Richard Birdsall

Retired ATC. Afterwards I got myself educated and taught undergrads for another decade. Retired again. Now teach at OLLI@UNF. Great fun!

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@JavierBlas Well, The global economy is roughly 60% to 70% less oil-intensive per unit of GDP than it was in the 1970s. Low-emission sources (predominantly solar PV) met a massive portion of global energy demand growth leading into this crisis, emergency oil stock releases suppressed prices

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@FriedrichHayek You are suggesting they shouldn't read Du Bois, Dangarembga, Seneca, Epicurus, Plato, MLK, among others?

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

Impact on Duval County by FY 2030-31 is $417.8M, a budget reduction of about 20%. Police/Fire/Corrections/Investigations & Homeland Security are $900M+ in the last FY budget. What will be cut? How will you be negatively affected?

[Jeff Brandes @JeffreyBrandes]

🧵 Two weeks after the vote, we’re finally beginning to discover what the Legislature voted for.

This county-by-county estimate projects a recurring impact of nearly $11.9 billion per year on local governments by FY 2030-31.

The obvious question:

Why are we seeing this now instead of before the vote?

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@clarasophiadaly Retired air traffic controller here. In 35 years I never was unaware of an assigned restricted area and cannot imagine ATC was unaware of the UFC restricted area.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@clarasophiadaly Retired air traffic controller here -- I don't have the documentation to prove otherwise but I strongly doubt that ATC did not know about the restricted airspace.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

On my morning walk up here in the mountains, looking north. Cirrus clouds presage moisture pouring into the area.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

Appalachian Sunset

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

Fred's General Store on Beech Mountain.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@MartinCothran Kramer's book was published in 1991, the Glazer quote from a 1974 essay. I'm not sure how accurate a 35 year-old book quoting a half-century old essay is regarding the state of teacher training.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@CitizenWald A point the quoted faculty member makes, "he continued to cut reading — but not because students were struggling with it." The article goes on to state, "Generally, faculty did not see a drop in student comprehension of reading material."

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@TerryNTally @lmower3 Growth in taxable value is legislatively constrained in Florida and the exemption grows annually at the rate of inflation. The lost revenue compounds over time. Lost revenue the first two years is just the beginning of budget problems that will get worse over time.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@lmower3 Checked my own FL property tax bills back to 2013. Factoring in inflation, I paid about 20% less in property taxes in 2025 than a dozen years ago. Yes, the city budget grows annually but so does its responsibilities to its citizens.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

The quote is accurate but only one of several other faculty members who see no change at all. "Generally, faculty did not see a drop in student comprehension of reading material," the article concludes.

[Steve McGuire @sfmcguire79]

A Berkeley history professor said he’s gone from assigning 100 pages of reading per week to 35.

Another “said the earliest version of the…course he taught required seven full books, while his most recent iteration exclusively consisted of excerpts.”

“We are now reaching a crisis point where if the number (of pages) goes down further, it’s unclear to me whether my discipline of history can really be taught,” the first one said.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

A misleading post on this article. While that one professor did complain about reading ability, the article quotes other who see no change. "Generally, faculty did not see a drop in student comprehension of reading material," the article concludes.

[Steve McGuire @sfmcguire79]

A Berkeley history professor said he’s gone from assigning 100 pages of reading per week to 35.

Another “said the earliest version of the…course he taught required seven full books, while his most recent iteration exclusively consisted of excerpts.”

“We are now reaching a crisis point where if the number (of pages) goes down further, it’s unclear to me whether my discipline of history can really be taught,” the first one said.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@sfmcguire79 A misleading post on this article. While that one professor did complain about reading ability, the article quotes other who see no change. "Generally, faculty did not see a drop in student comprehension of reading material," the article concludes.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

A mountain sunset. Looking west into Tennessee from NW North Carolina.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

Bush's "hope and dream" has been the GOP dream, even found in their list of long-term goals, for a long time. The continuing broadening of school voucher eligibility is not spontaneous or simply reacting to constituent demands. It is GOP's long-term strategy.

[Accountabaloney @FLBaloney]

Jeb Bush wants tax payer funds to build private schools… “This is where we’re moving and there’s still – it’s work in progress.” https://t.co/A6Y195gUbc

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@Waneiac @BLackgold_5 As a retired ATC (ZJX, mostly), I enjoyed your anecdote and recognized the tone of the controller as one I very occasionally used.

[Richard Birdsall @rbirds12]

@WellsJorda89710 The definition of "wasteful spending" in a city budget is what?