the "Headline That Caught My Attention or the WTF" thread

Too funny. The local news has been abuzz regarding a travel review of Maine recently published in the NY Post. I just read the piece and was laughing out loud. This Cindy Adams must be a real piece of Park Avenue work, tuxedo clad waiter/waitresses, BMW, and all. Speaking of work, at 92, her face must have been signed by every high-priced Manhattan plastic surgeon...

Yes, folks who think along her lines won't enjoy Maine at all, so don't visit if you find yourself agreeing with her opinions on travel...

Welcome to Vacationland By Cindy Adams​

Wondering where this column was last week? Sorry. I forgot to say I’m taking two days off. My computer’s exhausted.

I went to Maine. Why? I’m a world traveler. Done Cambodia, Indonesia, most of South America, Fiji, Kabul, Kathmandu, Beirut, Siberia, India, Outback, Galapagos, Iran, Iraq, Laos, the whole Caribbean, all Europe, Fiji, Samoa, New Guinea, China, Japan, Taipei, Alaska, Hawaii, Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Guam, etc — but Maine? Not.

I’ve also not seen Oklahoma — but who cares?

Longtime friends whose ancestors founded the state of Maine in the 1800s and are in its museums and histories invited me.

It’s north. Eight hours as the crow and a BMW flies. Borders Canada, so it’s cool. Clean. Airy. Fresh. Ocean. Shoreline. Beaches. Open sky. Green. Trees. Lighthouses. Boats. Harbors. Coastlines. No litter. No trash. It’s polite. Friendly. Inexpensive. Seafood. Lobsters the size of Radio City. Locals whose behinds overlap the state of Texas all stuffed into shorts. Realtors could establish an entire campsite on the average ass.

In Kennebunkport, Bar Harbor, Portland, Ogunquit, Freeport, Eastport the concept of dressing is only for salad. Forget shopping. Skirts, necklaces, socks, ties, footwear, knife-pressed longpants went out with the first settlers. L.L. Bean jeans, drawers, plaid shirts, crappy sweaters, sweats, sneakers and backpacks are considered black tie.

New England’s largest state, it’s sparsely populated and 90% forest but looked like no trees went to build elegant stores. Also forget consignment shops because what they’re wearing is already consignment stuff.

Water, water everywhere​

Fishing? Great. Fashion? Forget it. There’s not enough fabric on NYC’s Seventh Avenue to cover any local behind. Mainers consider flannel formal.

Want shore, water, sand? It’s got Old Orchard Beach, Ferry Beach, Goose Rocks Beach, Wells Beach, Kennebunk Beach, Cape Elizabeth, Pine Point, Biddeford Pool, Southport, Boothbay Harbor, New Harbor, Christmas Cove, Bailey Island, Orrs Island, York’s Long Sands. Venice in a hurricane has less water.

Beers and trees​

There’s yachts, boat restaurants, great food. The Garage was once an actual garage. Now inside where formerly they repaired trucks and motors they serve ribs with cornbread, coleslaw, tubs of beer. Everybody does beer. They probably shower with it. Prefer French furniture with gilt arms and legs, white linen tablecloths, waiters in tuxes — forget it.

Portland’s 19th century Observatory which signals ships is millions of steps. This I didn’t do. When they add an escalator I’ll do it. There’s also hiking the clean Long Sands. Schlep along a Frisbee, surfboard, hot dog and real dog.

“Downcoast” locally means “far north.” “Upcoast” is northeast. “The city” equals Portland. Traffic’s zero. Congestion is two vehicles in opposite directions trying to avoid a moose. Stephen King, Anna Kendrick and George Bush are from here but they’re not here. Mainers, maybe ecstatic just to see anyone, are friendly. Anything you want, except for trees, you have to get in your car to get.

I climbed into mine to get back to civilization and New York.

And in rebuttal, I'll put in a well-written piece from a fellow Lawnguyland emigree that was printed in today's Portland news paper.

Maine Voices: A New Yorker responds to *that* New York Post column​

pressherald.com/2022/08/28/maine-voices-a-new-yorker-responds-to-that-new-york-post-column/

By Michelle Conners August 28, 2022

I went to Maine. Why? My husband transferred here for his job in 2013. We moved from Long Island, New York. We have lived here since.

It is indeed “north,” about a five-hour drive from Long Island to York County, Maine, when you plan your trip properly and don’t leave during the life-draining rush hour.

I love Maine’s dress code. It is casual and relaxed. People can go to work and feel comfortable without spending a month’s pay on an entire outfit just to impress and climb up the ladder to the next job that will require even more expensive clothing.

