From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houfes of Congress have, by their joint committee, requefted me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to eftablifh a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and affign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of thefe States to the fervice of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our fincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the fignal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpofitions of His providence in the courfe and conclufion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have fince enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to eftablish Conftitutions of government for our fafety and happinefs, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are bleffed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffufing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and variousfavours which He has been pleafed to confer upon us.
And also, that we may then unite in moft humbly offering our prayers and fupplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and befeech Him to pardon our national and other tranfgreffions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private ftations, to perform our feveral and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a bleffing to all the people by conftantly being a Government of wife, juft, and conftitutional laws, difcreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all fovereigns and nations (especially fuch as have shewn kindnefs unto us); and to blefs them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increafe of fcience among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind fuch a degree oftemporal profperity as he alone knows to be beft.
GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand feven hundred and eighty-nine.
(signed) G. Washington
Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789
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Technorati tags: Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
In the past I've aimed for Friday or Saturday to post reminders about sending in an entry to the Carnival of Homeschooling. Phil said earlier reminders would help him. So I'm post some on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and on other weeks I'll do my more typical Friday and Saturday posts.
The next carnival will be held at Po Moyemu--In My Opinion.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
The next carnival will be held at Po Moyemu--In My Opinion.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
What an awful night
Our two-year-old foster care boy has the flu. Three nights ago he had a little trouble sleeping, because the congestion make it hard for him to breath through his nose. Two nights he slept fine. We thought he was on the mend. Last night he won't sleep, unless he was sitting in someone's lap. Janine took the first shift from eleven to two. I had him for two and half hours. Then our oldest daughter happened to wake up to go to the bathroom. She offered to take a turn!!! I am so grateful for helpful daughters!
This morning our youngest daughter is also feeling very sick. And I have what ever is going around. Bummer.
Yesterday my plan had been to do several hours of cleaning on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Now the plan is to mostly convalesce.
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Technorati tags: life, health
This morning our youngest daughter is also feeling very sick. And I have what ever is going around. Bummer.
Yesterday my plan had been to do several hours of cleaning on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Now the plan is to mostly convalesce.
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Technorati tags: life, health
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Are you looking for some tips on how to de-clutter?
A friend sent me a link to Kevn Purdy's column: Form an Attack Plan for a Cluttered, Messy Home. He has several good tips on how to bring order out of chaos.
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Technorati tags: order, cleaning
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Technorati tags: order, cleaning
Cute game - running a cash register
A friend sent me a link to the Change Maker:
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Figure out how many of each bill or coin that you expect to get back when you pay for something. For example, if something costs $3.75 and you pay with a five dollar bill, you would expect back one quarter and one dollar bill.
If you get the answer correct, the amount of change is added to your piggy bank. If you get the answer wrong, the correct amount of change is subtracted from your piggy bank. The more money you get in your piggy bank, the harder the questions will get.
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This is a fun game for teaching children math, while they have fun pretending to run a cash register.
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Technorati tags: money, cash, math
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Figure out how many of each bill or coin that you expect to get back when you pay for something. For example, if something costs $3.75 and you pay with a five dollar bill, you would expect back one quarter and one dollar bill.
If you get the answer correct, the amount of change is added to your piggy bank. If you get the answer wrong, the correct amount of change is subtracted from your piggy bank. The more money you get in your piggy bank, the harder the questions will get.
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This is a fun game for teaching children math, while they have fun pretending to run a cash register.
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Technorati tags: money, cash, math
Interesting thought - Most libraries "ban" 99.5% of all books
I'm working through my slush pile of email. Six weeks ago a friend sent me a link to Apparently 99% of Books Have Been 'Banned'! by Randall Hoven. Randall writes about the false accusations of Sarah Palin banning books and continues with:
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But that leaves us with an underlying issue, regardless of Sarah Palin: what is so bad about a mayor, or even a student's parent, asking a school's library to remove a book from its shelves or just not display it as prominently?
When a mayor or parent or just anyone in the community tries to do such a thing, it is called censorship, book-banning or book-burning. When a librarian does it, it is called "selection."
First, I'd like to clarify the language. Normally, a thing is considered "banned" only if it is a crime to buy or own that thing. You know, like guns have been banned in New York City and Washington, DC. If a book is removed from a public library, it is not "banned," it is simply not provided free of charge at taxpayer expense. And if a book is not even removed from the library, but merely taken off its prominent display shelf, it is not banned or censored at all, it is simply not promoted by your local government.
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Janine and I have struggled with our local library. It has a great selection, but there are several books in the children's section that make me wonder "What was the librarian thinking?" There was one book exploring the concept of suicide in a positive light. What does a depressed pre-teen think when reading such a book? But each time we've asked the librarians to consider moving the book to another section in the library we've been politely told NO.
