Civic literacy

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) "... was founded in 1953 to further in successive generations of American college youth a better understanding of the economic, political, and ethical values that sustain a free and humane society ... In 2003, ISI launched a new initiative, the American Civic Literacy Program, designed to study and strengthen the teaching of America's history and institutions at the college level. During the fall of 2005, ISI contracted with the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy (UConnDPP) to conduct an annual national survey in order to learn to what extent colleges and universities are teaching America's history and institutions to undergraduate students ..."

Results of the 2008 survey were not good - on the 33-question quiz, all respondents averaged 49% correct overall (an F)! A college education only moved the average up to 57% (still an F). Age, parental status, education, age, gender, income all did not make an appreciable difference to the results...

(Ed. note: this blogger's score - a few errors. In his defense he didn't grow up in the U.S.)

Intended humor?

Either Borders or one of its patrons has a sense of humor.... (Ed. note: picture from a Borders store in Waipahu, HI)

Mental Health Break

Mental Health Break

Mental Health Break

Mumbai nuttiness

The reported Mumbai death tally has risen to 150, including fifteen foreigners... Some of the coverage is chimerical and this blogger wonders about the credulousness of the media that prints some of the more silly and/or fanciful statements. A few random examples include:

• From 'Highly trained and motivated,' we learn that apparently Indian commandos are trained to resist sleep deprivation and can last a week without problems - "... Sleep deprivation training is sophisticated. Commandos are taught the art of keeping their eyes open for as long as a week without any visible signs of mental fatigue ..." Hah! Other articles have revealed that the terrorists were prepared because they carried packs of almonds to help fight fatigue!
• Apparently this blogger is off the mark in thinking that firing indiscriminately and throwing grenades does not reveal great sophistication, at least according to an Indian commando, who said "... Not everybody can fire the AK series of weapons; not everybody can throw a grenade like that, it is obvious that they were trained somewhere ..."
• MSNBC reports that at the Taj, on Friday "... at dusk, Indian forces began launching grenades at the building ..." Huh? Much more likely is the CNN version, that Indian commando were using flash-bang devices...
• Hemant Karkare, head of the state's Anti-Terrorism Squad was killed during the rampage. According to CNN "... Footage from CNN's sister network, CNN-IBN, showed Karkare donning a helmet and putting a bulletproof vest over his light blue shirt as uniformed police officers with firearms and walkie-talkies surrounded him. It would be the last video taken of Karkare before terrorists shot him three times in the chest near Cama hospital ..." Hmm, something doesn't add up here.

Oh well, I guess there are column-inches and broadcast minutes to fill...

Quick thoughts on Mumbai

Following news coverage on the events in Mumbai this blogger really doesn't 'get' a couple of things. First, many of those providing commentary go on ad nauseam re the sophistication of the attacks, and how they must have been very well-planned and practiced (example)... Huh? How hard could it have been to pick the public targets they chose? To randomly open fire with automatic weapons at everyone while throwing grenades? Apparently the terrorists had also schlepped in, but then never used, a large quantity of RDX high explosive! This doesn't seem very clever or sophisticated... And asking potential victims if they have British or American passports? Doesn't seems like a very useful tactic! Second, were the terrorists really targeting British and Americans? One has to say that if this was a major goal of theirs then they failed rather spectacularly, at least based on the information released thus far re their victims. So far 125 declared dead, of which only six are foreigners (including a Briton, a Japanese, a German, and an Australian, and an Italian). In this blogger's mind both of these assumptions seem very suspect.