicine," by John Mann, host of the BBC Radio 4 series by the same name.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
U of Akron Requires DNA from Potential Employees; Feds Open Public Comment Period on Federal Law Protecting DNA [Culture Dish]
Inside Higher Ed just reported that an adjunct instructor at the University of Akron quit when he was told that he had to submit to DNA testing. "It's not enough that the university doesn't pay us a living wage, or
provide us with health insurance," the instructor said, "but now they want to sacrifice the
sanctity of our bodies. No." He was right to question their policy: The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 specifically states:
It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any employee, or otherwise to
discriminate against any employee with respect to the compensation,
terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of the employee, because
of genetic information with respect to the employee
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
How do we know how bad the Swine Flu is so far? [Greg Laden's Blog]
I spent about 45 minutes yesterday in the local HMO clinic. They had turned the main waiting room into a Pandemic Novel A/H1N1 Swine (nee Mexican) Influenza quarantine area, and I could feel the flu viruses poking at my skin looking for a way in the whole time I was there.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Seed Magazine in the Classroom: Grounds for Suspending the Teacher?? [The Questionable Authority]
Apparently, offering high school English students the chance to read an article on the Seed Magazine website is ground for suspension - at least if you're an English teacher in Piasa, Illinois.
According to several media reports, teacher Dan DeLong has been suspended with pay pending a Monday evening board meeting. The suspension came about when a parent complained about the content of an optional, extra-credit assignment that DeLong had offered students in one of his 10th grade honors classes. The assignment? Read an online version of an article by ScienceBlogger Jonah Lehrer that appeared in a 2006 issue of Seed Magazine. The article in question deals with homosexuality. In animals.
That's right. Apparently, Teh Gay is so offensive that students need to be protected from being permitted to read about it in any form whatsoever, even in animals.
The Superintendent of DeLong's school district is Larry Elesa. His email address is lelsea@piasabirds.net
Pakistan zeroes in on major Taliban bases (Reuters)
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 1, 2009 (Reuters) -- Pakistani forces are zeroing in on two major Taliban bases in South Waziristan region as their offensive pushes deeper into militant bastion on the Afghan border, the military said on Sunday. ... > read full story
A key figure in 2010 election: U.S. jobless rate (Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2009 (Reuters) -- The key number in next year's U.S. congressional election may be the unemployment rate, which last month hit a 26-year high of 9.8 percent. ... > read full story
Russia-U.S. weapons talks on track: Kremlin adviser (Reuters)
MARRAKESH, Morocco, Nov. 1, 2009 (Reuters) -- Russia and the United States are on track to sign a new deal to reduce their arsenals of nuclear weapons by the time a previous agreement expires next month, a Kremlin aide said at a policy conference in Morocco. ... > read full story
Yankees beat Phillies, lead World Series 2-1 (Reuters)
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 1, 2009 (Reuters) -- The New York Yankees rallied from a three-run deficit to claim an 8-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday and take a 2-1 lead in the World Series. ... > read full story
U.S. sends 6 Uighurs from Guantanamo to Palau (Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2009 (Reuters) -- The Obama administration has sent six Uighur Chinese detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the Pacific island nation of Palau, the Center for Constitutional Rights said on Saturday. ... > read full story