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Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Of clowns and men
The writer is pursuing his PhD in Criminology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He can be reached at znizamani@ Listen to article The state and quality of education in our country isn't a secret. From roti, kapra aur makan to myriad laptop schemes to naya Pakistan, we've heard all sorts of promises and witnessed all sorts of failures. From educational infrastructure to quality education, we have nothing to show for. I don't want to go into the numbers of how many kids are currently out of school, how many ghost schools are there in Sindh alone and how many ghost employees do those schools have, but I do know the numbers aren't pretty. But it is quite unfortunate to see the end product of these institutions. Such institutions have been producing students who can hardly read, write or even speak a different language. Students with no confidence, no analytical skills and virtually nothing to offer except for a marksheet of some school in some town showing they cleared all their exams with an average of 90% and a total percentage of 100%. The math doesn't add up at one point. Do I blame these students? Not at all. Who do I blame? The provincial government. These students have had parents who've been paying taxes, working hard around the clock to give their kids the best of everything; and the government, despite 75 years and despite getting so much money in taxes, has failed to provide them basic education, a right which the Constitution guarantees them. Have you ever heard your local minister say 'the schools in our town are good enough' and that 'we have improved the education system in our locality'? If you said yes to either of those questions, then please do me a favour and ask your minister whether his kids are studying in the same government schools too. If they say no, you will know what the truth is and who to get rid of in the next elections. If you're wondering why I am going on and on about the dilapidated state of education, let me explain. NED test results recently revealed the disparity between students from rural areas and urban areas. Hyderabad board recorded a failure of nearly 50%, Larkana board stood at a failure rate of 68%, Nawabshah board witnessed a failure rate of 55% whereas Karachi board's failure rate was at 23%. What do these numbers indicate? They indicate that no matter how many ajrak themed number plates you force the citizens to purchase and no matter how many electric buses you put on the road, the problem has to be resolved at the root. You will have to educate your people. Why haven't you educated them in so long? Maybe because you want to continue to reign supreme over unused and illiterate minds! Maybe this has more to do with maintaining power and filling your own pockets than being honest to your own people! Academic institutions are places where students learn how to think. Instructors teach students the basics, develop critical thinking and allow for a place where questioning isn't only expected but also encouraged. It is where minds are allowed to transcend the conventional approaches. Keep your politics out of educational institutions. Every child deserves to read, deserves to speak and every child deserves to build a career for themselves. By engaging in questionable politics, you're destroying only some institutions. But by politicising the field of academia, you are ruining the future of thousands of children. One day, those on their high horses will realise that all their power and influence meant nothing when they were the ones behind the destruction of the futures of so many kids when their own kids were studying abroad in expensive schools living their best lives. Here's a piece of advice from a man who isn't the smartest either. If you can't be true to your own people, at least be true to yourself. Tomorrow, when your kids meet someone who says they knew their father, make sure they say 'he was a kind human being' and not that 'he was morally corrupt human being'. Have a heart.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
Police release picture of man wanted for questioning in investigation into Devil's Den park killings
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas police released a photo Tuesday of a man wanted for questioning in the investigation into the weekend killing of a married couple in front of their children at Devil's Den State Park . The image released by state police doesn't show the man's face, and comes a day after police released a composite sketch of a person of interest. Details about the attack, including how the couple was killed or a motive for the killing, remained scarce. Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, were found dead on a walking trail Saturday at Devil's Den, 2,500-acre state park in northwest Arkansas. Their daughters, who are 7 and 9, were not hurt and are being cared for by family members, authorities have said. Police have not said how the couple were killed, but said Monday night the killer likely was injured during the attack. Authorities have asked the public to report tips and urged trailgoers who were at Devil's Den on Saturday to look through their photos and videos for possible images of the suspect. State police said they have received 'numerous calls' but have released few details about the investigation, including whether they believe the killer is still in the area. The FBI said Monday its Little Rock field office is assisting with the investigation. Police have not identified the killer, but have provided a description, the composite sketch and the photo of a person of interest. The photo was provided by a witness who was at Devil's Den State Park Saturday, police said. The photo was taken from behind and does not show the person of interest's face. Officials described the suspect as a white male wearing dark shorts, a dark ball cap, sunglasses and fingerless gloves. He was seen driving toward a park exit in a black, four-door sedan with a license plate partly covered by tape. The car, possibly a Mazda, may have been traveling on nearby State Highway 170 or State Highway 220. Clinton and Cristen Brink had just moved from South Dakota to the small city of Prairie Grove in northwest Arkansas. Their water had been connected less than two weeks ago, Mayor David Faulk said. Clinton Brink had been scheduled to start a job as a milk delivery driver Monday in the nearby Fayetteville area, according to Hiland Dairy, his employer. Cristen Brink had been licensed as a nurse in Montana and South Dakota before moving to Arkansas. 'Clinton and Cristen died heroes protecting their little girls, and they deserve justice,' the Brink family said in a statement. 'They will forever live in all of our hearts.' Devil's Den is located near West Fork, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, the state capital. In addition to images from the park the day of the attack, police are asking local residents to review any security or game camera footage for unusual activity or images matching the vehicle. Devil's Den is known for its hiking trails and rock formations, and is a short drive from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Walmart's Bentonville headquarters. Trails remained closed at the park on Tuesday. Rangers stepped up patrols at the park following the attack.
