The comment entry box proclaims that

"blockquote" Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

, and

are accepted, but according to my regular HTML references "quote" has been deprecated (since 3.2?) for "q" Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.. So, how does Slash mangle them?

I've never used the ecode formatting before either. How does that look?

<b>"ecode"</b> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

.

How does that look?

So, "blockquote" indents and left-side bar ; greyed text ; "quote" indents more, left side bar, regular text colour ; "q" is ignored ; "ecode" indents, side-bars, greys, and monospaces. I'll just stick with "blockquote".

Who can't handle "Apple-ish" funny quotes, without for one second considering the more difficult question of non-Latin characters and other HTML entities.

For clarity, the problem seems to be (not an Apple-eater myself) that Apple, with some level of automation, substitute a typographical double- (or single-) quote pair where the text file has (had) an ASCII double- or single-quote pair in it. SlashCode has more problems with HTML and Unicode entities, but this particular bug is particularly common. And annoying.

And msmash is one of the guilty parties.

How many editors are there?

Another potential one from Arxiv.

Anoxic Atmospheres on Mars Driven by Volcanism: Implications for Past
Environments and Life

The current atmosphere of Mars is low pressure, but oxidising (largely because water gets split by UV high in the atmosphere, the hydrogen is lost to space but the oxygen (hydroxyl molecules) is heavy enough (has a short enough mean free path) to be retained in the atmosphere ; the iron in the surface rocks turns red (goes to +3 oxidation state). Which is well and good, and well understood. But ... oxygen does horrible things to biochemistry. Ask any SCUBA diver who has read up on the biochemistry of oxygen toxicity. While biological systems can learn how to handle having the poisonous stuff around, it needs a fair amount of biochemical machinery to contain and manage the poison. After a few hundred million years to a billion years, life on Earth managed to learn how to handle it and survived the "Great Oxidation Event". But all serious models for the origin of life on Earth depend on having initially a reducing atmosphere, unlike that of today's planet (and Mars). Mars today has no observed volcanism, but relatively fresh volcanic landforms suggests there is some volcanism from time to time. Impacts can also inject surface material into the atmosphere without active volcanism.

This study describes a model of the influence of volcanism on the oxidation state of the Martian atmosphere. A modest (more than ~0.14cu.km per year, around 1% of Earth's rate) amount of basaltic volcanism would be able to make the current atmosphere reducing, and volcanism was likely to be more common in the past, so the atmosphere of early Mars was probably often reducing, which is generally expected to be a good thing for a local origin of life. Also, an atmosphere which changed between reducing (after a large impact or volcanism) and oxidising (under the continuing influence of solar radiation) might actually stimulate the development of interesting chemistry (a.k.a "life").

Chemical signatures of previous reducing atmospheres which could be measured with current and future Mars rovers are discussed.

Arxiv 2103.13304 "Automatic planetary defense : Deflecting NEOs by missiles shot from L1 and L3 (Earth-Moon)" proposes that

• -1- hitting a PHA at 90deg to it's orbit is most likely to produce a large course change. I think that's pretty obvious once you look at it.
• -2- this can be achieved at more manageable cost from L1/ L3, which are always in sight of Earth (radio communications). An elliptical orbit CONFOCAL (having the same focal points as) to the PHA's hyperbolic orbit will intersect the PHA at 90deg. I'm not entirely sure what the L1/ L3 brings to it other than relative stability and line-of-sight.
• -3- there remains the problem of determining the PHA's orbit sufficiently accurately sufficiently soon. Time-of-flight from L1/ L3 to half-way across the Earth-Moon system remains significant, O(1day).
• -4- Launching a salvo of missiles would produce lower risk-of-miss.
• -5- Wouldn't a missed missile return to (close to) L1/ L3, potentially for re-use or re-fuelling?
• -6- If so, why not produce a stream of orbiting missiles needing relatively small course adjustments to reach a PHA, so approximating a permanent defence system?
• -7- doesn't the L1 Sun-Earth point present the same benefits ... no, we're looking at PHAs which may impact the central body, and we don't care about rocks hitting the Sun.
• -8- You'd need two streams of missiles in clockwise/ counter-clockwise orbits to reach most orbits efficiently. Would you need some at moderate inclinations to cover out-of-Fundamental Plane objects? Or ... the contra-rotating missile streams being at 45deg to the Fundamental Plane to cover both options.
• -9- Somewhat related, what would be the benefits of Earth-Sun L4/ L5 points for positioning earth-scanning telescopes to scan for PHAs.
• -n-

The detailed paper (Acta.Astro 50 185 (2002) is hidden and SciHub blocked now. Asked author for a copy (ore re-post yo Arxiv?). Need a VPN.

All the usual hype is flowing about Vista 8. This mostly means that Vista 7 was a failure, but I decided to log it for laughs. Vista 7 did not sell as well as Vista did and Vista 8 won't sell any better than Vista 7. Vista failure has really killed Microsoft. The upgrade inevitability myth is six feet underground, traditional desktops are becoming a thing of the past and everyone looks to Google, Apple even IBM for cool and reliable computing. Despite that, Microsoft brings out the same old lines and strategies.

