More ed reform

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/why-kids-should-grade-teachers/309088/3/

Two articles on ed reform:

1. Kids can't write because they haven't been taught the basics of how writing flows, i.e. the tools for constructing a sentence, a paragraph, and an essay - words like "if, but, although": New Dorp
2. Student evaluation of teachers is most correlated with improvements on standardized testing. Student surveys only cost $5 compared to other measures. Also, most teachers can't be evaluated on  standardized testing subject because they don't teach the subject.

Sleep and exercise

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/how-exercise-can-help-you-master-new-skills/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/rethinking-sleep.html

Aluminium cans

Used beverage cans usually trade at around 20% less—currently at about 81.5 cents a pound versus $1.04 a pound—than the value of primary aluminum.


It takes about 25 cans to make a pound. By comparison, recovered paper is currently trading for between five and 20 cents a pound, and the plastic used in beverage containers for between 15 and 30 cents a pound, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

Wayne Baker delivers three bags of cans every Monday. The 41-year-old father of two says he's diabetic and receives $900 of disability payments a month.

On a recent day, he collects $6. Mr. Castriota is currently paying 55 cents per pound. The $6 "will go toward milk, eggs and bread," says Mr. Baker.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443589304577633410750041328.html

Musk interview

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/09/07/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-q-and-a/

Musk: Well, I don't want to get suppliers mad at me, but some of them are some pretty big name suppliers and you think, "How the heck can this big-name supplier not get their shit together?" and I call the CEO and he's like, "I promise I'll get my shit together," and I'm like, "Your shit is not together." 

Abercrombie Sales Slide as Half-Naked Models Underwhelm

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-22/abercrombie-sales-slide-as-half-naked-models-underwhelm.html

Today’s teens are “radically different” from other generations, including Millennials now in their 20s, because they are rejecting uniforms, according to Marcie Merriman, founder of retail and brand strategy consultancy PrimalGrowth in Columbus, Ohio.

Dubbed Generation C -- for creative and connected -- they have a bevy of clothing options thanks to the boom in fast- fashion from Forever 21 Inc. and Hennes & Mauritz AB’s H&M, said Merriman, who has consulted for Jack Daniels and Nike Inc. and is a former director of brand planning and strategy for Limited Brands Inc.’s (LTD) Victoria’s Secret. Gen C also has developed a more individual style from the Web and social media, she said.

Abercrombie must “look at ways to tie in with this creative class in a way that their brand will continue to resonate,” Merriman said. “They’re positioned well to take advantage of this group’s desire to be rebellious and indie and different, because that’s what the brand is about, but right now the product mix doesn’t communicate that or facilitate it.”

“Abercrombie is still running an offense which is a huge banner of a bare-chested guy with a cute girl who’s not wearing enough clothing,” said David Maddocks, a former chief marketing officer for Nike’s Converse sneakers label, who now runs a lifestyle brand consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon. “It’s vacuous, there’s no core idea there anymore and people want the richness that comes with real authenticity.”

The company shows no signs of changing its brand message. A page laying out Abercrombie’s capital-allocation philosophy in an Aug. 15 investor presentation features a photo of two barely clothed teens making out.

读万卷书不如行万里路

What Makes Obama Great

The president’s decision reached forward into the impersonal future—Qaddafi would be killed, Libya would hold its first free elections—but it also reached back into the personal past, to the things that had made Obama capable of walking alone into a room with a pencil and walking out a bit later with a conviction.