Daniel Withrow

NC last passed a budget in October 2023. The legislature is crowing about average raises of 8% for teachers. Inflation since October 2023 has been 8.24%. Adjusted for inflation, this is another pay cut. No reporter should report on this proposed budget agreement without adjusting for inflation.

I'm just salty we're not teaching kids Morse code. How else will they send their telegraphs?

Bureaucrats can be guards or guides. A guard says, "These are the ways of my domain. Follow them or suffer the consequences." A guide says, "These are the ways of my domain. I'll help you find your destination." Guards are the reason people hate bureaucracy. Guides are worth their weight in gold.

Humans often see vultures as base, filthy creatures. But to rodents and songbirds, they are the greatest and noblest of raptors.

There are dragons who are filter feeders, like baleen whales, who soar through flocks of birds with their mouths wide open.

Proud member!! 🍎💪 After Notable Wins, Can NCAE Make the Case for Public Education? The state association representing teachers is looking to leverage local wins into statewide gains. #nced #ncpol www.theassemblync.com/education/no...

People should be able to cross borders at least as easily as money can. If businesses can move to countries where wages are lowest, but people can't move to countries where wages are highest, the market is unfair. Even diehard capitalists ought to support this.

One of the few pleasures I've found in world news lately has been watching share prices for Tesla, Amazon, and Truth Social plummet. I don't want them to externalize the pain.

Adopt a district: for every Republican who refuses to hold town halls in their district, the closest Democratic representative should adopt the orphaned district , setting up town halls in that district to listen to voter concerns and bring them to Washington and to the missing representative.

Starting a Greek mythology unit with my third graders, and pulled out the classic d'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. This sentence is in the introduction, making me wonder exactly how comes up Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire were.

I honestly believe our most powerful position in a toxic time that feeds on cynicism, apathy,& despair is to genuinely care and act for a better world. Cynicism is our enemy. We should check it, incl. on the left. It’s not intellectually superior. It’s the virus they’re trying to infect us with. NO

OpenAI right now

ahahaha these people...

It sounds like the AI companies worry they’ll lose income because someone figured out how to undercut them by using their labor without pay in order to train a new AI model. I just wish Deepseek were named Karma.

one of the most beautiful sounds you'll ever hear, and almost at times like an ecstatic and ethereal choir

A thought about using Meta: it is free, because we are the products. So what if I paid a monthly subscription for it? Only instead of paying it to fascist bootlicker Zuckerberg, I paid my subscription to the ACLU? Ethical consumption under capitalism?

Frightful weather outside. Vegetable soup, cheese biscuits, and cranberry cheesecake inside. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

New game: Werewolf Santa. Draw names from a hat and get presents for each other--but one of you is the killer.

The fuel indicator is not on. You're imagining things.

This is a good time to read The Rhinoceros, Eugene Ionesco's play about how fascism spreads. www.michaelrasbury.org/music/rhinoc...

Don't assume maximalist outcomes for the Trump administration. That's a form of psychological surrender. We should attempt to exploit every stumble, failure, and misstep, and there will be stumbles, failures, and missteps.

Do you need a positive author to read? Try Becky Chambers: she's amazing. Do you need a reason to stop eating cheese? Also Becky Chambers. Behold the best food writing of all time: blog.jverkamp.com/2022/06/22/t...

“My word to progressives and Democrats is to not try to have a left or a right agenda. Have a moral agenda. Look at what issues are a violation of our deepest moral values…Own the fact that the things we talk about — a living wage, health care — are highly popular in the public square.” #ncpol

A question I think about a lot, as a "gifted" education specialist (hate that term, but it's what I have). Adults who were in such a program as a kid: did it serve you well? What do you wish your teachers had done differently, given their financial and supervisory constraints?

Do you need a good news story where basically all the good news is right there in the headline? www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

Do you need a good news story? www.cnbc.com/2024/11/21/t...

I work with a kindergartner who understands math like a fifth grader. She turned six today, so I gave her a card that said, "Happy birthday! Congratulations on turning 3!" and taught her about factorials. She was so excited. #nerdwins

Even if it weren't horrifying when Dems want to throw trans folk under the bus for political gain, it would be bad politics. But it's both. Read this thread by George Takei.

This is a fascinating and bleak article. It puts paid to the idea that vouchers are designed to help Black students in "underperforming" public schools.

Freedom Christian Academy in Fayetteville got $1+ million for vouchers this year. They only take students whose parents have a "vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ" and who demonstrate "a desire to learn." This institution shouldn't get public tax dollars. #nced #ncpol

And now there's lead in Asheville's water system. I don't remember deciding to play this year on hard mode. wlos.com/news/local/l...