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Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Parents Not Happy with Blue School

    Back in April I wrote about the Blue School.  By some measure it’s not doing so well. Parents are yanking their kids out of the “progressive,” $32,000 per-year private school founded by the Blue Man Group — which has no books and no tests — because their kids are barely learning to read, The Post…

  • Personal Safety Demonstrated by Two Cases

    Two different stories in the papers recently on the same day (April 25, 2012.) The first: For nine years the “teardrop” rapist was one of Los Angeles’ most prolific serial predators, preying on women from Melrose Avenue to Manchester Boulevard. The assailant, sometimes described as having a teardrop tattoo below one of his eyes, targeted…

  • The Media’s Unholy Relationship with Obama

    On the evening of Tuesday, June 30, 2009—just five months into his administration—Barack Obama invited a small group of presidential historians to dine with him in the Family Quarters of the White House. His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, personally delivered the invitations with a word of caution: the meeting was to remain private and…

  • Drivers Get Creative to Avoid High Toll Fees

    Drivers fed up with New York City’s expensive toll roads are carpooling to save a few dollars on the George Washington Bridge, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bridge commuters can save $6 a vehicle by using the “carpooling” lane. Because of this, some rogue drivers have started picking up hitchhikers determined to save money…

  • CPS’s Safe Haven Funding Slashed

    With money tight,Chicago Public Schools’summer Safe Haven program will be scaled back and serve fewer students.Last year, the district used $975,000 in federal stimulus funds for Safe Haven, which encompassed 100 churches working with 5,000 students on issues including conflict resolution and anger management, as well as reading programs, tutoring and arts. via Chicago Tribune.…

  • Raise Taxes — Lose Revenue

    The current taxes on a pack of cigarettes in Chicago include $2 from Cook County, 98 cents from Illinois and 68 cents from the city. If Quinn signs the latest increase, the taxes in Chicago will be $4.66 per pack, compared with 99 cents in East Chicago. On Monday, a pack of Marlboros at a…

  • Protests

    Story: Protesters throw fence on police 5:43 p.m. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, dressed in his white uniform and wearing sunglasses, has appeared behind the thick line of police in riot gear. The police are facing off with protesters at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Cermak. A large crowd of protesters is gathered in the…

  • Half of Florida H.S. Students Fail Reading Test

    Nearly half of Florida high school students failed the reading portion of the state’s new toughened standardized test, education officials said on Friday. Results this year from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test showed 52 percent of freshman students and 50 percent of sophomores scored at their grade levels. Students in the 10th grade must pass…

  • Illinois 3rd in Foreclosures Nationally

    This is embarrassing: Foreclosures starts in Illinois are on par with those in other areas but the state’s court-supervised foreclosure system continues to bog down properties in the process. Almost 7.5 percent of all one-to-four-unit mortgage loans in Illinois were in foreclosure in the first quarter, compared with a national average of 4.39 percent, according…

  • Gov. Red Tape Kills Another Biz, Jobs

    Last month when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced his streamlining of city business licensing procedures, he chose Logan Square Kitchen as the location to herald this new day in better relations between the city and small businesses. And so it’s more than a little ironic that today LSK owner Zina Murray annouced on her website that…

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