May 31, 2004
Good Eats
My favorite chef Alton Brown is answering questions over at egullet.com.
Good fun, and good eats.
Update (from the comments) he is also in Wired this month.
Memorial Day
Contrary to what Madison Ave tells us, today is not the beginning of the summer holiday season. It's a day to remember the 800 US soldiers that have died in Iraq, the 400,000 that died in WWII, the 136,000 that died in WWI, and all the rest that died in Korea, Vietnam and countless other actions that have been required to defend our country over the years.
Note - comments are off. Dissent is not acceptable on this subject.
PermalinkMay 28, 2004
The Greatest Generation
I wandered over to the new World War II Memorial on my lunch hour today. As a physical structure, I can take it or leave it. I'm not sure it really captures the essence of The Greatest Generation. (No pics - it was a spur of the moment thing). But I don't really have any suggestions as to what they should have done differently, so maybe it is just me. The black marble and names of the Vietnam Memorial really hits you in the gut; you feel the senseless loss of life that 'Nam ultimately became. The WWII memorial didn't really evoke any emotion. The wall of stars - with 1 star for each 100,000 killed, is under whelming. The entire country sacrificed for WWII. The people here at home had to deal with food rations and all kinds of hardships. (Speaking of food rations, I've got some WWII food ration coupons at home that I need to scan and put on the web). I don't think the memorial as a physical structure captures either the essence of the sacrifice or the ultimate victory that WWII represented.
That said, being in the presence of several thousand WWII vets was a very humbling experience. These men, many of whom can barely walk today, answered the call of duty like no generation since. They stormed the cliffs of Normandy, conquered the Pacific island by miserable island, incurring massive casualties all the way, but never once slowing down or turning back. They kept going until the world was safe for freedom again. I looked for somebody wearing a USS Santee hat. My grandfather served on that ship, surving a kamakazee attack in the Pacific. Standing there in the sun next to these men, I felt very insignificant.
That is probably as it should be.
Permalink | Comments (1)Comedy Gold
Ryan was in the studio audience for the Maury Popvich show. Ryan blogged about the experience. Hundreds of people have left comments on Ryan's blog becuase they think he is Maury.
This is absolute, final proof of Chris' Law
In any sufficiently large group of people, 80% will be idiots
Thank God for all those idiots though. The internet would be a lot less fun without them.
Permalink | Comments (6)The Beatles Live!
Live Beatles tracks from a 1965 concert in Paris. Legit and legal, as far as I can tell.
via LargeHearted Boy
Permalink | Comments (0)May 27, 2004
Parents Can Be Idiots Too
A elementary school teacher collected all the inane gripes and complaints from parents in a very well-to-do Seattle suburb, and turned it into a book.
Predictably, the administration was not impressed. But the union got involved and he got his job back.
I hope he didn't sign away his ability to write another book!
Permalink | Comments (0)May 26, 2004
Heavy Metal Guitarist 1 - Canadian Leftist 0
Jon Schaffer, guitarist for speed metal band Iced Earth, did our country proud in this interview with a Canadian online music magazine.
BW&BK: "This next question is controversial so I'm letting you know before we proceed. Some political analysts have articulated the view that what happened on September 11 was justified due to America's presence in the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia. Some political analysts view it as retaliation for what the US has done in the Middle East in the past. As a Canadian, I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this view that's been put forth by analysts."
JS: "No, it wasn't justified. Not at all. And anybody who says so needs to have their fuckin' head examined."
BW&BK: "Do you think 9/11 will be viewed as the first event in the US empire's decline and fall?"
JS: "No. This is not an empire, first of all. If the United States was an empire, your country would be our 51st state."
RTWT, it's quite entertaining.
Prior to seeing this at AndrewSullivan.com, I had never head of Iced Earth. I found these samples from their current album, which includes a 3 part epic about The Battle of Gettysburg. It's not bad, if early Iron Maiden / Helloween is your kind of thing.
