The Rubber Room

Steven Brill writes in the New Yorker about the Rubber Room, a group of facilities where NYC teachers who are undergoing disciplinary proceedings and not authorized to teach spend their days while collecting full salaries, for months and years on end. The whole thing makes no sense, but is an illustration of special interests holding taxpayer resources hostage.

Ira Glass and the team at This American Life aired an episode about the rubber room earlier this year.

Home is where the brain is.

Benjamin Schrier writes in San Francisco magazine about the impact Asian-Indian immigrants have had on Silicon Valley, how the downturn and US immigration rules are affecting younger immigrant technology workers, and what this may mean for Silicon Valley’s long-term prospects. One of the men profiled in the article is the brother of a high-school friend, and I can relate to much of the article. I stayed with my first US employer for far longer than I would have if a work-visa were not a concern.