Boston Globe
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Celtics hire Drew Nicholas as executive director of player personnel
As a player, Nicholas was a backup guard for Maryland's 2001-02 national championship team and averaged 17.8 points per game as a senior the following season. He had a lengthy career overseas that included one EuroLeague scoring title and two championships. Last month, longtime Celtics assistant general manager Austin Ainge was hired as president of basketball operations for the Jazz. And in April, director of scouting Remy Cofield was named deputy athletic director and general manager for athletics at the University of Arkansas. Advertisement Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at
Fast Company
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
YouTube Shorts algorithm steers users away from political content, study finds
YouTube Shorts, the shortform platform from Google-owned video giant YouTube, has seen massive success since its launch in September 2020. Today, an estimated 1% of all waking human hours are spent watching Shorts, with videos amassing around 200 billion views daily. But what users watch is ultimately shaped by YouTube's algorithm—and a new study published in the Cornell University preprint server arXiv suggests that the algorithm nudges viewers away from politically sensitive content. 'When you start [watching] a political topic or specific political topics, YouTube is trying to push you away to more entertainment videos, more funny videos, especially in YouTube Shorts,' says Mert Can Cakmak, a researcher at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, and one of the study's authors. Cakmak and his colleagues scraped between 2,100 and 2,800 initial videos across three themes: the South China Sea dispute, Taiwan's 2024 election, and a broader 'general' category. They then followed 50 successive recommendations for each video under three viewing scenarios, which varied how long a simulated user watched: 3 seconds, 15 seconds, or the full video. The researchers tracked how YouTube presented 685,842 Shorts videos. Titles and transcripts were classified by topic, relevance, and emotional tone using OpenAI's GPT-4o model. When engagement began with politically sensitive themes like the South China Sea or Taiwan's 2024 election, the algorithm quickly steered users toward more entertainment-focused content. The emotional tone, as assessed by AI, also shifted—moving from neutral or angry to mostly joyful or neutral. Early in the recommendation chain, videos with the highest view counts, likes, and comments were favored, reinforcing a popularity bias. 'Maybe some people were aware of this, but I'm sure the majority of people are not aware what the algorithm is doing,' Cakmak says. 'They are just going and watching.' Neither YouTube nor its parent company, Google, responded to Fast Company 's request for comment on the study's findings. Cakmak doesn't believe this is a deliberate effort to suppress political discourse, but rather a design choice focused on user engagement. 'What YouTube is trying to do,' he says, '[is] remove you from that area or topic, and push you [to a happier] topic so that it can increase . . . engagement [and] earn more money.'
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Construction soon to begin busy stretch of College Avenue in Fayetteville
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — College Avenue, from Dickson Street to North Street, is set to get repaved starting in the next few weeks. The construction will reduce traffic to one lane in each direction to have it completed by the time University of Arkansas students return for the fall semester, which is set to start Aug. 18. Chris Brown, Fayetteville's public works director, said the city's patched potholes and sealed cracks along the 4,000-foot stretch before, but officials have decided the safest and most cost-effective course of action is a repave, a project that's estimated to cost $951,000. 'Once you start seeing the pavement crack, and many times it'll crack every 10, 15, 20 feet,' Brown said. 'Once you see those cracks develop, then the water can infiltrate the pavement, and once that happens, it really starts to come apart even faster.' Speed-enforcing cameras help save lives in Washington County Brown said each segment of city road is subject to its Pavement Condition Index, an algorithm that factors in the asphalt's condition and traffic volume to determine the level of need for a repave. He estimates up to 25,000 cars drive along College Avenue from Dickson Street to North Street every day. The city has contracted Tomlinson Asphalt Company to complete the project. Brown said Tomlinson will use what's called a super pave mix, which contains a higher aggregate of rocks and less sand. Brown hopes the road can hold up for 10 to 15 years before further major repairs are needed. Bethany Douglas said she travels along College Avenue every day to get to her job on the Fayetteville Square and is expecting to be 'annoyed' driving during the construction. She's planning on taking an alternate route on her daily commute. 'I would probably go around a longer way just to avoid that, and then that's going to back up the side streets as well,' Douglas said. Brown is urging drivers to stay safe and be aware of construction workers during the duration of the project. 'Drivers, as they navigate through the work zone, we'd appreciate them watching out for our workers and just taking it slow,' Brown said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
