New drug GNF6702 will cure millions - Los Angeles schools create dropouts - Happy Birthday John Oldham

Researchers have discovered a compound that can kill three awful parasites. The compound is code named GNF6702 and it cures Sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and Leishmaniasis - parasites that kill more than 50K men, women, and children every year and infect more than 20 million in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Read the story on BBC News

"L.A. Unified projects a record 75% graduation rate for Class of 2016"

The Los Angeles Unified School District - ie. the public school system - just announced that 75% of its high school students will graduate this year. They announced this disgraceful number with great glee, pointing out that last year only 72% of their high school students graduated.

In a field of a dozen or so First World countries that shameful number of grads puts America two from the bottom. Denmark, Japan, Finland, Germany and Poland all had graduation rates in the nineties! And the parents those countries didn't have to shell out their own money, and hold bake sales and lotteries to pay for teacher's salaries and supplies - as the parents of LA schools are often forced to do.

Even Canada - America's neighbor - clocked in with a graduation rate of 85%.

I couldn't find the number of students currently in the 12th grade this year but the LA Unified School District is responsible for a total of 650,000 students - kindergarten through 12th grade. So if we assume that 100K of those students are currently in 12th grade then a whopping 25K will be joining the job market without a high school diploma.

Cause for celebration?... I think not.

Read the story in the LA Times

 Happy Birthday John Oldham!

"Thy soul within such silent pomp did keep,
As if humanity were lull'd asleep;
So gentle was thy pilgrimage beneath,
Time's unheard feet scarce make less noise,
Or the soft journey which a planet goes:
Life seem'd all calm as its last breath.
A still tranquillity so hush'd thy breast,
As if some Halcyon were its guest,
And there had built her nest;
It hardly now enjoys a greater rest. "

A Quiet Soul by  John Oldham (9 August 1653 – 9 December 1683) - English satirical poet and translator

... Wikipedia