![Digital Arts and Technology Academy (DATA)and a discussion of NM’s dishonestly calculated dropout rate.
Here’s an interesting fact about this charter school which has been heavily advertised using direct/junk mail, billboards, etc.
It has an 18.3% dropout rate. Of their 360 cumulative students in the 2007-08 school year, 66 dropped out. That’s not counting transfers, students becoming homeschoolers or those that received a GED.
Something else I noticed in my perusal of the charts:
To make New Mexico’s dropout rates appear less appalling the Public Education Department (PED) now (as of their 07-08 report) divides the # of dropouts by cumulative (grade 7-12) enrollment over the course of a year. The standard national formula they were using previously counts enrollment on the 40th day in a school year. [pg. 9]
The beauty of this tweak underhanded trick is that cumulative enrollment will almost always be higher and never be lower than amount of students at day 40. The cumulative enrollment number for 07-08(153,964) is 5,425 students greater compared to same year enrollment at day 40(148,536). This makes the student body appear larger and helps dilute the dropout rate.
Additionally, enrollment at day 40 in the measured grades (7-12) dropped by 2,315 in the 2007-08 school year versus the previous year. Even though the student body effectively shrank, they still managed to fabricate an increase.
When calculated using the standard formula the dropout rate for 07-08 is actually 3.76% not the stated 3.63%. It’s still a good improvement over 4.38%; but good improvements still don’t fix a 54% graduation rate.
So when the PED says:
OVERALL DROPOUT RATE IMPROVED FOR 2008 SCHOOL YEARNew Mexico’s overall 2008 number of dropouts decreased from the previous school year by 1,022 students. The statewide dropout rate was 3.6% for grades 7-12 in 2008, compared to 4.4% in 2007.
They may not be outright lying, but they’re being rather dishonest.
07-08 Dropout Report[PDF]07-08 Enrollment #’s at day 40[PDF]More datasheets are here.](http://10.media.tumblr.com/Vmaf6PvWhqvgddsdGWbnfOHMo1_500.jpg)
Digital Arts and Technology Academy (DATA)
and a discussion of NM’s dishonestly calculated dropout rate.
Here’s an interesting fact about this charter school which has been heavily advertised using direct/junk mail, billboards, etc.
It has an 18.3% dropout rate. Of their 360 cumulative students in the 2007-08 school year, 66 dropped out. That’s not counting transfers, students becoming homeschoolers or those that received a GED.
Something else I noticed in my perusal of the charts:
To make New Mexico’s dropout rates appear less appalling the Public Education Department (PED) now (as of their 07-08 report) divides the # of dropouts by cumulative (grade 7-12) enrollment over the course of a year. The standard national formula they were using previously counts enrollment on the 40th day in a school year. [pg. 9]
The beauty of this tweak underhanded trick is that cumulative enrollment will almost always be higher and never be lower than amount of students at day 40. The cumulative enrollment number for 07-08(153,964) is 5,425 students greater compared to same year enrollment at day 40(148,536). This makes the student body appear larger and helps dilute the dropout rate.
Additionally, enrollment at day 40 in the measured grades (7-12) dropped by 2,315 in the 2007-08 school year versus the previous year. Even though the student body effectively shrank, they still managed to fabricate an increase.
When calculated using the standard formula the dropout rate for 07-08 is actually 3.76% not the stated 3.63%. It’s still a good improvement over 4.38%; but good improvements still don’t fix a 54% graduation rate.
So when the PED says:
OVERALL DROPOUT RATE IMPROVED FOR 2008 SCHOOL YEAR
New Mexico’s overall 2008 number of dropouts decreased from the previous school year by 1,022 students. The statewide dropout rate was 3.6% for grades 7-12 in 2008, compared to 4.4% in 2007.
They may not be outright lying, but they’re being rather dishonest.
07-08 Dropout Report[PDF]
07-08 Enrollment #’s at day 40[PDF]
More datasheets are here.
Status update: NPR is still lying though their teeth
NPR’s Ombudsman (who is supposed to represent listeners) has been defending NPR’s decision not to call waterboarding torture. She’s only defended it on her own turf though (2 columns) and she has refused interviews to discuss her column.
