And Some Think In and Out of Their Own Geometric Shape

Short interview with Vernon Smith, while maybe not as smart as the entrepreneur, auto mechanic, Baptist minister, linked yesterday, did manage to win a Noble Prize in Economics. Dr. Smith and his wife along with some ninny psychologist discuss living with Asperger Syndrome.

Thinking Inside The Box

The Eagle is reporting that Gov. Mifflin is the latest in doing away with the Open Classroom setup, a popular in the 1970's. Another hippie idea gone sour when faced with reality.

The Switch Goes Hi-Tech

Since we seem to be having an old fashion tent revival in the topic section, an interesting device to gain the attention of your child. No more having the child go look for a switch while your anger cools or risk harming your hand or risk breaking a brush now there is "THE ROD". ''The Rod," a $5 flexible whipping stick, was described as the ''ideal tool for child training." Created by a real renaissance man Clyde Bullock of Eufaula, Okla. who is not only an auto mechanic but also a Southern Baptist minister. It even comes with a nice foam handle so parents of multiple children can keep it up without blistering their hand. Perfect for the home or the car for $5.00 buy more then one. Don't worry about wailing away if you break it in the first year it is fully guaranteed for a year.

Spoons are for cooking, belts are for holding up pants, hands are for loving, and rods are for chastening," reads the advertisement for the 22-inch nylon rod. It also cited a biblical passage, which instructs parents not to spare the ''rod of correction."

Bullock, said he stands by the virtue of The Rod, which, he said, is safer than a belt or paddle. He said he believes his product is in keeping with biblical teachings that rods be used only as a ''last resort" to train children. He opposes its use on babies. He said he sold the device at a rate of ''a few a week" over the last six years or so. Many of his customers returned for more rods, and cited the Scriptures when they made their purchases, he said. ''I'm one of these simple people," Bullock said. ''The Bible is what it is -- I'm not trying to change it. God is right. We have to have faith in that."

Well if you want to get all Biblical, the rod is usually in association with the shepherd. The shepherd didn't use the rod to give the sheep an a$$ beating it was used to gently guide them and if necessary beat the enemies of the sheep. It is a symbol of strength and power used for both comfort and protection not for installing fear.

Its The Government Fault I Can't See My Toes

The reason the least healthful calories in the supermarket are the cheapest is that those are the ones the farm bill encourages farmers to grow. - Michael Pollan in the New York Times.

A look at how an unintended consequence of welfare to Big Farms is an expanding America.

For the answer, you need look no farther than the farm bill. This resolutely unglamorous and head-hurtingly complicated piece of legislation, which comes around roughly every five years and is about to do so again, sets the rules for the American food system — indeed, to a considerable extent, for the world’s food system. Among other things, it determines which crops will be subsidized and which will not, and in the case of the carrot and the Twinkie, the farm bill as currently written offers a lot more support to the cake than to the root. Like most processed foods, the Twinkie is basically a clever arrangement of carbohydrates and fats teased out of corn, soybeans and wheat — three of the five commodity crops that the farm bill supports, to the tune of some $25 billion a year. (Rice and cotton are the others.) For the last several decades — indeed, for about as long as the American waistline has been ballooning — U.S. agricultural policy has been designed in such a way as to promote the overproduction of these five commodities, especially corn and soy.

Project Lead The Way

While the focus of the article is on Twin Valley, Brandywine is mentioned as one of the four schools in Berks county(Wilson, Reading, Twin Valley and Brandywine) that offer the national technology curriculum called Project Lead the Way, a program developed in 1997 to combat high dropout rates and increase the number of females in college engineering.

PLTW 's curricula make math and science relevant for students. By engaging in hands-on, real-world projects, students understand how the skills they are learning in the classroom can be applied in everyday life. This approach is called activities-based learning, project-based learning, and problem-based learning . Research shows that schools practicing APPB-learning experience an increase in student motivation, cooperative learning skills, higher-order thinking, and student achievement.

Contronyms

A list of of words that are their own antonyms.

Examples:
• bolt - secure, run away
• by - multiplication (e.g., a three by five matrix), division (e.g., dividing eight by four)
• cleave - separate, adhere
• clip - fasten, detach
• consult - ask for advice, give advice
• dust - add fine particles, remove fine particles
• enjoin - prescribe, prohibit
• fast - quick, unmoving
• first degree - most severe (e.g., murder), least severe (e.g., burn)

How does any non-native ever learn English?

