Author: kg4vma

My tweets

My tweets

  • Thu, 13:12: Turkey in the oven. Sides prepped, sorted and assigned to pots and pans awaiting cooking.
  • Thu, 15:25: I’m at Walmart Supercenter (805 U.S. 27, Ladish Rd., Cynthiana) http://t.co/r11ESrlA
  • Thu, 15:53: I’m at Home http://t.co/aRfX9wzP
  • Thu, 20:29: Having walmart in the scanner reveals interesting things sometimes–like there’s 6 in line for xbox already, and they only have 29 in stock
  • Thu, 21:11: @tababy012204 is it a madhouse yet?
  • Thu, 21:31: @tababy012204 all I’m hearing seems to be complaints of messes being made and needing more staff…
  • Thu, 21:41: @tababy012204 well, the way these different managers are talking on the radio… doesn’t sound calm.
  • Fri, 01:52: For Sam Walton so hated man, he raped God of his son; changing Christmas from a celebration of saving man to a celebration of saving money.
  • Fri, 01:58: Sheep, the lot of you who have spent the hours shopping on what had been this day of thanks that led into our season of worship.

My tweets

My tweets

Мои твиты

Мои твиты

EDMG420 – Week 2 Assignment

Through conducting a crisis inventory a business or organization can better prepare itself in handling the crisis and the related media communications. As an example, a company may ignore the opportunity—or may not have the forethought—to develop an inventory; this company will be ill-prepared in the organizational process for reacting to any given crisis. Furthermore, the company will face multiple issues in the realm of media relations—if there is a declared PR official for the company, he/she may not know how to properly communicate the situation. Once the company responds with a comment which is uncertain—if comment is made at all—the media can highlight the response with negative light, and/or make efforts to gather further information through investigative tactics which may lead to the questioning of employees which may have no knowledge or a negative view of the company. An ill-informed or vengeful employee’s remarks would certainly give the media and public better chance for viewing the company and the crisis in negative light.

Proper development of a crisis inventory can also yield positive results among the employees. To be able to fully view some areas for concern, the company can conduct the inventory or survey in conjunction with the staff or segments providing representation of certain staff functions. This sort of camaraderie with the employees will show that the management has concerns for the well-being of the workforce and allows for better instruction on possible crises with the employees (Fearn-Banks, 2011).

As the only organization that I can lay claim to is the local EM, I find difficulty in applying the list of possible crises provided in the text—aside from those which are natural or man-made disasters. Scandalous crises, such as drugs, alcoholism, etc. would in theory be possible; I can, however, say that these events are not likely to happen as the only member or the agency which the public would raise concern would be the director—my father—who is the only paid employee on staff.

Of the natural/man-made disasters listed on pages 301-302 of the text (Fearn-Banks, 2011), the five most likely would include earthquake, fire, flood, tornado and transportation—not necessarily in that order. If one were to attempt to evaluate the probability of these events taking place, earthquake would rank with the lowest possible occurrence, tornado as the second lowest, and the remaining three sharing close proximity in the top positions. If one were to rank these disasters on the potential of damage, earthquake would likely lead with flood, fire and tornado following; transportation has the possibility of jumping into any position as we can include any manner of transportation—air, rail, truck—with any possible combination of onboard goods. Developing a table or chart to represent these assumptions can prove to be difficult based on these variances without conducting proper studies and risk evaluations.

Based upon my assumptions, however, one might see the data represented in a manner similar to the following chart:

As this chart reveals, the potential of damage from and occurrence for flooding rank fairly high and within a near equal range. The thought behind these rankings are based on the frequency of flooding event s in the area and the damages sustained from said events. Frequently the county receives damages to roadways and parks from flooding events. Transportation and fire come in close of another with transportation leading based upon the potential of damage. This assumption is made on the greater risk of spills effecting the population as opposed to the spread of fire within the community. Tornados produce a greater risk of damage if the winds were to travel over certain areas—likelihood of such an occurrence is limited if consideration is given for the sparse population outside of the county seat. Damage potential for an earthquake ranks high as many of the structures in the county are well-aged and not built to withstand such an event.

