Editor's desk: Macworld|iWorld 2013 bound!

Early tomorrow morning I'm jumping in a plane and flying to San Francisco, California for Macworld|iWorld 2013. Since it's been well below -20 celsius in Montreal this week, I'm looking even more forward to it than usual.

Leanna Lofte, who usually covers the SF events with me, just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Lucy Danae Lofte, so she's sitting this one out. There are very few people in our line of work with her camera skills, so to make sure we keep the level of quality you guys expect and deserve, we're bringing Martin Reisch with us this year. Yeah.

There'll be a lot going on, and we'll be doing our best to bring you with us every step of the way with photo journals, videos, podcasts, and a bunch of social sharing. Here's the plan so far:

• Monday: Arrive. Hang.
• Tuesday: Head up to TWiT in Petaluma to shoot MacBreak Weekly with Leo and the gang. It'll be nice to be in the same room with everyone for once!
• Wednesday: Hoping to head down to Cupertino and visit the Apple Company Store.
• Thursday: I'll be on a panel called iCloud, App Stores, and other Things To Fear: Has Apple Forgotten Power Users? hosted by Macworld's Lex Friedman, with John Gruber, Paul Kafasis, and Matthew Panzarino at 1pm.
• Friday/Saturday: We'll be covering the show, bringing you back everything you need to know.
• Sunday: Head back home.

There will be tons of other stuff happening in and around all that, so make sure you keep your browsers locked to iMore's Macworld|iWorld page, and subscribe to the iMore YouTube channel to get all the latest videos as soon as inhumanly possible.

And for up-to-the-minute stuff, including everything and anything unfit for print, you can follow @reneritchie and @safesolvent on Twitter.

Last year Macworld|iWorld completed their transition from trade show to epicenter of the community, from a place to see Apple stuff to place to meet and enjoy the company of fellow Apple enthusiasts. I can't wait to see what they have in store for all of us this year.

Let me know what you'd like to see from our Macworld|iWorld coverage, and if you're going to be there are well, please do come up and say hello!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/mkSamaELkRA/story01.htm

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Our View: States' education laws aren't making the grade ? Schools ...

By Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein, Special to CNN

Editor's note: Michelle Rhee is the founder and CEO of StudentsFirst, a nonprofit organization that identifies as a ?grassroots movement? to produce ?meaningful results" for education on local and national levels. She previously served as chancellor of schools in Washington D.C.

Joel Klein is CEO of Amplify, the education division of News Corporation, and a StudentsFirst board member. He is the former chancellor of New York City schools.

(CNN) - It?s hard to watch Robert Griffin III play football and not think about education policy.

RG3, as fans call him, is a rookie who has been playing in the National Football League for all of 18 weeks, but led the Washington Redskins to twice as many victories as they had last year, their first winning season since 2007 and their first divisional championship in 13 years. Now imagine if the Redskins had a little less money to pay salaries next year and cut Griffin from the team, keeping instead a handful of bench-warmers. It sounds ridiculous, but that practice is exactly what happens in most school districts where policies require teachers to be laid off based on seniority, not talent.

Here?s another nonsensical example: There?s overwhelming evidence that quality public charter schools provide a viable education option, particularly for students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. In fact,?test scores released in July 2012 showed New York City public charter schools outperforming traditional schools throughout the entire state, despite poverty rates 150% of that of the rest of the state and far greater numbers of minorities. Incredibly, eight states still do not allow public charter schools to exist. That means children assigned to low-performing schools in places such as Birmingham, Alabama, Louisville, Kentucky, and Omaha, Nebraska, are trapped without a choice or a way out.

These aren?t teacher problems, or student problems. These are policy problems. In far too many states, the laws and policies in place that govern education put up significant barriers to higher student achievement.

In fact, according to a first-of-its-kind report card that we published this week, nearly 90% of states earned less than a ?C? grade on the subject of education policy. Ours is a new type of education report card that doesn?t look at teacher performance or students? test scores, but instead focuses solely on the laws in place determining how our schools are allowed to operate. StudentsFirst will publish it annually, and this year no state earned higher than a B-minus.

That ought to shock parents, educators, and lawmakers alike. It indicates that no matter how hard our children study, and no matter how much passion teachers pour into their classrooms, the rules and regulations governing education are holding schools back.

There is no shortage of effective educators and innovators in our country. However, they are currently forced to operate in a bureaucratic, out-of-date environment. That?s why StudentsFirst?s singular mission moving forward is to shape policy and help pass laws at the state level.

It is clear there are three key policy areas - call them pillars - upon which a solid education system must be built. First, the teaching profession must be elevated. That means using meaningful evaluations of teachers and administrators in making personnel decisions, ensuring teachers are paid as professionals, and providing alternative means of getting qualified instructors certified and into classrooms. Second, parents must be empowered with meaningful information and choice. And third, transparency is necessary to ensure that education funding is being spent wisely and school districts are governed properly.

