This article appeared on the army home page this morning.  The pictures are the best, especially the one with the dog.  Stetson hat to be new Army standard headgear

When I saw this on the news I was encouraged; better than chinese made berets. Too bad it turned out to be a joke, imho.

Yes, I think it is clearly imbued with symbolism of St. Patrick bringing Christianity to Ireland in lieu of paganism.  Whether St. Patrick had something to do with real-life snakes, I do not know.  One wonders how they could not be reintroduced into the isle over time.  I would think that the climate is fine for things such as garter snakes.

Daniel's post is spot on. Snakes, as you say, is likely a pagan symbol from the white and red dragons of the Celts... often tagged "worms" in the old times.

She just said, in blog form, what is the general discussion in every school staff room in the nation.

Isn't this how the whole "magnet school" thing got off the ground?

To some degree, however, the concept doesn't fly well in small rural counties (and we still have many of those nationwide) since there aren't enough kids to split them out by areas of talent or interest. Need to be comprihensive... something for all not pick an option. I taught in such a district and, when flavor of the month became AP classes, anything tech or vocational suffered.

You learn lots of math in woodshop or machine shop... just not formulas that have a red box around an "X" value at the end but a correctly proportioned bookcase or a bearning race that fits. Practical application is something we seem to be short on; we come up with a concept and hand it off to a tech to flesh-out and then ship it to the third world to produce (while we have folks just as capable as the thrid world sweat-shop types... but maybe not as hungry... no welfare in the third world). What's wrong with this picture?

It all goes back to the one-size-fits-all mentality getting confused with giving people choices… coupled with a confused need to “show the world” we have the best education system in the world, we are missing the point.Other countries are very selective about advancement in their educational systems and have alternate pathways readily available for those that aren't academically strong enough (or so inclined) to continue at any given point... trade and tech training are something we seem to be missing.The major point I'm hinting at is that in our zeal to provide everyone a quality education we don't... failing to understand that it isn't college for all. We score poorly in tests (against the rest of the world) because we test everyone... they test only those headed for higher education. The little French detective would say, "A clue!" Our I/C's in education need to get one.

I predict that if this law is enacted the ownership of Boston Terriers will skyrocket.  ;D

Indeed, welcome.Term papers over Christmas was the norm where I came from...  🙂

.... To me it smacks of a presumption of guilt on the part of all air travellers.

For me: better to profile and only assume the guilt of a portion of air travellers.