My Own Thoughts

This word showed up in popular usage in Neal Stephenson’s novel Snowcrash. I’ve seen it come up a lot as I was surfing the web. So it means: an idea that spreads like a virus. (?) noun: Biology- an element of behaviour or culture passed on by imitation or other non-genetic means. from the Compact [...]

Defective Yeti a fun and interesting blog. Includes instructions for fast forwarding through The Phantom Menace so that you only get the good part. Sarah Hepola, 30 years old and living at home with her folks. A more interesting blog than that sounds. Steve at the Sneeze is funny. Robot Johnny is a cartoonist. Think [...]

Military Truisms • “Aim towards the Enemy”–instruction printed on US rocket launcher. • When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend–from an FM. • Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs always hit the ground. • Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered [...]

Museum is freaking amazing. I cannot imagine having come up with the idea. I don’t love the theme, but that is some first class creativity showing there. The Hall is another one for teachers. Probably high school, not college or other, but… Interesting picture usage. Pseudo Sahara is actually pretty interesting. The text is on [...]

Okay, one more thing I need to do/think/worry about. Reuters says that children need 60 minutes of activity a day. That means they have to do more than come downstairs to eat and go upstairs to play on their computer, doesn’t it? Drats.

by Mayor The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times, published in 2000. –Talks about griffins being a dinosaur.

National Geographic has an article entitled “Dino-Era Fossils Inspired Monster Myths, Says Author.” Adrienne Mayor is an author and independent scholar in Princeton, New Jersey. She says the “Water Monsters of the Badlands” legend was inspired in part by these fossils, which the Lakota undoubtedly encountered in their travels. “It would have been logical and [...]

Dark Maple is a theme by Moshu, with a picture used by permission, of Bill Arnett. I am really enjoying it. It’s nice to have a change. I think it looks good too. Of course, I liked Head as well. Which is what was on for the last two hours or so. I love the [...]

I think that if R and I are going to redo my blog, the theme, that there are some other things I would like to do. One of those things is to put up front, up top, somewhere easily visible, seminal blog entries. Those that I wrote that impact me the most or express an [...]

I went to the Blogging Pro theme site as well. note: I am calling them by the wrong name sometimes. But you can find them, I think, by the descriptions. I think I like Chris Curtis’ Website (blue, first page, right side) I also kind of like Falling Leaves (falling leaves, first page, above Chris [...]

I am thinking of changing the theme on my blog. R designed this one and I love it, but today it is too feminine. So I went to WordPress.org to check things out. And Alex King had a contest. There are some wild, and some boring, themes in there. R should have submitted the theme [...]

Reuter’s says that those boys with a large amount of acne in their teens are less likely to die of a heart attack than those without. That’s good. R had lots of acne and he’s got high cholesterol. I’m all for acne being useful for something besides teen humiliation.

Bubbleheads talks about Cpl. French’s funeral and the vicious protesting done in the name of God. Father, forgive us. Lead these people out of temptation. Thank you for the police and the fire fighters. God bless the service folks of Idaho particularly. And the French family. For some reason links are not working. Here is [...]

This is a good article for my book. National Geographic has a new article on the fact that an ancient Egyptian city yields the world’s oldest glassworks. “Glass fragments unearthed in modern-day Iraq suggest that glassmaking began around 1500 B.C. in Mesopotamia and was kept a closely guarded secret for many centuries. Or so it [...]

National Geographic shows Mercedes-Benz’s new car. Its design is based on a fish. I love the idea, and the car might grow on me. But R thought PT Cruisers were bad?

I was reading Ticklish Ear on the NC convention for homeschoolers. He talked about finding approaches for his daughter. He also mentioned being able to change course quickly. I have always loved that about homeschooling, but I am having a bit of a struggle right now. My boys are much older than TE’s daughter, 11th [...]

Ticklish Ears (great name for a blog) has a discussion of Maryellen Weimer’s Learner-Centered Teaching. It is a great blog entry, with comments on things we need to do, like pray for our students. Note: this is learner-centered, maybe even learning-centered, not student-centered.

I was looking up sources on the net, about Meade and Jacobs’ arguments. I think there is a push toward universal preschool. And I think it is there because we don’t trust the parents. Issues PA on Early Childhood Education and Care said that “27% of children had only parental care.” This minimizes the importance [...]

I was reading Carnival of Education and someone said that the head of Home School Legal Defense Association is lying in their Washington op ed piece, because no one is pushing for preschool being made mandatory. The article mentions some who are and then discounts them. Perhaps the discounting is a bit premature. Joanne Jacobs [...]

According to Reuters, teeth bleaching causes sensitivity for several days afterward. In an attempt to limit such sensitivity, calcium and phosphate (naturally present in saliva and blocks the pores in the teeth) was added to whiteners. It did not impact their whitening ability, but did reduce sensitivity. So remineralization makes for less painful white teeth.