Yeah, looks interesting; I'll probably wait til video.

The burger joint is going well, but my dad is--by his own choice--no longer involved. He decided pretty quickly that he didn't want to spend his retirement in such a high-stress environment. He's currently living with his sister and her husband in Ocoee, Florida, maxin' and relaxin'. And regularly going to the Disney parks on the annual pass he purchased.

Going to a film alone... definitely done it myself many times, mostly when I lived in CT, mostly films that it would have been hard to find someone as interested in as I was... such as The Straight Story, Being John Malkovich, The Devil's Backbone, Mulholland Drive, and Amelie.

Oh, I saw David Lynch's latest, INLAND EMPIRE. I can defend Mulholland Drive fairly well, but this... this was just a three-hour mess. A Gordian knot of a film. If I had a ton of spare time I could probably unravel some of it through repeated viewings, but... I actually kind of have a life now.

Hey Matt---I blew today off and saw 21. Don't know if this would be your cup of tea or not... It's kinda about math. The film was alright (I'm a KS fan)--although it could have been better. It's not as bad as Rotten Tomatoes suggests.

No spoilers here--but let me know if you ever see it; let me know what you think...

Burger joint going well?

As an aside, I didn't realize how many people actually think that going to a film (alone) is such a bad thing. I've never even given the concept a second thought... Am I socially maladjusted, or is the world just insecure?

As someone who still has to suppress a giggle when someone uses the word "duty", I don't feel right commenting on maturity.

If you can stop playing this game within five minutes, you probably won't return to it. However, if you're like me, and can't leave well enough alone, it may suck a good amount of time from your day on a regular basis.

... high score of 193,228 so far...

Hey Scott, I thought about you when I read this...

Hey--out of my own curiosity... What does maturity and being "grown up" represent to you guys?

Because, at least for me, it's not what I expected. It wasn't school. It wasn't the rigors of higher degrees. It wasn't marriage as much as I thought it was. And it wasn't even fatherhood. (Still can't figure that one out.) These latter two things are of my own choice and my own doing. Thus, I got what I bought into--thus it feels as if it's of lesser effect

For me--it's when I face a problem... Or rather, when a problem faces me. My choices or behavior didn't bring create the situation. The situation finds me because I'm the go-to-guy relative to it's solution or management. It's my position or station in life. I can't really describe it to my satisfaction--but it's the result of my inability to conceal my life successes. And these life successes result in more responsibility, hence it feels like true life maturity.

Yeah--not so sure I like it. There's a certain freedom to being a rank-and-file grunt with a finite list of responsibilities...

Curious if this experience is similar to that of you guys...

They're still putting out decent music... (More of the same.)

Update: I was trying to find a site on Aquariums that I found a few months ago--but had absolutely no luck finding it. (My babygirl loves the fishies...) So I browsed my google.com/ig browsing history, and actually found it. Apparently, Google Big Brother has kept very good record of where I've been over the past few years... In any event, it was successful. It's worth a shot, if you guys ever need it.

Absolutely brilliant.

Hey Matt--I read this and thought about your dad. Any chance of capitalizing off of the political misfortunes of others? [ Burger Joint Adds 'Spitzer Burger' To Menu ]

Update: Ok--I know I've had a veritable blitzkrieg of useless posts... but I just saw this and found it to be both truthful and funny:

Q: How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: THAT'S NOT FUNNY!

New Stuff that White People like:
#89 St. Patrick’s Day..................................Indifferent
#88 Having Gay Friends............................Used to, but grew out of that phase long ago.
#87 Outdoor Performance Clothes..........Check
#86 Shorts....................................................Check

My running list: 3, 5, 6, 9, 16, 19, 28, 32, 34, 40, 48, 49, 51, 73, 78, 80, 81, 83, 86, 87...

The self-worshiping godless liberals won't like these data...

So I've been thinking A LOT about Greg's post regarding home schooling in California. I don't know if it has to do with me being at home and with me actively "teaching" E every day ... It could be. Regardless, I've been thinking a lot about the post and I revised some of my thoughts.

