Hurlshort

I'm looking forward to Woldan reaching the age of 30. Everything changes then. EVERYTHING.

Uh, the ball is in mid air at the end of that clip. He definitely bobbled it. That being said, he regained full control quickly and I still think the rule is stupid. Amazing catches should be encouraged, not overturned on every small movement of the ball.

I did just pay $65 for half a unit the other day, which seemed pricey. But hey, I'm only a half unit away from the final step on my salary schedule, so it will be worth it.

I sent that dirty rotten scoundrel a message as well.

While checking on this, I noticed that we have over 9,000 troops in Kuwait. Wow! We also have 11k in Italy.

Glad you are doing alright Ros, that is terribly scary stuff. Sending my best wishes to you.

I'm no expert on community colleges, other than poaching a few classes from them to round out my degree and credentials, I spent most of my time at a state university, and there is little similarity between K-12 public schools and them. I assume they all run like they do in the TV documentary Community. I do agree this is more of a PR stunt than anything substantial, they are already very affordable. As I said originally, I'll perk up when they figure out how to lower tuition at 4 year schools. In terms of quality, I have a ton of Community Colleges around me and they vary dramatically in what they offer. De Anza sits next to the Apple campus and is immensely popular and highly regarded, while a few are run down and shoddy. But with education I keep saying it is more what the student does with it than anything else. A motivated student can turn that community college experience into a marketable skillset, but a slacker is simply going to get a few more years of carrying around a backpack and playing hackey sack in a quad.

I remember the last textbook adoption I went through (10 years ago!) California could only get three publishers to meet their standards. So our choices were slim. We actually ended up going with a small publisher that was based in California instead of one of the other two big ones.

I remember being surprised that I liked the first film as much as I did. Not that it was awesome, but it was sorta cute in places and a bit less of that certain humor style I dislike than I thought it have. I never really watched the show (maybe saw a few episodes), but I remember when it was a thing ... all the ads, all the Depp swooning. But the first one was enough. Not interested in a 2nd movie. But this one brings back Richard Grieco!

I'd really like them to expand on the whole map, really. It's pretty small in scope.

I loved Banner Saga, but I do need to try Consortium.

Massive Chalice is pretty great. Not really much in terms of strategic fighting, but the lineage stuff is perfect. It does seem like a pretty small game in scope, I wonder if they will expand it?

It was so bad it got funny. Huh? Actually I do wonder if these movies would really have the same impact with people who didn't grow up watching the TV show. The best bits are the lampooning of the classic stuff from the show.

I finally broke down and bought a new laptop after fighting my old one for the last couple months. The power jack is not working well. I've replaced it once before, two years ago, and now it is bad again. I already opened it up to see if there was anything I could do, but it doesn't have any loose wires or anything obvious. Most likely the whole port needs to be replaced, and I'm not comfortable removing it and welding on a new one. I could take it back to a shop, but they'll charge me at least $100 for that. Given that it is already struggling to meet the requirements of new games, I figure it isn't worth putting more money into it. I got an MSI laptop that looks decent, has the GTX870M in it so it should get me through a few more years.

Please show me a textbook from the 50s that says Africa never had it's own civilizations. I've got an encyclopedia from the 50s sitting a room away that's got all sorts of information on African civilizations. Vals stop nitpicking, he isn't being literal I was being a bit glib, but I am curious what your encyclopedia says about Great Zimbabwe. I have a few older encyclopedias at work, I'll check them on Monday.

I'm pretty sure we have a racoon under the house too, he's been driving the dog nuts. I know we had a cat under there for awhile, and before that we had a short stay from a skunk. Yay for crawl spaces.

Wow, Africa not having their own civilizations is like something out of a textbook from the 50's. It's incredibly false.

22 Jump Street - I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. They somehow went above the hilarious original.

I just picked up Massive Chalice, it was 25% off on Steam. It sounds like a great concept, it will be interesting if they can pull it off. I'm still a bit sore about Spacebase, but I'll give Double Fine another chance since they've done some good stuff.

Injury? Drug taking for the pain? Drugs would be my guess, sadly.

I was driving home from the hockey rink today, and saw someone I knew panhandling on the median. This guy was playing minor league hockey last year. Now they don't make much at the level he was playing, but he is still a young guy in good shape, I would think he would have better options than begging on the side of the road. I was shocked. I would imagine there is more to the story.

Multiculturalism and tolerance don't create ghettos, struggling economies do.

Here is the actual standards: http://www.corestandards.org/ As for the algebra thing that sorophx, brought up, it is false. My school has already adopted the standards. It is also part of our mission statement to have all students take algebra by 8th grade, there is no conflict there. Some of our students are taking Geometry by 8th grade. Common core is not forcing students to work at a lower level than they are capable of (or rather it isn't making it worse than it already is.) When I can't challenge my high level students, it has a lot more to do with the 36 students in each class than any of the curriculum or standards. This is probably the most telling part: So all this fearmongering about brainwashing by the government is ridiculous. As I've said, there are plenty of legitimate complaints about Common Core, but most of what is being bandied about the media is false. Education reform is a big business, pumping out a new program is profitable. You should see all the junk mail I get on Common Core.

http://www.newsweek.com/koran-does-not-forbid-images-prophet-298298 This was an interesting read about the historical aspect of not portraying the Prophet. It really just adds to the idea that terrorists are full of bollocks when it comes to understanding Islam.

The crazy part about those inner city schools is that there are a number of students who feel safer there than they do at home. When we get closer to winter or summer break, they start acting out. A few would even rather be in Juvenile Hall than spend two months at home. As for the good parents pulling their kids out of all the public schools, I completely disagree. Those parents are often more concerned with controlling their children and limiting exposure to different ideas. Considering how often Val talks about brainwashing, he seems quick to support people who wrap their children in a protective bubble. As a public educator, I don't have time to brainwash these kids, there are too many of them and I have too much stuff to cover. It is really up to the individual student to make what they will of a public school education. I just throw a bunch of tools on the table and let them build what they will. Clearly I am simplifying a very complex process that goes on over the course of a school year, but that isn't far from the mark.