NC State News :: NC State News and Information » Study Shows ‘Readability’ Scores Are Largely Inaccurate “Teachers, parents and textbook companies use technical “readability” formulas to determine how difficult reading materials are and to set reading levels by age group. But new research from North Carolina State University shows that the readability formulas are usually inaccurate and offer little insight into which age groups will be able to read and understand a text. ” Study Shows ‘Readability’ Scores Are Largely Inaccurate “Teachers, parents and textbook companies use technical… http://t.co/hlLBsk886g — Tom Woodward (@twoodwar) January 11, 2014 tags: IFTTT Twitter reading scores data weekly tweet 2014 Olympic Freestyle Uniforms – snow camo to mask movement from judges “One of the coolest innovations has to be the snow camo. Mogul skiers are judged by their amount of body movement while going through the course. With a unique pattern for each country, the hope is the snow camo will help mask some of the unwanted movement.  “ tags: freestyle uniforms moguls technology camo judges olympics weekly tweet Scarlet Song | I like the result but the real interesting portion is the description of the process. tags: transmedia art photography process artist photo weekly © 2008 Gary S. Stager “I have strong reservations about both grades and rubrics. I believe that both practices […]

Ruminations from the Test-Prep Industry: How Dare You? Or: Supply, Demand, and Diatribe. “What I think but don’t say is that we “dare” charge what we do because a critical mass of people are willing to pay that much. As someone who thinks capitalism is on the whole pretty icky, it makes a definite amount of sense to me that if what we’re offering is essentially a luxury service, we would charge as much as people are willing to pay. If what we’re offering isn’t food or water or medicine or a foundational education (which, don’t get me started), as long as it’s a sidecar, an add-on, an optional addition to those necessities, why shouldn’t we charge what people will pay, so long as they’re happy with the results? And then I cringe, listening to my own thoughts.” tags: weekly test prep capitalism essential supply demand TCS – Robot Heart: Heart-Shaped Box – Nirvana (covered by Kawehi) – YouTube I don’t know how I feel about the song but the way it all works technically is pretty fascinating. tags: music loops technology weekly youtube video Thomas Christiansen on Learning from 60,000 Observations | Quantified SelfQuantified Self “It’s an iterative process. I’m peeling an onion, and I can continue peeling that onion for the probably the rest of my life. How […]

In Spain, Entire Villages Are Up For Sale — And They’re Going Cheap : Parallels : NPR “Desperate times call for desperate measures, says Avelino Luis de Francisco Martinez, the mayor of Cortegada, a rural town in southern Galicia. An abandoned hamlet that’s part of his town isn’t for sale. He’s giving it away. “For free! Someone just has to promise to renovate the 12 ruined houses,” he says. “They’re beautiful — bucolic! Next to a river and an 18th century royal procession path.” The challenge? “We just need to find someone to live here in this century,” he says.” tags: weekly Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.