July 31, 2006
FSM hate Mail
From the truth is way funnier than fiction department. Actual hate mail, from actual people.
Permalink | Comments (3)Toxic Parents
Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher had a long yet very interesting piece in the paper this weekend about the battle between helicopter parents, toxic parents, and the teenagers caught in the middle. Toxic parents get shunned for allowing their kids to be bad influences, and helicopter parents irritate everybody by asking too many questions. And they all are pointing fingers blaming each other when little Johnny goes astray.
I suspect homeschoolers, given our willingness to take control of the education question, probably tend more to the helicopter side of the equation. It's a tough balancing act. On one hand, if you parent by fear, your kid will never ever call you for a ride home if he or she is out somewhere drunk. On the other hand, if you aim to be the cool parent, your kid may need that ride home every weekend. Neither situation is healthy.
What some parents don't get, several kids said, is that "nobody cares if the parents are cool." What they do crave is parents who act like parents.
The baby boomers take a lot of heat for permissive parenting due to their alleged fear of being hypocrites. After all, most of them smoked, drank, and screwed their way through high school, and most survived to be responsible adults. I wonder how Generation X, whose kids are just approaching the teen years, will be different? We grew up with exploding divorce rates, AIDS, and a whole slew of issues that the boomers never had to deal with.
From my admittedly small sample group of college friends, it seems like we are trending less permissive than our parents. Certainly, my children will suffer extreme consequences if either one of them behaves like I did in high school.
What say you?
Permalink | Comments (16)July 29, 2006
Under The Covers With Susanna Hoffs
Under The Covers Vol 1 is the title of the new Matthew Sweet / Susanna Hoffs collaboration. It's an album of mostly jangly 60s pop tunes. It's a lot of fun and expertly played. They play the songs very true to the originals, although Hoffs heavenly voice certainly adds something to the mix.
Disclaimer: I've had a major crush on Susanna Hoffs since the Walk Like An Egyptian video hit MTV in 1986. The woman can do no wrong in my eyes :) However, the record really is quite good. Honest.
Permalink | Comments (2)The Red Rocker Rocks
I'm absolutely loving the new Sammy Hagar record, Livin It Up. He really has become the rock and roll version of Jimmy Buffett. The CD has some country twang that you would not expect from The Red Rocker.
Also, you have the appreciate the sense of humor of a musician that will cover Bob Dylan and Toby Keith on the same CD.
Road trip to Cabo anybody? Anybody?
Permalink | Comments (0)George Bush Hates Gay Teenagers
Yes, the subject line is purposely inflammatory. However, something odd is going on with the 1-800 Suicide help line. The Bush administration seems to be starving the service of funds while it starts up it's own suicide prevention line .
Can you imagine the advice a gay teenager might get from a suicide prevention line staffed by interns from Patrick Henry College? Scary, very scary.
BTW, his website tag line is great. Direct and to-the-point. I might try a similar approach with mine, except mine will be different because I'm not gay, black, vegetarian, liberal, or Buddhist.
Although I feel more liberal, and Buddhist, every day.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-07-29
July 28, 2006
New Tagline for ODonnellWeb?
ODonnellWeb has been The Weblog of a Homeschooling / Baseball / Technology Geek in Fredericksburg VA. for a long time now. Scott Somerville, at the blog that shall not be linked to, inspired a new tagline for ODonnellWeb.
ODonnellWeb - A weblog for the not-so-Christian Homeschooler
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (6)Itunes Alternatives?
Does anybody have personal experience with any of the various software packages that replace Itunes as the interface with an Ipod on a Windows box? I hate Itunes, it's slow, clunky,and a general pain in the ass. However, I also don't want to corrupt the dB screw up my Ipod.
Update: I downloaded Vpod, which is a nifty little utility that does exactly what I was looking for. It lets me move music onto my Ipod without opening up Itunes.
Permalink | Comments (2)links for 2006-07-28
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real time minus 5 minute view of every commercial flight in the air over the US.
July 26, 2006
Congress Hard at Work
While the world goes to hell in a hand basket (no offense intended Cav!), Congress has been hard at work protecting our children from Internet porn.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, in a statement issued after the House approved the bill by voice vote, said: "We've all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist. Protecting our children from Internet predators and child exploitation enterprises are just as high a priority as securing our border from terrorists."
Of course, they are failing miserably on both counts, and this new 163 page monstrosity will do nothing to make anybody safer, from porn or terrorists. Actually, it probably makes us less safe, as the resources committed to that sting operation used to snare the pervert who posts pictures of Ken and Barbie in compromising positions won't be available to stop Islamic Terrorists from sneaking a suitcase bomb in via Mexico.
