Perverted Justice

Everyone would like to have an internet that can expose children to the world outside their neighborhood. Unfortunately as in most things in life bad comes with the good.

One group that has had a lot of publicity from shows such as NBC's "Dateline" is Perverted Justice an organization that is a combination of vigilantism and neighborhood watch. Volunteers hanging out in chat rooms that cater to the young posing as a trouble youth vulnerable to manipulation of slime. A recent AP article describes different views of the Perverted Justice group. Another group Corrupted Justice claims that Perverted Justice is more vigilantes and show-biz destroying lives with unfounded charges doing more harm then good.

Before you have the urge to help out with one of these causes check out "The Ox-Bow Incident":

10 Reasons for Havng Children

and 20 Reasons NOT TO

They Do Close Wally World

So much for a "Quest For Fun"

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Four bus loads of students from O'Brien Middle School made the four-hour trip to Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, Calif., only to find the amusement park's gates locked Monday. The school-sponsored trip was supposed to reward top students.
"It was pretty much a fiasco," said Washoe County School District spokesman Steve Mulvenon. "They ended up wasting a day that those kids could have better spent in class or doing what they were going to do at the park."
School officials said the $50 fee will be refunded, and the tour company that arranged the trip has agreed to pay for the next one. "The tour company neglected to check the schedule," Mulvenon said.
"It is just a bummer for the kids," said parent Jeff Wood. "Now, they will have to wait another month to go and a lot of the kids might not be able to go then."
Principal Scott Grange said the school was even given printed tickets with Monday's date on them.
"But shame on us for not checking," he said.

Maybe it Was Baroque And She Fixed It

" A researcher from Darwin, Australia, says he believes that many works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach were actually written by the composer's second wife. " More

[If it is true she was one busy Lady]

"Jarvis says it's known that Anna Magdalena was a talented musician and a student of Bach's. Born in 1701, she married him in 1721, 17 months after the death of his first wife. She bore him 13 children, seven of whom died in infancy."

"Bach scholars did not immediately dismiss Jarvis's claims. Yo Tomita, a Bach scholar based at Queen's University in Belfast, said the findings were 'highly important.' Others were more skeptical and said the theory could never be proven."

"Bach, who lived from 1685 to 1750, was a prolific composer of more than 1,100 works, and is regarded as a great master of Baroque music."


J.S. Bach as painted by Dipinto di Elias Gottlieb Haussmann (circa 1747).

Best Save In Baseball

Outfielder Rick Monday of the Chicago Cubs dashes between two men in the Dodger Stadium outfield in Los Angeles, in this April 25, 1976 photo, snatching an American flag the men were about to burn. In honor of the 30th anniversary of his saving the American flag, Monday will be honored Tuesday with a video tribute at Minute Maid Park in Houston. By Jim Roark, Los Angeles Herald Examiner via AP



The World War II soldier, who survived the Pearl Harbor attack, looked Rick Monday in the eyes, slowly raised his right arm, and saluted him.
"Thank you," Monday recalls the soldier telling him last year. "And thank you from all of my shipmates."
Thirty years ago today, Monday became an American hero.
It was the day he saved the American flag.
"It was the greatest heroic act that's ever happened on a baseball field," Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda said. "He protected the symbol of everything that we live for. And the symbol that we live in the greatest country in the world."
The Hall of Fame recently voted Monday's act as one of the 100 classic moments in the history of the game. Monday, who spent 19 years in the major leagues and is a Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, will be honored tonight with a video tribute at Minute Maid Park in Houston
...
And the tattered flag that was soaked with lighter fluid? It's in Monday's possession in a safe-deposit box, surviving the hurricanes near his Vero Beach, Fla., home. He was offered $1 million for the flag several years ago, he said, but rejected the overture.
"The flag is faded, and it's somewhat tattered," Monday said. "It wasn't like it was just bought off the shelf. It wasn't in great shape from the start.
"But the flag is not for sale. What this flag represents, you can't buy." USA Today

Ms Emily Goes To The Movies

Ms Emily is now even more senior since she recently had her 14th birthday. Still may have to demote her because she has been letting school interfer with her duties.

The Sentinel
Review by Emily Trosprel 8th Grade BHMS
Senior Entertainment Editor

For a thriller “The Sentinel” sure manages to not be very thrilling and settles for an average at best level. As the tagline for the movie asserts, in 141 years, the Secret Service has never contained a traitor- until now. The prime suspect is veteran agent Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) who took a bullet for Reagan years ago. Instead of turning himself in and cooperating, Garrison flees in a move that pretty much reaffirms his guilt to those pursuing him. In lead of those pursuers is agent David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland), once a friend of Garrison’s. Will Garrison prove his innocence and catch the real mole? Boy, that’s a mystery.

A plot to assassinate the president, a race against time, and a mole in the organization- “The Sentinel” has been compared to television’s “24”, and fortunately or unfortunately, it’s true that Sutherland basically reprises his role of Jack Bauer. As for Michael Douglas’s performance, there is nothing specifically wrong with it but also nothing particularly special in it. Concerning the screenplay, there are too many plot holes to count and little character development in anyone but Garrison. While it's true that it’s nearly suspense-free and contains characters that nobody particularly cares about, for all its faults, “The Sentinel” is still entertaining, if only mildly so.

Two out of four stars for The Sentinel

Religion in the United States

Interesting maps on how religious groups in the US are dispersed.


