Small town life . . . enough to make a shy, bald Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder
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Ask Questions for God
at the Blue Pyramid.
| PARENTAL |
| ADVISORY |
| CEMETERYGATES CONTAINS EXPLICIT LYRICS |
visited *loading* times
Geniuses for Bush
Study shows correlation between IQ and folks' candidate preferences.
'The consensus: the higher the IQ, the less people trust Bush and respect the job his administration has done. The lower the IQ, the more people admire his steadfastness. "It was pretty much a slam dunk. There's no nice way to say this. Dumb people like him. They think his unwavering nature is a positive personality trait. They even venerate him for never admitting mistakes, even when he's wrong. On the other hand, smart people think he's a lying bully.'
Dear God!
"Nearly two-thirds of 2004's graduating high school seniors now enrolled in Houston-area community colleges are taking remedial classes because they weren't prepared for college."
and
"Some students in area community colleges need up to 1 1/2 years of remedial math just to catch up."
This is for community college. Our tax dollars at work funding babysitting high school for teenagers.
Strange bedfellows
Sometimes being a homeschooler is just very strange. I started realizing that even earlier, actually, when we were doing homebirth, then homeraising little kids, then homeschooling. The thing is, if you are interested in keeping government separate from family life, you soon see that you aren't that different from a lot of folks on the far right (without a God, of course). And working with them can be strategically effective as long as boundaries are clear.
Greg Bates (homeschooling parent) talks about Nader, his Republican supporters, and their motives, here.
"A closer look reveals a more complex picture. I believe Republicans are doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. They are promoting candidate access and voter choice-a fundamental precept of democracy-for what we consider the wrong reasons, to try and split our vote. But if we really believe voter choice is paramount, as I do, and that efforts at persuasion should be a dialog between voters, not an attempt to limit voter choice, then it doesn't matter who helps someone get on the ballot. The principle of voter choice rules."
Out of the mouth of . . .
We have lived in this small town with 1 main street, no traffic light, and only a few stop signs for 10 years. We moved here a couple of months before Solvij was born. Today she and I were driving to Eureka. She asked, "are you sure you know the way out of town?"
It was strange
to hear my son say "back in the 20th century."
Reason to go to the polls
Guilty
RNC admits it sent out mailers warning that liberals will ban the Bible and promote same-sex marriage. How shocking.
Bored with your job?
Maybe it's time for a career change.
Holy Cross
A woman was killed Wednesday when a nearly 7-foot-tall metal crucifix fell on her head in a small town in southern Italy, police said.
Frank and Ernest
go classical. Via Rogue Classicism.
My dream
No, not for the future or anything profound like that. Last night I dreamed I was wrestling an Amish sociology professor to see who could use the computer first.
Free people read freely
It's time for Banned Books Week, September 25-October 2. Banned and challenged books, that is. And I love that their logo features Captain Underpants, one of my favorite heroes.
Banning The Book
Did the RNC send out campaign literature warning about how liberals will ban the Bible?
'The literature shows a Bible with the word "BANNED" across it and a photo of a man, on his knees, placing a ring on the hand of another man with the word "ALLOWED." The mailing tells West Virginians to "vote Republican to protect our families" and defeat the "liberal agenda."'
Via bellatrys.
Annoying customer of the day
"I have this really bad infection. See?"
Baby Jesus
Have you accepted him?
I didn't know
How could I not have known this? That Brandon Cruz (Dead Kennedys and Dr. Know) played Eddie Corbett on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. This I like:
"In the late 1970s, Cruz became interested in punk music after his grandmother bought him the first Sex Pistols album."
Go granny.
Small town life
I was at the incorrigible neatniks' house today. There is a closet where they store all the towels and cleaning supplies. I saw a little sign taped to the door that said "LEAVE OPEN!" I took out the things I needed, left the door the way I found it (slightly open), and went to work. When I passed the door again the sign had been updated. Under "LEAVE OPEN" one of them had written "2 inches."
Arise sheep
and watch this.
Atheists beware!