Мои твиты

  • Сб, 16:12: Confusion over Harrison County Schools and the No Child Left Behind Act http://t.co/AEG6oiIS
  • Сб, 16:44: Human Veal or: How to Give Welfare a Swift Kick in the BAM! http://t.co/t6mtS9JX
  • Сб, 21:58: i have a strong desire to go to bed. my time would be better spent on homework, though. 🙁
  • Сб, 22:13: the world’s worst textbook is laughing in my face, i’m tired, and not feeling all that great. screw homework. bed, here i come.
  • Сб, 22:53: My daugther burst into tears the other day, saying she hadn’t a friend. I didn’t know what to say. All I could think was, “I know your pain”

Human Veal or: How to Give Welfare a Swift Kick in the BAM!

…the following is another wiritng that had been submitted in response to a homework assignment. Before reading the following, I would recommend reviewing Johnathon Swift’s A Modest Proposal.

1. Would you consider Locke and Swift’s work political in nature? Philosophical? Back up your opinion with specifics from the writing in this week’s packet.

First, I would like to say that perhaps we should introduce Swift’s proposal for the better use of infants and children in this country; if we were to enact such a proposal it would solve our current issues with the nation’s economy and welfare. Through the establishment of such a plan we could eliminate the costs of sexual education in public schools, as those who would be in attendance would undoubtedly be only of the upper classes; there would be no need to educate these children on the matter as—since they come from a better stock—they would not carry any interest in, nor would they have the time left alone—as their parents or paid caregivers would be at home—for breeding. For that matter, the costs of education would decline as the children from the lesser classes would not be in school; those having been selected for further breeding and labor would not require education, nor would those who are being kept alive for additional ripening before the slaughter.

Medical and nutritional costs that we currently associate with the upbringing of children would go under an overhaul and be decreased as the bulk would now be livestock. This sort of change should be an easy transition for some federal agencies, such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Currently the USDA provides a program providing additional nutritional foods to families under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. WIC could continue to operate, though under a different section under the USDA, by providing our new human farmers with additional feed if necessary.

Costs associated with Social Security would also decline, eventually allowing for the expiration of the associated programs. The decline in Social Security would come from the introduction of farming practices in humanity—by allowing for the use of persons as livestock there would understandably be a reduction in having disabled or otherwise handicapped infants growing to maturity. Any infant born with any defect would be euthanized or aborted in the same manner as is done in current handling of livestock. It may, however, be found that certain defects or maladies—as we currently see them—may, in fact, be considered a delicacy.

While reading Swift’s proposal I was given the opportunity to try and classify my own family and figure out how my children would be best used under such a plan—my children would have to be branded as stock of some sort as we do come from a lower class and make use of the current welfare systems. My son, I fear, would not be suitable for consumption; as is noted in Swift’s proposal, my son is rather lanky and would be too tough a morsel to chew. At the age of seven, he is very thin and already 12 ½ hands high—this build would be unlikely to yield a tasty crop, so it would be doubtful that he would be allowed to sire. It would be very likely that my son would be employed in labor of some sort, unless we choose to have men of such stock to become beasts used in sporting events.

My eldest daughter, having gone beyond the proper age for dining, would become a great candidate for breeding once she becomes of that age. In her current state we see that she is rather short and has a graciously good amount of meat on her bones. With science showing that these traits are often hereditary we can safely assume that she would yield plenty of children with desirable traits for consumption.

Our youngest daughter is close to ripening to an age of two, and would make for a nice Sunday roast of average tenderness. Though she may currently be of an average height and weight ratio, I believe that supplying her with the proper feed over the next two months would yield a meat with excellent marbling of the fatty tissues. With a good ratio of fat and proper slow-roasting techniques applied her meat should easily melt in one’s mouth with a delicious buttery effect.

…obviously the words that precede this were written with the same sort of political satire intended by Swift.

None of us would actually imagine the use of the underprivileged as livestock. Swift’s sarcastic approach to the needs of public welfare serve as an interesting call to attention, however. In a society that was busy issuing complaints on its current state Swift decided to present a “solution” where none others—of good thought—had been given. It is lightly noted at the end of the proposal that the work is satire in the statements, “…I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work,” and “…[my] youngest being nine years old [thus, beyond age of consumption], and my wife [is] past child-bearing.”

While Swift’s work is obviously political in nature, Locke’s work is philosophical. Locke writes of society in his work with an eye towards what makes us who we are, and how differing our positions may be. In his Epistle, Locke writes that the whole of his text is spiritual in nature, and that he recognizes that these views differ as much as our varying palates. The only section of Locke’s Epistle that may be viewed as political is his noted revision in where he had addressed concerns that had been brought about in another edition of his work. The revisions made were to clear confusion and quell uproar that came in the philosophical differences—thus creating a need for something akin to “political correctness”—between his work and the readers.

