The abstinence club at Harvard, featuring some nicely turned use of fajitas.

More here, including word that foundress Sarah Kinsella is from Chicago, which makes me wonder if she’s of the emo Chicago Kinsellas.

31 July 2007 | No comments

This is the map of the United States that IKEA uses to let you locate its stores. It’s drawn, and it’s not awful or anything. (Even though the toe end of the Louisiana “boot” is all basically underwater now.)

But what the hell is that thing above Maine? Why is all of New England, er, engorged? It looks like some unfortunate Swedish cartographer — probably stuffed with meatballs to the point of distraction — slapped the Gaspe peninsula on top of the U.S. — as if there are secret American IKEAs in extreme eastern Quebec.

30 July 2007 | No comments

Interesting TED Talk with economist Emily Oster, on that hoariest of topics, “Everything You Know About AIDS in Africa is Wrong.”

Now, much of what people know about AIDS in Africa is wrong, and Oster makes some fine points. But she loses a lot of credibility with me when she repeats one of the most longstanding (though long-ago debunked) myths of AIDS lore. At the 11:34 mark, when talking about the (very real) role that transport networks and trade can play in spreading the disease, she says:

The epidemic was introduced to the U.S. by, actually, one male steward on an airline flight who got the disease in Africa and brought it back — and that’s the genesis of the entire epidemic in the U.S.

She’s referring to Gaetan Dugas, a Quebecois flight attendant for Air Canada. Randy Shilts’ 1987 book And the Band Played On labeled Dugas as “Patient Zero,” the center of the epidemic’s start in North America. (Dugas died in 1984.) I remember, as a kid, watching a 60 Minutes episode on this “Patient Zero” and how he was reponsible for all the AIDS in America, sodomizing his way from coast to coast and intentionally spreading the disease. He was vilified as a monster for years.

Except it isn’t true, and that’s been clear for almost two decades. This 1988 piece from NYRB shows that the study that put Dugas at the center of things used a flawed model of the disease — blaming Dugas for infections that started showing symptoms at the same time as the intercourse allegedly to blame. You don’t develop full-blown AIDS three days after infection — it takes years. (Quote the researcher: “The cluster is in fact a textbook example of constructing your empirical evidence to fit your theory.”)

Now, Dugas certainly had sex with a whole lot of people. But he got lots of attention from people like Shilts because, in a way, he was the most cooperative early AIDS victim in North America. He kept detailed records of all the people he had sex with and was happy to cooperate with CDC officials in their efforts to figure out what was causing the disease. (Remember, at the time, it wasn’t known that AIDS was fatal — or even that it was spread sexually. The popular image of Dugas as some crazed serial killer is based on faulty assumptions about how the disease was viewed back then.)

In any event, Dugas wasn’t diagnosed with anything until 1980. (It was called “gay cancer” or GRID until 1982.) And there’s plenty of evidence AIDS in America predated Dugas. A study of blood samples taken from NYC men given a hepatitis vaccine in 1978-89 found 6.6% of them already had HIV antibodies in their blood. The first confirmed U.S. case of AIDS was from 1969, with cases among gay men in California in 1978.

(Side note: Check out this National Review article on Shilts’ book from 1987. Not because of the content, but because of this sentence: “…according to an impressively researched new book by Randy Shilts, himself a gay…” Yes, back in the day, people called people like Shilts “a gay.”)

Anyway, here’s hoping the rest of Oster’s talk is more accurate. Her basic thesis is that the strongest correlate to HIV infection rates in Africa is trade — more trade equals more infections. Which would put a damper on globalization thoughts, wouldn’t it? (I’m not sure I buy it, since I don’t believe there was a stunning spike in export value in southern Africa in the 1990s, when infection rates skyrocketed. But I haven’t looked at the data and Oster has.)

Her evidence is in part based on data from Uganda, the one African nation that has seen a real reduction in infection rates. Every AIDS researcher, it seems, has his/her own ways to read the Ugandan tea leaves. Oster argues the decline was caused by decreased trade, caused by a decline in coffee prices. Others credit an increase in condom use. Sunday’s NYT said it was an outbreak of monogamy. Who’s right? Who knows? I wish someone would decide.

29 July 2007 | No comments

Two more stories from the last couple of days, both on the redoubtable Lancaster ISD. First:

AUSTIN – The dispute over Lancaster ISD’s proposed four-day school week reached Austin on Thursday as supporters and critics aired their views to the state education commissioner.

Meanwhile, the Texas Education Agency is considering whether to send a team of auditors to the school district to check on worrisome financial data.