I remember my grandfather’s closet. I was always confused why everything looked the same and why my grandma spent so much time ironing and going to the dry cleaners. He worked hard, six days a week. He took the train and the subway into work for years at Cartier on Fifth Avenue. He’d leave before we awoke and he’d be home at 8 p.m., making a modest income. He spent his Sundays off at the beach.

For grad school, I took the train and bus to Queens College. There was always congestion, always anger, always people never quite satisfied with life.

In school, I was a number. I’m back in school again at the University of Southern Maine and people actually know my name. It’s also a casual drive from home, and when I get to school, there is actually parking.

Beer? Yeah, I like beer. I think I consumed the most amount of beer around and on the Great South Bay. (That’s in New York.) I still like beer. I actually have a kegerator at home. My kegerator, vacations, a reliable vehicle, investing in a retirement account, these are all things I likely wouldn’t have been able to afford in New York if I were buying fancy clothes.

I don’t miss the popularity of my hometown, Massapequa Park. You may know the name. Their baseball team was recently in the Little League World Series. There is a laundry list of famous people from Massapequa that is so long it requires its own Wikipedia page. Or you may have heard it mentioned in a variety of movies or TV shows. There’s even a Friends episode, “The One in Massapequa.”

You’re just a number in Massapequa, a number that needs nice clothes to stand out. But I’m not here to bash New York, my hometown, or Mrs. Adams of the New York Post. I do miss the memories, I miss the food, I miss the diversity, I miss family and friends, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

However, I am here to defend Maine. In one day, I can be on the ocean in the morning, hike in the woods in the afternoon, have dinner in Portland and be back home for the evening. I am glad to drive to work without stress in a car that I know won’t break down. I am thrilled I could afford a house and property. I love that my kids were born here, and I am proud to call Maine home.
 
So, other than critiquing the size of Maine-iac's posteriors she made it sound like a place I'd like to visit. Casual attire, friendly, large-butted people, coastline and waterfront forever and beer. Lots of beer. What's not to like?
 
Apollo's Twin Sister's Mission Scrubbed... :cry:

Live Updates: NASA Calls Off Launch of Artemis Moon Rocket​

The uncrewed mission aimed to lift off Monday morning, but engineers could not successfully troubleshoot an engine issue during the filling of the rocket with propellants.
 
www.yahoo.com

Arkansas town no longer allowed to give tickets after issuing too many

Police officers in Menifee, Ark., are no longer allowed to give tickets after an audit revealed the town amassed $120,000 in traffic fines in 2020.
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

Arkansas town no longer allowed to give tickets after issuing too many​


Police officers in Menifee, Ark., face an unusual problem: they're no longer allowed to issue speeding tickets. The year-long ban was prompted by an audit that revealed nearly half of the town's revenue came from traffic violations in 2020, which violates an Arkansas law.

"Clearly, they were writing substantially more tickets than other communities that were similarly sized," explained Tom Tatum, the 15th District's prosecuting attorney, in an interview with news channel THV11.

Located about 45 minutes northwest of Little Rock, Menifee has a population of around 300, yet it collected $120,000 in fines in 2020. Arkansas states no more than 30% of a city's revenue can come from traffic citations; Menifee's total stands at nearly 20% over the threshold. Officers will not be allowed to issue tickets for traffic violations until August 2023, and city officials disagree on who deserves the blame.

On one hand, Mayor Gary Green blames Menifee Police Chief John Randall, calling him "incompetent."

"When I hired him, I said 'we can't write tickets 10 miles and under.' But yet, these guys [were] writing tickets 10 miles and under," Green told THV11.

"The only reason why I could see he's got harsh words for me is because I'm enforcing the laws in Menifee," Randall fired back. He added an interesting detail: the $120,000 collected in 2020 includes unpaid fines issued in previous years. Menifee Alderman Derrick Hammond backed up this story, adding that Randall received "permission from the mayor and city council to go after past due and unpaid tickets."

THV11 examined a log of tickets issued by the Menifee Police Department between January 1, 2018, and August 24, 2022, and found that 771 were given by one officer. In comparison, second place on the list was an officer who issued 263 tickets during that timeframe. Looking through the town's records also revealed officers didn't issue a single warning between January 2018 and August 2022.
 
This is scary, but not surprising...

National student test scores plunged during the pandemic​

The results fell to levels unseen for decades.

WASHINGTON — Test scores in elementary school math and reading plummeted to levels unseen for decades, according to the first nationally representative report comparing student achievement from just before the pandemic to performance two years later.

Math scores dropped seven points during that period, marking a first-ever decline, while reading scores slipped five points, producing the largest dip in 30 years on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, or NAEP, often called “the nation’s report card.” The students who took the tests – given from January to March in 2020 and in 2022 – were 9 years old and mostly in fourth grade.


“These results are sobering,” said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the tests. “It’s clear that COVID-19 shocked American education and stunted the academic growth of this age group.”

