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by Ruth Joseph and Simon RoundAdapted from Jewish Traditional Cooking
Passover, with its flour ban, creates difficulties for even the most adept of bakers, and many people crave inspiration. Here is a traditional cake, along with some new tempting variations.
9 tablespoons Passover margarine or butter2/3 cup superfine sugar1 tablespoon vanilla sugar4 eggs2/3 cup cake meal2/3 cup potato flour (potato starch)1 1/2 teaspoons Passover baking powderPinch of salt3 tablespoons milk or water6-8 tablespoons jam of your choicesuperfine sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 7-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.In a mixing bowl, cream the margarine or butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. Separate the eggs and beat in the yolks only. Sift in the cake meal, potato flour, and baking powder, and fold in carefully. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Add a spoonful of the egg white to the cake batter and mix in thoroughly. Now fold in the rest of the eggs whites, taking care not to knock out any air. Spoon the mixture into your prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until risen and golden.After the cake has cooled, slice in half horizontally and spread the bottom half with jam. Replace the top half and sprinkle superfine sugar over the top.
Coffee and walnut cake (pictured): Add 2 tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in 1-tablespoon hot water and 3/4 cup chopped walnuts. Fold in before you add the egg whites. For coffee frosting combine 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar with 1 1/2-2 tablespoons strong black coffee. Beat well and pour over the cake. Decorate with extra walnuts.Lemon/orange and vanilla cake: Add the grated zest of 1 lemon or orange and 1-tablespoon vanilla sugar. Cream with the margarine and sugar.Fruit cake: Soak 1 cup mixed dried fruit in the juice of 1 orange or lemon until plump. Add with the egg yolks.Carrot cake: Add 1 1/2 cups grated carrot, the zest of 1 orange, and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Add with the egg yolks.Almond cake: Add 2 drops of almond extract. Cream with the margarine and sugar. Sprinkle the top with 1 cup sliced almonds before baking.Lemon drizzle cake: Add the grated zest of 1 lemon. Cream with the margarine and sugar. Combine 1/4 cup lemon juice with 2/3 cup sugar and pour over the cake when it is out of the oven.Chocolate cake: Melt 6 oz. Passover chocolate and fold in before adding the egg whites.Cinnamon apple cake: Spread the cake mixture into a lined jelly-roll-style pan. Top with 3 1/2 cups (1 lb.) peeled and sliced apples. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup superfine sugar, and dust with 1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon. Bake and then cut into squares. Serve with Kosher non-dairy whipped cream.
Recipe: Kosher, passover, pesach, dessert


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Yep you're right about that. It should be "Yeah we know you don't like, why do you feel the need to keep telling us?"
The whole "You don't like it, therefore you haven't tried it" thing has become stale a while ago.
About the new apps, not much seemed to have changed from RP. I hope they fixed most of the issues. Is there any news on availability (specifically music and videos availability in countries other than UK/USA/whatever else was supported in RP)?


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- Yohann Cauwenbergh
- Leuven
- Belgium
Student, Business Engineering, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
This conversation is closed.
What do you think of merit-based pay for teachers?
I don't know if the question is still relevant, I haven't followed it until recently but I heard it was quiet a debate at the Presidential election and wanted to know what he TED community thought of this.
Is merit-based pay for teachers a good idea... There are a lot of pros and cons about the topic: Will it help the education of the students (the main goal of the would-be arrangement)? Will the amount of teachers have a positive boost? Will it make the teachers too competitive, lessening the cooperation between them?
Please write your ideas.
(English is not my first language so excuse the grammatical errors and easy language)
Nov 27 2012: Hi Folks,
On the face of it, merit based pay, performance bonus', have a feel good aura.
However, teachers do not go into their profession for the money.
If we listen to teachers, we would discover teachers, by in large, desire substantially better support.
Better tools.
Better infrastructure.
A society that values and promotes education.
A society the values and promotes teachers.
While most teachers would welcome better pay, given a choice they would prefer better support.
Merit 'payout' is based on a false premise - teachers have control over their students.
They do not.
You can bring a horse to water, but you cannot make them drink.
Lets look more deeply.
Socio-economics play a pivotal role.
Individual passion, desire, ambition, familial circumstance, biology and more impact minute to minute attitudes of students.
All of which teachers have no control.
Teachers cannot "fire" students.
Teachers cannot "incent" students.
Teachers can inspire. Motivate. Support.
All of which have little to do with money.
Much of which can be favorably impacted with professional tools and infrastructure.
Educators reward, bonus, if you will, has allot to do with helping fellow human beings be all they can be.
Little to do with money as a reward.
The day our society eradicates child poverty, hunger.
The day our society provides children preventive, on-going healthcare.
The day our society recognizes no one asks to be born.
The day our society recognizes children are victims or beneficiaries of circumstances not of their making.
The day our society recognizes we are all in this together.
Will be the first day of a new beginning.
A beginning built on the foundation of our collective past, not anchored to it.
A beginning constructing its' future applying all we've learned.
A beginning recognizing knowledge, institutions, human beings evolve.
A beginning with no finish line.
A beginning with no end.
A future of perpetual beginnings.Nov 26 2012: I have taught for 34 years.
Merit pay for teachers is moot. Our education system needs to change and become part of the "real world". Society needs to play a greater role in educating our children and assume some responsibility for their success. The education system as it stands was designed to produce factory workers after the WWII. Factories, manufacturing and resource development were the mainstay of our economies (I'm Canadian). It was possible to finish grade 8 and get a job. This is no longer the case, especially with educational inflation. Childhood, a time of no responsibilities, is lasting longer 25+.
We need to look at the cost of our education systems now and the price of the failures because what I am proposing will cost money but in a different way. Schools should work with children age 6 to 14 and teach them the basics. There are excellent social studies and science units that need to be continued and the arts should definitely be supported. We know too much about brain based learning to not include the arts. As much as possible, learning should be experiential as supported by volumes of brain research.
At age 14 the child's education should be in the real world for 3 years of volunteering. This work should cross socioeconomic boundaries and also allow for some personal choice in careers of the child's choosing. Society should keep the children "in school" meaning "at work". We need a village to raise our children.
At age 17 the children should return to public education. I imagine they will do so with a new perspective on life. Curriculums need to be scrutinized carefully. How much time needs to spend story writing. Which students need to learn calculus, algebra, physics. Subjects should be more preparatory for life in general and the next stage of their learning. More learning needs to happen in situ.
There are huge flaws and gaps in what I have suggested but I only have 53 characters left. Education needs to adapt.Nov 25 2012: Three things come to mind:
1) Teachers average pay is 44K for approximately 800 hours of work and that is about 55 per hour. The average for the hourly wage earner is 44,657.61 for 2080 hours which is about 22 per hour. (both off of the web) So I work almost three time longer to earn the same amount and then have to sit and listen to them bitch about it. However unions are not happy with this .. can't figure out what would make them happy if this imbalance doesn't. So I suggest that if you are not happy with the contract ... don't sign it. If you do ... man up.
