The World's Simplest Cloud Bookmarker

I just discovered Saved.io today and really like it to bookmark your favorite webpages.  If you just want to bookmark urls and nothing more this is an awesome site for you.  All you need to do is to type a category before "saved.io" and then the url and it will create a new category.  It is that simple.  Watch the video above to see the actual steps. 

More Gerrymandering

Here is a great map generated by the WashPost where they have come up with a "gerrymandered index with the highest scores being the most gerrymandered.  Essentially the WashPost generated the score from seeing how far from a circle the districts are.   If you want to see a more even handed group of districts look at this previous post or this FairVote site.   

Net Neutrality & Democracy

Net neutrality is one of those issues that not everyone understands, but is a great issue to discuss in government class.  In fact it might be what I open my government class with next fall as it would be an interesting discussion to contrast the needs of large companies versus new start-ups.   The FCC today voted 3-2 to move towards possibly ending a neutral Internet meaning some groups would be able to pay to make sure their "packets" get to the user faster than another group.  This article explains it, but also mentions that even if the rules remain as they are right now, that Internet providers still will probably use the courts in their attempt to get their way.  By the way, the public always gets to voice their opinions online and this is potentially a very important issue.

The two videos explain why net neutrality is so important.  

Leadership PACs

This is from 60 minutes last night and discusses leadership PACs and how members of Congress can work around lobbying rules.  It is a very interesting 15 minutes and even includes discussion how some members pay their family members from PAC donations - all within the law. 

How the Federal Reserve Works

This is a great video on both the history of the Federal Reserve and also the tools it uses to try and keep the US economy sound.  I an also putting it on the new Economics Teachers Blog which now has a number of posts that you might want to check out if you teach economics.  I will also be posting there and there all summer.  Of course summer, for me, doesn't start until June 25th and then the following week I teach my summer online economics course! 

An Electoral Map Without Gerrymandering

Vox is a great news site in line with 538 as innovative.  You will also be seeing more of it on our new Economics Teachers Blog which now has lots of posts for those teaching that growing field.

Well we all know that even if you push gerrymandering to the courts to decide judges are appointed by elected officials or run for office so even there we would see some partisanship.  Well this Vox article talks about a math PhD and an engineer who joined together to create an algorithm to that cuts a state in half, by population, and then half again, until it has the requisite number of House districts.  It needs work as it doesn't account for natural boundaries, historic neighborhoods and don't worry about trying to balance out political parties.  But it is an interesting first step.

More to the point for you the teacher, it brings up ways to consider alternatives to our gerrymandered system.   But, at least according to political scientists, it also brings up the question as to what can be done about the fact that political scientists say that the real problem is not gerrymandering, but incumbency - meaning that after the first re-election it is almost impossible to get rid of an incumbent even with gerrymandering  

CSPAN Review for AP Government

Dan Larsen and Andrew Conneen do a great CSPAN AP US Government review each year a few days before the AP exam.  Larsen is a question leader at AP Government.  Above is their 2013 review and here are the other past ones.  I will get back to you shortly on the date of this year's live review when your students can call in and get questions answered.

You can watch this year's edition on Saturday May 10th from 9:15 to 10 AM EST on CSPAN.

Midterm Elections Predictions

The WashPost has some new statistical based maps for the 2014 midterm elections.  It is based on previous polls with the latest ones receiving more weight.  Here are the Senate predictions and here are the House.  Both give the edge to the Republicans.

Boko Haram SItuation

With the AP Comparative exam next week the video above of the situation with the kidnapped girls in Nigeria by the Boko Haram and a few words from Goodluck Jonathan may serve as a way to review the problems in northern Nigeria.  Here is the entire NYTimes article and the video below is the Boko Haram leader who is looking to marry off the kidnapped girls between the ages of 9-12.  

Quizlet Adds Voice Recording

Quizlet, already a great review app, now lets you record your own voice and put recordings on your review cards.  For those who are auditory learners this will be a great help to the main great features, flash cards, games, timed races, etc. that are already features of Quizlet. 

Boundless Government Textbook

I just discovered Boundless which has twenty-four different textbooks and is not married to the concept of pages (thankfully).  One of the subjects is government (they call it political science, but they have labeled it incorrectly).  It is a great "book" on the subject and even has several multiple choice questions on each topic.  If you sign up you can even get free PowerPoints. 

New Blog in the Family

Ever since I started teaching Economics and Personal Finance last summer I have been asked to start a new economics' blog, but not wanting to do it entirely myself I have resisted until recently. But colleague Rich Hoppock has promised to be a contributor and I have another person in mind as well so I am going to give it a go especially since I am adding AP Econ to my classes next year and it will force me to do more preparation for my students.  I already have up four posts which you can see if you go to the new blog which is here.

Koch Brothers: Bad and Good!

The Koch brothers are taking multiple hits from the Democrats today.  As you can see from the Fix's video above, the Senate was open seven minutes before Reid (D-NV) attached them today.  If you live in the DC area you know that the Smithsonian is closing its dinosaur which I loved as a kid and have taken my own children too as adults.  Interestingly enough it is the same "evil Kochs" who are completely funding the new $35 million exhibit which will take five years to build.  

Kahn Academy Micro and Macroeconomics' Videos

If you like the videos made by Sal Kahn then here are all of his videos for micro and macro economics.  Above is one example of his work on price elasticity.

For my money Andrew Foos' videos on Microeconomics are better, though.  

Sample Size of 1000

Thanks to Rich Hoppock for finding this NYTimes article.  It looks at the fairly standard sample size and tells us why it is a great indicator of 310 million Americans feelings.  It is nice and short and good background for the topic in your class.