Randall goes on to point out that the Library of Congress has about 21 million books. Most other libraries have a much smaller selection. At some point librarians pick and choose which books they think are appropriate. When they make the choice it is "selection" when other people try to get involved it becomes "book banning."
I don't know what the answer is long term. For the short term parents need to be vigilant on what books their children check out.
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Technorati tags: libraries, books
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But that leaves us with an underlying issue, regardless of Sarah Palin: what is so bad about a mayor, or even a student's parent, asking a school's library to remove a book from its shelves or just not display it as prominently?
When a mayor or parent or just anyone in the community tries to do such a thing, it is called censorship, book-banning or book-burning. When a librarian does it, it is called "selection."
First, I'd like to clarify the language. Normally, a thing is considered "banned" only if it is a crime to buy or own that thing. You know, like guns have been banned in New York City and Washington, DC. If a book is removed from a public library, it is not "banned," it is simply not provided free of charge at taxpayer expense. And if a book is not even removed from the library, but merely taken off its prominent display shelf, it is not banned or censored at all, it is simply not promoted by your local government.
-------------
Janine and I have struggled with our local library. It has a great selection, but there are several books in the children's section that make me wonder "What was the librarian thinking?" There was one book exploring the concept of suicide in a positive light. What does a depressed pre-teen think when reading such a book? But each time we've asked the librarians to consider moving the book to another section in the library we've been politely told NO.
Randall goes on to point out that the Library of Congress has about 21 million books. Most other libraries have a much smaller selection. At some point librarians pick and choose which books they think are appropriate. When they make the choice it is "selection" when other people try to get involved it becomes "book banning."
I don't know what the answer is long term. For the short term parents need to be vigilant on what books their children check out.
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Technorati tags: libraries, books
I think a flood may be coming
My goal is to blog a couple posts each day. Unfortunately work has been more hectic recently. Over the last several months the rate has been much lower.
Oft times Saturdays have still been productive, once or twice I've written about ten posts on a Saturday.
We're taking it pretty easy for the Thanksgiving weekend. We're staying home, with a trip to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner.
Our current schedule is to do a couple hours of "Spring cleaning" each morning and whip the house into shape. Things become a bit disorganized with some construction. We've taken care of the easy stuff, now there is the tedious processing of individual items, trying to find a place for everything, instead of stacks of boxes.
After cleaning the house, the girls and I will be watching an episode of Babylon 5. We are half way through the second season.
I'll be working three to four hours each day. I have a project that I'd like to have wrapped up before the end of the year.
But this still leaves tons of time to read blogs, and write posts.
My guess is over the next couple days I could write another twenty to thirty posts. So be ready for the flood.
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Technorati tags: life, work
Oft times Saturdays have still been productive, once or twice I've written about ten posts on a Saturday.
We're taking it pretty easy for the Thanksgiving weekend. We're staying home, with a trip to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner.
Our current schedule is to do a couple hours of "Spring cleaning" each morning and whip the house into shape. Things become a bit disorganized with some construction. We've taken care of the easy stuff, now there is the tedious processing of individual items, trying to find a place for everything, instead of stacks of boxes.
After cleaning the house, the girls and I will be watching an episode of Babylon 5. We are half way through the second season.
I'll be working three to four hours each day. I have a project that I'd like to have wrapped up before the end of the year.
But this still leaves tons of time to read blogs, and write posts.
My guess is over the next couple days I could write another twenty to thirty posts. So be ready for the flood.
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Technorati tags: life, work
Have you been blogging for awhile? Are you repeating yourself?
Janine and I have been blogging for three years. Every so often I'll go to write a post and think: "I've already written about that."
Tim Stahmer has an interesting take on this issue in Practicing For Perfection:
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Tom is concerned that he might be repeating himself, “writing exactly the same posts over and over”.
As I approach my sixth anniversary of blogging and almost 3000 rants (can that be right?), I’ve also had the same thoughts.
But I’ve also given up worrying about it.
Just consider each of those repeated posts as one more draft on the way to the perfect essay.
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Humm... I wonder which post I should rewrite?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Tim Stahmer has an interesting take on this issue in Practicing For Perfection:
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Tom is concerned that he might be repeating himself, “writing exactly the same posts over and over”.
As I approach my sixth anniversary of blogging and almost 3000 rants (can that be right?), I’ve also had the same thoughts.
But I’ve also given up worrying about it.
Just consider each of those repeated posts as one more draft on the way to the perfect essay.
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Humm... I wonder which post I should rewrite?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Inside the space station
My mother sent me this video:
It would be so cool to live in weightlessness for awhile.
