Here at the Big Bad Blog, we are probably the very last website in the world to mention that Missouri is banning Student-Teacher friendships on Facebook. What we do not think has been pointed out is exactly how silly the law actually is. From PC Magazine:

Buried within the law, however, is a provision that effectively eliminates private social relationships between students and teachers on any of the Web’s many social networks. Missouri school districts are required to develop written policies to address the “appropriate use of electronic media” by the start of 2012, which must include guidelines for social network use.

“Teachers cannot establish, maintain, or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child’s legal custodian, physical custodian, or legal guardian,” reads the law. “Teachers also cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student.”

Here are a few examples of things that will happen:

• A teacher will have his or her child as a student in their class. It will become illegal for them to have them as a “friend” on Facebook.
• A former student will grow up and marry into the family. It will be illegal for them to have them as a “friend” on Facebook.
• Teachers will no longer be allowed to communicate via email to students.
• Schools will not be able to set up websites to which students could anonymously report criminal activity (or abuse), as that site must be accessible to individuals who are potentially the abusers in question.

Well done, Missouri. Here at the Big Bad Blog, we are convinced that you will prevent children who need help from accessing good teachers who care. Somehow we do not think that any of this will keep predators from the vulnerable ones, though.

Photo via je suis perdu.
Webcomic is The Underfold.

For those in the UK who feel that the snow this past week was bad, go read about a real snow storm.

(Source unknown. Found at FFFFound.)

Somewhere in the United States, there is a grade six teacher who attempted to ban writing implements from her sixth-grade students.

What could they have been doing with writing implements in their spare time? Our guess is that they must have been doodling. Which, as it turns out, is a good way to learn about mathematics.

Turns out that the best poker face might be a bad one — emotional expressions can alter your opponent’s strategy where a blank expression would not.

(Elvis carved into the tip of a pencil, by Dalton Ghetti)

Do you hate phone calls? Do they make you feel like shooting yourself? Then you might appreciate this combination of child’s toy gun and bluetooth earpiece.

China is conquering the world … with cute … by launching the world’s first mass-production baby panda factory. Seriously.