Are U.S. schools really that bad?

The official statistics seem bleak. High school graduation rates in places like Detroit or Cleveland are under 50% and we all know that American kids score worse than the international average on math tests. But don’t confuse the nationwide average with what happens to your kids. In school districts like Mercer Island, where there is little poverty, look at how scores compare:


The highest-rated country, Sweden, had a 562 on the PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study). Remember that the U.S. has wider disparities of income than the rest of the industrialized world, so our best and brightest really can be better than theirs.

Of course, even if your school system is wonderful, you are still worse off living in a country with lots of under-educated people. Inequality is a big problem for lots of reasons and this is only one of them.

[From an excellent article by Gerald W. Bracey, author of Reading Educational Research: How to Avoid Getting Statistically Snookered (Heinemann, 2006). in the July 07 Stanford Alumni Magazine.]

Espresso Vivace in the Seattle Times

I'm not kidding when I say that a non-zero percentage of the reason I moved from Silicon Valley to Seattle was to be closer to Espresso Vivace, one of the world's best coffee houses, according to the Financial Times.

David Schomer, the 50-year-old coffee-obsessed owner in this photo, was featured in an article in the Seattle Times this weekend. They just opened a new store, across from REI, because the one I usually visit on Capital Hill is being taken over by a light rail station.

The coffee is not only incredibly good, but incredibly, it's cheaper than Starbucks. Why Mercer Island doesn't have a true gourmet coffee place instead of the dozen or so Starbucks we have now, is beyond me.

Ford Windstar SE 60K Miles For Sale

I posted my Windstar for sale on Windows Live Expo



Only 60,000 miles on a 1999 Windstar SE. Original owner (me) purchased in California.

Kelly Blue Book price is $5,600 - $6,518 for a private sale like this one.

Some dents and needs new O2 sensors. I am buying a new car and the dealer is offering $4,500 for a trade-in.


And now I'm trying to get it published to Edgeio as well with the following tags:
Ford Windstar

98040
Mercer Island
Washington
USA

Selling a used car through Caralternative.com

CarAlternative.com sounds like an interesting service: you give them their car and they sell it at auction, giving you the proceeds minus a roughly 20% fee.


I saw them in a Google ad, but I'm unable to find any reference to them anywhere but their web site. Nothing shows up on Factiva, and an Internet search includes a page or so of listings that are mostly just the caralternative.com web site.

If you have a car that doesn't run, and your only options are to donate it or junk it, this seems like an ideal system. But what about a person like me, with a perfectly good car that's not fetching what I see as a reasonable trade-in value at a new car dealer? With caralternative.com, I'm at the mercy of the auction, with a completely unknown sales value.

The site claims they have relationships with car wholesalers--presumably the same people that used car dealers use.

Has anybody ever heard of these people?

Boys are doing better too

According to a large study reported in the Washington Post, boys' test scores are getting better--just not improving as quickly as girls'.

New rules for etiquette

How does etiquette evolve to accommodate new situations, like instant messaging, transgender couples, multi-income relationships?
The Urban Etiquette Handbook -- New York Magazine puts together some advice:

Can you reject a Friendster, Facebook, or MySpace friend request from someone you know?
No. It’s not as though adding someone to your online social network costs anything: The only potential damage is to the perceived quality of your accumulated friends. And if you know someone who judges you based on your Friendster network, then, well, like Mom said, he’s not your real Internet friend anyway.

When can you send a thank-you via e-mail?
A mass e-mail is actually preferable when thanking people who combined to put together a work project or totally rockin’ party, as it emphasizes the communal nature of the achievement and offers the opportunity for public praise. Everything else (e.g., weddings, gifts, anniversaries, job promotions or interviews, etc.) still goes on nice, high-fiber stationery or a store-bought card.

See the article for more helpful advice on things like when you need to unplug your iPod (when you see somebody you know), which officemates to invite to a wedding (people who can fire you), how do you turn down a playdate for a kid you don't like (compliment the other kid).

Not descended from Genghis Khan after all

I mentioned last week that this news about being related to Genghis Khan is less interesting than it appears, now the NYTimes reports that the accountant in Florida is not a direct descendent after all. A second, more detailed test, by rival firm Family Tree DNA of Houston, showed that the first test was a fluke.

I've been skeptical of these tests because I'm not sure what kinds of quality controls exist for these companies, and I suspect that you might get different results depending on who does the test and when.