isosceles frankenstein

I think they voted for the right guy

2009-09-10T14:07:00.001-04:00

">Sen. Al Franken Draws a Map of America from memory

Check it

2009-09-01T10:57:00.000-04:00

For the dumb kids

2009-08-31T13:52:00.001-04:00

Well that's unexpected.

2009-08-31T11:31:00.000-04:00

Adult Sheep Finder

ABSOLUTELY

2009-08-31T09:31:00.001-04:00

I HAVE A DREAM...

2009-08-28T18:22:00.001-04:00

TOWARD A NEW VISION FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR SCHOOLS: I HAVE A DREAM...
Lester L. Laminack
www.lesterlaminack.com

I dream of schools where children’s art hangs in gallery spaces filling the hallways

And children gather in clusters in the mornings before class to hear books and poems flowing on the voices of teachers

I dream of schools that host conversations about books in the corridors and in alcoves throughout the building

Of schools that post poems and quotes in public spaces where children wait for lunch, cue up in line for water and restrooms, to enter the library or wait for buses.

I dream of schools that feature teachers’ favorite books face out throughout the hallways and in the office

Where children don’t know what AYP means, and don’t know where their class ranked on any test, and are greeted at the front door each morning like family returning from a long trip.

Where children are treated with the same respect afforded the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Where mistakes are seen as evidences of valiant attempts.

Where kindness is spoken with sincerity

Where collaboration and cooperation trump competition

Where all people are deemed worthy simply because they inhale and exhale

Where everyone is assured of both physical and emotional safety

Where your last name, country of origin, skin tone, sexual orientation, gender identity, language facility, economic status, politic views, religious traditions have no bearing on the attention you receive from teachers and others in the school

I dream of schools where days are not scripted by those who could not find the Post Office in your town

Where time spent engaged in inquiry, reading, making art, writing, interviewing, dancing, problem solving, dramatizing is more highly prized than time spent filling in bubbles, choosing the right answer to someone else’s questions or logging on to prove you read.

Where libraries will be as important as stadiums and auditoriums rival gymnasiums

Where children are eager to arrive and reluctant to leave

Where devotion to time for reading and writing can rival attention to the lunch schedule

Where teachers read aloud with the zeal of a street performer and the frequency of a birdsong

Where principals lead by example, know children by their successes, place books over bus schedules, teachers over text scores, students over stanines, communication over control

I dream of schools where teaching is judged by the character of the students leaving, their treatment of others, their concern for humanity, and their ability to think and reason with clarity and compassion

Where a teacher’s knowledge is the map used to chart the course of learning and his/her heart is the navigator directing the journey

Where learning “how” is more important than learning “what” and knowing “when” and “why” are as important as getting the right answer

Where trying is more important than triumph and successive approximations are valued as much as success itself

Where children sit in small clusters for lunch gathered around a book discussion, a quote of the day, an issue to resolve in the classroom community while dining in a civil setting

Where children learn to engage in open dialog, respecting the ideas of others, entering and exiting a conversation in civil ways without raising a hand to be given permission to share their thinking in a free, civil, democratic society

I dream of schools where teachers do not feel forced to turn the pages and do what comes next in a program they do not believe in

Where teachers are treated with respect and professional courtesy, where their voices are listened to and trusted

Where hallways are read, viewed, puzzled over, seen as bearers of clues to riddles and brain teasers found throughout the building

Where walking in straight lines, and raising hands are less important than caring for classmates

Where writing is evaluated more on what is said, how it moves a reader, stirs an emotion, evokes a response, causes one to pause to think or change than on how many sentences were in a paragraph or how many paragraphs are in an essay

I dream of schools where readers are asked what they make of a text rather than asked to log on to give the correct answer to someone else’s questions

Where children are found discussing the actions and motives of a character instead of recording the details of that character’s home or clothing

Where children are more familiar with poets than NFL players, more familiar with authors than actors, more familiar with illustrators and artists than with athletes, more familiar with inventors and social activists than the names of video games, more familiar with mathematicians and scientists than sit-coms and March Madness

I dream of schools where children know they are cherished and trusted, where they feel safe to risk being wrong in order to learn lessons more important than arriving at the right answer

Will you join me? Will you stand up for the children of this nation? Will you take a stand on the issues that matter most to the preservation of their one, precious childhood.

Lester L. Laminack
Asheville, NC
May 2008

Sooooo Sad

2009-08-28T14:14:00.002-04:00

Sad

Hmmmm.