2009

• 05/29 - Steve Ballmer tries to freeze the market by announcing an early release date, only to have Micrsoft quietly rebuff him. In reality, OEM outrage at Microsoft's limitations and power grab pushes Vista 8 release out of 2012.
• 06/02 - A fawning article from business insider. We get all the usual BS, "riskiest OS ever," "biggest step forward in more than 20 years, when it pushed Windows as the replacement for DOS", "underneath that layer is the old Windows that users are accustomed to. It will run old Windows apps", Linux and Apple are too jarring, expensive and suck, and so on and so forth.

As the Linux Foundation wins new friends and influences people, sharp reporters at PCWorld notice that Windows sales as a fraction of PCs shipped are in a steep and accelerating decline. Woody Leonhard of Infoworld does the math on Microsoft's numbers,

Between launch and June 30, 2010 -- a period of 251 days -- Microsoft sold 0.78 Windows 7 licenses for each PC sold. Between July 1, 2010, and April 22, 2011 -- a period of 275 days -- Microsoft sold 0.67 Windows 7 licenses for each PC sold: 175 million Windows 7 licenses, and 260 million new PCs. To turn the numbers the other way around, in the past nine months, more than one-third of all new PCs sold didn't have Windows 7. ... it's entirely possible that 40 percent of all new PCs in the past nine months shipped without Windows 7. Maybe more.

So, the Windows 7 PC sales "refresh" is over. Business adoption rates are still under 10%. Kanthryn Noyles of Computer World interprets that as a Win for gnu/linux

I think it's fair to assume that a good number of them are running Linux instead. Preloaded options, after all, are increasingly common, and the reasons to switch are more compelling with each passing Patch Tuesday.

Android/Linux, is another reason for the decline. Why sit around mom's basement with a big, noisy PC when you can drop the net in your pocket? PCs are less important and Windows is downright archaic.

Microsoft's bottom line sags with its cash cow. There was good evidence in 2010 and January of this year that Windows 7 was not driving sales. Roughly Drafted now looks at Microsoft's quarterly report and shows that Windows profits are down since 2008 back when they were trying to sell Vista which many people dumped in less than six months.

A list of things that Microsoft lobbyist and software patent advocate, Florian Mueller has been telling Slashdot.

Florian Mueller has thrust himself into the news a lot over the last couple of years, mostly to the detriment of Microsoft competitors, and has been particularly successful at getting Slashdot to copy his message. Roy Schestowitz, of Techrights, noticed him early because Boycott Novell was on Florian's journalist mass mailing list. So was Groklaw. Both rejected Florian's message and both are now smeared by him. Techrights has this index and PJ has this about bad behavior in 2005, this, this and more. Florian waged a Twitter/Social Media FUD campaign against both "Groklie" and Techrights in retaliation. Even Slashdot submitters have called Florian a "gadfly" and noticed he's behind anti-Google FUD. All of Florian's media manipulation has earned him special mention by actual lawyers who advise those threatened by lawsuits to ignore him and people like him.

The best way to understand what Florian has been doing is to make a list of it. Here then, is a list of what he's been telling Slashdot readers over the last year or so, with context and links to refutations as time allows.

Android/Google Spin.

• Google violated Java patents on purpose (See source article for source of silly opinion. ITWorld should be ashamed.)
• Speculation about why Apple replaced their chief patent lawyer. While Apple is quiet about the change, Florian pretends to be an Apple spokesman and tells us it's all about plans to block Android features.
• Sensationalized Oracle's obnoxious demands for money as something that would "far exceed any money Google has ever earned with Android", Google's no cost, free OS. Groklaw puts things in perspective and lawyers advise people to ignore Florian and people like him.
• Google Loses Bedrock Suit, All Linux May Infringe Florian put his anti-linux spin into CNet, the article source. See refutations, [2 SJVN], [3 PJ].
• A refutation that points to Florian as the source of Android copyright FUD.
• Huffington Post and Florian level copyright charges against Android, call it a "serious problem". Techrights and Groklaw answer these charges and take a careful look at Florian. [2]
• Google and Microsoft are working to make sofware patents livable
• Backs Google's request to invalidate Oracle VM patents.
• Florian charges Google of copyright violation against Oracle, blames ASF.
• Florian claims Android is doomed by Google's small patent portfolio, so Google had better pay fees to Apple, Microsoft and Oracle.
• Android and iPhone charged with violating media patents
• Counts patents involved in Apple's attack on Android.
• Pumps up Paul Allen's sue everyone lawsuit as trouble for Android.

Red Hat FUD

• Red Hat Feeds Patent Trolls.

IBM FUD

• EU investigates IBM for anti-trust in Turbo Hercules debacle. Grocklaw answers this [2].

Novell's Patent Hoard.

• Notices Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and EMC are to receive Novelle's patents and predicts dire results for free software.

Reframes Microsoft's attempt to tax Motorola's use of GNU/Linux and Android.

