… Walter Wendler.

From the Telegraph.

A political blog written by Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, has been found to be riddled with spelling mistakes.

The Labour MP’s website was also found to contain typing errors and grammatical oversights.

The mispellings of Mr Knight, who was educated at Cambridge University, include “maintainence”, “convicned”, “curently”, “similiar”, “foce”, “pernsioners”, “reccess” and “archeaological”.

Mr Knight, who is responsible for raising education standards, also clearly has problems with the “i before e, except after c” spelling rule taught to primary school pupils.

He spelled “achieving” and “received” incorrectly.

Mr Knight, 43, gives his opinions on local and national issues regularly on his website, which reveals he attended the fee-paying Eltham College, in Mottingham, south east London.

He went on to study geography, and social and political sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, from 1984 to 1987.

Mr Knight, MP for Dorset South, said: “When I was at school the teachers told me to always check my work. While my spelling is generally pretty good, I need to focus more on checking.”

Rob Wilson, the Conservative education spokesman, said: “He will be disappointed with his efforts in class but I’m sure he’ll make every effort to improve now teacher has noticed he’s falling behind.”

Words the education minister got wrong:

maintainence (maintenance)

convicned (convinced)

curently (currently)

similiar (similar)

foce (force)

pernsioners (pensioners)

reccess (recess)

archeaological (archeological)

acheiving (achieving)

receieved (received)

UD thanks her sister for the link.

Wells Fargo & Co. said it has reconsidered holding an event in Las Vegas after reports earlier that the company had planned functions for its mortgage and insurance units.

Spokesman Kevin Waetke said in an e-mail the company has reconsidered holding the event. A follow up statement is “forthcoming,” he wrote.

Background here.

More than 4 1/2 tons of pot has been found in an abandoned school bus near the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Texas Department of Public Safety statement released Tuesday says a state trooper found the drugs near Laredo, on the side of U.S. 59 in Webb County, over the weekend. According to the statement, 560 marijuana bundles totaling more than 9,210 pounds were hidden under a cardboard false floor and in a secret ceiling compartment.

The DPS estimates the marijuana is worth $3.9 million retail and says the seizure is the second largest it’s made during routine traffic enforcement since 1997…

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There are many ways to measure the impact of [Arizona] state budget cuts. There’s the obvious dollar amount. There’s the effect on people’s lives. And then there’s the historical perspective.

Members of the House Appropriations Committee were debating the cost of photocopying and whether those costs decline as the semester wears on and students drop classes.

But committee Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, interrupted to say the conversation was way too twentieth century.

“Since our cuts are going to send [Arizona State University] back to the Middle Ages, the question is how many monks will they need?” he said.

Kavanagh warmed up to the Middle Ages metaphor, noting that the Department of Chemistry should be changed to the Department of Alchemy.

… Anne de Bourgh.

The last two presidents of Mississippi State have had to resign because of gardening.

The first guy used state money to plant dozens of magnolias at the home of the state higher education commissioner.

The second guy dug up all the daffodils on campus because he doesn’t like how they look when they finish blooming.

… [T]he elimination was seen as unnecessary by horticultural enthusiasts.

Senior ornamental horticulture major Mark Cooper said he heard that the daffodils were going to be replaced with another flower.

“He [the ex-president] thought the daffodils were unsightly after they bloomed,” Cooper said. “[He] mentioned that roses should replace the daffodils, which is ironic because roses are much harder to maintain.”

Plants and soils science professor Brian Trader said an unspecified small number of the dug up daffodils were donated to the Horticulture Club. He said some of the flowers were sold as part of a fundraiser while others were replanted.

“The Horticulture Club has put quite a few daffodils around Dorman Hall during the fall semester,” Trader said. “A small portion was sold in the horticulture sale as a way to fundraise.”

Trader said daffodils may not be as visually appealing after blooming but their complete disposal is foolish.

“Daffodils are definitely not a nuisance, but after they bloom they are not too pleasing to the eye,” he said. “It is important every three to four years to thin them out, but having a full fledge[d] removal is unnecessary.”

As the daffodils again become a part of the MSU scenery, Cooper said he has one piece of advice for new MSU President Mark Keenum.

“After the daffodils with Foglesong and the magnolia tree scandal with Watson, my advice to the new president is to stay far away from landscaping,” he said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Two assistant coaches apparently wrestling with each other fell through a hotel window Tuesday morning and fell four stories to a concrete sidewalk, leaving one in serious condition.

The American Football Coaches Association is holding its annual convention at the Opryland Hotel, and hotel security had been called around 4:10 a.m. with a noise complaint when officers found a broken window and Scott Coy and Darren DeMeio outside on the ground below.

“They wrestled each other too close to the window going through it and down to the ground floor,” Nashville police spokeswoman Kris Mumford said. “That’s four floors.”

Coy, 29, is 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds from Newcastle, Pa. He was in critical condition and having surgery Tuesday afternoon at Vanderbilt University. DeMeio, 24, is 6-4, 225 pounds and from Clinton, Ohio. Police said he was in fair condition but remained in the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon.

Coy is co-offensive coordinator at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., and DeMeio is the running backs coach, according to the college’s Web site. A telephone message left with the sports information office was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.

Hotel spokeswoman Kim Keelor said the window the men fell through was double-paned with a strong wooden sash in the middle.

“It’s very sad. I definitely want to express our sympathy to their families. It’s just a very strange and unfortunate occurrence,” she said.

Mind/body problem brewing in France…

The skull of famous French philosopher René Descartes could be on the move from its current resting place, the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, to the north western town of La Flèche.

Descartes, one of the founding fathers of modern philosophy developed theories which helped to provide a framework for natural sciences. He is most famous for his Discourse on the Method [sic], his Principles of Philosophy and the expression cogito ergo sum, or “I think, therefore I am”.

The remains of his body were separated shortly after his death in Sweden in 1650, and his skull is housed in the Musée de l’Homme in central Paris.

But with the backing of French Prime Minister François Fillon, the Prytanée military school has submitted an official request to move Descartes’ cranium to an adjoining church for display.

The school, run by Jesuits, was attended by Descartes from 1607 to 1615, and is looking to honour its alumni. They believe its current home alongside prehistoric man and a moulding of the head of footballer Lilian Thuram, is not suitable.

There is also an ongoing dispute about the authenticity of the remains, with four skulls that could theoretically be Descartes’.

The one requested by the school turned up in Stockholm in 1821, where he was originally buried, before his body was moved to Paris, where it now lies in the Saint Germain des Près church.

Some experts say the authenticity must be checked, while others believe it is more important to reunite his head with his body.

A herd of elephants today strayed into the Berhampur University campus [in India], some 180km from the state capital, injuring one person and causing panic among students, employees and their families.

The herd comprising 10 elephants kept people on the campus terrified till the evening, said Berhampur divisional forest officer A.K. Jena, while speaking to The Telegraph from the spot.

Jena said the elephant herd that was seen around Sundar hills near Chhatrapur some 20km from Berhampur last evening was sighted in the jungle behind the university high school in the campus at around 4am today.

…

Preparations for the celebration of the 43rd Foundation Day of the university scheduled for tomorrow have been hampered due to the presence of the animals, sources said.

District forest officer Jena conceded that a large crowd gathered to see the elephants was creating logistical problem for the forest officers.

“We will start the drive in the evening and take efforts to chase them away towards the Berbera forests,” he added.

This herd was a part of huge herd comprising more than 20 elephants that had strayed from Chandka sanctuary located on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in 2007 and have been moving across Ganjam since then.