Lutherans






Catholics







Then There are the Baptist which you may be IF:
- You think John the Baptist started the SBC.
- You think God's presence is strongest on the back three pews.
- You think "Amazing Grace" is the national anthem.
- You judge the quality of the sermon by the amount of sweat worked up by the preacher.
- Your definition of fellowship has something to do with food.
- You honestly believe that the Apostle Paul spoke King James English.
- You think worship music has to be loud.
- You think Jesus actually used Welch's grape juice and saltine crackers.
- You judge the quality of a service by its length.
- You ever wake up in the middle of the night craving fried chicken and interpret that feeling as a call to preach.
- You believe that you are supposed to take a covered dish to heaven.
- You have ever put an IOU in the offering plate.
- You think someone who says "Amen" while the preacher is preaching might be a Charismatic.
- You complain that the pastor only works one day and then he works too long.
- You clapped in church and felt guilty about it all week..
- You are upset that the last hymn in the new hymnal is numbered "666."
- Wearing shoes and socks to church is optional.

Why do you have to take two Baptist with you when you go fishing?
Because if you just take one, he'll drink all your beer.

Higher Minimum Wage - Higher Dropout Rate?

This is one arguement in the minium wage law that is not entirely worn out.

Although relatively little empirical research has been done on the effect of a minimum wage hike on the demand for work by teenagers, one study does find results consistent with the foregoing analysis:

"Minimum wages increase the probability that teenagers leave school
to become employed or work more hours,and increase the probability that they
leave school and become non-enrolled and non-employed. Minimum wages also
increase the probability that lower-wage employed teenagers become non-enrolled
and non-employed."

Increasing the minimum wage is thus problematic because it makes the choice of work over school marginally more attractive. From Minimum Behavior

Don't Spring Clean

Have to love science if you look hard enough you can find evidence to support watching TV on a rainy day. The perfect ticket to avoid spring cleaning "The hygiene hypothesis".

While raising barricades against deadly scourges, however, the industrialized world has also shielded people from the microbes and parasites that do no harm. Does it matter?

A growing number of scientists now suspect that stamping out these innocuous organisms is weakening some parts of children's immune systems, allowing other parts to grow unchecked.

Such an imbalance, they theorize, triggers a host of illnesses, including asthma, allergies, and even such autoimmune diseases as rheumatoid arthritis and the most severe type of diabetes.
Recent epidemiological research has further hinted that the cleanest environments may be the best breeding grounds for allergies and asthma. In the January Journal of Clinical and

Experimental Allergy, Swiss researchers reported that hay fever was less common for farm children than for urban children or for rural children who didn't live on farms. Several years ago, scientists found that children in large families—particularly the younger siblings of brothers—had fewer allergies than children in small families did. Researchers speculated that exposure to the germs brought home by older siblings protected the younger children from allergies.
....
Despite parasitic worms bad reputation, the researchers contend that they are important members of the intestinal community. Throughout evolution, they say, the human immune system has grown to depend on helminths to suppress overly aggressive Th1 responses to bacteria, viruses, and dietary proteins. Because modern sanitation has largely eliminated intestinal parasites, the immune system sometimes begins to attack the lining of the gut.

patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease by giving them a drink spiked with eggs from a harmless whipworm. Of six patients studied so far, all showed substantial improvement in their symptoms... Science

Here is the dirty little secret we all are going to die from something. If you cure one disease you only cause deaths by something else to increase. Cancer and heart diesease increase because we don't die from Beubonic Plague, Smallpox, Cholera....

They Won't Go Away

Middle-income parents earning less than $72,600 a year can expect to spend
$190,980 on a child through age 17, according to 2005 government statistics. But
Dr. Schoeni said that parents can plan on paying almost 25 percent of that
amount again over the next 17 years, or $42,280 in 2005 dollars. This sum
includes higher education but also much more.

Parents pay $2,323 a year to help support children 25 and 26 years old,
said Dr. Schoeni, and $1,556 annually for offspring 33 and 34. (All amounts are
in 2001 dollars and reflect support to children living both independently and at
home.) NY Times On The Bank of Mom and Dad

They act like it is something new but historically this has been the norm, especially in agrarian societies. Wasn't until after WWII that economics and transportation allowed young adults to be truly independent. There may not have been the money changing hands, since nobody had any, but other aid was supplied. One problem today is that some want to start out in the upper middle class that they enjoyed as kids. Instant gratification is now expected.

It is showtime. Bullets over Broadway presents HARVEY starting tonight.

Friday April 21 8pm
Saturday April 22 8pm
Sunday April 23 2pm
Tickets $5.00 available at the door

If you've only got room in your life for ONE giant invisible white rabbit, I skip the TV version of "Harvey" and don't rent the movie instead come over to the High School this weeked.


Trivia: Both James Stewart and Jesse White played the same roles in the original Broadway production, the 1970 Broadway revival, and the 1950 film version as well as this television production. White created the role of Duane Wilson in the Broadway premiere, while Stewart took over for Frank Fay as Elwood P. Dowd later in the run of the play.

Bullets remain perfect

Todays Eagle: "For a team that's unaccustomed to playing the favorite, the Brandywine Heights boys volleyball team is proving to be a quick study.

The Bullets, who have been to the county playoffs just two times and have never won a division title, remained perfect in their drive for the Berks II championship by sweeping Antietam 3-0 Thursday night at Stony Creek.

In addition to keeping their record pristine at 9-0, the victory gave the Bullets even more confidence that they can indeed live up to their preseason billing."