Works Cited

Locke, J. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Columbia.edu. 1995. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.

Swift, J. A Modest Proposal. Luminarium.org. 1999. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.

…yes, I went way over on this one; but how could I resist joining in on Swift’s satire?

…and yes, the title for this post is a series of bad puns/references. (Dr. Strangelove formatted; “a Swift kick”; and of course, we’re talking about food so, BAM!–Emeril)

Confusion over Harrison County Schools and the No Child Left Behind Act

A few days ago I ended up noticing something a little funny when going through the various feeds I subscribe to. This random oddity caught my attention and led to a neat little game of trying to figure out what’s going on in the local school system. I’ve written quite a bit about the topic–mainly on facebook–and have been going back and forth with (I’m assuming) the school system’s chief IT person. Anyway, as this has been a fun little trip, and it still raises a few questions on the time line of when things were published, I thought I’d post the stuff here. Why? I dunno. I just want to. Plus, as with most of my ramblings, I might want to go back someday and read over what I’ve written. Blah. Anyway, here’s how it started:

The following was originally posted at: http://www.facebook.com/notes/jeremiah-hall-palmer/harrison-county-schools-have-failed-in-a-certain-area-and-are-covering-it-up/10150395630796849

Harrison County Schools have failed in a certain area, and are covering it up!

I subscribe to a ton of feeds to get my news and tech fix–it’s also how I try to keep myself in the loop when it comes to things going on up on the hill.

Today, I found myself with a little bit of time and went thumbing through my subscriptions via my phone and found a gem from the school board; Andy Dotson, Superintendent of Harrison County Schools, had posted that our district was now in “corrective action” due to having fallen behind in a few key areas. As this was a point of interest for me, I decided to give it the ol’ share, and post it to facebook. Little did I know that I wasn’t sharing a darned thing–the original post had since been deleted.

Later, I found myself with some time in front of the computer. As many of us do, I ended up finding my way onto facebook and looking at my own profile–vanity, thy name is Jeremy. Then I noticed something odd. My comment that I had attached to that shared blog link was only the comment. There wasn’t a link. That signaled to me that the post had gone missing. So, I went back to my RSS reader–this time via PC–and found the article I had read before. Yep, there it was. A quick click in the feed to be transported to the original post, and; “Sorry, but the page you requested cannot be found.”

So, it was deleted, eh?

Curiosity got the better of me and I went to the Board’s facebook page. What did my eyes see there? Why a status and link boasting of how well we are doing!

…okay, so am I going nuts? I just read that we are falling behind, yet I see in big, bright, cheerful letters that we are improving!

…back to the post I had initially read. Didn’t Andy say something about us being able to find the reports online? Ah, yes he did! A quick google and search of the Kentucky Department of Education’s site-map led me to an Excel spreadsheet, where–Yes!–it shows Harrison County failing!

…so, what’s up with this? Where did the original post go? And why is the school board boasting of our success elsewhere?

…something stinks here. I want to know why.

—–

You can find the current boasts of success (unless they too get removed) at:

The spreadsheet I found is available at:

…and the original post from Andy Dotson (which was at: as archived by Google Reader follows:

Dear Parent/Guardian,

As part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, states must use academic assessments and other indicators to annually review the progress of each district to determine whether the district makes Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in reading and mathematics.

Harrison County has been identified for corrective action due to a few of our schools having deficiencies in some of the sub-population groups. Harrison County reached seven of the thirteen targets. Under federal law, a district that does not meet AYP for two consecutive years is identified for district improvement. This is Harrison County’s first year of corrective action. The complete NCLB data is available on the Kentucky Department of Education’s website under NCLB Reports on the Quick Links.

Harrison County has revised our Comprehensive District Improvement Plan and is working on our Corrective Action Plan. The purpose of the plan is to improve student achievement throughout the district.
If you have any questions about what Harrison County is doing to improve teaching and learning in every school, please call Harrison County’s Title I Coordinator, Dee Gee Fischer, at 234-7110.

Sincerely,

Andy Dotson
Superintendent

Later, I added this comment to the preceding post:

‎…there’s a conversation going on here:

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=292341860788941&id=296254501606&notif_t=share_reply

Harrison County Schools are (is?) claiming that the Commissioner stated that NCLB is invalid, thus what I read doesn’t apply. I’ve not found such a statement.

