This is why the Politicians were at the school I was subbing at yesterday 01/31/2006 Pataki unveils education initiative at Troy School 12 By: Robert Cristo , The Record TROY - Gov. George Pataki visited School 12 Monday to unveil an initiative focused on preparing youngsters for the high-tech jobs of the future and giving their parents a little extra cash to invest in their children's education. Pataki joined state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Troy school district leaders and about 50 elementary school pupils to highlight his new executive budget proposals that include reforms in math and science and provides parents with a refundable education tax credit of up to $500 per child. If approved as part of Pataki's $634 million state school aid increase, the two-pronged initiative would help defray the cost of education-related spending for parents and provide programs to better prepare students for careers in math, science and engineering fields. Pataki contends that the ...
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Ok that was just weird. I walked into Radio Shack 20 min late today as I had lost track of time at home. The day had been very slow apparently as the store had about 495 in for the whole day. In one half of one hour, in just two sales, I sold a $200 i-Pod Nano and a $350 Cingular Motorola Razr. Not back for a half hour of work. Not sure how popular I am though with the girl who has been here for Four hours and has 175 in sales..... more later, which in blogger is earlier i.e. above this post.
Few Odds and Ends Our son is recovering just nicely from his ordeal on Friday. Still a bit sore but is happy to be out of Gym for a week. L took him to the urologist this morning and agrees that this Dr. is a rare one, someone we really like. NY State Senator Bruno appeared for some reason I still don't know of at the school I was substitute teaching at today. I got a quick cam pic of him which I will put over on FlickR. Subbing today with a Student teacher so I got some time to read the NYT Sunday Week in Review. Perusing the OP Ed section I was struck by the similarity of some of the pieces regarding the victory of Hamas in Palestine to my own piece (see below). I say this because I did write the piece (below) before I read the Sunday Times. Sunday night was a two hour meeting from 7:30 to 9:30 for a new Radio Shack Pay Plan. Total impact on my earnings, slim and none, by my best estimate. So two hours wasted. I really do love Radio Shack and the DM is a great guy, but he...
Be careful what you wish for. I suppose what bugs me the most about the neo-cons is their seemingly unending idealism that has no basis in world reality. Gentle reader I am sure you can come up with many of your own examples, but mine today could be entitled "careful what you ask for". The victory of Hammas should come as no surprise to anyone even remotely familiar with the modern Middle East. That it comes as a surprise to this administration is appalling. Same can be said for the present leadership in Iraq. Their problem is that their line of thinking has been wrong from the start. We were not welcomed with open arms in Iran. Our war has turned many fence sitting arabs to being anti-American. Therefore any group even remotely associated with American interest is immediately less popular. Second is Hammas itself. While never denying it is a terrorist organization, they have been providing social services, education, housing and assistance to not only Palestinians but Syrian...
Don't read this if you get queasy about medical stuff I got a call a call from our son Friday around 930, I was substitute teaching at the time, telling me that he was in the nurses office and not feeling well in his groin region. This area is of some concern for men from my Mom's side of the family due to a relatively harmless genetic anomaly which I won't go into detail about. Broadly speaking it can cause what's called testicular torsion, I experienced it as an adolescent as did some of the other men on that side of the family. We had spoken to our son about the possibility earlier this year in the presence of his Doctor so he understood that though it was embarrassing, it needed to be paid attention to. So I bolted from work and picked him up from school and took him to the emergency room. Lucky for us it was not full so we got in early, but ended up staying for nearly four hours. Turns out the chances of testicular torsion in this case was not provable. It might...
The Friday Five 1. First time you cooked for someone else? Gave cooking a try for my family when I was in Jr. High School. If I remember I cooked stuffed zucchini from scratch and impressed everyone. 2. First time you threw up in someone else's toilet? That would have to be in college, some dorm bathroom after too much Rum. 3. First time you did anything illegal? Pretty tame, literally the first time I had a drink before I was 21. I lead a pretty boring life don't ya know. 4. First time you saw snow/the ocean (whichever is more exotic)? Snow/Ocean. Neither are exotic growing up in California. So I don't rightly know, but I was very young for either. 5. First thought when I say "crumple-horned snorcack"? I'd say you probably read JK Rowling. This is one of the lamest Friday Five's I've had to do. Hope they get better.
