The Great Leap Forward

Assault on a teacher in Philly.

A teacher in the Philadelphia area confiscated an iPod from a student. He got two broken vertebrae for his troubles:

A popular Germantown High School teacher suffered a broken neck Friday during a scuffle with students over a prohibited electronic device. The teacher could have surgery as early as Monday.

The alleged incident happened just before noon after math teacher Frank Burd confiscated an iPod from a 11th grade member of his class.

Following class, authorities said the 17-year-old student and a 15-year-old freshman then assaulted the teacher in the hallway, knocking him to the ground.

"One student pushed the teacher, the teacher fell over, he suffered a gash on his face and broke two bones in his neck," said Paul Vallas, School District of Philadelphia CEO.

It's things like this that make me glad I left my urban school because I could see some of my kids doing something like this.

Anyone remember the Poster Children?

Well, they're still alive and kicking in Champaign, IL. Rick and Rose have started a podcast called Radio Zero.

Poster Children web site

[thanks to Bradley's Almanac]

I walked away.

I didn't go to work today. As a matter of fact, I'm never going back and I won't regret it one bit. I turned in my letter of resignation over the break. I had already cleaned out my storage closet because I knew I wouldn't return.

I came to the realization over the winter break that I was putting my career, my teaching license and my physical safety on the line every day and that was too big of a risk to take for someone who intends to teach for the next 20-25 years. Should anything really bad happen in my classroom, I would be held 100% accountable by the school's administration. Principal Dumbass will throw any one of us teachers under the bus to save her reputation.

I was also turning into an asshole with no self-respect, taking crap from and being ignored by children who have no idea how utterly screwed they are.

I went on an interview last Friday for a leave replacement job. Second interviews are this week. Hopefully, I'll make the cut. It's a nice district.

By the way, my AP is leaving as well in mid-March. He's transferring to a school in the same neighborhood as Shitty School.

This is really for the best - I'm certain of it. Even better - Kim supports my decision completely.

O Positive - Home sweet head - Tracks 1-3.

O Positive's largely unheard Home sweet head is next on the H2FCD menu. Going for $50 on Amazon. I found my $4 copy at RRRecords in Lowell, MA, which is hilarious considering that O Positive listeners are not exactly RRR's target market. Anyway, here goes...

01. O Positive - Hey Dave

02. O Positive - Fire

03. O Positive - Is it?

All Over The Place - HomegrownRadioNJ.com - 23 Feb 2007 (#40).

AOTP - Feb 23 - Part 1 [80 min - David Byrne to Ray LaMontagne]

AOTP - Feb 23 - Part 2 [80 min - Depeche Mode to Chic]

Xymox	A day	Clan of Xymox	4AD	12:55 AM
Chic	My forbidden lover	The definitive groove collection	Atlantic/Rhino	12:46 AM
Styx	Too much time on my hands	Gold	A&M/Chronicles	12:42 AM
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Dani California	Stadium arcadium	Warner Bros.	12:37 AM
Mike Doughty	Busting up a Starbucks	Haughty melodic	ATO	12:33 AM
Pete Yorn	Maybe I'm right	Nightcrawler	Red Ink/Columbia	12:30 AM
The Proclaimers	The one who loves you now	Restless soul	Persevere/Redeye	12:27 AM
Lucinda Williams	Fancy funeral	West	Lost Highway	12:23 AM
Lucinda Williams	Rescue (demo)	West (bonus disc)	Lost Highway	12:13 AM
Statuesque	Low Witch Road	7"	Meddle	12:07 AM
The Clientele	When you and I were young	The violet hour	Merge	12:03 AM
Fantastic Something	The night we flew out the window	Fantastic Something	blanco y negro/WEA	12:00 AM
Kitchens of Distinction	The 3rd time we opened the capsule	Love is hell	A&M/One Little Indian	11:52 PM
Sound Team	Your eyes are liars	Movie monster	Capitol	11:49 PM
Blondie	Union City blue	Greatest hits	Capitol	11:46 PM
Scissor Sisters	I don't feel like dancin'	Ta-dah	Universal/Motown	11:42 PM
Martha and the Muffins	Several styles of blonde girls dancing	Danseparc	Current/RCA	11:37 PM
Depeche Mode	People are people	Some great reward	Reprise/Sire/Rhino	11:32 PM
Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie	Goodwill city	7"	Capitol	11:29 PM
Babyshambles	What Katy did next	Down in Albion	Rough Trade	11:24 PM
Ray LaMontagne	Be here now	Til the sun turns black	RCA	11:14 PM
U2	The unforgettable fire	The best of 1980-1990	Island	11:09 PM
Radio 4	Start a fire	Gotham!	Gern Blandsten	11:06 PM
Busted Statues	Red clouds	7"	Arf Arf	11:01 PM
The Langley Schools Project	In my room	MOJO presents In My Room	MOJO Magazine -  Jan 2007	10:54 PM
The Frames	God bless Mom	Dance the devil	ZTT/Universal	10:49 PM
Pernice Brothers	7:30	The world won't end	Ashmont	10:46 PM
Emmylou Harris	Save the last dance for me	Blue Kentucky girl	Warner Bros./Rhino	10:43 PM
Blue Rodeo	Sad nights	The days in between	Blue Rodeo	10:38 PM
Railroad Earth	Long way to go	Elko	SCI Fidelity	10:32 PM
Ben Folds	The luckiest	Ben Folds live	Epic	10:21 PM
Morlenbaum2/Sakamoto	Fotografia	A day	Sony Classical	10:18 PM
Faithless	Bombs	To all new arrivals	Sony BMG	10:12 PM
Brazilian Girls	All about us	Talk to la bomb	Verve Forecast	10:08 PM
David Byrne	Dialog box	Grown backwards	Nonesuch	10:03 PM

Today's feature artist: Idlewild.

In celebration of their new album, Make another world (released on April 3 in the US (March 6 for the digital version), March 5 elsewhere), here comes a slew of Idlewild videos, starting with the new one, "No emotion". The story at Pitchfork can be found here.

"No emotion":

"If it takes you home" (another new one!):

"Little discourage":

"A modern way of letting go":

"You held the world in your arms":

"Love steals us from loneliness":

"American English":

"Roseability":

"El Capitan":

"I understand it":

TGLF enters a quiet period.

Returning on Friday - enjoy your week. Here are some videos you haven't seen in a while:

Re-Flex - "The politics of dancing":

Q-Feel - "Heroes never die" :

The Church - "The unguarded moment":

 

Wire Train - "I'll do you":

Nick Lowe - "All men are liars":

But is it comedy?

This one was found through an open thread at Crooks And Liars. George Carlin tells the truth.

Unbelievable Truth - Sorrythankyou - Tracks 12-13.

12. Unbelievable Truth - I can't wait

13. Unbelievable Truth - Let it flow

That concludes Sorrythankyou.

Subscribe!

To keep up on the latest with TGLF and AOTP, try subscribing if you use an RSS reader. The feed is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheGreatLeapForward

Check the stinking badges on the right side of this page. We currently have badges for:

Newsgator, My Yahoo!, Feedster, Bloglines, Newsburst, Rojo, Google, Podnova, Alesti, Pluck, Netvibes, and the most recent addition, Feedshow.