November 30, 2005
links for 2005-12-01
November 29, 2005
links for 2005-11-30
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Fun interview with Terry Pratchett
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The future of Television - interesting
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PS administrators think we are under regulated.
Firefox 1.5
Good god is this browser fast. Go get it now.
However, do be aware that none of your extensions will work. Most of them will get updated over the next week or so, I hope. Blogging without Spellbound is dangerous.
Permalink | Comments (7)Democrat Congressmen see Katrina as vote buying opportunity
What other possible explanation is there for a democratic proposal to provide "retroactive flood insurance" to people in LA that were outside of normal flood zones and thus not eligible for the discounted government flood insurance.
State Farm or any of 500 other insurance companies would have been happy to sell those folks flood insurance at market competitive rates. They chose not to gamble and not to buy. When you gamble sometimes you lose. They lost. Deal with it, pick up the pieces, and move on with life. It is not the taxpayers responsibility to bail them out of a poor financial decision.
Permalink | Comments (3)
And the winner is...
Nominations are being accepted for Spunky's homeschool blog awards. I think I should definitely be a contender for Most Inspirational Blog ;)
Permalink | Comments (2)November 28, 2005
links for 2005-11-29
What makes a homeschooler a homeschooler?
Tenn at School@Home is collecting thoughts on the subject. She requests that anything submitted be respectful of others, so that rules out anything I've ever written :)
Tim's essay from earlier this year pretty much covers the subject.
Permalink | Comments (0)Look at baby pictures - win free stuff
Blogging Baby is running a contest with real prizes. Just match up the baby pictures with their Blogging Baby staffer parent, and you are in the drawing for a couple of sweet looking Sumo Omni beanbag chairs.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 26, 2005
Welcome to Boston Mr. Beckett
Wow. In one trade the Red Sox add a #1 starter, a potential closer, and a gold glove 3rd baseman. They gave up 2 top prospects (one of which was very over rated IMHO) and two other prospects.
This is a good trade even if Lowell is washed up. If last year was a fluke this becomes a great trade.
I'm already getting excited about next season.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 23, 2005
links for 2005-11-24
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How a deer got into the Cheetah cage at National Zoo, and survived to tell all his deer friends about it.
Florida teacher avoids jail time
Debra Lafave, the rather attractive 25 year old middle school teacher that was busted for having sex with a 14 year old student, pleaded guilty and avoided any jail time.
Let me repeat that, avoided any jail time.
If the teacher was male, there is no way in hell there is a deal that avoids jail time. Nice double standard.
I won't hold my breath waiting for NOW to demand equal punishment for female sex offenders though.
Permalink | Comments (3)November 22, 2005
links for 2005-11-23
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I take an XL
Homeschool Blog Awards
Spunky was home sick today, and apparently decided the way to get better was to think up a huge project and then volunteer to execute on it.
I was that way once. I grew out of it though ;)
If you are interested in a Homeschool Blog Awards thingee, let Spunky know. The discussion here will be what she should offer up for awards.
Denim Jumpers?
Nickels from Tim's collection?
Fossil fragments that (prove/disprove) (evolution/ID)?
Autographed pictures from Scott Somerville?
Any other ideas?
Christmas Lists
I picked up a tack catalog downstairs and noticed that somebody had used red ink to circle items in the catalog. I can't imagine who that would be :)
It reminded me of Christmas when I was a kid. The arrival of the Sears Wish Book was a blessed event. Especially since we were in Spain when I was in K-3 grades, the hardcore Santa years. I didn't have commercial television to clue me in on what was cool. I had no idea of the new toys until we got the Sears catalog.
My brothers and I each were assigned a pen color, and we circled the stuff we wanted. Since we were overseas most of the stuff probably got ordered right from that catalog.
My kids have Amazon wish lists. Delaney's is mostly books with titles like How to Win at Horse Shows and Championship Dressage. Breck's is video games and sci-fi books. It's just not the same.
Permalink | Comments (3)November 21, 2005
links for 2005-11-22
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Mayor Daley in Chicago wants 6 day school weeks - that'll happen...not.
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Probably won't work though
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Interview with the HP crew
Itunes Bugs
You'd think Apple would have it all figured out by now...