This issue should not be separated from general anti-Google FUD but Florian does this.

• Compares LG Sony fight to Motorola Microsoft
• Talks about new patent charges by both companies as if they were equals.
• ITC investigates Xbox after Motorola complaint.

That's 16 articles in less than a year and each represents dozens of Microsoft press echos. All of it says something bad about Google, Red Hat, IBM and other free software users. When he's not busy smearing Microsoft competitors, he's telling us that they Love Microsoft and are working with them towards some noble goal.

People speculate that Muelller is fed inside information as part of Microsoft's coordinated campaigns against free software and Microsoft competitors. PJ of Groklaw thinks that Microsoft hoped that a community of deluded coders would form around Florian, but only Novell employees and Mono boosters pal around, while the larger free software community ignores him. His recent praise of the SCO Gang and smears of PJ places him among the most disgusting of Microsoft company.

J.A. Watson of ZDNet belatedly joins the Vista Sucks Chorus. He makes up for his tardiness with zeal and by moving to GNU/Linux.

I simply can't believe how awful Windows is, and (unfortunately) how gullible I am. [my laptop] came loaded with Vista Business, and a "fallback" DVD for XP Professional. I tried running Vista on it. I really tried, I really wanted it to work, and I said exactly that in my blog here. But it didn't. Every time I tried it, things started out looking promising, and after a month or two it would go belly-up. Three or four times I reloaded Vista from scratch and tried again, hoping that the latest Microsoft Updates would fix it. Eventually I gave up, reloaded one last time with XP Professional, and ran that with no problem for two years.

A month or so ago, through my own carelessness, I wiped the disk on this laptop. I had to reload everything from scratch, so (like a fool) I thought well, Vista SP2 is out, everyone says that it is "all fixed up now and works great, and reliably", so I'll try that again. I loaded Vista from scratch, added all the updates to SP2 and beyond, and I've been running it that way since. Until today. ... Windows is unreliable garbage, it always has been, it always will be, and if you use it you should be willing to accept that risk. I am no longer willing to accept that risk, even part-time as a secondary operating system on this laptop. Windows is gone, it has puked all over its disk for the last time here, and I will not reload it. I am in the process of transferring the data to one of the Linux partitions - yes, Linux is quite happy to read the partition that Windows says is hopelessly corrupted.

Please, PLEASE, unless you want to hear a very long string of words that I learned during my military service, do NOT tell me that the "solution" to this problem is to give Microsoft even more money and "upgrade" to Windows 7. ... if Vista is not stable, or reliable, then Microsoft should withdraw it and either offer a free "upgrade" to Windows 7 or offer a refund of the purchase cost. ... I absolutely don't believe the Windows 7 is any better, any more stable or any more reliable than Vista. They come from Microsoft, they are utter garbage...

This is a sign of things to come for Windows. Windows 7 was predictably just as bad as Vista was. People no longer are falling for Microsoft's promises of "this version fixes everything."

A now-former writer for scholastic, Marc Millot, wrote an article accusing wide-ranging corruption in Obama administration awards of Race to the Top grants, implicating Andrew Rotham of EdSector. Rotham complained that the report was hearsay, which is not true but Scholastic pulled the report and fired Marc Millot anyway. As an advocate for clean government, I've got my fingers crossed hoping for a Streisand effect. Also, some of those need mirrors, ANDREW ROTHAM is trying to take down his own blog entry.

http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/02/hogwarts-on-the-hudson.html/comment-page-1

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                        <div class="alignright"><a href="http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/02/take-the-points.html">Giving Too Many Points</a> &raquo;</div>
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                        <h2><a href="http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/02/hogwarts-on-the-hudson.html" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Hogwarts On The Hudson?">Hogwarts On The Hudson?</a></h2>

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                                <p>Wow. Jaw meet floor. <a href="http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/home.jsp">Scholastic</a>, a serious publisher in the education space (that produces some good products, for instance Read 180) <a href="http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2010/02/millot-three-data-points-unconected-dots-or-a-warning.html">is now allowing its bloggers to call out senior government officials as corrupt on the basis of <em>anonymous third party hearsay and no evidence</em>.</a> We&#8217;ve crossed into a strange new - and unfortunate - world if this is the new norm or somehow even remotely acceptable.</p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> As you can tell from the now broken link it&#8217;s to Scholastic&#8217;s credit that they&#8217;ve removed the post.</p>

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        <h3 id="comments">13 Responses to &#8220;Hogwarts On The Hudson?&#8221;</h3>

        <ol class="commentlist">

                <li class="alt" id="comment-151201">
                        <cite>steve f.</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151201" title="">February 5th, 2010 at 4:38 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>seems like a reasonable blog post to me &#8211; he&#8217;s just asking for a bit more transparency to clear up any perception of favoritism. </p>
<p>as he said, it&#8217;s not like it hasn&#8217;t happened before <img src='http://www.eduwonk.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>