Macho Bargaining

In the ultimate game two people are seperated. Player A is given a sum of money that is to be split with Player B. Player B knows the total and gives an amount he will accept. If Player A gives a higher amount the deal goes through, if less both walk away empty handed. In industrial societies the mean offering is 44%. There is a large difference however between different societies depending if they depend on sharing among their group.

Here is the big surprise, the more macho a man is the more the sight of an attractive woman will affect his judgement.

High-testosterone men fight hardest for a large cut, the researchers found.
But the most testosterone-driven men were also the most likely to slacken their
cash demands after viewing sexy women. Perhaps they relaxed and began to care
less about money. Or perhaps, the researchers suggest, with a 'mate' to impress
the men were driven to have some wealth, however modest. The sight of a
potential mate might therefore actually make men more sensible, Van den Bergh
says. "Since a few coins is better than no coins at all, men thus become more
economically rational after exposure to lingerie or sexy women," he says Article

So if you have a teenage son and are tired of arguing with a brick wall...

Shopping For The Geek In Your Life

Don't just rely on Amazon and E-Bay, take a gander at some of the coolest online stores: Wired News: The 10 Wackiest E-Commerce Sites Not like anyone can afford to drive to a mall anymore.

What Really Happened To Cavemen

Seems Fred Flintstone and Barney had a monkey on their back

As Paul Harvey says now you know the rest of the story.

Happy Birthday To Joan Miró

A better thing to remember for this date. If you Google today they have a commemorative link.

Joan Miró (April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramist born in Barcelona (Spain). His work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a fascination with the subconscious mind, an interest in recreating the child-like, and Catalan and Spanish pride.

More On Latin

Looking at the higher standardized test scores of students taking Latin, you might be inclined to thing that is because the "smarter kids" take Latin so the scores would be higher irregardless of language. Not exactly the case From Time.

In the 1970s and '80s, the U.S. government funded Latin classes in
underperforming urban school districts. The results were dramatic. Children who
were given a full year of Latin performed five months to a year ahead of control
groups in reading comprehension and vocabulary. The Latin students also showed
outsize gains in math, history and geography. But Congress cut the funding, and
nearly all the districts discontinued Latin.

One of the criticism of standarized testing is that it dumbs down the lessons and "teach to the test". It has also forced schools to improve their curriculum to challenge students.

Here lies one of the more counterintuitive developments of the
standardized-testing movement: Though some critics complain that teachers are
forced to dumb down their lessons and "teach to the test," some schools are
offering more challenging course work as a way of engaging students. In the past
three years, scores of elementary schools in high-stakes testing states such as
Texas, Virginia and Massachusetts have added Latin programs. Says Allen
Griffith, a member of the Fairfax City school board: "If we're trying to improve
English skills, teaching Latin is an awfully effective, proved method."

Latin enthusiasts believe that if young students learn word roots, they will be able to decipher unfamiliar words. (By some estimates, 65% of all English words have Latin roots.) Latin is an almost purely phonetic language. There are no silent letters, and each letter represents a single sound. That makes it useful in teaching reading. And once kids master the grammatical structure of Latin — which is simple, logical and consistent — they will more easily grasp the many grammatical exceptions in English.

Another criticim has been that it is boring and repetative

This is not your father's Latin, which was taught to élite college-bound
high schoolers and drilled into them through memorization. Its tedium and
perceived irrelevance almost drove Latin from public schools. Today's growth in
elementary school Latin has been spurred by new, interactive oral curriculums,
enlivened by lessons in Roman mythology and culture. "One thing that makes it
engaging for kids is the goofy fun of investigating these guys in togas," says
Marion Polsky, author of First Latin: A Language Discovery Program, the textbook
used in Fairfax City.

Now the latest is that "Brandywine likes to make mistakes and this will probably be one of them." Well maybe it will be but the definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If improved results are expected then new ideas will have to be tried.

Or Just Say You Are From Canada

The reputation of the "Ugly American" abroad is not, however, just some cruel stereotype, but - according to the American government itself - worryingly accurate. Now, the State Department in Washington has joined forces with American industry to plan an image make-over by issuing guides for Americans travelling overseas on how to behave.

Under a programme starting next month, several leading US companies will give employees heading abroad a "World Citizens Guide" featuring 16 etiquette tips on how they can help improve America's battered international image.

Business for Diplomatic Action, which was formed in 2004, has already distributed 200,000 -passport-sized guides tailored to college students going abroad.

The group's next target is to raise funding for a colourful pictorial World Citizen's Guide For Kids for children on school or youth group trips. However, a spokesman for the National Tourism Agency for Britain said last night: "Americans have a certain reputation which, for the majority, is undeserved. These guidelines sound like good common sense but they're not something the majority of our American visitors need. As tourists, they're out to enjoy themselves and have a good time. We continue to welcome them." More

Where Are They

Keep track of your teen or at least their cell phone with Family Finder from WaveMarket. How much longer will it be till they have chips inplanted at birth?

Love the quote "It is not about tracking it is about monitoring". Strange how some words sound better then others but still have the same basic meaning.

Wavemarket: "Family Finder gives mobile subscribers accurate information regarding the location of family members via the web or mobile phone, and efficiently alerts them if children or elderly loved ones leave a pre-specified "safe-region." Family Finder's easy-to-use interactive maps can be accessed from both a desktop and mobile devices. "

Latin Quote For The Day

One that every teacher and parent of teenagers should know:

Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem -
In the good old days, children like you were left to perish on windswept crags

Title IX From Equal Opportunity to an Equal Outcomes

Title IX is best known for its effects on collegiate athletics. In making equal opportunity for women in sports the gender quotas have destroyed men's sports like wrestling. In the 1990's for every woman who gained an opportunity 3.4 men lost their chance.

