Open Source Textbooks in California

The state of California is making a push to provide public schools with free, open source digital text books. I think this is a great idea, the ideas taught in K-12 are fundamental to life long learning. What is more is that the information taught is not proprietary (mathematics, biology, earth sciences) it belongs to EVERYONE!. So why should a school fork out $100 per book per student?

Instead provide a set of books that are freely available, and do not require printing (read unnecessary environmental impact). Gone would be the days of textbooks vandalized by students writing on them. Gone would be the day of using outdated information (get a new version for every class). Gone would be the common practice of schools writing big checks to publishing companies to provide text books to students.

This just seems like a win win win.

Ironically, in the investigation that the state of California did the Open Source books were the ones who came out on top pretty much across the board.

http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/12996/

Dan Savage vs. Tony Perkins

Dan Savage takes on an advocate for the Mormon Church's support of Proposition 8 in California. I seriously can't believe this was passed... seriously.

A special comment on Proposition 8

With his wonderful eloquence, Kieth Olberman makes Prop 8 supporters question thier reasons for support... well hopefully.

So I like transit! So What?

Imagine if you will driving to your local metropolitan area (Seattle for me) and hopping on a train that can whisk you ac cross the land incredibly fast. like 150MPH fast. For what seems like a trivial ($30 or so) amount you could live in a city like Portland, and work in a city like Seattle... with something like an hour's commute! http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/map.htm It is an intoxicating idea, I'll admit. In the California 800 mile track system is estimated to cost around $40Billion. Which is a lot of money, admittedly. However I think there is good reason to consider broadening such a project into something national. I'll give 3 reasons, though these are just the ones I can think of right now... I'm sure there are more that I haven't though of.

1. A national project would show a commitment by the U.S. to fundamentally change the way we consume energy.

   A serious change in the thought process and consumption patterns of Americans is needed in order to show to the world that we are serious about addressing the ways in which we impact the environment. A national mass transit solution that has been working well for Europe is one step towards that commitment.

2. A great opportunity to boost the economy

   Like all large public works projects such an undertaking would allow the US to employ a large number of skilled people, and foster an era of research into high speed rail related fields. We did this before with the Highway system in this country, why can't we do it again?

3. We deserve it

   We spend $620B or so on defense alone in this country. We nearly spend more on our defense then the rest of the world combined http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States. That is a lot of cash that we are spending... and I can't exactly figure out what our justification is for such a high limit... "defense" just is not cutting it. I would really like to see at least some of that money re-directed into some large public works projects around the country. Things that will impact many citizens and improve quality of life.
Why don't we have options like this in our country? Are we not dense enough (people/sq mile) to make this a good solution? Do we have other alternatives (airports & cars). Do we need to keep spending so much on war and defense? Or can we re-direct some of our spending into something that will more directly benefit citizens? *UPDATE* 5/21/08 While $40 B is a lot of money, be assured... it is not so much when you consider the amount it would cost to expand critical road infrastructure. According to the folks over at The Seattle Transit Blog the cost to add 1 lane of highway to I5 through Seattle would run roughly $25B. Compare that to an 800 mile high speed train track and cost is a drop in the bucket. The issue... we were not planning on spending $25B to expand I5... but it is good information to have when you are talking to people who want us to vote down any ST transit proposals that we put on the ballot this November

It's about time!

A California supreme court has ruled today that same sex marriage is legal. That's two down, and 48 to go... come on Washington... where you at? http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gaymarriage16-2008may16,1,4027698.story