Has Dixie State University's Website Been Hacked?

As my Alma Mater pushes forward for a new university president, they are advertising on Facebook and other areas to encourage public participation in the new selection process.  Today I noticed that their link to Dixie.edu has an interesting description:

Actual Screen Capture from Facebook - 
I guess the President Requirements include Kamagra use?

I think their website code has some problems...don't you?  I have sent this on to them, but I think it is funny enough to post about it.

Using your standard view code option in my web browser I found this code in the dixie.edu news page. http://dixie.edu/news/news.php?id=1259

Not Good...someone hacked their code?

More Wasted Money in Utah Schools - Canyon School District Shelves New Books.

Columnist Paul Rolly today pointed in his column that Canyon School District just blew thousands of dollars in new text books for the 2014-2015 year.  How did they waste all this money?  Well apparently know one reviewed the new health textbooks when they were purchased and when they arrived they contained questionable material.  Weird since these were "Custom Canyon School District Editions."

No one read me before buying me!

What questionable material was inside these books.  Apparently the books talk about STD's in a way that is against Utah Law and District Policy.  Yeah, you heard that correctly.  The district purchased text books that violates their own policies and state law.  Regardless if you agree with the law or not; who ever is in charge of curriculum and purchasing over there is clueless to what they are doing. Oh and remember, they asked for a special edit.

So the solution!  Cut the pages out!  Yeah totally destroy any chance of resell or return; just rip those pages out.  Well these were custom editions so who knows if we could have sold them.

But then when the teachers reviewed it again...they hated that the summary was still in there about sexual orientation and practicing safe sex, etc.  So the end solution...shelve the books.  Word is maybe the will use them in the next year instead of 2014-2015; but I doubt they will ever be used.

According to the FCC report on textbooks and ebooks, Schools spend nearly $8 billion a year and average $250 to $1000 per student. Sounds like Canyon just blew a big chunk of change.

This coupled with the school lunch scandal, worries me who is running these schools.

We might as well just through cash in the trash along with little kids school lunches.

Update on The Lunch Room Scandal at Uintah Elementary

Screw Nutritional Guidelines for
Students, you ain't eatin'

As a follow up to the overreaching Godfather like powers the Nutrition Office has at the Salt Lake City School District (which we posted about last week), the School Board held their public meeting yesterday to discuss the bullying of 40 kids into coughing up lunch money.  The Salt Lake Tribune gave us a nice breakdown of this breakdown in basic department management.

According to Kelly Orton, the Nutrition Department Director, the district switched to a new billing system since, "it was difficult to get info from the old system and the new system is better at keeping costs down and is faster in processing payments."  Well apparently not!  We can't even get a list of who hasn't paid without giving the kids a lunch and then throwing it away.   The sunk costs in the negative publicity alone makes the old system sound like a Retina Macbook Air.  Not to mention they have now admitted many parents did not receive notices that they were even in the negative.  The old system had automatic email alerts for parents; apparently the new system didn't automatically transfer these settings and parents had to go in and setup e-alerts again.  Mr. Orton admittedly said, "the new system requires more effort to set that [e-alerts] up -- something of which parents were not aware."  In addition they now know many parents were not alerted or not properly alerted in the first place.  Most likely they failed to pin the bill to the kids shirt when they went home and mark them with a "Scarlet N" for negative.

Who created this system?  Seriously!  One of the first questions I would have asked when evaluating new software would have been, "Can we print a list of students who need to pay?"

if they don't take the kids lunch, 
they will be fired!

It also appears school nutrition officers are given absolute power to make discussions in the school since the principle wasn't even consulted on the decision to send kids to debtors prison with milk and an apple.  School Board members Michael Clara and Rosemary Emery cite a history of bullying from the school district to adhere to their evil commands which has lead us to this horrible event.  

Either they obey the Godfather or pay the price and I think this issue should go all the way to the top starting with the Superintendent and then the Nutrition Director.  They run their departments and they need to know what is going on in the field instead of playing candy crush behind doors.  Someone has given these orders to the foot solders to act this way.  I would expect more heads to roll on this national issue.

More resources about bullying and how to help can be found on the at this website: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/bullying/

El Salvador Presidential Election Results

In what was considered a peaceful election, the El Salvadoran people have come out in full force.  With an estimated 44% voter turnout the polls opened early on Sunday morning and went until 5 pm.  The final results show neither candidate earned the required 50% + 1% needed to take the presidency and so the top two candidates will move to second election in March.