Permalink | Comments (0)Where Are They Now? (80s Babe Edition)
In case you were wondering whatever happened to Phoebe Cates or Mia Sara? And really, don't we all wonder about that?
Permalink | Comments (0)World's Oldest Cave found in Austrailia
The caves have been dated to 340 million years old.
That's 48.5 million in dog years, or 5 million in YEC (Young Earth Creationist) years.
Permalink | Comments (9)July 25, 2006
The Secret to Journey's Enduring Popularity
...for the vast majority of Suburban Americans between the age of 14 and 24 in the early 80s, when it was time to make out and you put Escape on the turntable, you were automatically spotted two bases. Honestly, if you didn't have a hand under a bra or massaging a button fly by the end of "Who's Crying Now," Steve Perry would stop what he was doing, fly to your house and then beat the crap out of you for blowing a sure thing. God forbid you actually flipped the LP, because then, baby, you were going home. There's an entire generation of white 22-to-25-year olds walking around today whose moment of conception is largely coincident to the second chorus of "Open Arms."
It's frightening to contemplate just how right he probably is about that. I was junior high age when "Escape" hit the streets. Was there ever a better slow dance song than "Open Arms"?
I also remember from my long hair metal days in high school setting fire to an Escape LP - but that is a different story.
Permalink | Comments (5)No More Monopoly Money
Hasbro is eliminating the play cash from Monopoly and replacing it with VISA branded debit cards and a scanner. Now there is something we want to be teaching the little ones. Some of my first lessons in the art of negotiation were convincing my little brother that he should trade me his one orange bill for my 10 white ones :)
If they want to make Monopoly more like the real world of Atlantic City, I have a few more suggestions.
* Instead of going to jail on 3 consecutive doubles, one randomly selected property would be condemned to make room for a Trump casino.
*Bus loads of senior citizens should clog the board, making it impossible to move more than 2 spaces on any one turn.
*If you roll 6 three consecutive times your playing piece shacks up with a hooker, and you miss a turn.
*Union rules dictate that it takes 8 turns to complete the construction of houses on your property, and 12 turns for hotels.
Permalink | Comments (5)links for 2006-07-25
July 24, 2006
Fisking A Press Release
It's been a while, and I'm in that kind of mood. The source is ABC Office, which I think is trying to drum up business from homeschoolers with this bizarre press release.
The phrase, ”back to school” for most children means going back to the classroom, but for an increasing number of kids it means going back to the family room. The stigma of home-schooling in the U.S. has been slowly receding as more parents find success educating their own children.
Stigma? Anybody here feeling stigmatized?
However, over the last ten years resources have proliferated on the Internet to improve the parent-turned-teacher; including: curriculum guides, course manuals, exams and textbooks. Online companies like ABC Office (http://www.abcoffice.com/scrapbook-supply.htm) supply home teachers with classroom equipment like laminators, paper cutters, banner stands and binding machines for creating booklets and study guides. Parents are also using the Internet to organize local support groups to share teaching ideas, arrange inter-group field trips and even stage proms.
Damn, that's why my kids keep failing. We don't have a laminator. Field trips and proms? Hey ABC, 1998 called. They want their homeschool press release back.
Home-schooling’s growth can be attributed in part to a surge of positive publicity. In 1997, Rebecca Sealfon of Brooklyn, NY, was the first home-schooled student to win the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. In 1999, 13-year-old home-schooler David Beihl, of North Carolina, won The National Geography Bee. That same year The College Board and American College Testing Program reported home schooled students had average SAT scores of 1083 – 67 points greater than the national average.
Spelling bees and SAT scores. That certainly the reason we are homeschooling. 1998 is still waiting...
Here are some tips for parents considering home school: ·Time Commitment – Successful students/parents devote at least five hours per day to schoolwork or activities.
ROFLMAO
·Financial Commitment – Home-schooling itself is fairly inexpensive, but it may require the teaching parent to quit his/her job resulting in reduced household income.
Ya think?
·Protect Materials – Laminating and binding maps, charts, and handouts will increase the life of your teaching materials, saving you money.
The profit margin on laminating equipment must be amazing.
·Parental Unity – Both parents must agree to home-schooling. It is very difficult to maintain consistency without the commitment of both parents.
Again, ya think?
·Social Considerations – Parents must provide frequent opportunities for interaction with other children to prevent antisocial behavior.
It wouldn't be a circa 1998 homeschool press release without the S word. Get back to us when the schools master that preventing antisocial behavior thing.
·Child’s Compliance – While it is ultimately up the parents whether or not to home-school, the chances of success are greater with a willing student.
If ABC started selling rods to help train up the child, they could help with that compliance bit, and make a buck at the same time. Just a thought...