2) If a teacher is not living up to the contract do not renew their services for the next year. If it involves a morals clause fire them. You signed a contract that says you will teach the kids to a certain standard ... do it.
3) In Arizona teachers evaluations have been tied to students grades. This leads to many things none of them good. High stakes testing ... teaching the test ..... and grade designing so as to ensure a passing grade will be achieved. The key to teacher tenure and raises is now in the hands of a 12 year old.
I have a real problem with this as there are kids who should be held back. By tying the teachers career to the kids grades we have stopped meaningful assessments, encouraged possiable cheating, and advancement without merit. There is another problem that is debatable .... how will this impact administrators. They are also tied to the students successes and failures ... plus the additional pressure of attempting to maintain a full staff.
All in all it would be easier to just root out the rotten teachers that are dragging the system down. Unfortunately it is easier said than done. Next pass the deserving .... that takes the big load off of the next teacher ... we hire the superintendents and principals to do a job, get out of their way and let them earn their money ... they fail .. fire them.
I know ... I'm a softy. Bob.Dec 1 2012: Teachers should be paid well enough to live a comfortable life. Education is the responsibility of the family and unfortunately most families do not realize this fact. Parents do not have to be well educated to be involved in their child's education. They only have to be concerned and involved. The public and legal structure of the education system should be structured to enforce this idea.Nov 30 2012: NO WAY!!! Watch this TED TALK and you'll get your answer with evidence that merit based compensation DOESNT WORK!! http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.htmlNov 30 2012: I can't think of many occupations other than teachers, firefighters, and police that seem to suggest that each and everyone of them are all outstanding at what they do. They're not. As with every other occupation there is a bell shaped curve of competence with exceptionally good and bad at the extremes, most everyone else towards the middle.
Why shouldn't there be performance reviews tied to their "product", which is educated students? I know they don't control the flow of resources necessary to do their jobs but what group of workers does?
Nov 30 2012: Of course there are annual performance reviews for teachers! No one questions the desirability of that! And ratings typically vary from some form of "needs improvement" to "outstanding."
The question here is, rather, whether their pay should be based on a formula that adds pay in relation to how much specifically a student grew in their subjects that year. Should a teacher whose students achieved 14 months of growth in the year be paid more than someone whose students made a year's worth of growth in the year, however those are measured?
That, not performance reviews, is the question.
Nov 30 2012: Hi Fritzie,.
"Of course there are annual performance reviews for teachers! No one questions the desirability of that!"
That isn't the situation here in the US and I am remiss in not making clear that is what I was referring to. I assumed Yohann's question had to do with the US given his reference to the presidential election, but maybe not ("I don't know if the question is still relevant, I haven't followed it until recently but I heard it was quiet a debate at the Presidential election and wanted to know what he TED community thought of this.")
There are (US) teachers who favor pay tied to performance but there are far more who don't, not at least reviews tied to grades or student "growth" as you called it. Yohann was correct in saying that was a big debate in the US and not just during to the recent presidential election. It is ongoing with teaches largely united and politically very active through their teacher unions. However given the dismal and getting worse results coming from our schools there is a growing sense that something has to change.
I am in favor of advancement and pay tied to student academic achievement but will leave the details of how best to do that to those who better understand the issues than I do.
Dec 1 2012: Are there places you know of in the United States where teachers are not subject to performance reviews? That comes as a surprise to me.
I know 50% of states require teacher evaluations that are based in part on measures of student growth.
Where are you thinking has no teacher performance evaluations?Dec 1 2012: I hear what you are saying Bill, but the with any bonus system the devil is always in picking the metric. The one true metric is the market place and that is how it should work imo. This eliminates the inevitable gaming of the system and gets rid of the bubbles that are inevitable with government involvement. So my suggestion would be a bigger threat to teachers which would be privatize the whole deal especially at the federal level. On the other hand someone like Fritzie would make more money as she should because you can tell she is in for the purpose not the money. But most state college professors would want to kill me, but they would have to get in line.Nov 30 2012: Well that's certainly an interesting method of approaching this.. I certainly didn't treat this as a "competition" as much as I did a "conversation". What I wanted to do was provide a part of a framework for the implications of applying a merit based system to an industry that is typically associated with appreciation and fulfillment, rather than solely monetary rewards.
Keep in mind that money doesn't buy happiness, don't take it from me, take it from this (brief!) article - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2019628,00.html - $75000 is the average amount of household income before "happiness" tapers off from income.
My father worked as a clinical psychologist for 19 years, before making the transition to his current position. Despite the long hours and low pay, he found his work to be extremely SATISFYING and FULFILLING and often told me that when your job doesn't feel like a job, it's easy to go to "work" everyday.
So with all of that in mind, along with my previous post, Im sure there's a place for merit based systems for teachers.. Im sure you can do that for a variety of industries.. but it's a fallacy to believe that providing monetary rewards for higher student grades, attendance, or good-behavior would only cure the bad and keep the good. Providing monetary rewards causes the receiver of those benefits to look only at short term goals as a means to an end and clouds the judgment of the individual. I am NOT supposing that these individuals are "bad" people, it's that our brains react differently from a neurological perspective when rewarded with these types of systems. As such, back to my original post, there are other pitfalls that can occur based on merit based systems.
More Info:
- http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100603/0311539672.shtml
- http://www.go2cio.com/articles/index.php?id=3579
Nov 30 2012: You are right, of course, that many people forego some income to do work they find gratifying. It's like most choices in that way. The options we face present us with a combination of attributes, and people choose differently depending on the relative values they place on those attributes. A job has more attributes than only the income we derive from it.
One of our TED speakers, a Law and Economics prof at Harvard named Yochai Benkler, has a paper that comes immediately to mind in which he puts forward an analytical model that captures this from the standpoint of the activities we choose to pursue. The paper is called Coase's Penguin, because it is based on seminal work by a well known economist named Coase. The paper is kind of a slog unless you enjoy reading economics, but if you do, it is interesting. He develops his models particularly out of an interest in understanding where volunteerism fits into to economic thinking.
Nov 30 2012: True story but the collective and collectively are 2 different things the prior being ants going around in a circle as most voters do.Nov 30 2012: money does not buy happiness is the same statement as height does not make you a good basketball player. yet, we all agree that height is a major factor in basketball, though not the only one. and one can cite data all day long proving that height is not the only factor. it just does not make height any less important.
money DO buy happiness, or at least many things we need, and we all know that. it needs some sort of global trance to deny that obvious fact. can we say that better health services does not grant happiness? or ability to work less? better school for our children? more comfortable housing? internet connectivity? these things all cost money. or we conclude that those listed things are not important? we should not aspire for better health services, better food, better accommodation and all? thanks, but no thanks. everyone is free to follow any set of values. my values contain these things. and i don't care how many studies someone puts forward, i don't want anyone to tell me what to value and what to want.Nov 30 2012: At first glance merit pay for teachers sounds good. Effective teachers can generate higher base pay as an incentive to remain in education and improve student performance. How do we determine merit? Student grades, student test scores, principal evaluations, student evaluations, parent evaluations, or peer evaluations are all factors to consider. How do we determine the correct balance of these factors? Other things to consider like what test do we use cognitive abilities test, IQ test, basic skills test, wrote memorization test which best measure student achievement? Additional questions like is effectiveness tied to growth and development. For instance one teachers class is full of high performing students who have been well taught by previous teachers and test scores improve .25%, however another teacher classroom is full of under preforming students who have been poorly taught and test scores go up 3% how do you determine which teacher is the more effective educator? You have a good question that politicians can't or unlikely to solve.