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Technorati tags: Space, Station, Space Station
It would be so cool to live in weightlessness for awhile.
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Technorati tags: Space, Station, Space Station
A clever way to procure tests
Joanne Jacobs writes about This test is brought to you by … A school was not providing a calculus teacher with enough money to print the tests for his class. So he sells space at the bottom of the test.
Humm... I wonder if there is a homeschooling implementation of this idea?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Humm... I wonder if there is a homeschooling implementation of this idea?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Oh great, another interesting book to check out
For a number of reasons I haven't read that much the last four or five months. But my list of books I want to read continues to grow. Today I've added another book to the list.
Dr. Helen in The Traits of heroes reviews The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why. Dr. Helen writes:
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One of the chapters in the book is on heroism and it found that those who are heroes like the above turkey clubber have confidence in their abilities. They tend to have an "internal locus of control"--that is, a sense that they shape their own destiny rather than looking to someone else.
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The reviews of the book are very positive. Maybe over the Christmas break I'll be able to catch up a bit on my list. I'd like to read this one.
Being in control of your own destiny is one of the traits we're trying to develop in our chlidren. We don't want to be passive, or feel passive, about life.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Dr. Helen in The Traits of heroes reviews The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why. Dr. Helen writes:
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One of the chapters in the book is on heroism and it found that those who are heroes like the above turkey clubber have confidence in their abilities. They tend to have an "internal locus of control"--that is, a sense that they shape their own destiny rather than looking to someone else.
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The reviews of the book are very positive. Maybe over the Christmas break I'll be able to catch up a bit on my list. I'd like to read this one.
Being in control of your own destiny is one of the traits we're trying to develop in our chlidren. We don't want to be passive, or feel passive, about life.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Another beautiful picture from APOD - the Cepheus Flare
Giovanni Benintende gave me permission to post his picture:
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day
This week's Carnival of Homeschoolling is up
The Headmistress is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at The Common Room. Drop by for a lovely set of pictures and a great selection of posts.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner you'll have plenty of time to read, right?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
With Thanksgiving just around the corner you'll have plenty of time to read, right?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
The difference between good and great - practice
What does it take to be successful? Spare 10,000 hours to be a genius starts with:
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LONDON: Want to be a genius? Well, it's not that difficult -- all you need to do is to devote 10,000 hours to your chosen field, says a new study.
Researchers in Germany have found that genius is one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration, and one has to practice just 10,000 hours to reach the top in their chosen discipline, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
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This is a good lesson for children to lear: "It takes work to succeed." Of course you have to be intelligent about the type of practice you do. Doing addition tables for ten thousand hours won't help you much with calculus. At some point merely doing the same thing again and again provides little benefit.
(Hat type: Joanne Jacobs)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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LONDON: Want to be a genius? Well, it's not that difficult -- all you need to do is to devote 10,000 hours to your chosen field, says a new study.
Researchers in Germany have found that genius is one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration, and one has to practice just 10,000 hours to reach the top in their chosen discipline, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
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This is a good lesson for children to lear: "It takes work to succeed." Of course you have to be intelligent about the type of practice you do. Doing addition tables for ten thousand hours won't help you much with calculus. At some point merely doing the same thing again and again provides little benefit.
(Hat type: Joanne Jacobs)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Monday, November 24, 2008
A nice thing about homeschooling
Janine and I ask our daughters to do lot. Janine prints off a list of tasks each morning. There are a couple hours of activities for our eight-year-old, and more for our older two girls. The list includes academics and spiritual activities, as well as chores around the house. We feel part of a good education is learning how to work, and learning some domestic skills. We want our child to contribute to the household and not have any expection that Mom and Dad exist to provide for them.
Over the last month they have done a lot. Our daughters are pretty good about staying focused. We are pleased.
But we're taking it easy this week! The girls still have to do their math and a couple other minor tasks. They will have hours and hours of free time. All three plan to read and read. I am so proud!
They are also eager to watch Babylon 5. I've been watching the DVDs with my daughters for several months. We are about half way through the second season. If it were up to them we'd finish the season this week. (Maybe even today.) But since it is up to me, we'll probably just watch four or five episodes this week.
One of the nice things about homeschooling is the ability to take it easy now and then, when we choose to, and not according to some schedule crafted by others with different goals and desires.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Over the last month they have done a lot. Our daughters are pretty good about staying focused. We are pleased.
But we're taking it easy this week! The girls still have to do their math and a couple other minor tasks. They will have hours and hours of free time. All three plan to read and read. I am so proud!
