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========================================================================================= STULTIFY stul·ti·fy ˈstəltəˌfī/ verb verb: stultify; 3rd person present: stultifies; past tense: stultified; past participle: stultified; gerund or present participle: stultifying 1. cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of a tedious or restrictive routine. "the mentally stultifying effects of a disadvantaged home" synonyms: hamper, impede, thwart, frustrate, foil, suppress, smother More "social welfare was stultified by international trade regulations" bore, make bored, dull, numb, benumb, stupefy "he stultifies her with too much gentleness" 2. cause (someone) to appear foolish or absurd. "Counsel is not expected to stultify himself in an attempt to advance his client's...

A oup of teachers and Florida's teacher union are going to court to stop the state's "Best and Brightest" teacher bonus program. The Florida Education Association and seven teachers filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against the Florida Department of Education and the state's school districts. The lawsuit alleges that the bonus program discriminates against older teachers, as well as black and Hispanic teachers.

He made the sideline pass with Photoshop "He used the name "Rocco Refsnyder" on the pass, though that's not his real name"

CIA Director Mike Pompeo scrapped his appearance Thursday at Harvard University over the school’s decision to make Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of leaking classified information, a visiting fellow. Pompeo called Manning an “American traitor.” He said he agreed with military and intelligence officials who believe Manning’s leak endangered the lives of CIA personnel. Pompeo was scheduled to appear at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to discuss allegations of Russian involvement in last year’s presidential election, the nuclear standoff with North Korea and other global security concerns. […] Pompeo, who has a law degree from Harvard, said he didn’t make...

Carbon dating shows an ancient Indian manuscript has the earliest recorded origin of the zero symbol. The Bakhshali manuscript is now believed to date from the 3rd or 4th Century, making it hundreds of years older than previously thought.

The University of Tours in central-west France has become the first in the country to offer gender-neutral toilets, in an effort to make transgender students feel more comfortable. As well as the new toilets, the university has also announced that starting from this year, it will recognize transgender students’ preferred names on their student ID cards, university email addresses, and on class registers. In France, legal name changes are often a long and complex process, which means many transgender students have a legal name which does not match their gender identity or outward appearance. The decision comes a year after...

FOLSOM (CBS13) — Controversy erupts at Vista Del Lago High School in Folsom over students chanting “USA.” It’s a popular way to for students to show pride during sporting events and rallies, but school and district officials are now warning students that the chants could appear inappropriate and intolerant. “I wasn’t angry, but I was definitely like ‘Why can’t we chant USA?'” said senior Ryan Bernal, “To say USA, you know, we’re all the same. We’re all American. It doesn’t matter what your skin tone is or where you’re from.” The chants are now causing chatter campus-wide after school staff...

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Scientists in Ecuador's Galapagos islands are hoping to restore a tortoise species believed extinct since the 1800s. The Chelonoidis elephantopus lived on Floreana Island and was captured by seamen in large numbers for food during long journeys across the Pacific. The species is thought to have disappeared shortly after Charles Darwin's celebrated visit to the treasured archipelago. But a group of international scientists who collected 1,700 blood samples from tortoises on Isabel Island farther north during a research expedition in 2012 made a surprising discovery: 80 had genetic traces of the lost species. "This is a...

According to Kenneth Waltzer, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network—an academic free speech group whose inaugural conference Landa spoke at in May and of which she is an active member—Landa was targeted for her pro-Israel activism. "Long before she filed a grievance, she was aggrieved," he said. "I know that when they learned she was active outside the department on behalf of opposing wacko ideas about Israel, their attitude toward her changed."

Of the 5,052,222,946 school lunches served in Fiscal Year 2016, 73.3 percent of them — the highest percentage on record — were either free or reduced price meals, according to data posted on September 8, 2017 by the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service. Free lunches comprised two-thirds (66.6 percent) of all lunches served in that school year; and reduced-price lunches comprised 6.7 percent. Students paid full price for the remaining 26.7 percent in Fiscal 2016, the latest year for which data is available. (FY 2016 covers the 12-month period beginning in Oct. 2015 and running through Sept. 2016. It...

Would you Tap? [ ] Yes [ ] No Teacher Arrested for Alleged Inappropriate Relations with a Student August 31st, 2017 Chris Welty Jefferson Davis PRESS RELEASE: Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office made an arrest today, August 31, 2017, in reference to a complaint by Jefferson Davis school officials. On August 22, Deputies received a call from the school board, stating that a Jennings High school employee was alleged to have had an improper relationship with a student. An investigation was initiated.....