                </li>

                <li class="" id="comment-151218">
                        <cite>Ed Pol</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151218" title="">February 5th, 2010 at 5:00 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>Steve F.-</p>
<p>The first sentence is:</p>
<p>&#8220;I have now heard the same thing from three independent credible sources &#8211; the fix is in on the U.S. Department of Education&#8217;s competitive grants, in particular Race to the Top (RTTT) and Investing in Innovation (I3). &#8221;</p>
<p>Not implying anything but just asking?</p>

                </li>

                <li class="alt" id="comment-151225">

                        <cite>steve f.</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151225" title="">February 5th, 2010 at 5:04 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>it&#8217;s a blog, i&#8217;m not sure of the ethics of blog publishing.</p>
<p>but the post is asking whether there is favoritism at the dept of ed? that&#8217;s reasonable in my book and could be cleared up easily through a transparent process.</p>

<p>the ny times uses anonymous sources all the time.</p>

                </li>

                <li class="" id="comment-151233">
                        <cite>Ed Pol</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151233" title="">February 5th, 2010 at 5:15 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>&#8220;Over the last several months a national education reporter, a senior manager at a national education research organization, and the head of a national nonprofit working in the field all volunteered that the Department&#8217;s senior officials know exactly who they want to get RTTT and I3 money &#8211; in brief, the new philanthropies&#8217; grantees and the jurisdictions where they work. &#8221;</p>
<p>That is a reasonable question but the blog post is not asking whether there is favortism, it is *saying* there is favortism. The first line is &#8220;the fix is in&#8221; not &#8220;is the fix in?&#8221;</p>

                </li>

                <li class="alt" id="comment-151236">
                        <cite>JSP</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151236" title="">February 5th, 2010 at 5:24 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>Pleeeez! Favoritism at the Dept of Ed? Who&#8217;s the secretary? While he may be a nice man and a class warrior, his position derives from the favoritism we now find problematic.</p>

                </li>

                <li class="" id="comment-151303">
                        <cite><a href='http://ljohnson562@charter.net' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Linda/Retired Teacher</a></cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151303" title="">February 5th, 2010 at 8:56 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>I feel certain that the taxpayers are about to be fleeced in the name of educational &#8220;reform.&#8221; Let&#8217;s hope someone with the right skills can find out what&#8217;s coming down the pike before it&#8217;s too late.</p>
<p>The Reading First fiasco hurt a lot of children and lined a lot of pockets before the fraud was exposed. I don&#8217;t want to see this happen again.</p>

                </li>

                <li class="alt" id="comment-151305">

                        <cite>Edharris</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151305" title="">February 5th, 2010 at 9:02 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>Some of the article is here:<br />
<a href="http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/02/millot-asks-about-conflict-of-interest.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/02/millot-asks-about-conflict-of-interest.html</a></p>

                </li>

                <li class="" id="comment-151569">
                        <cite>KL</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151569" title="">February 6th, 2010 at 1:04 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>Entire article available here:</p>

<p><a href="http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2010/02/millot-three-data-points-unconected-dots-or-a-warning.html" rel="nofollow">http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2010/02/millot-three-data-points-unconected-dots-or-a-warning.html</a></p>

                </li>

                <li class="alt" id="comment-151798">
                        <cite>Mary Porter</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151798" title="">February 7th, 2010 at 6:41 am</a> </small>

                        <p>Clearly, we must applaud Scholastic&#8217;s journalistic integrity for not allowing its bloggers to call out senior public officials. Especially when, as you point out it sells &#8220;a lot of good products&#8221; and the senior official in question is capable of serious payback if the serious publisher were to allow such a breach in respect for senior government officials.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s what journalistic standards are for: to protect our vulnerable senior government officials from unwarrented intrusion into their power to dispense payouts.</p>

                </li>

                <li class="" id="comment-151866">

                        <cite>Edharris</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-151866" title="">February 7th, 2010 at 1:02 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>Two classic moments from film and TV come to mind.<br />
&#8220;I&#8217;m shocked, shocked, to find gambling going on in this establishment.&#8221;<br />

Casablanca</p>
<p>&#8220;Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, grin, grin.&#8221;<br />
Monty Python&#8217;s Flying Circus.</p>

                </li>

                <li class="alt" id="comment-153620">
                        <cite>Marc Dean Millot</cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-153620" title="">February 12th, 2010 at 11:27 am</a> </small>

                        <p>I&#8217;ve responded to Rotherham&#8217;s charge starting here at the blog &#8220;Schools Matter.&#8221;</p>

                </li>

                <li class="" id="comment-153652">

                        <cite><a href='http://www.thefrustratedteacher.com/' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>TFT</a></cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-153652" title="">February 12th, 2010 at 12:48 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>The saga is being followed by me as well as others. Several bloggers, including me, have given Millot space to respond. Check my blog for updates if you are interested.</p>

                </li>

                <li class="alt" id="comment-154163">
                        <cite><a href='http://ljohnson562@charter.net' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Linda/Retired Teacher</a></cite> Says:
                                                <br />

                        <small class="commentmetadata"><a href="#comment-154163" title="">February 13th, 2010 at 7:54 pm</a> </small>