Permalink | Comments (1)No Sex For You
Following up on yesterday's Girls Gone Wild post, today we learn that
Teenagers are having less sex (use cipher/cipher to log in)
and
Married folks with kids have practically quit having sex.
I report, you decide.
Permalink | Comments (1)May 25, 2004
Girls Gone Wild
If you have a daughter, this article is absolutely terrifying. Girls are reaching puberty at much younger ages than in the recent past, and pre-teens of both sexes are reporting increased experimentation with sex, alcohol, and drugs. The connections between early puberty and obesity are interesting, as are the possible connections between non tradtional families and early sexual maturation in girls. Biology and culture are combining to create a perfect storm of hell for parents.
Hey Izzy, got any leads on a couple of hundred acres in Montana? I'm ready to hunker down and establish a perimeter defense :)
I could write a lot about this article, but I think it's more important that you go read it yourself. If you have a daughter, this is required reading.
via Poshlost
Permalink | Comments (4)Gov. Warner vetos HS bill in VA
As expected, Gov. Warner vetoed the bill that would have loosened the restrictions on homeschoolers who don't have a college degree. In the big picture, it's not a huge deal because those folks really don't have any problem homeschooling under current law. However, this editorial doesn't get it.
Warner, in his veto, noted correctly that while public school teachers are being expected to adhere to increasingly strict requirements, especially those imposed by the No Child Left Behind Act, loosening requirements for home-schooled children made no sense, and, in fact, were a retreat.
And the connection between government employees and parents is.....? There isn't one. Government regulation of it's employees has no bearing on homeschooling.
The governor is right. Home education should be based on standards, too, otherwise the drive to require them in public school is nothing but a sham and a means of dismantling free public education in America.
And that would be a bad thing?
Warner also said that if a parent had achieved a score above the 50th percentile in English and mathematics on a national standardized norm-referenced test approved by the Department of Education, that would be considered suitable.
That's more than fair; certainly, it is a great deal more fair than giving "teachers" without degrees or lesson plans carte blanche to "play schoolhouse" with children and turn the concept of home-schooling in Virginia into a national laughingstock.
What exactly is fair about arbitrary standards pulled out of thin air? Homeschooling is better than the public schools for many kids. Period. No qualifiers about the education of the parents. It's better for some kids, period. The editorial position here is predicated on a belief that the government's interest in your children supercedes your own. And that is just plain wrong.
And frankly, if some parent wants to raise their child to be a dumb ass why do I care? The schools already turn our millions of barely literate kids each year.
The world will always need ditch diggers, and McDonalds is always hiring.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 24, 2004
Great Big Sea: Something Beautiful
Downloaded the new Great Big Sea album from Itunes. It's wonderful. Two traditional Irish tunes, and 11 Irish tinted pop-folk songs. These guys are great. It's almost enough to make me want to move to Canada.
Did I just say that? That's not true. The album is great. I'm not moving to Canada though.
Damn, now I have to fix the Canada comment, lest I incur the wrath of Darby. Canada is a fine country. I spent a week in Toronto a few years ago. Toronto has to be the cleanest, safest city in North America. And the women in Toronto are hot.
That probably didn't help me :) I give up...
Permalink | Comments (3)Dr Strangelove & Alias
I watched Dr. Strangelove this weekend. Absolutely brilliant movie. Rent it if you have never seen it. Peter Sellers is amazing in 3 different roles. Honestly, I think it is a testament to something (not sure what though) that we did get through the cold war without accidently lauching a nuke or two.
The Alias finale. Lauren is dead. Or is she? Yeah, I think Vaughn really killed her. Any guesses on what Syd learned in the bank vault at the end? Here is mine...
Sydney was conceived specifically in quest of the Rimbaldi secrets. Jack has been using her since the day she was born.
Also, Alias won't premier next year until January. Although then we are supposed to get 20 consecutive new episodes, which will be better than this year's 2 on / 3 off schedule.
