Keeping and Firing Teachers

I have always been against teachers' unions. If you do form a teachers' union, it should be formed around the mission of education rather than blindly protecting jobs. This article makes me sick.

Teaching jobs and pay should be merit based. Public school districts and their teachers have always bemoaned the fact that that lacks equality and oversight and is difficult to assign merit accurately, but please, just suck it up. The best teachers will almost always be recognized, and rewarded under a merit-based system. True, some teachers, good and bad, will slip through the system, but that system sounds much better than the current system in many districts where bad teachers stay for years, and good teachers lose interest because they are only paid by seniority and gain no more resources or influence even after years of inspirational teaching.

Contra Costa County's Grand Bluff

About a week ago, I, along with some friends, read a shocking article in the SF Chronicle detailing a plan by the Contra Costa County DA to stop prosecuting misdemeanors and certain drug felonies. To quote the article, "People who are suspected of misdemeanor drug crimes, break minor traffic laws, shoplift, trespass or commit misdemeanor vandalism will also be in the clear," but that "prosecutors will still consider charging suspects with certain misdemeanors, including domestic violence, driving under the influence, firearms offenses, vehicular manslaughter, sex crimes and assault with a deadly weapon." The full article is here.

Hey criminal breathren, want a new hard drive? Go to Contra Costa County's Best Buy and steal one! You won't be prosecuted! Hey rapists, want to grope people? Go to Contra Costa County! If it's not too egregious, no one will prosecute you! Need a place to stay? Just sleep on any private property in Contra Costa County! The police won't prosecute you for trespassing!

You get the idea.

Of course, we were skeptical when we read this. No DA in his/her right mind would do this. Yet, this was an article in the Chronicle. They wouldn't even do this on April Fools Day. I later checked Google News for more news, and found that this was indeed, shockingly, true.

I checked for updates on the situation every few days to see how the major public outcry would affect the DA's decision, and to see if Contra Costa County would spiral down to what may be later referred to euphemistically in the history books as "America's Dystopian Experiment of the Economic Crisis of 2009."

Fortunately, as another Chronicle article (and many other sources) later reported, this was all a huge bluff that DA Robert Kochly engineered to force the Board of Supervisors and the general public to recognize law enforcement's need for a basic level of funding, even during economic downturns.

I do feel sympathetic for Kochly and his strained organization.

"Stay In School" featuring EPACS

Ashley Baker, who I know from tutoring at East Palo Alto Charter School (EPACS), and who now teaches there as a humanities teacher, referred me to this video:



Absolutely amazing.

I think I even recognize some of those kids, not to mention E-40, Keak da Sneak, and some other big names in Bay Area rap.

This whole thing was put together by Kontac, that rapper wearing yellow stripes near the kids and the turntable near the end. He's a bay area rapper, and also an incredibly dedicated physical education teacher at EPACS.

And here is a pretty powerful interview with Kontac. You HAVE to watch this:


If you stop by EPACS any time, just look to the playground, and you'll probably see him teaching physical education and the importance of exercise and team work and instilling good community values.


And finally, here's a making of video:

We Are All Going to Explode

Do a Google search for "Yellowstone." The first result is is the National Park Service's official Yellowstone National Park web site, as expected. The second site is yellowstone.net, which promises to help you "plan your yellowstone vacation." Still as expected. But the third is for the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Wait, what? Isn't Yellowstone a volcanically inactive geothermal cluster? Why can't we see black lava flows like on Kilauea or even St. Helens?

The answer is complicated, but in a sentence, Yellowstone sits on top of a volcanic hot spot that enjoys blowing up in a "supereruption" every few hundreds of thousands of years, but in the meantime, keeps itself fit by spewing geysers, unleashing thousands of earthquakes, and triggering hydrothermal explosions.

Those supereruptions occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years ago. Do some simple math, and you realize that we are approaching time for another one of these eruptions if the pattern of previous eruptions holds. So let's look at three things: (1) What warning systems do we have? (2) How likely is it that Yellowstone will explode, and will the warning systems catch it? and (3) What will happen if it does?

So. Warning Systems. In this respect, Yellowstone has the best in the world. It is classified by the US Geologic Survey (USGS) as a high-risk area, and is being studied by numerous universities and research organizations. It is watched by thousands of seismometers, sensor arrays, GPS devices, and satellites for any slight change.  If you are the paranoid type, just go to any of dozens of Yellowstone monitoring sites, and you will get your fill of self-perpetuated fear.

Second. Likeliness. Looking at earthquake activities, Yellowstone hasn't changed much in recorded history. Every so often, there is an "earthquake swarm," in which hundreds of small earthquakes happen in a matter of days or weeks. This happens every dozen or two years, but the one in late 2008 caught national attention, as it was one of the most powerful swarms ever recorded. This swarm was also combined with a relatively meteoric rise of the Yellowstone Caldera over the past three years--three inches per year, more than three times the maximally recorded rate of growth since measurements began in the 20s.  However, all these events are normal, and can be explained away by any of a number of reasons--hydrothermal pressure from underground lakes affected by earthquakes, geothermal effects, etc. 

So what if it explodes. Well, we are all doomed. The last eruption covered most of North America in up to a foot of ash, and dramatically changed global temperatures. There were mass local continental extinctions, and the direct effects of the explosion leveled most of what today is Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. Earthquakes of extreme magnitudes would be felt all across the world, and would destroy most buildings in North America. It's not likely that such a quake will strike, but if it does, let's just say we're in a great place to help rebuild the community afterwards.

Finally, rather than worry about the Yellowstone Caldera, perhaps a greater threat is the Long Valley Caldera, right here in California. In its last eruption, it spewed 600 cubic kilometers of rubble across the US, and very recently, there were some 6+ magnitude earthquakes coming from around there. Mounts St. Helens, Rainier, Hood, and Shasta are all close to home, and they happen to be 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the USGS's list of the most dangerous volcanic centers in the United States. Yellowstone, on the other hand, is number 21. 

Maybe I should think twice now before scaling Rainer or Shasta, and tempt fate in Yellowstone instead.

Keith Olbermann on Prop 8

Powerful stuff.

Gay Marriage Legal in California

Equality for gays, after a 4-3 vote struck down the ban on gay marriage, at least until the issue comes up again in November as a California constitutional amendment