Pitiful

OK we can have 5th grade recess as long as the kids don't play with each other.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - An elementary school has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.

"It causes a lot of conflict on the playground," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school.

Running games are still allowed as long as students don't chase each other, she said.

Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban but most parents and children didn't object.

In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles.

"Reduce Squabbles" Good God Gertrude that what games are mostly about having kids workout their differences among themselves. There is way too much adult organized activities already. They should be trying to increase interaction not reduce it

Ebonics "as if you just came out of the hood."

A crudely made "Ghetto Handbook" distributed by a Houston school district police officer sparked angry words Thursday from leaders in the district and the community — both because of its language and the fact that no action was taken for three months.

"This publication was completely reprehensible and HISD condemns it in the strongest possible terms," Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said in a written statement.

Seems they are investigation the officer(s) while ignoring the elephant in the room. They should be concentrating on why their students aren't being exepected to use proper English. If the community and schools held them to higher expectations this booklet wouldn't have been written in the first place. The officer is just crudely pointing out the failings of society and the school system.

For a better look at the real problem that should concern Houston and the rest of America read Three Cheers for Bill Cosby

Board Meeting Sept. 5, 2007

Piracy An Equal Opportunity Employer

You can keep your Bluebeards and your Blackbeards. The most successful pirate of all time controlled a fleet of more than 1,500 ships and upwards of 80,000 sailors -- and she did it all without the help of facial hair.

Remember Sept 19th. is coming quickly.

Older But Not Necessary Wiser

Older kids, college students are as easily lured by strangers as young children. "Funny, this doesn't look like a movie studio"

Put Up or Shut Up America, Eat More Hot Apple Pie!

Watch the video and join the official "Put Up or Shut Up America, Eat More Hot Apple Pie!" Campaign.

We don't need fancy-schmancy pastel colored ribbons, or washed up pop stars looking to make a quick buck to prove we are Patriots, leave that to those Left Wing Iced Capamochalattechino slurping Bono/Sting Album buying Commies who think all it takes to be an American is to put some lame ass ribbon du jour on their Japanese or German made Automobile, or sport some hunk of colored plastic around your wrist instead of a good old fashioned American made Timex. No we don't need any of that nonsense. Real American Patriots will do what true Americans do best, and have always done in the past living or undead. We will open our huge American Pie Holes loud and wide in the name of Truth, Liberty, Freedom, and the Pursuit of Happiness, and then fill that gaping pie hole with some Made in the USA Hot Apple Pie. God Bless America! God Bless Mom's Hot Apple Pie!

No Need For Flashlights Under The Cover

Not when you can read a library full of material on your cell phone. A variety of digital tools, from cell phones to dedicated readers, are now available for cracking open electronic books.

Teaching Geography

There have been studies warning that teaching geography in this country is inadequate. As explained in the following video that not the problem people just need more maps. Could be a misunderstanding you will have to judge for yourself.

Driver's licenses? We don't need no stinkin' driver's licenses.

Lehigh Valley Ramblings: Berks County State Rep Sam Rohrer Strikes a Blow for Posse Comitatus

Free legal advice on why you can throw your driver's license away. Except if you are under 21 and need your fake one for reasons we won't mention.

The crux of the issue is whether [The Vehicle Code] can properly be applied to an individual. Within an individual's right to liberty is the inherent right to travel. If one's movement can be restrained, such restraint is intrinsically a restraint on his liberty. Mr. Reil's use of an automobile is simply an extension of his personal liberty to move about as he wishes.

My research, and that of my staff, confirms that [The Vehicle Code] can only be properly applied to commercial vehicles and commercial use of the roads. An individual who wishes to utilize an automobile or other means of conveyance in order to exercise his right to travel cannot lawfully be required to obtain a license to drive or to register his automobile in order to operate it freely on our roads.

A copy of a letter, sent to Judge Streitel in Chester County. She had found William Taylor Reil, guilty of driving under suspension and with bogus vehicle documents. It wasn't written by some fringe Posse Comitatus group but our very own Bob Jones University grad State Rep. Sam Rohrer. Makes one wonder about all his tax recommendations.

Favorite Things In Pennsylvania

Recent blog by Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution.

Growing up, I regarded Pennsylvania as the most typical and most American part of the country; I loved it. I loved the mid-sized towns with old industrial and domestic architecture, I loved the museums of Philadelphia, and I loved the bridges of Pittsburgh. Of course this was before America moved South and I gave the honor of most American place to Knoxville, Tennessee.

