Investigating the Complex Significance of Bones

Posted on January 13, 2012 by admin

The significance of bones. Yoga strengthens bones. Skeleton image source // Yoga posture Image.

Read the full New York Times article –

The New York Times – Learning Network – Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes -
Overview | Students gain a greater understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the muscular system, the skeletal system and connective tissue by researching joints in the body. They also reflect on the effects of injuries on their joints and learn about new treatment methods. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Investigating the Complex Significance of Bones -
Overview | Students examine the literal, physiological and figurative significance of bones through experimentation, then create their own skeleton-related exhibits for a “Bone and Skeleton Museum.” Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Eyewitnesses are mistaken far more often than people think

Posted on December 8, 2011 by admin

Every year, more than 75,000 eyewitnesses identify criminal suspects in the U.S., and studies suggest that as many as a third of them are wrong.
Mistaken eyewitnesses helped convict three quarters of the 273 people who have been freed from U.S. prisons on DNA evidence presented by The Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization that challenges dubious prosecutions. The full article in The Week – November 4, 2011.

Eyewitness testimony may be unreliable, but the Supreme Court doesn’t want to be the one to say so.

As Justice Elena Kagan puts it, new research “should lead us all to wonder about the reliability of eyewitness testimony.” Just don’t expect the high court to do much more than wonder.
As Justice William Brennan wrote in a 1981 dissent: “There is almost nothing more convincing than a live human being who takes the stand, points a finger at the defendant, and says, ‘That’s the one!’ ”

The problem, of course, is that you can be very convincing and also wrong.

Are eyewitnesses reliable? Image source

In his book Convicting the Innocent (excerpted in Slate), Brandon Garrett studied 250 DNA-based innocent exonerations, and concluded that 190 of them (a whomping 76 percent) were based on false eyewitness identifications.

“DNA exonerations have shattered confidence in the criminal justice system by exposing how often we have convicted the innocent and let the guilty walk free. In this unsettling in-depth analysis, Brandon Garrett examines what went wrong in the cases of the first 250 wrongfully convicted people to be exonerated by DNA testing.

Based on trial transcripts, Garrett’s investigation into the causes of wrongful convictions reveals larger patterns of incompetence, abuse, and error. Evidence corrupted by suggestive eyewitness procedures, coercive interrogations, unsound and unreliable forensics, shoddy investigative practices, cognitive bias, and poor lawyering illustrates the weaknesses built into our current criminal justice system. Garrett proposes practical reforms that rely more on documented, recorded, and audited evidence, and less on fallible human memory.

Just recently, a special master appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to examine eyewitness evidence concluded that such memory should be treated “as a form of trace evidence: a fragment collected at the scene of a crime, like a fingerprint or blood smear, whose integrity and reliability need to be monitored and assessed from the point of its recovery to its ultimate presentation at trial.” » The full Slate article – By Dahlia Lithwick – November 2, 2011.

The New York Times – Learning Network – Justices for All -
Overview | In this lesson, students examine the role of Supreme Court justices in the American political process. Students will research the qualities of the current Supreme Court justices and write opinion papers evaluating the current justices and recommending future nominations. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Courting Controversy? -
Overview | In this lesson, students learn about the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. They then examine a number of individual issues from different ideological and philosophical perspectives. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Judges on Trial -
Overview | In this lesson, students investigate how different branches of government affect or aid the appointment of a Supreme Court justice nominee and the responsibilities of a judge. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
Related Learning Foundation Lesson – Compare the treatment of the accused in China and America in two crime stories.

News vs Gossip – Inquiry into Press Tactics

Posted on November 8, 2011 by admin

Inquiry Into Press Tactics Turns the Tables on Tabloids

The high court judge leading the inquiry, Sir Brian Leveson, has called the sessions that began this week, relayed live on the inquiry’s Web site, a “right of reply” for victims of tabloid excesses.
Beyond the wolf-pack excesses of paparazzi, beyond the phone hacking that has been news here for months, witnesses have told of practices that they described as bullying and intimidation.
Now it is commonplace, at the hearings and beyond, to describe the tabloids as a mafia, and to demand steps to bring them back within the scope of the law.
Sir Brian Leveson has refused requests by the newspapers’ lawyers for the right to cross-examine the witnesses, and issued a formal warning to the mass-circulation papers not to strike back against those testifying with new articles that invade their privacy or damage their reputations. » The full New York Times article – By John F. Burns Published: November 25, 2011.

The New York Times – Learning Network – Talking Trash –
Overview | Students will consider their own experiences with online message boards and chat rooms, discover how teens are using the Web to talk about people in their lives. » Go to this Building Society and Law Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – A Snapshot of Fame –
Overview | Students debate the limits to celebrity privacy and to paparazzi rights after reading the above article. » Go to this Building Society, Media and Law Lesson.

“News Vs Gossip” – Simplified Mock Trial – Fact Summary »

Use and abuse of chat rooms selling gossip as news? Chat room image Florida online reading – selling newspapers image source newscopy.org

A Newspaper that looks for possible stories from Thai web site bulletin boards, blogs, and chat-rooms picked up the story spreading about Lek who had claimed her teacher had stolen her hand phone.

The newspaper called her mother for an interview.
Lek’s mother told the Newspaper that Ms Lawson hated her daughter and took her hand phone to punish her.

The Thai Newspaper printed a story: Headline News – “Teacher abuses kid”
The story added that the school in which the teacher taught was very bad and should be closed until the government investigates.

The same day, a parent of a student from the school sent the newspaper article to the head of the school.
He translated the article for Lek’s teacher, Ms lawson, who became very upset.
“That’s not true!” She said. “They lied!”
“Don’t they need any evidence to show what they print is true?”

The Newspaper said it was just passing along stories that interested readers and the damage to Ms Lawson and the school were their own fault not the Newspapers.

This is the third of three related Learning Foundation Simplified Mock Trial cases:
– “I can say what I want!”
– “I was just protecting my kid”
– “News vs Gossip”

US Supreme Court will rule on health care law by June 2012

Posted on October 16, 2011 by admin

Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments on health care law in March and issue a ruling in late June

Health Law Survives Test in Court of Appeals: Of four appellate court rulings on the health care law so far, this is the third to deal with the law on the merits, and the second that upholds it.
Jack M. Balkin, a constitutional scholar at Yale Law School, said that what is emerging at the appeals level, including a June decision supporting the law from the Sixth Circuit that with a concurrence by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, another Bush appointee, shows “it’s actually a much more complicated story about how judges are seeing this act.”
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington issued the 37-page opinion by Judge Laurence H. Silberman. In the opinion, Judge Silberman, who was appointed by the Republican President Ronald Reagan, described the law as part of the fundamental tension between individual liberty and legislative power.

“The right to be free from federal regulation is not absolute, and yields to the imperative that Congress be free to forge national solutions to national problems, no matter how local — or seemingly passive — their individual origins,” he wrote.
The fact that Congress may have never issued an individual mandate to purchase something before, a central argument for many opposing the law, “seems to us a political judgment rather than a recognition of constitutional limitations,” he wrote. » The full New York Times article – By John Schwartz – November 8, 2011.

The Obama administration asks the Supreme Court to hear a case concerning the 2010 health care overhaul law

“Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation, such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed,”
the statement continued. “We believe the challenges to the Affordable Care Act — like the one in the 11th Circuit — will also ultimately fail and that the Supreme Court will uphold the law.”
The political calculus is complicated. A decision striking down President Obama’s signature legislative achievement only months before the election would doubtless be a blow.
But a decision from a court divided along ideological lines could further energize voters already critical of last year’s 5-to-4 campaign finance decision, Citizens United. » The full New York Times article – By Adam Liptak – Published: September 28, 2011.

Looking Back: Obama v. Alito – Political dust-up during 2010 State of the Union

Obama needled – well, lambasted – the US Supreme Court for a recent decision he said would “open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.”

Justice is blind Image source By Barry Blitt.

Sitting right in front of the president – robed in sober black, hands folded in their laps – were six of the justices, including three who had made it possible (in Obama’s words) for American elections to be “bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities.”
Obama’s mention of the campaign finance decision caused Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s expression to go dark as he shook his head and appeared to say “Simply not true.”
“The court’s legitimacy is derived from the persuasiveness of its opinions and the expectation that those opinions are rendered free of partisan, political influences,” former New Jersey Supreme Court justice Peter G. Verniero told the New York Times. “The more that individual justices are drawn into public debates, the more the court as an institution will be seen in political terms, which was not the intent of the founders.” The full Christian Science article » By Brad Knickerbocker.

The New York Times – Learning Network – Justices for All -
Overview | In this lesson, students examine the role of Supreme Court justices in the American political process. Students will research the qualities of the current Supreme Court justices and write opinion papers evaluating the current justices and recommending future nominations. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Courting Controversy? -
Overview | In this lesson, students learn about the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. They then examine a number of individual issues from different ideological and philosophical perspectives. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Judges on Trial -
Overview | In this lesson, students investigate how different branches of government affect or aid the appointment of a Supreme Court justice nominee and the responsibilities of a judge. Go to this Law and Society Lesson.

Cash, Charge or Save? – Warren Buffett stars in children’s cartoon

Posted on October 1, 2011 by admin

» Original Guardian image and article source

Nebraska-based Buffett

From this Guardina article »

The New York Times – Learning Network – Preparing an Annual Budget -
Overview | Students play a game to determine if they know the costs of common items. As consumers, they then develop their own personal finance budgets to determine how they might reduce their personal spending.Go to this Economy and ESL Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Understanding Credit Cards and Credit Card Debt -
Overview | Students examine and learn the basics about credit cards and credit card debt, then create an informational brochure for young students. Go to this Economy and ESL Lesson.

Italian appeals court frees Amanda Knox, codefendant

Posted on September 30, 2011 by admin

A jury of eight Italians, which included two judges, delivered its verdict after more than 11 hours of deliberations.
The decision overturns the December 2009 ruling that sentenced Amanda Knox to 26 years in prison and her codefendant, Raffaele Sollecito, a former boyfriend, to 25 years in prison in the 2007 fatal stabbing of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, a Briton who shared an apartment with Knox.
Court-appointed independent specialists said the DNA had been collected in a way that could have allowed for contamination and the genetic information on two main pieces of evidence could not be matched to the defendants with certainty.
A lawyer for Sollecito, Giulia Bongiorno argued that the evidence collected 46 days after the police first went through the scene should have been thrown out. » The full Boston Globe article – By Elisabetta Povoledo – Published: October 4, 2011.

What changed from the first trial?

“What happened this time,’ says CBS news correspondent Peter van Sant, “was the judge ordered that a scientific panel review the evidence.
They discovered 54 major mistakes by the crime scene investigators, and they also — which we reported three years ago — they also determined that the DNA evidence wasn’t DNA evidence at all.
The piece of evidence that really damned Amanda was the notion that her DNA was on the handle of the knife and the victim’s DNA was on the blade, but what was really on the blade was residue from – rye bread, and I kid you not. » The full CBS article – By Peter van Sant – October 1, 2011.

The Crime Scene

“Be respectful of the pain caused by the death of Meredith Kercher. But don’t make the mistake of keeping two innocent people in jail,” said Knox’s counsel, Carlo Dalla Vedova. He declared. “Pain is not a legal argument,”.
Dalla Vedova began a point-by-point examination of the case against the American by looking at a statement, made to police after an all-night interrogation.
She had not been given any legal assistance and, at the time she was no more than a ragazzina, a young girl, with scant knowledge of Italian on her first trip abroad, he said. Knox had come to Italy less than a month before to study, along with Kercher, at Perugia’s university for foreigners.
Knox’s other counsel, Luciano Ghirga, earlier appeared close to losing his temper as he accused the prosecution of irregularities in the conduct of the investigation and trial. Like Dalla Vedova, he repeatedly implied that the prosecutors and police ignored evidence that failed to support their theories. » The full Guardian article – By John Hooper – September 29, 2011.

DNA can be faked? original dna-helix image and article

The New York Times – Learning Network – Science in the Court Rooms -
Overview | Students reflect on their opinions about the use of DNA databases in criminal investigations. They then generate a list of questions they have about DNA and its importance, prepare and give brief presentations, and then further discuss their positions on how DNA information should be collected and used by police. Go to this Law and Science Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Pressing Cases -
Overview | Students investigate famous criminal cases in which the media has played a significant role and reflect on how the news helps to shape attitudes and behaviors in their own lives. Go to this Law and Science Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Evaluating How DNA Databases Are Used to Solve Crimes -
Overview | Students reflect on their opinions about the use of DNA databases in criminal investigations. They then generate a list of questions they have about DNA and its importance, prepare and give brief presentations, and then further discuss their positions on how DNA information should be collected and used by police. Go to this Law and Science Lesson.

What will you do with your life? – Levy family goes to Russia

Posted on September 28, 2011 by admin

My wife, Julie and I all but panicked early on, in large part because we felt powerless.

Our inclination as parents had been to intervene to protect our children. But maybe it was better that they had to win these battles by themselves. As the New Humanitarian school director, Vasiliy Bogin often says, “Life is the best teacher.”
In practice, though, the philosophy meant that Bogin delighted in barraging children with word problems and puzzles to force them to think broadly. It was the opposite of the rote memorization of the Soviet system.

Emmett Levy at school in Russia

The author’s son, Emmett, eating with his classmates at the New Humanitarian School in Moscow. Original image

When I asked Bogin to explain Shchedrovitsky, he asked a question. “Does 2 + 2 = 4? No! Because two cats plus two sausages is what? Two cats. Two drops of water plus two drops of water? One drop of water.”
At dinnertime, the kids taunted me with riddles. “Ten crows are sitting on a fence,” Arden announced. “A cat pounces and eats one crow. How many are left?” “Umm, nine,” I said, fearing a trap. “No, none!” she gleefully responded. “Do you really think that after one crow is eaten, the others are going to stick around?” » The full New York Times article – By Clifford J. Levy – Published September 15, 2011.

Humanitarian School Director

Vasiliy Bogin, the school’s director, instructing a student in math. – Original image

The New York Times – Learning Network – What Will You Do With Your Life?
Overview: Students consider what it means to live a life well-lived by creating life lists of goals they would like to accomplish and analyzing patterns in the lists of their peers. Go to this Life and Building a Health Society Lesson.

Help for the Global Economy

Posted on August 18, 2011 by admin

U.S. Railroads shipments are the highest in almost three years, helping to defy concerns about a double- dip recession.

Total rail volumes excluding grain and coal averaged 381,831 carloads in August, the most since October 2008, according to data from the Association of American Railroads in Washington.
These shipments represent the bulk of materials for industrial production, so rising volumes show the economy is still growing, according to Art Hatfield, a transportation analyst in Memphis, Tennessee, at Morgan Keegan & Co.
“Sure, things have moderated, but there is no one in that near state of panic that we saw certainly in late ‘08 and ‘09,” CSX’s Chief Financial Officer Oscar Munoz said at a Sept. 8 conference hosted by UBS AG. » The full Bloomberg article – By Anna-Louise Jackson and Anthony Feld – September 23, 2011.

Global Stimulus Push

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has moved closer toward joining the Federal Reserve in a global push to add stimulus and stave off renewed recessions. » The full Bloomberg article – By Jennifer Ryan – September 22, 2011.

As part of a plan to cut the U.S federal deficit by $3 trillion, administration officials said:

President Barack Obama will call for $1.5 trillion in tax increases mostly targeting the wealthy over the next decade.
The proposal puts Obama in direct conflict with Republican congressional leaders such as House Speaker John Boehner, who last week said his party wouldn’t accept tax increases and urged the bipartisan super committee to focus on scaling back entitlement programs such as the Medicare health-insurance plan for the elderly.
Obama will threaten to veto any deficit plan that reduces Medicare benefits unless wealthy Americans also are asked to pay more in taxes, according to the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
While Obama will include Medicare-benefit cuts in his proposal, the administration will insist on tax increases as a condition, they said. » The full Bloomberg article – By Mike Dorning – September 19, 2011.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned that quick deficit reduction may hurt the recovery.
“The weakness of the housing sector and continued financial volatility are two key reasons for the frustratingly slow pace of the recovery,” Bernanke said.
Other impediments to growth include cost-cutting by state and local governments confronting budget shortfalls and waning federal fiscal stimulus, he said.
Just hours after Bernanke’s speech, President Barack Obama called on Congress to pass a jobs plan that would inject $447 billion into the economy through infrastructure spending, by cutting in half the payroll taxes paid by workers and small- business owners and by providing subsidies to local governments to stem teacher layoffs. » The full Bloomberg article – By Jeannine Aversa and Joshua Zumbrun – September 9, 2011.

“Ultimately, our recovery will be driven not by Washington, but by our businesses and workers,” the president said. “But we can help. We can make a difference.” » the full Bloomberg article – By Mike Dorning – September 9, 2011.

Its a puzzle Image source

• The New York Times – Learning Network – A Plan for Recovery -
Overview: Students examine the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of the proposed stimulus plan for the U.S. economy; they then write their own proposal outlining how stimulus funds might benefit their community. » Go to this Economy and Society Lesson.

• The New York Times – Learning Network – Exploring the Impact of Keynesian Economics During a Recession -
Overview: Students define and examine the role of Keynesian economics during recessions and depression, then write a memo to President Obama advising him on how to put Keynesian principles into practice. » Go to this Economy and Society Lesson.

Trusting Wall Street

Posted on August 15, 2011 by admin

News from Wall Street

Another day on Wall Street – The Globe and Mail

Why are protesters occupying Wall Street?

The New York Times – Learning Network –
Overview | What are they protesting, and what are their goals? In this lesson, students are introduced to Occupy Wall Street and then investigate the movement more deeply. » Go to this Economy and Society Lesson.

Major financial crises are almost always followed by a period of slow growth

After all, The bursting of the housing bubble and the overhang of household debt have left consumer spending depressed and many businesses with more capacity than they need and no reason to add more.
Business investment always responds strongly to the state of the economy, and given how weak our economy remains you shouldn’t be surprised if investment remains low.
If anything, business spending has been stronger than one might have predicted given slow growth and high unemployment.
The starting point for many claims that antibusiness policies are hurting the economy is the assertion that the sluggishness of the economy’s recovery from recession is unprecedented. But, as a new paper by Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute documents at length, this is just not true.
Extended periods of “jobless recovery” after recessions have been the rule for the past two decades. Indeed, private-sector job growth since the 2007-2009 recession has been better than it was after the 2001 recession. » The full New York Times comment – By Paul Krugman September 29, 2011.

Nobel Winner Joseph Stiglitz Stiglitz Warns Job-Killing Austerity Measures Hurt Economies

Contrary to the Tea Party, Stiglitz has been arguing since the financial crisis that cuts in government spending will only worsen America’s fiscal mess because we will generate fewer tax revenues. “Austerity is not only a recipe for more pain now it’s really a recipe for more pain later,” he says. “You don’t provide the basis of economic growth by having negative economic growth.”
When it comes closing the gap on the country’s $1+ trillion deficit on $14+ trillion in debt, Stiglitz says the country can turn things around in 4 relatively easy steps:
Original image source

America’s struggling economy held hostage

IMF’s Christine Lagarde Urges Measures to Boost Growth
- While not all countries have enough leeway to implement policies to support growth, in “many” others, sharp deficit reduction “would be wrong,” she wrote.
- Potential measures to support growth include policies to advance planned infrastructure or to support job creation, Lagarde wrote in the FT.
- Cutting (deficits) alone won’t be enough, revenues must increase too, Lagarde wrote. » The full Bloomberg article – By Sandrine Rastello – August 16, 2011.
The New York Times – Learning Network – A Plan for Recovery-
Overview | Students examine the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of the proposed stimulus plan for the U.S. economy; they then write their own proposal outlining how stimulus funds might benefit their community. » Go to this Economy and Society Lesson.
The New York Times – Learning Network – Examining Key World Economies and Comparing Their Current Volatility -
Overview | Students review key economic terms and ideas necessary for understanding world economies. They then research the economies of countries in the Group of 8 (20) and present how their economies have changed over the past five years and how the relationships among these countries affect each other in light of world events. » Go to this Economy and Society Lesson.

Making Schools Relevant

Posted on July 21, 2011 by admin

President Barack Obama is moving at a historic pace to try to diversify the nation’s federal judiciary:

Nearly three of every four people he has gotten confirmed to the federal bench are women or minorities. He is the first president who hasn’t selected a majority of white males for lifetime judgeships.
For more than 140 years, there were no females or minorities among the nation’s federal judges.
“The more diverse the courts, the more confidence people have in our judicial system,” said Nan Aron of the liberal Alliance for Justice. “Having a diverse judiciary also enriches the decision-making process.” » The full Associated Press article – Published: September 13, 2011.

Doctors save lives, but they can sometimes be insufferable know-it-alls:

who bully nurses and do not listen to patients. Medical schools have traditionally done little to screen out such flawed applicants or to train them to behave better, but that is changing.
“We are trying to weed out the students who look great on paper but haven’t developed the people or communication skills we think are important,” said Dr. Stephen Workman, associate dean for admissions and administration at Virginia Tech Carilion. » The full New York Times article – By Gardiner Harris – Published: July 10, 2011.

Choosing a good doctor or lawyer

Image source – Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

Applicants prepared for the first phase of the “multiple mini interview” at Virginia Tech Carilion.

Japanese Law Exam:

Dan Rosen, who teaches American law at Chuo Law School in Tokyo, said he was troubled by the nature of the test as much as by its difficulty. He said the Japanese bar exam, especially the first phase — a grueling multiple-choice test on knowledge of the law — filters out people who could be good lawyers.
“The test rewards the kind of book learning that comes from years of sitting in your study carrel with your noses in between the pages” of law books, he said. “There is a great faith in Japan in book learning and memorization. The bar exam is to a greater extent a reflection of that.”
Pictured below, Akira Goto, a professor of criminal law, teaching a class at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. Mr. Goto said “I am an expert in criminal law, so I can answer the criminal law portion of the test and some of the constitutional law,” he said. “But if I were to enter the law school as a student today and studied other laws required for the bar for a few years, I am not sure if I would pass it.” » the full New York Times article – By Miki Tanikawa – Published: July 10, 2011