                        <p>Mr. Millot:</p>

<p>You sound like a very wise man. You were one of the first writers to predict that Michelle Rhee couldn&#8217;t possibly succeed given her disdain for teachers.</p>
<p>I hope you can continue to expose &#8220;reformers&#8221; who are poised to line their pockets with tax money meant for schoolchildren. Your skills as a lawyer should prove very helpful. Our country cannot afford another Reading First scam. Thank you.</p>

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                <li id="recent-comments-3" class="widget widget_recent_comments"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Recent Reader Comments</h2>

                        <ul id="recentcomments"><li class="recentcomments"><a href='http://www.billigtflygtilllondon.com' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Jason Jagow</a> on <a href="http://www.eduwonk.com/2009/12/eliza-krigman-ringmaster.html/comment-page-1#comment-154202">Eliza Krigman: Ringmaster</a></li><li class="recentcomments">ateacher on <a href="http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/01/five-strikes-and-youre-out-plus-houston-we-have-a-problem.html/comment-page-1#comment-154181">Five Strikes And You&#8217;re Out! Plus, Houston We Have A Problem&#8230;</a></li><li class="recentcomments">ateacher on <a href="http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/01/five-strikes-and-youre-out-plus-houston-we-have-a-problem.html/comment-page-1#comment-154178">Five Strikes And You&#8217;re Out! Plus, Houston We Have A Problem&#8230;</a></li><li class="recentcomments"><a href='http://ljohnson562@charter.net' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Linda/Retired Teacher</a> on <a href="http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/02/hogwarts-on-the-hudson.html/comment-page-1#comment-154163">Hogwarts On The Hudson?</a></li><li class="recentcomments"><a href='http://www.churchcoaching.org/' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Coach for Awakened</a> on <a href="http://www.eduwonk.com/2009/08/reinventing-ed-school-2-coaching-dosagestyle.html/comment-page-1#comment-154107">Reinventing Ed School 2: Coaching dosage/style</a></li></ul>

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<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/" target="_blank">Mojo</a></li>

<li><a href="http://oxblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Oxblog</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/author/spencer_ackerman">Spencer Ackerman</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/" target="_blank">Talkingpointsmemo.com</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp" target="_blank">The Corner</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/strategist/" target="_blank">The Democratic Strategist</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.slate.com/?id=3944&#38;cp=2120447" target="_blank">The Has Been</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.tnr.com/blogs/the-plank" target="_blank">The Plank (TNR)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2006/04/03/LI2006040301493.html" target="_blank">Think Tank Town</a></li>
<li><a href="http://volokh.com/" target="_blank">Volokh Conspiracy</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/whisphome.htm" target="_blank">Washington Whispers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/" target="_blank">WSJ&#8217;s Blog Federation</a></li>

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<P><h2>EduReading</h2>
<br>
<!-- Publications Section -->

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<!-- Publication Spot 1 -->
<td class="publications" valign="top"><a href="http://www.hepg.org/hep/Book/5"><img

src="http://www.eduwonk.com/graphics/Collect_Barg_120x147.gif" width="120" height="147"

border="1"><br>Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today's Schools</a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">Edited by Jane Hannaway and Andrew J. Rotherham</font>
<P>

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border="1"><br>Why Newsweek's List of America's 100 Best High Schools Doesn't Make the Grade
</a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">By Andrew J. Rotherham<br> and Sara Mead</font>
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<!-- Publication Spot 3 -->
<td class="publications" valign="top"><a href="http://www.hepg.org/hep/Book/39"><img

src="http://www.eduwonk.com/graphics/teacher_quality_120x147.jpg" width="120" height="147"

border="1"><br>A Qualified Teacher<br> in Every Classroom</a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">Edited by Frederick M. Hess, Andrew J. Rotherham, and Kate Walsh</font>
</td>

<!-- Publication Spot 4 -->
<td class="publications" valign="top"><a href="http://www.democracyjournal.com/article.php?ID=6535"><img

src="http://www.eduwonk.com/graphics/DemocracyJournal.gif" width="120" height="147"

border="0"><br>America's Teaching Crisis</a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">By Jason Kamras and Andrew J. Rotherham</font>

</td>
</tr>
<tr>

<!-- Publication Spot 5 -->
<td class="publications" valign="top"><a

href="http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900030&contentID=3344"><img

src="http://www.eduwonk.com/graphics/SpecialEd_120x147.jpg" width="120" height="147"

border="0"><br>Rethinking Special Education For A New Century</a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">Edited by Chester E. Finn, Jr., Andrew J. Rotherham & Charles R. Hokanson, Jr.</font></td>

<!-- Publication Spot 6 -->
<td class="publications" valign="top"><a

href="http://www.educationsector.org/analysis/analysis_show.htm?doc_id=385844"><img

src="http://www.eduwonk.com/graphics/EXPCutScoresCover.gif" width="120" height="147" border="0"><br>Making The Cut: How States Set Passing Scores on Standardized Tests</a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">By Andrew J. Rotherham</font></td></tr>
<tr>