“It does appear that there is a significant, or has been a significant budget discrepancy,” acting Commissioner Robert Scott said after Thursday’s meeting, which was closed to the news media.

And second:

When Superintendent Larry Lewis faces opposition to his financial management of Lancaster ISD, his response is to point to the academic progress in his district.

“I can give you data to show that where we were in ‘03 and where we are today – that we’ve had tremendous academic improvement,” Dr. Lewis said Friday. “When you look at what we’ve done with students of poverty, of ethnic minority, we’ve seen tremendous growth since we’ve been here.”

But while Lancaster’s TAKS scores have improved, the increases have been smaller than those of almost every other area district.

Friday was my last day at The News before I leave for Boston. I’m busy packing up my belongings and deciding which boxes are fated for storage and which will squeeze into my Mazda for the long drive up the coast.

29 July 2007 | No comments

Two fun stories today. First, this one on the front page, on cheating:

Does Forest Brook High School have a TAKS cheating problem? It depends whom you believe. But new evidence points to yes.

Despite highly suspicious test scores, a February report by the Texas Education Agency declared the Houston school cheating-free – largely because school officials, when asked, said they were unaware of any wrongdoing on their campus.

But last month, a Dallas Morning News statistical analysis found that Forest Brook had one of the worst cheating problems in Texas. Looking at two years of scores, the analysis found more than 350 TAKS answer sheets had answer patterns that were suspiciously similar – in some cases identical – to those of at least one classmate.

Now, newly released test scores give further support to the idea. This spring, the state required outside monitors to oversee TAKS testing at Forest Brook. They watched over every stage of the testing process in an attempt to prevent any potential misdeeds.

The result? Under outside scrutiny, the school’s scores collapsed.

On the 11th-grade test – the one students must pass to graduate – Forest Brook’s math passing rate dropped from 80 percent in 2006 to 44 percent this year. In science, the tumble was from 89 percent to 39 percent. And in social studies – traditionally the easiest of the TAKS tests – Forest Brook dropped from a perfect 100 percent to 72 percent.

And this one on the cover of the Metro section, which may be even more fun. Certainly it’s my first mention of traditional Micronesian fishing methods in The Dallas Morning News.

Lancaster school officials told parents and school board members this week that a proposal to switch to a four-day school week was based on solid research showing academic benefits. But the studies they produced show inconclusive and, at times, negative results.

Superintendent Larry Lewis said he and his staff had used Google to thoroughly research their proposal – dubbed “Four Days to Exemplary” – which he characterized as part of a one-year pilot program to start this fall.

His office supplied three studies to the public that focused on four-day programs in small, remote school districts, including one in Micronesia and another on islands off the west coast of Canada. Much of the research reported little evidence of academic gains. Some of the districts have since abandoned four-day plans.

“We have researched this to the hilt for our kids,” Dr. Lewis told nearly 1,000 parents and students Thursday night.

21 July 2007 | 1 comment

Flashback Edition: Here’s my story from yesterday’s front page:

Facing a budget crunch, Lancaster schools are considering a move that has traditionally been reserved for districts in fiscal crisis: cutting down to a four-day school week.

The sudden move, which requires state approval, would set students and teachers free on Fridays in exchange for longer school days the rest of the week. District officials say the new calendar would save about $1.9 million a year and help eat into a shortfall looming over next year’s budget.

Reaction to the unusual proposal among parents and other residents has not been positive.

“I’m outraged,” said Greg Stephenson, father of two Lancaster students. “They need to be considering changing to a six-day week, not cutting back. These kids need more time at school, not less.”

The district’s financial troubles come almost exactly three years after similar problems emerged in the neighboring Wilmer-Hutchins school district. The similarities are worrying to some.

“It’s scary – residents should definitely be very worried,” Lancaster school board member Carolyn Morris said of the district’s financial condition.

I helped out a bit on today’s followup today. There is much humorous backstory here I, unfortunately, cannot share.

20 July 2007 | 1 comment

Video editing + trampolining = awesome. (How can you not love that white-paint progress bar at the bottom?)

20 July 2007 | No comments

What happened to Argentina’s black people? (More here.)

19 July 2007 | No comments

Brazilians are mad at the U.S. because an American at the Pan Am Games wrote “Welcome to the Congo” on a whiteboard. The American says it was because it was frickin’ hot in Rio, where the games were being held. Brazilians say it’s because Americans stereotype everyone poorer than, say, Italy as being part of some undifferentiated mass.