Permalink | Comments (3)May 23, 2004
Rat's Secret to Marital Bliss
May 22, 2004
I'm one of the cool kids
Thanks to Russ at Strategize. He gave me his last invite to Gmail - so I now have one of the coveted Gmail beta accounts, and I didn't have to buy it on Ebay!
Google will probably open up Gmail to the world on Monday, making my time as one of the cool kids very short :)
chrisod at gmail dot com
Go ahead...you know you want to ;)
Permalink | Comments (1)Weird Computer Problem - Help?
My monitor keeps going into sleep mode. I've got all the power saving features in the PC turned off. Moving the mouse or pushing a key will not bring the monitor back on. However, giving the monitor case a good whack does bring it back on. I'm doing this every 10 or 15 minutes.
Any ideas? The monitor is about 8 years old, so it may just be dying a slow death. I've tried googling various combinations of monitor, sleep, standby, hit, whack etc., but have not found anything useful.
Permalink | Comments (3)May 21, 2004
Little Miss Hooters?
I constantly wonder how people dumb enough to make a decision like this get to a place where they are empowered to make a decision like this.
The Peter Principle at work I guess.
Update: The pagent has been cancelled. Fear the power of the weblog ;)
Permalink | Comments (1)Homeschooling: Survivor Edition
Check out this amazing story...a homeless man and his 12 year old daughter have been living out in the woods for 4 years. All the while he has been homeschooling her with a bible and stack of old encyclopedias.
When finally found by the police, they bend over backwards to keep the two together, finding them a home and employment on a local farm.
I'm not sure what to think of my attitude. I'm not surprised at all that he was successfully raising his daughter in the wild. I am totally surprised that the authorities did the right thing.
Coming Soon: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
I'm only on Book 3 of The Wheel of Time (which is fantastic). And I'd probably need to go back and re-read the first two Covenant trilogies, as it's been a long time...
I will never catch up on my reading.
Permalink | Comments (2)May 20, 2004
The Internet Slum
"...I am one of those despicable people who believe that IQ not only exists but matters. From the origin of the Internet through the mid 1990s, I'd estimate the mean IQ of Internet users as about 115. Today it's probably somewhere around 100, the mean in Europe and North America. The difference you see in the Internet of today from that of ten years ago is what one standard deviation (15 points) drop in IQ looks like... - John Walker
Ouch! Are we reaching the point where the marginal utility of another day on the Internet <= 0?
I'm not there yet. Challenge - Response email filters, Mozilla, and RSS readers are keeping it fairly functional for me.
Permalink | Comments (0)Buy Google Stock
...This is going to be a far more exciting race than Microsoft vs. IBM in the 80s. Billions of end users are at stake here. I think Google has the right approach and Microsoft has a very big rig to try to turn. I don't think they can turn it in time. So I'll be the first to blog the prediction that Google's market cap will exceed Microsoft's within 10-15 years. Go Google! - Paul Allen
My new early retirement plan looks like this:
1. Buy Google Stock at IPO
2. ??????????
3. Retire
We know know that ?????= wait 10 years! Woo Hoo!
Obviously, at this point, Paul's comment is a random ass guess. I think he might be over estimating the importance of a local search function to the average user. The average user doesn't have that much data. Hell, I'm a hardcore geek, and although a google search tool for my hard drive would be nice, I don't feel like I "need" it. And if the google local search tool in any way reports back to the mothership, it will be a cold day in hell before it ever touches my hard drive.
Permalink | Comments (0)Give Me Spring Break or give me death
(with apologies to Patrick Henry...)
Local (Spotsylvania County) parents are in an uproar over a proposal to cut back on Winter and Spring Break time. I don't have a dog in this hunt, so I really don't care what they do. However, several of the quotes are hysterical as these people try desperately to avoid admitting the obvious, they don't want to lose vacation time.
"While I appreciate my son has to learn about Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, he's also got to know his family," Douglas said. "There's more to life than SOLs."
So, you dump your kid off at school 180 days a year, but 2 or 3 days in March makes a huge difference in family life? Right.....
