I’m fascinated by data visualization. Expressing complex ideas in a simple way is immensely powerful. In my post yesterday, I linked to a
county-by-county time lapse of unemployment rates. I’ve found some interesting images (complete with a thorough explanation) examining the U.S. economy. The article is interesting, but the [...]
Daring Fireball pointed to this county-by-county time lapse of unemployment rates. Fascinating. It explains some of the differences I’ve observed in the move from Utah to Georgia.
A few things to notice:
Because each frame is a 12-month running average, the map doesn’t show whether some counties have started to [...]I came across a great explanation of what I believe are the primary reasons most organizational change efforts are exceedingly more difficult than leaders initially expect:
[Because] change in organizations typically involves shifts in the way people work, these may introduce feelings of inadequacy and dislocation that potentially challenge people’s identities [...]
I caught on TV tonight an education policy presentation by Julian Betts, Chair of the Department of Economics. Originally presented in April of this year, Dr. Betts discusses peer-reviewed research on testing, accountability systems, charter schools, vouchers, and merit pay systems.
No matter where you fall on these issues, I think [...]
Go here first. Then come back. I’ll wait.
The trouble with talking about government budgets, even ones as small as a city or local school district, is that big numbers rapidly lose meaning to people. It’s more visceral to talk about a dozen people (or dollars or “things”) than to [...]
Via Gruber, who posts following a TechDirt article.
A federal judge denies an individual of property (contents of an email account) without notification, with no opportunity for appeal (the person is not a party to the matter), and with no cause to suspect wrongdoing.
Saith Gruber, who dubs U.S. District [...]
For years, I’ve kept a personal (and unfortunately, unwritten) list of books I think every manager, programmer, and [insert category here] should read.
A book every programmer should readThe Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master. Every programmer I hired was required to read this book. It’s a [...]
As I was driving in to school this morning, I had a mini-revalation on the difference between power-users and “regular” users. This thought may have been spawned by a research paper used in one of my classes [1], where power users became the de facto trainers during the implementation [...]
I recently updated to OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard. I’m liking it—most things feel a little bit snappier. I also prefer the tweaks to editing events in iCal (which didn’t go far enough; 10.4 was better), and the changes to Exposé.
However, several apps (or “hacks,” if you prefer) broke with [...]
Nearly two months ago (has it really been that long?) Jeremy posed a thoughtful question following a post on campaign finance.
What do you make of arguments which state that disclosure is enough and that caps aren’t needed?
If voters know immediately where candidates are getting their funding they can usually pretty [...]
The Trib has an editorial decrying Utah’s campaign finance laws. I happen to agree with their position, but I don’t feel like the public has reacted with anything beyond apathy.
During the last election cycle, a handful of candidate were accused (some, rightfully so, IMNSHO) of being [...]
I’m working in a research paper we hope to get submitted to an Information Systems conference. I was going through the references when EndNote X2 stopped working together with Word 2008. Every attempt to change a citation resulted in the error “COM Exception: Command not found.” (I’m running OS X [...]
A few days ago, District Court Judge Dever granted the defendant’s (AG’s office) motion to dismiss the first two counts of the lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of last year’s (2008) SB2 (2nd substitute). After listening to the Judge ask both parties questions in court (back on March 26th), frankly [...]
I’m stuck in Atlanta.
I booked on Priceline.com. I needed to be in Atlanta for a day, so flew in late last night via Frontier Airlines.
On the first leg of the trip (with Frontier partner, United), the flight left 20 minutes late because a computer failure required all baggage to be [...]
It’s probably not as much of a hot topic since the State Board of Ed, in an effort to protect other parts of the education budget during these lean times, held back money for district performance pay programs pushed by our peerless legislature, but I suspect the conversation hasn’t wholly [...]
Via daringfireball.net: Philip Greenspun: ‘Let G.M. Go Bankrupt’
America seems to have an irrational soft spot for its auto industry. It’s a shame that these once-great companies have fallen so far, but the simple truth is that Ford and G.M. make ugly, inefficient cars that few people want to buy.[...]
Although public education was putatively held harmless during the budget cuts coming out of the recent special legislative session, the Minimum School Program (MSP) budget was reduced for fiscal year 2010 by $73,979,500. The State Board of Education was asked by the legislature to propose ways to achieve this reduction.
Friday [...]
As part of my MBA program, I’m taking a class on teams. Last week we discussed power dynamics in groups. I found the discussion interesting as it relates to state politics.
I’ve copied my notes (which are effectively copies of the instructor’s slides) below:
Power corrupts
Effects on power holders:
- Self-serving attributions
- Ingroup favoritism
- Outgroup [...]
My son’s first-grade class must have been talking about politics. He came home from school last week telling us about the election they had.
He was excited to tell us he voted for “Morocco Obama.” (Apparently his name sounded cooler.)
[...]I was surfing John Gruber’s Daring Fireball, and he linked to an article on programming and journalism.
The article itself didn’t do anything for me, but the way John described the link connected some synapses for me. (I wish I could recover what it was—something about exposing government APIs [...]
I’d been meaning to write this before the announcement from the ethics committee was posted, but it’s still relevant.
Media reports indicate Rep. Hughes has been found not to have committed ethical violations, but has been found to have participated in “conduct unbecoming a member of the House of Representatives.” I’m [...]
Two years ago, there was some general concern about declining college enrollment. I posted about it. One one biggest reasons for the decline was the growing economy. I said then that there is an inverse relationship between economic strength and college enrollment.
The Trib has an article about how [...]
The legislature will be called into special session to reduce the current year’s budget by about $200 million. (See senatesite.com, SLTrib)
If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, I suspect few in education would miss the $1 million appropriation for UPSTART (from the controversial [...]
29 Aug 2004 – 18 Aug 2008
Thursday, 21 August
11:00 AM
Graveside service at Orem Cemetery will follow
Wednesday, 20 August
6:00–8:00 PM
South Provo Stake Center
835 South 500 West, Provo, UT
In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to a memorial fund [...]
Little Tobin ended his battle with cancer earlier this morning [Mon, 18 Aug] at about 1:05a, surrounded by family. I’ll post details of the funeral arrangements has they are decided.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.
UPDATE: funeral arrangements
[...]The press release from the governor’s office is below. I don’t have time for commentary at the moment, other than to say I’m given to understand the governor simply took the ranked order from the nominating committee as his selection. Sara Brate over at the Accountability blog complied a [...]
The suit suit filed contesting the constitutionality of Senate Bill 2 (2nd Substitute) has been in the news and come up in the bloghive. I haven’t seen anyone post a copy of the complaint—I happen to have one, so here it is.
The two constitutional sections at play [...]
Two excellent articles dealing with public education on a national level (hat tip to Mark Peterson for sleuthing them out):
Today is the final day to file for elected office.
After some deliberation, I decided last year to not seek a second term on the Utah State Board of Education. (District 13) The decision was made for several reasons, and more recent events have only solidified my decision.