They are also eager to watch Babylon 5. I've been watching the DVDs with my daughters for several months. We are about half way through the second season. If it were up to them we'd finish the season this week. (Maybe even today.) But since it is up to me, we'll probably just watch four or five episodes this week.
One of the nice things about homeschooling is the ability to take it easy now and then, when we choose to, and not according to some schedule crafted by others with different goals and desires.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
When is the best time to have a reminder for the Carnival of Homeschooling?
It is that time again. The next carnival will be held at The Common Room.
You have a little over ten hours to send in an entry.
As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
Each week I try to remember to encourage bloggers to send in submissions to the next Carnival of Homeschooling. I think I have missed two carnivals. I try to post the reminders Friday and Saturday, but every so often I get distracted. (Generally Janine and I don't blog on Sundays.) I feel a little guilty when I post the reminders on Monday.
I am curious, do you find it more useful to have a reminder earlier in the week, or the day the entries are due?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
You have a little over ten hours to send in an entry.
As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
Each week I try to remember to encourage bloggers to send in submissions to the next Carnival of Homeschooling. I think I have missed two carnivals. I try to post the reminders Friday and Saturday, but every so often I get distracted. (Generally Janine and I don't blog on Sundays.) I feel a little guilty when I post the reminders on Monday.
I am curious, do you find it more useful to have a reminder earlier in the week, or the day the entries are due?
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Friday, November 21, 2008
Will anger help?
I like this thought from Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
Anger helps straighten out a problem as much as a fan helps straighten out a pile of papers.
-Susan Marcotte
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Technorati tags: Anger
Anger helps straighten out a problem as much as a fan helps straighten out a pile of papers.
-Susan Marcotte
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Technorati tags: Anger
Google search allows you to give them feedback
Google news today linked to a couple hundred articles about how Google Tool Lets Users Edit Search:
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Google Inc. Thursday began allowing users to re-rank and edit their search results through a new set of personalization features the company hopes will make its dominant search engine more useful.
The SearchWiki tools, as the company calls them, allow anyone logged into a Google account to move up results they find interesting, delete ones that aren't useful and add personal notes through markers that appear next to each entry on Google's standard search results page.
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This sounds cool, but I wonder how many people with sites on the second page will try to get their site onto the first page. My first thought is that only people who are trying to increase the rank for their sites will bother to give feedback.
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Technorati tags: google, search
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Google Inc. Thursday began allowing users to re-rank and edit their search results through a new set of personalization features the company hopes will make its dominant search engine more useful.
The SearchWiki tools, as the company calls them, allow anyone logged into a Google account to move up results they find interesting, delete ones that aren't useful and add personal notes through markers that appear next to each entry on Google's standard search results page.
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This sounds cool, but I wonder how many people with sites on the second page will try to get their site onto the first page. My first thought is that only people who are trying to increase the rank for their sites will bother to give feedback.
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Technorati tags: google, search
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Looks like a video worth watching - The Rock From Which We Were Hewn
The Rock From Which We Were Hewn is a documentary on homeschooling. The movie is coming out in 2009. Spunky (via Karen Campbell) found a preview:
The movie looks like it will be worth watching.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
The movie looks like it will be worth watching.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
I'm sorry to hear that Marshall Fritz passed away
Susan of Corn and Oil reports that Marshall Fritz, founder of Alliance for the Separation of School and State, passed away. Susan has a link to an article by Lisa Snell about Marshall Fritz. Lisa writes:
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Marshall Fritz, the longtime libertarian leader who founded the Advocates for Self-Government and created the world-famous World's Smallest Political Quiz, died November 4th of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65.
I knew Marshall Fritz as the founder of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State. He wisely advised that "Sunday School, Monday School—Neither is the Business of Government." He wrote, "some people think that the American "public school system" is broken so they try to fix it. The truth is that public schooling is not broken. Rather, it is succeeding in its main objective—strengthening government by undermining parents..."
As education reform advocates argued about what counts as markets in education and what are legitimate forms of school choice—from vouchers to tax credits to charter schools—Marshall was never willing to settle for half-measures. As he advised in a 2005 reason piece, "Let a Thousand Choices Bloom," "Start with your own children. Remove them from school-by-government. You'll not be paying twice for education: You'll pay taxes for the state to harm other people's children, but you'll pay only once for education—your children's."
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I never had a chance to know Marshall, but I did have a brief email exchange with Marshall a couple years back about SepCon, a conference on the Separation of School and State.
I think he was one of the good guys. He'll be missed.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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Marshall Fritz, the longtime libertarian leader who founded the Advocates for Self-Government and created the world-famous World's Smallest Political Quiz, died November 4th of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65.