Shelley Whitt, who has two children in Spotsylvania schools, agreed, adding: "A full week off [in the spring] allows kids to come back rested and prepared for SOLs."
I'm sure she is bringing flash cards to Disney or the beach on Spring Break, so they can prepare for the SOL's.
Another concern for Whitt: "A lot of people take their vacations at the end of August because that's when off-season rates kick in."
At least he is being honest.
Douglas said he thinks the county's teachers, who are already paid less than those in neighboring Stafford County, would eye other school districts if the calendar changes pass
And then the county could replace them all with freshly minted education graduates at lower salaries. Now I see the genius in this plan. Heh.
Spotsylvania School Board member and former teacher Ray Lora said he's been "bombarded" with phone calls and e-mails from people unhappy with the calendars.
Funny how involved the parents are now that their vacation time is at risk. I'll bet 95% of those that called have never been to a PTA meeting.
But Lora wants to see a weeklong spring break. "There is a reason why we've been doing this through the years," he said. "It's not time off, it's time well put to use. Visiting Grandma is an educational thing."
ROTFLMAO
Now that I think about it, I do have a dog in this hunt. If school starts a week earlier, then I can go to the beach a week earlier!
Permalink | Comments (2)May 19, 2004
Save The Carbs
This low carb diet stuff is out of control. I could ignore it before, but when the low carb craze threatens the financial health of Krispy Kreme, it is time to take action.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 18, 2004
Randy Johnson - Perfect
Arizona 2 8 0 Atlanta 0 0 3
Wow. Only the 16th perfect game in major league history. Even better, I saw the last three innings. I opened Breck's door and said "Randy Johnson is perfect through 6, and it's on TV." He was past me and headed downstairs before I asked him if he wanted to watch with me.
After the game Michelle asked what team Randy Johnson played for and Breck replied, "Arizona Diamondbacks. How could anybody not know that."
I don't think she appreciates the magnitude of what we just saw :)
Permalink | Comments (1)The Barbie Drug
New drug gives you a whole body tan, increases your sex drive, and suppresses your appetite.
It could be available at pharamacies in two years. It will be "available" via email in next 24 hours.
Permalink | Comments (1)May 16, 2004
Cheeseburger in Paradise
Jimmy Buffett's restaurant, Cheeseburger in Paradise, opened in Fredericksburg recently. We dined there tonight.
The short review? If you are jonesing for a burger, go to Fuddruckers.
There is nothing wrong with the burgers at CIB. I ordered mine straight from the song, ...I like mine with lettuce and tomato; Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes; Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer...
However, we waited 45 minutes to get a table, and then another 30 minutes for our food, and its just not worth it. It's not THAT good. The key lime pie (with coconut creme) was fantastic though. The prices weren't horrible, although charging for lemonade refills "because it comes from the bar" is rather idiotic.
If you want a burger Fuddruckers is better, and much quicker.
The decor is tacky Florida tourist. The music is a mix of current pop hits and classic rock, with a Buffett song every 10 minutes or so. The whole thing is just way too contrived.
Bottom line...don't bother. Find a real hole in the wall beach bar somewhere that makes a decent burger. That would be more in keeping with the spirit of the song anyway.
Permalink | Comments (3)Stopping Comment Spam
For a while now I've thought that simply renaming the comment script in MT would stop comment spam. Since the bots are searching for a certain file, if it's not there they can't spam your site.
Sounds good in theory, but the problem never got bad enough for me to bother researching if it would work.
I stumbled into this today, specific instructions on how to change the filename of the comment script in MT. I'm probably going off of MT in the very near future, so I won't be bothering with it.
Permalink | Comments (0)Spotting the North American Rock Critic
Is your favorite rock critic an Indie Thug, The Zeitgeist Obsessive, or maybe he is just A Harmless Shill? This is funny, and all too true.
Since I'm known to review music here, which critic am I?
