31 July 2016

Yay! After School Satan Club!

"Satan is good. Satan is our pal." -- Art in The 'Burbs movie.

Just what the kiddies need.  They'll be taught reasoning skills, science lessons, have snacks and do all the things you'd expect from an after-school Satan Club.  Yep.  Organisers can recruit kids for Satan because of a court case establishing that Bible clubs are allowed to meet after school.

Next up:  Student Nazi Party Club.  Why be boring and join the Student Democrats, Student Republicans or even the slightly wacky Student Libertarian group?

30 July 2016

Call Your Pet From Work!

A new wall-mounted camera allows you to ring up your pet and chat.  The device can even dispense treats remotely!  A companion device is available whereby your pet can ring you.  Could you imagine getting video calls from your pet constantly during important meetings? Just whisper to your boss with an important air, "I have to take this one."  That should do it.

28 July 2016

No Matter How Much Love and Joy You Spread...

... there will always be someone with hate in their heart towards you." 

In this crazy world where everyone can look up everything on everyone else, a waitress lost her job after a viral post by one of the people she served came to the attention of management. 

Patrons looked up her profile and saw her complaints about serving a group of black people.  She used horrible derogatory language as well.

Stupid of her.  Comments on this news story blame Trump and a hostile political atmosphere.  Nope!  Not buying it.  Her employer was completely justified in firing her; that's all that business needs is for people who openly identify themselves as working for them firing off crap like that.

A smart person would use a pseudonym for launching into complaints or rants or whathaveyou.  Then again, a smart person probably wouldn't say such things for public consumption so there you go.

I'm not black but I sure identified.  I hate that sinking feeling when you discover that someone you thought liked you, and was a nice person, is really talking about you behind your back.  I think I would be a paranoid black person because every time someone doesn't like me, I'd have to wonder if they just don't like me or they just don't like that I'm black or a little of both.

I hope I would react with half the grace Chelsea Mayes did.  “This ‘n—–‘ is praying for you," she wrote. "This ‘n—–‘ loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it!”


26 July 2016

Sewing Class Today!



Today we got the sewing machine out and made pillowcases.  The children are very pleased with the results!

21 July 2016

Rules for Being a Good Guest

One exercise in our reading book is to make a poster about manners in different situations.  Here's our poster about how to be a good guest.  People, we just do not punch faces and kick hineys in other people's houses.  Just so you know. 

19 July 2016

My Question: WHY Didn't You Steal a Better Speech?

Ok, I'm not even bothering to watch the nomination and the speeches at the Republican Convention.  Know why?  It hurts to see that Trump and Hillary are my choices.  So I'm not watching.  But I read a partial transcript of Mrs. Trump's speech. (Thank GOD not the whole thing, or I think my brain would explode.)

Is it just me, or do any of y'all have a lot more problem with some of the photos she's posed for than what she said in her speech?  Anyway, here's an in-depth analysis of what she said:

Bla bla bla next generation inspiring, we live in such a great country, bla bla values, bla.  Land of opportunity.

Which with a few bla's in different places, is pretty much what Mrs. Obama had to say years earlier.  So it's this big controversy thing right now and lots of people are talking of it as though it were some huge horrid thing that like, killed people or something.




14 July 2016

Kindness Always

Are you ok with animal abuse?  The way animals we use for food are treated certainly qualifies, Sarah Withrow King argues in Vegangelical .  How can we as Christians be ok with this cruelty? 

God gave Man "dominion" over the earth and all the animals. What does that mean?  How should we care for the earth if we are made in God's image and are caretakers of this world we've been given?

King reaches a rather extreme conclusion:  becoming a vegan and avoiding the use of all animal products is the most ideal way to live.  We shouldn't even be patronising circuses or zoos as they exploit animals as well.

She's an idealist, and while I can't say I've been entirely persuaded to embrace the more radical conclusions contained in this book, her call to "reduce suffering where you can" is important for Christians to consider. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

12 July 2016

Chess Doesn't Make You Smart.

Ohhh yes.  You'd think it would be so, so obvious that children who like chess and do well in it are generally the smart ones who do well in school.  But parents who want their children to do well in school see these chess players and go, hmm!  Let's sign Junior up!

And the chess coach is happy to take your money while talking up statistics about children who play X number of hours tend to have higher grades and bla bla bla.   The chess coach is also happy to teach some private lessons to these new to competitive chess parents before they figure out that they could hire an international master for cheaper online.

I've seen it happen very frequently. 

It's a great game and I'd encourage kids to play just to play.  But every kid does not need to have private lessons from a grandmaster and travel around the nation or world to play in expensive tournaments and so on.  An article in The Telegraph backs me up on this, but hello?  This is not "surprising" news.  Go ask any parent who has taken kids to rated tournaments for more than six months.  This is not some secret knowledge being imparted here.

Hey, I know some families who are just made of money and enjoy going to tournaments.  We like going to the ones we can afford to attend.  But I've seen some monster parents who make huge sacrifices and pressure their children to be something they're just never going to be. 

Just a small example:  I've seen a mom smack a biscuit out of her child's hand at breakfast-time before a tournament and yell, "Protein only!"  And generally treat him badly when he didn't perform as expected.  He was a fourth grader rated about 700.  Not horrible, but this ain't Bobby Fischer here.  It's not worth the drama.

Then again, for those super-elite children whose parents are spending tens of thousands of dollars on their training and travel? Oh yeah, they'd better do well.  At least in these cases, they are trading all that extreme hard work for something, you know?

Balance.



11 July 2016

Corn!

So the children are learning how to get the corn ready for the pot.  They had a glorious time for about half an hour playing with all the husks and string-y bits.  Then when the corn was all finished, they refused to eat it.  Oh, well.

08 July 2016

Owning Your Own Home Makes You a Snobby Elitist.

Single-family zoning "has roots in racial and class exclusion and remains among the largest obstacles to realizing the city’s goals for equity and affordability" according to a draft report by the housing task force of Seattle.

So it's recommended the City Council revamp the zoning laws.  This way, everyone can afford to be able to live in "micro housing apartments" after developers snatch up all single-family homes on the market in the city and wreck 'em.  If you don't know what a "micro-housing apartment" might be, think "human bee hive meets noisy but kitschy third world misery" and you would not be far wrong.

Sure, it's gonna totally wreck the whole flavour of the town, task force co-chair Faith Pettis admitted, but hey!  Diversity and affordability and stuff.

You're a snobby racist if ya don't like this idea of living like the Borg.  Just so you know.


07 July 2016

Our Latest Doctor Visit.

So sometimes this kid turns red in different places and swells up for no apparent reason. Now the medical people have doodled all over him and he's on antibiotics. Poor Woodjie.

03 July 2016

Remove "Traditional Muslim" Garb, UAE Warns

The United Arab Emirates recently cautioned citizens not to wear "traditional Muslim" clothing when travelling abroad because it opens the wearers to misunderstandings or attack.  Just last week, a fellow speaking Arabic in an Ohio hotel lobby was arrested after a worried clerk called 911.  Responding cops tackled him on information that he was actively pledging allegiance to ISIS.

Welp, here's the article if you're interested.  I can see where the hotel clerk would be a bit concerned or even ask for an officer to bring in an Arabic translator to make sure everything is ok if the fellow seemed agitated.  And yeah, I do agree that the full-face veil is a bit threatening in Western society for various reasons (most of which have little to do with Islam per se).  I don't care what religion you are, you can't pull that crap in a bank.  You just can't.

Mixed feelings.  Obviously I can't go to their country and wear a bikini, either, so maybe the courtesy works both ways.  Hate that people would feel threatened, though, while they're off minding their own business.

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...