Blisstortion

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Tue Mar 9

clash, confute, carry on...: Blame the Teachers

Another heartfelt and honest account that again explains that testing as a measure of school “success” and “accountability” is a failure in practice and needs to be overhauled completely. And now.

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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

My Chemical Romance

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Mon Mar 8

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Mark Linkous 1962-2010 He was once, a “Little Fat Baby”

A master of the fragile, shattered, melancholy that I (and so many others) adore in music. Sparklehorse made some of the most evocative and influential music of the past 15 years. There will be a gaping void left by his departure, but I am comforted that he is no longer in pain; the pain now is borne by his family, friends and fans. Haunted.

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Sat Mar 6

BILLY EICHNER ON THE STREET : THE OSCARS!

Awesomeness in a viral video. New York is my city and these are my people ;-)

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Fri Mar 5

Tom Hanks & Tom Brokaw on Morning Joe

Tom Hanks is so brilliant that I will PAY to see one of his bad movies next time it comes out. (some are good, but I’ll pay for the bad one b/c of this).

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Thu Mar 4

clash, confute, carry on...: Venus and Mars 2010

I’m guestblogging on Jasons site…I’ll let you decide whether I’m saving the good stuff for here….or there…or if it’s all just shite.

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Woman’s Last Stand: Dodge Charger Commercial Spoof

Hey! this is so wrong! I did NOT cry at the end of “Rudy”

Brilliant.

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Wed Mar 3

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

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Leading Scholar’s U-Turn on School Reform Shakes Up Debate - NYTimes.com

Why is it that you so often read of conservatives “seeing the light” and renouncing their former viewpoints. I will not gloat though, because this subject is very, very close to home. Progressive education is (still) the way to go, and schools like Bank Street have produced many fine educators who foster this philosophy. No Child Left Behind, and it’s hallmark of standardized testing, has only resulted in the cynical corruption of administrators teaching to the test, and curriculum’s being eviscerated to the bare (tested) core of math and reading. Bravo to Dr Ravitch for recognizing this “fad”, which while earnest and practical in theory was probably sociologically designed to fail.

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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Listen Up! A dedication please. I’d like to send this out to the 19 Senators, with an extra F.U. to Jim Bunning, who in the name of continued obstructionist politics, voted against a 30 day extension of jobless benefits for over 1.1 million Americans. Just the idea that there is any principle worth backing in Bunnings’ asshattery is nauseating. Glad he finally backed down, but tell that to the thousands of families in his home state that won’t get their meager $227 check this week.

(Lilly Allen and Mick Jones: Straight to Hell)

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Skeptics - AFFCO

A disturbing video, set to equally disturbing industrial/punk from New Zealands’ Skeptics. Recorded in 88, The lead singer David D’Ath died of leukemia before the video could be released. AFFCO is the largst meat packing concern in NZ; the horrors of factory food production are just as relevant today as they were 22 years ago.