Archive for the 'rants' Category

Delaware’s Energy An$wers Program

Sunday, October 29th, 2006

One of the topics I will try to get into here at newarking is how Newark (and all of Delaware) plays a role in the much debated topic of energy. I think it’s a topic that we all put on the back burner and forget about, or expect others to solve the problem for us. That may have been the case for many years, but I think you’re going to see more interaction from many different people as more people discuss the topic on websites such as the one you’re currently on. To start, we’ll take a look at “Delaware’s Energy An$wers Program” to see what all the fuss is about. In addition, I’ll be going through much of their related website to see if I have and tidbits as to help make the program more popular (and more successful). I encourage you to check out the site as well and discuss any pros or cons here at newarking.com

Delaware Schools and Open Source Software

Saturday, October 21st, 2006

A recent letter to the editor at the News Journal noted that a local school district would be shelving 2,000 computers, so that they didn’t have to pay Microsoft $ 70,000 for licensing fees.

That’s sad on so many levels that it made me want to write a rant about the sad state of Delaware’s school administrators.

Before I do, take a look at this page on open source software for schools:

Why should open source software be used in schools?

Here’s a snippet:

We are well into the beginnings of the Information Age. It stands to affect the people of the world at least as profoundly as the Industrial Age. It is time for the opening of the tools that will be needed to build this new age. Teaching our children to be passive purchasers of closed, proprietary solutions to problems is not enough. Constraining students to move the mouse within the confines of the instruction set of a few closed, proprietary programs merely cages those students and constrains our future.

Why isn’t Delaware using open source software for computers in classrooms?

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