Based on the article, I'm probably A Harmless Shill.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 15, 2004
More on the Movable Type fiasco
Here, and in the comments at several other blogs, I have been trying (and mostly failing) to explain the my issues surrounding the sudden change from Six Apart.
Mark Pilgram has very elequently said what I was tryng to say.
It's not about money; it's about freedom.
That is the point I was trying to make.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 14, 2004
A reason to have faith in the next generation
Even in these turbulent times, ROTC commissions are on the rise at universities all across the country.
I didn't realize Purdue's ROTC program was one of the largest in the country (at a non-military institution).
Permalink | Comments (0)NCLB = No Educrat Left Behind
The No Child Left Behind Act reflects outmoded, paternalistic, industrial-age thinking on education. Its real name should be No Educrat Left Behind. What we need instead is bottom-up, consumer-driven reform that is aimed at reviving our capacity to educate ourselves. - Arnold Kling
And yes, I saw where he states "All of us are home schoolers, to a greater or lesser degree. In my experience, children who learn best learn on their own."
Kling is one of the good guys, so I'm giving him a pass on the misappropriation of the term.
Permalink | Comments (0)Scam the scammer
A guy selling an Apple Powerbook on Ebay realized that the buyer was setting him up for a scam with a fradulent escrow service.
With a little help from his internet friends, he decided to scam the scammer.
He wrote up the whole story. This is hilarious, and absolutely brilliant. (pdf)
Permalink | Comments (1)May 13, 2004
Movable Type Upgrade Alert
News from MT HQ is not good. The new licensing scheme for MT will be very bad for many power users. The free edition of MT 3 will be limited to 3 blogs from 1 install, and only 1 author. All multi-author blogs will need to buy a license. The free license also is limited to single CPU machines. This is a particularly stupid requirement as most of us out source hosting and have no idea how many CPU's our web host may have in the box. However, if like me, you are paying only a few bucks a month for hosting, odds are good that you are on dual CPU Linux box. Technically, you can't upgrade to MT 3.0 free. I have no idea how they can actually enforce that provision though.
I have no personal experience, but Wordpress seems to be a viable alternative, and it is real open source software. I may go the Blosxom route - after I see how all this really plays out.
Thinking out loud for a minute... if I set up a little side business moving blogs from MT to Wordpress or Blosxom, how much (if anything) would you pay for that service?
Update: Jason Kottke has an intelligent idea on what MT could do. I think his price point is too high though. People living in NYC tend to forget that $60 is not pocket change in flyover country. I think $30 is the magic number for personal use - but that is just as much a random ass guess at Kottke's $60 number.
Permalink | Comments (3)Computers, Schools, and Education
A book review of The Flickering Mind, a critique of technology's role in education, spawned an interesting discussion in the Slashdot comments thread.
For those of you that aren't regular Slashdot readers, I highly suggest setting the comment threshold at "3" before you start reading. That will get you most of the quality comments while hiding the trolls.
Permalink | Comments (2)May 12, 2004
HG2TG - Filming has started
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie has a blog, and filming for the movie has started.
Please, please, don't make a movie that sucks.
Permalink | Comments (5)May 11, 2004
The Discipline Problem
Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews has some thoughts on a new report entitled Teaching Interrupted: Do Discipline Policies in Today's Public Schools Foster the Common Good. The report was sponsored by Common Good, a legal reform group with both George McGovern & Newt Gingrich on their board. (which should make for some interesting board meetings!)
Here is the report's most unsettling summary of its findings: "Teachers operate in a culture of challenge and second-guessing -- one that has an impact on their ability to teach and maintain order. Nearly half of teachers (49 percent) complain that they have been accused of unfairly disciplining a student. More than half (55 percent) say that districts backing down from assertive parents causes discipline problems. Nearly 8 in 10 teachers (78 percent) say that there are persistent troublemakers in their school who should have been removed from regular classrooms."
It should go without saying that homeschoolers don't have these problems.
But there is also a wider dread that poisons life all over the school. "We have students that just terrorize other students," another teacher said, "and yet we can't get rid of them, and they know this."