Watch out for Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter. Jesus goes after lesbian vampires who steal skins so they can go outside during the day. But he is also is attacked by atheists and fights them off with his martial arts moves. You can see this part on the site.
Illumination
I bought new lightbulbs today. I got to say, "let there be light."
God's sores!
The quantum sleeper. A bulletproof bed with biochemical air filtration, toileting system, motion detectors, emergency communication system. But wait! Since you want to have fun while you're locked inside, you can also get a CD player, or DVD with PC hookup, microwave, or fridge. Not for the claustrophibic, just the xenophobic.
I may as well just die
I went out nursery-hopping with some friends, all over-70-year-olds. We stopped at HomeTown Buffet for lunch. They all had senior discount cards that they used to order their meals. When it was my turn, the cashier asked me if I wanted a regular meal or a senior meal. I thought about telling her I forgot my senior card and asking if I could still get the discount, but I didn't.
I did buy this and this and this (or something pretty much like it).
Ambrose Bierce
A MAN was hanged by the neck until he was dead.
"Whence do you come?" Saint Peter asked when the Man presented himself at the gate of Heaven.
"From California," replied the applicant.
read the rest here. Want more? That means you bitter cynics.
Music
At Downhill Battle, an interview with Thievery Corporation.
"It's like with Britney Spears. People don't love Britney Spears because she's great, it's just because they hear her all god-damned day long. And eventually it's like, wow, that song's not that bad!"
Weebl and Bob
meet Tom Waits. Louis Meaton hambag.
Requiescat in pace
Small town life
Last weekend was Bargain Hunter's Weekend here--a giant garage sale event. The weirdest thing I saw: one family had mostly vases and baskets from the florist, and things like Cool Whip and margarine tubs. But they also had those deli trays you get at the supermarket, all nicely washed and stacked. I've never seen that before. Grossest thing I saw: a partially used box of Nix lice treatment.
Oh Canada
Hey, I didn't know stuff like this happened in Canada.
The unexpected performances came from guests at the Westin hotel across the street from the convention centre where federal-provincial talks were being held.
The spectacle began in the morning when a woman appeared topless at a window in the hotel.
Another woman came to her window on the seventh floor several times wearing only a bra and black-thong underwear. Cheers went up from some in the crowd below at each of her appearances.
We're big
Police in the western German city of Aachen are searching for an obese couple who have been sneaking into an apartment building to use a woman's private dryer.
The only evidence police found was an oversized XXL bra and a jumbo pair of men's underpants left behind in the dryer.
Annoying customer of the day
Earl Grey latte. Need I say more?
9-11 Commission Report
If you can't access a hard copy at your library (there's a waiting list here), read it on-line.
Reads
Chapter Ones at the Houston Chronicle.
The mistress rants
Searching through Mistress Krista's rants, I found this gem:
As I walked out of an icy parking lot one day, a woman in front of me balanced precipitously on tiny points, clinging to her male partner for verticality. He protested gently at being required to support most of her bodyweight because of her choice of shoes. She shrugged and giggled. "I'm a woman," she said, "that's how it is." I'm a woman, I thought, and I want to throw up.
Me too.
Reality check
I went to clean a client's house yesterday. He's 86 and blind. He told me that he was going to go with his wife to her doctor's appointment while I was there because she didn't want the two of us to be alone together. I'd give him an A for persistence, and an F for realism (there's just something about the Depends factor . . .). It's a good thing he couldn't see the eyerolling both his wife and I did.
Reading between the lines
This Village Voice article by Paul Collins is about how to read the NEA's Reading at Risk report. He says what a lot of people have been saying about what materials we are reading and how the NEA ranks the relevance of what we read. He also addresses how the NEA gathered its stats.
'No matter. While Reading at Risk's moral inspiration is obviously William Bennett, its statistical conclusions are pure Rufus T. Firefly. "At the current rate of loss," the report yells, "literary reading as a leisure activity will virtually disappear in half a century."'
Gym rats
are everywhere, but the place I go has a gym cat. He actually lives somewhere in the neighborhood and comes in when the doors are open in the summer. He is one of the biggest cats I have ever seen and not at all fat, so it's perfect that he hangs out at the gym.