Have Your Tivo Ready

In the very near future Brandywine will be broadcasting from the high school television station on Service Electric cable channel 99. It will offer countless ways to spotlight the activities and the creativity of our students several hours a day.

Keep Climbing

Great article in today's Morning Call about the 13-0 girl's softball team.

Nestled halfway between Allentown and Reading amid rolling countryside and well-manicured fields used for farming is Brandywine Heights High School.

It's a tight-knit, blue-collar community where hard work is valued.
And it's a place where the success of a high school sports team is admired and appreciated.

This spring, the apple of everyone's eye along Old Topton Road in Mertztown is the Brandywine girls softball team. The Bullets are 13-0 and aiming for another shot at the state championship that eluded them two years ago.

Education Not Just For The Young

HAYS, Kansas (AP) - When 95-year-old Nola Ochs graduates next month, she will be the world's oldest college graduate. The record Ochs will break, according to Guinness World Records, belongs to Mozelle Richardson, who at age 90 in 2004 received a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma.
...
On Thursday, the Kansas Legislature honored Ochs with praise and standing ovations.

Hang On To Your Wallet

Governor Corleone Rendell recently proposed a 6.17% gas and oil tax. This tax was intended to be levied on oil companies that do business in Pennsylvania to fund transportation and mass transit such as the Philadelphia bus and rail systems. The governor's own acting revenue secretary, Tom Wolfe, admitted that constitutionally, the state cannot tax just a few big oil companies, confirming that consumers will end up bearing the burden.

This governor is also proposing to borrow $850 million (which will ultimately cost $1.4 BILLION) to fund a slate of new state energy programs under his Energy Independence Strategy. To support the borrowing, a new tax called a “systems benefit” charge would be applied to all residential and commercial electric bills.


Under his plan, the funds would go to the following:

-$244 million towards household appliance rebates (maximum of $100 each) and "PA Sunshine Grants". Makes you wonder how much GE contributed to the governor. Even for the people that re-applicance how long will it take for this $100 rebate will be eaten up in higher taxes.

-$106 million towards venture capital, grants and loans for expansion of energy companies. Energy companies that can't make a go of it under the current economic situation shouldn't be lining up at the public trough.

-$500 million towards clean energy projects and development or equipment costs for specific energy economic development projects . How many time does it have to be shown that if a project needs the government to rob people to fund it that it really shouldn't be done in the first place.

Just your ordinary tax increase trying to disguise itself as all cute and cuddly.

Additional Act 1 Problems

School districts are to limit their budget increase by an inflation index. Hard to do when it varies across different areas of the state. The Morning-Call recently had an article showing that in the Lehigh Valley it was running at 6.8% over twice the national average.

The region's relatively low cost of living, especially its housing costs, has attracted hordes of people from more expensive urban areas such as New York and Philadelphia. The resulting population growth fueled demand for new homes and services.
...
The Valley's inflation rate -- 6.8 percent in 2006, the highest rate for a calendar year ever measured in the 23-year history of The Morning Call/Kamran Afshar Consumer Price Index -- is more than double the national average. More

More Flip-Flop Hazards

A New Jersey flip-flop wearing man suffered burns while trying to stomp out a brush fire. Where is You Tubes when something really funny happens? More
Shouldn't laugh even if he was from NJ but it does brings to mind the old Elephant joke.
Q: Why do ducks have flat feet?
A: To stomp out forest fires.

Q:Why do elephants have flat feet?
A:To stomp out burning ducks.

Hope Meeting Turned Out Well

However is this really the type of inflammatory advertisement published in the Merchandiser needed to raise a crowd. Looks more like what would be used to raise a lynch mob then a citizens group attempting positive change. It really represents a community that I would want to move to or create a business in.
An advertised meeting can't be considered secret. The vote wasn't held in the boiler room at midnight to avoid detection. It was held at the regular time and the regular place to coincide and support the earlier in the day teacher's association vote. Up till a few minutes before the start it wasn't even clear that a vote would be needed.

Looking at the current makeup of the board and their previous voting records should indicate that an 8 -0 vote for approval was in everyone best interest. When it comes to large expenditures this level of unanimity is never reached. Find out why they voted for it before going nuclear.

An "Early Bird Special" is not some new trick to rob people. It is very common and has been used everywhere including Brandywine. It shows that there is a level of trust and partnership between the teachers, administration and the board that an agreement, in everyone best interest, can be worked out quickly and amicably.