(One could argue that the comment struck a chord in Brazil because Congo = black, because Brazil has its own tortured racial history regarding its own black population, and because the Brazilian elite is keen to differentiate itself as “white.” One could.)

Anyway, I found this section amusing:

On Rio’s Copacabana Beach, Brazilians said it reinforced their belief that Americans frequently stereotype other countries. “Americans are full of prejudices,” said Alessandra Teixeira, a 29-year old model. “Everything for them is bad, and they make it worse.”

My amusement stemmed from the fact that, were one to create the most stereotypical Brazilian in an American mind — it would likely be a model on Copacabana.

But then I Googled Ms. Teixeira and found her web site (NSFW) — which clearly shows her as a former Mr. Teixeira and indicates that whatever modeling she does much be of a specialized kind. So forget the stuff I said about stereotypes.

18 July 2007 | 1 comment

I’ll have what they’re having.

Ah, public celebrity drug use.

17 July 2007 | No comments

My T.O. buddy James tagged me for some sort of “8 Things” meme. These things go around every so often, and I don’t believe I’ve ever responded to such a tag. But hey, I’m low on original content today, so here I go — and I’ll even tie my eight thematically to each item of James’ list. Eight things you don’t know about me:

1. I not only like visiting obscure countries — I love them. I have an unusual affection for both Uruguay and Zambia. Every few months, I scout out Uruguayan real estate online. (So cheap!) In a related matter, I have a real affection for the Mercosur nations.

2. I used to speak French quite well, in part because it was spoken almost as often as English in my house when I was young. (We lived for a time with my great-grandmother, who spoke only Cajun French.) I even got a scholarship to judge a French-language film festival in Quebec when I was in high school. But when I tried to learn Spanish, it immediately sucked all French out of my brain. Now, when I try to speak French, it switches into Spanish mid-sentence. God help me if I follow through on my threat to learn Portuguese.

3. I have cheated twice on my driver’s license exams. My left eye sees supernaturally well (almost 20/10); my right eye sees okay. But those eye-test machines that show different images to each eye and expect your brain to stitch them together — they freak my mind out. So I’ve used a little creative eye positioning.

4. Before I was a writing/journalism/history geek, I was a math/science geek. My early teachers swore I was going to be a scientist.

5. As a child, I had a pet guinea pig named Digger. He was a good pig.

6. The first concert I ever attended was Kenny Rogers in Baton Rouge. I was about 7. Truly, you gotta know when to hold ‘em. Know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run.

7. I once played what I will refer to as deep rhythm guitar in a band with some of my Dallas Morning News colleagues. I am not a good guitar player. But I will be taking guitar lessons with Mission of Burma’s Roger Miller this fall. (Really!)

8. I made an illegal border crossing into Zimbabwe once. About which nothing more will be said.

16 July 2007 | 4 comments

A new all-time low for the New Orleans Saints organization: selling a faulty Who Dat t-shirt.

The decades-old chant of Saints fans is, of course, “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?” Not, as this t-shirt erroneously claims, “Who dat? Who dat? Who dat dem gonna beat dem Saints?”

I mean, seriously — that doesn’t even make sense.

13 July 2007 | No comments

Here’s my story from today’s front page. It’s my first mention of sex and the Texas Education Agency in the same article, if memory serves.

An Amarillo teacher leaked a portion of this spring’s TAKS writing test to his colleagues because he wanted his school’s students to have a better chance at passing, a state investigation has found.

The teacher said that he leaked the information because he believed that educators in other districts were doing the same and that Amarillo students were “as deserving of prior knowledge of TAKS test information as students” in those other Texas districts, according to an investigative report released by the Texas Education Agency.

David Tamez, an elementary bilingual teacher, told investigators that he obtained the test information by volunteering to serve on a statewide committee of educators who help determine which questions make it onto the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills each year, the report states. He alleged that members of those committees regularly smuggle out secret TAKS information to share in their home districts – a contention TEA officials vigorously dispute.

In other news, I have 11 work shifts remaining before I head up to Boston.

13 July 2007 | 1 comment

Another story in today’s paper:

Amid all the confusion surrounding an internal investigation at the Texas Education Agency, the state auditor’s office has decided to take its own look at how the agency hands out lucrative contracts.

“Perhaps they can talk to all the parties involved and resolve all this,” said TEA spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe. “Good luck.”

11 July 2007 | No comments

Gotta remember to buy Matt Pulle a beer at some point for that fourth paragraph.

10 July 2007 | No comments

Here’s my column from today’s paper. As you can tell from the opening, I thought I’d have an inbox full of haters this morning. But so far, all positive responses:

I know this column will be misunderstood, so let me be clear from the start: Dallas’ School for the Talented and Gifted is a terrific school.

