June 30, 2006
When life imitates Dooce
Yesterday Michelle says to me, "Do you like the sign on the front door?"
I replied, "What sign?"
She then explains that she was tired of the solicitors ringing the doorbell, so she put up a no soliciting sign.
I look at her and say, "You read that on Dooce didn't you?"
Her reply was about a 5 second blank stare and then I hear "Oh my God, I did read that on Dooce."
I expect my wife to start drinking tequila and swearing like a drunken sailor any day now.
Permalink | Comments (6)We aren't so special
If mankind is so special, why did we get stuck on such an insignificant planet?
Permalink | Comments (3)June 29, 2006
I went to NY and all I got was this stupid pencil
Yesterday, I took the day off of work to follow through on a dare from the kids. I had a 530 PM appointment in NYC to audition for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. I had a great plan that involved me getting to NY about 5 hours early so I could visit a couple of museums along the way.
Unfortunately, I forgot to check with Amtrak before I made that plan.
The day got off to a bad start. Traffic was horrendous and the 70 minute drive from my home to Union Station DC took 2 hrs and 20 minutes. I got there at 10:35. My train was scheduled to depart at 10:30. As it turned out, my train pulled out of DC about 12:30 and pulled into Penn Station in NY at 4:30. So instead of lots of lingering time, I had just enough to walk up 7th Ave to Broadway, and then follow Broadway through Times Square to Central Park. The audition was at the ABC building just a block off of Central Park.
Some random observations about NYC.
- It's loud. It's freaking loud.
- Stoplights and walk signs are mere suggestions.
- Drivers prefer to honk excessively in lieu of braking for pedestrians.
- It's surprisingly clean.
- Anywhere they can fit a vendor stand or advertisement they do. It really is an ode to capitalism
- Times Square is a pretty good proxy for my idea of hell. It's crowded, loud, hot, and has enough flashing lights to send a small nation into an epileptic fit.
- There is no amount of money that would get me to live there. I don't like loud, I don't like crowds, and in fact, I don't really like people.
Continuing our journey, everything changed when I got to Central Park. It got much more pleasant.
The Millionaire test is 30 questions. They handed me test #42. I immediately got very confident. What greater sign could I possibly receive?
The passing score is a secret. I am 99% confident that I got 26 right, maybe 27. That apparently ain't passing.
So I went back the way I came, this time slowing down to take a few pictures of the madness that is Times Square. I made it home about 12:30 AM, 16 hours after my journey started.
And all I have to show for it is a stupid pencil.
June 28, 2006
links for 2006-06-28
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Never aired on TV - watch it and you'll understand why :)
June 27, 2006
Homeschool Carnival 26
This week it is at a site I can actually link to!
Permalink | Comments (1)25% of women's purses contain E. Coli
They also found hepatitis and other nasties. Michelle has about 50 purses. It's a wonder any of us are still alive!
Permalink | Comments (0)Another bad idea from a HSB blogger
I think I could keep busy doing nothing more than blogging the asinine ideas that show up in my RSS searches from the site that shall not be linked to.
Here is today's entry.
Since last year, some scout units have been bantering about having a National Christian Homeschool Scouts Camporee somewhere in or around Washington DC during 2008. This would be a great way for Christian Homeschool Scouts to meet and connect with each other and might give our little movement an identity. Would your unit be interested in participating?
I think they are sort of missing the point of Boy Scouts. If they can't (or don't want to) intermingle with people of different faiths, they haven't learned much from their Boy Scout experience. And it's not like faith isn't part of the Boy Scout experience. Faith is integral, and is in fact a requirement, of Scouting. Faith in "what" is left up to each Scout though.
If they don't like the fact that Scouting is not a segregated Christian organization, Awana will happily take them in.
Permalink | Comments (2)Local trumps organic
It takes on average a cup of gasoline to transport each individual organically grown apple from Washington. Locally grown produce, even if the farmer needed to use a little pesticide, is probably better for the environment. Also, supporting your local farmer helps ensure that his farm doesn't become the site of the next Super Walmart shopping center.
Permalink | Comments (5)links for 2006-06-27
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Dude, you got a newt! (this is funny)
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It's never too early to start shopping. I recommend Home Defibrillator for Daryl. He will need it in October when the Yankees choke :)
June 26, 2006
Education in the margins
If you make something and people complain that it doesn't work, that's a problem. But if the worst thing they can hit you with is your own status as an outsider, that implies that in every other respect you've succeeded. Pointing out that someone is unqualified is as desperate as resorting to racial slurs. It's just a legitimate sounding way of saying: we don't like your type around here.
Paul Graham has written another one of his fabulous essays. This time he looks at the power of operating in the margins of the business world. Successful startups, and even successful corporate projects, often come from the margins. Jobs and Wozniak were hippies operating in a garage, back before operating in a garage was cool. Bill Gates was a college drop out.
It applies exactly the same to education. Homeschoolers are operating in the margins. When you are an education "insider" you have to deal with a lot of crap that gets in the way of education. Paul goes into that crap in detail - from a business point of view. But it applies 100% to us.
Nobody seriously complains that "our product" doesn't work. The biggest complaint anymore seems to be that we are different (outsiders)and that we are aren't qualified. According to Paul, we should be taking that as a huge compliment. It means that the education insiders know that we are kicking their collective asses.
Homeschoooling is education in the margins.
Permalink | Comments (1)This Has To Be A Parody
I love "Rush Limmbaugh"! Did I mention that before? He knows how to Demolish Liberals' Arguement's!
Unfortunately, it gets worse. It is written by a 16 year old homeschooler who loves Jesus, capital letters, and apostrophes, maybe even in that order.
Permalink | Comments (3)Monkeying Around With Organized Crime
Apparently, England has a problem with criminals breaking into zoo monkey houses to steal endangered monkeys.
The black market apparently pays well for endangered monkeys.
Revealing Pictures of Scott Somerville
Scott married off one of his sons this weekend, and the slideshow includes embarrassing and revealing pictures of Scott :)
Not really, but I couldn't just post a simple congratulations. Where is the fun in that?
Permalink | Comments (1)Some Good News from Belgium
The Belgium government has mandated Open Document Format as the standard for all government produced documents by 2008. This effectively kills the Microsoft monopoly within the Belgium government. (At least until MS buys their way into a 5 year extension).
Funny how the totalitarian and anti-Christian government in Belgium is way ahead of the US in this regard.
Permalink | Comments (1)The Knights That Go Nyet
Everything taught in public schools is carefully designed to advance the humanist agenda and to undermine Christianity...Now they will use every resource at their disposal to teach children that homosexuality is respectable and good. They will tell children that homosexuals should have the right to marry. They will tell children that opposing homosexuality is bigotry– that calling it a sin is "hate speech". They will put this in text books and lessons. It will be drummed into the minds of babies until it is accepted.
The Knights of Christendom - reinforcing negative homeschool stereotypes on the Internet since May 2006.
Nyet, nyet nyet, blah blah blah, gays taking over the world, our government is on a mission to destroy God, blah blah blah, nyet, nyet, nyet. There must be a Christian homeschool blog generator somewhere that just pumps out this crap at the click of a button.
links for 2006-06-26
June 24, 2006
The Graduate...
...is the first movie in a long time that I quit part way through. I don't know if maybe I'm just missing the key ingredient required to enjoy a late sixties movie (drugs), or if the movie really is just a pretentious waste of time. Yes, Hoffman's acting is great, and the direction is very well done, but neither of those can compensate for the fact that story just sucks.
I'll never get that hour of my life back.
Permalink | Comments (6)New Web site by ODonnellWeb Studios
Check it out at Dark Horse Fencing
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-06-24
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Futurama is back - sweet!
June 23, 2006
Is Spyware Software Godly Software?
Left Behind Games, the creators of the violent Christian video games seems to think so. Installing their games also installs tracking software on your computer that tracks your response to the advertising built into the game.
Now that I think about it, that could be kind of cool. Just imagine, you are battling the anti-Christ in Times Square, and the huge in-game billboard flashes an ad for something unwholesome, say ODonnellWeb.com ;) If you pause too long at this point in the game, or God forbid, click on the billboard to check out ODonnellWeb, your pastor and / or parents can be automatically notified, and maybe a nasty shock can be sent through the controller to train you up properly.
This could be the ultimate in Christian mind control. Tens of thousands of Christian teenagers zombies ready to execute whatever command flashes at them on the in-game billboard.
Friday Afternoon Time Waster
This is so diabolical that I suspect Cav may have designed it.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-06-23
June 22, 2006
Did you ever tape music videos?
An email exchange yesterday with Ryan brought the memory of staying up late in high school, watching the latest music videos on VHS. Did anybody else do this?
In 1983 MTV has not yet penetrated 99% of American households. Most of us got our music video fix from Ted Turner. That's right, I said Ted Turner. Back in the day when most TV stations signed off with the national anthem at 1 AM, TBS would run music videos all night on Friday and Saturday nights. We would set the VHS up to tape all night, then watch the videos at our leisure, over and over again.
This became particularly important when I moved overseas in the fall of 1983. Armed Forces Radio is not know for being cutting edge. We were cut off from pop culture. Today I would consider that a good thing. At 16 years of age, not so much. The only way we had to keep up with the music scene was video. We had relatives in the US tape 6 hour chunks of TBS and MTV and mail the tapes to us on Kwajalein.
You young kids with your Youtube and video Ipods really have no idea how good you have it ;) Sharing a video with a friend back then meant 20 minutes of searching the VHS tape to find it first. And when you found it, it was grainy VHS, in mono.
Permalink | Comments (7)links for 2006-06-22
June 21, 2006
Homeschooling will make your boy gay
Not really, of course. However Joe Brummer reports that some so called expert in "curing" gayness claims that the isolation from peers will make your boy gay. Yet another reason to make sure you cover the socialization thing I guess.
As we all know, HEK's are generally not isolated from their peers, and gay is not something you "get" anyway.
However, given that we know some homeschoolers do follow this path due (in part) to an unnatural fear of gay folks, just imagine the irony if their kids did indeed have a propensity to be gay.
I might accept that as proof that God exists, and that He has a wicked sense of humor.
Yes, I violated the boycott. It just seemed appropriate for this post.
Permalink | Comments (1)links for 2006-06-21
June 20, 2006
The Art of Happiness
If I had to pick one spiritual leader to sit down and have dinner with, it would be His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In this book a US psychiatrist managed to get a bunch of face time to interview him, and write a book on his teachings, from a western perspective.
The western part is not needed. The Dalai Lama's teachings on respect and compassion for all sentient beings, or the fundamental right of all beings to seek happiness, are universally appealing. Translation into western thought is not needed, and in fact detracts from the book. I found myself quickly skimming through anything that the co-author wrote to get back to the direct words of the Dalai Lama. I would not recommend buying the book, only because I think there are probably other books directly authored by the Dalai Lama that will be far more likely to be read multiple times. However, your library probably has the book, and it's worth checking out.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-06-20
June 19, 2006
Take Home Chef
Take Home Chef is Mrs O'DonnellWeb's current obsession. I swear this show is on 12 hours a day - or at least it is our house ;) The premise is simple. A young British chef loiters in a supermarket and approaches an unsuspecting housewife, offering to come home with her and help her cook a special dinner for whoever it is she is cooking for. (Sort of sounds like a porn plot...)
I've seen parts of 3 episodes (it's the price I pay for a happy marriage), and there have been several constants.
- All the housewives have been at least moderately attractive.
- 2 of the 3 immediately changed into nicer clothes
- At least one was doing some serious flirting with the star of the show.
If it wasn't for the camera crew with him, I'd say a sex scandal is inevitable in the near future. However, the cameras may keep him honest. If we lived in LA I'm sure my wife would be stalking the supermarkets where he operates.
Permalink | Comments (2)New ODonnellWeb Feature - Monday Monkey Blogging
Today we roll out a new feature in my never ending quest to be entertaining, and occasionally educational. Mondays generally suck, so I figure a little news on our primate cousins will be just thing to liven up the day.
Apparently, monkeys watch the weather and adjust their foraging schedules so that they forage on bright sunny days. This must be the evolutionary basis for our ability to remember who has the best free happy hour food :)
Permalink | Comments (0)Sex Offenders have to leave Forsyth County GA
Georgia's new tough sex offender law makes it illegal for registered sex offenders to live with 1000 feet of a school, bus top, or anyplace kids congregate (So 7-11s are out too?). The law makes the entire county of Forsyth off limits. So the 67 registered sex offenders have been told to leave the county by July 1, or face arrest.
I don't want a sex criminal as a neighbor anymore than you do, but this is a well justified ACLU lawsuit waiting to happen. Murderers are welcome to live anywhere they want in GA, sex offenders aren't. If they are not on probation or parole, I don't see how the state has the right to tell them where to live. Felons have rights too.
Permalink | Comments (2)You can dress up the pig...
My friend Mark Horne found this article about some volunteers in LA that fought the system to get permission to replace the asphalt jungle that passes for a schoolyard with a garden. As much as I like stories of the little guy overcoming bureaucracy, I can't help but feel this is basically just putting lipstick on a pig. It may be prettier, but it's still a pig, and you still don't want to kiss it.
It seems like that energy would be better used making sure Johnny can read when he moves on the middle school. Instead, Johnny can plant, making him well qualified to contribute to California's migrant farm worker economy.
Permalink | Comments (3)Homeschooling and Segregation
Ron draws an interesting parallel between HSLDA and government in the post Civil War era.
One of the results of the US civil war was the abolition of slavery. Within a generation or 2 segregation was brought into effect in areas where slavery had been abolished. When slavery was initially abolished much of the social structure remained the same because the freed slaves owned nothing. At the heart of that structure was discrimination. Slavery is not possible without discrimination. Segregation became necessary after a period of time because over time the freed slaves accumulated possessions and some degree of wealth. Segregation ensured that the state was obligated to observe the discrimination which had existed in the slaving society thereby ensuring the sociopolitical position of the slavers.
The post is making a bigger point about the real purpose of the HoNDA legislation. However, it all boils down to HSLDA trying to maintain control of homeschooling in the US. So, does that make us FOD (freedom of die) homeschoolers the uppity negroes of homeschooling?
Another thought, The Uppity Negro of Home Education would be a great tag line for a blog. Any nominations? A white person using it might be a bit presumptuous. We need a black homeschooler that sounds like Daryl ;)
Permalink | Comments (4)June 17, 2006
Father's Day Take 1
Those sitcom dads that get to lounge around and enjoy breakfast in bed are a myth. Father's Day weekend started with us being out of the house at 730 AM for a fencing tournament in Richmond. Breck won his first competitive bout, going 1-4 in the pool round. That earned him a 9th seed (out of 15) in the direct elimination round, and a bout against the 8th seed. He pulled off the minor upset and won that bout 5-4 / 5-3. His reward for that was a shot at the #1 seed, who took him out 5-0 / 5-0. The #1 seed was the eventual champion, and Breck earned his first medal for finishing in the final 8.
Tomorrow is a 4-H riding workshop, and yardwork. So basically Father's Day weekend for me will be spent carting my kids around to their chosen activities.
I really can't think of a better way to spend the weekend.
links for 2006-06-17
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Web cam on the construction of the new DC baseball stadium
June 16, 2006
Parenting is fun too
Spunky found this great article on the joys of parenthood in a rather unexpected place, Slate.
Permalink | Comments (0)Quote of the Day
Who said this?
"For people in America who are a part of my political tradition, our great sin has often been ignoring religion or denying its power or refusing to engage it because it seemed hostile to us," he said. "For ... the so-called Christian right and its allies, their great sin has been believing they were in full possession of the truth."
If nobody provides the correct answer I'll update later.
Permalink | Comments (3)SPF 50 Not All It's Thought To Be
Sunscreen is not as effective at cancer prevention as you might think. Sigh, maybe we should all return to the caves and become nocturnal.
Permalink | Comments (4)links for 2006-06-16
June 15, 2006
The RIAA Perfects The Art Of Alienating Customers
The RIAA, which just has to be the dumbest collection of white males ever assembled on this planet, is now sending cease & desist letters to kids who dare post videos of themselves on Myspace or YouTube singing and dancing to their favorite songs.
I sometimes wonder if they aren't purposely trying to bankrupt the music industry. What a bunch of asshats.
To do my part to piss them off, check back in around midnight for a video of me performing Like A Virgin. That'll teach 'em.
SWAT - Coming to your house soon
The Supreme Court just made it even easier for your local SWAT team to bust into your house on a paramilitary raid in search of the quarter-ounce of pot some untrustworthy informant claims to have seen in your possession.
Remember this in 2008 when the Republicans roll out the "liberal justices" scare tactics to herd the the sheeple to the polls.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-06-15
June 14, 2006
WalMart goes Organic
WalMart is selling organic foods at 10% more than the regular stuff.
Are they really doing us a favor by trucking organic milk halfway across the country?
Hat tip : Fred
Permalink | Comments (3)links for 2006-06-14
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The US Constitution is interfering with Christian Dominionism again.
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Man-bashing at Spunky's
June 12, 2006
Friedman on Ritalin
David Friedman is thinking about the ritalin issue.
Permalink | Comments (1)Great Dads in Nature
Human males don't have a monopoly on good parenting. Even a water bug can be a doting, attentive father.
Permalink | Comments (0)Homeschool Irony 101
The commenter's on Spunky's post about the new FPS Christian video game are concerned about how the actions of a subset of the Christian community are reflecting on the whole of the Christian community.
I feel like I need a cheap colloquialism here, something about pots and kettles being black, or maybe something about a shoe on the other foot.
But that would beneath me ;)
Update: A commenter notes that the game is a RTS, not a FPS.
RTS = real time strategy
FPS - first person shooter
Nuclear Waste Battle in Utah
The state and the Goshute Indians are battling over the tribe's plan to allow 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods to to stored on the Skull Valley reservation. This story caught my attention because I spent a year of high school next door to Skull Valley, and I went to school with a few members of the Goshute tribe. In fact, I'm pretty sure I knew several relatives of the tribal leader interviewed in the article.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-06-12
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The Bottle Rockets have a new album out - Zoysia.
June 11, 2006
Eyeball eating fungus would vote Republican, if it could vote
Fusarium keratitis, the fungus that caused Bausch and Lomb to recall its contact lens solutions earlier this year, also happens to eat cocaine. The EPA, DEA, and even the CIA says it is too dangerous to be used as a crop control agent.
Your Republican Houses of Representatives passed a bill requiring it's use in a major drug producing country like Columbia. Why is it that Republicans only seem to respect life while it is still in utero?
Permalink | Comments (1)links for 2006-06-11
June 08, 2006
What would you do?
What would you do if presented with the opportunity to serve on a jury in a case that would present you with the opportunity to engage in a little jury nullification?
Do you tell the truth and fess up when questioned that there is no way in hell you'll ever convict in this case, or do you perjure yourself to serve a greater good?
Julian Sanchez, a well known libertarian activist, got to answer that question for himself this week. It's well worth reading.
For the record, I believe the jury is the last line of defense against unjust laws. Governments can pass unjust laws, courts can uphold them, the police can even enforce them, but it's all for naught if the citizen jury won't convict. That said, I probably wouldn't commit perjury.
Permalink | Comments (1)June 07, 2006
links for 2006-06-07
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Feed a family of 4 for a week, with only $45.
June 06, 2006
New Orleans Today
And yet our government's priority right now is the border, and gay marriage. Here is an idea. Let's open to the border to every Mexican that wants to come in, and then put them to work cleaning up New Orleans.
Permalink | Comments (0)The Number of the Beast
Woe to you Oh Earth and Sea
for the Devil sends the beast with wrath
because he knows the time is short
Let him who hath understanding
reckon the number of the beast
for it is a human number
its number is six hundred and sixty six.
I lived alone my mind was blank
I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind
What did I see can I believe that what I saw
that night was real and not just fantasy
Just what I saw in my old dreams were they
reflections of my warped mind staring back at me
Cuz' in my dreams it's always there the evil face that twists my mind
and brings me to despair
The night was black was no use holding back
Cuz' I just had to see was someone watching me
In the mist dark figures move and twist
was all this for real or just some kind of hell
666 the Number of the Beast
Hell and fire was spawned to be released
Torches blazed and sacred chants were phrased
as they start to cry hands held to the sky
In the night the fires are burning bright
the ritual has begun Satan's work is done
666 the Number of the Beast
Sacrifice is going on tonight
This can't go on I must inform the law
Can this still be real or just some crazy dream
but I feel drawn towards the chanting hordes
they seem to mesmerize...can't avoid their eyes
666 the Number of the Beast
666 the one for you and me
I'm coming back I will return
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn
I have the fire I have the force
I have the power to make my evil take its course
- Iron Maiden, 1982
links for 2006-06-06
June 05, 2006
links for 2006-06-05
June 04, 2006
Podcast on Parenting
The Instapundit (and his better half) interview James Lileks and Cathy Seipp on parenting issues in this weeks edition of The Glenn and Helen Show.
Permalink | Comments (0)Life is not a dress rehearsal
This book, a memoir by a neurosurgeon, sounds interesting and funny. However, what really caught my attention was this comment by the author.
How many people sell themselves short on life because they expect great things after death? Life is not a dress rehearsal. You have to enjoy it, make the most of it, while your neurons are still buzzing with live connections. It's amazing how holding a human brain can emphasize these points, at least for me."Permalink | Comments (0)
Homeschool Science Experiment Idea
Diet Coke + Mentos = Lots of fun.
Permalink | Comments (2)June 03, 2006
Suspended student gets last laugh
The 6th grader suspended for sharing Jolt gum with a friend (caffeine is a drug, when you don't buy it from the school sanctioned soda machines in the cafeteria), gets the last laugh as the makers of Jolt gum have awarded her a $1000 scholarship. They have named the scholarship after her, and promise to award it annually to somebody that was unfairly victimized.
Permalink | Comments (6)Win Tickets to the FIFA World Cup
If you beat the soccer game at the Phillips FIFA World Cup site, you will be entered to win tickets to the finals.
I know us Americans don't get soccer. The reason is most of you have never seen a live match in a stadium full of delirious fans. When I lived in Atlanta I attended the1996 Olympics quarter final game between Nigeria and Brazil, otherwise known as The Great Soccer Collapse. Brazil fell apart in the 2nd half and let Nigeria score 2 goals to tie the game. Nigeria went on to win in overtime.
We were sitting in a small cluster of Nigerians, so we rooted with them. When you see soccer live, you gain an understanding and appreciation of the game that you can never, ever get from TV. I've been to Fenway Park many times, and I saw a no hitter pitched in Atlanta at the height of the Braves run in the 90's, but nothing compares to an important international soccer match for intensity. It was easily the most exciting sports event I've seen live.
Permalink | Comments (1)links for 2006-06-03
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the snarky POV
June 02, 2006
Advice for a bored teenager?
Marshall Brain is soliciting input for what you would tell a teenager who has come to the realization that he is mostly wasting his time in high school.
I think I have a reader or two that might have an opinion on this.
Permalink | Comments (3)CO2 - Gas for Life
I guess this is the conservative response to Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. I really haven't paid enough attention to have an opinion on whether or nor Gore is full of fecal matter on this, but the response commercials are rather lame.
Hat Tip: Fred
Permalink | Comments (1)links for 2006-06-02
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A Greenpeach PR screw up - pretty funny, and not at all surprising.
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Christian inspired video game violence - odd
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The meme that won't die. Although on the surface it does look a little scary. I need to read this fully
June 01, 2006
Father's Day Gift Idea: Portable DVD Player
Not for me though. I already have one, thanks to my corporate masters. However, I must say, the Insignia 10.2" Portable DVD Player totally rocks. We got a chance to give it a good workout last week, as we had a 2 hour 4H clinic on Thursday, and then back to back 7AM-5PM days at the horse show over the weekend.
I didn't have time to enjoy a movie in the great outdoors. I was too busy with Show Dad duties. However, Breck gave the machine a serious workout and pronounced it awesome. The key things I noticed are:
- It's light, very light. I've got paperback books that weigh more than this thing.
- The screen is big - 10 inches - and size does matter, with DVD screens.
- Battery life is as advertised. They claim 3 hours, Breck got about 3:20 out of the battery on Saturday. It ships with a car power adapter, so a dead battery is not the end of your movie.
- The screen is surprisingly bright. I honestly expected Breck to have problems watching a movie on a bright sunny day. He didn't.
- It runs very cool. Even after 3 hours continuous use it was still cool to the touch
- It's shock resistant. Breck was using it in a lawn chair, with the DVD player in his lap. He reported absolutely no skipping or freeze ups.
All in all, this seems like a very well designed and put together piece of electronic gear, and one any gadget happy geek dad would love to own.
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Permalink | Comments (1)Now we need help with physical education
The New York Times has an article that backhandedly compliments homeschoolers (I guess) by implying that although we can handle the math and science stuff just fine, we are befuddled by PE class.
So, as a service to homeschoolers everywhere, I am going to share with you the secrets of homeschool PE. I was going to write a book, but what the hell. I'll just give it away here.
1. Open door.
2. Push kids out.
That's it :)
The article is particularly ludicrous in light of all the recent news of obese school kids in an age when PE classes are being eliminated to allow more time to memorize useless crap for year end standardized tests. Also not mentioned is that the HEK has more time, and a better opportunity, to pursue a physical passion that may become a lifelong endeavor.
Daryl will be thrilled to see that his favorite homeschooler Mimi manged to get herself into the NYT.
Permalink | Comments (7)Homeschooled Beekeeper
Permalink | Comments (0)Homeschooling not an antidote to bad decisions
15 years old - check.
Can't swim - check.
Swimming in river without adult supervision - check.
My condolences to the family on the senseless loss of a young life.
Permalink | Comments (1)Education creating fake intellectuals
David Freidman made this interesting comment about our education system.
Considerable parts of it appear designed to teach people to pretend to intellectual tastes and knowledge that they do not possess and that there is no good reason why they should possess.
Permalink | Comments (0)