Corporal punishment at a school in South Carolina:

According to school statistics, referrals to the principal's office have dropped 80 percent since 2006. So far this school year, there's been fewer than 50. "I've had parents say 'thank you for doing this'," says fifth-grade teacher Devada Kimsey. "And look at the behavior charts now—there's nothing on them."

Saving Africa. Or improving your corporate image. But hey, it's better than nothing.

This piece on global warming is full of quotable, uncomfortable lines. So I'm going to repeat all of them. First:

If you decline to write your own check while insisting that to save the world we must ditch the carbon, you are just burdening your already sooty soul with another ton of self-righteous hypocrisy. And you can’t possibly afford what it will cost to forgive that.

And then this:

Ostensibly green antinuclear activists unwittingly boosted U.S. coal consumption by about 400 million tons per year. The United States would be in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol today if we could simply undo their handiwork and conjure back into existence the nuclear plants that were in the pipeline in nuclear power’s heyday.

And this:

The oil nasties will celebrate the green war on carbon as enthusiastically as the coal industry celebrated the green war on uranium 30 years ago.

And finally, the conclusion:

Green plants currently pump 15 to 20 times as much carbon out of the atmosphere as humanity releases into it—that’s the pump that put all that carbon underground in the first place, millions of years ago. At present, almost all of that plant-captured carbon is released back into the atmosphere within a year or so by animal consumers. North America, however, is currently sinking almost two-thirds of its carbon emissions back into prairies and forests that were originally leveled in the 1800s but are now recovering. For the next 50 years or so, we should focus on promoting better land use and reforestation worldwide.

For Earth Day, some thoughts about crop yields, environmental impact, and genetic engineering.

About one percent of the stimulus package is allocated for high-speed rail. Christopher Beam says we should go directly for super-fast Japan-style trains:

Eventually, the United States could have a countrywide network of bona fide bullet trains. And as Obama likes to reiterate, no one said this would be easy. But upgrading our existing rail lines to support slightly faster trains doesn't bring that future any closer. In fact, it may postpone it. Instead of spending money making small upgrades to a flawed system, the government might get more mileage, so to speak, by starting from scratch.

But S.E. Kramer says exactly the opposite.

I wanted to link this, about sex selection and abortion in China, but didn't know what to say about it. I still don't know what to say about it, so that's all.

What you missed over the last forty-odd days:

How sailing works, explained by a mathematician. This article was the first time I understood tacking against the wind.

Think humans are successful because of our brains? Nope, it's our running ability.

Professors publish too much useless research and don't teach enough.