As you can see above, FMLN came in with 48.92% giving a 10 point lead on ARENA.  This data holds true to the national polls that were done over the past two months and shows the country is leaning heavily towards FMLN.  Tony Saca, the real loser in this first round, now has the deciding power to endorse a candidate and push a large portion of his votes to one candidate or the other.

More importantly for this country was the dramatic changes in how the elections were controlled through media and technology.  The results were being tallied in real time on the election website and there was live coverage of polling locations and candid interview with top party officials.    Though it was no Tim Russert,  it was amazing to see the process unfold as this country pushed for democracy. A promise to have results up by 10 pm held true and brought a strong sense of legitimacy to the election and voting process.  I was impressed to see the country move towards these improvements to get information to the people.

The uphill battle of winning 10% more will be difficult for ARENA,  looking over all the 15 departments (aka states) ARENA only wins one - Cabañas.  This isn't good news for Quijano because this department is the smallest populated and one of the most impoverished.  Not to mention it is in one of the highest, coldest areas of the country.  Makes you wonder if they were the only ones who didn't know 100% what was going on.  ARENA will need to work no stop to win UNIDAD votes and turn this election, with FMLN winning 14 out 15 Departments many with a 10 point margin, this election is all but over before it starts.

The "Ley Seca" of El Salvador aka Election Prohibition

As El Salvador heads into the craziness of election weekend, the citizens are preparing to vote for their favorite candidate. The previous election boosted the power of social media; however this time more citizens have been able to tune into their first televised presidential debate as well as countless YouTube videos and more, creating more informed citizens. Since I work mostly with college students and more of the middle to upper class of El Salvador the overall feeling is none of the candidates really know what they are doing.  Head over to Tim's El Salvador Blog and read the document posted on the breakdown of the debate for the upcoming elections.  This will help you to see what I am talking about.  Outside of the city the talking points can easily get lost.  Have no fear if you are unsure who to vote for, the Ley Seca is here to help you make a smart decision.

Courtesy of Elsalvador.com

El Salvador has a Prohibition on Alcohol during all elections lasting from Midnight Saturday morning to Monday. This interesting law essentially means the following:

1. No one can sell or distribute any alcoholic drinks during the black out period.  The also they all must be covered up or moved from their location.  Makes the Zion Curtain of Utah sound great huh?
2. If you are drunk you can not vote, and you will be given a fine.
3. If you are caught selling alcohol you will be fined or if you continue to do so after being fined you can have your business sanctioned or shut down.
4. If you are throwing your own party, police can intervene and confiscate any open alcohol.  No fines will be charged.

Fines range from $111 to $1,150 US dollars.  So if you are planning on drinking to celebrate or to just watch the Super Bowl this Sunday, do it at home and be quiet!  The idea is to avoid any drunken public protests or violence and to make sure everyone is sober upon voting.  Looking at the candidates and watching the debate many El Salvadorans have told me they wish they could be drunk when they vote.

The Godfather at Uintah Elementary Takes Kids Lunch and Throws it Away

The Tribune today had a shocking article on Uintah Elementary and their bizarre decision to give kids school lunch and then take it away and throw it in the trash.

Is this the Uintah Elem Kitchen Manager 
asking for a favor from the Nutrition Manager? 
"I want them to suffer as I have suffered Godfather"

Apparently Uintah Elementary (in SLC not South Ogden) has been having troubles in their collections department and have not been able to get a number of parents to respond to requests to pay.  So they called in the Godfather of school lunches (aka the Nutrition Manager) to humiliate children in front of their peers to drive compliance.  According to school officials their antiquated school lunch computer system only tells you if the child is behind if they actually come to get lunch (how they were able to pull the info to send notices home or a bill, I am not sure).  Once the child received their lunch, it was quickly taken and thrown away because, "once a lunch is served it can not be given to another child."  Some parents are now claiming they were never notified or were full paid up.  So is their computer even working?

You don't have any money so we will waste more money
to prove a point.  Now sit down and drink your milk!

Don't worry these kids were not sent out in the cold left to starve in their humiliation.  The Godfather authorized for them to have fruit and milk, which apparently is free to eat in debtors prison.  If I were a kid in elementary and were told to my face my parents didn't pay the bill and then the lunch was taken and thrown away I would have been destroyed internally and my friends would have torn me to bits.  Word is the Godfather told kids in front of their peers "you don't have any money...go get a milk."

