Detective Work

My line of IT work involves a lot of analysis. "If this, then that. Does that agree with observation?" So, it was no surprise I had to do an investigation when my boss gifted me with something he found recently.

What he found was a 2GB SD memory chip, like they use in a lot of digital cameras. He was at the New River Gorge Bridge Day when he looked down and saw it lying on the pavement.

Knowing I had a digital camera of more-or-less the type to use such a chip (and his camera didn't), he asked if I could use it. I said that I could. He assured me that he had checked and the chip was empty.

Being the non-trusting, investigative sort that I am, I checked it myself a few weeks later when I remembered it again. I didn't want to throw out someone else's photos if I could help it. The boss was wrong. There were over 700 photos on the chip spanning a period from July to October.

How tough was it to find someone to contact about returning the chip to its owner? Not hard at all. Several of the photos showed kids on an YWCA outing, all wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the local phone number. A quick Google search of the phone number on the kids' shirts said this was the YWCA in Charleston, WV. An e-mail to the "Contact Us" got a quick response, I popped it into the mail, and yesterday I was informed the owner is delighted to have it back again. Good Deed done.

"Just Like Us"?

Most of what Caroline Kennedy seems to get is fluff, but seriously -

Amid all the recent buzz about Caroline Kennedy's bid for a U.S. Senate seat, there has been a great deal of talk about her connections, her power, her wealth. But the way I see it, if you strip away the glamour, the name and the money, then Caroline is . . . me. And many of my friends. Maybe even you. If, that is, you happen to be a midlife woman raising kids and returning -- or thinking of returning, or hoping one day to return -- to the full-time workforce.

She seems like you and your friends? And you are...?

Anne Glusker is a freelance journalist living in France and the host of "Stir it Up," a weekly food program on Swiss radio.

Hat tip: Powerline

Cocaine comes from the ocean

Yes! The truth comes out! The Associated Press says so!

Prosecutors said the gang allegedly arranged for sea-born cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico's Beltran Levya cartel.

Or, maybe we should "Yoo-hoo! Oh great professional writers and journalists, don't you mean 'sea-borne'? "

I do like the touch about threatening to feed the narco-crooks to the lions, though.

Algebra

Teaching is apparently not just a low paying job, but a low skill job.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge Friday blocked a controversial state plan requiring that all California eighth-graders be tested in algebra.

Uh, why?

...approximately one-third of the state's middle-school Algebra I teachers are either underprepared or teach out-of-field...

So, your college educated math teachers aren't conversant with algebra? Guys, this is a field that's not exactly trembling with new discoveries.

Meeting the mandate would require the state to hire 3,000 more qualified teachers and offer substantial additional training to 1,000 underprepared math instructors.

O'Connell's staff has estimated that the requirement would cost $3.1 billion at a time when the state is slashing even larger amounts from its budget as a result of the economy.

Well, not really, because you'll save a similar amount when you fire the unqualified teachers. And math teachers not prepared to go beyond multiplication tables aren't really math teachers, are they? More like baby sitters. But then I forget, NEA membership is a lifetime meal ticket.

Brrrr

Think it's cold where you are? Check out eastern Siberia.

ATO Rocks

I've been working with the Alpha Tau Omega Colony at the College of William and Mary, and they will soon be getting their charter! They got this message over the weekend.