Abt Associates, a private, employee-owned company, applies scientific research and technical assistance expertise to a wide range of social, economic and technological policy issues; international development; clinical trials and registries; and complex business problems. Founded in 1965, Abt Associates provides services to U.S. federal, state and local governments; foreign governments; international organizations; foundations; and business and industry. Its staff of over 1,000 is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Bethesda, Maryland; Durham, North Carolina, Chicago, Illinois; and in Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
20070612
What exactly is Abt?
C. has worked for one company for more than ten years. And, that company is Abt Associates, Inc. Often, the people I expect to have heard of it haven't (e.g., a school principal) and those I'm not expecting to have (random soccer parent). When queried about her job, I usually say something about it being a think tank/consulting firm then make some joke about Halliburton largely because both companies pulled staff out of the Middle East around the same time. (A more apt big comparison -- based on consulting sectors -- would be Booz Allen, McKinsey & Company or Westat; or, a small comparison would be the similarly Cambridge, MA-based Goodman Research Group, Inc.) Well, here's the marketing blurb, I found in recent news about the company changing its ISP:
20070524
Serendipitous unblinking
Despite the fact that I'm the owner of two books about knots and keeping trying out various cross-platform geometry visualization software, I still am wowed by this book's title:
The Shoelace Book: A Mathematical Guide to the Best (And Worst) Ways to Lace Your Shoes
But, then again who am I to be surprised; it's only been a few weeks since I bought a book about a topological object The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology.
While I'm fascinated by math, it's not my forte. And, in case you're wondering, I discovered this title after entering a similarly authored book QED about the beauty of proofs at Goodreads.com.
From whence do the best bloggers originate?
Or, as The Boston Globe put it "Where the bloggers blog".
20070523
20070517
20070516
ohmygod, now I know why my cell ... CINGULAR bites
Serendipity at work again. This time browsing the cell phone sub-section of The Consumerist I discovered the truth about the pre-ring utterance emitted by our GSM cellphone, a Sony Ericsson z525a -- N.B., the american is important to me since discovered in December 2006 that the only difference between it and the international version is that us USA-ians can't install security-signed third party software on our cells.
Anyways, this noise causes SOME serious radio interference that has allegedly blown out one of someone's speaker. Curious...it's all captured (too) fabulously in this consumer art byte-back:
Other fun to catch at The Consumerist include "Wendy's Wins Fast Food Zagat Survey" and "McDonald's Employee Hides Pot Stash In Happy Meal Box, Gives Happy Meal To Child".
20070508
MySpace: bound to keep getting dirtier and uglier
We have this kernel by way of /. post that brought me to the Post's “OFF/beat” blog.
"MySpace Photo: Costs Teacher Education Degree
Teacher Sues For Diploma And Damages".
Regardless of the merits of the action's sentiment, do we really want to go down this slippery slope? If the institution in question actually has legal standing to re-direct a student's degree shouldn't more college students be very very afraid? Myspace...is just an moment away from whatever is the next administrative anathema.
20070507
What kind of [???] are you?
Not enough of a programmer to have a code preference but knowledgeable enough to appreciate the humor in "Programming languages and their relationship styles"; nevertheless, if I were to guess as to how I'm perceived...hard to choose between ADA (which I've only read about) and Assembler (which I never really grasped). But, we do exist on a continuum so when I'm feeling more flexible, it'd be a toss up between Logo or Python. Although I do covet the code simplicity of PERL.
Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...
Now, ask me to fill out a silly series of questions...and I'm willing to oblige. Saturday, I learned of my superhero designation:
Green Lantern
|
Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.  |
For more ancient takes, on my persona traipse over to .Mac.
20070425
Futsal? Indoor soccer w/outside smarts
Who knew that a soccer-related game about which I've never heard is slated to become an Olympic sport in 2008. Furthermore, it seems like it'd be good for skill building during the winter months for adults and children. I write that having finally understood the physicality of hockey once I'd played indoor soccer a few years back.
Wikipedia is kind enough to explain that the portmanteau word, or blend, futsal simultaneously signifies
the Portuguese "futebol de salão" or the Spanish "fútbol sala", both of which mean "indoor soccer".
Holistic Futsal breaks
it down for the uninitiated especially as it relates strategically to outdoor play which boils down to it's a good match for those who want indoor skill-building that transfer to regular outside play. Furthermore, you learn that futsal is the official five-a-side indoor soccer game and the only indoor soccer recognized by FIFA.
Blogged with Flock
revised again @ 8:10 PM
20070424
Beeman leaves for U of MN
On any college/university campus there are always those profs whose classes you never take but you end up knowing them by reputation and/or domain. So into that Brunonian pool I can't put political commentator Darrell West whose poli sci course I tooked (if not finished) or Barrett Hazeltine in whose "gut" Engin 9 I fumbled and managed to pull a C. (Note: "guts" aren't easy if you have zero interest in the topic! And, perhaps if I'd paid more attention I'd be another B-entrepeneur instead of unemployed.).
