Penelope sent in this note and info yesterday about…

LOST, Beautiful Siamese Cat. Seal Point, intense blue eyes, neutered male, has probably lost his collar. ‘Siam’ is very friendly and will come to you if invited.

Last seen Nov.20 at 2257 Vistamont rd. 30033 (Medlock)

We love him dearly and are offering a reward for his return.

Please contact: Penelope or Robert. 404-633-7709 (home) 404-808-9374 (cell)

The weird part about this story is that the owners received an anonymous letter about their cat just days before he disappeared.  You can read it after the jump.

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The New York Times renewed the nation’s discussion about the place and role of technology in schools last month when they ran an article about the Waldorf School in Silicon Valley, where technology executives send their kids in part because the school eschews technology.  I believe I linked to the article in a Morning Metro.  (NBC Nightly News followed up with stories about both sides of this coin a couple days ago.  Both can be viewed after the jump)

The article was impactful, mostly because it brought up a whole host of unanswered questions.  When asked, the executives believed that technology in the classroom had limited benefits at such a young age and that negative side effects of classroom activities involving technology outweighed any positive effects.

But of course, while such an example can provide one example of pros and cons in this ‘technology in schools’ debate, it would take a dissertation of a few hundred pages to take a stab at anything more specific like, “When is the best time to give kids a cell phone/laptop/iPad?”  “What is lost when you give children a cell phone/laptop/iPad?”  “What is gained?”

No doubt, these are questions being raised within countless education circles today.  And each school system or individual school makes it’s own decision, based on any number of valid or invalid reasons.

But how important do parents believe this decision is?  Do you defer to your school district?  Defer to certain academic studies?  Defer to the seemingly hypocritical decisions of Silicon Valley parents?  Get lost in a tug-of-war of the technological pros and cons of convenience?

A parent recently wrote in to DM and wanted to know your thoughts.

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Click here for a bit more info.

• Creative Loafing’s Twit picks [CL]
• Emory bookstore to begin textbook rental program [Emory Wheel]
• The Decatur City Commission should be ready for another coyote discussion next Monday [East Lake]
• Atlanta History Center selects NYC firm for redesign [Saporta Report]
• Douglasville installing “crosswalks to nowhere” [11Alive]
• GM offers to buy back Volts from owners concerned about battery fires [NYT]

Decatur tree lighting pic courtesy of Mrs. DM

Feel free to use this post to ask questions and make comments about local issues not discussed here over the past week.

Comments close on Monday.

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This week’s FFAF is brought to you by Six Star Service…

Happy Friday all. Six Star wants to share the love just as much as the next guy so we wanted to take this opportunity to announce something new for the month of December that will share on the local level. Something near and dear to our hearts are animals, so we’ve picked PAWS Atlanta, a Decatur animal rescue organization that has been providing care and home placement for strays for 45 years now. We will be donating a percentage of December’s sales to PAWS. So if you drive a Subaru check out our website, blog or Facebook page for details. Even if you don’t drive a Subaru then give a thought to donating a few dollars to PAWS or any other local shelter.

Thanks for reading,

Juston