Nov 30 2012: how about this: good teacher is a teacher that parents choose to teach their children?
Nov 30 2012: That would mean that the parent is qualified to identify a good teacher.
Besides, in Belgium the parents pick schools, not a collection of individual teachers.
Nov 30 2012: not necessarily. if we have free choice of doctors for example, it does not mean people have to identify a good doctor. to do that, they would have to be doctors themselves. but they have many aids. they can trust a doctor based on track record, employing institution, the insurance the doctor has, second opinion from another doctor, occasional check of diagnoses and proposed treatments on the internet, trial and error, and so on. or another example would be buying a car. i personally don't know anyone that does not check internet forums, review pages, peer opinion and lot of other sources.
how do we know that the harvard is a good university? because we check the curriculum, and assess the professors ourselves? nope. we just trust the reputation of the school that is constantly reinforced by many studies, opinions and results.
why can't we use the same method to choose schools? and a school board is pretty much capable to decide whether a candidate fits their standards or not.Nov 30 2012: I doubt that many people would do the research needed to really make sure the school is solid.
There are just too many variables in the equation, and way too many are subject to bias. It's just too easy to forget to check just 1 thing, that one thing you forgot has the potential to seriously diminish your chances of making a correct choice.
And higher pay does not mean higher quality. Not in this world.
Nov 30 2012: I think many districts make it very easy to tell which schools are good, and parents tend to know. In districts with school choice, there are frequently data on a single website showing all sorts of data about individual schools and there are visit days.
Selecting teachers themselves is a different story. Again, word travels as to which are the best teachers, but practical class size limits as well as the need to schedule students into six or seven classes to cover all the subjects makes the actual parent selection of teachers in all subjects impossible.
Schools are also not expandable indefinitely and the best schools tend to have waiting lists in places with school choice.Nov 30 2012: today nobody does, since all schools are very similar, and many places, like here, you can not even choose, or only in a very limited way. but if the choice is free, people choose. i remember my parents took me out of one school, and put in another, as it had better reputation. also, the same thing is commonplace for universities. it is strange to me that you doubt that. for me, nothing is more natural than parents looking for information about schools, constantly monitoring their performance, discussing with other parents, etc. humans are extremely good handling many variables. we do that every day with a wide variety of products and services. the same objections could be raised about everything, starting with cellphone providers, through flats and cars, to bars of chocolate. but you don't want to take these choices away from people, based on the impossibility of a perfect choice.Nov 30 2012: Be very weary of easy solutions!
Sorry but 'reputation' is based on a mix of a lot flawed opinions to me.
I encourage a system in which any choice is a good choice and only some are perfect/less good.
I know that IS attainable.
Nov 30 2012: again: just like with any other fields. yet, we trust these reputations every day. you are falling for the "nirvana fallacy". you compare a solution you oppose to perfectness, and reject if falls short. on this very basis, you should reject the current, and in fact any education systems.Nov 30 2012: I am absolutely NOT talking about a perfect world, that would be an absolute waist of time.
Finland has an educational system that works as described.
Nov 30 2012: then god know what you are talking about. i have explained what tools are there for a parent, and how it works in every other area of life. then you said that reputation is based on flawed opinions, and that would somehow invalidate the concept. everything has flaws, and every approach is somewhat error prone. so this is not a counterargument to anything. choosing cell phone is based on flawed opinion. choosing diet is based on flawed opinion. choosing place of living is based on flawed opinion. yet we are fine with freedom in these.Nov 29 2012: Money is a lousy motivator, too-big-to-fail banks and the bubble they created being a prime example.
The resistance to change will make people want to cut corners, remember, the goal is more pay, not more quality.
Even more so when you're in a tight shoe.
Teachers need to learn ways to make their courses fun/interesting/challenging. In time, that will make teacher a more attractive career choice.
It is a slow process but once it gains momentum it will fuel itself.
FrederikNov 28 2012: I think merit-based pay or at least some sort of merit-based incentive program (for things both useful and at least indirectly under the control of teachers) could and should definitely have a place in any educational system. However, I think it would be a mistake to see it as the solution that will solve all the system's problems. MOST of our teachers are wonderful and really just need the resources to make sure their students have all they need to learn and study and the freedom to creatively teach the most useful material to their students. There are some bad eggs, however, that are really terrible teachers but are protected, usually by teachers' unions, in their positions as teachers of children. My question is: How do we protect our children from having years of their lives taken by these "teachers" without robbing the good ones of the time and resources they need to do their jobs well?Nov 28 2012: Karl Marx and the unions still believe that the value of the product is in the skill of the worker. The unions have placed the thought in your head that if you pay the teacher vast amounts your students will be the smartest. That has been proven wrong so many times but yet is still a union perspective. As Pat has stated California has the highest pay and some of the lowest test scores. On the other side Utah has one of lowest pays and some of the highest test scores. When we stop the money to knowledges comparision we may find out what works and focus on that.
Each teacher bargins for their contract pay. If you are not happy ... walk. Each district writes their own evaluation guides. The union has said that a principal or superintendent must make a appointment to visit the classroom or must make a appointment to schedual a evaluation day. That is stupid. Teachers should be visited on no notice and frequently. Only by a number of visits and other factors can the teacher be fairly evaluated. I cannot make a fair assessment on one hour a year of observation.
Then the question of what is "merit". We had a "bad" teacher that was given incentives to stay with the school including the teacher of the year that schocked the community and was the topic of many board meetings. It was stated that we have problems getting special ed teachers into our small community so we "needed" her. That was the "merit".
Perhaps the answer is what is used by government and industry. A pay scale that states the amount and the conditions for that rate. i.e. Bachlors X points, Masters X points, years service X points, evaluation, etc .. points equate to a rate. This would be using the same rubric for everyone. Merit is a relative term and non specific. Big schools big budget ... small schools small budget. This may level the playing field.
Merit is not the answer. Bob.
Nov 28 2012: so you list two stupid definitions of merit, propose a third, and they conclude that merit is not the answer? maybe if we define it well? how about that:
merit is what freely interacting individuals praise, and are willing to pay for.
Nov 28 2012: Hmm now there is an idea maybe we should try that?Nov 28 2012: Krisztian it always great to talk to someone who is respectful .. but instead I will answer you. The freely interacting individuals .... who would they be? The union and perhaps the principal with a review at the superintendents office. In the public system there is a budget to consider. Therefore what they are willing to pay is not a player. That is how economics work. If I do not have it then I cannot spend or obligate it. Our government leaders were sick the day they taught money managenment. Just because you or I praise something does not give it merit.