I knew Marshall Fritz as the founder of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State. He wisely advised that "Sunday School, Monday School—Neither is the Business of Government." He wrote, "some people think that the American "public school system" is broken so they try to fix it. The truth is that public schooling is not broken. Rather, it is succeeding in its main objective—strengthening government by undermining parents..."
As education reform advocates argued about what counts as markets in education and what are legitimate forms of school choice—from vouchers to tax credits to charter schools—Marshall was never willing to settle for half-measures. As he advised in a 2005 reason piece, "Let a Thousand Choices Bloom," "Start with your own children. Remove them from school-by-government. You'll not be paying twice for education: You'll pay taxes for the state to harm other people's children, but you'll pay only once for education—your children's."
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I never had a chance to know Marshall, but I did have a brief email exchange with Marshall a couple years back about SepCon, a conference on the Separation of School and State.
I think he was one of the good guys. He'll be missed.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Soon will we be taking a daily blood test with our vitamins?
Years ago I read an article in Forbes about new technology which would make available a cheap home device to allow daily blood tests. The device would runs dozens, or maybe hundreds, of tests from a single drop of blood. The blood would be routed through a silicon chip. Because the tests would be in the silicon chip, the production costs could be as low as a nickel.
Catching a disease early greatly improves the chances of a positive outcome. A blood test lab on a chip, for a nickel, would allow people to do a blood test each day. This would greatly improve our health.
It was exciting to read this week that the technology is coming closer to reality. Technology Review reports on the Ten-Minute Blood Test:
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Measuring proteins in the blood can help doctors determine patients' cancer risk and monitor the health of the elderly and people with chronic diseases. But current methods for testing these proteins are too expensive and require too much blood to be performed regularly. A microfluidic chip in clinical trials does on a single chip in 10 minutes what normally takes multiple technicians hours to do--and with just a single drop of blood. Researchers hope to make bedside diagnostics based on blood proteins a reality by bringing down the cost of such tests by at least an order of magnitude
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As a diabetic Janine does blood tests every couple hours. When one of these blood test chips becomes available I'll join her at least once a day for a blood test. Maybe I'll do it as I take my morning vitamins.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, chip
Catching a disease early greatly improves the chances of a positive outcome. A blood test lab on a chip, for a nickel, would allow people to do a blood test each day. This would greatly improve our health.
It was exciting to read this week that the technology is coming closer to reality. Technology Review reports on the Ten-Minute Blood Test:
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Measuring proteins in the blood can help doctors determine patients' cancer risk and monitor the health of the elderly and people with chronic diseases. But current methods for testing these proteins are too expensive and require too much blood to be performed regularly. A microfluidic chip in clinical trials does on a single chip in 10 minutes what normally takes multiple technicians hours to do--and with just a single drop of blood. Researchers hope to make bedside diagnostics based on blood proteins a reality by bringing down the cost of such tests by at least an order of magnitude
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As a diabetic Janine does blood tests every couple hours. When one of these blood test chips becomes available I'll join her at least once a day for a blood test. Maybe I'll do it as I take my morning vitamins.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, chip
You can search pictures captured by Life
Google News today had a section reporting LIFE Photo Archive available on Google Image Search:
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The Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination; The Mansell Collection from London; Dahlstrom glass plates of New York and environs from the 1880s; and the entire works left to the collection from LIFE photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gjon Mili, and Nina Leen. These are just some of the things you'll see in Google Image Search today.
We're excited to announce the availability of never-before-seen images from the LIFE photo archive. This effort to bring offline images online was inspired by our mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. This collection of newly-digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by LIFE dating all the way back to the 1750s.
Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos.
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It looks pretty impressive, and a great way to learn history.
If you are looking for something specific, from Google Image Search enter the keywords to find what you are looking for and "source:life" in the text box.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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The Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination; The Mansell Collection from London; Dahlstrom glass plates of New York and environs from the 1880s; and the entire works left to the collection from LIFE photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gjon Mili, and Nina Leen. These are just some of the things you'll see in Google Image Search today.
We're excited to announce the availability of never-before-seen images from the LIFE photo archive. This effort to bring offline images online was inspired by our mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. This collection of newly-digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by LIFE dating all the way back to the 1750s.
Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos.
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It looks pretty impressive, and a great way to learn history.
If you are looking for something specific, from Google Image Search enter the keywords to find what you are looking for and "source:life" in the text box.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Two's company and six is a crowd
Good thought from A.Word.A.Day:
"Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is."
-William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)
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Technorati tags: perception, reality
"Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is."
-William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)
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Technorati tags: perception, reality
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I am too distracted - the Carnival of Homeschooling is up
Each time the Carnival of Homeschooling is hosted I use a check list of ways to promote the carnival. I send out an email to people who like to be informed and help get out the word. I update Blog Carnival. I update my sig file. And I post about it on our blog.