Negotiations would have started in January of next year. Dr. Curtin and the board president asked the association president if there was the possibility of reaching an agreement without the rancor of the previous negotiations. Both sides had a couple of issues they wanted modified and the agreement was painlessly reached. Regular negotiations can be drawn out affairs that create uncertainty and animosity between everyone involved.

Without a contract and due to Act 1 creating an early start to the budget process would have caused uncertainty. Fiduciary responsibility would call for assuming a worst case contract agreement. A revenue stream would have to be put in place causing an unnecessary large increase and/or caused needed programs to be eliminated should the contact be solved on more favorable terms.

Because of its impact, contract negotiations can cause every other educational initiative to be placed on hold awaiting final settlement. There has been too much work and progress along with future plans made to see it all come to a screeching halt.

Yes property taxes are too high but school districts are being told to provide more and more each year. The only authorized way they have to raise the necessary funds is property taxes. Then they have to face the shocked outrage by legislators for funding the programs they created and don’t have the backbone to fund.

Instead of enraging citizens with half facts wouldn’t it be better to try and work together to build a better community. If you want to change the tax structure that has to be accomplished in Harrisburg. The school board only has a hammer and consequently everything looks like a nail.

If you want to see more information on the how the salary structure works go here.

Before You Vote This Year

The greatest obstacle to sound economic policy is not entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational beliefs, and personal biases held by ordinary voters. This is economist Bryan Caplan's sobering assessment in this provocative and eye-opening book. Caplan argues that voters continually elect politicians who either share their biases or else pretend to, resulting in bad policies winning again and again by popular demand.

Buy It Here Everyone Else Is

Boldly calling into question our most basic assumptions about American politics, Caplan contends that democracy fails precisely because it does what voters want. Through an analysis of Americans' voting behavior and opinions on a range of economic issues, he makes the convincing case that noneconomists suffer from four prevailing biases: they underestimate the wisdom of the market mechanism, distrust foreigners, undervalue the benefits of conserving labor, and pessimistically believe the economy is going from bad to worse. Caplan lays out several bold ways to make democratic government work better--for example, urging economic educators to focus on correcting popular misconceptions and recommending that democracies do less and let markets take up the slack.

How Many Children Should You Have

To maximize your happiness the answer is 1.

Interestingly, second and third children don't add to parents' happiness at all. In fact, these additional children seem to make mothers less happy than mothers with only one child—though still happier than women with no children.

Maybe they are happier but just worn out. The original paper can be found here.
This paper only looks at current happiness. Two or three may seem plenty to you in your 30's or when paying for college but what about when you are 60+. Bryan Caplin at EconLog looks at this aspect.

But think ahead to your golden years. How many kids do you need to get as many visits, phone calls, and grandkids as you would like? 5? 10? An old saying tells us that "One parent can care for five children, but five children cannot care for one parent." It could happen to you.

Basic microeconomics recommends a simple strategy. Have the number of children that maximizes average utility over your whole lifespan. When you are 30, you might feel like two children is plenty. But once you are 60, you are more likely to prefer ten sons and daughters to keep you company and keep the grandkids coming. A perfectly selfish and perfectly foresighted economic agent would strike a balance between these two states. For example, he might have four kids total - two too many at 30, six too few at 60.

Great First Day Of Work

A 17-YEAR -old rookie plumber has burned down a £5 million ($12 million) waterside mansion in southwest England, after a soldering task during his first day on the job went horribly wrong.

A little friend for your Roomba

Do you know a teen or college student that has trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Now there is Clocky®. The alarm clock that runs away and hides to get you out of bed.

Ms Emily Goes To The Movies

Review by Emily Trosprel
9th Grade BHHS Senior Entertainment Editor

Perfect Stranger

You know a director is in trouble when early on in a movie he places flashbacks of scenes that had taken place two minutes previously. There wasn’t much else James Foley could do in Perfect Stranger though, for it was a film that was sunk the moment the script’s final draft was given the okay. The plot shares the same structure with 90 percent of all mediocre psychological thrillers made in the past few years. We’ve got an introduction to the plucky, resourceful type character, investigative journalist Rowena (Halle Berry) in this case along with the obligatory computer-wiz side-kick, Miles (Giovanni Ribisi). Then there’s the eerie setup complete with plenty of shadowy shots, Rowena being approached by her old friend Grace (Nicki Aycox) who shares with Rowena her sultry affair with big businessman Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) and his putting an abrupt end to it. When Grace turns up dead, here being the unapologetically contrived plot turn, Rowena goes undercover both in Hill’s office and in a steamy online chatroom in an attempt to gather evidence to convict him as Grace’s killer. This cat-and-mouse builds up to that final twist you know every thriller feels required to have. Luckily for this one, it’s a twist that actually feels pretty twisted.