This list didn't require much thought, and the candidates poured out right away:

Silver Surfers

A survey in England shows that instead of being technophobes retirees are some of the bigger users of the internet. So-called "silver surfers" dedicate an average of 42 hours a month to the World Wide Web, compared with 37.9 hours among 18 to 24-year-olds.

A greater interest in hobbies, news and local issues among the elderly is believed to be driving the trend, which sees over-65s account for nine per cent of all time spent online in the UK.

New Comment Form

New form to add comments. No more having to add those html format characters. Had to add a security question because why I was testing web spiders were on it like a pack of wild dogs on a three legged calf. They were posting some very interesting links, didn't know you could do some of the things they were suggesting.

Ms Emily Goes To The Movies

Of Ms Emily's double feature looks like the late movie would be the one to catch.

Review by Emily Trosprel
10th Grade BHHS
Senior Entertainment Editor

Hairspray

Try, just try, to resist the bubbly exuberance of a movie that is Hairspray, and you can be guaranteed to be won over midway by what may be the happiest, most buoyant movie this year. Dancing is what the cool kids do in 1962 Baltimore especially on its local teen dance program The Corny Collins Show on TV. Every day after school, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) is glued to the television from the time the show starts, ogling at her crush Link Larkin (Zac Efron) and dreaming of becoming one of the stars. She’s certainly got the right moves, taught to her by some African American friends, and when a spot opens, Tracy’s only desire is to audition. She’s got some big problems though. Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer), the television executive to the station, won’t accept the girl’s plus-size figure or draw any attention away from her own starring daughter. Even Tracy’s mother Edna (John Travolta) is an obstacle, fearing that if Tracy tries to get noticed, people will make fun of the girl. There’s no dissuading this energetic young dancer though, who catches the eye of Corny Collins himself and achieves her dream to be a member of his show. However, not all is perfect in Tracy’s world, and she can’t understand why her black friends are only allowed on the show on one special, monthly day. Even if it means she has to give up all she’s accomplished, Tracy resolves to change the way the people of Baltimore look at those who are different, stopping on the way only for a few catchy musical numbers of course.

This cast and crew may have even the most undemanding viewer skeptical. After all, it would seem unlikely that newcomer Nikki Blonsky, Disney Channel’s Zac Efron, John Travolta in a thirty pound fat suit, and Christopher Walken who has recently been stranded in second-rate comedies, all under the direction of Adam Shankman who is responsible for some truly dreadful films (example: Cheaper By the Dozen 2), could possibly pull of something remotely watchable. Well, they managed it. Blonsky is practically bubbling over with enthusiasm onscreen, as could be said of all her young costars. Then, of course, there’s John Travolta about whom everyone has been talking about whether approvingly or not. Though his odd feminine turn takes getting used to, by the time he and Christopher Walken are sharing their own romantic song, “Timeless to Me,” Travolta has the audience convinced. In case you’re wondering, tradition from the original 1988 movie and Broadway play is what demands that Edna’s shoes be filled by a man in makeup. That makeup along with costumes galore does add impressively to snazzy production value that will certainly receive some attention come awards season. Hairspray has got its faults, namely some musical numbers that run indulgently long and rough patches of editing, but it’s a movie that can sweep its audience past with a wink and grin right until the music stops, letting them see nothing but fizzy, gleeful entertainment.

Three out of four Stars for Hairspray

A Moral Quandary

In China you can now buy almost anything. In fact you can even buy fake receipts for items you didn't purchase. At Marginal Revolution they ask a very good question.

But what if they sold you a "fake receipt" for buying...*fake receipts*. Would it be a fake receipt, a real receipt, or a real fake receipt?

Myth Of The Rational Voter

is more then just a book. If you have ever wondered how this country has gotten in the shape it is in this video describes an often over looked demographic block.


In The Know: Candidates Compete For Vital Idgit Vote

Give War A Chance

The Peace Racket a view on what various university peace studies programs do.

If you want peace, prepare for war.” Thus counseled Roman general Flavius Vegetius Renatus over 1,600 years ago. Nine centuries before that, Sun Tzu offered essentially the same advice, and it’s to him that Vegetius’s line is attributed at the beginning of a film that I saw recently at Oslo’s Nobel Peace Center. Yet the film cites this ancient wisdom only to reject it. After serving up a perverse potted history of the cold war, the thrust of which is that the peace movement brought down the Berlin Wall, the movie ends with words that turn Vegetius’s insight on its head: “If you want peace, prepare for peace.”

