A bill in Oklahoma that would, if enacted, encourage teachers to present the “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses” of “controversial” topics such as “biological evolution” and “global warming” is back from the dead. Entitled the “Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act,” House Bill 1551 was introduced in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2011 by Sally Kern (R-District 84), a persistent sponsor of antievolution legislation in the Sooner State, and referred to the House Common Education Committee. It was rejected there on February 22, 2011, on a 7-9 vote. But, as The Oklahoman (February 23, 2011) reported, the vote was not final, since a sponsor “could ask the committee to bring it up again this session or next year.” And indeed, on February 20, 2012, Gus Blackwell (R-District 61) resurrected the bill in the House Common Education Committee.
Here is the bill
Here is the whole write-up from the NCSE.
Tags: Oklahoma
MARQUETTE — The private and public sectors came together Friday morning with an EPA administrator addressing the Operation Action U.P.’s annual meeting at NMU.
EPA Region Administrator Susan Hedman gave the keynote speech which centered on “Jobs vs. Regulatory Burden.” Hedman was appointed by President Obama in 2010 and is now leading the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. During her speech, Hedman detailed the projects the EPA is focusing on, including three of five areas of concern located within the U.P.
Organizers said both the private and public communities benefit from the sharing of ideas.
“As Dr. Hedman correctly stated, in order to be healthy and wealthy, we have to work together, so it was a wonderful combination of private and public sector efforts, discussions and information,” said Tawni Ferrarini, co-chair of Operation Action U.P.
If you would like more information about the Great Lakes Initiative, click here.
Tags: Nmu
Packt Publishing is pleased to announce Oracle Essbase 11 Development Cookbook, a new Oracle learning resource designed to help developers successfully build and deploy Essbase applications. The book is available now in print, eBook, Kindle and select library formats.
Written in a cookbook style by Jose R. Ruiz, the Oracle Essbase 11 Development Cookbook focuses on the use of a relational data model to build and load an Essbase cube and work with the data elements in Essbase Studio. The book highlights topics such as building the BSO cube, ASO cube, using EAS for development, creating calculation Scripts and using MaxL to automate processes.
Furthermore, a wide variety of well explained functions will help developers improve the design components of a Data Mart, maintain meta-data, and support drill-through reporting. Creating load rules and reporting off an Essbase cube are also explained in a concise manner using step-by-step recipes.
Oracle Essbase is a multi-dimensional Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) server, providing a rich environment for effectively developing custom analytic and enterprise performance management applications.
Read more…
Tags: Essbase, Oracle Essbase
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper clocked Roberts driving 93 mph in a 65 mph zone just after midnight on the Creek Turnpike west of U.S. 169, according to his arrest report.
Roberts’ blood-alcohol level was measured at .11 percent, above the legal limit of .08, the report says.
Tags: Roberts, Roberts Arrested
I reported on the start of this class last week, and sinc ethen, we’ve had three more class meetings. Since this whole thing is an experiment, I’ll keep reporting on it from time to time (heh). First, though, a quick answer to a :
I’d like to hear more about your class on time and timekeeping. How well do you think students learn the big ideas about how science works from these classes, as apposed to a more traditional general physics class? How much transfer do you see in students’ understanding of the content of this course to understanding of science in general?
The answer to this is really short and simple: I have no idea. This is the first time I’m teaching this class, and I’m making it up as I go. I’ll know more in March, maybe.
So, what have we been doing for the past week?
As mentioned in the last report, last Friday’s class involved a look at neolithic timekeeping, in the form of the Newgrange passage tomb, and looked at a bad argument in the form of an Ancient Aliens clip talking about Newgrange.
Read more…
Tags: Report, Report Brief