The falloff – which she called “historic” – left little doubt about the pandemic’s toll. The average math score of 234 this year was comparable to the average score recorded in 1999, and the reading score of 215 was similar to the 2004 score. How long it might take to catch up is unclear and not likely to be understood until further test results are analyzed.

Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-6.39.15-PM-750x476.jpg

Carr said the academic losses are part of a complex picture of pandemic schooling. Other studies have shown a rise in classroom disruption, school violence, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and teacher and staff vacancies, and schools also say more students are seeking mental health services. “There are a lot of factors that contextualize these data that we’re looking at,” she said.

Schools began to struggle in spring 2020, as school buildings were shuttered nationally and learning faltered during the last few months of the school year. Then, for at least part of the next school year, millions of students learned remotely or under hybrid schedules that blended virtual and in-person classes. Last year, schools opened for in-person classes, but many scrambled repeatedly to manage COVID surges, quarantines, mask mandates and staffing shortages. A number of educators called it the toughest time of their careers.

The stark results are likely to stir more debate about the wisdom of virtual learning and the speed at which schools reopened. There is wide agreement among educators that most students do better when they are in a classroom with a teacher.

The new data show that many of the most vulnerable students fared the worst. Children who performed at the lowest level lost the most in reading and math this year – with scores that plunged 10 to 12 points. By comparison, students who performed at the highest level fell an average of two to three points.

“While we see declines at all performance levels, the growing gap between students at the top and those at the bottom is an important but overlooked trend,” said Martin West, a member of the governing board that sets policy for NAEP and academic dean at Harvard Graduate School of Education, in a statement. “These results show that this gap widened further during the pandemic.”

“Supporting the academic recovery of lower-performing students should be a top priority for educators and policymakers nationwide,” West said.

Math scores for Black students tumbled 13 points, compared with eight points for Hispanic students and five points for white students. In reading, all three groups fell by six points. No statistically significant change in scores was reported for Asian, Native American or multiracial students.

Similarly, math scores sank seven to eight points for students who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities and English language learners. Reading scores dipped, too, except for English language learners.

Geography made a difference, with math performance falling eight points in the Northeast, nine points in the Midwest, seven points in the South and five points in the West. Suburban schools fared worse than schools located in urban or rural areas.

Amid all of the declines, flat scores drew attention: No measurable decline in reading was found in the West, in cities or in rural areas. “The fact that reading achievement from students in cities held steady – when you consider the extreme crises cities are dealing with during the pandemic – is especially significant,” Carr said

Seventy percent of the 9-year-olds tested this year recalled learning remotely at some point during the pandemic. More than 80 percent of higher-performing students reported always having access to a laptop, a desktop computer or a tablet. Among lower-performing students, about 60 percent had constant access.

NAEP testing is done at public and private schools across the country that are randomly sampled, according to NCES. The test for 9-year-olds included three 15-minute blocks of questions, most of which were multiple choice, with more time allotted for answering a questionnaire. Test takers are randomly sampled, too – 14,800 students in all, from 410 schools. More than 90 percent of schools were sampled in both 2020 and 2022.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement that the NAEP results cast the experiences of the last two years in “a stark light” but should remind people to press ahead with efforts to accelerate student learning, support student mental health needs and invest in educators. States should steer federal relief funds “even more effectively and expeditiously” to proven strategies including “high-dosage” tutoring and after-school and summer programs, Cardona said.

Federal officials said the results are part of a special collection of long-term trend data. A more comprehensive look at student achievement is expected later this year. It will include national and state data, along with selected school district data for students in fourth and eighth grades in math and reading.

NAEP tests are a congressionally authorized project, sponsored by the Department of Education and administered through its statistical arm, the NCES.
 
Bravo!! It was a great Documtary done 50 years after it was actually performed.........................

www.yahoo.com

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Director Peter Jackson Win Emmys For ‘The Beatles: Get Back’

More than 50 years ago Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr won the Oscar for Original Song, for “Let It Be.” Tonight, they added Emmys to their extraordinary careers, for producing the Disney+ documentary series The Beatles: Get Back. Producer-director Peter Jackson shared the Emmy for Outstanding...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
 
Roccus7 said:
This is scary, but not surprising...

National student test scores plunged during the pandemic​

The results fell to levels unseen for decades.

WASHINGTON — Test scores in elementary school math and reading plummeted to levels unseen for decades, according to the first nationally representative report comparing student achievement from just before the pandemic to performance two years later.

Math scores dropped seven points during that period, marking a first-ever decline, while reading scores slipped five points, producing the largest dip in 30 years on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, or NAEP, often called “the nation’s report card.” The students who took the tests – given from January to March in 2020 and in 2022 – were 9 years old and mostly in fourth grade.