And it's only July. We can expect many more to try and jump on the homschool bandwagon as school approaches. This also means it's time for the annual run of lame homeschool articles in local newpaper.
Permalink | Comments (4)QOTD - HSLDA Attorney Edition
Courtesy of Scott Somerville
...I hope to see the day when pagan parents are scared to let their children go online for fear they'll get saved.
If anybody wants to place a bet, I'm offering Infinity to 1 odds on that happening :)
I'd link to the source, but you know.
The comment stream on part 1 of the interview has some real doozies too, including a YEC mom that is stressed because her son wants to be a marine biologist, and she can't figure out how he can major in that in college without being exposed to evolution.
I'm looking forward to Scott's advice on that one. Just how does one devote their life to studying creatures that have evolved over millions of years while at the same time maintaining an irrational belief that the earth is 6000 years old? I don't know, but I suspect that career path involves repitition of the phrase Would you like fries with that?
We also get this question from a dad. I asked the kids, "who would you rather believe in -- the arbitrary, capricious Zeus who toyed with humans, or the loving Father God?"
Would that be the loving Father God that wiped out the population of the earth and started over? Or are we talking about a different God here? If we are accepting the Bible as literal truth, then I don't think there is any doubt that the Christian God was responsible for far more human suffering and death than Zeus ever was.
But of course, the humans deserved it, so that makes everything ok, right?
Funky P Monkey
This teen video blogger is also a homeschooler, but really I'm only posting this because her latest entry involves a monkey hand puppet, and it is Monday.
However, there is a relevant parenting issue here. This is how our kids are going to keep a diary. It won't be in a little book with a lock easily picked with bobby pin. It won't even be a Doogie Howser style private PC journal. Nope, it'll be multi-media and viewable by the world. That could be both good and bad.
Note: There is some debate on whether or not she is really a homeschooler, or even 16 - who cares. I only care about the monkey.
Another note: This is also the first time I've tried to actually be relevant with the Monday Monkey Blog. This may or may not be a trend.
via Daryl.
Permalink | Comments (1)July 23, 2006
Eureka
Eureka is a new original show on The Sci-Fi Channel. It's sort of a mix of Northern Exposure and The X Files. The set up is a small town in the Pacific NW that does not appear on maps. It was established after WWII to give he brightest minds in the country a place to do their research unimpeded by the idiots of the world. It's sort of a nerd nirvana. Except that stuff goes wrong, frequently, and the sheriff's and DoD liaison, who are not geniuses, have to clean it up.
The pilot was entertaining, and any show that puts science on a pedestal deserves a shot. I mean that literally, as the town features a statue of Archimedes.
Permalink | Comments (5)The Value of Online Fiction
Sci-Fi author John Scalzi has some interesting thoughts about the value of authors publishing their works online.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 21, 2006
links for 2006-07-21
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Downloadable MST300K style commentary tracks for classic movies, from one of the MST300K writers. What a great idea.
July 20, 2006
The Forge of God
The book has been out for 20 years, however just I'm catching up on Greg Bear's novels. This is one you want to read. It's simply one of the finest alien invasion novels, ever. What would happen if The President of the United States announced to the world that aliens were going to destroy the earth, and there absolutely nothing anybody can do about it? Would people fight it, or would they see the aliens as God, delivering His final justice on a weak and sinful people? The answer of course is both. It's one of those books I carried around with me, sneaking in a few pages every free moment I got.
If you enjoy sci-fi at all this book has to be in your library.
Permalink | Comments (6)Children's Miracle Music?
Paul Allen (not that Paul Allen) is promoting Children's Miracle Music as the greatest thing since sliced bread. It all seems very creepy to me. I don't want my children to be automatons programmed by music to perform certain tasks. My kids should make their beds in the morning for reasons other than the creepy voice on the CD told them to.
Actually, that's not a good example. I still don't have a good reason for making the bed, other than it keeps Mrs. ODonnellWeb happy, which is reason enough I guess :)
I'll try this again, my kids should brush their teeth in the morning because they understand the benefits of good oral hygiene, not because they are programmed to brush when they hear a certain tune.
This whole thing gives me the heebie jeebies. However, if you think it's a great idea there may be an income opportunity in promoting it to your readers.
Permalink | Comments (6)links for 2006-07-20
July 19, 2006
Battlestar Galactica Season 3
The season three trailer is out. Is it October yet?
Permalink | Comments (3)July 18, 2006
Hell hath No Fury...
This ought to do wonders for her dating life when the divorce is finalized.
Revenge is a dish best served cold also applies here.
Feel free to add your own overused phrases in the comments.
Update: After reading through a few entries I'm not sure I believe it. It might all be fiction. The story seems to flow a little to nicely for real life, but who knows?
