This important report from the Congressional Research Service – Understanding China’s Political System - goes into detail on what institutional bodies/entities control the politics in China. Central players are profiled and their roles defined; i.e. The People’s Liberation Army, the Communist Party, the State, big business, and universities. In less than forty pages, an understanding of this country’s vast political system becomes a little clearer. Other great sites include: Council on Foreign Relations: China (with an interactive timeline on U.S.-China relations); Chatham House: China; Brookings Institute. John L Thornton China Center (with an ongoing series of biographies of future Politburo members along with side links to other biographical sources); and Strategic Studies Institute: China Studies (a vast array of online books and reports).
Archive for Uncategorized
Social Media Guidelines for Teachers Published by NYC Board of Education
These guidelines do not ban online interactions between student and teacher, but they do advise education professionals to adhere to certain parameters of online behavior. Further reportage is at: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Bergen Record.
What Are the Best Hospitals in New Jersey?
The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services has just issued its Hospital Performance Report New Jersey 2011. In it hospitals are evaluated and ranked on various health care measures, performances, and outcomes. On page 30, comparisons to national figures are given. The level of quality care in New Jersey can be searched by hospital, county, or medical condition at this site.
Sexual Violence is Widespread in the United States
Here are some frightening statistics from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey conducted in 2010 with 16,500 subjects via telephone interviews of about half an hour: 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetime; 1.3 million women were raped during the year previous to this survey; 1 in 6 women have been stalked in their lifetime; and 1 out of 4 women have been the victims of severe physical abuse by an intimate partner. Men, as well, reported being raped, stalked, or abused. This is the first year this survey was conducted and the results will serve as a foundation for subsequent surveys. This report also has tables that are broken down by state. Additional information is at the CDC”s Violence Prevention page. Reportage is availabe from The New York Times, BBC, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.
The Disappearing 100-Watt Incandescent Light Bulb
Did you know that the pear-shaped, medium-sized screw-in light bulb that you grew up with will no longer be available after January 1, 2012, and that California banned their sale in January 2011? And that the 75, 60, and 40 watt versions will all be gone by 2014? That you have only two months to purchase these bulbs before they disppear forever? They are being replaced by more energy efficient and longer-lasting versions. This Energy Savers site will answer a lot of your questions, as will this site.
New Jersey Ranks at the Top in Mathematics and Reading According to “The Nation’s Report Card”
The 2011 results for The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2011 and The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2011 have just been released and once again New Jersey ranks in the upper echelons. According to the state snapshots, New Jersey’s scores for 4th grade mathematics placed in the top three; scores for 8th grade mathematics placed in the top two; and similar findings are available for 4th grade reading and 8th grade reading. These snapshots also report on the still-troubling achievement gaps among various student groups; results for other states in reading and mathematics can also be accessed. An informative summary of New Jersey’s scores is at NJ Spotlight; additional news is at: Press of Atlantic City, The Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, and NJ Today. While positive in the short-term, the fact that so many children in both New Jersey and the nation operate at only a basic level of skills is of great concern. As Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said on the release of these reports: “The modest increases in NAEP scores are reason for concern as much as optimism. While student achievement is up since 2009 in both grades in mathematics and in 8th grade reading, it’s clear that achievement is not accelerating fast enough for our nation’s children to compete in the knowledge economy of the 21st Century. After significant NAEP gains in the 1990s, particularly in mathematics, the 2011 results continue a pattern of modest progress.”
Death of Osama bin Laden – Policy Considerations
This CRS report – Osama bin Laden’s Death: Implications and Considerations - addresses the impact bin Laden’s demise will have on national policy/security issues.
Translations of pre-1700 Women Authors
This site, Other Women’s Voices, guides the reader to sites providing substantial English translations of approximately 125 women authors ranging from 2300BCE to around 1700. The translations are in modern English which adds to this site’s utility, and each entry is accompanied by biographical information. You can search chronologically or alphabetically. Obviously a labor of love.
Governor Christie Signs School Choice Bill
Bill A355, The Interdistrict Public School Choice Program Act, was signed into law by Governor Christie this past Friday evening. It allows parents to send their children to other school districts with the home school district paying the transportation fees to the “choice” school district at a range of up to twenty miles. This makes permanent a previous school choice program that had expired at the end of five years. Explanations of this law are found at The Star-Ledger and PolitickerNJ.
Budget of the United States for Fiscal Year 2011
This document outlining a $3.8 trillion budget has just been released. Read the informative chapter entitled “Rescuing the Economy.” The Congressional Budget Office has already published its Budget Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020. Additional media reports are available from the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, and Forbes. And watch this C-SPAN video of the physical delivery of the budget to the Senate. A live YouTube interview with President Obama will begin at 1:45 PM today during which he will answer viewer questions about the budget and its implications. Early “winners and losers” in the budget are detailed in the Washington Post. Much more information will be found at the Office of Management and Budget site.
