Monday, July 13, 2009

Shuttle Launch This Evening?

Under "If first you don't succeed...," NASA will again try to launch the space shuttle Endeavour this evening at 6:51 P.M. (EDT). Thunderstorms and lightning strikes near the launch pad scrubbed launch opportunities over the weekend.

• CNN: Shuttle launch scrubbed for second straight day
• Space.com: Thunderstorms Delay Space Shuttle Launch

Odds 'n' Ends

We're grandparents again. Congrats to Sam and Todd for producing our lovely granddaughter, Penelope (Penny) Lane. Mom, Dad, and Penny are all doing well. Grandma and Grandpa can't wait to get back to Indy to hold Penny again, and we thank the Lord for another healthy grandchild.

The shot at left was taken with my new Canon Digital Rebel XSi. I don't often give up on a consumer complaint, but Nikon simply outlasted me in my efforts to get them to either repair or replace my defective Coolpix P60. So I now have an entry-level digital SLR...and a whole new learning curve. As you can see, I have the manual out and am working at mastering some of the features of the new camera.

I really haven't taken any "keepers" as yet with the new camera, but I'm having a lot of fun just snapping shots of what I like. The llama in the composite of shots below seemed to be quite interested in what I was doing. The cattle weren't much impressed.

If you were looking for some education news in this posting, my apologies. There's just not much going on in that area right now.

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Achievement Gap Study Released

The big education news of the week appears to be a study released by the Department of Education about closing the achievement gap in education between whites and minorities. The executive summary notes:

While the nationwide gaps in 2007 were narrower than in previous assessments at both grades 4 and 8 in mathematics and at grade 4 in reading, white students had average scores at least 26 points higher than Black students in each subject, on a 0-500 scale.

The response from news sources around the country each seemed to put a little different spin on the study of 2007 NAEP test scores. Stacy Teicher Khadaroo may have best summed up the study:

While reading and math scores for students of both races have generally risen since the early 1990s, black students continue to lag behind in every state. And while the gaps haven't grown larger, only a fraction of states have succeeded in narrowing them.

• The New York Times: Racial Gap in Testing Sees Shift by Region by Sam Dillon
• San Francisco Chronicle: Black students gain on tests, fail to close gap by Jill Tucker
• Chicago Sun-Times: Outrageous state race gap in math by Rosalind Rossi
• Christian Science Monitor: Blacks' test scores lag, but New Jersey is a bright spot by Stacy Teicher Khadaroo

Endeavour Launches

The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off into orbit Wednesday evening on mission STS-127 to the International Space Station. The frequently delayed launch was marred as "several pieces of debris fell off the external fuel tank, and at least one hit the orbiter." The shuttle crew will "use a laser scanner at the end of the robotic arm" to look for damage along with a visual inspection by the space station crew when the shuttle approaches. "The mission will deliver the final segment to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and a new crew member to the International Space Station."

• The New York Times: Launching of Shuttle Is Marred by Falling Debris by Kenneth Chang
• NASA press release: NASA's Shuttle Endeavour Launches to Complete Japanese Module
• Space.com: NASA Eyes Debris Hits to Shuttle Heat Shield by Clara Moskowitz

Odds 'n' Ends

Former teacher Walt Gardner has an excellent Open Forum column in the San Francisco Chronicle today in Overselling school choice. Gardner notes that it's important that "we don't assume that choice automatically results in quality" in light of recent studies about charter schools. He wisely adds:

It's premature to write off charter schools as the latest, but ultimately, disappointing alternative to regular public schools. But even if they fail to deliver on their promises, they still deserve a place because parents have the right to send their children to any school they want.

I'm still learning how to use my new Canon Digital Rebel XSi. Since one of my daily chores is to fill (and refill) our two hummingbird feeders each day, I have concentrated a bit on getting a good shot of one of the lightning-fast creatures with a 55-250mm telephoto lens. The female ruby-throated hummingbird shown at right wasn't too sure about landing on the feeder with me present. But she did look right into the lens for me, making for a rather nice shot that I've added to my free Desktop Photos page.

I'm still learning how to effectively use the XSi for my personal use and for documenting my other and much more photo oriented web site, Senior Gardening. When you get a new camera such as the XSi, all the bells and whistles are a bit overwhelming.

I chose the XSi over its newer sibling from Canon, the Rebel T1i, as it was around $120 cheaper, and Amazon was offering a six months same as cash deal. Other than a difference in megapixels (15.1 for the T1i and 12.2 for XSi) and video capabilities, they're pretty similar cameras.

I'd used a much older Digital Rebel at work and had the opportunity to handle a daughter's XSi, so being sure of the model I wanted wasn't really all that difficult. The camera is a bit bulkier than my old 35mm Canon AE-1, but is considerably lighter.

After a week of use and around 400 photos, I'm pretty pleased with the new unit. One thing I was surprised with was the sheer size of the photos. With my 4 and 8-megapixel digital cameras, I was used to images coming in at around 2 MB each. The images from the 12.2-megapixel XSi routinely are around 4 MB with many coming in at 7-8 MB. If I continue to save all my images, I'm going to be in the market for a larger hard drive soon!

Friday, July 17, 2009

School Finance and Control

A couple of articles in the Washington Post today deal with finances of the Washington, D.C. schools. The system is scrutinizing special education claims according to Slower Payment Hinders Advocacy, Lawyers Say. The lack of a new budget for the District of Columbia has caused it to miss a scheduled payment to its charter schools.

California's school funding is still in a mess according to Proposition 98, which guards funding for state's schools, is tested again in the Los Angeles Times and the AP's California budget talks stall over education funding.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will apparently have to wait until fall for the state legislature to renew his control of the city schools. In Albany, No Action on School Control for Bloomberg tells of the struggle between Bloomberg and New York Senate Democrats.

Have a great weekend!

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