So there is some more stupid thoughts that you can pass insult on.
Nov 28 2012: in the public system, there are no freely interacting individuals. in a free education system, the freely interacting individuals are the parents at first, then teachers, school managers, school owners, the students and all people involved.Nov 28 2012: Perhaps "Should we?" and "How would we?" should occasionally be considered as separate questions...Nov 29 2012: Under free education system wikipedia states that the United states has a free education system. They seem more inclined to think that it is such if you do not have to pay tution and the costs are bared by taxes. However we do not have managers nor owners. For the sake of clarification please tel me what a "free education system" is and how it differs from the US public school system.
Nov 29 2012: i would trust you to find it out yourself.Nov 28 2012: Hi, Robert. What you describe is different in different states. What you describe as a payscale with points for education and years of service is what most public school contracts involve rather than individual negotiations between teacher and school district.
The evaluation practices differ as well. In the district where I worked in a k12 classroom and on an administrative level, a principal or an assistant principal had to schedule AT LEAST one observation per year, but school and district administrators could and did walk into any classroom at ANY time. There were also days parents could come in in groups, with teachers able to opt out only if students were taking a test or something.
Individual parents needed to make an appointment with the teacher to come at another time.
I have had six or eight building principals walk into my classroom at once and watch for awhile and as many as twenty-five parents at a time while I am teaching.
The teacher was not expected to engage with the adults who visited, but as a courtesy, many of us might say a few words to give context.
When I taught young kids in university programs, not only could administrators walk in but teachers and families were asked to sign releases so administrators could take photos while they were there.
Nov 29 2012: What you describe is great. Unfortunately it is not what we practice.
As you say there is no set standard throughout. Is that a problem or a blessing?
Nov 29 2012: There are some things that make sense, and one might hope that without a blanket institutionalization, individual jurisdictions might choose to do what makes sense for kids.Nov 28 2012: Problem is not teachers, problem is that school is work and no amount of arguing is going to increase childrens intelligence. We should be taking a scientific approach to education, not an economic one. If you don't understand the limits of children and teachers any money you do spend is wasted regardless.Nov 27 2012: answer me a question, dear commenters. if teachers are paid not based on merit, then based on what?
Erin Hay
Nov 28 2012: I think the better question is: What constitutes 'merit'?
- 0
Nov 28 2012: that is a good question indeed, after one came to the conclusion that merit is the only way to go.
Nov 28 2012: Why? Maybe (actually quite likely, considering people can't even agree on a definition of teacher merit) assessing a teacher's merit is so difficult and error prone that it's more cost-effective to just pay all teachers the same wage. I mean it's basically as unfeasible and inefficient as the state planning your needs for you (communism), so you of all people should understand why it probably won't work.
@Fritzie below
Sure, that's not how it works in the US (which isn't the only country in the world: in much of Europe all teachers in the same country with the same longevity get paid the same, there are no "districts"), but that's not the point, the point is that it might be more cost-effective to not factor in some measure of merit.Nov 28 2012: This reply is to John. In the United States teachers are not all paid the same wage. The wage is different in different districts, and two teachers teaching the same content/curriculum will not necessarily receive the same wage. Traditionally those who have taught longer in a district will be paid more than novice teachers, and those with more education either in the subject they teach or in education typically are paid more than those with less education for the same amount of k12 classroom experience. Longevity in the job counts a great deal more, usually, than academic preparation.
As an example, a high school teacher with a doctorate in physics who has taught secondary school for two years might be paid less than half of what a first grade teacher is paid with twenty years experience.
Pay is negotiated between the district and the labor union subject to a fixed amount of money allocated by the state for salaries.
I am not a specialist in school finance, but I believe this is typically how it works.
Beyond this, it is, perhaps, like the way nurses are paid. Historically they have been expected to do their best for each person in their care, while operating within the rules and with the materials that are authorized for their use. Just as nurses are not paid on the basis of the health of the patient, teachers have not traditionally been paid based on how successful the students are on standardized tests, though that is commonly part of the teacher's evaluation.Nov 28 2012: Based on what the customer is willing to pay, i.e. the free market.
Nov 28 2012: That's not gonna work because education is one of those things that are only open to the general public because the rich pay more for it than the poor. If it was a free market the current quality could not be maintained for children of poor parents.
Nov 28 2012: Yup that is the common myth.
You first have to consider that public schools are subsidized by the government by the time the money is skimmed by multiple layers of beauracy a much smaller percentage makes its way to the school.
There was a video today on how traffic jams can be and are fixed by keeping the decision process of how to route traffic from the bottom up this makes a big difference. Point is that by keeping the decisions at the local level there would be increased efficiencies as the person who knows best how to use the resources are at the local level
So this money would remain at the local level.
If you privatize the whole education system the better schools are going to have better teachers. But the higher quality private schools would raise the tide for all schools. By pushing competition into the school system the entire system would improve. The good teachers would make more money and the level of all the education would be raised.Nov 28 2012: and we need to believe that because ... government officials ... say so?Nov 28 2012: "Based on what the customer is willing to pay"
also known as "merit"
Nov 28 2012: Right, that's why a $200 Nike sneaker has 4 times the quality of another brand's $50 sneaker made in the same Chinese factory, also, a $2000 iMac is clearly twice as powerful as a $1000 PC with the same hardware, last but not least those $80.000 designer handbags clearly have 1000 times the quality of an $80 handbag made in the same Chinese factory.
Everyone knows convenience (location for example), marketing hype and prestige factor into any pricing system just as much as quality, well almost everyone.Nov 28 2012: "Based on what the customer is willing to pay"
No. That is purely a materialistic measure that has no basis whatsoever in a measure of quality.Nov 28 2012: "that has no basis whatsoever in a measure of quality."
Only an thoroughly indoctrinated socialist could say that.
Please view the countries view over time
http://www.heritage.org/index/country/unitedkingdomNov 28 2012: I don't think that I can agree that privatizing the whole education system is a workable solution. I went to a good private school and count myself extremely lucky for the quality of education I received. I'm also a teacher (albeit a very new one).
The problem I have with the free market approach is that I don't see how it benefits those customers at the lower end of the socio-economic scale. Without the means to pay for a first-rate education, one must rely on inferior instruction, or possibly no education at all. Or if we decide that everyone must have an education and offer loans, we increase the amount of debt a student must acquire.
Even if we look at Charter Schools in the US (private schools working with their own charter within the public school system), the quality of the education is not guaranteed to be better than in a comparable public school. Overall, Charter School students test at a slightly lower rate than public school students (with some exceptions). Of course, Charter Schools are a hybrid model, so I realize it's not really free-market
Merit based pay is something I'd be in favor of as a teacher. But not only is "merit" problematic, so is the concept of assessment. Our current models of assessment tell us who is good at passing exams in bizarre and artificial circumstances and tell us nothing of what the student actually knows or understands. Come to that, we should probably come up with an agreed upon definition of intelligence.