1. I wanted to buy the new Cross Canadian Ragweed album from Itunes. For some reason, it's only a partial album on Itunes as they left one song off. Because of this, there is no Buy Album button, and to get the 14 tracks I have to buy them individually at .99 each, and be short one song from the album.
I think not.
2. So I surfed around some more and settled on the new live CD from The Old 97s. It's a full double length album - 30 tracks total for $9.99, which is a great deal. I wanted to pay with Paypal. It doesn't work. Everytime I logged into Paypal to validate it would send me pack to an Apple page that wanted me to download Itunes 6.1. I surmised that this meant I needed to upgrade to use Paypal with Itunes. So I downloaded, installed, etc.
I surmised wrong.
I finally submitted to the all powerful will of Steve Jobs and paid with the credit card on file. Bastards.
It took well over an hour by the time I finally got the download completed, but finally I am grooving to The Old 97s.
Most people would have quit, I probably should have. But I decided no matter how much Steve Jobs didn't want my money tonight, I was going to force him to take it. And I did.
That'll teach him ;)
Permalink | Comments (4)Crime Rate in schools stable at 5%
Your government is proud to announce that the percentage of kids that have been victims of violent crime in school remained steady at 5% last year, down from 10% in the early 90's. However, they claim kids are still safer in school than out of school.
The decrease is attributable to metal detectors, a greater police presence, and anti-bullying programs in the schools. Or maybe it just mirrors the general 50% decrease in violent crime in the US. It depends which paragraph in the story you want to believe.
No word though on what the greater police presence and metal detectors do for education though. The last time I checked, the job of schools was to educate, not keep the kids safe while mom and dad are at work. That would be a daycare.
Oh wait....never mind.
I would have guessed the crime rate in schools was 2% - 3%, so the improvement is still 50% worse than I would have expected.
Permalink | Comments (0)The difference between homeschooling and public-school-at-home
Is like the difference betwen working at home, and running a home based business.
I think that is a brilliant analogy.
Permalink | Comments (6)November 20, 2005
links for 2005-11-21
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A "you can afford to live on one income and homeschool" rant - emphasis on the word rant
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Goats can faint - who knew?
Has anybody got Google Analytics to work?
If so, please look at the source for this page and tell me why it won't work for me. I've moved the google code around to several places in my header, and everytime Google responds that the code is not found.
I'm getting the idea that the new Google service is worth exactly what we are paying for it.
Permalink | Comments (4)Family time now requires government sponsorship
More than 500 Montgomery County elementary school students filed into the gallery Saturday to participate in a day-long event organized by a volunteer group of county schoolteachers and parents in an effort to get parents to spend more leisure time with their kids.
In Montgomery County MD, parents apparently won't spend time with their kids unless a teacher organizes some sort of event. Sad, so sad.
I applaud the teachers for trying, but really, if this sort of effort is required just to get some parents to spend a day with their kids, the battle is already lost.
This passage is particularly touching.
"I think it's great," she said. "He really enjoys the art. When we first came, he said, 'We're not going to do it,' but then he did it and he loved it."
Her husband, John, walked around the museum with their daughter, Mira, 11. He had a different experience.
As he playfully put his hands around his daughter's neck, he smiled and said, "I love my children."
Even if you are miserable, you fake for the Washington Post reporter. Geez...
Permalink | Comments (0)Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
This would be a bona fide scary movie for kids. If you have an 8 year that has been reading the books, be prepared a few sleepless nights after the movie. It's much darker and creepier than any of its predecessors. It's fitting, as life at Hogwarts is getting darker and creepier with the return of Voldemort. (I, like Harry, am not afraid to say the name)
Thankfully, S.P.E.W. did not make the cut into the movie. Unfortunately, "Constant Vigilance" didn't either.
When is the 7th book due?
Permalink | Comments (0)November 19, 2005
links for 2005-11-20
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the commentary is in japanese, but the trick is very cool
Chris O'Donnell, published music reviewer
Well, published might be stretching it a bit. However, after an exhaustive international search, the fine folks at ADDReviews have invited yours truly to join the staff.
My first review is up. Many more to follow.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 18, 2005
links for 2005-11-19
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Until now, I never realized how many cleaners names sound like superhero names
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Yet another blogger skims three obscure homeschool sites to validate a pre-formed opinion
November 17, 2005
links for 2005-11-18
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We may be getting close to a cure for TYpe I diabetes
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Sony is evil
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When you get 20,000 visitors a day you can do this kind of stuff and actually make money
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No comment necessary
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Daniel Stoddart is blogging again.
