Saturday, March 29, 2025

Competency Based Education: Fred Bramante Has a Dream for our Public Schools.


The Radical Centrist Podcast
Competency Based Education: Fred Bramante Has a Dream for our Public Schools.





Fred Bramante Has a Dream. . . 

Public schools so exciting and effective that no one would want to send their children anywhere else.

Listen to the podcast here: 

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Watch on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/1vg54ZSfTrQ

For generations, the American system of education has been run on what noted NH Educator and reformer Tony Wagner of Holderness, NH, calls the Carnegie method, measured by seat time and grade. Today, both Bramante and Wagner are at the forefront of an educational philosophy built around the belief that public schools need to refashion themselves around the competency of the students they produce. 

Bramante has, in fact, been the leading force in New Hampshire for designing standards for public schools built on a 21st-century learning model where students receive a diploma from High School that is a measurement of their competency and often includes additional career credentials or certifications, helping to assure their success in the working world or to advance (and reduce the cost of) a college degree, all built around the interests that make them passionate about becoming life-long-learners and vigorously participating in the civic life of their community. Effectively making schools a central point in community life. 

When asked to explain the difference between the old model of "teaching" and the new model of "learning" Bramante conveys a very effective picture:  "If you are learning to fly a plane," Bramante says, "you may get an A in taking off, an A in flying the plane after you level out, but if you get an F in landing, well you have a real problem!" A competency-based model requires that you have achieved competency in all the vital aspects of the task. 

In fact, the philosophy and the standards represent a far more seamless blending of education at every level where, often, high school students can be taking college-level classes for credit or training certification programs in anything from health care provision to welding and auto repair. Just as important, schools become, once again, a key component of creating a broader sense of community, bringing local businesses and nonprofits into the community to offer students Independent learning opportunities that allow students to explore areas of interest and - if it seizes their interest - to offer opportunities for building a ladder onto career opportunities. 



 

Images by Wayne D. King

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Vancouver Nights in Blue


Two Worlds Reach Out


Trusses and Light




Mooned by a Moose




Lone Moose on a Snowy Oxbow


About Wayne D. King: Author, podcaster, artist, activist, social entrepreneur and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published five books of his images, most recently, "New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high-voltage adventure to stop a private powerline as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon. He lives on the “Narrows” in Bath, NH at the confluence of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc Rivers and proudly flies the American, Iroquois and Abenaki Flags. His publishing website is: Anamaki.com.




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Calder in Blue




Whispering Pines in the Chapel of the Woods




A Glow in the Dells
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Alexandra in the High Sierras





Saturday, March 1, 2025

47% Rate Increase for Electric Transmission Proposed by Eversource, Kreis Warns. Episode 70

 


47% Rate Increase for Electric Transmission Proposed by Eversource, Kreis Warns.

House bills calls for abolition of Consumer Advocates office. Hearing March 5.

Here's what you can do.

47%. That is the increase that Everource is requesting before the PUC in their current rate case for the distribution part of their bill. 

But the folks at Eversource are doing their best to bury the lead in an avalanche of other fees in which the 47% is embeded. That's 47% over just a bit more than 2 years, well over the rate of inflation.

The bean counters at Eversource seem to think that they are due a 10.3% rate of return per annum on their investment for what effectively is one of the safest investments anyone can make. After all, it's a captive market. 

At the same time the legislature will also be hearing a bill to abolish the office of Consumer Advocate

"Ratepayers should not have to spend all their time trying to figure out whether they are being fairly charged on their bill. That's my job." Don Kreis


If you wish to weigh in on this question you can file written testimony via this portal:  https://gc.nh.gov/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx


Listen here

Watch on YouTube

Eversource Rate Case:  Revenge of the Economists


Matt Stoller column

Matt Stoller, among the nation’s most outspoken anti-monopolists, took on the electric industry recently.  “Electric utilities used to be some of the most technologically innovative corporations in America, allowing light to shine at night across cities and in homes with just a switch,” Stoller wrote, in a Substack post entitled “Power Moves: How Electric Utility Monopolists Broke Their Bargain with America.”


Ways to assume greater control over your utility costs.

Find out if you are in an area associated under the Community Power Coalition of NH.

If you live in a community that has a Community Power Aggregation program, check into the opportunity you have for purchasing your power through an aggregator. If not, you can also approach your municipal officials to encourage them to look into creating or joining a power coalition.

The future of utility reform will be waged on chipping away at the hegemony of big utility companies and Don says that the meter on your home should be the focal point to give consumers greater control over the power delivery and use. In fact Don says, Unitil - a New Hampshire company - is actually working to be a more customer-centric utility company including providing high-tech metering that enhances consumer control. 