To me, the problem is that we don't really know what we're educating people for. Public Education was founded in the US to create a citizenry who were educated enough to take part in democracy. then it was to instill a sense of citizenry, then to create educated workers, later business people, now to create college-ready students (that is, we are educating people to be able to be educated later). It may be time to rethink what education is for before we can discuss the merits of a teacher.
Nov 28 2012: The devil is in selecting the metric, as you state it is much harder than it appears.
Which is why I think the metric that will be the most closely scrutinized is known as the market price or economic equilibrium.
We have the opposite of this in Calif where the teachers are some of the highest paid in the country and the test scores are some of the lowest in the country. Even if they just taught to the test it would be an improvement. I guess you cannot legislate children into knowledge?Nov 28 2012: That the market value would be more closely scrutinized I agree with. That this would produce better overall results I'm not convinced of. I suspect that it'd produce a small number of highly educated children and a much larger number of very poorly educated children.
I would also argue that you can legislate children into knowledge, as demonstrated by the fact that a vast majority of the public can now read. How much knowledge and should that knowledge be counted as understanding or subject mastery is up for debate.
Of course, I have strong biases. I'm not much of a free-market-is-the-answer kind of guy. I tend to believe that some things (health, education, public safety and so on) are more important that the whims of market forces. I DO think that teachers getting rewarded for excellent teaching is a decent idea, and I do feel that while the teaching unions in the US were founded for excellent reasons (to combat things like teachers being fired a week before they retired to stop them claiming their pension), they have become hugely problematic for all concerned. But an all out market force solution doesn't convince me.
But without a clear idea of what it is we want the schools to actually DO, I think any concept of merit based teaching is doomed.
Nov 28 2012: The fact that you would argue this point is duly noted, however you fail to make any arguments?
To put these preconceived notions in perspective please watch this video:
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.htmlNov 28 2012: I've seen it, it's a very interesting video.
I didn't make any arguments because I suspect the majority of the conversation would be ideological. And while that can certainly be informative and interesting, it's not likely to convince anyone to change their minds. For example - a lot of my reservations are based on a concept of "complete free market" as morally suspect, which is a position I realize not everyone agrees with. Some people believe that education is not a human right (it's not in the US constitution for example), and still others believe that you only need to educate the elite of a society (a view I find bizarre, but one that was presented to me in all seriousness during a graduate class.)
But you're right - there should be an argument to back up this gut feeling. The most cogent argument I could make in the space allowed might be to compare public education to public health. I grew up in the UK, moving to the US at age 31. If I examine the US healthcare system (which is currently about as close to fully privatized as I can imagine without removing the need to provide any healthcare at all to people without money), the statistics simply do not point to a free market leading to better service. The US has a pretty poor track record compared to other Westernized nations, and pays around double what the next country pays. I don't really see why we should expect fully privatized education to go the same way.
I do however understand that not everyone feels that comparing US healthcare (or indeed education) to other countries works well, because there are a number of unique factors present or absent in the US that make such direct translation necessary.
Almost every teacher I've ever met is left-leaning politically, which leads me to suspect that most teachers would have problems with full privatization. I don't expect to convince anyone who doesn't agree with me, so the best I can offer is the promise to treat the free-market view with respect.
Nov 28 2012: Healthcare in the U.S. is not really private. Medicare is a big factor on health care as it infuses the industry with cash. It is really a form of crony capitalism. As it has with housing and college education.
Additionally it is set up so the customer is not aware of prices and do not care what they are.
Is it any wonder that the students graduate with a liberal bent?
Here is a fun fact for the first 150 years the government did not interfere in economic matters at all. Thinking swiftly and using the scientific matter how about we go back to what worked before?
Before you say how terrible it was without the government realize that the U.S. has raised the standard of living of the world more than any other country in history and government had nothing to do with it quite the opposite. The history of the world is chalk full of exploiting people through the monopoly of government. The U.S. is the anomaly that has brought people up a notch by limiting government.Nov 28 2012: A little off subject here, but I noticed an article online today summarizing the Wall street Journal's ratings of how well or poorly run particular states are. California, as you might have guessed, came in 50th of 50 states.
Nov 28 2012: Fritzie
Please don't go off on a tangent while I'm trying to conduct a class. (8^(l)
I'm surprised they rated Calif that high?Nov 28 2012: Which is what I meant when I said this was going to be a largely ideological conversation, with little to no chance of changing anyone's mind.
I absolutely agree that Healthcare in the US is not really private. But it's about as privatized as I can imagine without removing the need to ensure everyone has access to at least basic emergency needs. But yes, it's a hybrid model that doesn't fit either of our models well.
It is, however, the most privatized system I can think of in that there is no equivalent of the National Health Service. (I'd point out that the UK also has private health insurance companies - though I'm bringing it up mostly because most people seem to see privatization as an either/or solution.) Public healthcare - to continue the tangent - is not a case of government monopoly exploiting the people. It is providing the services for those who cannot afford them.
And so it is with education - I wish public schools could offer the same quality of education as the very best private schools, but at least private schools' existence allows those with the means to educate their offspring while freeing up resources for those who cannot.
If we want to use the scientific method and return to the time when the government did not interfere with economic matters, first we'd need tome hard data that showed that as the unequivocal reason why life got so much better afterwards. That's a tall order. We would also have to explain why Canada currently has a higher standard of living than the US (well, last I checked - admittedly i'm citing a statistic that's almost a decade old)..
We appear to be using very different models of thinking when we examine the world around us. I highly doubt that I'll convince you of the overall benefits of nationalization of public services any more than I don't expect you to be able to convince me of the benign power of the invisible hand. And now I am out of space.
Nov 28 2012: I don's see how observing the obvious is a tall order, but maybe it is?
Canada has less government:
Have a nice dayNov 28 2012: Because "obvious" doesn't mean the same thing as "true". One of the prime reasons we use the scientific method is to separate what we know to be true from what seems obvious to us.
So when we see a correlation between smaller government interference in the economic decisions of a country and anything else, we cannot simply state that it must be true that one caused the other without data to demonstrate WHY it did. To do otherwise is to commit the fallacy of causal correlation.
I do thank you for the updated statistic - I'll look into it deeper when I have more time. Either way, until we can agree on the causal connection between "small government" and "better education", it's not really going to convince me.
Nov 28 2012: Yup but the correlation is an excellent place to start doing something we of the enlightened persuasion like to think of as Looking. And of course you cannot assume that a correlation is not the cause either.
I think the best way to divine the truth out of these debates is something we of the enlightened persuasion like to call: do it work or don't it. So even without the benefit of an academics infinite ability to filter we can use what works. E.G. The case of Samual Pierpoint Langley verses the Wright brothers.Nov 28 2012: Sixteen years ago, I was on the negotiating team for an urban school district. We were out to show the advantage to students if the teacher's union were to accept two things we really wanted.
Our top priority was building based hiring in which the principal with the advice of a building team could hire the best teachers he/she could get for openings in the building. This was to replace the former system (which may still be commonplace in this country) in which openings were filled, rather, by letting teachers choose jobs on the basis of seniority. In the old system, the building had to take the most senior person who wanted the job!