Tom Cruise Won't Come Out of the Closet
Even if you never watch South Park, you must watch the current episode where they take on Scientology. Funny doesn't even begin to describe it.
Or, check your favorite torrent site.
Permalink | Comments (1)Exclusive Christmas Blockbuster
This is exclusive, you are not going to find this anywhere else.
***Must credit ODonnellWeb***
OK, sorry - I was channeling Drudge there for a minute.
I have it on good authority that Best Buy and Mo Rocca are working together on a secret plot to commericalize Christmas. Would you believe that for some people Christmas is all about the bling? And of course, your one-stop-shop for Christmas bling is Best Buy.
Don't believe me yet? Here is the proof. (15MB .mov file)
I only offer this as a public service. I'm totally in touch with the real meaning of Christmas.
Permalink | Comments (1)Sony is Evil
For my non-geek readers, this is an important story that you should be watching. Sony/BMG secretly placed monitoring software on the PC's of its customers that played CDs in their computer. The rootkit, which disguised itself so well that even a nerd like me would have been clueless, also left your computer open to attack from hackers. All this because Sony thinks all of its customers are criminals, and thus must be stopped from making a backup copy of the music they purchased.
It gets even better. It turns out that in its zeal to protect copywrited material, Sony apparently violated the GPL copyright by using open source software in the rootkit.
To date, Sony has failed to provide a safe way to remove the spyware, and they really have not apologized for treating their customers like criminals.
This is one case where I'll be siding with the sleazy plaintiffs lawyers. Sony needs to learn this le$$son the hard way.
Permalink | Comments (1)November 16, 2005
links for 2005-11-17
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Sweet!
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HEM Takes on Universal Preschool, aka taxpayer funded daycare
Pat Robertson Urges Homeschoolers to install metal detectors
It's not quite The Onion, but this "press release" made me laugh.
Permalink | Comments (2)Fallout over the Lancaster County PA shootings?
Jay at Blogging Baby is questioning whether homeschoolers should be getting worked up over the potential anti-homeschool fallout from the PA case. The reality is the shootings had absolutely nothing to do with homeschooling. It was a screwed up teenager killing for what he thinks is love. Didn't Shakespeare write a story along that general theme?
Does Jay have a point? Do we get defensive unnecessarily when something bad happens and it involves a homeschooler?
I'll admit that I've thought about how the press and PA government might use this to further a statist agenda. However, I haven't seen any evidence of it so far.
Permalink | Comments (8)November 15, 2005
links for 2005-11-16
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The NSA has a kids site.
Congress out of the things to do
Georgia Representative Cynthia McKinney has introduced the Tupac Shakur Records Collection Act of 2005 to establish a permanent collection in the National Archives, and a second collection at the Tupac Shakur center for the Arts at Stone Mountain, GA.
I guess your not really civilized until your government memorializes the life and times of a drug addicted, gang banging loser with marginal rapping skills.
If there is a good side to this, at least McKinney isn't working on anything that might actually matter.
Permalink | Comments (1)November 14, 2005
Berkeley High Condom Club
You read the title correctly. Berkley High School has a condom club. Maybe it was created for the kids that get kicked off the football team for immoral behavior?
Nah, that can't be it. There is no way Berkeley High School has any kind of morals expectation for the students.
I was intrigued by the offer though. 1 free lunch and 12 condoms a week for joining.
12 a week? Surely that is a misprint.
Thinking back to 9th grade, I would have been quite happy if somebody had told me I could expect to use 12 condoms over the next four years :)
Hat tip: Aaron
Permalink | Comments (0)November 13, 2005
The Killer Angels - Maybe the best Gettysburg book
Breck picked up The Killer Angels at the Antietam Gift Shop. It's the story of Gettysburg, told first person through the eyes of Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain, and others. Obviously, we don't know exactly what Lee and Longstreet talked about at 12 AM the night before battle, but author Michael Sharra does a damn interesting job of recreating what those conversations might have been like. The book is historically accurate as far as the facts go, with the author filling in all the details from letters and records of the time, colored with his artistic license.
