More on DOPA

Now and then, the Blue Skunk gets a comment in response to an entry that deserves its own entry. This is one:

I work for a group called Mobilizing America’s Youth (Mobilize.org) and this bill (HR 5319) is one of our top priorities. This bill was written by people who do not use social networks on a regular basis. They don’t understand what an important tool they are becoming for the youth of America to connect to one another. We are working to organize yung people from across the country to write to congress and the media informing them of our opinions on social networks. We DON’T support online predators, and recognize the good intent at the heart of the bill bu feel this is the wrong way to go about it.

This bill is also unfair to many economically disadvantaged youth. For these students, their only access to computers and the internet is at schools or libraries. Their families simply cannot afford home access. Denying them the ability to use social networks in the only places they can is denying them tools the more advantaged members of their generation are using to great benefit.

As a college Senior, I have been using MySpace and Facebook to meet new people with similar interests around my school, connect with old friends and keep track of other students in my classes for studying. These sites are a wonderful way for me to connect to other people, and restricting our ability to use them is unfair.

As of right now, the bill has 30 cosigners, a number that grows daily. It is not fading away, and in fact is picking up steam. (Bold mine - Doug)  If this is an issue that matters to you, please tell your representatives about it. It is in the Telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

If you are interested in more information on what Mobilize.org is doing with HR 5319, please visit us at www.mobilize.org/SOS

I am so glad to see others engaging in a dialog about this!

Mandy Mallott
Case Western Reserve University
2100 Fund Coordinator
Mobilize.org

Thanks, Mandy, for your work on this issue and giving me permission to use your response as a new blog entry. OK, folks, have you written to your legislators yet?

Preventing plagiarism

A teacher in the district sent me a link to the following article in the June 17 LA Times: Teachers Adjust Lesson Plans as Web Fuels Plagiarism. Big shock - kids are using the web to plagiarize term papers and teachers are having to modify their assignments because of it. Gee, the mass media is right on top of things.

This topic has been of real interest to me since, hmmm, at least a 1996 column. And I will stand by the assertion I made in that column and in a subsequent article: "Don't blame kids for using plagiarism to keep from having to reinvent a boring wheel. You want some originality and creativity, you gotta ask for it."

Are "term papers" archaic? Will anyone mourn their passing? What can be substituted to show a student has engaged in a meaningful way with a large body of information?

Bicycling lessons

The LWW and spent the morning yesterday in training for our  bicycling trip in Ireland coming up next month- an easy 30 miles from Waterville to Faribault along the Sakatah Singing Hills bike trail.

First, let me state unequivocally that I have never taken performance enhancing drugs - steroids, growth supplements, Prozac or Viagra. I will, however, freely admit to using performance diminishing substances including alcohol, nicotine, THC (don't look it up, Mom), and deep-fried cheese curds.  Those who know my actual athletic ability will vouch for the accuracy of this admission.

As readers of the Blue Skunk might remember, I'm a long time fan of bicycle riding.  After a time on the saddle, one's thoughts tend to turn philosophical. Here are a few lessons learned from biking.

1. It's usually uphill and against the wind. (Murphy's Law of Bicycling)
2. Most big hills that look impossible are usually a series of small hills that are possible.
3. I've never met a hill I couldn't walk up.
4. It's better to shift to a lower gear than to stop altogether.
5. Sometimes it's nice to be able to have equipment to blame things on.
6. You really can't make your own weather.
7. Coasting feels good, but you don't get much exercise doing it.
8. A beer at the end of a long day of riding tastes better than a beer when just sitting around (or at breakfast, I'm guessing).
9. Don't drink at lunch time and expect to enjoy the afternoon.
10. Bike helmets are a sure sign that natural selection is still a force of nature.
11. The five minutes putting air in your tires at the beginning of the day is time well spent.
12. There will always be riders who are faster and slower than you are.
13. Watching as old people zip by you should be encouraging, not discouraging.
14. Too often we quit because our spirit fails, not our legs or lungs.
15. Spouses who dress alike should not expect the rest of us to consider them normal human beings.
16. Too much padding between you and a bike seat is impossible.
17. The happiest people are the ones who understand that life should be a ride, not a race.

 Hope you managed to find a little time this weekend to recreate!