third world county – Page 400 – "In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."

February 1, 2007

T-13, 1.16: Thirteen Things About Snow

Well, after the ice storm that took America’s Third World County down a coupla weeks ago, I knew winter had well and truly arrived, but yesterday was quiet, constant reminder: all day (and apparently well into and through the night) snow.

So, what about snow?

1. It does not come down silently. The rush of flakes dropping on cover already laid down is an especially interesting sound.

2. The old saw about no two snowflakes being alike? Really? Who’s examined every snowflake? Until someone has done that (a plainly impossible task, since no one’s going back in time to examine all the snowflakes that ever were, let alone last long enough to examine all the snowflakes that ever will be), let’s just take that lil piece of pompous “wisdom” with a grain of salt, OK?

3. But all right, I’ll give the mechanistic folks a bye on the color of snow. Ignore all that white you see (the reflection of nearly every color in the visible spectrum for humans). Snow is really made up of transparent crystals. Snow just looks white to you and me because, despite the fact that snowflakes are transparent crystals, because we can’t see through those transparent crystals. (Making sense yet?)

4. The Boys (our son’s dogs) hate it while it’s coming down but love it once it’s on the ground. Go figure.

5. Some folks like strapping long narrow things on their feet and playing “collect multiple injuries” in semi-controlled falls down long snow-covered mountain faces. Takes all kinds. (X-country skiers are masochists of a different kind. My kind. Once upon a time, that is. “Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away… ” :-))

6. Most Third World County drivers apparently have NO idea how to handle driving on snow (or ice). Seriously. See one coming? Your best bet is to duck for cover. Seriously. *heh* Especially the bubbas who think 4WD trucks (usually with empty beds, for a nice UNeven weight distribution) can just drive full speed ahead on snow laid over ice. Again, takes all kinds.

7. Shoveling snow can too be fun. (Repeat this mantra until your driveway is clear, then repent your lie while warming up with some hot cocoa in a long hot soak.)

8. Kids canNOT leave snow alone. They have to *shudder* play in it! That one fact alone is the separator between childhood and adulthood. *heh* (Note: adults can play in snow, but cannot be compelled by childish urges to do so. Can’t resist the urge? Grow up.)

9. The best thing about snow? When there’s enough of it to give my Wonder Woman a snow day.

10. I can recall the time when “snow ice cream” became a no-no. Yeh, during all the scare about fallout from nuclear bomb testing in the 50s.

11. Fun to watch the tracks of small animals accumulate on an expanse of freshly fallen snow and attempt to decipher them.

12. Snowmen? I don’t need no stinking snowmen. Yeh. yeh, made some with the kids when they were young. Even made a few when I was a kid. BTDT. I’ll probably have to do the same some day with grandchildren, if I can make my old bones do that sort of thing by then. But right now? Frosty can take a hike.

13. TANSTAFL. Snow days have to be made up eventually.

Linked to the Thursday Thirteen Hub and The Trouble With Angels Wednesday OTA and

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Faultline USA, A Blog For All, stikNstein… has no mercy, Right Truth, Big Dog’s Weblog, basil’s blog, Stuck On Stupid, Common Folk Using Common Sense, The Pink Flamingo, The Bullwinkle Blog, Jo’s Cafe, Maggie’s Notebook | Conservative Blog, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

January 31, 2007January 31, 2007

You Do the Math/OTA Day

Yeh, a linkfest, but first: can your kids do simple (really simple) math?

A people who cannot do math are easily fooled by false statistics and prone to falling prey to fallacious arguments. Simple arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) form the foundation for learning how to use numbers with understanding. Heck, simple arithmetic like that demonstrated in the video below is useful in everyday life, because we always have the calculator that’s located between our ears, and facility with numbers can often be faster and easier for on-the-spot calculations than dragging out an electronic calculator when doing price comparisons while shopping, figuring board feet at the lumber yard, etc.

But “educators” (specifically NOT teachers) have managed once again (remember “new math” anyone?) to make simple arithmetic complex enough to ensure failure. (But surely all those “smart” people in schools of education know what they are doing? Surely?)

