Category: Science & Technology
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The Liquidation of Teresa Sullivan
By Peter Galuszka The putsch had all the markings of Stalin-era intrigue. Select members of the Politburo had whispered for weeks that a key and popular leader had to go. She didn’t fit the Inner Circle’s philosophies. She was too prominent and her “vision” was too slow-moving and dogmatically out of step. Finally, without her…
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“An Existential Threat”
James A. Bacon University of Virginia Rector Helen E. Dragas gets it. Explaining the Board of Visitors’ differences with departing President Teresa Sullivan, she told university deans and vice presidents that Virginia’s flagship educational institution can not continue to conduct business as usual. “The pace of change in higher education and in health care has…
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The Resurrection of Ride Sharing
by James A. Bacon The latest Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) initiative is reshuffling 22,000 jobs around the Washington metropolitan area. Thousands of those jobs are being relocated to seven facilities off Interstate 95, from the Mark Center in Alexandria to the Quantico Marine Corps base. The federal government is providing minimal funds to…
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UNDERCLASS LOVER
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterI want to be an underclass lover Lay it down like a big ole’ brother No mind who gets stuck With the leftover I get my F&%# Without too much workover Don’t care about the deficit Don’t give a damn about the debt ’cause when it comes to lov’in You ain’t seen noth’ yet Ya…
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Ready or Not, Here Comes the Higher Ed Online Revolution
In the previous post I highlighted Robert Samuelson, who says we need to re-think who needs a college education. In this post, I draw your attention to John E. Chubb and Terry M. Moe, who argue in the Wall Street Journal that we need to re-think how we deliver college education. In particular, Chubb and…
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The Higher Ed Revolution Cometh
Robert Tracinski, a Charlottesville writer, provides a concise and incisive overview of how technology will disrupt — if not demolish – the reigning model of higher education in this article in Real Clear Markets. He makes many good points (some of which I’ve made myself), but this is one that struck me: The new medium…
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A Technological Nudge for Higher Ed
by James A. Bacon Washington venture capitalists Ted Leonsis and Steve Case have put money into Echo360, a Dulles-based software maker that converts college classroom lectures into a digital format that students can watch online. They made what they described as a “significant new investment” through their Revolution Growth Fund. “Technology has had a transformative…
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Virginia Transportation Priorities as Out of Date as the Rotary Phone
by James A. Bacon Memo to the McDonnell administration, the General Assembly and Virginia Free (see previous post): Virginia’s transportation policies are based on totally outdated assumptions. I’ve been banging that drum for several years now, but don’t believe me. Even the Washington Post has caught on. Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in the United States…
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How Robots in Parking Garages Can Advance New Urbanism
Robotics and information technology are migrating off the factory floor and appearing in the most remarkable places. Boomerang Systems, an exhibitor at the Congress for the New Urbanism conference last week, outfits garages with automated parking systems. In projects where construction costs are high or land is valuable, it can make economic sense for property…
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How Smart Buildings Will (Indirectly) Shape Human Settlement Patterns
by James A. Bacon I had one overriding question when I came to the Niagara Summit: Will the new investment driven by cutting-edge Building Automation technology have an influence upon human settlement patterns? More specifically, will the technology of smart buildings make existing commercial buildings so obsolete that it will make sense to tear them…
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M2M, Big Data and Energy Conservation
by James A. Bacon The movement to squeeze more energy costs from commercial and industrial buildings in the United States has only begun to fulfill its potential. That’s the dominant impression I have so far from attending the biennial Niagara Summit here in Las Vegas. This conference brings together scores of players, from giants like…
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Bacon on the Job: Boning up on Smart Buildings
Here I am in sunny Las Vegas, actually doing work. I’m attending the biennial Niagara Summit organized by Richmond-based Tridium, where my wife works as financial director. Niagara is a software platform for connecting distributed devices — sensors, monitors, control devices — that work behind the scenes in an increasing number of the things we…
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The Emerging Education Paradigm: Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium
There are no professors in Virginia Tech’s largest classroom, the Math Emporium, writes Daniel De Vise with the Washington Post, only “a sea of computers” and a staff of instructors who roam the lab and dispense assistance as needed. Welcome to the brave new world of higher education, in which 8,000 Tech students a year…
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The Drones in our Future
By Peter Galuszka The backyard of my house in the piney woods of southern Chesterfield County is shaped like a half moon surrounded by very tall and skinny loblollies and gum trees. It faces north and can be a good place for aircraft watching. I live maybe 20 miles as the crow flies from Ft.…
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Academic Freedom Requires Academic Accountability
Should public university faculty email be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act? So asks the Roanoke Times in dueling op-eds from David W. Schnare with the American Tradition Institute (ATI) and Kate Westcott with the American Association of University Professors. ATI sued the University of Virginia to gain access to the emails of a…