<!-- Publication Spot 7 -->
<td class="publications" valign="top"><a

href="http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/1016_education_mead_rotherham.aspx "><img

src="http://www.eduwonk.com/graphics/MeadRotherhamCover.gif" width="120" height="147" border="0"><br>Changing the Game: The Federal Role in Supporting 21st Century Educational Innovation </a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">By Andrew J. Rotherham and Sara Mead</font></td>

<!-- Publication Spot 8 -->
<td class="publications" valign="top"><a

href=" http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/store_product.asp?prodid=210"><img
src="http://www.eduwonk.com/graphics/TeacherExcellenceCover.gif" width="120" height="180" border="0"><br>Achieving Teacher and Principal Excellence: A Guidebook for Donors
</a><br>
<font color="#000000" size="-2">By Andrew J. Rotherham</font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<P>
<ul><li id="linkcat-5" class="linkcat"><h2>Education Blogs</h2>

        <ul class='xoxo blogroll'>
<li><a href="http://americanedreview.blogspot.com/2010/01/teaching-as-leadership-live.html">American Ed Review</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/" target="_blank">ASCD</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.assortedstuff.com/" target="_blank">Assorted Stuff</a></li>
<li><a href="http://teachingquality.typepad.com/building_the_profession/" title="Secondhand NEA smoke?" target="_blank">Barnett Berry</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/" title="And lemme tell you another thing about those punk reform kids today&#8230;" target="_blank">Bridging Differences (Meier and Ravitch)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/media/blog" title="But do they like charter schools?" target="_blank">Charter Blog (NAPCS)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://charterschoolpolicy.org/yes/" target="_blank">Charter School Policy Inst. Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://dormont.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Chez Dormont</a></li>

<li><a href="http://thecite.blogspot.com/" title="A blog on Course materials, Innovation, and Technology in Education">CITE Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://athenslearning.org/blog/" target="_blank">College Ready Blog (Athens Learning Group)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.burkescarbrough.com/" target="_blank">Conversation Starters</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/" title="Bring on the classics! Panic At The Pondiscio holds forth!" target="_blank">Core Knowledge Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.erinoconnor.org/" target="_blank">Critical Mass</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/CurrikiBlog/">Curriki</a></li>
<li><a href="http://d-edreckoning.blogspot.com/" title="You&#8217;d better bring evidence " target="_blank">D-EDreckoning</a></li>
<li><a href="http://dcteacherchic.blogspot.com/">D.C. Teacher Chic</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/" target="_blank">Dangerously Irrelevant</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.cobranchi.com/" title="Homie Central" target="_blank">Daryl Cobranchi</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.abcte.org/blog/" target="_blank">Dave Saba (ABCTE)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://daveshearon.typepad.com/" target="_blank">Dave Shearon</a></li>
<li><a href="http://dcedublog.blogspot.com/" title="Education dysfunction central" target="_blank">DC Education Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.dfer.org/posts/blog/" title="Should be as redundant as &#8216;Republicans for lower taxes&#8217;, but isn&#8217;t yet" target="_blank">Dems for Education Reform</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.newamerica.net/blog/early_ed_watch" title="Sara Mead tells you what it all means for little kids" target="_blank">Early Ed Watch</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.earlyedcoverage.org/" title="Colvin saves education journalism" target="_blank">Early Stories</a></li>
<li><a href="http://learningmatters.tv/blog/news-desk/" title="Daily education news summaries and links" target="_blank">Ed Beat</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ediswatching.org/" title="He&#8217;s five and he likes school choice" target="_blank">Ed is Watching</a></li>

<li><a href="http://ed-policy.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ed Policy Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edbizbuzz/" target="_blank">Edbizbuzz</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.centerforpubliceducation.org/?paged=2" title="The Center for Public Education Blog">EDifier</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.varpartners.net/%3fpage_id=101" target="_blank">EdReformer Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.edspresso.com/" title="Vouchers yes! Dems no!" target="_blank">Edspresso</a></li>
<li><a href="http://educatedguess.org/blog/" title="The Educated Guess is a forum on education policies in California and Silicon Valley.">Educated Guess</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.educatednation.com/" target="_blank">Educated Nation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://educationnext.org/blog/" title="The Ed Next empire expands to the blogosphere">Education Next Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.eduflack.com" title="He wants you to look good!" target="_blank">EduFlack</a></li>