Meanwhile, the conversation on the Board’s fan page went like this:

Harrison County Schools
Did you know that Harrison County Schools now rank 52nd out of 174 districts statewide? Check it out!
Thursday at 2:54pm

Jeremiah Hall Palmer ‎…but i just read this statement from the Superintendent:

“Harrison County has been identified for corrective action due to a few of our schools having deficiencies in some of the sub-population groups. Harrison County reached seven of the thirteen targets.”

…the quote originated from the Board of Education’s blog — post has since been removed)
Yesterday at 3:10pm

Jeremiah Hall Palmer ‎…a printout of the text I read can be viewed here:
23 hours ago

Harrison County Schools That info came from NCLB. The Commissioner of Education has released a press release that states NCLB is no longer valid.
22 hours ago

Jeremiah Hall Palmer ‎…unless I’m mistaken, what I’ve found doesn’t necessarily say that. I’ve found a few articles which state that Kentucky and several other states have petitioned for NCLB waivers (Cappiello, 2011; Katayama, 2011; Huffington Post, 2011).

I’m likely overlooking something, but I’ve yet to find an article stating that these waivers have been approved. In fact, I read that these waivers aren’t to be reviewed until December. (Kentucky Department of Education, 2011)

So, it’s my understanding that while according to the standards Kentucky wishes to apply we are doing fairly well and deserve the pep-talk and pat on the back that you’ve linked to. Still, we need to recognize that with regard to minorities we are struggling–an issue that a good portion of the Commonwealth is facing.

The point I’m trying to make is that Dotson’s statement addressing Harrison County’s failures according to NCLB were correct and needs to be shared, as well as the claims of how Harrison County is improving in other key areas. Perhaps revision rather than redaction of Dotson’s post would have given a better impression. Admitting the failure, specifying the demographic, stating how the rest of the Commonwealth is facing similar issues and outlining what the Commonwealth and Harrison County are wishing to do in identifying and correcting these issues may have left a better impression.

—-

Works Cited

Cappiello, J. “Ky. ed chief: State will reapply for NCLB waiver.” Houston Chronicle. September 23, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from

Huffington Post. “No Child Left Behind Waivers: 11 States Seek Relief From Federal Education Law” November 15, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/no-child-left-behind-waiv_n_1095306.html

Katayama, D. “Kentucky Submits Waiver Application for NCLB on Monday.” WFPL News. November 14, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from

Kentucky Department of Education. “Final NCLB Flexibility Application Submitted.” November 14, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011 from
5 hours ago

Harrison County Schools Please visit our district site at http://www.harrison.kyschools.us/ and click on the 2011 NCLB Update link.
59 minutes ago

I went back to the District website, and, sure enough, there was a link to the information. I had missed it! Grrr!

…but, I figured I might as well double-check things and see what my cache showed. And while I was at it, why not Google’s cache?

So, I checked my cache, which had a last access/mod date of yesterday evening. There was the link. Crud. But the link pointed to a document with a different filename! My cached version went to NCLB_AYP_11_16_11.pdf. The current version linked to nclb_update_11_11.pdf. That difference got me to digging further… Google’s cache linked to NCLB_Status_Letter_10_26_10.pdf. Huh? What’s up with all this?

The differences between all the cached versions are as follows:

Google’s cached version, which was pulled on November 14, 2011 and shows a revision date of November 11, 2011, gave a link to Superintendent Dotson’s letter (from October 26th of last year) regarding the AYP issues. We had only met 12/13 requirements. This document is dated October 28, 2010.

My cached version, which reflected the updates as of last night (November 18, 2011), gave a link to Dotson’s letter (in PDF form, appearing on District letterhead) as I had read it in my feed–the same letter I included above. This document is dated November 16, 2011.

The current (as of this writing) version is a three page document. Page one displays the text that appears on the page originally linked to by the District/Board facebook fan page. Page two displays quotes from Kentucky Department of Education’s Commissioner, Terry Holiday. These quotes come from a statement which was issued in September of this year, prior to KDE’s application for NCLB waiver. Page three of the document is another copy of Dotson’s letter. This document is dated November 17, 2011.

As far as dates go, I have no clue as to what is going on. It appears that what I see this afternoon was created two days ago, but not posted until today. Backdating of system clocks?

Anyway, the current version pretty much gives what I had requested this morning–sing praise of what we’ve done, show where Kentucky is wanting to change how we’re graded and admit we failed by the standards currently being applied.