Watch the video and then check to see what textbook is used in your school district, and what it teaches. I know what’s being used in our local district, and once again the unholy alliance of local school administrators, remote educrats and schools of education have managed to frustrate teachers and students in the pursuit of learning here in America’s Third World CountyÃ¢â€žÂ¢.

When you stop throwing things, get out there and find out what your local schools are teaching. Make some noise if it is “misundereducating” the youth of your community, cos those are future voters and workers, folks.

Want to make more noise? Go here. It’s mentioned in the video above, but what the heck, I’m a reasonably full-service kinda guy.

Once again a h.t. to a contributor at Chaos Manor Musings.

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Right Pundits, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Random Yak, Adam’s Blog, Big Dog’s Weblog, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Cao’s Blog, Conservative Cat, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Renaissance Blogger, Planck’s Constant, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Continue reading “You Do the Math/OTA Day”

January 30, 2007January 30, 2007

Listing to Starboard

Sure, it’s a linkfest, but before we get to that, the content indicated by the pun in the title…

The List:

Orson Scott Card, a semi-classical liberal Democrat (meaning not really classical liberal, but leaning that way; a kinda Roosevelt/Truman “liberal”) has another serious essay on the Iraq war worth your time. Being Orson Scott Card must be fun. A strange critter: Semi-classical liberal Democrat; right most of the time. As in

Keep in mind that most of the country of Iraq is functioning surprisingly well, despite the forays of terrorists into Shiite-majority and Kurdish-majority areas. The economy of most of Iraq is doing better than it ever was under Saddam; the people are far more free and, for the Shiites and Kurds at least, safer than before.

I missed this article by Jonah Goldberg, cos it was right around the time of The Great Third World County Ice-out. He cites de Toqueville and takes off from there essentially touching on Samuel Francis’ term “anarcho-tyranny” without actually mentioning the term. Example:

…We ban using trans fats for millions but flinch at the idea that some kid might have to endure the Pledge of Allegiance or a moment of silence in school if it conflicts with his conscience. Everyone must surrender his shoes, his regular-sized toothpaste and shampoo at the airport, but we man the barricades to protect a few young Muslim men from being inconvenienced for an extra five minutes at the airport.

Linkfested in earlier, this post from Pirate’s Cove deserves to be highlighted. As an example of anarcho-tyranny, the persecution (and prosecution and conviction) of two Border Patrol agents for doing their job stands out head and shoulders above the crowd of government misbehavior in recent months (including even the misbehavior by the prosecutor in the Duke rape case). Shame on the “Justice” Department for proceding with the persecution. Shame on U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton for ginning up the phony charges. Shame on the jury for being so stupid as to convict these two Border patrol agents for doing their job. And shame on President Bush for not getting off Vicente Fox’s lap long enough to pardon these guys.

*sheesh*

Read these three ¹ ² ³ WSJ articles by Charles Murray on education in America. No, really. READ them! Lil tickle from the first one: “Half of all children are below average, and teachers can do only so much for them.”

It’s hard to argue rationally against someone who’s actually done the politically incorrect real science on a subject and is able to make general applications sensibly. (Yes, Charles Murray wrote The Bell Curve. Have you read it?)

More anarcho-tyranny.

“Power corrupts. The ability to arrest and imprison another human being is an immense power that is held in bounds by principles based on common sense and common decency.”

Or not:

Why was the boy pursued so zealously? Jeanne calls it “a witch hunt” fueled by two factors: Thomas campaigned for office on a promise of being tough on sex offenders; and, he needs a high conviction rate in that area.

The real answer, however, may be the one MattÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s attorney reportedly received when he asked the County AttorneyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s office, “Why are you doing this?”

According to Jeanne, he answered, “Because we can.”

16-year-old boy pursued as a sex offender for… being a (typically hormone-driven stupid) 16-year-old boy. Shades of Duke.

Lastly, just cos I want to, a link to a very short piece on Lincoln, in the spirit of this comment by Jerry Pournelle:

You can prove anything if you make up your data. You can draw any lessons you like from history if you ignore all the inconvenient historical facts. You may learn from good history but you learn little from bad history.