When we got our unions to accept this, it was considered a breakthrough contract for a district to achieve with a union. Buildingbased hiring replaced the seniority system.
The second thing we wanted was a merit pay plan. We put forward a metric in which a portion of teacher pay would be connected to the students' growth during the year. The key feature, though, was that we would look at merit in terms of the growth one would expect based on data for comparable students to those the teacher was teaching rather than students in the district at large. Some groups of students are much more challenging to teach than others, and the expected growth would be different.
Our idea was to compare across the district how much growth a teacher achieved relative to classes in the district with similar students and to reward the top x%. I cannot remember whether it was 10% or what.
We didn't get this for a couple of reasons I remember. One was that the union leaders felt they could not be sure that whatever metric we agreed to wouldn't be manipulated later so as not take into account the differential challenges in teaching different groups of students. The other issue was that teachers felt they were constrained from doing their best by district curriculum and instructional mandates.
Nov 28 2012: Ok Fritzie consider yourself asked.
This metric stuff is very tricky, I have beat over the head with stuff more than I care to admit, fortunately I have developed calluses.
I love the building based hiring idea.
The metric idea sound workable but in my experience people always figure out a way to game the system. But anything is better than the union and it's rules.
3 points on this subject.
Individuals flourish in small groups as with your building team.
Bottom up trumps top down always, but that does not mean you don't need a top it just has to stay the hell out of the way of the bottom. There is a management philosophy called Lean manufacturing which stems from Toyota that has been successful in implementing bottom up in government and the unions. It is so successful that it is dare I say exciting.
The only metric system I have seen work is 2 individual voluntarily exchanging with each other. Not to mention that exchange is the genesis of innovation.Nov 28 2012: Well, we've gone from a debate to thinly veiled insults, so I'm not sure what use this conversation actually has at this point. When you start referring to yourself as "we of the enlightened persuasion", all I can do is reply as "we of the rational persuasion". That we don't agree doesn't make either of us stupid or ill educated.
Unless you can demonstrate WHY something works and HOW something works, "do it work or don't it" is indistinguishable from magical thinking. Yes, correlation does not rule out causation. I never argued that it did. I argued that if you want to make a point like that, correlation isn't enough. Until we agree that life WAS better FOR those reasons, it's not a solution we agree on. It's what we of the rational persuasion call "thinking".
Anyway, this is getting out of hand fast. The truth is, I do respect your point of view. I don't find it persuasive, but I admit that the reasons I don't find myself persuaded aren't reasons you share. It is, however, not universally recognized that complete privatization of education (or any social system) is to anyone's net benefit. That's not to say that that point of view is false. It's that it's not going to convince everyone, certainly not in the way you're presenting it.
And with that, I need to bow out. Long evening ahead of me.
Nov 28 2012: The sarcasm was in reference to me submitting that today's standard of living was brought to you by the free market. Yet you won't accept that, do you see that that might be met with a certain amount of incredulity?
Have a nice day.Nov 28 2012: The problem I see with fully privatised education is that there will be a small percentage of the population that can't afford to pay enough to keep a school functioning. The bottom 5% cant afford the cheapest available school but aren't a big enough population to support a cheaper school. It may be an Australian thing due to population density. For example we have government subsidies to encourage doctors to set up practice in rural areas as there are many small town that aren't big enough to support a doctor on their own but the nearest town that is big enough is 200 miles away. If you're a farmer in some parts of AUS your nearest neighbour is 100 miles away.Nov 28 2012: Check out Drive by Daniel Pink and Sway by... some 2 brothers (cant remember their names at the moment sry!). Anyway, both books discuss this exact concept. The issue is that your brain reacts differently to tasks when its rewarded monetarily than.. say.. because its something your driven to do.. and do well. MeritMonetary based reward systems bring out short-term motives in people. Im not saying theres no room for merit based systems.. but there are several sociological pitfalls that can occur unless planned for.


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I have been trekking and camping since last 6 yrs. I have over 600 hikes and about 30 technical rock climbs under my belt. We often tend to camp up in forests, and at our sides, wild boars are pretty normal. Though I have never been under an attack by a wild boar, I just want to know that instead of running away (never in a straight line though), do I stand a chance to pretend to be aggressive if they out-number me? Few of the civilians suggested that it works most of the times if they out-number you. They loose their formation and run away. I just want to know if such a thing happened and/or (deliberately) done by anyone? How safe is it?
I have come across wild boars about a dozen times (I admit, not that much), in numbers from a single male, mothers with young upto groups of 30-40 and I've never felt threatened. Sometimes the leading (fe)male might approach you aggressively just long enough for the rest of the group to run away and then retreat too. I usually stay silent and try to observe them, which has upto now not been seen as a thread or provoked any aggression. While this is probably no different than your own experience, I have too always anticipated the "what if" scenario. What I keep in mind is:
It may be worth taking into account that in some places animals can become more agressive as they lose their fear of humans. Here in Europe hunters may feed animals to create artificial overpopulations, which in some places has resulted in the boars affiliating humans with food. Where this is the case, they are much harder to intimidate and scare off.
It all depends on where you are hiking (you may want to edit that into your question) as to the type of wild boar one may encounter.
I have backpacked extensively around the Southwestern U.S. and I've come across as many as 7-10 javelina and they are of little threat to hikers. I had edited that I had never heard of a single attack but then found a snip-it that a Tucson woman walking her three Chihuahuas was attacked in 2006 (although I don't know how credible the source was). In my back-country experience they are afraid of people. I imagine if you had one or more cornered and you were provoking them to the point that they felt threatened they'd give a nasty bite. Attacks to humans are extremely rare. People do refer to them as wild boars but I think of the dark haired large tusked variety and not javelina.
The hyperlink above shows the javelina and facts at the AZ Game and Fish website.
FYI, I would've put this as a comment but don't have that ability yet.
As others point out, avoiding them is key, and because they're so aggressive it's generally the better stance to take. That said, if you find yourself unavoidably coming up against one then being aggressive can work (though of course this isn't guaranteed.) Often if you attack one and the rest see that you're capable of that, then they'll run away (as seen in this video, ish, though they do come charging back at various points!)
However, it's a big risk, and they won't always run after something like this - they may even go the other way and get more aggressive! So if you think that you have the manpower and weapons to successfully take them on and stand your ground, then you may wish to, but I'd only do this as a last resort - if for instance a member of the party was injured and there was no way to move them. How safe is it? Not very.
As pointed out in the comments, this (already rather substantial) risk increases by orders of magnitude if there's a sow with babies.


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Kreglinger, founded in 1797 by brothers George and Christian Kreglinger, is a family company, which holds registration number one recorded in Antwerp. The family's group of companies extended to Australia, establishing Kreglinger Australia in 1893.
In 2000, Kreglinger (Australia) Pty Ltd diversified into wine production and marketing with the establishment of Norfolk Rise Vineyard and winery at Mount Benson in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia and the following year took majority ownership of the Pipers Brook Winery.