Originally, I was struck by how similar this sounded to the political education that was conducted under Nazi and communist regimes. And on those grounds, I rejected some of the statements made by the judge.

But having taken a bit more time to think about it, I realize that my earlier post was ill-thought out and more than just a touch niave. After all, apart from the subjects of math and perhaps grammer (although that is somewhat debatable), everything that is taught is taught from a point of view. One of the major faults underlying the Enlightenment Project was a belief in the objectively neutral party. There is no such thing. Literature is taught from a point of view. History is taught from a point of view. Heck, even geography is taught from a point of view (e.g. Who owns the Golan Heights?) If you wish to debate this, please feel free to do so. Just please don't do it under this thread because I don't want you to miss the point of what I saying here.

So, I think what I actually was reacting to was not the premise itself. It was the practical application of the premise. I don't want a liberalized government that is pro-naturalism (with all of the consequent positions in terms of sexual identity, drugs, political philosophy, religious philosophy, etc...) deciding what can and cannot be taught to my child. I want to make that decision.

So for instance, when it comes to teaching about patriotism, loyalty to government, etc..., I am not against teaching those things. But I want to teach them within a Christian worldview. In other words, democracy may be the best of all possible political ideologies, but it does not address our obligation to the poor who will always be with us (Deut 15:11). Loyalty to government is scriptural (Matt. 22:21), but only to the point where it does not interfere with the precepts of God.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Back off Big Government and give me the right to educate my child as I see fit.

Ok--how cool is this... I was asked to be a judge in the state Science Fair. (Regrettably, it doesn't look like I can participate; I hope they save my name for next year...)

So Greg, what's the story-behind-the-story here? If there is one?

(Incidentally, I'll finally have some more time to work on that sinewave stuff in the next few weeks.)

Yeah ... I'm with you on this one, Greg. In fact, the deeper I got into the article, the more and more angry I became.

"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare."

Why does this statement feel an awful lot like something that could come out of a communist textbook? Consider ...

In the first enthusiasms of the revolution, the children of the professional, propertied and aristocratic classes were often debarred from the schools, for communist theory frankly recognized that the schools should be class institutions training the proletariat for communism and communistic leadership. ["Education Under Communism Contrasted with that Under Capitalism, " Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Nov. 1935), pp 154-66.]

Could somebody please explain to me how this is significantly different than: "A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state"? Because in my mind, the primary purpose of an education is to teach certain, fundamental skill sets, which, when applied properly, ought to provide the educated individual with the proper tools needed to appropriately analyze and work within any number of possibilities that may be encountered in life. Therefore, a properly educated individual ought to be able, on his/her own strength, determine that a democratic system is the best possible solution in a fallen world.

But no. Apparently, I need the state to train my kid in how he should properly love the state. Can he add? Can he read? Who cares. Is he a patriot? What a joke!

Ok--this *really* annoys me. It's no secret how I feel about the public education system. It's crap. There are private parochial schools that cost less per child and run rings around government-based education. Every year, when I watch the spelling bee, there is an overwhelming number of home-schooled kids.

And what's most comical is that the existing bureaucracies, who are failing by any number of metrics, are left in charge. As if additional money to the same group of failed administrators will fix the problem. (When will these bureaucracies realize that firing themselves, rather than spending more money, is the solution? They will never admit as such...)

So yeah--I'm behind the concept of school vouchers and even home schoolers. It, in part, defines conservatism. Yet, a California appeals court ruled against homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials. So those who cannot afford a private school are left with no other choice but the very broken government bureaucracy that has intentionally created an educational monopoly.

In other words... Liberals are robbing choices from the masses, because the masses are too dumb to govern themselves.

Just in case Scott's recent posts have gotten people down on the state of American youth today, I thought I would share my elation with my freshmen Geometry Honors students this year. (DISCLAIMER: This isn't to brag. I can't even imagine what Sarah's daily life is like, and I doubt I could handle it for as long as she has.) I just love what's going on in this Geometry Honors class. It's easily the best class I've ever taught.

