Search Results for 'lB'

[Ken]

Sven:

Thanks for the reply and also for your hard work. I suspect most of my criticism should be directed at the school board and it’s top heavy administrative staff but they are not concerned with anything but the WASL and NCLB as far as I can tell and they don’t seem to have much choice in that either.

Let’s talk about another issue that also seems to have taken over education. It does not seem to be a new thing here either.

Group work.

Why is group work and social conformity stressed so strongly in elementary school in Seattle?

Apparently science is one of the subjects that requires “group” work in that groups or teams are required to do the work rather than individuals being graded on what they learn. Those with poor social skills seem to be graded more on how they cooperate with others than on learning basic science.

This reminds me of the 1920’s focus on job readiness rather than learning to learn theory that replaced it. Is the “create compliant worker bees” theory back again?

Maybe I am just cranky on this subject since I remember having to take over any “team” I was assigned to and do all the work so that whatever slackers I was paired with did not drag down the score.

Perhaps that is the real lesson being taught in our schools?

I know I had to learn that lesson over and over in the technical fields of the corporate world. Never assume your co-workers or manager know WTF they are doing.

Perhaps you can explain this one to me.

[Ken]

I did not start this thread to discuss religion.

Religion seems to be involved because it is pretty much only the subset of christianist who think the literal interpretation of genesis and other tales from the Bible should trump not only paleontology and biology but geology, cosmology, astronomy, genetics and a hundred other fields of study, who also seek the political power to ram that insanity down the throats of the rest of is.

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/WeyrichManual.html#anchor474909

If you want to experiment with the living conditions inside a whale, be my guest.

http://kingjbible.com/jonah/1.htm

If you want to attempt to breed animals of various coloration by controlling what they see when they drink water, go for it and the best of luck to you.

http://bible.cc/genesis/30-37.htm

But if you expect sane humans to allow the idiots among us to control the education of public school children in a way that denies all reason and rationality, all measurable evidence and observable interaction, and tries to equate astronomy with astrology, then we shall have a fight for the future.

Children can recover from the fairy tales of youth as long as they are allowed to think and learn.

They may not recover from dogma taught as science.

Now mainstream Christians seem to get upset when I point out the ugly side of the Fundamentalist Bibliolatry. I can only assume it to be for one reason. Your particular sect or denomination has been slowly poisoned by the same heresy. The worship of the Bible rather than the Deity.

http://www.newreformation.org/heresy3.htm

Science and especially Evolution has nothing to say concerning the origins of the universe or matters of faith. But it torments those who would use peoples spiritual nature as a means to control them, and enslave their God given minds and intelligence.

“If we go back to the beginning we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned or disfigured them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them, and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve its own interests.”

— Paul-Henri Thiry, baron d’Holbach (1723 – 1789)

[hopey]

I unfortunately need to go out of town soon, on short notice, and my regular dog walker/sitter will not be able to care for my two dogs while I am gone.

I am open to sending my dogs someplace for overnight care, but will only consider a home-like environment. I have one 14 month old 60 lb. dog and a 5 month old puppy.

Does anyone have an in-house overnight dogsitter they trust who might be available on short notice? or a “home pet care” service to recommend? Thanks!

[RainyDay1235]

But I think Hamilton Viewpoint will be the best facing…but it’ll be packed I’m sure.

http://www.discovernikkei.org/nikkeialbum/en/node/4486

[Ken]

Re the link to Charlatan Mark Driscoll.

I have tried several times to write a polite rebuttal.

It cannot be done. At least not by me.

Science does not seek to disprove religion. In the marketplace of ideas, religion does not get some sort of magic pass when it attempts to intrude where it does not belong. When religion tries to replace science or pretend it is science, it is examined and found to have no evidence at all..

Driscol reminds me of another authoritarian with a similar response to this question.

Everybody who has the right kind of feeling for his country is solemnly bound, each within his own denomination, to see to it that he is not constantly talking about the Will of God merely from the lips but that in actual fact he fulfils the Will of God and does not allow God’s handiwork to be debased. For it was by the Will of God that men were made of a certain bodily shape, were given their natures and their faculties. Whoever destroys His work wages war against God’s Creation and God’s Will.

…

Should the same renunciation not be possible if this injunction is replaced by the admonition finally to put an end to the constant and continuous original sin of racial poisoning, and to give the Almighty Creator beings such as He Himself created?

From where do we get the right to believe, that from the very beginning Man was not what he is today? Looking at Nature tells us that in the realm of plants and animals changes and developments happen. But nowhere inside a kind shows such a development as the breadth of the jump, as Man must supposedly have made, if he has developed from an ape-like state to what he is today.

— A. Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1925

Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens

With the stupid, the Gods themselves fight in vain

[Ken]

My home security company eats pedigree at a rate of about 50 lbs every two weeks.

Just for your info, I listened in on a few pitches for ADT when new people were moving into the town houses in Highpoint.

That is one terrifying place those people were moving into.

I wonder when it happened? I have been here across the street for 7 years and it looks nothing at all like the scary place the ADT salesman was describing.

Btw: never get a Husky for a watch dog. They are worthless. Mine never met a stranger but will guard a squeaky toy all day. The lab and the lab mix have to do all the watchdogin that happens around here.

[AlkiKmac]

My parents stayed at Villa Heidelberg last September and loved it.

[JanS]

hmmm…Villa Heidelberg…45th and Edmunds

The Wildwood B & B 45th SW and Barton…

or… http://www.seattledestination.com/index.html

whatever you do, do not book the motel at 36th and Alaska…not exactly a comfy, plush place…

[Ken]

Related youtube links:

McCain

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but you will vote for someone else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs

Huckelberry has his admirers as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7xgtAWfSWM

[WSMom]

House:

I wondered if it were possible to have a reasonable discourse with you when you admitted that Stephen Colbert’s satirical platform best matched your beliefs/desires in a presidential candidate. I think Colbert’s idea of truthiness best describes everything you’ve written. How can JoB, using facts and reality, argue against your imaginary world where “if your employer does not offer benefits, then work somewhere else” is the answer to our nation’s health care problems. I think that if you really understood that Colbert’s satire is pointing out the fallacy (lunacy) of the “compassionate conservative Republican”, you would be too ashamed to boast that you agree with his positions.

[Bikefor1]

I saw my first Tbirds match vs the Prince Albert Raiders. Omg,the players are so young–they’re babies! :-)

Anyhoo, regarding the ‘different announcer’, the Key has an fm station low on the dial that transmits the game. My mp3 player incidentally has an fm radio on it so I was able to listen to the radio while watching the game.

Don’t know what the set up will be like in Kent.

[Ken]

Huckelberry has his admirers as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7xgtAWfSWM

[hopey]

@cinnamon:

Troll

A contributor to an online discussion whose purpose in posting is primarily is to generate intense debate, often with intentionally inflammatory rhetoric. Troll literally “troll,” a form of fishing, for reaction from contributors to the forum with the intention of stimulating a flamewar.

See: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtroll.html

For those interested in the psychology behind trolling, Flaming: The Relationship Between Social Context Cues and Uninhibited Verbal Behavior in Computer-mediated Communication.

@JoB: looking forward to meeting you at the next Anti-Freeze. When would that be happening, btw? :)

[JoB]

just in from my mailbox.. from a vet’s organization…

where McCain and the war in Iraq

http://www.votevets.org

it speaks for itself.

[Kayleigh]

Even if I agreed with McCain (I don’t), the temper problem is a dealbreaker for me.

[WSMom]

Heard last night on the Colbert Report:

Mitt Romney is making a real case for himself, with his soaring rhetoric he has explained that he understands the importance of the Reagan legacy to the Republican party. Romney says he understands we want to live in the house that Reagan built. Now, what’s so great about the house that Reagan built? Well, first of all Reagan built it in the hardest possible way. Using supply side economics you build the top floor first, you prop it up with homeless people, and you hope the rest of the house trickles down.

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=156054

[TheHouse]

It’s been several days since I checked back on this one…yes, I was well aware of Colbert being a joke. I made the Daily Show reference, so I’m not sure how this was misconstrued.

Personally, I find Hillary, Obama and McCain a bigger joke than Colbert though.

I miss the good old days when Howard Stern would run.

[Anonymous]

That is my point, JoB. Does anyone care to tell me who I attacked where I wasn’t just defending myself after being lashed out at first? The comment to JanS was just another point to make. Sorry if offensive. I know that you pointed out that Colbert was a joke. I merely stated that I think he already knew that. He seems to be a pretty intelligent person.

[JoB]

Does it really matter if new resident. cinnamon and lattemom are the same person? probably not.

It’s the post you respond to more than the person.

New resident… i don’t see so many attacks. I do see a lot of people who disagree with some of the things you say and agree with others.

And that seems to bother you a lot. You are not the only one who is offended by disagreement, but you are do seem to take it more personally than some others.

After the way republicans talked about President Clinton while he was in office, it amazes me how offended some are by any criticism of President George W Bush or his policies.

After all, we are actually concerned about what this President is doing in the way of policy…

And I have to tell you, even i find comments like this one:

“Btw, JanS… you seem a little ungrateful and unhappy about the money coming to you. If it would make you feel better, I can take it off your hands!”

offensive. Jan has a perfect right to be less than positive about that “refund”.

New resdient, has it escaped your attention that what is being returned to us is our money? I don’t think any of us are unhappy to be getting some of our tax dollars back after all of the tax cuts for the rich, but it is going to take more than a one time payment to make me grateful.

With all of our changes, will be lucky this year to escape the alternative minimum tax which will pop us up into the stratasphere for tax brackets.

Tax reform is long overdue.

And blasting someone for their opinion like that is rude.

If you don’t want people to be rude to you, don’t be rude to them.

i think we would all do well to remember that.

BTW new resident, i was the one who pointed out to house that colbert was a joke…

[Anonymous]

I can pretty much guarantee that House knew Colbert was a joke (I scored almost exactly the same). Stop ganging up on people! Is that all that happens on this blog? If you have read any of House’s posts you would realize that he is not an “ass”, san. I rather enjoy both House and JoB posts. They both have intelligent things to say, it seems. Why are liberals always so defensive and argumentative (excluding JoB) If you all look back at all the posts, are you really happy with the way you are all portraying yourselves? So mean-spirited!

[JoB]

Something finally came in my mailbox that is clean enough to post.. with a little editing of course:)

Here is the Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding,

subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

The winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an a….. “my editing”

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon: It’s when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it’s a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you

14. Glibid o: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.

So… how about a contest using the above in some sort of almost meaningful fashion ;-)

I’m first:0

While promoting intaxication he encountered sharcasm. Utilizing the dopelar effect he generated bozone, his hipititis causing her to wonder if this Ignoranus had suffered reintarnation.. finally triggering karmageddon..

i know someone else can do better. have at it!

[JoB]

charlabob,

i don’t know if anyone will ever replace Molly Ivens. Her sharp eyes and willingness to see absurdity are sorely missed. I often find myself wondering what Molly would think about all of this.

I can understand your desire for change… but i don’t think we can get there just by putting a fresh face in the white house.

I am so torn. When i listen to Obama, like everyone else who actually hears him, i am won by his charismatic charm. And maybe America does need a self esteem boost… to feel really good about who is leading them. If so, i truly believe he would deliver that.

But.. and here is where it gets tricky for me… I believe we have landed ourselves in one of the most complicated international and internal situations this nation has ever faced. In the words of one of the women at the anti-freeze meeting “i just can’t forget that he is a one term senator who spent most of that term campaigning”.

And.. i can’t forget that the Democratic party leadership is more focused on electing a democrat than on what that democrat produces once in office.

That is frightening to me.

I wish America could sit down with a one on one with Hillary… just one evening… I don’t think anyone would fail to realize how brilliant and dedicated she is. And that she has actually thought all of this through and has a plan for what she would do in office… not one for what would get her there. But his is America and that won’t happen.

As to Edwards as Commerce Secretary… now that is an interesting idea…

One of the things that Madeleine Albright said that i really valued was that it was necessary for our next President to fill the cabinet with people whose positions on issues were not identical to the president’s own… we have had enough of government by yes men and seen clearly what that produces.

[charlabob]

“However when it comes to policy “Wes Clark, Madeline Albright and Ambassador Holbrook ” are a pretty substantial lineup, don’t you think?”

Hey, I got so wrapped up in the rest of this thread that I forget who posted this (J0?) But it pretty well summarizes why this heart-broken Edwards woman is has both feet and her credit cards in the Obama camp. I don’t want a majority of retreads TO COME BACK. They’re fine as advisors — we need new blood, starting at the top. I heard some alleged progressive recommend Chuck Hegel for Secretary of State in an Obama administration. I shrieked for a full five minutes.

OTOH, I won’t support Edwards as Attorney General — I want to see him as Commerce Secretary. His name on the business card would be enough to convince the thieves of big bidness (Molly Ivins, where are you when we need you?) to be afraid. And, btw, I’m not anticapitalist at all — I’d love to see it implemented. Since the supreme court decided business was a person, in the 1800s, any vestiges of capitalism were subsumed by the oligarchs. No wonder Putin and Bush are soul brothers. I want my country back. I want my constitution back. And, to anyone who asks, I’m embarassed by how little we pay to the common good — I’m embarassed that our schools, our infant mortality rate, our … are closer to third world countries than to countries in our position.

I appreciate all of the discussion on the WSB forums–I most appreciate Ken’s research and informed postings — leaving room for my raw, ungoogled passion :-) See you-all sometime.

(K, what precinct are you in?)

[TheHouse]

JoBI am very much a fiscal conservative. The reaosn why this quiz brought me closer to liberal status was my stance on marijuana (I believe it should be leagalized despite the fact that I’ve never used it in my life…that is a fact) and my environmental views (although I do not believe that Global Warming is the major issue that it is being made out to be).

A 19 point spread is consideralble anyway.

[JoB]

House,

you do realize that colbert was a joke, don’t you?