Some how this morning I skipped the last step. (Recently I've been feeling a bit old. I hadn't expect have senior moments for another decade or two.)
So this is late:
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Tami's Thoughts and Views. She interleaves photos for a recent family bake off with the many entries to the carnival.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Some how this morning I skipped the last step. (Recently I've been feeling a bit old. I hadn't expect have senior moments for another decade or two.)
So this is late:
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Tami's Thoughts and Views. She interleaves photos for a recent family bake off with the many entries to the carnival.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Monday, November 17, 2008
I have become a math tutor again
Years ago when I was twelve I got a job tutoring in Algebra. It was fun. The job paid well. It was rewarding to be able to explain the principles.
Recently I’ve become a math tutor again. My oldest daughter is working her way through Algebra I with Saxon math. For most of the last eight years my oldest has been comfortable with math. When she got stuck, Janine could help her. Now as the level of difficulty has climbed this has changed. Janine still gets the concepts, but has trouble explaining in such a way that our oldest gets it.
Math is a really one big logic puzzle. There are a set of rules and problems. When you understand the rules and know how to look at the problems, the problems become much easier.
It has been fun tutoring again. I try to be careful to give enough help that my daughter can get to the solution on her own, but not so much that she arrives at the solution not understanding how she got there. Often I’ll work through a couple problems with my daughter going step by step. When it clicks she’ll whip through the rest really fast.
This morning my second daughter had a math question. She is doing Saxon 7/8. The lesson was on exponential notation. She was a bit confused. We worked through the problems and it clicked for her!
Homeschooling is great. Our daughters are getting an excellent education. But it is wonderful for those moments when you can see the light bulb go off as they master something new. I’m glad I’m there.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Recently I’ve become a math tutor again. My oldest daughter is working her way through Algebra I with Saxon math. For most of the last eight years my oldest has been comfortable with math. When she got stuck, Janine could help her. Now as the level of difficulty has climbed this has changed. Janine still gets the concepts, but has trouble explaining in such a way that our oldest gets it.
Math is a really one big logic puzzle. There are a set of rules and problems. When you understand the rules and know how to look at the problems, the problems become much easier.
It has been fun tutoring again. I try to be careful to give enough help that my daughter can get to the solution on her own, but not so much that she arrives at the solution not understanding how she got there. Often I’ll work through a couple problems with my daughter going step by step. When it clicks she’ll whip through the rest really fast.
This morning my second daughter had a math question. She is doing Saxon 7/8. The lesson was on exponential notation. She was a bit confused. We worked through the problems and it clicked for her!
Homeschooling is great. Our daughters are getting an excellent education. But it is wonderful for those moments when you can see the light bulb go off as they master something new. I’m glad I’m there.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Yet another reason to homeschool - to avoid teachers who are bullies
From Charlie Sykes ANOTHER REASON TO HOME SCHOOL:
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This is a video of Diantha Harris, a lifelong democrat and avid Barack Obama supporter. She is also a lousy schoolteacher, as is evidenced by the mushmouthed kids in her class. And instead of concentrating on grammar and English, math and science, she abuses and ridicules any child who dares to speak up in support of John McCain.
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Skip pass the first couple seconds:
I was surprised the teacher let herself be video tapes. I wonder if she did worse off tape.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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This is a video of Diantha Harris, a lifelong democrat and avid Barack Obama supporter. She is also a lousy schoolteacher, as is evidenced by the mushmouthed kids in her class. And instead of concentrating on grammar and English, math and science, she abuses and ridicules any child who dares to speak up in support of John McCain.
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Skip pass the first couple seconds:
I was surprised the teacher let herself be video tapes. I wonder if she did worse off tape.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
This is a great idea
Joanne Jacobs reports on a plan to let students Test out of high school in 10th grade. For students which can prove they have mastered a core set of knowledge and skills they would be able skip 11th & 12th grade and go off to college. This is a great idea.
Why make teenagers mark time if they have already learned the course material?
I think it would be even better for teenagers who can pass the state exams to be allowed to go straight into the work force if they wanted. Our current foster care boy is two years old. He is very, very interested in cars. I could easily see him being a mechanic. Maybe when he is ten or twelve he'll start ripping apart cars and putting them back together. What value would a college be to him?
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Technorati tags: children, government schools, public school, public education, education
Why make teenagers mark time if they have already learned the course material?
I think it would be even better for teenagers who can pass the state exams to be allowed to go straight into the work force if they wanted. Our current foster care boy is two years old. He is very, very interested in cars. I could easily see him being a mechanic. Maybe when he is ten or twelve he'll start ripping apart cars and putting them back together. What value would a college be to him?