<li><a href="http://eduoptimists.blogspot.com/" title="The blogging Goldricks!" target="_blank">Eduoptimists</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.edwize.org/" title="Teacher union voice!" target="_blank">Edwize (UFT)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://eponymouseducator.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Eponymous Educator</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.essentialblog.org/" title="Authentically good!" target="_blank">Essential Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://extracredit.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Extra Credit</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.edexcellence.net/flypaper/" title="Petrilli &amp; Friends" target="_blank">Flypaper (Fordham)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.edexcellence.net/fordhamfellows/blog/" title="Young, brash, and prolific!" target="_blank">Fordham Fellows</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thetrenches.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">From The Trenches</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/custom/blogs/education/index.html" target="_blank">Get Schooled (AJC)</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/education/index.html" target="_blank">Get On The Bus (Dayton Daily News)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gothamschools.org/" title="24 hour-a-day coverage of the vipers&#8217; nest that is education policy in NYC" target="_blank">Gotham Schools</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.greatschools.net/" target="_blank">GreatSchools Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.grumpyprofessor.com" target="_blank">Grumpy Professor</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.newamerica.net/programs/education_policy/higher_ed_watch/blog/" target="_blank">Higher Ed Watch</a></li>
<li><a href="http://hipteacher.typepad.com/schoolblog/" target="_blank">Hip Teacher</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ithoughtathink.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">I Thought A Think</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.learningalternatives.net/" target="_blank">IALA</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mspappas.preknow.org/" target="_blank">Inside Pre-K</a></li>

<li><a href="http://insideschools.org/blog/">Inside Schools Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/" title="Education&#8217;s union man" target="_blank">Intercepts</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ivygateblog.com/" target="_blank">IvyGate</a></li>
<li><a href="http://jaypgreene.com/" title="TV reviews, education commentary, and vouchers for everyone!" target="_blank">Jay Greene</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drcookie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jenny D.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.joannejacobs.com/" title="Come for the excerpts, stay for the comments!" target="_blank">Joannejacobs.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gwu-kindlingflames.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kindling Flames</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kitchentablemath.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kitchen Table Math</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/learning.now/" target="_blank">Learning Now (PBS)</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.publicschoolinsights.org/" title="The Blob Blogs! But guaranteed at least 75 percent tendentious - or your money back!">LFA &#8211; Public School Insights</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.linkeducation.org/blog" title="Education social networking" target="_blank">LinkEd</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.matthewktabor.com/" title="He&#8217;s pissed and pointed" target="_blank">Mathew K. Tabor</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mediainfusion/" target="_blank">Media Infusion</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stsg.wordpress.com/" title="Good luck with that!">Meeting the Turnaround Challenge Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mikerosebooks.blogspot.com/">Mike Rose&#8217;s Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/" target="_blank">Moving At The Speed Of Creativity</a></li>

<li><a href="http://bgenglish.blogspot.com/index.html" target="_blank">Mr. B-G&#8217;s English Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://msfrizzle.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Ms. Frizzle</a></li>
<li><a href="http://education.nationaljournal.com/" title="Eliza Krigman plays ringmaster for a three ring educircus!">National Journal&#039;s Education Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/NCLB-ActII/" target="_blank">NCLB Act II (Ed Week)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.letsgetitright.org/blog/" title="Now seen mostly on milk cartons" target="_blank">NCLBlog (AFT)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://schoolnerdblog.blogspot.com/" title="She&#8217;s smart, snarky, and teaching! (And she&#8217;s missed!)" target="_blank">Newoldschoolteacher</a></li>
<li><a href="http://boardbuzz.nsba.org/" title="In the first place, NSBA made this blog" target="_blank">NSBA&#8217;s BoardBuzz</a></li>

<li><a href="http://nyceducator.blogspot.com/" title="He fiddles, and burns" target="_blank">NYC Educator</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.usnews.com/papertrail/" target="_blank">Paper Trail (USN)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://parentalcation.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Parentalcation</a></li>

This year has come and is almost gone. I was unable to complete any of my goals for the year. Something unexpected came up, and yes, it was significant enough to throw me off course. I started this year with about 50k in the bank. I am effectively broke now.

Last January, my lower back started hurting. Late in January, the pain escalated for several days, and was so extreme, that I could only lie in bed. Over the next many months, this was repeated multiple times, yet I did not seek medical help, and instead kept telling myself that it would get better, and all would be fine. Comme the end of August and my condition had deteriorated to the point that I was unable to even get out of bed and go to the bathroom.

It turns out that I have contracted Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. It caused at least three separate lumbar vertebra fractures. I also managed to fracture my ribs before I went into the hospital. I was very close to dying. I have now spent 80 days straight in the hospital, and presently, it looks like I'll be discharged next Tuesday. I am ready to go home. This is the reason I've been a stranger round these here parts for a long spell now.

There is no cure for Multiple Myeloma, but it can be pushed into remission for a very long time. I am presently receiving chemotherapy, and have been exercising as hard as my body allows. The pain has at times been overwhelming. I am able to walk short distances using a walker, but must face the reality of needing a wheelchair for any significant distances for the foreseeable future. That's ok, at least I'm still kicking.

This is why I have been scarce around Slashdot, and why this year seems like it has simply gone up in smoke.

First, read my comment, now look around at the other comments.

This is what happened:
* The guv'mint hands over development of this service to private parties.
* Those private parties rip off the guv'mint, it's extremely wasteful.
* People at a public institution (part of the guv'mint) pointed out that this could've been done way cheaper, by the guv'mint without private parties involvement.

  This is what everyone says which gets modded as insightful:
* The guv'mint is wasteful!
* We should let private parties handle stuff instead, they're more efficient.