Small town life
I realize this probably happens everywhere, actually, but it seems worse somehow in a small town where you know everyone. Women at the gym really look bad when they have to keep pulling their low-rider shorts back up over their asses after bending forward. It's even worse when they have to dig deep to pull said shorts out of their asses after something like squats.
Do I look OK?
After a trip to the Dollar Store, my daughter (13) asked if her new purchases looked okay together. A pair of cat's ears on a headband, a cat's tail that pins onto your clothes, and new black-rimmed sunglasses. Simply divine!
Do I look OK?
Cosmetics and girls (little girls) from the Guardian.
"Mintel, one of the UK's leading consumer research organisations, which carried out the survey, draws the controversial conclusion from its results that cosmetic companies could go much further in their drive to entice young girls to buy their products. Firms should place vending machines for their products in schools and cinemas to target teenage consumers, Mintel says."
Labor Day
1894. Shoot some Pullman strikers, stamp out unions, then give workers Labor Day.
Public school - where the human mind is drilled and manupulated into submission to various social and moral spooks, and thus fitted to continue our system of exploitation and oppression.
Labor Day
Every daring attempt to make a great change in existing conditions, every lofty vision of new possibilities for the human race, has been labeled Utopian. --Emma Goldman
Shout it out
A retired teacher talks about what would happen if we got rid of public education:
The answer is simple: raise them and educate them and pay the local community to provide sports and musical and artistic activities. Opportunities already exist in many locales. Do without the possessions you don't need in order to afford them. I guarantee your kids will visit you when you're salted away in a retirement home.
Children are born with a love of learning through doing and reading. Unfortunately, our education system requires kids to learn to read, remember history, and do math in a mass environment controlled by educrats. Classic masterpieces from The Call of the Wild through MacBeth are hard to appreciate when the accepted goal of kids in a classroom is to impress one another through inappropriate behavior. Ninety percent or more of social skills learned in school are intrusive.
And this is in Pennsylvania, with its crap home ed laws. Via Cobranchi.
Amazing!
I never heard they had home pregnancy tests at the Dollar Store until someone mentioned it to me.I didn't really believe it, so I googled it. And also found out about home pregnancy test addiction.
"The next day, after lying to my husband and telling him that I needed to run and get some shampoo, I was back at the dollar store for more. I bought five this time, figuring that if I ran one a day I would have enough to last until 12 days after ovulation. I always get a positive by 11 days after ovulation so I had enough to see if I had a baby in me this cycle. Two days later I had used them all up and was back at the store needing more shampoo. I bought another five tests. I was now 10 days after ovulation. Five more would last me until my next cycle started, which I hoped wouldn't come."
Getting a jump on Sunday
From the mouth of a kid
Old people are cold all the time because they are so close to death.
Nickname
In honor of the first known instance EVER, I mean in the entire history of humans, of a MAN saying he didn't want to "build big muscles, but just tone," I've decided that Mr. T from work (not the real Mr. T, obviously), will now be called "Tone Bunny."
Annoy me
and order a dry cappuccino over ice with foam. So the ice melts when the espresso hits it, leaving you with a watery, foamy cup of yuck. Wait, don't tell me, you invented this drink yourself!
Question of the day
From the ever-strange Solvij, almost 10.
If you were a beef cow would you rather eat a lot and then get slaughtered or starve yourself and try to avoid being slaughtered?
Reading
I've been reading A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss and really enjoying it. A mystery set in the18th century about finance, Jews, gangs, thievery, and pugilism (in no particular order).
"Our family has been engaged in finance among the Dutch for a number of years now: but it is new to the English, and many see it as very dangerous, a replacement of the glory of the past with a new and honorless greed. Much of it is fantasy, naturally. It is always so when men remember the past and use it to condemn the present."
Small town life
On my walk today I passed a field with some young cows in it. They were all gathered on one side and when I got closer I saw that they were examining a McDonald's bag that had blown into the field. They were milk cows, but it was still funny.