What can consumers do?  House Bill 610 will be heard abolishing the Consumer Advocate's office. 9AM MARCH 5 before the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee. 

NHSaves.com as well as the office of Consumer advocate at OCA.NH.gov can also help you save money  by offering tips on ways for improving the efficiency of your home.  


To learn more about Community Power listen to my Podcast with Clifton Below, here.



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and make it possible to produce these podcasts without advertisements.

No room for a new piece of art? All these images are available as cards, mugs, puzzles, shower curtains, phone cases, clothing, totes, and more. Click here for merch.



Wisdom Begins in Wonder


A Glow in the Dells
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Alexandra in the High Sierras





Not in Russia Yet
  










Spirit Pony in a Franconia Dusk Framed Art Print




Spirit Pony in a Painted Dreamscape Clock





Circular Washline Squared
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Heron Gold



Autumn Expressionism 


Columbine Morning


Painted Highlander




Mr. B's Spirit




The Stone Arch Bridge, Hancock NH




Sunday, February 9, 2025

18 Months On: David Concannon looks back on the Oceangate Tragedy

18 Months On: David Concannon looks back on the Oceangate Tragedy 

EP 69



Listen here: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/18-months-on-david-concannon-looks-back-on-the/id1448723412?i=1000691227554

Watch on YouTube here: 

https://youtu.be/7Rk5jYRMb8g

Shownotes: 

https://centristchange.blogspot.com/2025/02/18-months-on-david-concannon-looks-back.html





18 Months On: David Concannon looks back on the Oceangate Tragedy 

Scheduled to be aboard the Titan, a business emergency sidelined David. Soon he was immersed in the efforts to help save the submersible. In this podcast David looks back 18 months to the tragedy and adds to the historic record. . . and he pulls no punches.

Since June 18, 2023 the tragedy aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible remains a topic of discussion in gathering spots everywhere. David Concannon, "The Sixth Passenger" on the ill-fated Titan submersible, was scheduled to be the "Titanic whisperer" (my words not his - aka the subject matter expert) aboard the Titan when a last-minute business conflict forced him to give up his spot on the vessel's voyage to the shipwreck.


In August of 2023 David recounted to Wayne the events that transpired after the Titan was launched with five souls and when communications were lost; he reflects on the loss of the crew and the submersible, the inept, opaque and feckless approach of the US authorities in the Coast Guard, and the US Navy, and the frustration and heartbreak of the outcome when it was finally revealed.


18 Months later David joins us again - with some benefit of hindsight - to talk about both the tragedy and the personal impacts on he, his family and others who were deeply affected by the implosion of the submersible.



David Concannon
Attorney, Explorer,
Partner Concannon & Charles
Founder of Explorer Consulting
Former General Counsel to the Explorer Club International
VP of the Explorers Club
Member of the Apollo 11, F-1 Engine Recovery Project with Jeff Bezos
Board Member Holt-Elwell Memorial Foundation, Camp Mowglis, School of the Open








Elephants in the Hourglass: A Journey of Reckoning and Hope Along the Himalaya Hardcover – January 7, 2025


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A moving and adventure-filled tale of one woman’s quest for the truth about endangered Asian elephants and their evolving relationship with humans.

Delving deep into an intricate web of unlikely heroes, power struggles, and living legends, 
Elephants in the Hourglass takes readers on an extraordinary journey of discovery. In her non-fiction debut, Kim Frank blends personal narrative, vivid descriptions, and meticulous research as she illuminates the ways we seek to survive on our rapidly changing planet.

Like Jane Goodall or Dian Fossey before her, Kim is a female explorer who found her life completely changed as she was drawn deeper and deeper into the plight of the remarkable Asian elephant. For Kim, once she learned about the intense, multi-faceted, but little-known conflict between humans and elephants in North India, she was unable to rest until she had learned more and told this story to the outside world.

This was a place and topic totally unknown to her. Up until that point, Kim was an ordinary mom and emerging writer. After a fraught divorce, she felt a need to recapture her own voice and expand her world, and so she set out to the Himalaya with the goal of telling a story worthy of 
National Geographic.

What Kim experienced would change her life. It is far from a black and white story where the good guys and bad guys are immediately obvious. Not in this world of displaced habitats, exploding population growth, migration, and climate change. Filled with unforgettable characters and encounters with one of the most sensitive, intelligent, and awe-inspiring creatures on the planet, 
Elephants in the Hourglass will inspire readers to pursue their goals and be a force for change in unexpected places.