TAG, as it’s known, is the school system’s bright shining star. If I had kids, I’d be happy to send them there. Great teachers, great students — the whole nine. Don’t interpret anything that follows as a criticism of the school.

But to claim, as Newsweek did recently, that it’s the best high school in America is silly. It stretches the boundaries of reason.

09 July 2007 | No comments

Big-city journalist comes to town to write nasty things the locals, local folks write about big-city writer. The writer in this case is Calvin Trillin, de facto Maritimes bureau chief for The New Yorker, and it’s a sign of his skill that the locals still say nice things about him.

Buckley fed Trillin beef filet while he was on the island and called him a charming and fabulous man who knows how to have a conversation.

That, my friends, is the sign of a great journalist. My late office neighbor Howard Swindle was famous for it — sending people to jail, but still having the perps consider him a really nice guy.

By the way, had you noticed that the Charlie Rose show recently put up 10-plus years of their programs online, via free streaming video? It’s worth a quick check for your favorites; I enjoyed this Calvin Trillin show about his wife Alice.

09 July 2007 | No comments

Here’s my story from today’s front page — it’s a pretty fun one:

The Texas Education Agency has taken on a remarkable resemblance to a soap opera over the last week — with claims of mistaken identity, whispers about vendettas and a traditionally tight clan pulled apart.

Last week, internal investigators said they had found evidence that one of the agency’s top bosses, Robert Scott, was improperly funneling state contract money to his friends. On Friday, Mr. Scott fired back, issuing his own report that claimed investigators had confused him with a colleague of the same name.

TEA investigators vigorously denied his claims, which led to still another volley of charges and countercharges.

“I think they’re trying to dig themselves out of a hole,” Mr. Scott said of his agency’s investigators.

I leave it up to you, the reader, to judge whether the story would have been improved had my original opening been preserved:

No one has yet claimed amnesia, or a secret marriage to a sibling.

But otherwise, the Texas Education Agency has taken on a remarkable resemblance to a soap opera over the past week…

07 July 2007 | 1 comment

Best paragraph in an otherwise ho-hum Saints signing story:

[New Saints linebacker Dhani] Jones also will boost the Saints’ sartorial status, in the wake of wide receiver Joe Horn’s departure to the Atlanta Falcons. Jones, known as one of the most fashion-conscious linebackers in the league, designs and sells his own line of bow ties called Five Star Bow Ties.

“One of the most fashion-conscious linebackers in the league.” I doubt the phrase had once crossed human lips before today.

06 July 2007 | 1 comment

A travel piece in the NYT about Acadian northern Maine, one of the more common destinations for my Acadian ancestors after le Grand Dérangement. I plan to make my first visit up there in a few months, once I move to Boston in August.

One quibble:

Some of the refugees had escaped the British roundup, which sent many other Acadians to Louisiana, where some became ancestors of the Cajuns; others made the long walk back from exile in the British colonies, mostly Massachusetts.

The Brits didn’t send any Acadians to Louisiana. The only ones who reached Louisiana were those who did so of their own accord, starting nine years after the roundup. They were there because the Spanish authorities were willing to accept them as settlers, not because the British sent them anywhere. (The British sent them almost entirely to the 13 colonies.)

06 July 2007 | No comments

More freaky animal news:

The old line, “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” could once have applied to the world’s largest known bird, Argentavis magnificens, which, with a 23-foot wingspan, was about the same size as a Cessna 152 light aircraft.

A study published in today’s Proceedings of the National Academies of Science found that the bird was probably too big to accommodate both wing-flapping in flight and standing takeoff by its own muscle power.

Regular readers will not be surprised to learn this crazy bird lived in Argentina.

05 July 2007 | No comments

I had a front-page story on Monday that I forgot to link here, featuring an old crabwalk.com favorite:

It’s the school district that refuses to die.

For decades, Wilmer-Hutchins ISD was an object of investigation and a subject of derision. It was, by common assent, the worst district in North Texas: miserable test scores, a chaotic school board and a string of financial problems.

But now, a year after the district’s state-induced euthanasia, some Wilmer-Hutchins residents are feeling a strange emotion: nostalgia.

“We deserve to have our own schools back,” said Faye Gafford, who leads a group trying to bring Wilmer-Hutchins back to life.

04 July 2007 | No comments

A 12-minute Brazilian homage to Quentin Tarantino. The fellow on the left is Selton Mello; the one on the right you may recognize as Seu Jorge.

02 July 2007 | No comments