I'm thinking again about metrics in the workplace. I'm specifically referring to metrics on human work. For example, "How many tasks did each person on the team complete last week?" "What's the average time for a person to do X?" "What percentage of their time is this person/this team spending on category Y ( Read more... )

Our niece, A., graduated high school. The ceremony was last night.


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After 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley brought a gun to school and murdered 4 classmates and injured 6 other students and 1 teacher at his Michigan high school in November, 2021 prosecutors charged not only him but his parents. The theory of the case against the parents was that they ignored abundant signs their minor child was making violent threats, ( Read more... )

Tomorrow, March 5, is the 2024 primary election in California. That means today I filled out my ballot and sealed it up to drop off at the ballot box tomorrow. Yes, California is one of those voting rights states where everyone can get a mail-in ballot, no questions asked. Mail-in ballots are much easier for people whose job and or family ( Read more... )

Recently I saw a thread online about school field trip fails. On the list are failures of planning, organizers not appreciating what students actually want, crises created by student misbehavior, and even just a few plain-old accidents. That reminded me of a field trip I found particularly disappointing ( Read more... )

North Carolina Travelog #15
Back at the hotel - Thu, 21 Sep 2023. 10pmToday has been an amazing day. We went on several hikes and visited a whopping 10 waterfalls... all within a 30-45 minute driving radius of our hotel. I didn't even realize it was 10- I kind of lost count after 5 or 6- until we got back to our hotel room this evening and I sorted ( Read more... )

The US Supreme Court has ended race-based affirmative action in universities. I know, unless you've been living in a cave that's not exactly news anymore. The Supremes handed down their somewhat predictably 6-3 decision (with its super-majority of conservative and ultra-conservative justices) just over two weeks ago, on Thursday, June 29. Example ( Read more... )

Earlier today I began sharing my opinions about the statewide propositions on the ballot in California. See Ballot Propositions - Nov 2022 - part 1. Here in part 2 I address the latter four props on this November's ballot.

Prop 28: Lock in Funding for K-12 Arts and Music: Gentle No.
A few days ago I wrote blog entry The Problems with Propositions. ( Read more... )

President Biden announced student loan debt relief yesterday. Under this program the Department of Education will forgive up to $10,000 of federal student loans for borrowers under certain income limits. Borrowers who also received Pell Grants (a subsidy for low-income families) are eligible for up to $20,000 of forgiveness ( Read more... )

The Supreme Court Monday issued its ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. The case concerned a high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy, who was leading students in prayer at midfield after football games. Lower courts upheld the school district's decision to put Kennedy on paid administrative lead for illegal promotion of religious ( Read more... )