But no matter how many distinguished groups — the International Red Cross, the U.N. High Commissioners — say waterboarding is torture, there are responsible people who say it is not. Former President Bush, former Vice President Cheney, their staff and their supporters obviously believed that waterboarding terrorism suspects was necessary to protect the nation’s security.
- NPR’s Ombudsman: Your Voices Have Been Heard [emphasis added]
The Red Cross, the UN, and countless other respected groups such as Amnesty International versus Bush & Cheney? You must be joking, right?
I think I just heard you call them responsible people, and because they think waterboarding is ok it must be. How can this even legitimately be called a debate as you’ve been claiming. eg: “We understand that no matter what language we use, we risk taking one side or another in this debate”
There’s a debate about the moon landing too. One side may be spouting garbage but that doesn’t matter apparently.
NPR defends their decision not to call waterboarding torture by saying torture is a loaded word with strong connotations and should thus be avoided.
Note: Ted Koppel used to be a senior news analyst for NPR. He was demoted to a commentator on NPR’s TOTN sometime between 1/13/09 and 03/31/09.
Ted Koppel … said in May that the U.S. should “define it [torture] as being any technique or practice which, when applied to an American prisoner in some other country or captured by some other entity, that we would object to. If we object to it being done to an American, then I think it’s torture.”
That seems clear enough, but the problem is that the word torture is loaded with political and social implications for several reasons, including the fact that torture is illegal under U.S. law and international treaties the United States has signed.
Yes it’s loaded; and a major reason for that is because it’s illegal. So?
Let’s discuss JFK being assassinated. That was illegal too, why should I suddenly gain sympathy and start trying to justify actions just because they are illegal (and also abhorrent). Is the plan to find preposterous assertions and then find words to back them up?
Another, more significant reason torture is taboo & loaded is due to its utter cruelty and inhumanity. Rape and murder are loaded words too. But that’s still no reason to obfuscate their meaning into oblivion. Should we now refer to lynchings as advanced demographic adjustment?
Regardless of the stigma surrounding torture, it’s still a word which evokes a response on a very simple basis. Staging mock executions or nearly drowning individuals, hundreds of times each, remain acts that any decent human being is revolted by; and the bullshit rewording simply acts to remove compelling reporting from this story. At this point it might be helpful to remind you that torture does kill.
If voices were heard by NPR they appear to have been promptly ignored. This whole thing reeks of equal time for nutjobs reporting (and heavy bias).
ps: I was writing a post on this last week but Seamonkey (lol gecko) crashed. This new piece of tripe needled me enough to write again.
Also, this looks interesting.
Exit Realty’s advertising budget is too big so they make lots of rather useless ads like the above.
I was too slow to catch the “WOMEN DRIVE DRUNK TOO” billboard paid for by our lovely Department of Transportation. It featured a woman with tears against a flaming background with the text in bold.
I agree that women drive drunk as well and the focus is disproportionately on men.
That said, all their radio and sign ads are just yelling and intimidation
- “YOU DRINK, YOU DRIVE, YOU LOSE” (small bottom pictures of a young man behind bars and an old mother crying)
- “100 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SUMMER, Police and checkpoints will be everywhere” (background picture is lots of policemen)
I don’t watch tv but they’re likely televised too.
The WE ARE WATCHING YOU message really pisses me off as the whole campaign takes the approach of hitting the audience with a club sans context.
This may work in the short term but it won’t be long lasting since there’s no real understanding of the issue being formed. The creator of this strategy is a lazy hack who should be making a real education campaign intstead.
ps: There’s another LIVE IN FEAR campaign with billboards saying “DO GUN CRIME, DO HARD TIME” with a gun muzzle pointing at you. Someone I know drives differently just to avoid it.
Passwords in Email
marco:
avinash.vora:
Why do certain websites insist on emailing me my password in the account confirmation/activation email and displaying it in plain-text right in the body of the email? I’m neither interested in being told my password 1-2 minutes right after I create my account, nor am I happy if someone is looking over my shoulder and catches a glimpse of my password.
Agreed. My next question: Why do most websites need to store my password in plaintext at all?
