Category: Academia

I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff . . .: English Architects Build Wolf-Proof, Fire-Proof Straw House

You cannot trust anything today. After generations were taught how the little pig who built his house out of straw was negligent, a straw house has not only been built in England but it has even passed the industry standard fire safety test. Called the Balehaus@Bath, it is built of pre-fabricated straw-bale and hemp sections and would resist the most determined, wind-blowing wolf.
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Connecticut Teacher Arrested After Stealing Money for Another Teacher and Caught on Videotape

111309-Dinnean.JPGThere are theories on the rational criminal actor, but I doubt Susan Dinnean, 55, would qualify in Wilton, Connecticut. The teacher at Middlebrook Middle School is accused of stealing $20 from the purse of another teacher — resulting in her loss of a $95,000 a year job.
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School Accused of Terrorizing Students With Faked Murder

tape3_MED284401sdcParents at the Fox Hill Primary School in Sheffield England are a bit put out over a curious educational program at the school. When children showed up at the school recently, they were met by a bloody crime scene, a dead teacher on the ground, and police. They were asked to solve the crime but not told that it was all for fun.
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The Lawyers Who Say Meep! High School Calls Police After Attorney Says Meep to Principal

Beaker_muppetFirst there were the Knights Who Say Ni! (below). Now we have the problem of the lawyers who say Meep! After reading the recent publications over the decision of the principal of Danvers High School banning students from saying the word “Meep,” Entertainment lawyer Theodora Michaels decided to act and wrote a letter using the four-letter word to Principal Thomas Murray, who comes across as a high school version of Dean Vernon Wormer from Animal House. She was immediately reported to the police for investigation by the school.
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Alma Market: North Carolina School Ordered to Stop Selling Grades as Fundraiser

thumb_teacher1180px-NY_stock_exchange_traders_floor_LC-U9-10548-6Educators at the Rosewood Middle School had struggled with raising money. Candy and other traditional items did not generate much money for the Goldsboro, North Carolina school. Then they found a commodity that the public was hankering for: they started to sell grades. Until, that is, a bunch of do gooders stepped in and objected.
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Form Follows Function: Columbia Professor Arrested for Punching Female University Employee

lionelMcintyre-1160px-Cu-shieldWell-known Columbia architecture professor Lionel McIntyre, 59, was arrested yesterday in a Harlem bar after punching a female university employee, Camille Davis, in the face at a Harlem bar. The argument was over race relations (McIntyre is black and Davis is white) and the two got into an argument over “white privilege.”

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When In Romulus, Do As the Romulans Do: Vatican See Looks for Sinless Extraterrestrial Life

pope300px-MartianUSThe Vatican appears to have gotten over that whole Galileo business when they were willing to put scientists to death for saying that the Earth moved around the Sun. Now, the Pope’s chief astronomer, Father Jose Gabriel Funes, says that intelligent life may exist on other planets and the Holy See is looking to the skies.

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Lost Army of King Cambyses II Found

mass-grave-278x225.widecOnce again, as a military history buff, I find this incredibly cool. Archeologists may have solved one of the great mysteries of military history: the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. Loss 2,500 years ago, it is believed to have been found — or what is left of it — by Italian researchers in the western Egyptian desert.
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Girl Suspended After Shaving Head for Cancer Victims — Including Her Dying Father

mtalverniahead04Emily Pridham, 15, stood out when she showed up at Mount Alvernia College in Brisbane, Australia with a shaven head. She was suspended for violating the school’s dress code, even though she shaved her head to raise money for cancer research — her father is dying of cancer.
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Is This Your Homework, Larry? Students in Two Cases Implicated in Crimes After Allegedly Leaving Homework at the Crime Scene

300px-Homework_-_vector_mathsDespite the claims of parents about always doing your homework, homework has been the undoing of many a fine criminal. In two cases this week, alleged high school and college felons were implicated when they left homework at the scene of the crime.
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Fighting the Biblical Beast in Texas: Evangelical Kindergarten Teacher Challenges Fingerprinting as a Sign of the Biblical Beast

180px-The_number_of_the_beast_is_666_Philadelphia,_Rosenbach_Museum_and_LibraryAn evangelical Christian kindergarten teacher has sued Texas to contest the state’s right to require her to submit to fingerprinting. Pam McLaurin, however, is not alleging privacy or contractual violations. She is alleging that fingerprinting is the Mark of the Beast foretold in the Book of Revelations and thus violates her religious beliefs. It turns out that the Beast has laid the foundations for its Kingdom on Earth in the Texas Education Agency.

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Praising the Dear One? Videos Raise Concerns Over Use of School Children To Praise the President

225px-official_portrait_of_barack_obama225px-Kim-jong-il_portraitWe have been discussing the propriety of public schools putting on worshipful performances about President Barack Obama. While I voted for him and support many of his policies, it does concern me to see children enlisted in such performances, which are not the norm in American education or politics. While some extreme conservatives have been campaigning on this issue, I do believe that there is a legitimate objection to the use of children to sing the praises of political leaders.
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