This purports to be wise counsel, a motto for the millennium. In reality, it’s wishful thinking that doesn’t follow logically from the history of the cold war, or of any war. For the cold war’s real lesson is the same one that Sun Tzu and Vegetius taught: conflict happens; power matters. It’s better to be strong than to be weak; you’re safer if others know that you’re ready to stand up for yourself than if you’re proudly outspoken about your defenselessness or your unwillingness to fight. There’s nothing mysterious about this truth. Yet it’s denied not only by the Peace Center film but also by the fast-growing, troubling movement that the center symbolizes and promotes.

Call it the Peace Racket.

Ms Emily Goes To The Movies

Maybe you shouldn't Rush to spend money on this one.

Review by Emily Trosprel
10th Grade BHHS
Senior Entertainment Editor

Rush Hour 3

To say that Rush Hour 3 is by far the worst in its genre would be a lie. There’s Rush Hour. And then there’s Rush Hour 2. That’s not to say that the threequel is actually better than its predecessors, but rather that it would be impossible to deem any one of these exhibitions of dim, shallow commercialism at its worst to be better then the others. The plot, shoehorned in among “funny” improvisation and gimmicks, centers on buddy cops James Carter (Chris Tucker) and Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan). When the Chinese ambassador is shot in an attempted assassination, the pair investigates a Chinese Triad gang suspected of the crime. After the questioning of the ambassador’s daughter and a quest to get to a locker containing key evidence, the trail leads to Paris where they discover a woman named Genevieve (Noemie Lenoir) who is somehow central to the gang’s mission. If this doesn’t sound riveting or original, it’s because it’s not. The six year delay between Rush Hour 2 and 3 due to script troubles obviously wasn’t enough time to think of a story that didn’t seem thrown together as an excuse to extend the franchise past its due.

Is there any actor more irritating than Chris Tucker, who spews out his coarse and arrogant brand of humor in screeching tones? Though a franchise that once started as a star vehicle for Jackie Chan, Rush Hour 3 now gives Tucker top billing and equal screen time. It’s good for Tucker, but the ultimate loser is the viewer. Some see the fact that the actor has not acted in a single movie in the six years between Rush Hour 2 and Rush Hour 3 as laziness on his part, but that laziness is a blessing if it meant that people didn’t have to listen to his grating sidetracked monologues in any other pictures. The aforementioned Jackie Chan doesn’t add any redeeming value to the film’s acting. His less than perfect command of English can normally be forgiven for the inventive stunts Chan himself performs in his movies. However, even here Rush Hour 3 doesn’t deliver, and it plays no better as a martial arts film than as a comedy. Of course, most of the blame could be pushed onto director Brett Ratner, specialist in brainless “entertainment”, but what would he care? His movies have grossed 900 million dollars total. If your idea of humor is Chris Tucker holding a gun to the head of an anti-American French cabdriver and forcing him to sing the Star-Spangled Banner, then go ahead and add your dollars to that total. Or, easier yet, you could just rent one of the previous Rush Hour films, because this film adds nothing new to the franchise other then a number three at the end of the title.

One half star out of four for Rush Hour 3

Teacher Certification Proposal

The Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved the State Board of Education's proposed changes to teacher certification regulations. Action by IRRC is another step in the final approval process for the proposal, known as Chapter 49-2. The proposal contains an emphasis to revise teacher preparation programs and clinical activities to include training and experience for new teachers to meet the needs of students with disabilities and English language learners. Chapter 49-2 also requires school districts to offer all professional employees opportunities to participate in continuing education focused on education students with disabilities and English language learners in inclusive settings.

The proposal changes the scope of instructional certificates and requires dual certification for special education teachers, effective Jan. 1, 2013. A new elementary/middle-level certificate is created, and the current special education certificate is split into two separate certificates. Dual certification for special education is required. Any teacher already certified prior to 2013 would be grandfathered. Under Chapter 49-2, the scope of the Early Childhood Certificate would cover grades pre-K-4, and the Elementary/Middle Certificate would cover grades 4-8. The Secondary Certificate remains at grades 7-12. The two special education certificates would be Special Education Pre-K-- 8, with dual certification in either Early Childhood, Elementary/Middle or Reading Specialist certificates, and Special Education 7-12, with dual certification in either Secondary or Reading Specialist certificates.