Kreglinger Wine Estates, the producers of the internationally acclaimed Pipers Brook Vineyard, Ninth Island and Kreglinger wines has a history that encompasses over 30 years as a modern pioneer and leader of the Tasmanian fine wine industry.
What's for dinner tonight? If you're spoiling yourself with some duck or a nice piece of aged beef, then our new... http://t.co/vWRkm2ztMN
26 Jun 2015.


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Dec 6, 2011Chocolate Dipped Orange Sticks
This next one I actually had high hope for when I read the recipe. Well, I really only read the title. That's what got me into trouble!
Dec 5, 2011Christmas Cranberries
These are simply stunning. If I could make jewelry out of them I would. Seriously! Wait until you see what they look like in person. Cranberries that are cooked are just about the perfect Christmas Red in existence!
Dec 4, 2011Burnt Almonds
I am still debating if I was successful with this recipe or not! The sugar did some wierd things and I didn't follow it exactly. I will share with you what I did, but stick with the original if you like it better!
These were pretty good! They would be awesome as a snack or even in a salad. And if you like cinnamon, please add more!
Dec 3, 2011Chocolate Covered Pepermints
The older I get the more I think that the pairing of dark chocolate and mint are a way of life! I remember getting my dad a pack of Andes mints every Christmas. Now, I find myself checking out at the grocery store and seeing them in the conveyor belt. They seem to just jump into my cart!
Nov 30, 2011Black Friday and Cyber Monday Aftermath
As with any Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping weekend, there were a lot of deals going around. Stores were opening at all kinds of crazy hours Friday morning and some even on Thursday to try and attract as many shoppers as they could.
Nov 28, 2011Persimmons
I got 2 persimmons and was dying to use them. I did a little research on them (aka google) and found that there are 2 types. One is a french and the other japenese. The french kind you eat when it is soft and super ripe. The other commonly Fuyu is eaten firm. This is what the Boston School of Cooking said:


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Tigers Softball BIO
1 Kacie Daugherty
At South Fulton HS: Daugherty started for five years for head coach Curt Lee at South Fulton High School. She helped her squad to four district championships. In 2010, she guided SFHS to a regional championship and a third place finish at the State Championships. Daugherty has been named a four-time All-District selection. She led her team in stolen bases as an eighth grader and has continued to hold that honor heading into her senior season. She has a career batting average of .453 (185-for-408), which includes hitting .510 as a freshman and .505 during her junior campaign.
Daugherty is a four-year member of the Beta Club and has also been a part of the Pep Club, Spanish Club and Future Farmers of America. In travel ball, she was a member of the Germantown Red Devils who qualified for 16U ASA nationals under Coach Jack Kinney. Daugherty played for Larry Spear and the Nashville Nighthawks, before joining forces with fellow TSU signee, Shelby Dawson, and the Franklin Synergy.
Coach Dabney on Daugherty
"Kacie is a flexible player, position wise. She's a middle infielder in high school and plays outfield in the summer. She is a speed kid and brings the athleticism we wanted and the versatility we were looking for in an athlete. She is a special kid with a big upside and I look forward to working with her."
Kacie Photos:


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The Recap - 01/09/12 'Pokemon X & Y, SimCity intro, Minecraft update delayed and Remember Me looks awesome'
Welcome to another Recap episode where we go over the day's biggest headlines, making sure that you're caught up in all things video games.
Pokémon X and Pokémon Y titles announced for Nintendo 3DS, coming October 2013
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company made their big announcement today: two brand new Pokémon games that will launch exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS.
SimCity's introduction is such a tease
EA has released a new video showing off the introduction of Maxis' highly anticipated simulation game SimCity. The introduction video shows exactly what players will see when they log into the game. It's kind of like booting the game up for the first time.
4J Studios outlines Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition future, 'The End' update delayed
Perhaps somewhat overshadowed by newer, and highly regarded arcade titles, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition still stands as one of the highest selling XBLA titles of all time.
New Remember Me trailer features gameplay and reveals a boss
This new trailer by Capcom shows our mind wiped friend, Nilin, on a mission in Remember Me. She needs to access the memories of a female architect to get some floor plans, I assume.


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As MMAjunkie.com first reported, PRIDE and DREAM veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri (32-7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), currently ranked No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA featherweight rankings, recently signed with the UFC. Now he wants No. 4 ranked Swanson (20-5 MMA, 5-1 UFC).
He stated his case on Twitter, referencing Swanson's WEC 37 victory over Hiroyuki Takaya, who's one of Kawajiri's buddies.
As he wrote on Twitter: "I want to fight with @CubSwanson. He won the hiroyuki takaya in WEC. Takaya is my friend."


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Turquoise may be a cool color, but it's currently one of the hottest colors in both fashion and interior design, and its recurring appearance on fashion-show runways recently secures its trendy status for at least another season.
But what's the history of this color, and how does it tie in to the precious stone of the same name? For many Americans, the word instantly conjures images of iconic silver Native American jewelry inlaid with the unique stone. But have you ever wondered why the name sounds French, and which was named "turquoise" first – the color or the stone? The answer is: the stone.
The mineral turquoise, which has been known by many other names, has been mined across the globe: in Iran (formerly Persia), the Southwestern United States, the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt and – to a lesser extent – China. But the name derives from the French language; probably from turquois, which means "Turkish", since French traders first obtained the gemstone (probably of Persian or Sinai origin) from Turkish bazaars in the 16th century. There's also a possibility the name came from turquin, which means "dark blue." Eventually the word came to describe the color of high-quality turquoise stone.
Now the color turquoise is a mainstay of both interior decorating and fashion, even when it's not a blazing-hot trend, as it is at the moment. Turquoise can enhance traditional Southwestern themes, or lend youthful, funky, soothing or refreshing details to a room, depending on the tint and companion colors used with it. The versatile blue-green hue pairs surprisingly well with many colors, with delightful results: Recently, designs are popping up using turquoise in combination with lime green, purple and chocolate brown, to name just a few.
In terms of color psychology, turquoise – because it sits on the color scale between blue and green – radiates the peace, calm and tranquility of blue; the balance and growth of green; and the uplifting energy of yellow. Turquoise is thought to enhance the ability to focus and concentrate, assisting with clear thinking and decision-making, and the development of good organizational skills. It is also thought to have a calming influence, helping to heal the emotions and restore depleted energies.


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The following is an archive of a post made to our
'vox-tech mailing list'
by one of its subscribers.