“These results are sobering,” said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the tests. “It’s clear that COVID-19 shocked American education and stunted the academic growth of this age group.”

The falloff – which she called “historic” – left little doubt about the pandemic’s toll. The average math score of 234 this year was comparable to the average score recorded in 1999, and the reading score of 215 was similar to the 2004 score. How long it might take to catch up is unclear and not likely to be understood until further test results are analyzed.

Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-6.39.15-PM-750x476.jpg

Carr said the academic losses are part of a complex picture of pandemic schooling. Other studies have shown a rise in classroom disruption, school violence, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and teacher and staff vacancies, and schools also say more students are seeking mental health services. “There are a lot of factors that contextualize these data that we’re looking at,” she said.

Schools began to struggle in spring 2020, as school buildings were shuttered nationally and learning faltered during the last few months of the school year. Then, for at least part of the next school year, millions of students learned remotely or under hybrid schedules that blended virtual and in-person classes. Last year, schools opened for in-person classes, but many scrambled repeatedly to manage COVID surges, quarantines, mask mandates and staffing shortages. A number of educators called it the toughest time of their careers.

The stark results are likely to stir more debate about the wisdom of virtual learning and the speed at which schools reopened. There is wide agreement among educators that most students do better when they are in a classroom with a teacher.

The new data show that many of the most vulnerable students fared the worst. Children who performed at the lowest level lost the most in reading and math this year – with scores that plunged 10 to 12 points. By comparison, students who performed at the highest level fell an average of two to three points.

“While we see declines at all performance levels, the growing gap between students at the top and those at the bottom is an important but overlooked trend,” said Martin West, a member of the governing board that sets policy for NAEP and academic dean at Harvard Graduate School of Education, in a statement. “These results show that this gap widened further during the pandemic.”

“Supporting the academic recovery of lower-performing students should be a top priority for educators and policymakers nationwide,” West said.

Math scores for Black students tumbled 13 points, compared with eight points for Hispanic students and five points for white students. In reading, all three groups fell by six points. No statistically significant change in scores was reported for Asian, Native American or multiracial students.

Similarly, math scores sank seven to eight points for students who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities and English language learners. Reading scores dipped, too, except for English language learners.

Geography made a difference, with math performance falling eight points in the Northeast, nine points in the Midwest, seven points in the South and five points in the West. Suburban schools fared worse than schools located in urban or rural areas.

Amid all of the declines, flat scores drew attention: No measurable decline in reading was found in the West, in cities or in rural areas. “The fact that reading achievement from students in cities held steady – when you consider the extreme crises cities are dealing with during the pandemic – is especially significant,” Carr said

Seventy percent of the 9-year-olds tested this year recalled learning remotely at some point during the pandemic. More than 80 percent of higher-performing students reported always having access to a laptop, a desktop computer or a tablet. Among lower-performing students, about 60 percent had constant access.

NAEP testing is done at public and private schools across the country that are randomly sampled, according to NCES. The test for 9-year-olds included three 15-minute blocks of questions, most of which were multiple choice, with more time allotted for answering a questionnaire. Test takers are randomly sampled, too – 14,800 students in all, from 410 schools. More than 90 percent of schools were sampled in both 2020 and 2022.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement that the NAEP results cast the experiences of the last two years in “a stark light” but should remind people to press ahead with efforts to accelerate student learning, support student mental health needs and invest in educators. States should steer federal relief funds “even more effectively and expeditiously” to proven strategies including “high-dosage” tutoring and after-school and summer programs, Cardona said.

Federal officials said the results are part of a special collection of long-term trend data. A more comprehensive look at student achievement is expected later this year. It will include national and state data, along with selected school district data for students in fourth and eighth grades in math and reading.

NAEP tests are a congressionally authorized project, sponsored by the Department of Education and administered through its statistical arm, the NCES.
Click to expand...
This is irreverent as no child is left behind. They will all pass with flying colors as the curve is adjusted.
 

Judge Dismisses Suit Over Naked Baby Image on Nirvana Album Cover​

Spencer Elden, who was pictured as a baby on the cover of “Nevermind,” argued in his lawsuit that the grunge rock group had engaged in “child pornography.”

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a man who, as a baby, had graced the cover of Nirvana’s seminal album, “Nevermind,” and argued 30 years later that the iconic photo of him drifting naked in a pool had been a form of sexual exploitation.

The man, Spencer Elden, 31, accused Nirvana in his complaint of engaging in child pornography after it used a photo of him for the cover of “Nevermind,” the 1991 album that catapulted the Seattle grunge rock band to international fame.

The judge, Fernando M. Olguin, wrote in his eight-page ruling that because Mr. Elden had learned about the album cover more than 10 years ago, he had waited too long to file his lawsuit, making his claims untimely.
 
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