SO, is it a smoking gun after all? Or is it just a damp water pistol?

Temaki

Amazon still has some nice deals right now on Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets — up to $30 off, plus $5 in ebook credits on select purchases, and 3 months of Kindle Unlimited for $0.99.

In “Painting Nationalism Red?”, an engaging new pamphlet published by Democratic Left Scotland, the journalist Neal Ascherson pays tribute to Tom Nairn as Scotland’s “pre-eminent political intellectual”.

In this country, where the dank, grim days of winter are as short as a resigned sigh, the onset of some decent, dry spring weather doesn’t half raise the morale. Well, it would if the coronavirus wasn’t lurking all over the parish.

THERE will be many of us who embrace technology with all the ham-fisted ineptitude of a fumbling, muttering old colonel trying to unravel the stubborn, sticky wrapping of a barley sugar.

It was 50 years ago this week that one of the greatest golfers ever to grace the greens set out on his quest to win his first US Masters championship.

THE Open Championship will not take place at all this year.

Scottish Golf today revealed that no date has been set for the sport in this country to restart and stressed that lockdown restrictions will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

While lockdown has seen some people turn to DIY, it doesn't all have to be on the home or garden.

YOU could call it state-sponsored sanctimony. In times of crisis or national emergency we’re all urged to pull in the same direction and put partisan politics behind us. How dare you talk about inequality and the plight of the disadvantaged at a time like this? Those who tend to be loudest in rebuking these social pariahs are often those who stand to benefit most from any suspension of scrutiny.

MILLIONS of face masks to protect Scottish health and care workers against coronavirus could be stuck in limbo at Prestwick airport for a week, it has emerged.

HEALTH boards across Scotland have spent almost £17 million on sending scans to other parts of the country and across the world by private companies amid a staffing crisis.

THE SNP is so rotten it may have to be replaced by a new independence party, its former deputy leader has said.

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) at Penn State is looking for undergraduate entrepreneurs from any Penn State campus to compete in the 2020 Inc.U Competition. Six finalist teams will earn a spot on “The Investment,” a production of WPSU-TV, giving them a chance to pitch their company for a share of $30,000 in funding. The 2020 Inc.U Competition submission deadline is Feb. 7.

On Feb. 3, all students, faculty and staff members at every Penn State campus location will receive an email to take the Penn State Community Survey to share their attitudes and experiences of community, diversity and inclusion at Penn State. Every 100 survey takers will have a chance to win an Amazon or Starbucks gift card.

The annual Earth Fest event and the K-6 Upcycled Art Contest have been canceled for this year.

PLANS for league reconstruction have been scrapped after Ladbrokes Premiership clubs indicated there isn't enough support for the proposed changes at this time.

DRAKE - DARK LANE DEMO TAPES

Mardi Gras in New Orleans has always had a gothic element. The voodoo culture dates from the African American diaspora, though it’s now mostly for tourists. But this year there was an authentically macabre dimension to Fat Tuesday.

FACE it – we are going nowhere. Even if we had a particular place to venture the regulations would not permit. For the foreseeable we shall have to contract out our travelling to others. On the upside, no airport hassle. On the downside, no giant Toblerone.

THE market for TV historians is crowded and fiercely competitive. Drop your guard for a second and Dan Snow or Bettany Hughes will be in the door and taking your gig faster than you can don a pair of those special white gloves all in the trade must have. Lucy Worsley made her name by combining immense knowledge – she is the chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces – with a steadfast dedication to raiding the dressing up box.

EDUCATION Secretary John Swinney does not expect schools to reopen overnight as he stressed they would only do so when it was safe for public health.

Schools in Wales could be allowed to reopen their doors next month in a phased approach, the first minister has said.

THE SCOTTISH Government “does not consider it likely” that schools will fully re-open “in the foreseeable future” - while working from home is “likely to persist as part of the new normal”.

An internationally known gifted-education center is scouting—and helping to develop—gifted students in after-school programs and pullout classes in one of Maryland’s most challenged school districts.

And four strategies for fixing the underlying problems most often laid bare, from Great Schools Partnership’s Craig Kesselheim.

A pair of new studies find that, when given a choice, white parents tend to send their children to schools that are predominantly white.

PEOPLE who are not positive for Covid-19 could be told to isolate from their families before test results are issued as a precaution, Scotland’s national clinical director has warned.

As expected, the Education Department has delayed a rule that would require states to take a standardized approach in evaluating districts for minority bias in special education.

Taking differentiation to mean "everything all the time" isn’t a sustainable model, warns English teacher Chad Towarnicki.

The school funding group EdBuild finds neighborhood attempts to secede popping up in more school districts, with racial and economic isolation increasing in their wake.

The Berkeley, Calif. school district and the state of Ohio have said they will do more to provide services and to ensure students with disabilities are educated in inclusive settings.

A three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a proposed plan that would have paid certain student-athletes as much as $5,000 annually in deferred compensation.

Three Ga. high school seniors have been charged with aggravated sexual battery and consumption of alcohol by a minor stemming from an alleged sexual assault during a post-prom party.

Three high school basketball players in Tennessee were charged with aggravated rape and aggravated assault in late December after allegedly sending one of their 15-year-old teammates to the hospital.

A Chicago-based former Little League team has filed a lawsuit against Little League International over the organization's decision to strip the team's United States championship earlier this year.

The employment figures that states submit to the federal government are sometimes wildly wrong, complicating the task of responding to the nationwide shortage of special educators.

YouthTruth asked 104,000 school staff, students, and their families how they perceive the fairness of discipline at their schools. The results can help start conversations about discipline policy and leading by listening.

After investing eight years on a system that fell far short of expectations, the city is gearing up to replace or fix it.

The business of buying things for schools is a key part of making sure that hard-fought K-12 funding actually turns into a quality education at the school and classroom level.

A new mandate under the Every Student Succeeds Act requires a top-to-bottom look at how such districts deploy their money, staff, and the time used to support improvement.

Portugal's Lisboa twice came from behind to open UEFA Regions' Cup Group B with a point as Croatian side Zagreb were left to rue missed opportunities in Istanbul.

Aleksei Lomovtsev struck nine minutes after half-time as Russia's South Region kept themselves in contention going into the last group games; Olomouc are out.

Poland's Dolny Śląsk came from behind to beat hosts Bavaria 3-2 for the amateur title in a final of five penalties.

AN item for the “there’s always one” file. Only days into the great lockdown and some people are just not coping. Take the holidaymaker – British, of course – who decided she would flout the rules and have a dip at Paradise Park in Tenerife.

The only way an ed-tech company can have a meaningful impact in schools is by addressing a specific problem and offering a real solution.

When it comes to school technology, Superintendent Doug Brubaker emphasizes robust infrastructure, regular refresh cycles, and training. Taxpayers and teachers are buying into the practical approach.

A new nonprofit that will convene technology experts from across business, nonprofit, government, and education sectors will begin its big-picture problem solving in the educational arena.