A change that would allow schools to survey the students interest in determining which sports to offer instead of quotas has even come under attack because "culturally, men are simply more likely than women to profess an interest in sport." Women, on the other hand, "are less likely to profess an interest in sports, even if they are interested!"

It is more then just sports Title IX has made even elementary schools " responsible for harassment of students by other students--a sweeping expansion of liability for schools, which now have to worry about 'inappropriate sexual behavior' between six year olds."

Now that it has been accepted in sports the push is on to further the equal outcome logic in the hard sciences--particularly engineering, physics, and computer science. Using the logic if the numbers are not equal then the schools must be at fault. Schools that don't have the correct ratio will face loss of federal research funding. More

Nominated For Next Year's Spelling Bee

Hawaii thought they had a state fish the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa but they only had had one. One trouble with using this in the spelling bee who could we find to pronounce it.

USATODAY.com - Lawmaker seeks official status for humuhumunukunukuapuaa: "Rep. Blake Oshiro had long lived under the delusion that many Hawaii residents share: that the sprightly colored fish with the excessively long name is Hawaii's state fish.

But then a conversation with Joel Itomura, the fish-loving 6-year-old son of a friend and constituent, shook his world and maybe the world of souvenir shops that feature reproductions of the stubby nosed, brightly stripped and slightly aggressive little fish whose name few tourists even try to utter.

Taken aback by the revelation that the state fish designation isn't official, Oshiro checked the facts. He discovered that the 6-year-old was right."

The English Major Will Rule Them All

In case you haven't notice the world is changing, no longer will an engineering degree be your path to a life of riches, fun and excitment. A world where a degree in English Literature doesn't mean a life of burger flipping. Just a word of advice for seniors. If a guidance counselor advises you to major in something, do the exact opposite, remember two words supply And demand. Not that they are not giving you good advice on what looks promising but every counselor in the country is telling their students the exact same thing. As a result of their good intentions and the available information, in 4 years there will be a glut of people in what ever field looks to be hot now.

From Richard Lanham's excellent The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information.

In an economy of stuff, the laws of property govern who owns stuff. In an attention economy, it is the laws of intellectual property that govern who gets attention. The center of gravity for formal inquiry changes places too. In an economy of stuff, the disciplines that govern extracting material from the earth's crust and making stuff out of it naturally stand at the center: the physical sciences, engineering, and economics as usuallly written.

The arts and letters, however, vital we all agree them to be, are peripheral. But in an attention economy, the two change places. The arts and letters now stand at the center. They are the disciplines that study how attention is allocated, how cultural capital is created and traded. When your children come home and tell us that they have decided to major in English or art history, no longer need we tremble for their economic future.

Question No. 35

Thousands of people have been denied federal and state aid for college because they were convicted of possessing or selling drugs.

The process works like this: Students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Question No. 35 asks: "Have you ever been convicted of selling or possessing drugs?" Applications with a blank or "yes" are flagged.

Applicants then are sent a letter that explains that they might not receive aid and asks follow-up questions. Those with one drug offense are ineligible for one year for government grants or federally backed loans; a second conviction bars applicants for two years. However, they can regain eligibility upon completion of an approved drug-rehabilitation program.

There is no question for any other crime. If you rob someone's home at gun point you can still obtain a scholarship, unless you committed the crime with a joint in your pocket. The law hurts only students from low- and middle-income families – the very same people federal financial aid programs are intended to assist. Students from wealthier families can afford to pay for tuition without public assistance and can frequently afford the cost of a lawyer to avoid a drug conviction in the first place.

Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana Republican and author of the 1998 provision, said he never intended to include prior offenses as a basis for denying aid. He blames the Education Department for "misinterpreting" the law. He is proposing that, when the law is reauthorized, only those students with convictions incurred while they are in college and receiving aid be affected

A New Festival In Town

Bear Creek Mountain Resort will be hosting our inaugural Brew Fest on Sunday, June 11 from 1-5pm. In addition to local microbrews providing sample of their beer, there will also be live entertainment and plenty of food.

Stay tuned for additional information, including a list of breweries.

Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door. They may be purchased online here or at The Inn at Bear Creek. Each attendee will receive a commemorative tasting glass. Guests must be 21 years of age and valid ID is required for entry. Designated driver tickets are also available at the cost of $5 each. Designated drivers do not receive a commemorative tasting glass.

Since Someone Asked

Why Latin

One of the most PRACTICAL benefits of studying Latin for high-schoolers is boosting verbal skills and scores on tests like the SAT; students with two or more years of Latin typically score 140-160 points higher on the SAT than their Latin-less peers. Numerous studies have demonstrated a significant positive correlation between studying Latin and improved scores on a variety of tests and even with college GPA and performance in college English classes.

But isn't Latin a dead language?

Although it is true that hardly anyone still speaks Classical Latin today, it is also true that virtually no one speaks Old English today. Yet both Latin and English are alive and prospering: spoken Latin became modern Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and several other languages; and Old English became modern English, with its varied dialects.

Actually, Latin is not so "foreign" a language as modern languages are, since over sixty per cent of our English vocabulary words are derived from Latin words over two thousand years old. Also, some ancient Roman laws, institutions, and customs have survived to our days: for example, we still use the calendar devised by Julius Caesar. Other ancient Roman traditions, myths, and aspects of daily life are interesting by contrast with those of today.