OMBSTONE — What was it like to be a soldier in the country’s post-Civil War frontier forts? Perhaps Lt. Col. Josias King summed it up best when he wrote, “We are about 1,000 miles from nowhere excepting it be the verges of Hell…” Historical accounts of soldiers from the mid- to late-1800s — the trials, tribulations and sacrifices, as well as the significant roles they played in pacifying the west — are some of the stories that are likely to be shared through Tombstone Territorial Days, on Sept. 16 and 17. This year’s theme — Five Flags Over Arizona —...

How much electricity is required to charge an electric car versus running an air conditioner. My county pushes electric cars big time but always blames AC for excessive power usage during a heat wave. While I am certain there are more AC units than electric cars, wouldn't unplugging a charging car make a significant contribution toward reduced energy usage during a crisis? What about electric heaters? Do they use as much as an AC?

The University of California Berkeley is making counseling and other services available to students who may be upset or "threatened" by conservative writer Ben Shapiro's upcoming appearance on campus. In a memo published on Friday ahead of the event, the University reminded students that support services would be available if they were to need them. Follow Alex Griswold ✔@HashtagGriswold UC Berkeley is offering counseling services to those upset by Ben Shapiro's speech We are deeply concerned about the impact some speakers may have on individuals’ sense of safety and belonging. No one should be made to feel threatened or...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “Word for the Day”. foi·ble noun: foible; plural noun: foibles 1. a minor weakness or eccentricity in someone's character. "they have to tolerate each other's little foibles" synonyms: weakness, failing, shortcoming, flaw, imperfection, blemish, fault, defect, limitation; quirk, kink, idiosyncrasy, eccentricity, peculiarity "we tolerate each other's foibles" antonyms: strength 2.Fencing: the weaker part of a sword blade, from the middle to the point. Origin Late 16th century (as an adjective in the sense ‘feeble’): from obsolete French, in...

Episode aired on pay TV after earlier being deemed inappropriate for audiences in Australia, home to dangerous spidersA controversial episode of Peppa Pig has been pulled off the air in Australia for a second time, after complaints it told children to pick up and play with dangerous spiders. Mister Skinny Legs, a 2004 episode of the popular children’s show, was removed from online publication by the national public broadcaster, the ABC, in 2012 for sending the “inappropriate” message that spiders were friendly and not to be feared. In the offending episode, Daddy Pig tells a frightened Peppa that spiders are...

In protest of the Trump administration’s sudden rescindment of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and to stand in solidarity with the undocumented immigrants affected by the controversial action, approximately 300 gathered in rain and by candlelight in Northampton Tuesday night. Eduardo Samaniego, a volunteer with the Pioneer Valley Workers Center and a third-year student at Hampshire College majoring in constitutional law and education, was one of the organizers of the event. Samaniego himself, along with a few of the other event’s organizers, is a recipient of DACA. “Taking this away goes against everything really that’s American. It...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday assured incoming high schoolers that they need not to worry about President Trump ending the “Dreamers” program, saying Chicago Public Schools are a “Trump-free” sanctuary for young illegal immigrants. “To all the Dreamers that are here in this room and in the city of Chicago: You are welcome in the city of Chicago. This is your home. And you have nothing to worry about,” Mr. Emanuel told a group of freshman on the first day of classes at Solorio Academy High School, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. “Chicago, our schools, our neighborhoods, our city, as...

A group of Boston Public Schools teachers is aiming to build a new ethnic studies curriculum for schools across the district to expose Boston kids in the majority-minority district to the diverse histories and cultures of their families. “The mission is to have a curriculum that meets student needs and is reflective of our students’ backgrounds,” said Natalia Cuadra-Saez, a history teacher at Snowden International School who this summer travelled to Savannah, Ga., for a workshop focused on the Gullah descendants of slaves. “It is something students can relate to more. It is more relevant to them. When they see...

Worried that “xenophobia and nationalism are on the rise,” organizers of a recent academic conference invited presenters to “decenter English as the de facto language” of academia. The Society for Social Studies of Science is particularly concerned that English is the official language of both the US and the UK, whose current policies they say "send a message of insulation and parochialism to the world." Worried that “xenophobia and nationalism are on the rise,” organizers of a recent academic conference invited presenters to “decenter English as the de facto language” of academia. Specifically, the Society for Social Studies of Science...