I've assigned them a group project this week. (I never assign group projects. That tells you something about this class already.) I divided the 16 girls into 4 groups of 4, and assigned them 5 challenging questions, of which they (as a group) are to choose 4 to solve and write up. Each student must write up one of the four solutions. (I can send interested parties the PDF of the questions.)

To see these girls work together so well, bounce ideas off of each other, get a little frustrated when they get stuck, get so excited (high-fiving each other!) when they "unstuck" themselves... it's just awesome. I just had one girl--not one of the stronger students--have a breakthrough on one of the problems, and say "YES! YES! Ohmigosh, that was so exciting!" I mean... What more could a math teacher ask for?

Some of these are pretty funny.

I don't seem to fit this mold a lot myself, but that kind of makes it funnier, because then I can just laugh at other people.

UPDATE: As of yesterday, my wife broke up another fight at her school. This brings her post-maternity leave tally to four, two of which included lesbians. Additionally, one of her physics students attempted to bring a gun to school with the intent to shoot two other students. In the end, the student "chickened out" (or "got smart" says my wife) and left the gun in her car.

Additionally, another school in her district just had two more major fights. One student, in fight A, required 45 stitches because he was hit with padlocks. The other fight involved hispanic gangs and baseball bats.

Please keep in my wife teaches in an affluent suburban region.

On a related note, did you all see that since the shooting at Northern, a student at Auburn has been shot and killed, a student at North Carolina Chapel Hill has been shot and killed and 8 seminary students in Jerusalem were shot and killed.

So ends todays Death Tally.

So I went to see U23D a few nights ago. If you are even mildly amused by their music (and I'm not sure if any of you are), this is a great concert film. In many ways, it was better than going to see them live because I would never drop the kind of money that it would take to get this kind of immediate, better-than-front-row-seat access to the band. Moreover, because they had time in post-production, the sound mix for the film was far better than the mix you get live. So again, just a great concert experience.

On a more philosophical note, as I sat there watching the film, I found myself wondering whether this is the last, great rock-and-roll band. In other words, has our culture become so hyper-fragmented and niche-marketed that the concept of shared universal music has eroded beyond repair? Think about it. Who's out there right now that you could honestly see still putting out relevant music (whether you like it or not) in 20 years? Beyonce? White Stripes? The Killers? My Chemical Romance? John Mayer? I'm not buying it.

Kind of makes me sad when I think about it ...

On another note, I updated the link to the video on my last post. Tim, you've obviously seen it. Greg? Matt? This is good stuff. Go click the link.

Why I love the south...

Hey guys--get this. I know a couple in which the judge will *not* grant them a divorce. They despise each other; they live in separate states at this point. Tough. Work it out. (As the judge cites a legal president from the 1890s that allows him to not-grant a divorce...)

Wished this kind of thing happened more often. Be sure to listen to the announcers.

UPDATE: Sorry about that. Try the link again.

Controlling global economic expansion or just plain greedy? OPEC president says he favors cutting oil output: "I would prefer in this situation to lower production because demand globally is going to be lower..." Interesting concept, but one that I bet is wrong. It reads like upside down supply-side-economics. Increased supply fuels demand, therefore, reduced supply reduces demand.

By reduction of demand, you just mean that the poorer nations can't afford it. Ok--great. Good humanitarian effort you've go going on there...

You guys think that the liberals will get their heads out of the sand and realize that we need to increase energy production? (Or will they use this as a means to an end to control the masses?)

I find it incredible that China (rather than us) are drilling for oil in the Gulf...

I don't know about you guys--but every now and then, I'll witness a situation unfold that seems to captivate part of the essence of life and living.

So on Friday, I was driving home--and stuck at a red light leaving the U. I looked back in my rear view mirror, and saw a friend of mine (fellow prof) and his wife (totally cool chic) in the car behind me. It was apparent that my buddy had a rough day; he looked both exhausted and defeated. And what was cool was how his wife would turn to him (from the driver's seat) and look at him with gentle loving support. It seemed as if this was a captured moment of what marriage should (and can) be; it was the essence of great art.

Of course, I kinda feel like a stalker when I write about it--which is beside the point. In any event, it was a moment of living that I lucky to have observed.