Update 2: Definately fake, although I do wonder now what this will turn out to be selling.
Permalink | Comments (4)When photo lab employees turn you in
This story has a happy ending, but the stress and torment of being falsely accused of child pornography by well meaning but clueless photo lab employees and state officials is very evident in this Salon article.
I wonder how many real bad guys get away because the police and social services are busy ruining lives over a picture of a naked 3 year butt at the lake?
Salon link - you'll need to do the watch the ad to read the story thing
Permalink | Comments (2)School yard bullies - the original consumer drone?
Apparently, the school yard bully is just an advertising man in the making.
Kids learn from ridicule what brands, styles, and stores to avoid if they want acceptance, and these pressures play a major role in thefts and violence by teens who covet expensive symbols of belonging but cannot afford to buy them, explains Wooten.
It makes perfect sense really. A lifetime of being a consumer drone, and blindly buying whatever Madison Ave tells you to buy, all stems from your desire to fit in during junior high school. Homeschooled kids, who miss out on all that junior high fun, grow up more independent and less vulnerable to corporate manipulation. We hope.
No wonder they are so afraid of us.
However, the author of study goes on to suggest that school uniforms would solve this problem by eliminating the pressure to conform. I think if every kid had to dress exactly alike, the bullies would just find some other thing. It might be hair style, cell phones, backpacks, etc. They'd find something to divide and conquer with though. It's what bullies do, and eliminating their primary weapon doesn't put them out of business.
Hat tip: Businesspundit.
The article is due to be published in Sept.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-07-18
July 17, 2006
Insta-launch
My marriage post below generated an Instalink from the Godfather himself. It was a Sunday afternoon update to the original post, so it did not cripple my server, or even cause it to break a sweat. However, after 4 years of not trying, it is sort of cool to write something he noticed, even it was snark.
Make that particularly because it was snark :)
Permalink | Comments (1)July 16, 2006
Promoted from the comments
Lioness left this link in the comments to the marriage post below.
The truth about liberals – that we more often than not choose to commit ourselves to marriage, children, church, and most of the other things conservatives feel obligated to, and that we stick by those commitments every bit as faithfully, if not more so – easily gets lost.
It's a very interesting analysis of why liberals and conservatives think and act like they do. It also points out my problem with finding a political home. I have one foot firmly planted in both camps. Although the conservative foot tends to be rather twitchy these days...
Permalink | Comments (4)links for 2006-07-16
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A long list of stuff that was predicted by sci-fi authors well before their actual invent
July 15, 2006
Is Your Marriage being Attacked?
Instapundit published comments from one of his (right wing wacko) readers. He was way too nice to the guy.
Marriage is wavering under the relentless attack from so many directions. Tax codes penalize married couples. Hollywood, the only royalty we have, treats marriage as a great time, one which they seem eager to use like cheap shampoo - rinse and repeat. Divorce laws now allow partners to swap faster than at a square dance. Face it, marriage is under assault today, in many ways and for many reasons.
Yep, you got me. Even as I type this I'm making plans to leave Michelle for a 21 year old Hooters waitress. If Kenny Chesney and Renee Zwelleger can only last 4 months, why should the rest of us even bother trying?
Hollywood royalty? Pleeeze. Hollywood folks don't fail at marriage because they they are part of the liberal gay conspiracy to undermine traditional American values. They fail at marriage because they are self-centered idiots unable to put anybody else ahead of themselves. You sort of have to be that way to make it to that level of Hollywood in the first place.
He goes on an anti-gay marriage rant too, but I can't be bothered with it. I can't believe Reynolds actually gave him the platform by publishing his comments.
Permalink | Comments (7)Downloading Iron Maiden should not be this difficult
Earlier this evening, for reasons I can't even begin to explain, the following thought popped into my head.
I'd really like to hear Powerslave right about now.
Powerslave, of course, being one of Iron Maiden's finest albums. Unfortunately, my album vanished a long time ago. However, being 2006, I didn't expect this to be a problem. I got a Blogads payment yesterday, so I have a little mad money available. So off to Itunes I went.
Itunes sucked, again. They don't have the complete album. It's a partial album, missing Two Minutes to Midnight and Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Really Mr. Jobs, why even bother with the record if you are going to skip the two best songs? I thought through my other options.
Walmart? - Nope, all downloads are Windows Media.
Emusic? - Nope, will never have Powerslave.
Yahoo Music? - Nope, subscription only.
AllofMP3? - Hmmm...
I've previously played with AllofMP3, and have even downloaded a few sample songs. It's impressive, and it's also probably run by the Russian mafia. This is an issue when they want your credit card number. So I got creative. I used one of those one-time only account numbers available from Visa, authorized it for no more than $10, and loaded the money into my AlltheMP3 account. $10 being one penny more than I planned to spend at Itunes tonight. Then I downloaded Powerslave encoded at 192 Mbps, total cost was $1.12.
You read that right.
While I was there I also bought Living After Midnight- The Best of Judas Priest, The Replacements- Tim, and One More From The Road - Lynryd Skynrd. $10 was the minimum charge up, so I had to use it all, right?
I still have some of my $10 left too. Russian authorities have investigated AlltheMP3 and have found them to be in compliance with Russian copyright laws. The RIAA would not agree, however their credibility is so shot that I don't trust anything that they say anyway. Honestly, I'm not sure how the law really plays out on this.
I went to Itunes, credit card in hand, intent on spending $9.99 (at least). Instead, I spent about $10 with somebody in Russia, and it's all because the frackin idiots in charge of music distribution in this country have their heads so far up their asses that it looks like 1975 to them.
For the record, I actually owned all but the Judas Priest record at some point in my youth. And the Priest record is a greatest hits compilation, I owned 80% of the songs on it in the past. So from a selfish rationalization POV, I paid the RIAA for this music in the past, I'm just replacing it.
Yeah, I know it's BS. However, my point is that I was intent on buying and enjoying Powerslave tonight, and since the RIAA makes it so frackin difficult, I had to go to Russia to make it happen.
Permalink | Comments (6)Homeschoolers and Horses
It does seem like homeschoolers and horses sort of go together. Here are a couple of homeschooled sisters that my daughter would get along with quite well I think.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-07-15
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The NAIS program
July 14, 2006
We need more government regulation of homeschoolers
If you ask me, homeschoolers who get all upset about government standards are fighting the wrong battle. Instead, we should be on the forefront of promoting government standards, as well as protecting the religious freedom of all, not just for Christian America.
Well, at least she is half right.
Permalink | Comments (2)Amazon Relics (a meme)
Picking up on a meme via Ryan:
The oldest order in my Amazon history is a book Intranet Business Strategies on 9/26/1997.
My wife had a couple of orders in between, but my second order was Creating Killer Web Sites on 11/27/97. As I look back, that book encompassed everything that was bad about web design in the 97/98 time period.
It doesn't show in our history, but we bought our 2001 Mazda MPV via the Amazon new car buying service.
I got a free Amazon coffee cup at Christmas 4 years in a row. I haven't got one the last couple of years, so either we stopped buying a lot from there, or they quit sending mugs. I still have all 4 cups and use them frequently.
I have placed only 1 order this year with Amazon. The kids buy a lot from Amazon, must be though my wife's account. We have one of those open marriages where I let her spend money without checking with me first.
Permalink | Comments (1)New David Hasselhoff video!
It's got it all, KITT, Baywatch, good looking women, bad dancing, and totally cheesy blue screen work. You have admire the guy's willingness to laugh at himself for a buck. The song itself is ok - sort of a 70's glam rock tune with horrendously bad lyrics.
Enjoy! And a hat tip to Lori.
Big Sale at Walmart
Effectively immediately, everything below $25 at WalMart is 100% off.
I think this policy is seriously misguided. I certainly understand the economic argument, although I think they are thinking too short term. WalMart's argument is that it costs more than $25 for them to deal with a $25 shoplifter, and that it ties up too much police time. Maybe so, but a $16 year old shoplifter who successfully bags the new Eminem CD will be emboldened to go for the CD player next time, and a car the time after that.
I've seen how this pays out up close and it's not pretty. Young petty criminals need to be hammered hard, before the criminal behavior becomes a habit.
Permalink | Comments (5)links for 2006-07-14
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A first hand account of traveling in Africa with Ashley Judd
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You can make a Mont Blanc refill fit into a Bic - sweet
July 13, 2006
The Canary Project
The mission of The Canary Project is to photograph landscapes around the world that are exhibiting dramatic transformation due to global warming and to use these photographs to persuade as many people as possible that global warming is already underway and of immediate concern.
The million dollar question is what causes global warming? I'm not convinved mankind is the primary cause. We certainly contribute, but Mars it getting warmer too. Maybe that big ball of burning hydrogen 92 million miles away has something to do with it?
I suspect the answer won't be simple, and probably does not require us to immediately stop driving our SUVs.
Permalink | Comments (4)links for 2006-07-13
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who knew he was so ssensitive?
July 12, 2006
Trophies for dead people
One of the trophies for my little league team was damaged, so I asked Crown Awards to send a replacement. They did, but they sent a girl baseball trophy. So I called again and had a replacement for the replacement sent.
It arrived today. But instead of 2006 Major League Braves, Spotsylvania VA as the engraving, it said Bonnie Joudrey, 1916-2006.
Who the hell is ordering a trophy for a dead person?
I was able to pry the engraving plate off the girl trophy and put it on the trophy that came today, so I do have a complete and correct trophy for the kid now.
But I'm still trying to wrap my head around what you could possibly order from Crown Awards for a dead person.
Permalink | Comments (2)RIP Fred Clark
I didn't know Fred, but I think I would liked him if I had.
Frederic Arthur (Fred) Clark, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other's courageous battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his battle as a result of an automobile accident on June 18, 2006. True to Fred's personal style, his final hours were spent joking with medical personnel while he whimpered, cussed, begged for narcotics and bargained with God to look over his wife and kids. He loved his family. His heart beat faster when his wife of 37 years Alice Rennie Clark entered the room and saddened a little when she left. His legacy was the good works performed by his sons, Frederic Arthur Clark III and Andrew Douglas Clark MD, PhD., along with Andy's wife, Sara Morgan Clark. Fred's back straightened and chest puffed out when he heard the Star Spangled Banner and his eyes teared when he heard Amazing Grace. He wouldn't abide self important tight *censored*. Always an interested observer of politics, particularly what the process does to its participants, he was amused by politician's outrage when we lie to them and amazed at what the voters would tolerate. His final wishes were "throw the bums out and don't elect lawyers" (though it seems to make little difference). During his life he excelled at mediocrity. He loved to hear and tell jokes, especially short ones due to his limited attention span. He had a life long love affair with bacon, butter, cigars and bourbon. You always knew what Fred was thinking much to the dismay of his friend and family. His sons said of Fred, "he was often wrong, but never in doubt". When his family was asked what they remembered about Fred, they fondly recalled how Fred never peed in the shower - on purpose. He died at MCV Hospital and sadly was deprived of his final wish which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a double date to include his wife, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter to crash an ACLU cocktail party. In lieu of flowers, Fred asks that you make a sizable purchase at your local ABC store or Virginia winery (please, nothing French - the *censored*) and get rip roaring drunk at home with someone you love or hope to make love to. Word of caution though, don't go out in public to drink because of the alcohol related laws our elected officials have passed due to their inexplicable terror at the sight of a MADD lobbyist and overwhelming compulsion to meddle in our lives. No funeral or service is planned. However, a party will be held to celebrate Fred's life. It will be held in Midlothian, Va. Email fredsmemory@yahoo.com for more information. Fred's ashes will be fired from his favorite cannon at a private party on the Great Wicomico River where he had a home for 25 years. Additionally, all of Fred's friend (sic) will be asked to gather in a phone booth, to be designated in the future, to have a drink and wonder, "Fred who?"
Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on 7/9/2006.
Permalink | Comments (1)The Big Dig
The most corrupt public works project in history stopped being funny yesterday.
Permalink | Comments (0)links for 2006-07-12
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This has homeschool project written all over it...
July 11, 2006
Pirates of the Caribbean II - Dead Man's Chest
Breck and I went last night. It's been killing him that the movie was released on Friday, and we couldn't get there until Monday (He has watched the first movie at least 10 times). He has also read every book on pirate history available from the local library system. And some homeschoolers think Disney has nothing to offer to our educational efforts...
It's not a bad movie. It's entertaining, although I think it was little longer than it needed to be. Some of the fight / chase type sequences could have been trimmed a bit. Of course, the ending was a set up for the third movie. If you liked the first installment you'll enjoy this movie too.
Permalink | Comments (2)Horse Show Update
It's at its usual home, if you care about that sort of thing.
Permalink | Comments (1)July 10, 2006
Homosexuality or Homeschool?
And people say it's not a choice. According to the fundies, it's an easy choice. Going to school will make you gay.
Personally, I'd be a lot gayer if I'd stop clicking on fundie blog rants that show up in my RSS search feeds.
Permalink | Comments (4)Don't settle for too tame a world
It is simply a matter of good mental fitness and personal growth as we age to have a passion for something worthy of our time, to hold some question before us whose answer will always stay just out of reach. I trust our schools are teaching our children in such a way that they experience a driving curiosity, which sometimes means shaking predictability and routine up a bit.
Fred is one of my favorite bloggers, but I fear his faith in the school system is misplaced. Curiosity is a bad thing in the school system today. Curiosity could detract from the tightly scheduled curriculum that is designed to make sure enough kids pass the test at the end of the year; so that the principle keeps his job, and the local politicians can claim they are doing well by the kids.
Curiosity and wonder isn't even part of the equation anymore. You've got to get out of the schools to reclaim that. The sooner, the better. Never even starting would be best.
Permalink | Comments (1)Colbert on D&D
Online D&D....must resist urge to check it out...marriage may depend on it :)
Permalink | Comments (0)Government Mandated Chemo
In Chincoteague, VA (home of the homeschool blogger camp out of 05), a homeschool teen is fighting the state for the right to determine his own treatment for Hodgkins. The all knowing government demands he under go another round of chemo, he wants to follow a less invasive treatment. His parents support his decision.
The article does not reference him being a homeschooler, but the blog I found it at does.
Permalink | Comments (4)Hulk Knows Monkeys
While lounging on the couch last night, decompressing from back to back horse shows, I was flipping around and caught sight of a monkey on VH1. So I had to stop and watch. The show was Hogan Knows Best, which is a "reality" show based on Hulk Hogan and his family.
I've never watched the show before, and I doubt I will again, but the 15 minutes of last nights episode that I saw was gut bustlingly funny. Mrs. Hogan, apparently bored with the 2 kids, 8 dogs and 32 other pets already residing at the Hogan compound, adopts a baby monkey. Monkeys are funny. A baby monkey in a diaper, running amok in the multi-million dollar mansion of Hulk Hogan, is comedy gold.
Hulk comes across as a much more competent parent than Ozzy. Not that that would be real hard to do.
And people say there is nothing good on TV ;)
July 09, 2006
Hack your toothbrush
How to take a six dollar battery powered toothbrush, and with an additional $2 in parts - give it the performance of a $100 Sonic Care toothbrush.
Why would you do this? Just because you can :)
Permalink | Comments (0)July 08, 2006
My Glamorous Life (for Spunky)
Since Spunky seems to think I'm leading some sort of glamorous life of luxury down here in the South... ;) I thought I'd detail my day today.
2:45 AM : alarm rings, Michelle gets up
3:15 AM : I give up on sleeping in until 3:30 AM
4:00 AM : leave house
4:20 AM : arrive at farm
5:00 AM : leave farm, with horse in tow
7:00 AM : arrive at 4H District competition
7 AM - 12:30 PM : Show dad duty, consisting mostly of lifting heavy stuff and taking pictures, with a little manure clean up thrown in for good measure.
12:30 PM - 2:30 PM : Tow horse back to farm.
2:30 - 3:00 : clean and park trailer, fall asleep in chair waiting for Delaney to get her post show stuff done. (tack stowed, horse cleaned, etc)
3:30 PM : Arrive at home - unload truck, clean coolers, etc
3:45 PM - lay down for a 15 minute nap - fail to fall asleep
4:00 PM: Give up on nap and check email.
update
4:30-ish: Fell asleep at desk. Woke up by wife at 4:45 PM.
Tomorrow will be a repeat, except that the show is local so the commute will be 15 minutes instead of 2 hours.
For those of you with horse crazy little girls...this type of schedule is not the exception, it's the rule. Even for a local show that starts at 830AM you'll want to be there 90 minutes before your first event to have time to warm up the horse and rider, get dressed, etc. Horse shows generally start with the youngest competitors first, so your 10 year old will be doing this to you frequently. Get used to it ;)
We are not particularly hardcore about this either. 1 or 2 local shows a month, with a trip thrown in to 4H Districts and State, is a very typical show schedule for a young rider. We haven't even contemplated multi-day shows, and living out of a horse trailer on the weekends.
Sharing your weekend residence with an equine friend that poops 40 lbs per day may be my daughter's idea of glamor, but not mine :)
Permalink | Comments (6)July 07, 2006
Read Much?
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
Update: Based on the comments here, I think these numbers are probably exagerrated. However, the point that Americans don't read much holds.
Permalink | Comments (9)Today's Shiny Thing is Testing
Does this post seem a little over the top to anybody else?
Yes, state mandated testing is bad, and no sane homeschooler wants to do it. However, is there a state anywhere in this country that requires homeschoolers to take the same tests they force on the school kids?
We have to submit a nationally normed test every year in VA, which is a royal pain-in-the-ass, but that requirements far predates the state standards of learning tests the school kids have to pass. It's not connected at all to the NCLB emphasis on testing.
In reading Spunky's post, one comes away with the distinct impression that government agents are hiding in our hedges, just waiting for the chance to force a test on us. Read the comments - the first comment is from a soon-to-be homeschooler asking about filing preemptive lawsuits to avoid filing a letter of intent. Other comments are from self-identified old time battle scarred veterans that think us young whippersnappers are a bunch of pussies because we haven't had faced off against the state in a courtroom over a homeschool issue.
Guess what? We don't have to. Thanks to the efforts of people like Helen, I get to homeschool without ever actually dealing with the state. We have never had personal, or even phone contact with anybody in the school system about a homeschool issue. Neither have 98% of the other homeschoolers not living in PA. Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, even PA, sort of. Why would I go looking for trouble where none exists now? If the state does something to advance state mandated testing on homeschoolers I'll fight them. But I'm not going to go around tilting at windmills just so I can feel like I'm doing something. The lack of a need to do something all of the time is exactly what the old timers fought for. A few of them probably enjoyed the fight, but I think most of them just wanted to raise their kids in peace. They fought because they had to, not because they wanted to.
Spunky references freedom several times, but how free are you really if you spend every day worried about government boogie men behind every door, and around every corner? Homeschoolers need to get a grip and enjoy and appreciate the freedom we have in this country. The vast majority of us can educate and raise our kids free from any material meddling from the government. Of course, we should always remain vigilant, and also take opportunities to expand freedoms when the political climate allow it. However, the war is over, we won.
Permalink | Comments (10)links for 2006-07-07
July 06, 2006
2 question poll on pork
No, not the other white meat. This is unhealthy pork, of the Congressional spending variety. The poll is being conducted by The Sunlight Foundation.
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Ann Coulter is a deadhead
I fondly remember seeing the Dead when I was at Cornell. It was the day of the fabulous Fiji Island party on the driveway “island” of the Phi Gamma Delta House. We'd cover ourselves in purple Crisco and drink purple Kool-Aid mixed with grain alcohol and dance on the front yard. Wait – I think got the order reversed there: We'd drink purple Kool-Aid mixed with grain alcohol and then cover ourselves in purple Crisco – then the dancing. You probably had to be there to grasp how utterly fantastic this was.
You really should read the entire interview. It's surreal.
For the record, I was never into the Dead. Jam bands just don't do much for me. I've never found Ann Coulter that attractive either, not even if she was covered in purple Crisco.
Permalink | Comments (3)July 05, 2006
Virginia, where privacy goes to die
Daryl sent me this link to news of a law that just went into effect 7/1/2006 here in VA. Colleges and Universities (private schools too) are required to report to police names and social security numbers of every person accepted to a college in VA. It doesn't matter if they ever actually set foot in the state.
Why? For the children of course. We must protect them from this century's bogey man, the sex criminal.
Federal law specifically protects the privacy of college students, so the VA legislature wrote the law to affect anybody that is accepted to school, before the federal protections take effect.
BTW, we have a Democratic governor in VA. Thanks Tim, that was very Republican of you.
Permalink | Comments (1)Smells Like (Ukelele) Teen Spirit
Somebody had to do it I guess, so why not the UK Ukelele Orchestra?
Permalink | Comments (1)Valedictorian Speech of the Year
This public high school graduate really did learn something.
...this pattern, grade for the sake of a grade, work for the sake of work, can be found everywhere. Ladies and gentlemen, the spirit of intellectual thought is lost. I speak today not to rant, complain or cause trouble, and certainly not to draw attention to myself. I have accomplished nothing and I am nothing. I know that. Rather, I was moved by the countless hours wasted in those halls.
And the Principal's response was just brilliant.
My hope was they did not hear or understand what he was saying. ... He was belittling the diplomas of every one of those kids.Permalink | Comments (1)
God's Next Army
If you have 48 minutes to spare, you might want to watch this British documentary on Patrick Henry College.
I have not watched it. Not sure if I will bother.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 04, 2006
links for 2006-07-04
July 03, 2006
Nationals 9 - Marlins 1
We were there. Breck has now been to 3 Marlins games. They are 0-3. Two have been blowouts. He was ready to leave in the 5th inning, but I wasn't ready to leave until the 7th inning stretch. I never, ever leave a baseball game before the 7th inning stretch. It's bad karma, or something.
links for 2006-07-03
July 02, 2006
BusRadio - Yet Another Reason to Homeschool
Yep, it's exactly what you think it is. Commercial radio piped into the captive audience on a school bus.
It probably won't surprise anybody that Massachusetts is the first state to sign up. Is there any doubt that Ipods will be immediately banned on school buses in MA?
Permalink | Comments (1)Horse Show Report
Delaney decided to skip a few age groups and compete in the 18 & under age group yesterday. It didn't exactly turn out like we expected.
Permalink | Comments (1)NEA discovers capitalism
This is the new generation of teachers we're talking about. They rely more on technology," Weaver said. "If something works, it doesn't matter where it comes from.
What is this NEA spokesperson referring to?
1. The rise of homeschooling
2. Charter schools
3. Retired military fast tracking into teaching jobs
4. A new e-commerce web site that allows teachers to sell lesson plans to each other.
Of course, homeschoolers have been sharing lesson plans since the the second homeschooler in history asked the first homeschooler for help. But I guess since we aren't trained professionals, it doesn't matter.
via Joanne Jacobs
Permalink | Comments (1)