What do students get out of studying Latin?

1. Larger English vocabularies
2. Higher verbal SAT scores.
3. Higher English ACH scores.
4. Acceptance into good colleges and universities.
5. Sensitivity to language.
6. Sensitivity to people and cultures.
7. A sense of history.
8. Some students also report interest in things they had not previously considered until they studied Latin.

Why Latin in Middle School?
Why do we require Latin as a core academic course in the Middle School? This is a natural question as the Lower School enrichment program features Spanish.

St. Margaret's Middle School has emphasized Latin as the mandatory foreign language experience for at least twelve years, actually predating the Spanish enrichment program in Lower School. We deliberated long and hard about requiring Latin, and our on-going evaluation of the Middle School program in its entirety confirms our commitment to Latin. Some of the reasons for our firm position include vocabulary development, improved reading skills, increased grammatical competence, a full understanding of Western European traditions, character education, and preparation for modern Romance languages.
David BoyleAssistant Headmaster, Middle School PrincipalSan Juan Capistrano, CA

From NCLG along with many links and other Factoids.

Another Tax Plan

Greg Mankiw's Blog: Should Taxes Depend on Age?: "As everyone finishes up their tax returns, here is a thought that college students should appreciate: Maybe they should face lower tax rates than those of us in middle age.

Current law uses many factors beyond income to set a person's tax liability--marital status, number of children, mortgage size, charitable giving, and so on. Age is one variable conspicuously omitted. Yet in a wonderful but still unpublished paper titled 'Should Taxes Be Independent of Age?' my Harvard colleague Michael Kremer suggests that younger workers should face lower income tax rates than older workers.

To understand Kremer's argument, start with a simple premise: An income tax discourages people from working and thus prevents the economy from reaching its full potential. Tax cuts reduce this disincentive, encourage people to work harder, and expand the economic pie.

Yet tax cuts do not affect everyone the same. "

The Clock Is Ticking

HALF of all women make their minds up within 30 seconds of meeting a man about whether he is potential boyfriend material, according to a study on speed-dating.

The women were on average far quicker at making a decision than the men during some 500 speed dates at an event organised as part of Edinburgh Science Festival.

Failed Casanovas were those who offered up hackneyed comments like "Do you come here often?", or clumsy attempts to impress, such as "I have a PhD in computing".

About a third of the speed dates were actually over within the first 30 seconds, but there was a marked difference between the sexes with 45 per cent of women coming to a decision within 30 seconds, compared with only 22 per cent of men.

Professor Richard Wiseman, of Hertfordshire University, said: "Men are often accused of being shallow and judging women very quickly."

'However, this evidence suggests that women may make up their minds much quicker than men. It suggests men have only a few seconds to impress a woman, thus emphasising the importance of their opening comments.'

Failed Casanovas were those who offered up hackneyed comments like "Do you come here often?", or clumsy attempts to impress, such as "I have a PhD in computing".

Conversation topics were also assessed. Only 9 per cent of pairs who talked about films agreed to meet again, compared with 18 per cent who spoke about the subject found to be the most suitable for dating: travel. More

Happy Easter To Everyone

Student Drinking

There’s a new approach to reducing student drinking that’s based on the finding that most students think all their mates drink loads more than they do, which encourages
them to drink more themselves.‘Social norms’ campaigns aim to reduce student drinking by spreading the word that, actually, the majority of students don’t drink that much. With the jury still out on how effective these campaigns are, Kelly Broadwater and colleagues wanted to investigate the premise behind the approach – the idea that students want to drink more when they believe their peers drink more than they do. More

This has implications on most things teens do that parents don't think they should be doing. Trouble is who is a teenager most likely to trust their friend or some researcher armed only with facts.

Need A New Personality

" The personality of people who are bilingual changes depending on which language they use, lending credence to the Czech proverb 'Learn a new language and get a new soul?.' " More

If you learn French does that mean you will become a total pain to everyone around you.

Hippies Will Be The Death Of Us All

"The evidence is now clear: Free-range chickens and ducks are a major, direct threat to humans worldwide.

Free-range chicken enthusiasts claim -- loudly and without evidence -- that 'factory chicken farms' produced the new bird flu virus. In Thailand, however, officials found that none of its modern, indoor chicken flocks had bird flu. In dramatic contrast, 56 percent of the backyard chickens and 47 percent of the backyard and free-range ducks had the disease.

The solution to the bird flu danger? We must put our poultry flocks indoors, where the birds are more comfortable, commit less cannibalism, and have less interaction with people and wild birds.

Free-range birds have also been found to carry more illness-causing bacteria, such as campylobacter and salmonella. Spread to our kitchen counters, these bacteria are themselves potentially deadly to our kids.

Oddly, many of the advocates who demand that their chicken be raised outdoors spend the vast majority of their own hours inside air-conditioned homes, offices, schools, and cars. "

Free range chickens and ducks dangerous to humanity:

Sports For Real Men

I bet the US teams at least felt good about themselves. We may not know math or science but at least we excel in self esteem.

