Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017): Documentary of how a small family bank in Chinatown became the only US bank the govt prosecuted for mortgage fraud during banking crisis. The only one. Besides the injustice, movie provides insight into Chinese-American community. B+

POTD: Add Some Color to the Skyline

From 2018 01 23 Panama Canal

Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Biomuseo in Panama. a museum desiged by Frank Gehry, showcasing Panama's natural and cultural history. Three million years ago, rocks rose creating the isthmus of Panama. The resulting land bridge joining North and South America allowed species exchange. Simultaneously, species exchange between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was blocked. The museum tells the story of the significance of Panama to the history of life on the planet. And for the casual passerby in a cruise ship, the museum provides a splash of color to the monotonous gray color palette of the Panama City skyline.

A bonus photo after the jump.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Avengers: Infinity War (2018): More like Infinity Cast. Full of deaths, resurrections, near-deaths, and scratches. Needs less over-the-top acting and more self-aware pop culture references. I did not see ending coming, but in hindsight, it's brilliant. C+

Metadata and Education

I understand the benefits of metadata collection. I want to know what school children who are failing have in common so that by targeting that, maybe I can have more children succeed. Is it the school, the teacher, socioeconomics, health, language, etc. If you look at one child's academic results, it's difficult to understand why that child is failing. But if you look at dozens or hundreds or thousands of children's results, patterns emerge that can be used to pinpoint the source the problem and suggest ways to improve teaching methods.

But I also understand that metadata collection and analysis is unpopular in some circles. I'm not unsympathetic to some of their concerns.

Repeat Tweets: Nasi Mexi-Goreng

Repeat tweets from April, 2018:

• Apr 1 2018: The closest these Texans came to having a traditional Easter dinner in Jakarta was having quesadillas and something called Nasi Mexi-Goreng.
• Apr 3 2018: Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017): Aging civil rights lawyer has trouble fitting into modern legal system. Vehicle for Denzel Washington and he is superb, but character overwhelms story. C+
• Apr 4 2018: Justice League (2017): Only as much plot as needed to give each superhero his or her time in front of the camera. With wisecracks. I guess the Flash stands out as most interesting character but that isn't saying much. C-
• Apr 5 2018: Coco (2017): Oscar for animated feature. Boy travels to land of the dead in search of his gg-grandfather. Sweet tale about power of music and family. More music please. B-

After the jump, more repeat tweets.