2009-08-28T14:06:00.003-04:00

science Hugh Pickens writes
http://tinyurl.com/nbx4do

"Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thomson, Jr. argue in Scientific American that although depression is considered a mental disorder, depression may in fact be a mental adaptation which provides real benefits. This is not to say that depression is not a problem. Depressed people often have trouble performing everyday activities, they can't concentrate on their work, they tend to socially isolate themselves, they are lethargic, and they often lose the ability to take pleasure from such activities such as eating and sex. So what could be so useful about depression? 'Depressed people often think intensely about their problems,' write the authors. 'These thoughts are called ruminations; they are persistent and depressed people have difficulty thinking about anything else. Numerous studies have also shown that this thinking style is often highly analytical. They dwell on a complex problem, breaking it down into smaller components, which are considered one at a time.' Various studies have found that people in depressed mood states are better at solving social dilemmas and there is evidence that people who get more depressed while they are working on complex problems in an intelligence test tend to score higher on the test (PDF). 'When one considers all the evidence, depression seems less like a disorder where the brain is operating in a haphazard way, or malfunctioning. Instead, depression seems more like the vertebrate eye — an intricate, highly organized piece of machinery that performs a specific function.'

Girls Gone Feral

2009-08-28T12:45:00.000-04:00

Girls Gone Literally Wild - watch more funny videos

WHEN LIBERALS WERE STILL LIBERAL

2009-08-28T12:04:00.002-04:00

This speech by Ted Kennedy is one of the last by a major Democratic figure before the party, scared out of its values by Reagan, adopted a neo-liberalism that bails out banks but not the foreclosed, helps big auto makers but not small business, and pushes a privatized health plan that heavily subsidizes the insurance industry.

Ted, Kennedy, Democratic Convention 1980 - The serious issue before us tonight is the cause for which the Democratic Party has stood in its finest hours, the cause that keeps our Party young and makes it, in the second century of its age, the largest political Party in this republic and the longest lasting political Party on this planet.

Our cause has been, since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the cause of the common man and the common woman.

Our commitment has been, since the days of Andrew Jackson, to all those he called "the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers." On this foundation we have defined our values, refined our policies, and refreshed our faith. . .

Let us pledge that we will never misuse unemployment, high interest rates, and human misery as false weapons against inflation.

Let us pledge that employment will be the first priority of our economic policy.

Let us pledge that there will be security for all those who are now at work, and let us pledge that there will be jobs for all who are out of work; and we will not compromise on the issues of jobs.

These are not simplistic pledges. Simply put, they are the heart of our tradition, and they have been the soul of our Party across the generations. It is the glory and the greatness of our tradition to speak for those who have no voice, to remember those who are forgotten, to respond to the frustrations and fulfill the aspirations of all Americans seeking a better life in a better land. . .

The 1980 Republican convention was awash with crocodile tears for our economic distress, but it is by their long record and not their recent words that you shall know them.

The same Republicans who are talking about the crisis of unemployment have nominated a man who once said, and I quote, "Unemployment insurance is a prepaid vacation plan for freeloaders." And that nominee is no friend of labor.

The same Republicans who are talking about the problems of the inner cities have nominated a man who said, and I quote, "I have included in my morning and evening prayers every day the prayer that the Federal Government not bail out New York." And that nominee is no friend of this city and our great urban centers across this nation.

The same Republicans who are talking about security for the elderly have nominated a man who said just four years ago that "Participation in social security should be made voluntary." And that nominee is no friend of the senior citizens of this nation.

The same Republicans who are talking about preserving the environment have nominated a man who last year made the preposterous statement, and I quote, "Eighty percent of our air pollution comes from plants and trees." And that nominee is no friend of the environment.

And the same Republicans who are invoking Franklin Roosevelt have nominated a man who said in 1976, and these are his exact words, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal." And that nominee whose name is Ronald Reagan has no right to quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The great adventures which our opponents offer is a voyage into the past. Progress is our heritage, not theirs. What is right for us as Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to win.

The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference. The poor may be out of political fashion, but they are not without human needs. The middle class may be angry, but they have not lost the dream that all Americans can advance together. . .

To all those who are idle in the cities and industries of America let us provide new hope for the dignity of useful work. Democrats have always believed that a basic civil right of all Americans is that their right to earn their own way. The Party of the people must always be the party of full employment.

To all those who doubt the future of our economy, let us provide new hope for the reindustrialization of America. And let our vision reach beyond the next election or the next year to a new generation of prosperity. If we could rebuild Germany and Japan after World War II, then surely we can reindustrialize our own nation and revive our inner cities in the 1980's.

To all those who work hard for a living wage let us provide new hope that their price of their employment shall not be an unsafe workplace and a death at an earlier age.

