Graham Glass, etc.

Improved Check-in at Airports

I recently traveled to the UK using Virgin Airlines and noticed their innovation for speeding up check-in.

Most airlines only allow you to get a ticket using a self-service kiosk if you have no luggage to check in. Virgin Airlines on the other hand *only* allows you to get a ticket via a self-service kiosk. Then, If you have luggage to check in, you take your ticket and luggage to an attendant who takes your bag.

The nice thing about this approach is that the self-service kiosks absorb all the burden of actually producing a ticket. This frees attendants up for the focused task of accepting luggage for check in.

Amazing display of Subliminal Advertising

WOW! Check out this video.

Teachers: $125K + bonus

This article describes an interesting experiment that's about to start at a NY charter school.

The school will pay its teachers $125K/year plus bonus by streamlining its administration. Even the principal will make less than the teachers. For comparison, an average middle school teacher usually makes around $50K/year.

I'm very glad that these kinds of experiments are being performed. Education systems need to improve, so letting them evolve via various mutations makes sense. My guess is that this one will succeed.

RIP Arthur C. Clarke

I've been a fan of Arthur C. Clarke ever since I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, so I was sad to hear that he died yesterday. If you enjoy Science Fiction, I highly recommend his Rama series, which is about Earth's first encounter with Alien life. A mysterious space ship silently approaches Earth, enters orbit, but does not attempt any further contact. What is its purpose?

My new Desktop Background

Amazing picture of the M104 spiral galaxy, courtesy of the Hubble space telescope:

The Earth at Night

A beautiful picture of the Earth at night:

Nuclear Sunset

Linda and Paul: Lovely Couple

Here's a great video of Linda and Paul McCartney: a lovely couple:

Arnold seeks to Terminate Anti-HomeSchooling ruling

According to this blog post, Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to overturn the court ruling that would require homeschooling parents to have teaching credentials. That's good news!

How to *really* teach Math

Here's a great paper by Paul Lockhart about how to really teach Math. It's very much in line with my own thinking about education, and I would love to work with Paul in the future.