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Technorati tags: children, government schools, public school, public education, education
Another beautiful picture from APOD - The Great Orion Nebulae
Tony Hallas has given me permission to post his picture of the Great Orion Nebulae recently posted on the Astronomy Picture of the Day:
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day
Other homeschooling carnivals
Shez of Homeschooled twins is hosting this week's Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers. Also, if you blog about things your children create you might want to check out Shez's Carnival of Homeschooled Children's Creations.
This week's Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is being hosted at One Child Policy Homeschool.
The 27th Edition of the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is up. They have passed the half year mark!
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
This week's Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is being hosted at One Child Policy Homeschool.
The 27th Edition of the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is up. They have passed the half year mark!
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Have you decided what will be your next entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling?
You still have forty eight hours. The next carnival will be held at Tami's Blog.
As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
You still have forty eight hours. The next carnival will be held at Tami's Blog.
As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Recent developments in nuclear power
One of the greatest factors in our standard of living is cheap power. If electricity and other types of power were more expensive it would affect every facet of our lives. Food prices would climb. Travel might become prohibitive. Trade would greatly decrease; some goods wouldn't not be exchanged at all. Some jobs would disappear.
Likewise every time the price of energy drops, there are many benefits. Food becomes cheaper. We can travel more often, and farther. We'll have a greater variety of products, at cheaper prices. All of this will create more jobs.
This is one of the reasons I'm excited about nuclear power. Nuclear power can be a much cheaper way to produce energy.
Instapundit had a link to a report on An atomic solution to the energy crisis:
"Great progress has been made over the decades since America built its last atomic power plant. These solutions arrive just in time to provide clean and relatively inexpensive energy as we convert from liquid fuels (oil, natural gas) after Peak Oil — sometime in the next ten years or so.
This is a brief update about the prospects for atomic power. For more information about new energy sources, see the FM reference page about Energy."
Instapundit also had a link to news of additional funding for the Bussard polywell fusion reactor..
It appears there are some promising technologies which could drop the price of energy dramatically over the next decade. That would be great!
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Technorati tags: nuclear power
Likewise every time the price of energy drops, there are many benefits. Food becomes cheaper. We can travel more often, and farther. We'll have a greater variety of products, at cheaper prices. All of this will create more jobs.
This is one of the reasons I'm excited about nuclear power. Nuclear power can be a much cheaper way to produce energy.
Instapundit had a link to a report on An atomic solution to the energy crisis:
"Great progress has been made over the decades since America built its last atomic power plant. These solutions arrive just in time to provide clean and relatively inexpensive energy as we convert from liquid fuels (oil, natural gas) after Peak Oil — sometime in the next ten years or so.
This is a brief update about the prospects for atomic power. For more information about new energy sources, see the FM reference page about Energy."
Instapundit also had a link to news of additional funding for the Bussard polywell fusion reactor..
It appears there are some promising technologies which could drop the price of energy dramatically over the next decade. That would be great!
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Technorati tags: nuclear power
Which is more important? How fast you go? Or the direction?
I like this thought from A.Word.A.Day:
"The lame man who keeps the right road outstrips the runner who takes a wrong one. The more active and swift the latter is, the further he will go astray."
-Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
Stephen Covey has a similar thought. He says:
“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster”
Before we start moving, we need to make sure we are moving in the right direction.
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Technorati tags: wisdom, knowledge, life, balance, life balance
"The lame man who keeps the right road outstrips the runner who takes a wrong one. The more active and swift the latter is, the further he will go astray."
-Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
Stephen Covey has a similar thought. He says:
“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster”
Before we start moving, we need to make sure we are moving in the right direction.
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Technorati tags: wisdom, knowledge, life, balance, life balance
Do you have a budding engineer?
A friend sent me a link to Electronics. The web site has a ton a short explanations about electronics, and engineering in general. It looks appropriate for a serious high school student.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
What kind of humor do you like?
I like this quote from Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:
The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for 5 seconds and think for ten minutes.
-William Davis
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Technorati tags: humor
The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for 5 seconds and think for ten minutes.
-William Davis
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Technorati tags: humor
If you are going to fight with your spouse, don't do it in front of the children
From PhysOrg.com is this this report Children distressed by family fighting have higher stress hormones:
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Children who become very upset when their parents fight are more likely to develop psychological problems. But little is known about what happens beyond these behavioral reactions in terms of children's biological responses. A new study has found that children who are very distressed when their parents fight also have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.
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I've heard that children who grow up in abusive situations are likely to abuse their children and/or spouse. It makes sense that children who seem bad behavior are likely to have psychological problems. I hadn't thought before how fights between parents would affect a child's physiology.