To all those who inhabit our land from California to the New York Island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf stream waters, let us provide new hope that prosperity shall not be purchased by poisoning the air, the rivers, and the natural resources that are the greatest gift of this continent. We must insist that our children and our grandchildren shall inherit a land which they can truly call America the beautiful. . .

And to all those overburdened by an unfair tax structure, let us provide new hope for real tax reform. Instead of shutting down classrooms, let us shut off tax shelters. Instead of cutting out school lunches, let us cut off tax subsidies for expensive business lunches that are nothing more than food stamps for the rich. . .

Finally, we cannot have a fair prosperity in isolation from a fair society. So I will continue to stand for a national health insurance. We must -- We must not surrender -- We must not surrender to the relentless medical inflation that can bankrupt almost anyone and that may soon break the budgets of government at every level. Let us insist on real controls over what doctors and hospitals can charge, and let us resolve that the state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth. . .

Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for all.

SAM SMITH AT PROGRESSIVE REVIEW

http://prorev.com/indexa.htm

If this catches on I'm leaving!

2009-08-27T15:46:00.000-04:00

On Ted Kennedy

2009-08-27T12:04:00.002-04:00

I have to say for one guy to be behind so much from labor to minimum wage and de segregation this guy will be demonized by right-wing closet jobs for the remainder of time.
I just saw the Fox News building is the only building on 6th Ave in Manhattan not flying their flag a half mast. If it was for their cheif tranny, Reagan, they'd be calling for deportations.

Grrrr.

Shorts

2009-08-24T14:06:00.002-04:00

I saw Shorts this weekend.
It was grotesquely bad. It's like Memento for kids. Except kids wouldn't like Memento and they didn't like this.
I took six kids to see this movie and ALL of them walked out saying it sucked.
I had the same experience with Shark Boy and Lava Girl.
Rober Rodriguez is a money-grubbing, child experience raping, ass clown, donkey lover.
There is no way anyone gets away with this utter junk unless they are already entrenched in Hollywood.

Little League World Series

2009-08-22T13:58:00.002-04:00

Let me tell you why the Little League world series is friggin AWESOME.
There are no automatics.
Nothing is a given. Hustle pays off and kids show emotion. You could have robots play baseball in the majors and it would be about the same.
I love baseball but there is really something to be said for the game being played by kids.
They try so damn hard it is inspiring. Yet they fail.
They remind me that no one was born perfect but hard work pays off.

There was a time when sophistication meant something.

2009-08-22T13:51:00.001-04:00

not any more.
fartcat.blogspot.com

I know this song, see...

2009-08-21T08:36:00.000-04:00

Me want

2009-08-20T14:05:00.002-04:00

BFG - Dry Ice Cannon from sonium on Vimeo.

Steven Tyler is subjected to gravity

2009-08-20T14:00:00.002-04:00

He may elude Time's inexorable grasp but Newton's icy clutches reach up to pull him to hell.

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Brett Favre

2009-08-20T13:55:00.002-04:00

If Brett Favre goes to the Super Bowl this year...I'll retire.

HA! Gotta Love Barney Frank!

2009-08-20T13:35:00.002-04:00

Golf

2009-08-19T16:37:00.004-04:00

STILL not a sport.

If you define people who play sports as athletes.
If you imagine someone who says they are "into sports".
Better yet, if someone tells you "I'm an athlete."

NONE of the next words out of their mouth is "golf".

Golf never has been a sport. There was never an ancient form of golf where one golfer tackled another. Golfers never succumbed to exhaustion (related to golf). One town's golfer never faced down another town's golfer for the pride of the township.

Terror Fail

2009-08-19T16:35:00.002-04:00

http://www.cracked.com/article/79_the-5-most-embarrassing-failures-in-history-terrorism/

Perfect paranoia makes for perfect awareness

2009-08-19T15:38:00.003-04:00

Death panels

2009-08-19T15:33:00.004-04:00

This sounds like a great job.

Where can I get to judge the living and the dead? I know it sounds godlike but I would only use my power on people arbitrarily. I wouldn't have any standards whatsoever.
You there. I choose you for death.

Yeah.

This should really be looked at as job growth.

Seriously, if there were such a thing I would be all over getting one of these LOGAN'S RUN jobs.

New Moon Trailer

2009-08-14T08:29:00.003-04:00

Ok.

This can't be allowed to go on.
You cannot have a "werewolf" that turns into the four-legged variety of wolf. That just ain't scary.

I saw athe New Moon trailer and they show one of the transformations and it woulda been a whole lot scarier if he leaps, changes, and lands on two feet.

I hate that shit.