My Way News - Russian Students Win Programming Contest: "SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A team of three students from Russia proved their brainy prowess Wednesday, winning an academic competition in which they had just five hours to solve perplexing computing puzzles such as how to connect gears of a clock when given a specific shaft speed."
....
Competitors huddled around glowing computer screens, chatted with teammates and shuffled stacks of paper as they worked against the looming deadline. With minutes to go, many stood up from their tables with a mixed expression of satisfied exhaustion.
Adding to the hushed tension: As each team solved a problem, a colored balloon rose above their table to let rivals and spectators know where they stood.
For many, it was like a sporting event - just with lines of computer code instead of balls and nets.
"It's an intellectual competition, and any competition is a sport," said Andrew Lopatin, 25, a two-time past winner from St. Petersburg State University in Russia and now a coach for that school's team.
There were three runner-up gold medal winners each winning $3,000: the University of Twente in the Netherlands, Altai State Technical University in Russia and Jagiellonian University of Krakow, Poland.
Three schools shared in $2,100 and a silver medal: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, St. Petersburg State University in Russia and China's Shanghai Jai Tong University.
Bronze medals and $1,050 in prize money went to Ufa State Technical University of Aviation and Moscow State University, both in Russia, as well as two Canadian schools: the University of Waterloo in Ontario and the University of Alberta.

More Bad Science

Big surprise government, agencies and reporters once again team up to try and scare the bejesus out of the public. The government gets to increase the nanny state, non-profits increase their funding and legitmacy and the media increases their circulation, only the public and the economy loses.

TCS Daily - Fat Kids: Fact, Fiction and Fear: "According to a survey in the report, there was an uptick in obesity among boys from 4.2% to 5.2% in the decade, but those classed as overweight declined from 19.3% to 19.1% and those who were under or normal weight remained relatively stable at 75.7% in 2000 versus 76.3% in 1990. Among girls, meanwhile, the percentage of girls who were overweight increased from 10.8% to 11.1%, while the percentage of obesity declined slightly, from 3.4% to 3.3%, and again the level of under and normal weight was stable, at 85.6% in 2000 versus 85.8% in 1990.
Where's the epidemic? In the three countries most often cited as the center of the pediatric obesity epidemic, the evidence, based on children's BMIs does not support the claims of a staggering increase in fat children, despite the rhetoric by health officials."
The decision to call children who are at or above the 95th percentile overweight and obese is purely arbitrary. There is no scientific reason obesity begins here or indeed at any other point There is nothing magical about the 95th percentile as if children's weights follow a normal distribution -- that is, a bell shaped curve in which a few children weigh more or less than average. More important is the fact that even with the arbitrary BMI determination of overweight and obesity, between 85 to 90% of American children are NOT overweight or obese. Indeed, the studies of childhood obesity consistently show that children of normal weight have not experienced statistically significant BMI gains. If there has been an increase in BMI -- and that is a big "if" -- it has been confined to a small segment of obese children.

Thirdly, considerable evidence indicates the BMI does not provide a true picture of whether children are genuinely fat. For instance, E.P. Whitlock et al. in a study from last year in Pediatrics noted that BMI was an unreliable obesity/overweight indicator since "BMI measures cannot differentiate between increased weight for height attributable to relatively greater fat-free mass (muscle, bone and fluids) and that attributable to greater fat." In short, BMI as a tool for determining adiposity is essentially useless.

Frankonomics

Economics, French-style - Europe - International Herald Tribune: "PARIS Danielle Scache tries to avoid using the term 'capitalism' in her economics class because it has negative connotations in France.

Instead, she teaches her high school students about the market economy, a slightly less controversial term she started using last year after a two-month internship at the dairy giant Danone. That was an experience that did away with more than one of her own prejudices, she said.

'I was surprised to see that people actually enjoyed working in a company,' said Scache, who is 59. 'Some of them were more enthusiastic than many teachers I know.'

'You know,' she confided with a laugh, 'in France we often think of companies, especially multinationals, as a place of constant conflict between employees and management.'

This view of bosses and workers as engaged in an endless, antagonistic tug-of-war goes some way toward explaining the two-month rebellion against a new labor law.

In this world, beyond the political fault lines of left and right, companies and the market cannot be trusted. Any measure that benefits them necessarily hurts employees. The invisible hand in this world is the state, or the 'public powers' to use the French term, whose role is to tame companies, protect workers and hold sway over economic growth with public spending.

It is a world that many people here still prefer to live in. In a 22-country survey published in January, France was the only nation disagreeing with the premise that the best system is 'the free-market economy.' In the poll, conducted by the University of Maryland, only 36 percent of French respondents agreed, compared with 65 percent in Germany, 66 percent in Britain, 71 percent in the United States and 74 percent in China.
"

I know nothing as an educational philosophy

EducationNews.Org- America's leading Education News Source Online: "In the United States in the 1850s, there was an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic political party called the American Party, known also by the name "Know Nothings," because members, when asked about their affiliation, were pledged to respond: "I know nothing.".

While the party has died out in that form, its second name "Know Nothings" seems to have been revived as an educational philosophy. When educators are confronted with their students' ignorance, of history or geography for example, the response is often, "they can always look it up." What this educational philosophy, which Heather Mac Donald has labeled "Anything But Knowledge" permits, in the place of study, research, memorization and the acquisition of academic knowledge, is lots of time for students to think, talk and write about how they feel about their feelings about the feelings they have, often about themselves. "
...
However, as so many thoughtful people have pointed out, it is hard to think about something, critically or not, if you don't know anything about it. And for that matter, it is hard to look something up if you don't really know what you are looking for, or whether you have actually found it or not.

Immigration Reform

With all the immigration protest interesting to see how other countries handle theirs. Just choosing a country at random lets go with Mexico.

In brief, the Mexican Constitution states that:
--Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
--Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
--Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
--Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.
--Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.
--Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
--Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities.
--Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.

