The Unlikely Buddha

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as The Nation's Report Card , is the closest thing to a national standardized proficiency test for grade school students in the US.  NAEP is a federally funded program administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). It is a nationally representative assessment of what elementary and secondary students in the United States know and can do in various subject areas, including reading, mathematics, and science. NAEP is not a mandatory test, and states and districts are not required to participate. However, many states and districts do participate in NAEP, and the results are used to inform educational policy and practice. NAEP is administered to a nationally representative sample of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. The assessments are designed to measure students' proficiency in a range of academic skills, from basic to advanced. NAEP results are reported as percentages of students performing at...

Jersey numbers have long been a part of the NFL, but in recent years, the league has allowed players to choose their own numbers. This has led to some interesting trends, especially among wide receivers. Wide receivers have traditionally worn numbers in the 80s, but since the NFL began allowing players to choose their own numbers in 2004, many wide receivers have switched to lower numbers, such as 10, 11, and 17. This is likely because wide receivers want to project an image of speed and agility, and lower numbers are often associated with these qualities. A recent study by UCLA psychology professor Ladan Shams supports this idea. Shams showed participants images of football players of various body types wearing different jersey numbers. The participants were then asked to rate the players' slenderness and speed. Shams found that participants consistently rated players wearing lower numbers as being thinner and faster. This suggests that wide receivers may be choosing lower numbers...

Over 300,000 refugees have fled Sudan to neighboring Chad in recent months, fleeing a brutal civil war that has killed thousands and displaced millions. The refugees, mostly women and children, are arriving in Chad exhausted, traumatized, and malnourished. The war in Sudan began in April 2023, when the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) clashed with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that had helped to overthrow the country's previous government. The fighting has been particularly intense in Darfur, a region in western Sudan that has been plagued by conflict for decades. Refugees from Sudan have described horrific scenes of violence and displacement. They have spoken of villages being burned to the ground, people being killed and raped, and families being forced to flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs. One refugee, a woman named Fatima, told a humanitarian worker that she had seen her husband and children killed by RSF soldiers. She said that she had fled her...

In the cosmic ballet, where stars waltz and swirl, A dancer emerges, dark and surreal. The black hole, a cosmic enigma, With gravity's grip, it pulls and claims. Matter dances to its siren song, Drawn into the void, where worlds belong. Stars collide, their cores ignite, In the black hole's embrace, they take flight. Time and space bend, reality twists, As the black hole's dance never quits. It spirals and churns, a cosmic vortex, Where matter and energy are forever locked. But what lies within, at the heart of the beast? A singularity, a cosmic feast? Or is it a gateway to another realm, Where the laws of physics are rearranged? The black hole's dance is a mystery, But its allure is undeniable. It's a cosmic artist, painting with light, A cosmic sculptor, shaping the night. So let us watch the black hole dance, And marvel at its cosmic trance. For it is a reminder of the universe's vastness, And the wonders that lie beyond our grasp. I step into the black hole...