Coding Is Fundamental

STEM Reality Check: 1 in 5 Americans is Illiterate

Zora Ball is Young, Gifted and Black

Sometimes good news does sell. The story of the first-grader who developed a mobile video game has gone viral.

Seven-year-old Zora Ball is a student at Philadelphia’s Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School. Her teacher, Tariq Al-Nasir, told CBS Philly:

She was given very basic information. She transformed her screen into a nail salon! She found a picture of a ballerina, she found a picture of a jewel, and then another picture of a vampire. The game she created is called “Vampire Diamonds,” and the object is to get the diamond and avoid the vampire.

Little Zora, the youngest computer programmer in the country, was recently featured at an event hosted by STEM evangelist will.i.am. Awesome!

Obama Shows Natural Gas Industry Some Love

On the eve of the first anniversary of Act 13, a small group of protesters lined up in Philadelphia’s LOVE Park and said no way to hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking.

Signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett on Feb. 14, 2012, Act 13 cleared the way for unconventional (horizontal) drilling. The Marcellus Shale law established environmental protections and imposed impact fees on drilling companies. The most controversial provision placed strict limits on local governments’ authority to enact zoning ordinances that regulate where and when oil and gas development may occur.

As the legal challenge plays out in the court, the Marcellus Shale play is powering a brighter future for the nation.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama recognized the impact of innovations in the natural gas industry:

Today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy. After years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar — with tens of thousands of good American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before — and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen.

[…]

Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. And that’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. That’s got to be part of an all-of-the-above plan. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and our water.

Will there be a moratorium on shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania? No fracking way.

Fracking Truth in Pennsylvania

The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” In their campaign to ban hydraulic fracturing, opponents of fracking conflate opinion with fact.

And sometimes they just make stuff up. Exhibit A: This action alert from Food & Water Watch.

I live a short walk from the Community College of Philadelphia. This DC-based group is so concerned about “our community” that it couldn’t even bother taking a photo of a real CCP student. Instead, it used a stock photo of a generic college student. What else are they faking?

Fact is, nearly 74 percent of CCP’s students are minority; African Americans represent approximately 57 percent of the total enrollment.

Fact: The nation’s overall unemployment rate is 7.9 percent. The black unemployment rate is 13.8 percent. In Philadelphia, the jobless rate is 11.1 percent. A whopping 50 percent of black men are unemployed. So, rather than blow smoke about alleged water contamination, Food & Water Watch should shed light on those “jobs in stable industries that will stick around.” Where are they?

In his second inaugural address, President Obama noted that new technologies in the energy sector “will power new jobs and new industries.” Those new technologies include fracking. The CCP Energy Training Center is preparing underserved minorities for the jobs of the future.

In a press release, CCP President Stephen M. Curtis, PhD said:

Our region is home to the largest refinery on the East Coast, which is adding jobs and expanding the base of businesses that work in the energy supply chain. The Center positions the College to support regional partners in identifying the skills training and education required to fill the sector’s vacant positions and increase workforce readiness.

Curtis added:

With energy jobs so readily available, leading companies need workers with specialized technical skills, as well as frontline employees equipped to handle daily tasks such as accounting, bookkeeping, sales, office management and customer service. The goal is to support the supply chain now serving energy companies and offer specialized career training that connects residents to the high-pay, high-demand career paths.

Oh, the horror! If the folks at Food & Water Watch had visited the college, they would know that CCP’s mission is to put students on “the path to possibilities.” It is, after all, hanging from the banner on a light pole.

Facts are stubborn things. In the next few weeks, I will launch a website where I will curate fact-based news and information about shale gas developments in Pennsylvania. To receive notice when the site is live, send me an email.