More so than any other Civil War book I read, this one gives you a sense of just how bad Lee screwed up at Gettysburg. You get a sense of Lee's desperation, that he knows the South can't win a protracted war. You also get the sense that Lee and unreasonable expectations of success from their previous successes. The first person accounts of battle serve as a testament to the glory, and futility, of war.
I find myself with a lot more respect for General Longstreet now too. I'm going to have to do some more research to determine if he really was as adamant in his opposition to the Gettysburg battle plan as this book makes him out to be.
Permalink | Comments (1)Amber Alert - HS'er involved
A 14 year old homeschooler has been abducted from her home 60 miles west of Philly, allegedly by her 18 year old boyfriend (that her parents did not approve of). They met in a homeschool support group. Both of her parents were shot dead in the incident, allegedly by the boyfriend.
The boyfriend was last seen operating a red Volkswagen Jetta with Pennsylvania license plates EHH-0994.
I'm avoiding their names to cut down on the number of stupid comments that I'll get if Google decides I'm #1 for the names.
Update: They've been caught. Early indications are that this was a kidnapping and the girl is not a party to the crime.
Permalink | Comments (1)The cost of heat
With all the news about the rise in natural gas prices, I thought I'd check and see how much hype we are getting here.
(Washington Gas VA prices)
11/2003 - .70 per therm
11/2004 - .92 per therm.
11/2005 - 1.34 per therm.
Yeah, that's quite an increase. This led me into calculating the cost per hour of the major gas appliances in our home.
Gas Furnace - $1.47
Gas logs - $.25
Gas Water Heater - $.54
Gas Stove - $.34 (assumes oven plus one burner being used)
(A therm is 100,000 BTU. All of your gas appliances should have a BTU/hour rating. Do the math.)
So, turning the heat down and enjoying long baths in front of the gas fireplace is not only good for your marriage, it's good for your wallet too :)
Of course, if you have a gas fireplace in your master bathroom, I doubt you spend much time worrying about the gas bill.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 12, 2005
links for 2005-11-13
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A School Board Trustee discovers unschooling and wonders about applying it in a school setting.
Verizon Wireless is watching you
My contract with Verizon Wireless expired (finally!) at the end of Oct. My phone battery is very near its end of life, so my intention has been to switch to Virgin Mobile. I've decided I am not signing long term contracts for cell service.
Here we are on 11/12 and I still haven't done anything. A combination of inertia and lack of desire to spend cash on a new phone has delayed me doing anything. So this evening I logged onto Verizon Wireless with the intention of switching my monthly plan to the cheapest available. I don't need all the minutes I'm paying for.
However, even though I'm not under contract with Verizon Wireless, they require me to commit to at least a year if I want to change my current plan.
That is not going to happen.
So I navigated away from VerizonWireless.com.
About 90 seconds later the phone rang and Michelle answered it.. I heard her say, he isn't home right now.... Then she comes upstairs and tells me that it was Verizon Wireless calling. They said they can offer me a better deal that what I was just looking at on the web site. I clarified, thinking this was just an odd coincidence. It wasn't. The call was a direct response to me navigating away from the change your plan page without completing the process.
I don't want or need my mobile phone provider watching me that closely. I bought a phone from Virgin Mobile 5 minutes later. It's a camera phone too, so I'll be able to take pictures of the goofy stuff I see commuting and use it here.
Permalink | Comments (3)Say hello to Blackbeard
Say hello to Blackbeard
Originally uploaded by ChrisOD.
If this doesn't get us boku bonus points in the cool parents competition, I don't know what will.
Breck has wanted a pet snake for at least 2 years. I would have bet on a cold day on hell before I would have bet on Michelle ever agreeing to it. However, last Spring she told Breck that once he passed his 2nd class swimming requirement for Boy Scouts he could get a snake.
Let this be a lesson to all parents. Don't say stuff like that unless your really mean it!
It took longer, and more $wimming lessons that I would have liked, but we now have a son who is a better swimmer than I (that's not a high bar...)
And he owns a snake. Blackbeard is a 2-1/2 ft long king snake. The lifespan of a king snake in captivity is about 17 years.
I hope Breck's future wife likes snakes.
Dial M for Murder
I watched another Hitchcock classic last night - alone. My wife doesn't get Hitchcock, finds it boring and refuses to watch with me.
Her loss...
