To soothe the bruised egos of educators and children in lackluster schools, Massachusetts officials are now pushing for kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure.

This reminds me of a Green Party meeting I was once at. Someone handed out a report, started speaking about it, asking people to refer to the bullet points.

A hand shot up in the back and a woman said, can we please call them something else, bullets are so violent.

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Golden Gate Bridge today. Photo from Flickr (optimized a bit)

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The torch was extinguished three times by pro-Tibet protesters. Authorities finally put the torch on a bus, canceling the rest of the route.

Doubtless the sclerotic government of China has no clue how to deal with this and will most assuredly do the wrong thing, making things even worse for themselves.

A major protest is planned on April 8-9 in San Francisco, when the torch arrives.

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This solar tower is planned for Australia by 2012. Amazing technology.

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a completely artificial construct based on cheap water, cheap gas and cheap mortgages. It is now disintegrating,…

That’s what happens when thousands of homes are built in the middle of nowhere with no supporting infrastructure or shopping and sold with no money down and adjustable rate mortgages.

Areas like this may never come back. Why would a vulture investor speculate on abandoned property in a place with nothing when, for a little more, they can buy in a place that has stores and jobs? Answer: they won’t, and they are the ones who will provide a bottom for real estate prices. Maybe Maricopa won’t have a bottom but instead will become a ghost town of abandoned homes. Let’s hope not, but it’s difficult to see what could turn things around for them.

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