Authorities should just throw a net over all the protesters and bus them to Mexico. Some are American citizens but let Mexican officials straighten out any mix-up. Why are American unions backing so many of these protest? During the NAFTA and Central American Trade debates they were all against cheap foreign labor. Seems to be ok with them if they are the ones exploiting.

Punctuation Test

This can be made into a proper sentence with a few of those dooies like commas and quotes. If you do it right you will see why Jane received a higher grade then John on their paper.

Jane while John had had had had had had had had had had had the teachers approval

Answer is in The topic section under the heading "Punctuation Test Answer"

Biggest Waste of Band Width

Ok there have been some discussions in the topic section that were not exactly world class debates but this one takes the cake. In the extremely well-to-do section of Brooklyn, Park Slope the residents have a group e-mail list called Park Slope Parents, one parent found a child hat and tried to find the rightful owner. Trouble is she referred to the blue hat as a "boy's hat". Days later the PC and the anti-PC crowd were still going at it.

Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 12:25:27 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Found: boy’s hat
Hi: Friday, at the corner of 11th street and 8th ave, adorable navy blue or
maybe black fleece hat with triangles jutting out ofit of all different colors.
Sorry did not post right away. For older child. -Helene

Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:34:48 -0500
Subject: RE: Found: boy’s hat
Helene,
I’m sorry, I know that you are just trying to be helpful, but what makes
this a “boy’s hat”? Did you see the boy himself loose it? Or does the hat in
question possess an unmistakable scent of testosterone? It’s innocent little
comments like this that I find the most hurtful… What does this comment imply
about the girl who chooses to wear just such a hat (or something like it)? Is
she doing something wrong? Is there something wrong with her? Lisa

The remaining thread can be found at Gawker

You should read some of the other responses for a good chuckle on what other people find to be upset about. These people need sewage problems. They can't even spell better, using "loose" instead of "lose".

Latest Political Results

Over at Tradesports the only real site for polling data because people put down their money to back up their opinions. Doesn't look too good for Santorium and the GOP retaining the Senate seat. The governor has taken a slight uptake in his lead with a bid price of 63.5 and an offer of 74.0.



Republicans Keep The Senate Seat


Democrats Keep The Governership

A Book For The Rest Of Us

Today’s Goat, the West Point cadet finishing at the bottom of his class, is a temporary celebrity among his classmates. But in the 19th century, he was something of a cult figure. Custer’s contemporaries at the Academy believed that the same spirit of adventure that led him to carouse at local taverns motivated his dramatic cavalry attacks in the Civil War and afterwards. And the same willingness to accept punishment from Academy authorities also sent George Pickett into the teeth of the Union guns at Gettsyburg. The story James S. Robbins tells goes from the beginnings of West Point through the carnage of the Civil War to the grassy bluffs over the Little Big Horn. The Goats he profiles tell us much about the soul of the American solider, his daring, imagination and desire to prove himself against high odds.

Freedom Of Religion and The Free Market

From Voltaire a Frenchie that actually makes sense.

Take a view of the Royal Exchange in London, a place more venerable than
many courts of justice, where the representatives of all nations meet for the
benefit of mankind. There the Jew, the Mahometan, and the Christian transact
together, as though they all professed the same religion, and give the name of
infidel to none but bankrupts. There the Presbyterian confides in the
Anabaptist, and the Churchman depends on the Quaker’s word. At the breaking up
of this pacific and free assembly, some withdraw to the synagogue, and others to
take a glass. This man goes and is baptized in a great tub, in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: that man has his son’s foreskin cut off, whilst a
set of Hebrew words (quite unintelligible to him) are mumbled over his child.
Others retire to their churches, and there wait for the inspiration of heaven
with their hats on, and all are satisfied.

If one religion only were allowed in England, the Government would very
possibly become arbitrary; if there were but two, the people would cut one
another’s throats; but as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in
peace.

Vietnam The Stats

Since time usually runs out in school before reaching the War in Vietnam (Time of service 15 March 1962 - 28 March 1973) here are some interesting statistics that are counter to a lot of the prevailing wisdom.

The force wasn't just draftees.
* 25% of the total forces in country were draftees 648,500 as opposed to 66% of the ones in WWII.
* Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
* Last man drafted: June 30, 1973 (That would really suck)

Blacks serving were not out of proportion to the population
* 88.4% of the men who actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian, 10.6% (275,000) were black; 1% listed as others.
* 86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (includes Hispanics); 12.5% (7,241) were black; 1.2% belonged to other races.
* Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam at a time when the percentage of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the total population

Draftees were poor and uneducated
* Three-fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds.
* Some 23% of Vietnam vets had fathers with professional, managerial or technical occupations.
* 79% of the men who served in Vietnam had a high school education or better when they entered the military service. (63% of Korean War vets and only 45% of WWII vets had completed high school upon separation).

Casulties
* Hostile deaths: 47,359.
* Non-hostile deaths: 10,797.
* Total: 58,202 (includes men formerly classified as MIA and Mayaguez casualties). Men who have subsequently died of wounds account for the changing total.
* Severely disabled: 75,000--23,214 100% disabled; 5,283 lost limbs; 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300% higher than in WWII and 70% higher than in Korea. Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4% compared to 5.7% in WWII

Why the Army Serves Grits
* Deaths by region per 100,000 of population: South-31, West-29.9; Midwest-28.4; Northeast-23.5
* Highest state death rate: West Virginia - 84.1 men per 100,000 males serving in Vietnam (national average 58.9 men for every 100,000 males serving in Vietnam. {Averaged in 1970}).

