"Who among the Republicans has the courage of Alfred E. Smith or Hubert Humphrey?"

“Who among the Republicans has the courage of Alfred E. Smith or Hubert Humphrey?”

- GOP must slip its ugly skin | StarTribune.com

A sobering report about breast cancer | MinnPost

A sobering report about breast cancer | MinnPost:

A lesson that you sometimes can’t push science, even with lots of money.

Charter Schools and Kudzu

Charter Schools and Kudzu:

Once seen as a solution to stagnating educational outcomes, charter schools have become “a virulent, parasitic weed” in the garden of K-12 education.

Cases of voter-ID election fraud found 'virtually non-existent' | MinnPost

Cases of voter-ID election fraud found 'virtually non-existent' | MinnPost

A push to farm smarter -- not bigger -- to feed the world's hungry | MinnPost

A push to farm smarter -- not bigger -- to feed the world's hungry | MinnPost

100 million tons of unlovable plastic: The container-bottom numbers game | Twin Cities Daily Planet

100 million tons of unlovable plastic: The container-bottom numbers game | Twin Cities Daily Planet:

A fascinating look at the issue of plastics recycling, and how consumers may be able to “recycle” all sorts of plastics, even those for which there really is not a recycling market…

Harkin Report Condemns For-Profit Colleges - NYTimes.com

Harkin Report Condemns For-Profit Colleges - NYTimes.com:

“For-profit” and education do not mix.

Fixing the "could not activate cellular network" problem on iPhone

This problem randomly hit recently.  Phone calls worked, so did wifi.  But I could not get on the cellular data network with my phone.

Forums suggested the following hierarchy of fixes:

1. Switch to airplane mode and back
2. Soft reset (hold sleep/wake button until red slider appears and power off)
3. Hard reset (hold sleep/wake button AND home button until Apple logo appears)
4. Reset Network settings (you lose all wifi passwords): Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings
5. Restore phone

I did 1-4 without any luck and wasn’t thrilled with the idea of #5, but it turns out the fix was easier than that. 

Fix: using a paperclip, I popped out the sim card tray, dumped out the sim card and then put the card back in the tray and the tray back in the phone (see video for play-by-play).  Success!

The Mathematics of Parenting

The Mathematics of Parenting

Safe From Fire, but Not Guns

Safe From Fire, but Not Guns

The Wall Street Journal: Dismissing Environmental Threats Since 1976

The Wall Street Journal: Dismissing Environmental Threats Since 1976:

At least they are consistent

The evolution of a creationist | StarTribune.com

The evolution of a creationist | StarTribune.com:

I’m not sure “we can’t explain, therefore, God exists” is a winning argument.  Why not just agree it’s all about belief and not fact?