Thirteen Things about Mikey (food and spirits) No points off for spelling this week 01. I love mint chip ice cream. 02. I loathe candied yams, or any yams for that matter. 03. I love something called Hot Sopresso Sausage, especially with pepperjack cheese. 04. I loathe brussel sprouts, no matter how they are cooked. 05. I love pate. 06. But I loathe "liver and onions" (go figure). 07. In the great scheme of things, I really don't drink. I'm hardly even a social drinker. IF I do drink however I really love Jonny Walker Black on the rocks. 08. In the summer though I perfer Tanqueray and Tonic. Not just any G&T for Me. 09. I don't "do" red wine, it doesn't like me very much, though I do like the taste. I prefer a good dry white. 10. In the high carb deparment, which for right now I am OFF of, I really jones for a great Pesto sauce. Preferrabley on Angel Hair. 11. I love my "soul food" i.e. Hummus, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Babaganoughe, Falaf...
New link at top From the web site where you can order this: "After the Storm" is an effort by the progressive rock community to do its share to help out the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. All of the artists involved have graciously donated music to this project, and many have contributed previously unreleased live or studio material, including New Orleans' own Woodenhead. The costs of manufacturing have been donated by NEARfest and NEARfest Records and all proceeds from the sale of this unique compilation will be donated to aid the survivors of Hurricane Katrina through Habitat for Humanity. And no I don't have it, due to restricted financial resources. But it's a wonderful idea and from a great company. NEARfest Records is the same two great guys that put on NEARfest every year. The One concert I am sure to attend every year. Buy it! Dead Dead Dead. No I'm not referring to any one person. Radio Shack business is SOO off. How do you think I'm able t...
A few things Blog style update : I have gone to a new message board. Just something different. Music : One of my message groups on Yahoo does a "what did you listen to today" thingy, which for me is absurd because of how scattered my life is. No office per se, and so most of my listening is in the car. Portals : I did finally get a hold of two good burned discs of the new Progressive Music Society's Portals IV. This is a great series, real artists contributing new music studio or live, for free distribution. When they come out the artists on Portals are small, but a few of the artists on Portals One have become fairly major players in Progressive Rock today. It's a free distribution chain, copies being made "downline" to steal a networking marketing term, so no one who wants it has to put up anything, and those of us like me who believe the music should be spread, contribute our labour, and the very minimal cost of discs and postage. Satellite Radio: I hav...
Subbing Update I have not spoken about Substitute Teaching recently. I think this is mostly becuase it is becoming a part of my life, and not so "new". On the other hand, it is not becoming old hat nor has the joy worn off. I did intimate in a previous blog that I have become somewhat "popular" with some of the teachers. This morning dawned with me knowing where I was teaching this Tuesday through Friday. This is very professionally satisfying for me. From some of the "older school" teachers the most I get it that they are happy that they know someone who knows their class. But the most edification is from the newer teachers who bluntly tell me that they are confident that there will actually be teaching going on. The difference is my lack of credation. For many of the "old school" this is the end all and be all. I do not mean to disrespect the credation process. However more than once mused out loud that I could as well be a credentiale...
Next up on the Slippery Slope, The Thought Police I'm sorry but this surprises me not at all. The Conservative agenda follows a slippery slope. First their figure head / hood ornament runs for re-election and not once is seen speaking to a crowd of people that are not vetted for their beliefs. We've also seen executive priviledge run rampant with unauthorized wiretaps. Now an alumni group from UCLA has launched a pay as you spy plan for college students to "expose" professors who do not agree with their philosophy. From Yahoo: A conservative alumni group dedicated to "exposing the most radical professors" at the University of California at Los Angeles is offering to pay students $100 to record classroom lectures of suspect faculty. The Web site of the Bruin Alumni Association also includes a "Dirty Thirty" list of professors considered by the group to be the most extreme left-wing members of the UCLA faculty, as well as profiles on their politic...
