Summary: Title: Q & the Mysterious! Jokes: Wedding Woes At a friend's wedding, everything went smoothly until it was time for the flower girl and her young escort to come down the aisle. The boy stopped at every pew, growling at the guests. When asked afterward why he behaved so badly, he explained, "I was just trying to be a good ring bear." Sacrifice Eleven people were hanging on a rope under a helicopter, ten men and one woman. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one has to drop off, otherwise they are all going to fall. They were not able to choose that person, but then the woman made a very touching speech. She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because as a woman she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids, and for men in general, without ever getting anything in return. As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping their hands. On Our Mind: Retirement plans change for State of Michigan employees and teachers. (Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals) New retirement rules for Michigan * Retirement years cap at 30 years of earned time. Purchased years do not count. o If you continue beyond 30 years, your employer will contribute 4% to a defined contribution account and the employee will contribute 3% and may contribute up to an additional 3% for a total of 10% cap. * If this goes through there will be an incentive for districts to retain teachers with 30 or more years. Retirement contributions will go from 19% to about 10%. Thanks to Dave Bydlowski for the feedback: Check out his podcast here: http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Podcast.html Here is some information from my February 11 -- 24 Michigan Science Matters eBlast: MathCounts From the Twitterverse: Advisory: Be Lucky (Richard Wiseman): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-an-easy-skill-to-learn.html Webspotlight: 'Algebra-for-All' Push Found to Yield Poor Results By Debra Viadero http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/02/10/21algebra_ep.h29.html?r=327944615 Blue Ribbon Middle School Math comes to YouTube at Palmyra Area Middle School http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/02/math_comes_to_youtube_at_palmy.html Q-Matrix Get your kids to generate questions with a Q-Matrix. http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/assessment/files/pages/strategies/Question_Matrix.pdf Marble http://edu.kde.org/marble/ FCC Expands Broadband Access at Schools http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CTECH/ntechnologyNews_uUSTRE61H6ZR20100219 Essentially, the bandwidth not being used by schools during school hours will be open to the community. Events & Happenings: Calendar of Events:
