It’s white, not green. But it’s there.
Monthly Archives: April 2007
Myers-Briggs
I’ve always been an ENFP, with an occasionally stressed ENFJ showing up. However, when I took the test today, it said I was an ISFJ. Yes, I am living like an I, but I’m not an S no matter what.
Strange.
Predictions from 1900 for 2000
can be found here.
Some of them include:
Man will See Around the World…..
Automobiles will be cheaper than horses are today. Farmers will own automobile hay-wagons, automobile truck-wagons, plows, harrows and hay-rakes. A one-pound motor in one of these vehicles will do the work of a pair of horses or more. Children will ride in automobile sleighs in winter. Automobiles will have been substituted for every horse vehicle now known. There will be, as already exist today, automobile hearses, automobile police patrols, automobile ambulances, automobile street sweepers. The horse in harness will be as scarce, if, indeed, not even scarcer, then as the yoked ox is today.
Trains will run two miles a minute, normally; express trains one hundred and fifty miles an hour. To go from New York to San Francisco will take a day and a night by fast express.
The American will be taller by from one to two inches. His increase of stature will result from better health, due to vast reforms in medicine, sanitation, food and athletics. He will live fifty years instead of thirty-five as at present – for he will reside in the suburbs.
Gymnastics will begin in the nursery, where toys and games will be designed to strengthen the muscles. Exercise will be compulsory in the schools. Every school, college and community will have a complete gymnasium. All cities will have public gymnasiums. A man or woman unable to walk ten miles at a stretch will be regarded as a weakling.
Obviously they got some right and some way wrong.
But what would our predictions look like in 100 years. Let’s say even 93. What will the US be like in 2100?
Things you have to believe to support gun control:
You have to believe that the more helpless you are, the safer you are from criminals.
You have to believe that ordinary people, ordinary people in the presence of a gun turn into slaughtering blood-thirsty butchers and they resort to normal ordinary behavior as soon as the gun is removed.
…
That we must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time, and anyone who owns a gun out of fear of such an lunatic is paranoid.
…
That most people can’t be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by, because they can be trusted.
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That 1 firearm owner in 10,000 will commit an act of violence in his or her lifetime, and this is far more frightening than the 25% of drivers who will cause a serious or fatal accident.That you should rely on police in lieu of your gun, just as you should rely on a dentist in lieu of your toothbrush.
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That outlawing the carrying of guns will stop people from doing so, just as lowering the speed limit stops reckless driving.
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That suggesting teachers be armed is an outrageous suggestion for a “civilized” society, which is why the Swiss and Israelis do it.
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That it’s safer with less guns, which is why lunatics shoot up schools instead of gun shows or police stations.
To read the rest go to Right Equals Might
Guns don’t kill people; doctors do.
Facts to ponder:
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year are 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.
Now think about this: Guns:
(A) The number of gun ownders in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that’s 80 million.)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun ownder is .000188.Statistics courtesy of the FBI.
So, statistically, doctors are approximiately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
Remember, “Guns don’t kill people, doctors do.â€
from Barefoot Meandering
You should look after yourself. There may be no one else to do it.
Wizbang posts on the reality of protection in the US. (The police aren’t required to save the individual. The military can’t be there. The workplace won’t be there.) He says, rightly, that we all need to be prepared to defend ourselves.
Then he goes on to talk about the heroes who defended us and others like us, on 9/11, at Virginia Tech.
I must decide that I will stop evil when I can.
“Other candidates were quiet.” Er, not quite.
Captain’s Quarters blogs about McCain’s discussion of gun rights after Virginia Tech.
The first lines are from an article; the second are his response.
Other candidates in both parties have stayed largely silent on the issue in the immediate aftermath of the killings, except to express their sorrow.
Quite frankly, the other candidates have the right idea. It’s better at this stage to let the emotions calm down and allow the facts of the case to speak for themselves.
Other candidates… You mean other Republican candidates, right?
Because Clinton and Obama have both made statements on the subject. Maybe not on gun control, per se, but they are talking about it.
“MySpace” style internet postings are being used for education.
Wired talks about freeware Elgg that is supposed to be the academic equivalent of MySpace. I wonder if it works on Macs.
And I still would have to actually learn how to post pictures.
But I like the idea for online courses.
Each one of us is a foot soldier for civilization;
when evil threatens, we must do our utmost to thwart it.
I shouldn’t just think about how I can get my students to safety. We should think about how to take the shooter out.
The first sentence is from Big Lizards.
Remember Me
Go here to watch a moving presentation.
And remember.
Religion can help your brain
Newberg learned that during religious rituals our limbic system, the parts of the brain associated with feelings and memory lights up with blood flow. This helps embed our beliefs even more deeply.
And this reaction is powerful enough to even help restore function or memory to brains limited by damage or disease. Newberg found people with some kind of dementia reacted positively to spiritual activity…
Ahh. Another reason not to forsake the assembling of the saints.
From ABC Local
Apparently someone needs better gun training.
The instructor tells the soldier, “You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways … Act.”
The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.
The “instructor” is a German soldier. Does someone insulting your mother and being of some other race require shooting in response?
Apparently these guys also need some playground etiquette classes.
The quote above is from CNN’s article “German army in new racism row.”
Spice-y Smells were hot in Rome.
“Ancient Perfumes Recreted, Put on Display in Rome” says that most perfumes were spicy: “herbs and spices, like almond, coriander, myrtle, conifer resin, bergamot — and not flowers.”
I wonder how I’d like conifer resin as a perfume.
But I like vanilla and brown sugar.
Maybe I can use in Dielli.
TSA seems to be a little ridiculous.
I was told last time at IAH to go through the metal detector with my arms out. This time the TSA people said I might be trying to fool the metal detector and made me go back through. (Did I miss hearing about terrorists who fooled the metal detector last time?)
At RDU we were in a long winding line for water checks. “Don’t carry on lip gloss.†“ladies, you can’t take mascara on.†(They checked bags for these but not pockets.) Then we went upstairs, after being checked again for our ticket and ID. At the top of the stairs, we were checked AGAIN for our ID and ticket. Did they think there were gremlins in the stairs who would sneak terrorists in? We had two different initial sets on our tickets. Then at the top there were six, very slow, lines with people pulling off their belts, their jackets, their shoes; putting their bags and their computers out in plastic bins.
I put the lip gloss in my pocket and didn’t have any trouble with it. If lip gloss is useful to terrorists, they’re going to have an easy time with that.
As you finish your tour through the checkpoints, there’s a Homeland Security TV. It says, “Protecting your freedoms…†Er, no. I don’t think they’re doing that. They may be attempting to protect my life, but they’re not after protecting my freedoms. Not when they’re checking everything I check on.
I am fairly sure that if it weren’t for business passengers that we might not be able to take any carry ons. But business passengers want to not have to go to baggage claim.
And I can’t imagine how long it took the family with the three little kids to get through. Pull off all their jackets. Check. Pull off their back packs. Check. Pull off their shoes. Check. Put the stroller through. Check. Take off your own jacket. Check. Take off your shoes. Check. Take off Child #1’s shoes. Check. Take off Child #2’s shoes…. You get it.
Pros of homeschooling
In the interest of perspective:
The biggest pro of homeschooling is the students. I get the boys I love most in the world as students. I get to hang out with them. We get to have fun. We’ve picked weeds- counting. We’ve made coke floats- science. We’ve made elephant parades- art. We spent time together.
My boys are good at independent work and the older they’ve become the more I’ve seen that.
My students are a challenge. I thought I was teaching my eldest Algebra I. I certainly was attempting to do it. And he did very well at algebra. But I don’t think it was me. I think it was E. Because when I began to teach M algebra, I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t that many years later. It was the same book I’d used before, but it didn’t work. That’s because my boys are unique.
How unique are they?
E is an introvert, great with young kids, and intuitively mathematically gifted.
M is an extrovert, great with adults, and the detail king of European and American history for the last two hundred or so years.
E draws for fun and during any down time.
M talks to himself, to the computer, and to other people any time there’s a slow down.
I know so much about my boys because I was their teacher. I have spent more time with my children than most mothers these days. I was able to stay home with them when they were little. I’m still home. I spend less time now; they’re growing up and away.
But if I had to name the main pro of homeschooling it is the fact that you get to know and teach your own children.
Cons of homeschooling
A while back I wrote and posted a blog entry Homeschooling: pros and cons. Recently I got a nasty note saying there weren’t any cons in the article.
There were. Here’s a short version of the cons of homeschooling.
The biggest con to homeschooling is the personal responsibility. If I am my sons’ only teacher, then I must find the best way to teach them. I must teach them well. I must not give in to entropy or indifference. I must do the best I can, knowing that I don’t get to leave the classroom and decompress. Every day all day long is the classroom of life and I am the guide for my boys.
I can’t blame their education on someone else. I can’t argue with anyone else for their side. I have to make the right decisions, not all the time, but consistently.
With homeschooling, you have to do it. You can’t take a break. You can’t give up. It matters.
That’s the biggest con of homeschooling.
Announcing Rape Victims’ Names
The News and Observer has announced the name of the innocent lacrosse team members’ accuser. I agree with that choice. She’s been shown to be a liar and why should she be protected? They weren’t.
But now they say they aren’t sure that their standing policy of not id’ing assault survivors’ names will be under review.
Sometimes the media gives enough information that the name is known. “28 year old English professor” for instance in a small college town. I think even that is wrong.
Too often our system and our sympathies support the criminal not the victim. Rape is still considered to be a negative event that the victim caused or encouraged by many people. I’ve heard people who ought to know better espouse it in college classes and in church.
Most rape victims don’t prosecute. They feel like the hoops are too stressful. One of my friends fended off a rape attack and the DA got the guy for attempted rape. They had three rape victims who were offering to testify against the guy, but the DA said they weren’t credible because they had been raped.
Damn it.
I need to get my mother to play in the dirt.
There is a soil microbe that is a highly effective, and fairly immediate, antidepressant.
Maybe that is why so many people enjoy working in the garden, even when it is hard work.
Friday the 13th
I just read that most people would prefer not to fly on Friday the 13th. Good. Maybe the plane won’t be too crowded.
Ever wonder why girls date jerks?
Apparently it is a biological imperative.