DCUM Weblog

Inspired by Josh Marshall at Talkingpointsmemo.com who just reported on browser usage on his website, I thought I'd do the same for DCUM. Marshall describes his audience as "more tech-savvy, Mac-using and affluent than the web at large". I think much the same can be said about DCUM users.

Over the past 30 days, Internet Explorer has accounted for 43% of visits. Safari comes second with 26%, and Firefox third with 23%. Chrome is a distant 4th with 7%. In comparison, Talkingpointsmemo.com's stats are "Firefox 34.50%, Explorer 26.63%, Safari 23.66% and Chrome 12.52%."

In terms of operating systems, Windows leads on DCUM with 66% of the visits. Macintosh takes second with 21%, iPhone third with 6% and iPad fourth with 2%. Somewhat surprising are the poor showing by Android and BlackBerry devices. Both lag the iPad with Android at 1.6% and Blackberry at .85%. Apple's iPod, coming it at .94%, actually beats the Blackberry. Macintosh and iOS devices combined make up just over 30% of the visits, about 5% less than Marshall sees.

Responsibility for losing the September 14, 2010 Democratic primary election for Mayor of the District of Columbia falls squarely on the shoulders of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. Fenty managed to squander the goodwill that led to his winning every single one of DC's precincts four years ago. But, I think there is another culprit as well. One that can easily be described in terms to which parents can relate. While Fenty may have been the perpetrator of his own demise, The Washington Post, especially its editorial board, contributed by playing the role of over-indulgent parents to a spoiled child.

Throughout Fenty's term, the Post has behaved as a parent who, despite a need to make constant amends for a child's transgressions, believes the child can do no wrong. Soon after Fenty took office, the Post was alerted to the fact that Fenty's Academic Plan for the schools had been largely plagiarized. The Post ignored the story until it was publicized elsewhere. When the Post's editorial page finally weighed in, it was mostly for the purpose of damage control. The idea that anyone should be punished for the plagiarism was dismissed.

As the mom of a four-year old girl who is physically disabled, I get asked a lot of questions about special needs kids.  People want to do the right thing, and most people are well-meaning.  So over time I’ve put together a kind of mental list of Do’s and Dont's.  The usual caveats apply --  I’m just one mom, and everyone has their own feelings and own style.

The question I get asked the most is usually something like “How can I support my friend who has a special needs child?”  Sometimes that friend has a newborn and has received a stunning and unexpected diagnosis.  Other times there is an older child for whom there are worries and fears in some physical or behavioral realm.  There can be a profound disability or a sense that something’s just not quite right.

This morning Harry Jaffe reported in the Washington Examiner that Joe Riener has been forced out as a teacher at Washington, DC's Wilson Senior High. Jaffe attributes this to flaws in DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee's IMPACT evaluation system. An anonymous DCUM Forums participant lamented the move in a very eloquent post. With permission of the author, that post is being republished here.

Oh no, this can't be!?!?

Mr. Riener is an outstanding teacher and his commitment to Wilson High School is unsurpassed.

During these past fifteen years, Mr. Riener has taught hundreds, perhaps thousands of students college level/quality writing skills. The vast majority of students who have graduated from Wilson during these years with the skills required to be successful in college have been taught by Mr. Riener. On an academic level the loss of Mr. Riener is a great tragedy for Wilson.

In the United States, 1 in 3 mothers have had to cut back on food in order to provide diapers for their children, according to a new study.

The study was conducted among a nationally representative sample of mothers with babies 0-4 years old in diapers in the United States and Canada (1,513 mothers in the U.S. and 1,008 mothers in Canada).  The Every Little Bottom  study was conducted by Abt SRBI Inc. and commissioned by Kimberly-Clark and Huggies diapers. Study findings included:

• 1 in 3 mothers in the U.S and 1 in 5 mothers in Canada have had to cut back on household necessities such as groceries, heat and electricity, or miss bill payments, in order to to provide diapers for their babies.

When I get the chance, I like to review cars with an eye toward their suitability for families. Rather than go for the obvious SUV and minivan contenders, I tend toward sportier, city-friendly vehicles. I may be one of the few people to seriously argue that a MINI Cooper is a fine family car for those in urban environments. With that potentially grain-of-salt-inducing caveat, I'm taking a look at a somewhat larger vehicle. I recently spent some time with a 2010 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sport Sedan. It's a good, but not exactly great car.

From the outside, the C300 has many of the classic M-B lines that one would expect. The design works for me. The interior is much the same. The quality of the materials seems good, layout is fine. But, nothing leaps out to set the car apart from from the herd.