Hashing is a good thing.
I agree that the sending a password in plaintext mail is stupid. However, keeping a plaintext password might be reasonable if you’re doing auth in the clear for some silly reason and hash the password with a nonce using javascript before sending.
A server environment can be locked down and proper measures can be taken for security of the traffic. But the client side is uncontrolled and the network might be insecure or hostile. The user is likely the most insecure party and sniffing passwords is trivial.
On a large site it becomes a bad idea though, as you’ll have more to lose if the passwords are exposed as well as a larger profile for attackers. API calls would still be in the clear too, unless OAuth is used.
Client side hashes are probably worse than server hashes if you don’t know what you’re doing and only make sense on small sites like a personal server accessed from unsafe networks. But if it’s that low traffic then load won’t be an issue and you should use SSH or https anyway.
I guess I killed my own argument, so hash your credentials unless you have a hardened site no one cares about that lacks SSL. (I don’t know of any)
ps: secure login for tumblr would be rather nice
Rice Blames Hamas for the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza
“The Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities, and has contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address”
-Condoleezza Rice
Lies!
Here’s my fixed version.
“The Israeli Government has used Israel as a launching pad for bombing raids and ground assaults against Palestinian cities, and has contributed deeply to a lethal situation for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian clusterfuck that we have all been paying lip service to”
Over 3,000 more internally displaced Palestinians have arrived at 7 shelters in Gaza. The UN reports 13,000 total internally displaced persons (IDP) from this conflict alone.
There is already an astounding number of refugees and IDP as it is. (over 1 million from Gaza & The West Bank)
There are 534 Gazans killed with 2,530 injured including 300 in critical condition. At least 107 OF THOSE KILLED ARE CHILDREN, FUCKING KIDS!
The bodies of three children from the same family killed in Gaza by the Israeli shelling on Monday – Photo by WAFA
About half of the killed Gazans are civilians
The 25% figure reported by the UNRWA is BS as they fail to count any killed man as a civilian, instead assuming they are all terrorists.
Compare this to the three Israeli civilians killed and 119 wounded, with 55 soldiers wounded & 2 killed.
This whole mess is insane.
My philosophy of red pill and blue pill states of mind will be a theme throughout my essays. Expect to see ones on many elements of society and life. An essay on homework and the inability/stressfulness for red minded people to do something that appears useless, should be coming soon.
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
-Edgar Allan Poe
Being sane In this world is hard. Realizing that the government spies on it’s own citizens and our congresspeople line their pockets with our money. There are some people that exist in a blue pill state of acquiescence & inaction. The say “that’s just the way it is.” Even if a situation displeases them they are unwilling to take serious measures. They will always act within the system that continues to oppress them. Despite this, they seem pleased and relatively carefree.
I sometimes wish I could be like that, happily living as the walls close around me. But then I reconsider, because the consequences will surely be disastrous. The red pill state of mind is one much harsher, more real. It’s being unable to trick or lie to yourself. I try to make people realize that the world is really fucked up. It feels cruel to say that to people who have believed that our parents and our government are for our own good all their life. It’s like kicking a puppy, a puppy that’s walking naively to it’s doom, just to alert it to the world around them.
I try to make people realize that the American dream is a lie and our government is irresponsible. What’s worse is that the spirit of the 2nd amendment is gone, now only used as an excuse to keep a shotgun. The military no longer must fear the people, and we now lack the power to keep the government in check.
To those who may think that Obama is proof that government is saved and that the system still works, it doesn’t. He is the establishment, maybe he began as a good politician but he is now a pragmatist, changing to suit his needs, not his beliefs. He and his fellow democrats changed their mind after firmly opposing FISA and voted for the telecom spying immunity bill. Shortly after, AT&T donated over 2 million to the cash strapped DNC convention. Yielding things like this:
and this:
Our government needs more radical fixes than another politician.
Throughout the election cycle I became increasingly disinterested as I watched them all change their beliefs to suit and faked sincerity. After the election I was poking around on this site seeing if they had updated their data on the % of precincts w/ electronic voting machines and saw this. Even though I’m not really a Ron Paul supporter, it really sums my feelings up.