On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 03:15:46PM -0700, Alex Mandel wrote:
> On 03/31/2013 01:46 PM, Brian Lavender wrote:
> > On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 12:50:40PM -0700, Brian Lavender wrote:
> >> On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 11:11:40AM -0700, Alex Mandel wrote:
> >>> On 03/31/2013 10:48 AM, Brian Lavender wrote:
> >>>> On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 12:35:04AM -0700, Brian Lavender wrote:
> >>>>> I keep getting the "Package File Invalid" error when I try to install apps
> >>>>> on my android. I tried clearing caches and data, but I can not seem to
> >>>>> get any apps to install. I have a Samsung R910 from Metro PCS with the
> >>>>> Basix for R910. I am attempting to install apps over wifi as I don't have
> >>>>> service on this phone anymore.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> http://androidforums.com/indulge-all-things-root/381732-rom-r910-basix-1-0-aitos-revenge-speed-battery-smoothness-customizability-7-24-11-a.html
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Any tips?
> >>>>
> >>>> How do I get the apk package files for applications? I am thinking I can
> >>>> just use adb to install them.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> What method are you trying to use right now? Google Play?
> >>> Wifi should not be a factor.
> >>> I'm not sure there is an easy way to extract apk from the Google Play
> >>> webpages, it mostly should be about finding the url to grab the file.
> >>>
> >>> I can give you an apk to try side loading (need allow 3rd party app
> >>> installation enabled).
> >>> http://www.wildlifecrossing.net/california/android
> >>
> >> This phone has Google Market. Previously, when I reset the phone, it auto upgraded
> >> to Google Play. It has not yet auto upgraded. Yet, I did give it my Google account
> >> and when I log into Google Play website, I can see that it detected the phone.
> >>
> >> I just tried "adb shell" and I can't even get a shell on the device. Usually, the shell
> >> will work.
> >>
> >> It looks like other problems as well. I turned on usb debugging and I
> >> have used adb before, so I am pretty sure I am using adb correctly. Below
> >> is the output I get:
> >>
> >> [brian@localhost indulge.aio.v1.00]$ sudo ./adb shell
> >> * daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
> >> * daemon started successfully *
> >> error: device not found
> >
> > After playing a bit, I got adb shell working. So, I tried installing
> > Roadkill and it worked. I ran the application and played with it a
> > bit. Below is the output:
> >
> > [brian@localhost indulge_root]$ ./adb install roadkill-latest.apk
> > 177 KB/s (136028 bytes in 0.750s)
> > pkg: /data/local/tmp/roadkill-latest.apk
> > Success
> >
> > I did notice some oddities when I tried doing an lsusb. It seems that
> > my phone would not appear in the list of devices. After connecting and
> > disconnecting a few times and turning on and off the debugging settings
> > and storage settings, the phone connected with "adb shell".
> >
> > I was able to install a few other apps now from the "Android Market". Yet,
> > if I try to install Firefox it still says "Package file is invalid".
> >
> >
> > brian
> >
> Are you positive that Firefox packages available are compatible with
> your version of Android. Usually if you browse on the Play website with
> your computer, logged in so it knows your phone, it will tell you when
> you try to select an app.
99% sure.
> FYI, you know you can trigger an app download from the web as long as
> you use the same account for the phone.
I have two phones registered to this account. I gave one an alias as was
recommended. When I select Firefox, it says it is compatible with my phone.
Yet when I try to tell Google play to download it to the phone, it doesn't
automatically do it like it has done in the past.
Brian Lavender
"There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to
make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other
way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies."
Professor C. A. R. Hoare
The 1980 Turing award lecture
vox-tech mailing list
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Electrical issues that are difficult to diagnose—and sometimes intermittent—are typically due to ground wiring issues. The most troublesome ground locations are under the battery or at the engine.
Car problem reports
Problem with your car? See what our experts say or submit your own.
Newest reported 1990 Volkswagen Cabriolet problems
Ignition wires may break down and cause misfires
Ignition wire breakdown is common, resulting in misfires.
4 Reports
Coolant and Oil Leaks
The water pump and/or other cooling system may develop a coolant leak. Oil leaking from the valve cover gasket is also common.
4 Reports
Reverse Gear Failures and/or Noise From Manual Transmission
Reverse gear failures and noise in the manual transmission models are common.
4 Reports
High Mileage Automatic Transmissions May Have Shifting Problems
Shifting issues due to internal problems in high mileage automatic transmissions can be difficult to resolve without transmission replacement.
4 Reports
windshield seal leak
during heavy rain storms the passenger side floor gets soaked with water. I have removed the interior carpeting and the insulation behind it is wet also, so I suspect the windshield seals. Can you direct me as to how to replace them?
2 Reports
Transmission damage due to faild transmission oil cooler
Extensive transmission damage can occur in some of the automatic transmission models when the transmission oil cooler fails and allows coolant to mix with the automatic transmission fluid.
4 Reports


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Time Out and Upcoming Events
Stop by the Graduate Student Center and enjoy a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Pick up discount tickets to local cinemas. Send or receive a fax. Watch TV, check your e-mail, use the kitchen to store and heat your lunch, visit and make new friends or find some quiet study space.
Meditation/Mindfulness Opportunities at Brandeis
Sangha Club- weekly student-led meditations Mondays 8-9pm, Peace Room (various types of meditation). Contact Karrah Beck for more info, firstname.lastname@example.com
SIT- weekly mindful sitting, Tuesdays 9:30-10:30am, Peace Room, led by Brandeis staff David Wedaman. Contact David for more info, email@example.com
Weekly Silence- Wednesdays 12-1pm in the Peace Room, led by Brandeis staff Jennifer Brown from the PCC. Contact Jennifer for more info, firstname.lastname@example.com
Weekly Mindfulness Support Group- Thursdays 3pm in the PCC, led by Jennifer Brown and Noel Coakley from the PCC. Contact Jennifer for more info, email@example.com
Weekly vigil for peace- Fridays 12:20-12:40pm at the Peace circle near Usdan- led by Matt Carriker from Multifaith Chaplaincy. Contact Matt for more info, email@example.com
Soul Feast services- biweekly Protestant chapel service, open and welcome to all. Sundays biweekly at 5pm in Harlan Chapel. Includes silent centering prayer, as well as singing and other spiritual practices. Contact Protestant Chaplain Matt Carriker for more info, email@example.com
Grief Support Group, 8-week series, Wednesdays 3:30-4:30pm in Peace Room. Begins January 28th. Led by Amy Engel from PCC and Matt Carriker from Multifaith Chaplaincy. Contact Amy at firstname.lastname@example.com for more info.
Mindfulness Day Retreat- tentatively planned for Saturday, April 18th, 2015. Please contact Matt at firstname.lastname@example.com if interested in organizing or participating.
The Office of Graduate Student Affairs works with all of the Brandeis graduate programs to provide a strong and supportive graduate student environment. Programs to enhance students' social and academic lives are planned throughout the year and include topics such as writing for publication, designing a research paper or topic, navigating the healthcare system, career planning after your degree and more.
The Office of Graduate Student Affairs advises graduate student government at Brandeis, the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and cosponsors many of their activities. Join the GSA listserv — a great way to stay informed about what's going on and get involved in graduate student life.
One of the goals of graduate student affairs is to provide you with information about graduate student life on the Brandeis campus, as well as to give general information about some other resources. Check this site regularly for updated information and check your e-mail for news from us.
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Welcome to Brandeis. We hope you will enjoy your time here.