Terrorize other students and you're safe. But bring two Tylenol to school and you're expelled for the year. That makes sense.
I don't think discipline is the most important problem in American education. Poverty is. Children from low-income families are severely handicapped by the survival culture of their neighborhoods and their parents' strain making a living. It is often hard for such children to understand the importance of their lessons and to focus on learning. The difficulty of following proper classroom decorum is just one of their many handicaps.
This is just disgustingly patronizing. Poor kids can't be expected to behave in school? If our expectations are that low it's no wonder the results are so bad. Maybe somebody should introduce Jay Mathews to The Pygmalion Effect.
RTWT.
Permalink | Comments (0)Delusional Stalker Momentos on Ebay
Best use of the Internet, ever.
FJ is autioning off some stuff sent to him by his stalker.
"You could drink from the cup that was once held, and then mailed to me, by a real live psychotic, delusional stalker! She's insane, and she sent me a coffee mug."
I started the bidding :)
Permalink | Comments (1)Internet Porn sob stories
Wired is running a totally lame story about people who have gotten into trouble because of porn on their computers, and it's all the fault of the evil computer, or spyware, etc.
As John Stossel would say, "Give me a break."
The computer is no different than any other tool. The user has a responsiblity to learn how to operate the tool safely. This is not rocket science. Not using Internet Explorer and Outlook eliminates 99% of the spyware type of problems.
There has got to be a business opportunity here somewhere. Personal computer safety training, or something.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 10, 2004
Tastier than a knuckle sandwich
Everything you ever wanted to know about the knuckleball, with a lot of Tim Wakefield coverage. The Red Sox have another knuckleballer in the minors too.
Maybe this is my key to fullfilling the major league dream?
Permalink | Comments (0)May 07, 2004
After The Storm
5 minutes before I took this the sky was black and the rain was torrential as a tornado spawning thunderstorm rolled through the area.
We have babies
All 5 bluebird eggs hatched. Michelle is enforcing quiet hours in the backyard. I have no idea how bluebirds managed to reproduce all these years without Michelle's help.
Day 1 
Day 2 
Day 3
Ever heard of seperation of church and state?
This guy apparently hasn't. He is a Christian working in the public school system (not clear on his role) and he is imploring Christians to not homeschool, because they need to be in the PS system "changing lives and changing the world."
Another choice quote..." It seems modern Christianity has lost sight of the mission field that is the public schools and have forsaken the social change they could effect by not only not abandoning public schools but by embracing it with love and biblical standards."
People like this is exactly why we are homeschooling. I'll shape my own kids world view, thank you. I don't need government employees,(radical liberal or christian), trying to do the job for me.
via Boars Head Tavern. The homeschool discussion popped up in my "homeschool" keyword category on Bloglines.
Permalink | Comments (5)Hey, Hey 16K
Friday Flash fun. You need to be at least 30 to appreciate this I think.
Permalink | Comments (0)Rick's Cafe Open in Casablanca
I can't believe this took 60 years, but there is finally a Rick's Cafe in Casablanca.
Casablanca is the best movie ever. Don't waste your your time trying to convince me otherwise.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 06, 2004
Public Service Announcement
Friday, May 7th is No Pants Day. Just thought you would want to know.
Permalink | Comments (1)May 05, 2004
MLB completely, totally, sells out
I don't have the words to decscribe just how much I hate this idea.
Where does it stop? Why not paint the grass red for Spiderman? I am sick and fucking tired of somebody trying to sell me something every waking moment of my life. I hate to sound like a Luddite but this is too much. They are printing advertising on the bases! How long until somebody decides the field itself is just one big billboard? Cover the walls in ads, float 10 blimps over the stadium, I don't care. But the baseball field itself is sacred ground.
The games in question are June 11-13. I have one word.
Boycott.
Don't go. Don't watch on TV. Make it the most unprofitable weekend in baseball history.