The Friday Five! 1. What is your preferred trusted news source? Newprint: The New York Times. Online: The Economist Online. 2. What is a news source that you will never trust? Fox News. Fox News. Fox News. Fox News. Fox News. Fox News. Get the picture? 3. What is the news topic during the last calendar year that you feel got the worst coverage? The breadth and depth of the lies and deciets of the Bush Administration. This Administration has the Press running scared. If the balance of power in the Congress shifts at the end of this year you will see many more stories about this. 4. What news item do you feel got too much coverage in the last calendar year? Any one of several Big-Time-Celebrity Court stories. I don't care, I never cared, and I don't want to know. 5. If you had complete control of your favored news source(s) (answer to question 1), what would you do with it that is not already being done? I would return the New York Times online source to allow full access witho...
Thirteen Things about Mikey 1…. Lets start easy since this is the first one. I'm 43 yrs old and hold two jobs: Substitute Teacher and Retail Slave. 2. I have a mortgage and no retirement fund. 3. I don't eat Beef, and have not for almost 20 years. 4. I love science fiction and fantasy. 5. I am a voracious reader 6. I really don't like 90% of what's on televion. It's mindless and mind numbing. 7. I prefer challenging music, art rock, acid jazz, Jam bands, but will in a tired pinch listen to chill and soft jazz. 8. I host not one, not two, not three but four different web sites, some of which are under better construction than others. 9. I am slow to anger, but if I do snap it's not pretty. On the other hand a half hour later and I'm calm, and I don't hold a grudge. 10. I consider myself Gen X. Even though I'm offically a boomer, I don't fit the mold and never will. 11. I question authority constantly. 12. I do not suffer fools gladly. 13. My idea ...
G-Mail Hell Beta indeed. I use a POP server service with G-Mail to take in my Yahoo Groups discussion lists. If this sounds Greek to you, or geek, well I can't blame you. I was finding that my local ISP Road Runner was bouncing too many of my YahooGroups emails and I was missing important information. So I set up an account with G-Mail Google's new web based email service because it allows you to pull the email down to a local email reader or client. This is called POP service. Well the thing is very buggy, and keeps forgetting the settings I ask for. I have had to continuously go onto the web interface and reset preference regarding from what point or date my emails can be downloaded. It just keeps forgetting and holding all my emails and reporting "no new messages" to my email client on my computer. This reset tells the Gmail server to release all emails recieved after that time. Practical upshot is that anything received before this stays there. So when thi...
Still Living on Earth 2 I see Treasury Secretary, John Snow: “Business investment literally turned around overnight when those tax cuts took effect”. Vice-President Dick Cheney :“It's getting pretty hard for the critics to make the case that somehow those tax cuts weren't good for the economy,” President Bush is even intimating that his Tax Cuts will Pay For Themselves.... Do these guys live in the same world as economists, scientists or even you and I? No serious economist believes Mr Bush's tax cuts will pay for themselves. A recent study from the Congressional Budget Office suggested that, after ten years, up to one-third of the cost of a 10% cut in income taxes can be recouped from higher economic growth. That's one third (1/3) Dubya, not all (1/1). A University of Michigan study suggests that the temporary investment incentive did raise output by a modest 0.1% during 2003 and 2004. A Berkeley study shows that the dividend tax cut prompted firms to pay more dividend...
Global Warming I know it's like beating a dead horse, but I'm so tired of a majority of the Right blindly plodding on and out about how Global Warming is not a fact, that it's nothing to worry about. Their lead figure head (some would say hood ornament) GWB says there is no global warming and since he is their alpha male it must be true. But the scientific (I know, this administration doesn't "do" science) studies are just piling up. Here are a few off the top of my head. There is a study going on now on the mean temperature of the permafrost in Greenland. Unlike water or air temperature, the temperature of the permafrost a foot or more below the surface does not vary with minute changes in season or dirunally. This study has found a rapid increase in the mean temperature over the last few years, enough so that there is worry that the permafrost may actually go above freezing. Why is this important? The permafrost is decayed frozen organic material. It...
