Neato

Cool stuff! Go check it out.

That's about as articulate as I can manage today.

Free To a Good Home

I think I could open luggage store with all the baggage I carry around. Sarah's post today (obviously not Gormenghastocabulary XI, 'cos lexiponage is always good) got me started at "I hate feeling like I'm suppose to wear make-up" and a few easy steps I wound my way to "I'm going to die alone* as the crazy old dog women".

I know I've mentioned my make-up baggage before but today I remembered the day my dermatologist (of all people) say to 19-year old me that wearing make-up regularly "would come" like make-up wearing was as inevitable as needing deodorant and shaving.

While I'm on the subject of beauty and baggage - I wish the dance studio didn't have giant floor to ceiling mirrors. It really ruins the feeling that I'm pretty and at least 20 lbs lighter when I dance if I catch a glimpse of myself.





*despite Nettie, my 5 brothers and SILs, 6 nieces and nephews, their spouses, and untold great-nieces and nephews by then,... being around.

Never Win.

FSP and Chad are talking about cheating. I left an amusing anecdote about my 8th graders on FSP, I thought I'd tell a less amusing story about a fellow Geo. major of mine from back in the day*.

I had at least 5 upper level classes with Obnoxious Guy (not his real name) over 3 semesters. During the first semester he seemed to get sick the day of a test a lot. He'd then call someone to find out what was had been on the test. One day KK came into class seriously pissed off because she hadn't gotten to bed until the wee hours (due to aqueous solutions needing to be run and the computer not cooperating much) and OG had called her at like 7 to find out about the test he'd missed because he'd been "sick"*. I think KK was contemplating changing her number after that. After some other test he'd had a "migraine"* for, he stopped me on the sidewalk to ask me what had been on the test; I just couldn't remember any specifics - funny that, huh?

More than halfway through the semester he told our optical mineralogy TA that he was color blind. He was hoping he'd get some help (/benefit of the doubt/get off easy) because he would have difficulty with mineral id with birefringence. Unfortunately for OG, one of the other grad students actually was red/green color blind (in geology this kind of thing comes up) and he could tell what order and high/low. Beside by this point in the semester I'm pretty sure our TA was onto him.

OG had non-subtle wandering eyes. For example: In Op Min, as I recall, there'd be 2-4 slides of a given rock type, and one weeks lab might cover several rock types. Everyone has their own microscope and often people sitting next to one another will trade off slides. OG rarely traded slides with the person behind him, he had a definite preference for trading slides with a person whose lab sheet he could see. What's sad is we were allowed to ask one another questions and for help, even when we weren't working in groups, in most labs.

In sed/strat and ig pet we'd almost always work in groups because there weren't enough samples to go around and discussing why a rock is x or y helps you learn how to identify. OG would sit there and not say a word. KK and I were to polite to tell him to fuck off so he often worked "with" us. One day she and I were going back and forth on the percentages of quartz, feldspar, and lithic fragments. The sample was close to the line between three potential classifications, and our different estimates made a difference. We had gone back and forth for maybe 5 minutes, and OG says "so what is it?". KK plops the sample in front of him, and says "I don't know, what do you think it is?" He stumbles through some words like quartz, k-spar, 50%, etc. and finishes with "I don't know, what do you think?" KK and I rolled our eyes and finished deciding what the classification was, he copied down what we wrote and we all moved on.

One day he told us he didn't like rocks, he wanted to do geologic engineering. Scuttlebutt was that he'd been in the College of Engineering but they kicked him out. Another rumor was that one geo prof caught him cheating and told him to "withdraw failing"^ or he'd be reported. Obviously I don't know if any of that is true but it wouldn't have surprised me. I don't have anyway of knowing if he was ever reported to the appropriate authorities or not (or, for that matter, if he actually did anything reportable) but God, did I wish he had been. Still, I never could figure out how he stayed in school; he took many of the courses twice. His GPA had to have been in the toilet.

I spent much of the first semester mentally making excuses for OG, his personality not the cheating. He wasn't from the US (home was in sub-Saharan Africa) and the first thing that I didn't like about him was the way he spoke, not accent but mannerisms and volume; volume was actually the first thing that annoyed me. I told myself that maybe that's normal in his home country. Then when he kept being "sick" for tests, I thought maybe he's gotten away with that his whole life and so doesn't understand how much the rest of us resent it; maybe his family was important/rich enough at home he could get away with shit like that growing up.** Obviously when he refused to help cook or clean up dinner on a camping trip, it was because in the culture he grew up in, it was "women's work". So on and so forth. One day, as I was mentally excusing some behavior I'd find annoying in anyone else, I realized that all of his countryman couldn't possibly be that obnoxious, I was being extremely unfair to them, and he was a jerk no matter where he grew up.


*Migraines can be horrible and debilitating, I know. He may have even suffered from such migraines but since he was sick with something for every test I was highly suspicious.

^After a certain point in the semester you can't withdraw for a course without grade determination (W), it's either 'WP' or 'WF'; even later in the semester it has to be a 'WF'. A 'WF' and counts against your GPA, 'W' and 'WP' has no impact on it.

**I guessed his family had money or connections because he was going to school in the US and had no obvious means of support here. He certainly didn't seem to be the kind of student who would catch the eye of some scholarship granting group.

Random thoughts from the Interweebs

I'm not sure how tall Chad is but he looks freakishly* tall in photos. I have a brother who is about 6'5" tall so I'm not easily impressed with tallness either. I don't think Pat looks weird in pictures. Is this because I remember when he was only 4 feet tall and got used to it over time? Because I haven't seen him hold a baby (a nephew) since he was only 5-foot something? Or is it something about how he's built that makes the difference?

And completely unrelated:
John** has a post about family entertainment for less than $100 a year. His suggestions sound all well and good but only if you can get internet for a good price. And have a decent computer. Mine's about 5 years old now and is I'm in serious need of an upgrade - either whole new one or big upgrades in memory/RAM/... And I'm not really good with the insides of the computer.

As for high speed internet goes where I live one's a little limited (not that other parts of town don't have limited options, too). Cable's never been run down to the house although I'm pretty sure it does run past the driveway; this, I think, significantly raises installation costs.*** And the intro price (cable and internet) is $69.99 for six months, they never say on the postcards and mailing what the regular price is. I'm wary of getting cable because of problems my folks had with thier line getting pulled down (3 times in 3 weeks). And I have no complaints with DishNetwork (except for one about their website). DSL is no where near my house. Satellite is a possiblility but I can't figure out if I'd have to buy the dish (and how much that is) and it costs almost 5 times what I pay now. I do OK with my dial-up and not spending much time on line at home.

Other points in John's post are good - libraries rock! Although I like to get new books every now and then (usually paperbacks, becuase they're cheaper, sorry) Cheap/free music is good if you have the bandwidth.:) I like the radio for newish stuff; most of the CDs I buy are stuff you can't hear on the radio. While I have varied music tastes most isn't all THAT odd - I'm okay with the classic rock, country, 90s and today hits stations when I'm in the mood for those, although I do own some CDs from those categories. I don't have a game system, just a couple of puzzle programs for my PC so not much spent on that front.

So my total is pretty low - I spend $59/month DishNetwork (150 channels, local broadcasters, and Starz), $11/month dial-up ISP; my telephone service is $24/month+taxes and part of that should be counted for internet, I guess. I don't have an idea about how my book, music, or video buying would work out per month, them being random and all. I rarely rent movies from the video store (maybe 6/year @ $5/movie); I borrow from the library more often and return on time! ($1/day fines add up fast.) There are a few other expenses that aren't quite the what John was talking about but should probably count, too; since I started knitting recently, I guess yarn and such (plus any other hobby related expenses) would count as entertainment as should the gas to drive to the park. Maybe, when I get a newer computer I'll revisit the internet options.


*no offense meant, please don't take any
**Don't'cha love how you can refer to people you've never met in real life by first name, gotta love the internet.
*** When I moved in to the house I called Charter and the girl said that installation was still $24.95 (or whatever) even though cable hadn't ever been run. But then they neither showed up nor ever called me to explain or reschedule.

A map of my childhood

With long winded explanation.

Chad has a post asking about how far we were allowed to roam as kids. HP (comment #40) suggested you look up your old neighborhood, because he over estimated how far he actually went from home. I over estimated how far away the library was by a little bit - Google says it's 1.7 miles driven miles. The house I grew up in is the blue thumb-tack.


View Larger Map

The library was the farthest place I routinely went without my folks but my brother, some friends, and I would sometimes ride the bike trail a couple of miles out just for the heck of it. One time we rode out to the West Falls Church Metro Station*.

We lived on the corner, while the street we faced (Polly ST) was quiet, Wolftrap RD was a little busy. When I was little (pre-k) Mom would walk me to Christie's house (other side of Wolftrap). Later she'd walk me to across from her road and Mrs. Patrick and Christie would walk to the other side to "meet" us. Sometime around kindergarten or 1st grade Mom started letting me go on my own. Our school bus stop moved over the years but in Kindergarten it was at the end of Christie's street; after the first day, Pat (then a 4th grader) walked me.

As far as playing went, we would usually play in any of several yards (usually back yards). There weren't that many kids on our block so there were only so many places I could have been. I guess Mom knew which house we were at most of the time. Mike's mom would sometimes call our house and tell Mom if she saw him to tell him to put on his shoes. So maybe our mother's didn't always know.

I'm not sure when I started riding my bike places. Certainly by 10, I was riding to the library, 7-11, and drug store. I can remember being sent to People's Drug to tell Pat it was time to come home on a Saturday or in the summer. People's had several video games and he'd spend all afternoon there. I'd also go to the stationery store in the shopping center across the street from there, or the fabric store (more rarely). But, oh, the library - being able to ride their myself = many many happy hours.

In the summer, I'd ride my walk bike to the pool and meet Caroline or go with Pat. Once I joined the swim team, Dad would drive me to practice (@ 7:30am) and then I'd walk home. The summer between 6th and 7th grades, after practice I'd either read or go to the library for most of the day. One summer I babysat a girl (6ish) from around the corner in the mornings. The younger kids practiced at 8:30, so I'd shower and dress at the pool then Lizzie and I would walk to my house.

I used to spend lots of time at the little park on the other side of OLGC (named "Town Park" on Google). In elementary school I organized my friends once to map the stream that ran through it. I sucked at naming things even then. The best name (and only one I can remember now) we came up with was "BR tree". It was pretty big around, easy to hide behind, even if not standing up. Our Irish Setter got a lot of nice long walks in the woods all summer long. I'd walk in the stream sometimes (man the stone bruises I used get!) other times we'd stay on the path then follow the stream up to Echols St and walk home that way. I was always careful to walk really close to the stream so no one would be upset I was in their yard.

Another place we would sometimes wander around were the undeveloped lots at the industrial park. (Mom almost certainly didn't know about that.) A few times in the summer Pat and I went to the playground at Vienna Elementary (near the community center and library) and played tag or had water gun fights on the "play structure". In tag if you touched the gravel you automatically became it; the water gun fights would have to have ceasefires so we could go across the street to Town Hall and refill from the water fountain. There were never as many parents at the park as there were kids. In 8th and 9th grade I sometimes ride up to visit my 6th grade teacher, Rick Wormeli after school.

I marked the pond at the country club because we skated there a few times one winter. Until a guy came by and told us the pond had been deepened the last summer from 4 feet to 10 feet. Suddenly we could all her our mothers calling. The idea of falling into 4 feet of water didn't seem nearly as scary as falling through into 10 feet of ice cold water. Who knows if it was true but it got gone.

I often wish Nettie didn't live some far out and on a busy-ish road. Our road is too narrow, windy, and crazy drive filled for her to even ride her bike on it and there's only one kid her age in walking distance (directly across the street, actually). Another of her friends may move out our way, her family's looked at a couple of houses with in a mile of M&D's. Maybe Nettie will become a little more brave about walking along the road if she has somewhere to go.


*By the time we got back to where we got on the roads (about a mile from home) I didn't think I'd make it but Pat pointed out that I kind of had to. When we got home I was hot, thirsty, and exhausted. I poured a glass of kool-aid, sat down, drank it down, and promptly vomited it back up on the family room rug. The first and last time I made that mistake!

OMG, a 2 1/2 Stone Cat!

And you thought your cat was big.



That's 35 pounds (or 15.8 kilograms) for us non-Brits. He really likes Italian fare.

(Courtesy of Cute Overload.)

Cool thing from the internet.

I just ran across this map of the world at Strange Maps (Ok, it popped up in my Reader.) Cool idea using musical notation to make a picture. The fourth commenter on Strange Maps has some quibbles with the actual map but I still think it's kind of cool. I like Plakovic's other stuff, too.

I'm not sure the song linked to the picture is suppose to actually be the music written in the art but is the song that inspired the art. Maybe? He writes about how he has strong visual connection to music. He sees it. (I'm not describing it well.) But then the "about" page reads like the linked song is the song he wrote with the art. Without notations to indicate the instruments meant to play the piece, I can't say I know what the song would sound like. And even then, all those years in band and orchestra, I know very little about percussion scores.

Either way about the music it's self, it's kinda cool. And brought to you by the Internet.

I Can Has Happy Dance?

This is how I feel today:




Thank you I Can Has Cheez Burger for summing it up so well.

Middle English

For your inner English-geek, may I present Scalzi Chaucer'd.

Anyone know where we can get it in Old English, too?

Public, Private, or Home?

Often I read a blog and I want to comment but my thoughts are too scattered and/or too many to put in a comment. This is one of those times.

Shadowhelm and his wife are considering homeschooling their child. I think this is a mistake. Not because I know better for their child; they know her best and are the only ones competent to decide. I just think homeschooling is a mistake, in general. I'm not a fan of private schools either. (I am also having trouble with the part of me that completely understands not wanting to put a child into a public school system in Alabama** arguing with the part of me that thinks public schools are the only way to go.)

My primary problem with homeschooling is, "is the parent staying home a certified teacher in the appropriate grade(s)?" If not, then why the hell do you think you can teach your child? Homeschoolers must now be enrolled in a recognized program, many of which are internet based, that procribes the cirriculum and provides tests. The actual teaching of the material falls to the parent. I have a Master's degree in a physical science and I'm pretty darn sure I don't know enough to teach anything but science above the 3rd grade. (For example knowing grammar and using it appropriately does mean I can explain it.)

A related question to the above is, "Is the parent (usually the mother, but not always) prepared to spend all day everyday at home with said child/children?" There is no shame is admitting that one was not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. It doesn't mean one doesn't love one's children or loves work more; it just means that one is not cut out to be with one's children 24 hours a day. There is also a difference between being a mom and being a teacher (yes, parents are constantly teaching thier children but it isn't quite the same as being a teacher.); for some I'm sure the two roles are completely intertwined for others the roles won't be. Just because one works with kids all day, or is even a teacher, does not mean that one is the best teacher for one's own kids. I know several mothers who teach at a daycare but can not teach in their childrens' rooms, the dynamic is just not right.

Another big problem with homeschooling is the social isolation of the student. School offers social situations encountered in few other settings. Learning to interact with other people, whether one likes them or not, is an important skill. Homeschooling groups, who organize fieldtrips, sports teams, and other extra-curricular activities, can help with the socialzation skills but since many of the other homeschoolers are coming from similar backgrounds there is little diversity. An added problem is that if the homeschool groups are made up of primarialy one subset of homeschoolers (i.e. people who homeschool for religous reasons) then other homeschoolers may not feel welcome, further reducing the diversity. And diversity is important for its own sake. Children need to learn how to get along with anyone they meet; they don't have to be best freinds with everyone but they do have to get along.

Private schools are better. There is the social interaction, trained and (hopefully) qualified teachers, extra-curricular activities, and a break for Mom and Dad. Private schools, however, usually don't offer much in the way of diversity. Most private schools are filled with middle-middle class to upper-middle class. The really expensice ones have the upper-class kids. Private school kids never have a classmate who only has three outfits to wear to school or whose parents can never make the PTA meeting because they have to work. Most private schools have scholarships for very bright students and good atheletes. Some private schools offer a cirriculum only slightly more challenging than the public schools (this varies greatly with location) and have less qualified teachers. (Please note that I do not think lack of state certification automatically means unqualified.) If public school teachers teach because they love it, private school teachers are simply insane. In Alabama at least, private schools pay less and offer little if no benefits (other than great unpaid vacations!). This can make it difficult to retain top-notch teachers that often have the choice to go to the public schools.

A couple of comments directly to Shadowhelm: No one strives for adequecy; that is a term developed for a law that mandates all kinds of stupid measurements of schools and students and has little to do with actual learning. I'm sorry your 12th grade History teacher wasn't creative enough to have assignments to challenge all the students. No one who goes into education wants to hold students back; not everyone will have the ability to help every student but they all have (or possibly had, before burnout) the desire to help. Last but not least, I find it hard to take your interest in your daughter's education too seriously since you admit your wife does the investigating and you just say 'sounds good'.

Where to send one's child to school is a complicated decision for people who can afford options. One's local public schools may not be very good but they provide a level of diversity (SES and racially) not found in most private schools. Private schools MAY provide a better education but are expensive, often require parental volunteering, and usually don't provide transportation to and from school. By homeschooling one can insure that one's values are taught to one's child and no others but then the child is isolated from peers and other adults and is denied the presence of a qualified teacher (with rare exceptions).

I'd like to comment breifly on a topic Shadowhelm touched on in another post with a link to Neal Boortz - communal school supplies. To me, it sounds like Boortz is saying that public schools are a communist plot. BULLSHIT. Democracies require an informed electorate and therefore must have some level of public education. The issue of having indivual parents purchase supplies (this can run from a box of crayons for the class' art supplies to paper towels and surface cleaner) is an issue of funding. When I went to school (and this is probably still true there) students didn't have to buy the school's supplies. There was a supply room that contained supplys. Today in many underfunded school system there isn't a supply room. Not only is every student expected to have his own glue stick but to bring a large bottle of glue to share with the class because the school can't buy these things. This is not, as Boortz asserts, a war on the idea of private property but a consequence of the poor funding of schools. The light bill has to be paid so money for the teachers to buy construction paper doesn't exist. I also suspect that most of the time the list is clear as to what the student needs for herself and what is being bought for the class. If there isn't a distinction, there should be. Because who can forget the joy that was a brand new pencil, eraser, and your own box of 16 perfect crayons?



*Sorry, Sarah, education trumps smut. I may still get around to putting down my thoughts on that. Thanks for the tag.;)

**baby Sis started 4th grade last week at a Tuscaloosa Co. school. Mom says "YEA!"

Rebellion?

Brief history to clarify my previous post. It effects my opinions and, I think, effects how you, the reader, relates to them.

I was a skinny little girl. So I only got picked on a little for being tall and smart (bit of a teacher's pet really), as I recall. I did feel ostracized for being good at school. Then puberty hit. While I wasn't fat by any stretch of the imagination, my hips spread and I got boobs (wore a C-cup by the 9th grade). I skipped junior pants altogether (for the guys - Juniors sizes, odd numbers, are cut for those without child-bearing hips). I have broad shoulders, along with a not small chest, so shirts have been a problem for a long time. I wore sizes 10-14 depending on cut through High School and edged up out of the 10s in college. Graduate school was the end of the 12s and most of the 14s. I've put on about forty pounds since I was 18, twenty of that since my 25th birthday.

I wish I could fit into some of those cute bathing suits in the drawer. I could do something to lose some weight (like the last 20 lbs). But I think I look OK. Weight-wise, that is.

So, anyway, I've never really experienced the teasing and ostracizing of fat-hatred. I wasn't put diets when a kid. And I'm not that big, despite what the scale says. I do however need to work on accepting my body. I, also, believe that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and a waist is a terrible thing to mind. Quite frankly, we all have a whole lot more important things to worry about.

Sarah, you inspire me to rebellion. The more I think about you and your views on fat the more I want to say "F*@& you!" to my mother and her comments about my needing to lose weight.

Lefty?

If you like my political rantings, perhaps you'll like Idealistlefty. She's a bit more articulate than I, more focused on politics, and has more "street cred" than me. Needless to say, I like what I've read there. I hope she has lots of readers.

Maybe someone someday will read a blogger's opinion and maybe, just maybe, think about his own opinions.

I can dream can't I?