View from a Farley

Educating Students on Intellectual Property

Chris — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:53:59 +0000

On a school trip I participated in last spring, one of the students turned on the bus’s entertainment system, and put in an illegally obtained copy of a then-unreleased film. None of the chaperones intervened. That incident illustrates a much broader problem, and is a reflection of the experiences of my generation. We were the first [...]

The President’s Address to Public School Children

Chris — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:21:47 +0000

The New York Times had an excellent editorial on Friday about the ridiculous effort of a small but vocal minority of Americans to paint the President’s address to children as some sort of socialist propaganda effort. It is truly sad that these right-wing nuts cannot trust a duly elected president and highly educated individual to [...]

The New Digital Landscape

Chris — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:58:17 +0000

With an Apple tablet rumored to be on the horizon, the first question that comes to mind is, “Who will buy it?” I’m sure that it will have some educational uses, though a multi-hundred dollar multi-touch device might be a hard sell to K-12 districts. I imagine it will be great for some businesses. (I [...]

Town Hall Nonsense

Chris — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:14:17 +0000

This post will be short because this topic hardly deserves more than a few paragraphs. Insuring healthcare for everyone is complicated. Extremely complicated. I don’t even understand the intricacies of some of the legitimate arguments about healthcare reform, but I do know that having more people insured is better than having 40 million Americans [...]

No Compromises

Chris — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:59:44 +0000

Someone told me once that a compromise results in agreement that no one is happy with. I don’t think that’s always true, but it’s becoming increasingly true with legislation. The problem with legislation is that the not-happy parties aren’t just the two people who broker the agreements; it’s everyone impacted by the legislation. Let’s [...]

Marriage

Chris — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:01:39 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goxxy/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 David Boies wrote a remarkably well-reasoned op-ed about gay marriage published in The Wall Street Journal on Monday. His legal insight makes it painfully obvious that keeping gay marriage illegal is ideologically inconsistent, alarming idiotic, and demonstrates a harmful attachment to a sadly defective belief. Read his editorial for [...]

Terrorism

Chris — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:11:32 +0000

As yet another report surfaced of former Vice President Cheney’s complicity in legally questionable, morally deplorable, and blatantly dishonest conduct to “fight terrorism,” I was struck by a few things. Terrorism, despite immediate appearances, almost always fails in the end. The only possible way for terrorism to succeed is with help — help [...]

Computer Science

Chris — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:54:44 +0000

I’ve always considered myself suited for intellectual pursuits. I am most certainly not one of those people who can be satisfied by kicking around pieces of rubber while making absolutely no contribution to society whatsoever, nor am I much suited to theoretical physics or medicine. Economics, law, or business were my choice professions. [...]

Sanctity of School Breaks

Chris — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:12:36 +0000

There’s a sad moment in every student’s summer when they realize that school is again on the horizon. Even for those of us who absolutely love school, it’s sad to see the freedom we enjoyed get replaced by our studies. When we are in school, we take solace in the fact that we [...]

Digital Wave

Chris — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:05:56 +0000

I always love when teachers become the taught. Every once in a while, the student-teacher relationship is turned and students get to be the teachers. Those situations often arise as the result of a normal class discussion, and most teachers genuinely enjoy learning something new. In recognition of the fact that there [...]