Not as Dumb As We Used To Be

Surprising evidence on the Flynn Effect¹

1. ^{Non-verbal IQ has risen more rapidly than has verbal IQ.}
2. ^{Performance gains are smallest on the most culturally specific tests, and largest on the most abstract tests.}
3. ^{Performance gains, as they occur over time, are roughly constant for all age groups.}
4. ^{Problem-solving abilities have seen the biggest performance gains.}
5. ^{Gains on the "Ravens" test started occurring before the TV era, much less the computer game era.}

<sup>From Marginal Revolution

1</sup>Flynn Effect: the rise of average Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test scores, an effect seen in most parts of the world, named after James R. Flynn.

Ready Web Reference

One stop shopping for student researchers try Schoolr (r is for research). Quick access to several popular research tools. If you have to read books on dead trees there is even a citation builder for your report.

Why Are Enviromentalist Killing The Orang-utans

So they can pretend to be fighting global warming. To stay cool and keep Big Oil from making obscene profits jungles are being destroyed in Borneo to make way for palm oil plantations. Greenies have already sent out thugs to kill this little guy's mom, so they can smugly drive their bio-diesel cars. And he is only one of 600 orphans now being cared for.

In related news Brandywine Schools will no longer be in the paper recycling business. A small help for the American Tree Farmers and a big help for the environment.

Recycled paper causes less demand for new paper. Less demand for new paper lowers the demand for trees so the price of pulp wood goes down. This causes the pine trees to be cut or not replanted and the oxygen producing trees give way to open fields for raising cattle. Cattle produce methane and pollute streams from the run off of. It is a strange world filled with unintended consequences. The one thing to always remember is that No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

You know it is hot when

the school's playground spontaneous combusts. Just a typical Texas summer.

Need To Reexam Child Labor Laws

Before all the namby pamby do-gooders had all the child labor laws enacted kids were a profit center. Now according to a recent report featured in todays Reading Eagle they can cost parents up to $500,000. That staggering amount is just till they are 18 before any college cost.

More iLooneyness

Man surgically alters thumbs to better use iPhone

A Ballad For Bedtime

If he survives parenthood this guy could have a future.

Property Rates In The US

Out witting the pointy headed guy

You can now read this or an inferior website in relatively safety at work or school by launching first from Work Friendly It makes web sites appear to be Microsoft Word documents. There is even a "boss key" which will replace your current research topic with an article about improving your time management skills.

Now if your work place doesn't use Word you could still have a problem.

Our Narcissism Surplus

Mr. Rogers efforts paid off in building the children of this country self-esteem. The
results of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory survey are in and the conclusions are Today’s American youth are the most self-absorbed since we’ve studied the subject. “We need to stop endlessly repeating, ‘You’re special,’ and having children repeat that back,” Twenge told the Associated Press. “Kids are self-centered enough already.”

Mr. Goldberg in National Review Online gives a more balanced look.

Americans, young and old, are better than these surveys and TV shows would suggest. (Just as you might say they were “worse” than Marcus Welby, M.D. and I Love Lucy suggested.) Even the most arrogant kids learn that they aren’t the most important people in the whole wide world and that there’s more to life than money. They usually learn these lessons when they have kids of their own. Indeed, one could say we’re learning nationally what parents have been learning personally for millenniums. You can’t live your kids’ lives for them.

Seven-year old to gunman: "YOU WILL RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH"

A 7-year old girl thwarts an armed robber.

iLooney: An iPhone for a vasectomy

An Apple FanBoy wants an iPhone wife wants him to get nipped, so they work out a mutual satisfactory arrangement. Sounds like the guy should have it taken care of before he procreated.

"We have five kids combined - sort of like our very own Brady Bunch ... and we have two children together," Johnson explains. "And she had made me promise that I would get a vasectomy at some point. I love having children, so I always thought in the back of my mind that there would be a chance that she would change her mind. But she didn't seem like she was going to be convinced. She didn't really want to go through another labor."

The deal stipulated that Johnson obtain a vasectomy, putting an end to the idea of more Johnson children. In turn, Johnson would be allowed to splurge on his iPhone.

So I ask you: Is voluntary urology surgery in exchange for an iPhone any worse than, say, a day's worth of self-flagellation practiced in some Middle Eastern nations?

Those folks are promised eternal bliss.

We're talking about a phone.

"So now that I've agreed to this, do I have to wait until after the procedure to get the phone?" Johnson asked his astute wife later on.

iWife looked at Johnson for a moment and replied: "You're good for it."

Dumb Canadian Camp Counselor

CHRISTOPHER LAKE, Sask. (CP) - A counsellor at a northern Saskatchewan Bible camp is feeling the heat for killing and roasting a squirrel over a campfire.

The bushy-tailed rodent was injured after the counsellor

at Camp Kadesh threw a stick in its direction.

Camp director Curtis Anderson says the man destroyed the injured animal and wanted to prove that nothing should go to waste by skinning and roasting it.

A few counsellors ate some of the squirrel, although none of the 120 children at the camp had any.

But two parents were outraged and called the

camp demanding that the veteran counsellor be fired.

Anderson admits the counsellor made a mistake, but after checking with the RCMP and the SPCA, it was determined he did nothing illegal.

The guy deserves to be fired for teaching little kids to roast squirrels. Squirrels are either fried up are boiled for a good mess of squirrel dumplings. He is just lucky he wasn't throwing sticks at light saber wielding squirrels.

Librarians To Mars

Somebody has to collect the fines, those little green people can be so irresponsible.

When NASA's newest Mars lander departs Earth this weekend, it will be carrying the words and art of visionaries from Voltaire to Carl Sagan.

The "Visions of Mars" mini-disk secured to the lander will be the first library on Mars — a gift from past and present dreamers to possible future settlers.

"I'm glad you're there and I wish I was with you," Sagan said in a recording made for the mission before his 1996 death. An excerpt from his book "Cosmos" is also on board.

Other musings, in written and audio format, come from Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Percival Lowell and Kim Stanley Robinson.

Demarchy

Now for something totally different.

Australian philosopher John Burnheim has invented the term

"demarchy" to describe a political system without the state or bureaucracies, and based instead on randomly selected groups of decision makers.

Random selection provides the first half of Burnheim's solution. This is a strongly participatory mechanism, since it prevents power-seekers from gaining exceptional power. But random selection could still allow centralized rule. Imagine, for example, the U.S. House of Representatives being replaced by a randomly selected "Representative House." (This has, in fact, been proposed.) Whatever the shortcomings of random selection, many would say that the result could be no worse than the present system. But the actual direct participation in national legislation would be minimal, since only one person out of half a million would be involved. Furthermore, since Burnheim sought a model without the state, random selection by itself was not sufficient.

The second part of Burnheim's solution is "functional groups." This simply means groups that deal with functions such as education, garbage collection, health services, transport, food production, manufacturing and so on. In each locality, there would be dozens of randomly selected groups, each dealing with a different function.

The number of groups could be determined to give a "desirable" level of participation. For the sake of illustration, let's say a community of 10,000 people had 200 groups each with 10 members, each serving strict two-year terms. The average person would then expect to serve 2 out of every 20 years.

Volunteer Baggers

MSNBC has an article on the Wal-Mart practice in Mexico of allowing teens to volunteer at their store working as baggers. The whole article is another hit piece on poor Wally-World just because they are a very successful company.

If Wal-Mart had to hire these kids at a minimum wage they wouldn't. Without this opportunity the kids would have nothing. Now they can help support their families with the tip money, learn how to provide a service for people and hopefully become noticed either by Wal-Mart or a customer that will lead to a good job in the future. Go to a Wal-Mart or any supermarket in the U.S. and count the number of baggers, working at the US minimum wage that will take your purchases and help load them in your car. Report in when you get to 1.

It is also very hypocritical of MSNBC when they have number of people working at their company for free, not even earning tips, but they just call them interns.

1st Day of Catfish Month

Every dog has his day but the catfish gets a whole month.

Comprehensive information about catfish includes basics, tips and techniques, and family and food service recipes.

Using Catfish Month as a learning moment.

or to sell questionable electronics

You can tell by the song in your heart and the pungent aroma in your nostrils: National Catfish Month is here! Every August, a nation drops to its knees before the altar of the slimy fish-god. Children stay up late hoping to catch a glimpse of the Phantom Catfish making his rounds, and thousands of the whiskered, scaleless bottom-feeders are ritually slain and eaten in a bloody orgy of bilge and batter. Here’s how the Pinnacle PCTV To Go can make your National Catfish Month celebrations even fishier:

Or answer the important question What Kind Of Catfish Are You

For All The Brandywhiners

Learn to do it right with some style.

Topton Fire

A two-alarm fire sparked by a carelessly discarded cigarette caused about $5,000 in damages to a building that houses Tony’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria and six apartments in Topton on Tuesday night, officialsjavascript:void(0)
Publish Post said.