Raw milk and our children’s future

October 19, 2012 — xanthippa

Raw milk symposium coming up in British Columbia:

‘Cowshare Canada presents the Fourth Annual International Raw Milk Symposium: Milk and our Children’s Future. The event will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2012, 8:30 am – 5:45 pm at the Delta Hotel near the Vancouver, International Airport. It is open to the public.

The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), a U.S. based nutrition education non-profit is co-sponsoring the event. Sally Fallon Morell, WAPF founder and president, will speak on the superior body building and immune building properties of raw milk baby formula. Morell is widely credited for bringing about a resurgence of interest in farm-fresh milk with her science-based approach to educating parents about good nutrition.

Dr. Robert W. Buckingham, executive director of the School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan will give the keynote address, Bridging Government Policy and Freedom of Choice, and in another session will explore ways to find common ground on the issue.’

Think about it…

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Slate: Free Online Education Is Now Illegal in Minnesota

October 19, 2012 — xanthippa

Free courses online are a great equalizer:  sure, you won’t earn a degree by taking free classes over the internet, but you can gain an education without the crippling cost associated with earning a degree.  And, after all, it is the education and knowledge you have that you can apply in your daily life that will improve your situation, regardless of a piece of paper.

Yet, if you are in Minnesota, this avenue to self-improvement may be closed to you.

Yet another way government bureaucracies are limiting your life choioces!

‘The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the state has decided to crack down on free education, notifying California-based startup Coursera that it is not allowed to offer its online courses to the state’s residents. Coursera, founded by Stanford computer science professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, partners with top-tier universities around the world to offer certain classes online for free to anyone who wants to take them. You know, unless they happen to be from Minnesota.

…

The law’s intent is to protect Minnesota students from wasting their money on degrees from substandard institutions, Roedler says.

…

The thing is, no one is wasting their money on Coursera courses, because they’re free. (Yes, says Roedler, but they could still be wasting their time.)’

Yeah…really?!?!?

UPDATE:

UPDATE, Oct. 19, 7:07 p.m.: Common sense has indeed prevailed! Minnesota has decided to stop enforcing an outdated law that had led to Coursera telling the state’s residents they weren’t allowed to take its free online classes. For more, see my follow-up post here.

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