We hope the report cards provide a wake-up call. They can serve as roadmaps for policymakers to use in creating the kind of environments that prioritize students? interests and give educators the tools to improve student achievement.

The report cards also provide reason for optimism. Florida, for example, is setting an example - beginning with a strong foundation for reform built by Governor Jeb Bush and continuing today, under Governor Rick Scott - by bringing more rigor and accountability into its school system. The changes are paying off; Florida students recently outperformed?a majority of the country and the world in an internationally benchmarked test. Tennessee has also seen student achievement rise following the enactment of student-focused reforms there.

Some states have also shown that reform doesn?t require an incremental, years-long process. In a single year, Louisiana lawmakers adopted what may be the strongest law in the country on teacher and principal performance evaluations, and they expanded parents' access to quality school choice. Those are changes we expect will lead to dramatic student improvement.

These examples beg the question: Why do we continue to tolerate a public education system that fails our kids when we know significantly better outcomes are possible?

Our schools are supposed to be America?s great equalizers, ensuring every kid a shot at success. We know, given the right tools, that every student can achieve at high levels. Maybe sending our state education systems home with an ?F? or a ?D? is the strong jolt lawmakers need to remember that student-centered education policies are the foundations on which strong schools are built.

The opinions expressed are solely those of Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein.

Source: http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/07/our-view-states-education-laws-arent-making-the-grade/

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Place a Used Tire Around a Log When Splitting Wood to Minimize Labor

If you split your own firewood consider using an old tire or bungee cord to keep the log together as you split. YouTube user markp0177 shows how the tire makes the chore easier as you don't have to constantly stop and pick the log up again.

Splitting wood with a tire? | YouTube

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/_bYk63kkyTw/place-a-used-tire-around-a-log-when-splitting-wood-to-minimize-labor

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NHL lockout: Union presents counteroffer

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2012, file photo shows NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and Bill Daly, deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, following collective bargaining talks in Toronto. The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, with the locked-out players? association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the fighting sides. "We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday, Dec. 28. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young, File)

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2012, file photo shows NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and Bill Daly, deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, following collective bargaining talks in Toronto. The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, with the locked-out players? association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the fighting sides. "We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday, Dec. 28. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 6, 2012, file photo, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, right, and deputy commissioner Bill Daly speak to reporters in New York. The NHL made a new proposal to the players' association, hoping to spark talks to end the long lockout and save the hockey season. Daly said Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, the league made its offer Thursday and was waiting for a response. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL players' union presented a counteroffer to the league Monday in the latest attempt to resolve a lockout and start a shortened season.

The sides met at NHL headquarters and negotiated for the first time since they met with a federal mediator on Dec. 13. They took a break while the league considered the proposal, and union representatives stayed in the building in case further talks ensued.

So far, a deal has been elusive and well out of reach.

The New Year's clock is ticking while the window to reach a labor agreement to save the season is rapidly closing. No one has said exactly how much time remains, but the belief is the NHL wants an abbreviated season to start no later than Jan. 19.

That leaves a little less than two weeks to reach an agreement and hold one week of training camp before the puck would drop on a 48-game campaign.

The league and the union had informational discussions ? by conference call and in meetings ? with staff members that lasted much of Saturday and ended Sunday. Those talks were spurred by the nearly 300-page contract proposal the NHL presented to the union Thursday.

All games through Jan. 14 have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule. The NHL wants to reach a deal by Jan. 11 and open the season eight days later.

Bargaining sessions with only the NHL and union hadn't been held since Dec. 6, when talks abruptly ended after the players' association made a counterproposal. The league said that offer was contingent on the union accepting three elements unconditionally and without further bargaining.

The NHL then pulled all existing offers off the table. Two days of sessions with mediators the following week ended without progress.

A person familiar with key points of that previous offer told The Associated Press that the league proposed raising the limit of individual free-agent contracts to six years from five ? seven years if a team re-signs its own player; raising the salary variance from one year to another to 10 percent, up from 5 percent; and one compliance buyout for the 2013-14 season that wouldn't count toward a team's salary cap but would be included in the overall players' share of income.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the new offer weren't being discussed publicly.

The NHL maintained the deferred payment amount of $300 million it offered in its previous proposal, an increase from an earlier offer of $211 million. The initial $300 million offer was pulled after negotiations broke off this month.

That proposal was for 10 years, running through the 2021-22 season, with both sides having the right to opt out after eight years.

The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

It is still possible this dispute could eventually be settled in the courts if the sides can't reach a deal on their own.

The NHL filed a class-action suit this month in U.S. District Court in New York in an effort to show its lockout is legal. In a separate move, the league filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, contending bad-faith bargaining by the union.

Those moves were made because the players' association took steps toward potentially filing a "disclaimer of interest," which would dissolve the union and make it a trade association. That would allow players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.

Union members voted overwhelmingly to give their board the power to file the disclaimer by Wednesday. If that deadline passes, another authorization vote could be held to approve a later filing.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-31-HKN-NHL-Labor/id-fe07bb971aea41c2b0973a6b93d8b064

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