My Own Thoughts

One woman’s written responses to the world around her.

Archive for October, 2008

Wharton at UPenn

Posted: Friday, October 31st, 2008 @ 8:40 pm in My Family | 1 Comment »

I just scared myself silly. Do you know how much Wharton costs a year? $51,700. E has completed his early admit application for Wharton School of Business from University of Pennsylvania. They will not accept any math below Calculus for transfer credit, so his trig and precal classes go away. This means that without physics, [...]

Read the whole entry

Poem a day: The Women Who Made Me

Posted: Friday, October 31st, 2008 @ 4:35 pm in Writing | No Comments »

Three women, Grama Bunny, educated, talented. A master’s from Berkeley during the Depression And a hand that could draw the world, Even after a stroke struck. Grama Haston, tiny, bustling, The farm wife who hated the farm But peeled ten pounds of potatoes for my breakfast. Momma, teenage wife and mother, Wrestling four kids into [...]

Read the whole entry

I did not make this ad.

Posted: Thursday, October 30th, 2008 @ 8:55 pm in Politics/Military | No Comments »

But I like it. from BlackFive

Read the whole entry

Obama on concealed weapon carry law ban

Posted: Thursday, October 30th, 2008 @ 8:44 pm in Politics/Military | No Comments »

from Stop the ACLU In the interest of fairness, I have a concealed carry permit. I have a gun in my purse at this very moment. And having a gun in my car (probably) got the guy who hit my car to back off. I have a gun. I want to have a gun. I [...]

Read the whole entry

Political quotes worth reading

Posted: Thursday, October 30th, 2008 @ 8:40 pm in Politics/Military | No Comments »

The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance. Marcus Tullius Cicero – 55 BC [...]

Read the whole entry

Some things you wish your friends didn’t tell you.

Posted: Thursday, October 30th, 2008 @ 8:39 pm in My Life | No Comments »

Like your sons’ had really bad body odor last time they visited. (They’re much better now. Taking two showers a day.) Like the fingernails will be an issue in the food industry. Like their son is the valedictorian of his school and has worked his entire high school career. …I’m pretty sure that’s the green-eyed [...]

Read the whole entry

A definition of a teacher

Posted: Thursday, October 30th, 2008 @ 8:35 pm in Homeschooling, Teaching/Ed | No Comments »

A teacher is somone who can… –Give a hug without getting arrested. –Bandage a knee without calling the school nurse. –Change a lightbulb without calling the custodian. –Make the children wash the bathrooms. –Have a relationship with the principal without getting fired. –Teach a child’s mind while capturing their heart. –Teach what they believe in [...]

Read the whole entry

Aunt Norma Land

Posted: Thursday, October 30th, 2008 @ 8:33 pm in My Life, Politics/Military, Teaching/Ed | No Comments »

I am in Aunt Norma Land. She’s a wonderful lady, hardworking, brilliant, and a PhD. She’s also a liberal. Classic liberal. Well, not quite, since she has never ever ever in her long legged life been rich. But I didn’t know she had infected the whole state with her liberalism. I just spent two hours [...]

Read the whole entry

Had a car wreck yesterday.

Posted: Thursday, October 30th, 2008 @ 6:18 am in My Life | 1 Comment »

No one was hurt. Both cars have minor damage. So what happened? I was in a very slow section. I had already let two 18-wheelers in front of me at various times, so I figured the right lane went away eventually. Then, after thirty minutes to go seven or eight miles, there were two cars [...]

Read the whole entry

Exercises

Posted: Monday, October 27th, 2008 @ 9:53 pm in Health | No Comments »

Intense exercise is best for whittling down fat. The study, which followed 27 middle-aged obese women, found that those who exercised at a high intensity for four months successfully shed fat from their midsections. Women who exercised at a low intensity, however, showed no such changes in body fat. The findings suggest that for people [...]

Read the whole entry

Whoo hoo!

Posted: Monday, October 27th, 2008 @ 9:39 pm in My Family | No Comments »

E retook his SAT and brought his score up to 2050. That’s pretty good! He brought it up by himself. He got his ACT scores back and he is in the 99%. His composite was a 34. (I hate to admit this, but mine was a 26. Does it count that I was so sick [...]

Read the whole entry

The story of a fallen soldier’s plane ride home…

Posted: Sunday, October 26th, 2008 @ 1:16 pm in Politics/Military, United States | No Comments »

A Captain’s Blog has the story from an airline pilot’s viewpoint of the homecoming of one of our fallen soldiers. As a commercial pilot, I too see the effects of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last month I showed up to start a trip and was approached by a gate agent. “Captain, good morning, [...]

Read the whole entry

Britain’s oldest toy found with Stonehenge baby

Posted: Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 @ 7:54 pm in History | No Comments »

Picture here. But don’t get too excited. It’s a carved stone and I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s a god buried to take the baby safely to Stonehenge heaven.

Read the whole entry

For what taxes will look like under Obama

Posted: Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 @ 7:48 pm in Politics/Military, United States | No Comments »

You have GOT to read Bob the Banker versus Bernie. There are some amazing facts there that I didn’t know about Clinton versus Bush taxes. I’m pretty sure I agree with Bob. If I lose a $10,000 tax cut and am given a $1,000 tax cut, my taxes will go up.

Read the whole entry

Gun-Ban Obama

Posted: Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 @ 7:44 pm in Politics/Military | No Comments »
Read the whole entry

Do you know the fairy tales?

Posted: Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 @ 4:08 pm in Books and Reading, Teaching/Ed | No Comments »

Scroll down for obfuscated fairy tale titles. Answers here. The first is my favorite. I may use this in class. It would be fun to show the dollar words, as my dad used to say.

Read the whole entry

Radiocarbon dating problems discussed

Posted: Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 @ 4:07 pm in History, Science | No Comments »

Aardvarchaeology has a discussion on some issues with radiocarbon dating. Nothing big, just interesting. Radiocarbon dates the moment when the tissue concerned stopped receiving carbon from the environment. For a leaf, this is the moment it stopped photosynthesising. For the soft tissues of animals (who, through the food chain, receive carbon taken from the air [...]

Read the whole entry

Comprehensive list of reasons not to vote for Obama

Posted: Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 @ 4:03 pm in Politics/Military | No Comments »

Hot Air has the list, including discussion and video. It includes: abortion taxes radical associates foreign policy judgement

Read the whole entry

Scrutiny of the Media Up

Posted: Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 @ 4:02 pm in Politics/Military, United States | No Comments »

Dan Rather acknowledges that the media is biased about the presidential campaign. Orson Scott Card calls for the last honest reporter to turn ON the lights, since we are so in the dark from their coverage of this economic crisis. What is a risky loan? It’s a loan that the recipient is likely not to [...]

Read the whole entry

I am Joe the Plumber.

Posted: Monday, October 20th, 2008 @ 6:56 pm in United States | No Comments »

I ought to be a liberal, since I am in academics. But I remember being poor and I know that my father working eighty and ninety hours a week is why we were able to eat and why we had clothes to wear. We didn’t get or take a government handout. And my father made [...]

Read the whole entry