Dial M for Murder is a great movie. It's a murder mystery, but Hitchcock flips the usual storyline 180 degrees. Instead of wondering the whole movie who did it, Hitchcock gives us all the details early on, then the suspense becomes whether of not the criminal will get a way with it.
Permalink | Comments (1)November 11, 2005
links for 2005-11-12
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The conversation of the PA school sports decision begins...
Have you thanked a Vet today?
37 odd years ago my now deceased father was a scared 19 year old kid with an infant son and a wife back in the states. He was a radar technician in the Air Force, stationed at Ramstein AFB in Germany. He was flown in to what he thought was Vietnam, choppered into a radar site to do repair work on a radar installation that had taken a shell. It got late and dark so he was stuck there for the night.
19 year old radar techs weren't even issued firearms.
The Viet Cong started shelling the site. He dived into a foxhole with a Green Beret. The Green Beret handed him an automatic weapon, pointed him in the right direction, and told him to shoot anything that moved.
Later, my father learned that the incident never happened. His guess is that he was really in Cambodia, although of course there weren't any Americans on that side of the border in 1968. That was his only time on the ground in a warzone. He did spend a lot of time in the air working the boom on a KC-135 Stratotanker. Interestingly, my father's Veteran of Foreign War designation is based on his time spent in occupied Berlin, which of course was not particularly dangerous in the 1970's.
To all the Vet's out there, thank you.
November 10, 2005
links for 2005-11-11
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Play risk in a browser - with Google maps for the game board
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The conversation of the PA school sports decision begins...
Throw the goat with care
The Supreme Metal Council has convened an emergency session to address the problem of overuse of the goat in non-metal situations.
"The metal sign, or 'sign of the goat,' has all but lost its impact as a token of respectful recognition for something truly 'rocking' or 'metal,'" SMC president Terence "Geezer" Butler said. According to Butler, members are upset that their sacred gesture is being used to acknowledge and celebrate "favorable but clearly non-metal events."
This is a serious problem my friends. When country singers are throwing the goat, Armageddon can not be far behind.
I thought it was getting a little too respectable around here - I needed to bring the site back into balance.
Hat Tip: Wheaton
Permalink | Comments (1)November 09, 2005
links for 2005-11-10
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There is a market for everything...
November 08, 2005
links for 2005-11-09
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I need to link to my readers more often
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Another VA Homeschooler joins the fray...
Don't buy this book!
Found this at Daryl's, but it is just too ripe for ridicule to leave all the fun to him.
Sara Jenkins promises to reveal the secrets of successful homeschoolers...
Damn it!!! All that time trying to keep our methods secret, and she is going to tell the world. She must be stopped.
Home schooling is a great option if you want to have a larger role in your kids' learning. And while the idea may seem easy at first, there's a lot of work to be done before school officials will acknowledge that your child is getting the proper education at home
Raise you hand if you care about acknowledgment from the school officials....anybody...anybody....?
There's paperwork to be filled out, curriculum's to decide, and school committee's to convince. But this should NOT discourage you.
No, but the thought that somebody might buy this book does discourage me, because she doesn't have a clue what she is talking about.
Give Me 50 Minutes And I'll Have
You Ready To Stand In Front Of School Officials
With Home School Paperwork In Hand!
Woo Hoo! Show us your papers comrade, now.
Each state has it's own policies and each state is different. But all states require children between the ages of 6 and 16 get an education. So if they're not attending public schools, you're going to need to show that they're learning at home. (Especially if you want your child to advance to college!)
Anybody from Texas want to take this one for me?
And just look at all the valuable information you will get in this amazing book.
• 8 things you must consider before you even think of getting started home schooling your child. (Pages 3-5)
Only 8? I could swear that we considered 9 things. Damn, I wish this book had been available when I was making the homeschool decision.
4 courses of action to take as soon as possible to make sure you have the current information for home schooling in your state. (Pages 5-6)
I can do this in one courses of action.
5 steps to making sure your school district will approve your proposal to home school your child. (Pages 5-6)
Proposal? we have to ask permission now? Who knew....
Find out what the courts WILL expect from you as a teacher. (Pages 6-8)
Court supervised home education? Another new one for me.
