Citizen of the World

This was me today cuz THE SHUTTLE PASSED OVER NYC!!  YAY!! 


I took about 300+ photos within 15 minutes and had gotten up to the roof JUST in the nick of time to see the shuttle passing over. It flew REALLY close to our building.  I whittled the collection down to about 70 shots, which turned out pretty good!  Enjoy!  (...and comment at will...)

I also sent a link to this album to the Rachel Maddow Show; hopefully, she'll use a couple or more on the show tonight!

An email from the ACLU today. You can give your feedback to changes for the next 30 days. Here's the information:
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The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has released new ideologically-tainted standards for Texas' public school textbooks. They're out to impose one narrow-minded point of view on the content of textbooks used by millions of students. A 30-day comment period is underway—and everyone in America is invited to give their input.

Send your public comment opposing the extremist takeover of textbooks that will be studied by millions of students.

We need you to act because the impact of what happens in Texas will be felt all across the country. Based on the fact that Texas purchases tens of millions of textbooks every year, it has outsized influence on the content of textbooks used all over America. In fact, between 45 and 47 states use textbooks based on Texas' curriculum.

The Texas SBOE plan includes such revisions as: ending a requirement that students examine why our Founding Fathers insisted on the separation of church and state, marginalizing the importance of historic campaigns to extend the rights of African-Americans, Latinos and women, and downplaying the role of traditional historic figures in America—while emphasizing the role of right-wing ideologues in the country.

The ACLU is fighting to stop this right-wing takeover of the content of public school textbooks.

Send your public comment opposing the extremist takeover of textbooks that will be studied by millions of students.

This is a vitally-important issue that will effect the education of a generation of students. Thanks for making your voice heard,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
ACLU

P.S. Adding a personal comment is guaranteed to get a real response from the Board of Education. Tell the Board what you think by adding a personal note.
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Click here for a full list of concerns (PDF).

Apparently, scientists are still stumped by the reduction in bee population worldwide and the disease theory can't be proven. The most viable theory out there right now is the "perfect storm" theory of dozens of factors bringing down the populations. However, what's strange is other colonies of bees not coming near the deserted colonies and that it's a global phenomenon - not just US-specific. Here's an article about the bees - interesting read, though sad that we don't know more about bees than we do, their numbers are declining, and we rely so heavily on their work!!