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Submission + - 25% of Charter Schools Owe Their Soul to the Walmart Store

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Among the billionaires who helped Bill Gates pave the way for charter schools in WA was Walmart heiress Alice Walton. The Walton Family Foundation spent a whopping $158+ million in 2012 on what it calls "systemic K-12 education reform," which included $60,920,186 to "shape public policy" and $652,209 on "research and evaluation." Confirming the LA Times' speculation about its influence, the Walton Foundation issued a press release Wednesday boasting it's the largest private funder of charter school "startups", adding that it has supported the opening of 1 in 4 charter schools in the U.S. since 1997 through its 1,500 "investments." But as some charter school kids have learned the hard way, what the rich man giveth, he can also taketh away. For the time being, though, it looks like America's going to continue to depend on the tax-free kindness of wealthy strangers to educate its kids. For example, while it was nice to see the value of Shop Class recognized, the White House on Monday called on businesses, foundations and philanthropists to fund proposed "Maker Spaces" in schools and libraries. Hey, when the U.S. Secretary of Education turns to corporate sponsors and auctions to fund his Mother's afterschool program for kids of low-income families in the President's hometown, don't look for things to change anytime soon.

Submission + - CERN Wants a New Particle Collider Three Times Larger Than the LHC (vice.com) 1

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: Not content with the 27-kilometre-round Large Hadron Collider, researchers at CERN have their sights set on a new beast of a particle collider that could have a circumference of 80 to 100 kilometres.

The nuclear research organisation announced that it was hatching plans for an ambitious successor to the LHC with an international study called the Future Circular Colliders (FCC) programme, which will kick off with a meeting next week.

The idea is to consider different hadron collider designs similar to the existing LHC but more powerful—much more powerful. CERN wrote it was looking for a collider “capable of reaching unprecedented energies in the region of 100 TeV.” The existing LHC will reach a maximum of around 14 TeV (tera electron Volts).

Comment Re: 3 Day Old News (Score 1) 412

by janerules (#46187401) Attached to: Audience Jeers Contestant Who Uses Game Theory To Win At 'Jeopardy'
I thought his strategy was brilliant, and answering hardest questions first guarantees succsss at easier questions, given your peraonal knowledge. I answered more questions(close to half) than my average (between 1/3 and half depending on categories) correctly while he was on the show. He was also delightful to watch because we cheered for him and he was winning.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Why are we still writing text based code? 4

Submitted by Rasberry Jello
Rasberry Jello writes: *Improving upon what I posted yesterday. I really must know the answer to this question! It's been driving me crazy for years!*

"I consider myself someone who "gets code," but I'm not a programmer. I enjoy thinking through algorithms and writing basic scripts, but I get bogged down in more complex code. Maybe I lack patience, but really, why are we still writing text based code? Shouldn't there be a simpler, more robust way to translate an algorithm into something a computer can understand? One that's language agnostic and without all the cryptic jargon? It seems we're still only one layer of abstraction from assembly code. Why have graphical code generators that could seemingly open coding to the masses gone nowhere? At a minimum wouldn't that eliminate time dealing with syntax errors? OK Slashdot, stop my incessant questions and tell me what I'm missing.

Comment android. (Score 1) 1215

by janerules (#43967441) Attached to: What Keeps You On (or Off) Windows in 2013?
I currently spend the majority of my tech time on my mobile phone. Im in transit or otherwise unable to get on the laptop. Ive used several os-es so I can say I enjoy the layout. Ease of use. And unfortunately I pick up an iOS device or computer and Im actually kinda lost. Seems awkward to me.

Comment Re: That's fine (Score 1) 315

by janerules (#43825145) Attached to: Cockroaches Evolving To Avoid Roach Motels
Here too! After some reading I also learned they can live for 3 days without their head, survive 30 min without air, breed approx 90 to 1, and (by looking in my kitchen) that they are able to ration sparse food supplies. 3 roaches to one grain of rice. Go figure. They will outlive us all!

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