The article says nothing new or surprising (at least to folks who actually read a little history instead of the fluff that’s taught in schools), but it does nicely put paid to “The Great Emancipator” meme.

As Toynbee famouslysaid, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Of course, he said many other things nearly as pithy about history. :-))

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January 29, 2007January 29, 2007

READ THIS!/Linkfest

Yeh, yeh, this is a linkfest, but as usual, it includes some of my ranting, observations and other “just stuff” that THIS time happen to be of more than usual importance, IMO.

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Read the quote in the header of this blog. Now, consider this comment by Jerry Pournelle, one of those (OK, many :-)) guys who’s a lot smarter than I (or you, for that matter) who has also given some thought to what’s happening in education, government and society in general… and who is usually, IMO, pretty much on target.

Do note that under the court imposed “equality” system of school financing, schools are paid by the state for students who attend. Disciplinary action that results in lower attendance cuts the amount of money the school gets. The result is that particularly in the inner city there is often no discipline, thus no one learns; the equality is equality in misery and incompetence. Under the old system in which local school districts set school taxes and controlled the schools there was at least a chance of discipline and learning. The liberals meant well when they forced the changes in financing. They certainly meant well. They could not possible have wanted to destroy public schools so that wealthy people (like lawyers and judges) could give their kids enormous advantages by sending them to private schools while other children get a primary hamper by being sent to public schools where there is no discipline and thus not a lot of learning. They couldn’t possibly have intended that result. But if they had intended it, would there be a better way to accomplish it than what the courts have imposed on the nation?

Lousy schools. Open borders. Structural reasons for not having school discipline. Free Trade. All well intentioned. The results weren’t intended. Were they?

Go ahead and read the rest of Pournelle’s mini-essay (and the email that spurred it). My experience on the inside, my Wonder Woman’s experience and that of many pubschool teachers (and retired pubschool teachers) in my family and extended family results in a strong resonance with Pournelle’s thoughts.

Let me just add a soupÃƒÂ§on of my own thought to Dr. Pournelle’s comments.

Consider remote educrats and politicians and their effects upon education (and the resultant harm to the electorate, society at large and the security of these sorta-United States). Take Congress, for example (please!). Congress is constitutionally responsible for administering the District of Columbia. Considering the school system in D.C., easily among the worst if not actually THE worst school district in the U.S., the buck stops at Congress’ feet.

Ever wonder how many congresscritters send THEIR children to D.C. public schools? The Heritage Foundation noted in 2003 that

While only 10 percent of American students attend private schools, 41 percent of Representatives and 46 percent of Senators responded that they had sent children to private school…

Ah, but here’s the thing: I have been unable to discover how many of those congresscritters who do send their children to public schools send them to D.C. public schools… I’m willing to wager the number is almost vanishingly small, eh? After all, who would want to send a child to a school in a system where, “…only sixteen percent of DC school children [are] reading and able to do arithmetic at levels expected for their grade”? Certainly not congresscritters, who can easily afford to live outside the leprous boundaries of the nation’s capitol with its execreble education system… for which congresscritters themselves are responsible.

So, when Pournelle asks, “Lousy schools… Structural reasons for not having school discipline… All well intentioned. The results weren’t intended. Were they?” I do wonder, Were they? Unintended, that is. After all, aren’t the best a brightest calling themselves to serve us as political elite? And aren’t the teachers of education in schools of education intelligent and well able to see the results of their tinkerings?

To listen to these peacocks preen, one would think they are smart enough and wise enough to at least see and recognize the results of their disaterous policies, right?

If these folks are as smart and capable as they want us all to believe, then they are the witting perpetrators of enormous wrong upon society and should all be treated to a party hosted by Dr. Tarr and Mr. Fether.

If they are as stupid as their policies and theories, then they should be removed from their positions of influence and retrained for menial tasks like hand picking undesired weeds from raw sewage treatment ponds and breaking rocks by hand (OK, some tools allowed under close supervision).

Just a thought.

If you bring the tar, I’ll bring the feathers.

Trackposted to Right Pundits, Perri Nelson’s Website, The HILL Chronicles, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Cat, and basil’s blog, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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