Other profs that come to mind include Ken Miller, a biologist now more commonly known for being a religious (Catholic) scientist than for having attended many of the same Brown women's basketball games that we did. Same with public policy prof Ross Cheit who along with his wife Kathleen Odean, a librarian, were at the same games. (BTW, she's also the author of Great Books for Girls (1997) and Great Books for Boys (1998).)
There's also Thomas F. Banchoff, a mathematician much noted for his dimensional lectures involving a little old book Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions which may arrive at a cinema near you! Or public speaking aficionado Barbara Tannenbaum whose kids I once babysat and now are old enough to be in high school and college. (Heck, they may have graduated from both by now!) While a professor in Brown’s Department of Theater,Speech, and Dance, Tannebaum was much involved in women's politics at the campus level as well as locally including being a consultant to a range of political hopefuls.
Since I realize now that politics has become a theme here, this headline seems sad news for Brown, if not Minnesota:
Frustrated with Middle East studies program, longtime prof. leaves Brown.Bill Beeman is another who I seem to recall being a professor whose political voice was a standout in a less disinterested way than the intentionally apolitical academic. For a deeper drink from the Beeman faucet, here's some archived op-eds and his blog:
"Baby Got Back" Gilbert and Sullivan Style
As anyone who has spent any significant time with the J-man knows, he has a fondness for Sir-Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back". [The child has a propensity to just break into song extemporaneously.]
Methinks we can thank that parental amusement kid-friendly closing medley in Shrek for his awareness that the song even exists. And this tasty bit on YouTube is a riff from a 1980 production of the comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty. And if you're on your toes, you catch a young Kevin Kline and former heart throb Rex Smith. A Wikipedia entry with a cast list makes me think this clip comes from Joseph Papp's Pirates.
For the uninitiated here are the actual song lyrics (according to azlyrics.com):
[Intro]
Oh, my, god. Becky, look at her butt.
It is so big. *scoff* She looks like,
one of those rap guys' girlfriends.
But, y'know, who understands those rap guys? *scoff*
They only talk to her, because,
she looks like a total prostitute, 'kay?
I mean, her butt, is just so big. *scoff*
I can't believe it's just so round, it's like,
out there, I mean - gross. Look!
She's just so ... black!
[Sir Mix-a-Lot]
I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, wanna pull out your tough
'Cause you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna get wit'cha
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But with that butt you got makes me feel so horny
Ooh, Rump-o'-smooth-skin
You say you wanna get in my Benz?
Well, use me, use me
'Cause you ain't that average groupy
I've seen them dancin'
The hell with romancin'
She's sweat, wet,
Got it goin' like a turbo 'Vette
I'm tired of magazines
Sayin' flat butts are the thing
Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back
So, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!)
Has your girlfriend got the butt? (Hell yeah!)
Tell 'em to shake it! (Shake it!) Shake it! (Shake it!)
Shake that healthy butt!
Baby got back!
(LA face with Oakland booty)
Baby got back!
[Sir Mix-a-Lot]
I like 'em round, and big
And when I'm throwin' a gig
I just can't help myself, I'm actin' like an animal
Now here's my scandal
I wanna get you home
And ugh, double-up, ugh, ugh
I ain't talkin' bout Playboy
'Cause silicone parts are made for toys
I want 'em real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Mix-a-Lot's in trouble
Beggin' for a piece of that bubble
So I'm lookin' at rock videos
Knock-kneeded bimbos walkin' like hoes
You can have them bimbos
I'll keep my women like Flo Jo
A word to the thick soul sistas, I wanna get with ya
I won't cuss or hit ya
But I gotta be straight when I say I wanna *fuck*
Til the break of dawn
Baby got it goin' on
A lot of simps won't like this song
'Cause them punks like to hit it and quit it
And I'd rather stay and play
'Cause I'm long, and I'm strong
And I'm down to get the friction on
So, ladies! {Yeah!} Ladies! {Yeah}
If you wanna role in my Mercedes {Yeah!}
Then turn around! Stick it out!
Even white boys got to shout
Baby got back!
Baby got back!
Yeah, baby ... when it comes to females, Cosmo ain't got nothin'
to do with my selection. 36-24-36? Ha ha, only if she's 5'3".
[Sir Mix-a-Lot]
So your girlfriend rolls a Honda, playin' workout tapes by Fonda
But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda
My anaconda don't want none
Unless you've got buns, hun
You can do side bends or sit-ups,
But please don't lose that butt
Some brothers wanna play that "hard" role
And tell you that the butt ain't gold
So they toss it and leave it
And I pull up quick to retrieve it
So Cosmo says you're fat
Well I ain't down with that!
'Cause your waist is small and your curves are kickin'
And I'm thinkin' bout stickin'
To the beanpole dames in the magazines:
You ain't it, Miss Thing!
Give me a sista, I can't resist her
Red beans and rice didn't miss her
Some knucklehead tried to dis
'Cause his girls are on my list
He had game but he chose to hit 'em
And I pull up quick to get wit 'em
So ladies, if the butt is round,
And you want a triple X throw down,
Dial 1-900-MIXALOT
And kick them nasty thoughts
Baby got back!