The surprising truth about the number of days that must be spent home schooling each week, month, or year. (Page 9)
Please, please, nobody buy this and take it seriously. This person is dangerous. Maybe she is an NEA plant spreading disinformation? Maybe the site is a spoof?
4 things every school committee looks at when approving your home school proposal. (Page 10)
Good god, we are only up to page 10. This is starting to hurt.
The secret to picking subject areas that any school committee will have to approve. (Pages 10-12)
More of our secrets revealed.
The reason why most home schoolers can claim their school year is 365 days long. (Page 12)
Because there is 365 days in a year?
3 steps to proving to school officials you are qualified to teach your child (whether you have a degree or not). (Pages 13-14)
We must please our masters...
20 types of resources you can use submit as legitimate teaching materials. (Page 15)
Only 20? And she lists them all on one page! I wonder whose website she cut and pasted that list from?
4 options you have to prove to school officials that your child is learning. (Pages 16-17)
When do they start proving that the kids in school are learning?
The sample education plan that should get approval from your school officials without any problems. (Pages 17-19)
One education plan for everybody - now that is in the spirit of homeschooling.
8 rules for choosing teaching materials that suit your needs as well as your child's. (Pages 19-23)
Because homeschoolers are so fond of rules...
10 steps to creating a successful lesson plan every time. (Pages 23-27)
Every time people! You'll never fail again.
2 sample lesson plans for you to analyze and learn from. (Pages 27-34)
The world of parent directed education - boiled down to two lesson plans. The sound you hear is John Holt spinning in his grave.
The secret to setting goals to make sure you reach your yearlong curriculum needs. (Pages 34-35)
More secrets revealed, sigh. Now they know everything.
The trick to realistically planning math curriculums. (Pages 36-37)
And for her next trick, she will teach us the secrets of cold fusion.
Tips for drawing up dynamite lesson plans in grammar, spelling, vocabulary, reading, writing, and more. (Pages 37-42)
She might want to read that grammar lesson herself first.
3 reasons to confirm home schooling your special-needs child is a good idea. (Page 42)
Confirm with whom?
5 tips to remember when home schooling your special-needs child - and 14 books to seek out more information. (Pages 43-45)
Hint - go to Amazon and search on homeschool - I think they have 17 whole books on the subject, and they won't charge you to look at the list.
She does offer a money back guarantee though. I'd buy it just to ridicule it more, but then I'd feel guilty about requesting a refund. I at least would have gotten something useful out of it - content for this site:) That is probably way more than any prospective homeschooler will get from the book.
Update: A reader pointed out that Sara Jenkins is an expert on a quite a few subjects.
Permalink | Comments (8)November 07, 2005
links for 2005-11-08
Fever Pitch
It was 75 and sunny this weekend - thus the lack of posts around here. I did retire to the basement Saturday night with Mrs. ODonnellweb to view Fever Pitch, a chick flick revolving around the Boston Red Sox.
Sounds like a can't miss movie, right?
It missed. Mostly dull and boring, and totally lacking in the LOL moments you would expect from Mike Myers. The ending was very obviously thrown together when the Red Sox blew the plot by winning it all last year.
Really, not even worth a Netflix rental.
Permalink | Comments (3)November 06, 2005
links for 2005-11-07
November 05, 2005
links for 2005-11-06
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Breck is getting a pet
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This is why almost all movies I see are screened in my home theater
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If I lived in Texas he'd get my vote just for using 'Why the hell not" as his campaign slogan
November 03, 2005
links for 2005-11-04
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Since I"ll be SUV shopping in the near future...
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With Republicans like these who needs Democrats?
Swiffer CarpetFlick
More free stuff - more comments on said free stuff.
So Swiffer Carpetflick sponsored the Fox TV Fall Kickoff party. They flew me out to LA and I got to hang out and party with the hotties from The OC. It was really cool.
OK, that didn't really happen :) What did happen is they sent me a free sample of the Swiffer CarpetFlick and asked me write about it and somehow tie in the kickoff party and the new Fox Fall lineup. Unfortunately, the only show on Fox prime time that I watch regularly is 24, and of course nobody from 24 was at the party. So much for my tie in...
Speaking of 24, just how are they going to have Jack save the world again when he is supposed to be dead? If he shows his face, he'll have both the US and Chinese government trying to take him out. Those aren't good odds, even if he is Jack Bauer.