  You have a large group of people who are so blinded by their "Capitalist" ideology that even events *directly contrary* to their thesis are interpreted as validation of it, instead. This would be like saying that the fall of the Soviet Union proved the soundness of state socialism - which even advocates of state socialism do not say! It's off the end of the crazy spectrum.

Digitimes has another reason for Windows 7 sales to be low.

PC replacement demand is not driven significantly by the consumer market, but rather enterprise and government purchases ... most enterprises in Europe and North America are expected to start planning annual purchasing budgets for the year in March and April of 2010, actual replacement demand is not expected to spur until the second half of the year.

Companies and government might buy computers next year, but they should already be buying orders placed in March and April of this year. There are already accounts of corporate rejection of Windows 7, so that OS is not likely to have anything to do with corporate buying and government won't be a big market because UAC still does not meet government security standards . Back in January, retailers at CES remembered being "burnt by Vista" and saw nothing to change their minds about the contracting PC market. Perhaps OEMs and retailers could deliver the gnu/linux netbooks and desktops that people actually want to buy.

Who decided that all story submissions would be tagged with user email addresses? You might as well demand and publish people's real names.

This is a breach of trust that will drive away long standing users such as myself. Email addresses were collected under the promise of never being published. Now I have the choice of submitting things as AC, publishing my email address or just giving up. I'm leaning towards giving up. Boycott Novell has been more fun anyway.

Despite all the hype, it is easy to predict that Windows 7 will go the same way Vista did. Vista was a failure in every way, so a pretty new face was made to sell the same buggy and customer hostile core and the Microsoft hype machine was turned on full blast. Now that Vista 7 is RTM, we no longer have to make predictions, we can simply watch the results. Here is a collection of Vista 7 failures found on YouTube. Enjoy what I found in a few minutes:

• Counter Strike Fail
• Power Management Fail Hibernate seems to be broken. Any power management working would be an improvement over XP or Vista but we should not expect such miracles from non free software.
• Cracking Video shows how to p0wn "activation." Soothing music welcomes you to the botnet.
• Good rundown of Windows 7 problems by seasoned IT professional who has yet to give up on Windows. He's not correct about being able to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7.

Update 1/2/2011 Real users have been forced to buy Vista 7 with their new computers for more than a year and it's Vista all over again. They tell the story better than I can.

Here are videos that have collected at YouTube over the last year. Windows 7 is no less a pig and no more secure than Vista was, everything the Microsoft boosters say is a lie. All of these videos were made after the RTM date and most after the October 22nd, 2009 shelf date. The best have bold dates.

2009

• 07/28 - an amazing Windows 7 failure video. Ten minutes long but fun the whole time.
• 09/11 - buggy dual monitor action. It's funny how my PIII can correctly do this kind of thing with composting using E16 and Debian. Multitouch on Windows 7 has had a lot of high profile failure too.
• 10/22 - Fails the day it was released to the public. Man forced to wipe Vista to install Windows 7 and ends up with two dead computers.
• 12/29 - Windows 7 speech recognition, impressive and completely worthless.
• 12/31 - What Windows 7 OEM "support" is really like, explained by a former Gateway support tech. The techical issue was product activation but the video is a profoundly sad portrait of betrayed US tech workers.

2010

• 01/03 - A gamer hates Windows 7 performance and broken Steam
• 01/05 - Another user abandons the Windows world over Vista/Windows 7.
• 01/15 - Another tech and XP fans tell his users to go from XP to Mac OSX because Windows 7 is so poor
• 01/18 - This poor user thinks Vista was better, how pathetic.
• 04/19 - Hardware does not work with Windows 7, user hates it.
• 07/10/2010 - Excellent critique by long term Windows user fed up with Vista/Window7. After fighting "updates" for two years, user runs to Mac and vows to never purchase Windows again.
• 07/29 - Windows 7 ruins a netbook and lots of other hardware, user can't use CDs and is very frustrated.
• 8/21 - Infuriating general flakeyness, poor user wants his XP back.
• 09/04 - Poor battery life of Windows 7 graphically illustrated.
• 09/30 - Windows 7 broken so that user can't log in.
• 10/04 - User complains about poor performance and incomplete Vista facelift for Window 7. Thinks it works a little faster with "classic" 1995 like menu bar.
• 10/10 - Fake AV demonstrated, shows that Windows 7 is still insecure and preyed on by all sorts. The demonstrator should have actually used virtual machine if he really needed Windows.
• 10/31 - Slow shutdown ruins someone's day.
• 12/10 - Great demonstration of CPU usage in Windows 7 vrs GNU/Linux.

2011

• 02/01 - Bugs and clown music
• 02/11 - Microsoft Anna voice tells you how annoying Windows 7 is
• 02/13 - Windows 7 ruins $1,000 computer so user is unable to play games, make videos and whatnot.
• 03/16 - Five crashes a month belies hype for this man. He wanted an improvement over Vista and 64 bit OS, but thinks Windows 7 is worse than Vista, which he also thought suckes. Wants to go Linux but has a few programs holding him back.