If ever in need of an example of how a star cast can be potentially useless, Perfect Stranger would be the perfect choice. Halle Berry and Bruce Willis do not display, to be fair, weak acting in the film, but it would take a lot more then what they deliver to lift the movie from drowning in its own pretentious complexity. Therefore, the blame must go to the screenwriter. And the editor. And the director. In fact, there weren’t too many areas of production that couldn’t have used a lift (maybe if they hadn’t spent so many super-inflated salaries for big name actors…). The editing was choppy and certainly not in a good way, the cinematography drew too much attention to itself (think one too many “artistic” shadowy shots) and the entire story was bogged down by an unwelcome air of improbability. Shockingly to say however, Perfect Stranger is not a bad movie, true as it is that it’s a carbon copy of other films of the same breed. There has to be a manual somewhere given to screenwriters that lists a step-by-step process of creating the structure of a thriller that is responsible for all of these identical motion pictures. Still, Perfect Stranger is a moderately entertaining way to spend the afternoon and is not boring, or slow, or outright laughable (though that is debatable). A little credit can be given just for that.

Two out of four stars. Perfect Stranger.

Warm weather heats up dress-code rebellion

Heard of warm weather just can't seem to remember it.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Skimpy continues to be trendy for teenage girls. Skimpy continues to be discouraged by school dress codes.

As spring brings warmer weather, the clash is often greater than polka dots and stripes.

Oh wait, that works now, doesn't it?

As long as it's skimpy.

But not in school.

"To be fashionably dressed is not necessarily to be appropriately dressed," said Bert Smith, principal at Batesburg-Leesville Middle School in South Carolina.

While that's a great side benefit, dress codes exist "so that students can focus on an educational environment, and not each other," said Dixon Brooks, principal at Fulmer Middle School, also in the palmetto state.

...

That's why schools implore parents -- especially this time of year -- to help enforce dress codes.

"You're the parent," Smith said. "You tell them how to dress. If [you] think it's probably not appropriate, don't let them wear it."

If it's a close fit, change clothes.

"Please do not send them with the statement, 'I hope you don't get caught,' " Crawford said. "That sets us up to be the bad guys."

...

And if the kids want to argue? Just mention two words:

School uniforms.

Prom 2007

From t-ball to the prom anything worth organizing is worth over organizing.

Turn Off Your Cellphone and Save A Bee

The latest environmental hysteria is that the signals from cellphones interfere with bees navigational system.

Others are more skeptical

Many beekeepers are skeptical of the reports or at least how they're adding up. For 100 years, beekeepers have logged periodic reports of sudden and inexplicable bee die-offs.

People refer the latest die-off by its initials "CCD," but one Georgia beekeeper instead calls it the "SSDD" crisis for "Same Stuff, Different Day."

"People have lost bees from the beginning of time," Sowers said.

Probably just a case of Big Honey trying to rig the market. Betcha Echo Hill has all kind of bees they are hiding out back of their store.

Not To Pour Salt in a Wound

However April 15th is the traditional day people volunteer to give over all their income information to the government a little explanation that has made the internet mailing rounds.

Sometimes politicians, journalists and others exclaim; "It's just a tax cut for the rich!" and it is just accepted to be fact. But what does that really mean? Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, I hope the following will help. Please read it carefully.

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Dinner for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men; the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

***********
Actually, thanks to the Earned Income Credit, many of those lowest-income people get paid to eat, thanks to the rest of the people in the room.

Ask Ethan

A must read guide to eco-living in the 21st century. Ethan answers the question that bothers all parents, if you hate industrial society, as all correct thinking people, do is it ethical to send children to school.

Canning Teachers In Malaysia

The principal at a school in Kuala Lumpur is in trouble with their teacher's union because she swatted a teacher who she mistook as a lingering student.

The secondary school teacher when contacted by Bernama said the incident happened after a Co-Curriculum Day event, when clad in silat attire, she was instructing students to go back to their classrooms.

"Suddenly and without asking questions, the female principal who was patrolling the area caned her on the buttocks and also caned several other students.

"I was ashamed because all the students in Form One saw the incident," she added.

Slacker High

School can be too regimented but this is a little extreme. The reason they are in school is because they don't know what they don't know.

BOTHELL, Wash. -- The music room sits empty on a recent gray morning at Clearwater School in Bothell. Four girls play cards in the "play" room nearby, and a half-dozen teenagers hang out in the "quiet" room across the way.

The crowd is in the computer room, where 20 students — about a third of this small, private school — are engrossed in strategy and shoot-'em-up video games.

That makes some of their parents uncomfortable, but it shows Clearwater is serious about giving students freedom to choose how to spend their time.

Just as children learn to talk without formal instruction, Clearwater students learn to read and write and solve math problems the same way. There are no tests at Clearwater. No assignments. No classes unless students organize them.

If Someone Needs A Challenge

Read the top 100 most banned books. OK just 99 anything written by Madonna should be banned on general principals but who could ban Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men and To Kill A Mockingbird.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Sounds Like A Typical School Menu

For the 2008 Olympics China is busy correcting bad English translations from public signs. Among those are menu items "fried crap", "cow bowel in sauce", "corrugated iron beef" and "acid food" and attractions like the "Racist Park" -- a venue dedicated to ethnic minorities.

Tin Foil Hat Information

There were some questions on tin foil hats. However none of the responses gave information on wearing them in style.

It's common knowledge that aliens or the government or something is beaming harmful signals throughout the universe nonstop, 24/7. This is what makes almost everyone mindless hypnoslaves, forced to conform to society's norms. But not you, for you are wisely covering your head with dynamic space-age metal, the only substance known to repel those hypnowaves: tin foil. With your homemade tin foil hat, your brain is safe.

Sure, your hat allows you to subvert your oppressors, but let's face it; it makes you look ridiculous. Chances are it's the same origami hat/ship that kids make. What is the alternative, you ask? Designer tin foil hats. Where to find them? Look no further. Greetings and welcome to tfh, home of the most stylish tin foil hats on Earth, for the discriminating lunatic. Just listen to this riveting testimonial:

"Thank you for your efforts to safe our brains. This has been an issue for me for quite some time, always the fear of losing mine, through theft by aliens or whatnot. Now everyone will know that I have an edge on them. I feel good about that."

Kurt Vonnegut Dies At 84

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren’t quite right, though. April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn’t think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. - Harrison Bergeron

More on the life and works of an American original and the best thing that ever came out of Indiana.

Go East Young Man

Looks like the singles are on opposite ends of the country.

Katie Couric Library Card

The news anchor for CBS News Katie Couric did a one minute commentary on the joy of her first library card. Now it turns out not only did she not write it but her staff didn't either. Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post reports on how they just lifted it from a piece in the Wall Street Journal by columnist Jeffrey Zaslow

Couric said: "For kids today, the library is more removed from their lives. It's a last-ditch place to go if they need to find something out."

Zaslow wrote in March: "The library is more removed from their lives. It's a last-ditch place to go if they need to find something out."

Couric said: "Sure, children still like libraries, but books aren't the draw."

Zaslow wrote: "Sure, there are still library-loving children, but books aren't necessarily the draw."

Couric cited the same statistic as the Journal column -- a 60 percent rise in sales of hardcover juvenile books -- as "an encouraging sign that kids value reading." Zaslow had called that "an encouraging sign that kids still value books."

Ms Couric proved as if her predecessor Dan Rather before her you don't have to be smart to earn the big bucks as a news anchor, just the ability to read a tele-prompter. It is also helpful to have an available producer to fire when things go bad. On the up side at least libraries are receiving media coverage.

Exeter Keeps Old School

The Exeter School District still owns a one room school dating from the 1870's. They are trying to arrange a state grant to move the building due to road construction. The building is used to show current students what school was like in the 19th century.

Students learn that in the late 1800s, they would have walked to school and cooked their lunch — often a baked potato — on one of the potbelly stoves during morning recess. The students write on slates, read books from the time period and take part in a spelling bee. “It’s living history to actually go over there and see it and sit on chairs children sat on 150 years ago,” Fletcher said.

Except for the potbelly stove and slates they could have a good idea what education was like in the 19th century by just looking around a current classroom and save the time. Few professionals from the 1870 could be time ported to today and in a manner of days resume their work besides education.

Vo-Tech School 20,000 B.C.

Europeans Are Also Bad At Math

A £2 billion project to answer some of the biggest mysteries of the universe has been delayed by months after scientists building it made basic errors in their mathematical calculations.

The mistakes led to an explosion deep in the tunnel at the Cern particle accelerator complex near Geneva in Switzerland. It lifted a 20-ton magnet off its mountings, filling a tunnel with helium gas and forcing an evacuation.

Bet it was a real hoot listening to everyone that came out of the tunnel talking in a Donald Duck voice.

For New Drivers

What not to say to a police officer!

• I can't reach my license unless you hold my beer. (OK in Texas)
• Sorry, Officer, I didn't realize my radar detector wasn't plugged in.
• Aren't you the guy from the Village People?
• Hey, you must've been doin' about 125 mph to keep up with me. Good job!
• Are You Andy or Barney?
• I thought you had to be in relatively good physical condition to be a police officer.
• You're not gonna check the trunk, are you?
• I pay your salary!
• Gee, Officer! That's terrific. The last officer only gave me a warning, too!
• Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so one of us does.
• I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there are no other cars around. That's how far ahead of me they are.
• When the Officer says "Gee Son....Your eyes look red, have you been drinking?" You probably shouldn't respond with, "Gee Officer your eyes look glazed, have you been eating doughnuts?"

Along with your right to remain silent try to exercise the ability.

The Site Will Officially Be In Mourning Today

In remembrance of the tragedy that occoured 142 years ago at Appomattox Courthouse, Va., effectively ending the grand experiment of 1776.

And People Wonder Why Education Is So Expensive

LOS ANGELES -- A jury ordered the Los Angeles Unified School District to pay $7.6 million to the family of an epileptic boy who suffered a seizure at school and is now paralyzed in a minimally conscious state.

Steve Martinez's family claimed the district was liable for the boy's injuries, saying the response to his April 18, 2005, seizure was inadequate.
...
An earlier jury had awarded the family $361,237 after a 2003 seizure during which Steve suffered burns after falling on the playground atop a metal utility plate heated by the sun. A visiting Marine and the school nurse successfully administered CPR in that case.

The district had offered free transportation for Steve to another school that had a full-time nurse, but his mother rejected it, saying it was "too far from our home and had too many students."

Rational Discourse 2.0

How to filter conversation has become a topic of intense discussion in its own right. As more and more Web surfers become familiar with message boards and comfortable firing off opinions, often anonymously, online sites are struggling to manage comments without either stifling conversation or becoming a platform for hateful speech.

The Newest Religion

The latest cold weather just has the staff a little testy today.

Wii For The Smooth Gums

The Nintendo Wii not just for teens it is for slackers of all ages.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Wii is now the latest rage at the Sedgebrook retirement community in Lincolnshire, where the average age is 77. In particular, the Wii Bowling component of Wii Sports has members of the retirement community hooked on playing the Wii installed inside the Sedgebrooks’s clubhouse lounge.

“I've never been into video games, but this is addictive,” said 72-year-old Flora Dierbach. “They come in after dinner and play. Sometimes, on Saturday afternoons, their grandkids come play with them … A lot of grandparents are being taught by their grandkids. But, now, some grandparents are instead teaching their grandkids.”

Wii Bowling has become so well received that more than 20 residents signed up to participate in a virtual bowling tournament without the need to leave the clubhouse lounge. Sedgebrook's entertainment committee said that they even have a fan for people to dry their hands before they bowl, just like at a real bowling alley.

Although Wii Sports features cartoon-like graphics and characters—imagery normally aimed at children—the retirees are absolutely taken with the realism offered by the Wii Remote.

“This is pretty realistic. You can even put English on the ball,” said Don Hahn, 76, a veteran of numerous real-life bowling competitions. “I used to play Pac-Man a little bit, but with this you're actually moving around and doing something. You're not just sitting there pushing buttons and getting carpal tunnel.”

Students Can Read Readin' but Can't Read Ritin'

Article in Today's Reading Eagle on the endangered art of penmanship.

Youngsters still learn penmanship, but in the computer age, schools and society do little to encourage them to use it as they grow older.
....
There’s another important factor. St. Francis students start learning cursive writing in second grade. They start typing in first grade.
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“It’s almost like a dying art; it’s just something you don’t see anymore,” said Steven Boyer, a science teacher at Oley Valley Middle School. “I have to think that when you sit down and put pen to paper, I think you have a better control,” Boyer said. “To me, it’s more of a poetic thing when you’re writing. When you’re typing, I just think you lose that.”

Spoken as a true visitor to tomorrow's world. Good riddance and may cursive R.I.P.

What Fun For Kids

From The Washi