WINNING & LOSING
* 82% of veterans who saw heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of lack of political will
* Nearly 75% of the public agrees it was a failure of political will, not of arms.

HONORABLE SERVICE
* 97% of Vietnam-era veterans were honorably discharged.
* 91% of actual Vietnam War veterans and 90% of those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country.
* 66% of Vietnam vets say they would serve again if called upon.
* 87% of the public now holds Vietnam veterans in high esteem

And People Are Worried about Driving to Bethlehem For A prom.
* 61% of the men killed were 21 or younger

Don't Look Behind The Curtain

Instead of focusing on tax shifting the funding of schools, handing out laptops and imposing more food regulations on schools, the Governor and the legislature should be working on ways to improve the business climate in the commonwealth. Focusing on improving education sounds better because they are doing it “for the children” Guess local parents, educators and community leaders don’t care as much as they do. With a growing economy school funding would take care of itself.

How bad is the business climate in Pennsylvania.?

“The numbers telling the most accurate story are those revealing Pennsylvania's abysmal rankings among the 50 states in employment growth (38th),population growth (43rd), and personal income growth (43rd) during the first three years of the Rendell Administration. At the end of the day, Gov. Rendell's rhetoric about Pennsylvania's business climate fails to match the reality most employers are facing in our Commonwealth. And no amount of press releases can paper over a record of business tax increases and missed opportunities.”(http://www.patownhall.com/article/1316)

Now the Governor , who hands never touches a keyboard, wants to hand out laptops to every high school student in the state. The initial cost of the laptops may be financed at a state level but local citizens are going to have to pay for an increased staff to keep them running. Who knows who will pay for replacements once the initial enthusiasm is over. The governor and the legislature will have the credit of furnishing them but school boards will get the blame for raising taxes to pay for more staff and other cost of ownership while teachers will be the scapegoats when test results don’t skyrocket. Just more smoke and mirrors to cover up their failures on what should be their top priority.

One of the great benefits of having 501 “independent” school districts is the chance to experiment and try new ideas before being imposed on every child in the state. So far the effectiveness of having laptops is mixed. There is a gulf between the have and have-nots when it comes to computers but does anyone else think it is odd that the school gym is open after hours and the library with books and computers with a big pipe internet is close? Until the bloated textbooks are replaced by workbooks and CD/DVDs and everyone has access to the internet at home they usefulness will be limited.

Today Is Big Dog Visiting Day At Dog Island

There are 3 days of the year that visits are allowed. This is a beautiful and magical day for the people who have given their dogs a better chance at a new life.

Over 2,500 dogs are already enjoying a better life at Dog Island. Separated from the anxieties of urban life, dogs on Dog Island are healthy dogs who live a natural, healthy and happy life, free from the stress and hardship associated with daily live among humans.

Dog Island Free Forever

On the Topic Of Prom

best of craigslist : TAKE MY SON TO HIS PROM

Date: 2006-04-01, 1:35PM ESTI won't go into the whole story, but my son got dumped by the girl he was going to take to his prom. The prom is in a few weeks and I want him to have a date. So here is the deal. Go with my son as his date. No expectations on his or my part other than going to the prom with him. He is tall, fairly good looking, but somewhat unexperienced with girls. He is not a geek as he played on 2 varsity high school sport teams for the past 3 years. What's in it for you. $500 cash for your time and I will pick up the cost of your dress, hair styling, etc. up to another $300. You will be picked up in a limo. Requirements are that you are cute and could pass for 17-19. Thanks.
this is in or around Bucks County
no -- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
Compensation: $500 plus (see ad)

Competition Is A Wonderful Thing

Strange seeing an article in the NY times slanted towards the right.

Program on Vouchers Draws Minority Support - New York Times

"I'll probably go to Washington Latin," said Jhontelle Johnson, setting her sights on a new charter school opening in August. If not, she said, "I'd probably be home-schooled."

A teacher's aide, Sheonna Griffin, looked askance. "You don't like public schools?" she asked the child.
Jhontelle turned back, her young eyes flashing. "You can't make me go," she said.

Without school vouchers unfortuntely many will be forced to attend the most expensive and the most dysfunctional public school systems in the country. These children future is being sacrificed so some politicans can keep their liberal ticket punched and their union base secure. Some like the mayor of Washington D.C. would rather do what is right and what will work then to continue throwing money at a failed system. Without the threat of vouchers, spending even more money is like P.J. O'Rouke said " giving whickey and car keys to a teenage boy." This is probably the only issue that has the mayor and conservative Republican in agreement.

Improve Your Child's Eye Sight

One of the main causes of not developing reading skills is poor eye sight. Glasses while they improve sight are easily broken and can have negative social consequences. Lasik eye surgery can cure many of these problems with a laser reshaping the eye but it is expensived $10,000 or more. Now for you Do It Yourselfers there is Lasik At Home. A scientific break thru that allows anyone to perform Lasik surgery for only $99.95. If that is not reasonable enough by following the above link you will be elgible for a 10% discount.

The Complete LASIK@Home Kit (patent pending) includes everything you need to complete the procedure.
Scal-Pal™ Hand-Operated Combination Femtosecond/Excimer Laser
Mild sedative (diazepam 4mg)
No-Blink™ brand Eye Drops
Detailed Instructions and QuickStart Guide
Protective Post-Op Sleep Mask

Don't delay order today and your child can be sitting in the back of the room within a week.