August 2014

There were 13 posts published in August 2014 (this is page 2 of 2).

Mark Turner: Core continuity | Letters to the Editor | NewsObserver.com

The N&O printed my letter to the editor today about Common Core. It was something I’d been meaning to write for months but only got around to finishing about the time the decision was made. Too bad.

IBM employees joke that IBM stands for “I’ve Been Moved.” Growing up in an IBM family, I experienced this firsthand.

When someone is educated in five states, continuity can become a real issue. Our state welcomes new residents and businesses every day. Military families come and go in what we like to call the “nation’s most military-friendly state.”

”Yet our state legislators are about to undo the one sure way our young new residents can hit the ground running with their education: the Common Core. Rejecting Common Core will hurt our new residents, both civilian and military.

Think about that the next time our state leaders crow about North Carolina being business- or military-friendly.

Mark Turner

By the way, the editor did a little tweaking to it, changing the format. Here’s the way I submitted it:

IBM employees joke that IBM stands for “I’ve Been Moved.” Growing up in an IBM family, I experienced this firsthand. When someone is educated in five states, continuity can become a real issue.

Our state welcomes new residents and businesses every day. Military families come and go in what we like to call the “nation’s most military-friendly state.” Yet our state legislators are about to undo the one sure way our young new residents can hit the ground running with their education: the Common Core.

Rejecting Common Core will hurt our new residents, both civilian and military. Think about that the next time our state leaders crow about North Carolina being business- or military-friendly.

(Yes, I was educated in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.)

via Mark Turner: Core continuity | Letters to the Editor | NewsObserver.com.

US company signs $1.175 billion Iran energy deal

This is almost certainly a sham. Much is unknown about this World Eco Energy company.

TEHRAN – A US company has signed a preliminary agreement to invest $1.175 billion 864 million euros in Iran, in a rare joint commercial project to turn rubbish and human waste into electricity.

California-based World Eco Energy said it plans to produce 250 megawatts daily by burning trash and by processing algae and salt and waste water into power.

Iran will match the US investment, the company said.

via US company signs $1.175 billion Iran energy deal.

American aid worker stricken with Ebola arrives in U.S. for treatment | Reuters

I jumped into a Facebook debate today about the wisdom of bringing Ebola victim Dr. Kent Brantly to Atlanta to be treated at Emory University. While I once gave into the hysteria surrounding infectious diseases, I know what I don’t know – in essence, that infectious disease is most certainly not by bailiwick.

I am now unconcerned about Dr. Brantly and the other American Ebola victim, Nancy Writebol, being brought to the United States by trained disease professionals. It’s really the unescorted average Joes that get infected and then board a flight that scare the daylights out of me.

An American aid worker infected with the deadly Ebola virus while in Liberia was flown from West Africa to the United States on Saturday and taken to an Atlanta hospital for treatment in a special isolation unit.

A chartered medical aircraft carrying Dr. Kent Brantly touched down at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia shortly before noon.Brantly was driven by ambulance, with police escort, to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta where he will be treated in a specially equipped room.

via American aid worker stricken with Ebola arrives in U.S. for treatment | Reuters.