Edward W. Felten:

AP reports on a supposed trend of parents complaining to professors about their kids' education, grades, course scheduling, and so on.

In eight years of teaching at Princeton, I have never been contacted by a complaining parent. Come to think of it, I have never been contacted at all by a parent during the academic year. So my experience tends to contradict the AP story.

The AP article mentions a website (without linking to it) in the article, NoIndoctrination.org, and states "The existence of the Web site, though, illustrates the expanding role of parents in higher education."  The site does not appear to be related to things like grades, course scheduling, etc., at least not to me, and the article only mentions several "academics" yet makes statements that seem to indicate some sort of trend.  I think Professor Felten nails it when he called it "a supposed trend."  Looks to me like he's pointed out a case of some shoddy reporting (or, at least, shoddy conclusions) by AP... 

the letter project  [Generic | Synthetic < Sugarfused < The Presurfer]

BTW - Sugarfused is a cool looking Radio weblog (very cheerful design) - here's what it looks like (image from the ageless project):
 

The Shifted Librarian:  Music Industry Bullying Canadian CD-R Retailers 

Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution by Tim O'Reilly

Piracy is a loaded word, which we used to reserve for wholesale copying and resale of illegitimate product. The music and film industry usage, applying it to peer-to-peer file sharing, is a disservice to honest discussion.

Online file sharing is the work of enthusiasts who are trading their music because there is no legitimate alternative. Piracy is an illegal commercial activity that is typically a substantial problem only in countries without strong enforcement of existing copyright law.

[via Scripting News] [same article here via Aaron Swartz] 

>>  The "art" section is really cool - it looks like acrylic on wood is his medium of choice, but there's also some oils and mixed media plus a few pieces combining acrylic and collage.  Also in that section are some installations Jeff's had displayed at various galleries in the U.S., as well as Europe...  [Coolstop Daily Pick 12/12/02] 

Here's one for you, Loyd:  404 Research Lab (thanks Lonita!) 

Butterflies point to micro machines.  Tiny machines that fly like insects will soon be a reality.  [BBC News] 

Bookmarklets for Zapping Annoyances  [Sanjay's Coding Tips] 

December 2002

 


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