I hope you can all envision the meeting where this decision was made.  Their must have been so much anger and hate towards these kids and parents that not only were they willing to waste this food and money they wanted to send a clear message.  Desk pounding and pencils must have been thrown.  Foaming at the lips and curse words were said.  Then the Nutrition Manager channeled her inner Al Pacino Godfather and decided to wipe out the five families in one single swoop. You don't, pay your kid will be ruined.  I am surprised the parents didn't find their prized pet's heads in the sheets when they woke up in the morning.

I am glad these children are learning early about personal finance and what it is like to have your lunch repossessed.  I am surprised Uintah didn't have a repo man right there with a gun ready to steal the lunch if they tried.   According to the Tribune, some lunch ladies even wept as they saw these kids being put through this terrible ordeal.  The Godfather of food can be so mean these days.

Gotta Love Public School!  Salt Lake City School district has since posted an apology that they realized their Nutrition Manager may or may not have screwed up.

See KSL's follow up on this story as well.

Absurd to say the least... Here is the list of the Child Nutrition Staff including Director Kelly Orton feel free to give him a call.

Why We Must Solve the Utah Pollution Problem Now.

I just returned from a three week trip to my beloved home state of Utah.  It was wonderful to see family and friends after a two year break and see all that Utah has to offer.  The roads, for once, were not under construction, the cold air and snow were the same as always and we were happy to be there.  As we drove up the freeway from the airport, the signs along I-15 alerted all travelers of the need to carpool, the air was bad, we should avoid driving if possible, etc. I remembered, I didn't miss the bad air of Utah.

Photo Credit - University of Utah

My wife and one of my kids has asthma.  When they run or do anything outside they would need an inhaler.  Our child was in the doctors office nearly ever three weeks for his first two years of life due to his breathing issues.  I personally am known to get a horrible hacking cough every year that lasts for months.  The cough was so loud it sounded like a dog was barking and had to take prescription cough drops to slow it down.  I have never put much thought into the these breathing issues until I moved to Latin America.

The cars here are worse and pollute more, plus there are about 1,000 more buses (all rejects from American Schools) that pump nothing but carbon monoxide into the air all day.  You would think San Salvador would have more pollution; but the geography of the San Salvador, humidity and rain cause the air to wash out faster than we would see in Salt Lake City or Ogden.  The majestic mountains of Utah hold the dirty air in like a dark blanket and causes Utah politicians to pray for rain. 

After about 10 days, I noticed my families old aliments began to return, even my cough was creeping in.  My newest children felt the affects, their last days they began with the same cough and asthma issues my wife and children had.   I didn't realize the fullness of this until I returned home.  With in hours I felt I could breath again and was happy to be home and my family began to heal.

The Salt Lake Tribune recently ran an Op-Ed from Dr. Brian Moench, President of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, where he brings to light the bad air issues of Utah.  The piece compares Utah's problems to Mexico in the 1990s and how the country has cut in half their pollution issues.  Yet our Governor's response to these issues simply to ask for better weatherman or to hope for rain.  The Utah State Legislature is hoping for more storms to clean out the constant inversion and the people of Utah continue to suffer.  

When our news media has to advise small children and elderly to not leave their house, then we have a serious problem on our hands. According to Dr. Moench and a number of articles I have been reading regarding Mexico; there are a number of major changes that can be done to improve the situation.

Republicans, which I am one, may not like the idea of pushing more regulation or change, but we are to the point where Utah needs to make a change.  

As my wife and I contemplated this situation we see in Utah, we don't see how we could return until things improve or even a plan to improve is implemented beyond electronic signs and prayer for better rain.  As the international community proclaims us to be one of the most polluted cities in the world (comparable to Beijing, China) and we continue to hit Top 10 lists for pollution, how can legislators and our own Governor stand by, joke about the situation and not begin to create lasting solutions.  Why must we change, for our children! We are headed for 1,000 deaths a year that Mexico experienced in 1992.  In 2013 there were 215 traffic deaths and we spend millions on the Zero Fatality program, but do relatively nothing for pollution that can kill thousands. Maybe spend less time on message bills and frivolous legislation and enact change for the sake of our children.

It could take more than 20 years, but the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.