It just goes to show, you never know You never know #1: REALLY slow day today at RS, three guys on and not one of us over 250 in 6 hours. Then at 530, a half hour before closing, some people come in to look at one of our HP Pavillion computers. 45 min later and 5 hard closes (3 can I box that up for you and 2 shall we get your Radio Shack Credit App going) and I got the sale to the tune of $1100. Made my "day" dollarwise. You never know #2: All year New England and Indianapolis have been touted as the two front runners in the AFC. Well they will be watching the Superbowl from their living rooms, as both went down to the agony of Da Feet this weekend. The Manning boys didn't look too good in their respective first round playoff games. So it's Denver vs Pittsburgh and Carolina vs Seattle next week. Tough calls for both. Prolly go with the home teams Den and Sea to win their Conference championships. Out
The Friday Five a day late 1. What is the most adventurous food you've ever tried? Definitely Goat Brain at a Arab food place in Brooklyn 2. What is the most adventurous food you'd be willing to try? Hmmm, barring a "Survivor" or "Fear Factor" type adventure, maybe those Japanese delicasies made from poison fish. 3. Would you have a problem eating dog meat and why or why not? Eat Fido? I don't think so. Not Fluffy either for that matter. 4. For the most part, do you consider your diet to be balanced? No it's not, I eat lots of protein, medium amount of veggies and a small bit of carbs. 5. Which is more appealing- being a vegetarian for the rest of your life or being a strict carnivore for the rest of your life? If this is either or, it would be carnivore, but Homo Sapiens is a Herbavore so anything thing else is just silly and damaging to the body. You should see the shape my brother is in after being a Vegetarian for 20+ yrs. And on the other side...
What disturbs me about (sc)Alito Not that he was a member of some fringe Ivy Leage group that doesn't want women in their college. Not that he seems to support corporations over the little guy. Not that he has professed to believe that abortion is wrong. Not that he is a fundamental christian. What disturbs me about Alito is that he is a fundamental constitutionalist. There are two groups of thought about the Constitution, one believes that it is a living document that can evolve as society changes. The camp Alito is in belives in strict interpretions of the Constitution as the founding fathers would (supposedly) have thought. Scalito and Thomas are of this camp. It is I suppose the same wholly thinking that leads folks to believe that their most recent version of the bible can be iterated word for word as the word of God. The idea that the Supreme Court of the US is probably going to be controlled by these "new constitionalist" thinkers is terrifying. The most stric...
Its' about freakin time! SciFi channel finally gets wise SCI FI Channel and BBC Worldwide Americas announced today a major licensing deal for the first series of the latest Doctor Who adventures. The 13-part drama is about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known simply as "The Doctor" (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). The Doctor and Rose risk death and danger, battling aliens and monsters. The deal, brokered by Lisa Hofer, Director Co-Production & Sales, BBC Worldwide Americas, grants SCI FI Channel the first run rights for series one with an option for series two. The award-winning series will premiere on SCI FI beginning in March, airing Friday nights at 9.00pm. Russell T Davies, Head Writer and Executive Producer told us: "The Doctor's made all sorts of journeys in Time and Space, but this is one of his most exciting yet! I'm a huge fan of the SCI FI Channel, and I'm delighted that Doctor Who is appearing o...
Popular me It's really starting now at School. Today, tomorrow and Friday I (was) am "requested" to cover a (different) teacher's class. Today was a big surprise though, a teacher whom I have not met came into the (Pre-K) room I was in today and said: "Are you Mr. H?" "Yes" laughing "What is your real name by the way" I told her "Well" She said, "I have heard great things about you and I want you to cover my class on Friday." Wow Next week is open, but I have the 25th to the 27th booked already by teacher requests. Nice to be recognized.
The Friday Five! 1. Take a book you've read. now take the main character. put them in a band. what would the band's name be? Book: Neil Stephenson's Baroque Cycle . Character: Jack Shaftoe King of Thieves. Band Name: Solomon's Gold 2. What instrument would that character play? Lead Guitar 3. Who else would be in that band? Elizabeth Duchess of Arcachon-Qwghlm - Keyboards. Daniel Waterhouse - Bass. Bob Shaftoe - Drums 4. Would they stay underground or get popular? Underground 5. Why did you choose that book? The Baroque Cycle has incredibly rich characters, all of whom are true Renaissance people, and would be able to adjust to today with little pain. All are gifted artists in their world and could easily do a band in the 21st Century
You're The Guns of August ! by Barbara Tuchman Though you're interested in war, what you really want to know is what causes war. You're out to expose imperialism, militarism, and nationalism for what they really are. Nevertheless, you're always living in the past and have a hard time dealing with what's going on today. You're also far more focused on Europe than anywhere else in the world. A fitting motto for you might be "Guns do kill, but so can diplomats." Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid .