Guard Dog

You are right about that one. The Grand Canyon & Vermillion Cliffs are definitely on my to do list. But I have been to Tucson, Saguaro National Park (which is amazing) and Kitts Peak. New Mexico is a state I'd love to visit more. All I have seen of it was along I-10.

@Hurlshot

I'm tentatively planning on taking G on a trip for her birthday. Covid may screw that up of course. It seems intent on never f----g off to wherever irrelevant viruses go once folks are basically immune. If that ever even happens. I was thinking of Spain. I've always wanted to go, I can speak the language well enough, and she has never left the US. I was thinking Seville or Barcelona. It would only be for a week so I'd rather spend it in ONE place and see all of that place rather than rush around the country trying to cram everything in. I'm leaning towards Seville though. Any suggestions?

Not unless you WANT the engine to seize.

I spent the better part of the day explaining things to idiots with money. Some things can only be stupided down so far. However, if I want the idiots to spend their money, and I've been told I do, then their questions must be answered. My patience as self restraint were a sight to see today.

Raising interest rates is the right move and it should have been done a year ago. Yes it will make credit more expensive. It will make debt a bigger burden on everyone, states and people alike. And t will slow down the economy. Which, actually, is kind of the point. It's the first step to dealing with inflation. It would be helpful if our governments would stop spending non-existent money. But that is like expecting a bad heroin addict to stop because you told them it's bad for them.

MLBPA to present counter offer during in person bargaining session today

OK that is a fair criticism. My memory is not what it used to be and I probably rely on it too much when making such an argument. But when a published news source states a thing as being categorically so you can be reasonably sure that is is. Not saying that is the case here but just that news sources, while always biased, are seldom outright false. Real news sources. Not Newsmax or Mother Jones. Besides, if I remember correctly the criticism of CRT are reports as just that. Not that "CRT is this or that". Every idea has it's detractors. But, like I also said it's a tempest in a teapot because almost no one is actually teaching it in public schools. At least in the places that are the most afraid of it anyway. It's just another boogeyman to scare people into voting one way or another. All I was saying was IF the criticisms of it are accurate then teaching it would be, in my exact words, self defeating to the ends it wants to reach. And I really don't care if it's taught or not. It's just something to talk about on the internet.

The problem with being a cop is if you are doing it well no one knows you're doing it. It's the bad ones that get all the press.

Heroic New York Police Officer Runs Out on Thin Ice to Rescue Dog Floundering in Frozen Lake – WATCH

Anonymous Shopper Buys Iconic Pantera Guitar For Young Rocker Who Always Came in the Shop to Play it

In the US all engineering disciplines start with a core set of classes that everyone takes before the classes of whatever discipline they picked. Statics, Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Strength of Materials 1 & 2, and a programming language. For me that was Fortan so that tells you how old I am. Calculus 1 & 2 and Differential Equations are a prerequisite for all of them. And you will not get past them without that knowledge. And it only gets more in depth from there. I have a BSEE and my specialty in antenna design and RF network design. Fourier transforms are a big part of my profession and if you don't know integrals and diff eq you can not do my job. What you said, suggesting that higher math is some kind of gatekeeper holding kids down it way off the mark IMO. I wouldn't go so far as to suggest everyone be made to take it. There is no benefit in that. especially if their career plans don't need it. But if they do not the doors to STEM will be forever closed to them. And they definitely should be.

In my case that some people is The NY Post, Brookings, The Nashville Tennessean AND the Commercial Appeal (neither if which is "right wing") and other places of the like. The theory DOES have detractors other than angry parents, Republican politicians, and nutjobs wearing Viking helmets and painted faces running through the halls of the capital. Personally I do not give a f--k about it. Teach it in college. Teach it in kindergarten. Do. Not Care. When multiple informed sources I find credible (meaning not the types I listed) make the same observations I figure there is at least a grain of truth in them. I have less than zero interest in actually learning the details so I'll take the word of credible sources and rephrase my comment thusly: If the criticisms of CRT that have been reported in multiple media outlets that I personally find credible are true then I do not think that history should be over dramatized and I definitely do NOT think anyone alive today owes anyone else an apology for deeds done by people long dead. Nor do I think it's healthy to tell people they are victims and it's all stacked against them. Better? I'm sure the CRT program makes for interesting reading but right now all my time is dedicated to resolving non-linear interactions caused by slit diffraction on the cheap chinese antennas this company wasted it's capital on.

I don't know, or care, enough about it to formulate an informed opinion of CRT as a teaching program. If I had kids in school I guess I would care. Or if I actually gave a damn about the future of this society after I've shuffled off this mortal coil. I do absolutely think the inequalities and terrible treatment of our fellow humans both by individuals and systems of governance should be taught in full and brutal detail with no sensibilities spared. The whole "Lost Cause" alternative history of the Civil War is rooted in sparing the feelings of people alive to today by finding virtue someplace there was little to be had. People who believe it are basically good and grab onto it because they do not want to believe their ancestors were not. But at the same time I do not think that history should be over dramatized and I definitely do NOT think anyone alive today owes anyone else an apology for deeds done by people long dead. Nor do I think it's healthy to tell people they are victims and it's all stacked against them. All of these criticisms have been made of CRT.

Added to my "to do" list. I've read Longstreet's memoirs of the Mexican war but not much else. I have read a great deal about post-civil war American history. Very little about anything in the Revolution to Civil War period.

I repaired a barn heater for one of G's patients Monday. It wasn't a big deal. It took 30 minutes. They wanted to pay me but I refused. Yesterday they brought us a big sweet potato pie to say thanks. I consider myself well compensated for the time!

CRT has become one of those things that seems to mean different things to different people. I mean it is a thing and it does have an objective definition. But like most bogeymen it takes on different meanings to different folks. I tend to think of the way it addresses historical inequality as well meaning but also self defeating. Just my $.02 Personally I'm far more put off by the way they are teaching math these days. They are taking very simple operations like multiplication and division and making them complex by using numberline construction rather than just simple memorization. It's convoluted and IMO will make more advanced concepts in algebra harder to do. But, that is just my opinion. I don't have kids. Never going to. And I already know how to do advanced math so I don't really care. Plus it could just me viewing it through the vanity of my own knowledge. After all if I know how to do it then the way I learned to do must be the only way right?

That is a good idea

I was reading a synopsis pm a new book for the Army War College: Battle Tested!: Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders. It goes into excruciating depth of the decisions of senior officers during the battle. Heck I can sum it up in five points without even reading it! Don't attack a numerically superior force on defensible ground Underachievers maker terrible subordinates (Ewell) Overachievers make wonderful subordinates (Chamberlain) If your enemy is making a mistake. do NOT stop him. If it didn't work yesterday and it didn't work today it's not going to work tomorrow!

God forbid! It's far easier to be angry than informed! I've never read Native Son. It's been on my to-do list for decades.

MLB lockout: New proposal leaves locked-out players underwhelmed Strike one One of the big hang ups appears to be the PA wanting to stop "tanking". Teams deliberately sucking to get better draft position. Kudos to them on that count. If you are a Baltimore Orioles fan why even watch the past two seasons? The problem with tanking is it works. Just as the Astros, Rays and, in a season or two, the Marlins. One way they might want to go is a "minimum salary cap". This might boost payrolls but it won't disincentivize cellar dwelling. A draft lottery isn't a terrible idea and that is what they are looking at now. But it hasn't prevented tanking in the NBA so it likely won't help. But there is an idea I just LOVE. At the end of the regular season rank all teams by runs scored. Eliminate the playoff teams and take the top six to eight remaining clubs and THAT is your draft order. That system does not punish losses and it does not reward wins. It rewards SCORING. That is what the MLB says they want. More action on the field. Teams are managed from a standpoint of risk aversion. Managers are afraid of squeeze plays, hit and runs, etc. They prefer the tried and true bloop, bunt, blast sequence. But more often than not it goes bloop, bunt, strikeout. And it isn't interesting to watch. Baseball has always been about scoring runs, not power and exit velocity. Tweaking the rules like they do every season isn't helping and it's bastardizing the game. Incentivize teams to score runs might well be the cure all.

Never heard of Dear Martin. I read the description on Amazon. It likely has some value as a teaching tool over Mockingbird since it's actually told from the perspective of the person who suffered an injustice rather than a witness to it. Bur, in my biased (no pun intended LOL) Mockingbird is probably a much better read. Likely a much harder read.

The problem that makes it unbelievable is using the terms "GOP" and "plan" in the same sentence without a negative qualifier. I kid. I'm actually beginning to agree with you on this the more I learn about what went on behind the scenes. It does not make we like or respect the Democrats any more. It just makes me hate the Republicans more. To tell you the truth I didn't think any more water could be drained from that pond but here we are.