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Des Moines school will pay students to learn

Girish Verma — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:40:31 +0000

Des Moines’ only alternative high school hopes to boost graduation rates with an idea that has triggered controversy nationwide: Pay students to perform.

Teacher Anita Dutta intends to launch a “learn and earn” program at Scavo Campus in which students would be paid, for example, $1 a day for attendance, $10 for timely completion of a class, $20 to enroll in an advanced course and more at graduation.

Top 10 CSS Table Designs

Girish Verma — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:30:52 +0000

Tables got to be one of the most difficult objects to style in the Web, thanks to the cryptic markup, amount of detail we have to look over to, and lack of browser compatibility. A lot of time could be wasted on a single table although it’s just a simple one. This is where this article comes in handy. It will show you ten most easily implemented CSS table designs so you can style your tables in a zap!

Another Hard Landing for Russia?

Girish Verma — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:52:59 +0000

Russia’s victory in Georgia is payback for years of geopolitical irrelevance, for Moscow’s retreat from Eastern Europe and from the Soviet Union, for Western finger-wagging at Russian transgressions at home and abroad. Russia is back: Its gross domestic product has increased from $200 billion in 1999 to $1.2 trillion in 2007. Moscow has more money from oil and gas exports than it knows what to do with.

Olympics: Yang Wei Gets Gold in Men's Gymnastics Alll-Around

Girish Verma — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:41:57 +0000

Yang Wei clapped as he walked past the vault
judges, pumped his fists at the crowd and flashed a thumbs-up for the cameras. He even exchanged high-fives with the competition.

Denied in Sydney and disappointed in Athens, he is finally an Olympic champion after winning the men’s all-around Thursday. It wasn’t close, either. Yang finished with 94.575 points, nearly three points ahead of Japan’s Kohei Uchimura. Benoit Caranobe of France won the bronze.

Decade has had fewest 90-degree days since 1930

Girish Verma — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:34:51 +0000

August is the wettest and often the muggiest month of the year. Yet, summer heat continues in short supply, continuing a trend that has dominated much of the 21st Century’s opening decade. There have been only 162 days 90 degrees or warmer at Midway Airport over the period from 2000 to 2008. That’s by far the fewest 90-degree temperatures in the opening nine years of any decade on record here since 1930.

This summer’s highest reading to date has been just 91 degrees. That’s unusual. Since 1928, only one year—2000—has failed to record a higher warm-season temperature by Aug. 13.

Suskind: Bush ordered fake letter linking Iraq to 9/11

Girish Verma — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:21:20 +0000

A blockbuster new book from investigative journalist Ron Suskind adds another revelation to the growing canon demonstrating the lengths to which President Bush and members of his administration lied, misled and deceived the American people to...

Microsoft proves you ARE just six degrees of separation from anyone in the world

Girish Verma — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:16:30 +0000

It’s one the world’s most celebrated theories – that it takes just six steps to link any two people on the planet.

Person A would have danced at a ball with B, who once shared a flat with C who bought a bicycle from D... and so on.

Now a few computer whizzes have put the theory to the test and found that it is true – almost

Personal Health Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions

Girish Verma — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:44:55 +0000

When Howard D. Schultz in 1985 founded the company that would become the wildly successful Starbucks chain, no financial adviser had to tell him that coffee was America’s leading beverage and caffeine its most widely used drug. The millions of customers who flock to Starbucks to order a double espresso, latte or coffee grande attest daily to his assessment of American passions.

The TireGauge Solution: No Joke

Girish Verma — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:39:21 +0000

How out of touch is Barack Obama? He’s so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled “Barack Obama’s Energy Plan” to Washington reporters.

Rumors Abound About Potential for Life on Mars

Girish Verma — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:03:21 +0000

Rumors are flying this weekend that Mars Phoenix has made a major discovery relating to the potential for life on Mars.

Wired.com reached Sam Kounaves, the mission’s wet chemistry lab lead, by cell phone this morning. He quickly directed us to speak with NASA’s PR representatives, but not before he said, simply, “Rumors are rumors.”