Word: settings
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...sting themselves in the back. In the early 1880s in Britain, a debate on the topic blossomed after a London zoologist placed a scorpion in a glass container, administered chloroform and claimed he observed the animal trying to sting itself. To prove him wrong, the psychologist Conwy Lloyd Morgan set up a series of traps for the critters. "He surrounded them with fire, condensed sunbeams on their backs, heated them in a bottle, burned them with phosphoric acid, treated them with electric shocks and subjected them to 'general and exasperating courses of worry,' " notes the Endeavour article...
...This reality has triggered a nearly convulsive political response, given that elections are won and lost over the state of the economy and the mind-set of wage earners. That's why President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, called jobs his "No. 1 focus" and proposed repurposing bank-bailout money to lend more to small businesses, which would then, presumably, generate jobs. On March 17, Congress passed a job-creation bill that includes, among other things, an estimated $13 billion worth of tax incentives to coax companies into adding to their payrolls. (See 10 perfect jobs...
...their progress. Obama's model is similar to the one we pioneered three years ago here in New York City, where we give schools an A-to-F grade based on how well they're helping their students acquire skills. The grades help focus schools on a clear set of expectations and are one way we hold them accountable. Principals and teachers in schools with high grades are eligible for performance bonuses. Schools with failing grades face leadership change or, in some cases, closure. The results are undeniable. New York State recently released graduation rates for the class...
...nationalistic laws go, the one just passed in Slovakia seems rather tame on the surface. Earlier this month, the Slovak parliament approved a "patriotic act" mandating that every school play the Slovak national anthem on Mondays and that each classroom display a set of state symbols: the flag, the coat of arms, the lyrics to the anthem and the constitution's preamble. However innocuous this all may appear to be, though, Slovaks are outraged that the government is forcing them, by law, to be more patriotic...
...compulsory patriotism prescribed by Slota's party, which is a junior member of the governing coalition and has been embroiled in alleged corruption scandals for years, has irked many residents, who argue that it will have the opposite effect. "If you want to foster patriotism you must set an example," says Bela Bugar, a veteran ethnic Hungarian parliamentarian and a Slota rival. "Everything that is forced produces aversion." Thousands have signed a petition urging President Ivan Gasparovic to veto the act (he has until Saturday to do so), while others have joined groups opposing the measure on Facebook. Last week...