And you can be damn sure I won't be going anywhere near a theater to see Spidermman II.
If you are still on the fence about this, just ask yourself this one simple question.
What would Bart Giamatti think about this?
Update (5/7): via Tom Bridge in the comments, Columbia Tri-Star Pictures, sensing a PR disaster, wisely pulled the ads from the playing field.
Permalink | Comments (5)Don't homeschool beer and alcohol use
I didn't realize that current parenting trends were teaching parents to allow their teenagers moderate alcohol consumption, in the theory that it alleviates the binge drinking problems so common among 17+ crowd.
The author actually uses the phrase "home schooling in beer and wine consumption." Heh. He didn't mean anything by it, I just found it an amusing use of the phrase. However, the article is actually about The Community of Concern, a group that started in one local private school and is now national in scope. They are counteracting that trend and working to keep kids completely drug, alcohol, and tobacco free.
Obviously, if kids never start drinking it is a good thing. However, I'm not sure I buy the argument that moderate teenage drinking necessarily leads to heavy alcohol use and adult alcoholism. Our friends in Europe have been allowing their kids to enjoy a glass of wine at the dinner table for years, and by all accounts they don't have the teenage alcohol abuse problems that we do. I wonder if that is at least partially because Europeans have taken the "rite of passage" aspect of alcohol out of the equation? I'm thinking out loud here, I really have no idea.
I do think parents that draw a line in the sand and dare their teenager to cross it by drinking are asking for trouble. I think we have to realize that our teenagers probably will try alcohol sooner or later, and I'd much rather deal with the issue in a way that leaves them unafraid to call me for a ride home. How exactly I do that is still an open issue. If they never touch the stuff that is great. However, parenting on that assumption might be asking for trouble.
Are homeschooled teenagers any more or less like to drink? I really have no idea. Gut instinct tells me since we tend to have closer relationships with our kids, they probably don't feel as strong a desire to rebel by drinking. However, mine are only 10 and 8, so I haven't had to deal with it yet.
Izzy? Any other readers with homeschooled teenagers want to comment?
BTW, this writer believes Guinness is proof that God exists :) I have no general moral issue with the moderate consumption of alcohol (or really any substance) by adults.
Permalink | Comments (5)
May 04, 2004
Brutal honesty
Tillman's youngest brother, Richard, an aspiring comedian, took the podium wearing jeans and a T-shirt and holding a pint of Guinness beer...and reportedly said, "Pat isn't with God,'' "He's f -- ing dead. He wasn't religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he's f -- ing dead.''
Wow. Is there a better time for brutal honesty? A memorial service should be about the man Tillman was, not the man we wanted him to be. He is a hero, whether he believed in God, or not.
BTW, when my time comes feel free to eulogize me over a pint of Guinness. Better, make it a few pints. Guinness is good for you.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 03, 2004
Sounds Of Place
I haven't contributed to Ecotone in a few months. I blame this all on Fred. He hasn't been writing Ecotones either, and the only time I ever think about it is when he posts his first.
This week's subject is Sounds of Place. As is my habit, I write these based on the first thought that comes to mind. I read "sounds of place", and I immediately thought "military jet aircraft."
I'm an Air Force brat. The sound of an USAF fighter plane streaking low overhead is about the most comforting sound I can imagine. This must relate back to growing up on USAF bases where the sound was just part of the everyday fabric of life. A few specific remembrances that come to mind...
Playing baseball in the field at the end of our block on Grissom AFB, IN and hearing the "crack" as jets broke the sound barrier overhead. This was 1976ish so I'm going to guess they were F-101's? Another specific instance in 1997, we are on Shell Island just across the bay from Tyndall AFB. F-16's start practicing touch and go takeoffs on the runway not more than a mile or so across the water, and they roar directly over our heads at very low altitude. It was a parade of jets, so loud the ground shook, so low you could almost feel the exhaust. I was enthralled, as was my then 3 year old son. I also remember running to the window in our condo every time I heard a jet that whole week.