Too Much Information?
Do you at times feel like you are drowning in a glut of information and data? Well, quite honestly, you are. According to this recent study HMI? How Much Information, the American consumer is subjected to almost 12 hours of information(defined “…as flows of data delivered to people and we measured the bytes, words, and hours of consumer information a day.”) or 1.3 TRILLION hours in 2008. And information from the workplace was not included. No wonder we are tired. Information overload in the business environment is addressed here. “Information overload” is a term coined by Alvin Toffler.
Preschool Obesity
This report (abstract here) reveals that 18.4% of all 4 year olds in this country are obese, with the followng racial breakdowns: 31% of Native Americans, 22% of Hispanics, 21% of blacks, 21% of whites, and 13% of Asians. Information on this problem may be found at kidshealth.org, Obesity in Children(National Library of Medicine), and Childhood Obesity(Mayo Clinic). A very informative article, with many full-text references, should be consulted as well: Obesity Prevention in Child Care: A Review of U.S. State Regulations. Please consult the National Academies Press for many freely available monographs on this topic
European Digital Library Opens 11/20, Closes 11/20
So great was the anticipation for Europeana, the name for the European Digital Library, that when it was opened yesterday more than 10 million hits per hour crashed the site. A planned repository of millions of texts, images, sound, and film, Europeana will become a resource of the first order when it is finally back up. Over 1000 institutions from the European Union have contributed digitized collections to this vast multilingual undertaking. A nice review of the project is found here. Europeana is slated to go back up in mid-December. In the meantime, check out our de facto national library, the Library of Congress and its digital treasures.
Life Magazine’s Photo Archives Available via Google Image
Ultimately, all ten million photos from Life will be searchable in Google Image; at the present, about 20% are online, with the rest to be loaded in the upcoming months. You can access this collection here, or you can just add “source:life” to any Google Image search and limit the search just to Life images. The pictures available now stretch back to the Civil War.
Incidence of Diabetes Doubles in Ten Years
In a rather ironic coincidence, a major report on the prevalence of diabetes is released on the day most closely associated with candy. The October 31, 2008 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report presents compelling evidence indicating that the incidence of diagnosed diabetes has doubled in ten years. What is unique to this report is a state-by-state examination of the increase in this disease. 33 states are represented, and New Jersey is among them. This state’s increase amount to 64%, which is actually among the lowest of the states reported. The highest, with incidence rates of 200% or more, include Florida, Texas, and Idaho. There is much that can be done to control diabetes. Check out this CDC site and this one from the National Library of Medicine.
2008 Jersey City Artists Studio Tour
Stretching over three days from Friday, October 3 to Sunday, October 5, eleven curated art exhibitions, including one by NJCU’s own professor Hugo Bastidas, and another by NJCU’s professor Midori Yoshimoto, will be open to the public free of charge. Also represented in this tour is NJCU art professor Ben Jones who has a retrospective exhibition entitled “Deliverance: The Art of Ben Jones” featured at the Jersey City Museum. NJCU is also featured prominently as host of the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, as well as having the NJCU Art Faculty Biennial Exhibition represented in the tour on Saturday, noon to 5pm. Information on the tour can be found here. A map of the studio tours is available.
Voter Registration for All Fifty States(and Puerto Rico)
This comprehensive site provides detailed information and links for voter registration. Other pertinent information pertaining to the voting process is available as well. The voter registration form for New Jersey is here. And it is not too late to register!! “The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery….” Thomas Paine, Dissertation on the First Principles of Government(1795).
Rosenberg Grand Jury Transcripts Released
Recently, the National Archives released the grand jury transcripts for the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. This makes news on more than one level since grand jury proceedings are always sealed, but the historical significance of these transcripts was deemed so high that they had to be released. A review of the legal arguments concerning these documents may be found at the Jurist site. A good overview of the Rosenberg case, based primarily on government sources, can be accessed at this CCNY site. A very comprehensive treatment of the trial is here.
New Jersey Hall of Fame
What do Thomas Edison(this site allows you to search over 100,000 digital documents relating to him), Harriet Tubman(find her autobiography here), Albert Einstein(access to some of his papers is here), Buzz Aldrin(read his “Roadmap to Mars” here), Clara Barton(read some of her works here and here, and Vince Lombardi(read some of his quotes) all have in common. They, along with nine other worthies, are the first inductees into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Although the Hall is only virtual, there are plans to build a physical structure as well. Congratulations to all the inductees! And do not forget to visit the NJCU Athletic Hall of Fame.