(Little in the middle but she got much back) [4x]
And, for a totally different take, catch folk-altie Jonathan Coulton in Los Angeles performing "Baby Got Back".
20070417
As if we didn't know...from watching US 'pro' athletes: it's ugly out there!
And as if there's not enough to fill a third grader's parents minds, I can start to anticipate all that I want to avoid as it relates to sports...in high school.
The report, “What Are Your Children Learning? The Impact of High School Sports on the Values and Ethics of High School Athletes,” summarizes the responses of 5,275 high school athletes to a written survey administered in 2005 and 2006.
See Youth Athletes Survey - The Josephson Institute's Report Card for all the gorey details.
I suppose I should attach a caveat to my title about it being obvious as it relates to US mainstream "pro" sports such as hockey, basketball, football and baseball. I only reference them because I hear about their shenaningans, or see the replays. Who knows maybe it's just as bad where I never look -- curling, field hockey, wrestling, etc.
But I guess the outlook's not all bad; it just ain't all benign. (And, here I hear the internalized voice of the child scolding me; he just doesn't get using poor grammar for effect and just sees it as wrong -- when I do it!)
Blogged with Flock
20070322
the strangest thing....
Exquisite photos and maps are what thrill me. It use to be folk music but I guess age does something... I never was into the great outdoors but as fate would have it, the child is crazy about animals. So now I find myself -- when not fighting with said soon-to-be-nine child -- seeking out interesting animalia. Life is twisted.
20070310
If Suess Returned as Dylan
This find courtesy of Music For Maniacs whose blog-ish description says its "dedicated to extremes in music, 'Outsider' recordings and utterly unique sounds". Quite the earful...as well as 20070321: N.B. someone must have gotten a cease-and-desist order.
Blogged with Flock
20070309
The prospect of education can feel more promising...
...despite my complaints -- sometimes, in light of the Internet age. My childhood had none of the immediacy of events like a total lunar eclipse such as this; as seen from the UK 20070303:
Blogged with Flock
20070302
Strangeness I hadn't considered
Admittedly, I am an oddball since I was Googling for D.I.Y. hand sanitizer recipes since we have a constant need to minimize cross-contamination between child, hermit crab(s), and hamsters) but others find tastier bits than I:
reasons to avoid coffee pots in hotel rooms (makes me glad I don't travel or drink coffee)
just how drunk can one get off liquid hand wash (again, glad that I'm more of a stone-cold soda drinker & prefer a nice orange soda over anything alcoholic, any day!)
Microwavable Grape Plasma
On the hand, I did find compelling:
forensic tracking codes on laser printouts
pipe clamps as a means to kitchen hooks
20070120
Turning Obsessed?
Googling
teach logic "third grade"I found the writings of one Rick Garlikov. So far much to like. I didn't imagine my life as an adult and parent being so consumed with elementary education--that's the thought I had while reading "Teaching Effectively: Helping Students Absorb and Assimilate Material". So have I become obsessed?
How to teach without seeming to given that you already sent the child out of house for numerous hours for that exact purpose. The pint-size lawyer never accepts the words of a parent as edict; that is the (monster-)child, we have raised. But as someone put it, "It's so simple to be difficult, but so difficult to be simple". Is there a way to stay (invested) in the public school system if your heart feels as cold as "Adopting a Kidnapper's Creed for Education: No Child Left Behind". I'm too much in agreement and feeling like the other extreme is the only answer.
20070114
20070111
Biggest brain-wiggley: Boeing 747 as glider
"brain-wiggley" is my del.icio.us tag for oddities of various proportions. I bumped into this via digg.
20070102
A Clue as to How I Was Forged...Mentally, That Is
Dateline 12.2006: 
. Campus School, AKA the elementary laboratory school for the College of Education at the U of Memphis for more than 100 years, is where I received the majority of my elementary education. I was enrolled there at the start of what would have been the 2nd semester of 2nd grade at a more traditional school; but back then, Campus had mixed grades in "communities", and I stayed for the duration through what was 6th grade elsewhere.
U Memphis Campus School has been named as one of the top schools in TennesseeWhen I lived down there, MSU was Memphis State, but now it's gone and matured/re-branded
Almost all of its students - 99 percent - scored "proficient" or "advanced" in both reading and math.
. Campus School, AKA the elementary laboratory school for the College of Education at the U of Memphis for more than 100 years, is where I received the majority of my elementary education. I was enrolled there at the start of what would have been the 2nd semester of 2nd grade at a more traditional school; but back then, Campus had mixed grades in "communities", and I stayed for the duration through what was 6th grade elsewhere. And, looking back, I'm certain that my inclusion in C.L.U.E., or Creative Learning in a Unique Environment, in 3rd grade pretty much explains the me that I am as well as the what I expect from schools that J. attends. C.L.U.E.'s guiding methodology I just saw nicely encapsulated as "teach for thinking".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