That sound just makes me happy. I can't really explain it any other way.
Our current home sits directly between the Quantico Marine Base and Fort AP Hill. We don't get many jets, but the low flying squadrons of military helicopters are a suitable substitute. And yes, I race to the window or out on the deck for a look anytime I hear them coming. My son is usually already there.
Permalink | Comments (3)Book Review: Crazy From The Heat - David Lee Roth
This book is exactly what you would expect from DLR, a stream of consciousness trip through the history of Van Halen. It's quite entertaining. DLR did everything right and Eddie and Alex are the cause of all the VH problems. And his career after VH has been a series of brilliant ideas that nobody else "got."
Would you expect anything else from DLR?
Is There a Doctor In The House?
Izzy is calling for a fisking of this article by physician Steven LaTulippe. I have a few comments, although I don't think it rises to the level of a fisking. Most of what Dr. LaTulippe writes, particularly as it relates to the public school system, is spot on.
Dr. LaTullippe writes:
First, is the issue of entangling professional pursuits with family relationships. For example, there is a longstanding principle in the practice of medicine that a physician should not treat his family and friends. This idea arose from the realization that the emotional bonds of family often interfere with the objective analysis and treatment of medical conditions. ...Similarly, I believe that the role of educator often requires that the practitioner be removed from the personal ties of family and friendship. Issues of parental ego and familial relationship baggage can cause problems that might also compromise the overall educational goals.
The problem with this is that sweeping generalizations are always wrong. Even the NEA has never tried to raise this point. I'm not aware of any objective evidence that shows that family ties hinder the ability of kids to learn, or parents to teach. The empirical results being delivered by homeschoolers across the country would seem to indicate that family ties promote, not hinder education.
Secondly, I consider education at the high school level and above to be a professional endeavor, rather than an amateur one. It is one of the great crimes of our government school system that teachers, who were once professionals on the level of physicians and lawyers, have been demoted into the ranks of clock-punching bureaucrats.
If anybody ever accused me of being professional on the level of a lawyer I'd probably punch them in the face :)
Seriously though, remember that this is a medical doctor writing. He has been conditioned since his pre-med days to believe he is special, one of an exalted class of people. Really, it's no different than the shamans of native American culture or the witch doctors of voodoo based cultures. Their gifts came from the Gods, Dr. LaTulippe's gifts came from a textbook. This is not entirely bad. To have human life in your hands on daily basis, and to occasionally fail, is not an easy thing. A certain amount of ego is probably necessary to survive in that profession.
However, that is the key point, it's just a profession. There is nothing special about doctors, lawyers, or teachers. Give kids a good foundation in basic math and reading and they will mostly teach themselves from about 5th grade on. Really, did you learn geometry and calculus because of your teachers, or in spite of them?
I don't want to be too hard on the good doctor though, because overall he has the right idea. He ends with these recommendations:
Keep your kids out of the public school system.
No argument from me on this!
Destroy your television.
He goes a little overboard with this. Although I agree most TV is garbage, there is quality programming available. Just last week I was able to watch the Red Sox beat the Yankees in Yankee stadium 4 games in a row!
Get together with 6 or 7 other parents and hire a professional instructor to educate your children along the classical tradition.
This is done all the time in homeschooling. Although it's usually a volunteer effort because in most states the teachers unions have made damn sure that it is illegal for anybody other than a state certified teacher to teach ( other than their own children). Sort of like how doctors have made sure it's illegal for anybody other than a licensed physician to prescribe medication.
If you can’t hire one, then home school them yourself.
No argument from me
If you can’t do that either, carefully search for a good private school and send them there.
Of course this assumes that everybody makes "doctor" money and can afford to pay all the taxes to fund the public schools, and then pick up the tab for private school too.
By the way, his views on homeschooling are not unique among doctors. One challenge homeschoolers face is finding a pediatrician that doesn't consider keeping kids out of the school system some sort of crime against nature.
Related post - doctors and homeschooling.
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