In case you are wondering about the connection between household cleaning products and The OC, Swiffer makes clean up quicker and easier, - leaving you more time to obsess over The OC. I do have an MBA, so I'm qualified to say that I'm not sure I agree with that marketing strategy. I would think overworked housewives is the target market, not the young hipsters that watch The OC. If I was spending the advertising budget, I'd hire to Ty Pennington or that plumber guy on Desperate Housewives to clean with it on live TV, probably shirtless, then sit back and watch sales and my EOY bonus soar :)
About the Carpetflick... I don't get it. It's essentially a lint roller for your carpet. You insert the disposable double sided sticky pad and slide the Carpetflick over your carpet. In all fairness, it does work. Dog hair, dust, pocket lint that jumped for freedom and landed on your carpet, it all sticks to the pad. However, the pad is only about 3" x 6", so you go through the pads fairly quickly. I tested out on the stairs and family room carpet. It works as advertised, I just can't figure out why they are bothering to advertise it. It really seems like a solution in search of a problem.
Also, it's a unitasker, and I'm increasingly of the opinion that unitaskers are bad. Given the choice of three carpet cleaning tools that all do something different, but do it very well, versus one product that does all three good enough, I'll take the multitasker every time.
Neither Michelle nor I could come up with any reason why we would use it again. If pulling out the vacuum or hand vac is too much trouble, a manual carpet sweeper would work just as well, and it wouldn't consume disposable cleaning pads in the process.
Personally, I've always thought a ShopVac would make the ultimate household vacuum cleaner. You never know when you might spill 500 nails across your family room carpet...
Permalink | Comments (1)November 02, 2005
Content Filtering for kids
Is anybody using a content filter at home(Net Nanny, Cybersitter, etc?) The kids are getting to an age where I worry more about what they may stumble into via an incorrectly typed URL. I have their PC's set to default Google Safe Search, so it's unlikely that they will Google up anything inappropriate. I'm looking for something to help protect 8-13 year olds. I'm not worried about older teens, I would expect them to figure out how to defeat the filters anyway.
I have a fundamental problem with the commercial filtering programs. They all consider the filters proprietary. I'm not interested in some stranger determining what is good and bad content, nor am I interested in spying on my kids. I want a simple proxy filter that looks at URL's and keyword combinations based on some dB that I chose to import. If it's open source even better. I can't find anything like this on the Web.
This seems like a great project. A large group could collaborate to build and maintain the dB, and somebody could write a Firefox plug in that acts as a local proxy server to filter content.
Do I have any readers technically capable of creating a Firefox plug in?
Permalink | Comments (8)I'm never buying a computer again
I finished converting my low end web surfing machine into a game box. I had to ultimately build a new computer as I needed a new case with a bigger power supply to handle the new graphics card, so I had to move the motherboard and all hardware into the new case. Now that I've seen just how easy it is, I will never again pay retail for a computer. I'll be building my own from now on.
It took me all of about 2 hours start to finish. If I was building a new system from scratch I'd add about 90 minutes to install the OS, download core applications like Firefox and Thunderbird, etc.
So now Breck has his very own computer.
Permalink | Comments (5)November 01, 2005
links for 2005-11-02
Hey Look - New Advertiser ------------->>>>>>>>>
Check them out, click the link for Audiofy - audio books on digital chips. Show my advertisers some love :)
Permalink | Comments (1)Email Lists in corporate America
For the last two years, my chris@ email address has been forwarded to Mailblocks, which was a challenge-response application. They got bought out by AOL and AOL decided to take a perfectly good service I was happily paying for, and kill it. It has been replaced by AIM Mail.
Just what the Internet needs, another free web mail system. No thanks.
So now, chris@ forwards through Gmail, which does a pretty good job of filtering the crap. However, I'm getting several emails a day from companies that I have not bought anything from in two plus years. For the last two years, all emails from these companies have been deleted unseen by me because the senders were not on my white list. For two plus years the senders have been ignoring the challenge response, yet they kept sending anyway.
Yes, I know the marginal cost of sending another email is essentially free, but there is still no excuse for anybody to send commercial email for over two years to an address that they should know is not receiving the message. If you are going to send email you have a responsibility to look at the damn responses, even if the response is an automated message indicating that your email is not welcome.
I'm talking to you JC Penny.
Permalink | Comments (1)