So if you are having a fight with your spouse, don't do it in front of the children.
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Technorati tags: parenting, children
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Children who become very upset when their parents fight are more likely to develop psychological problems. But little is known about what happens beyond these behavioral reactions in terms of children's biological responses. A new study has found that children who are very distressed when their parents fight also have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.
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I've heard that children who grow up in abusive situations are likely to abuse their children and/or spouse. It makes sense that children who seem bad behavior are likely to have psychological problems. I hadn't thought before how fights between parents would affect a child's physiology.
So if you are having a fight with your spouse, don't do it in front of the children.
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Technorati tags: parenting, children
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Old movies available online - free
It is such an amazing world. More and more entertainment is going online, and is available for free. Blockbuster was a hot business in the 1990s and a few years into our current decade. But businesses like Netflix provide greater variety, greater comfort, and cheaper prices. This has resulted is several years of loses for Blockbuster.
Now we may be seeing Netflix struggle.
MGM to Post Full Films on YouTube reports that more and more movies are becoming available online, for free:
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On Monday, YouTube will move forward a little, announcing an agreement to show some full-length television shows and films from MGM, the financially troubled 84-year-old film studio.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios will kick off the partnership by posting episodes of its decade-old “American Gladiators” program to YouTube, along with full-length action films like “Bulletproof Monk” and “The Magnificent Seven” and clips from popular movies like “Legally Blonde.” These will be free to watch, with ads running alongside the video.
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I've never watched "The Magnificent Seve." Maybe I'll have to check it out.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: online, online movies
Now we may be seeing Netflix struggle.
MGM to Post Full Films on YouTube reports that more and more movies are becoming available online, for free:
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On Monday, YouTube will move forward a little, announcing an agreement to show some full-length television shows and films from MGM, the financially troubled 84-year-old film studio.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios will kick off the partnership by posting episodes of its decade-old “American Gladiators” program to YouTube, along with full-length action films like “Bulletproof Monk” and “The Magnificent Seven” and clips from popular movies like “Legally Blonde.” These will be free to watch, with ads running alongside the video.
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I've never watched "The Magnificent Seve." Maybe I'll have to check it out.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
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Technorati tags: online, online movies
We've hit a milestone
According to Blogger this post is our 2500th!
It has been fun, well most of the time, sharing our thoughts about homeschooling and other topics.
Now on to the next 2500 posts.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
It has been fun, well most of the time, sharing our thoughts about homeschooling and other topics.
Now on to the next 2500 posts.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
Another beautiful picture from APOD - Orion
John Gauvreau gave me permission to add his cool picture of Orion to my blog:
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day
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Technorati tags: Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the day
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up, Halloween issue
Jacque is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at her blog Walking Therein.
Jacque uses the various categories of the Homeschool Blog Awards to organize the carnival. She encourages you to go vote for your favorite homeschool blogs. You have until November 21st.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Jacque uses the various categories of the Homeschool Blog Awards to organize the carnival. She encourages you to go vote for your favorite homeschool blogs. You have until November 21st.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Have you decided what will be your next entry for the next Carnival of Homeschooling? You still have fifty six hours. The next carnival will be held at Walking Therein.
As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Here are the instructions for sending in a submission.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
Bullies and Brain Scans
I found this news report intriguing.
Brain Scans Show Bullies Enjoy Others' Pain
So, which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Does violence effect the developing brain? Does a brain defect lead to violence?
This study could explain why many of the bullying strategies used in schools could not curtail bad behavior. Bullies are not motivated in the way that the politically correct/self-esteem camp would wish to believe.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education, bully
Brain Scans Show Bullies Enjoy Others' Pain
FRIDAY, Nov. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Bullies may actually enjoy the pain they cause others, a new study using brain scans suggests.
The part of the brain associated with reward lights up when an aggressive teen watches a video of someone hurting another person, but not when a non-aggressive youth watches the same clip, according to the University of Chicago study, published in the current Biological Psychology.
"Aggressive adolescents showed a specific and very strong activation of the amygdala and ventral striatum (an area that responds to feeling rewarded) when watching pain inflicted on others, which suggested that they enjoyed watching pain," researcher Jean Decety, a professor in psychology and psychiatry at the University of Chicago, said in a university news release. "Unlike the control group, the youth with conduct disorder did not activate the area of the brain involved in self-regulation (the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction)."
So, which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Does violence effect the developing brain? Does a brain defect lead to violence?
This study could explain why many of the bullying strategies used in schools could not curtail bad behavior. Bullies are not motivated in the way that the politically correct/self-esteem camp would wish to believe.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education, bully
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Humor: Early results reveal a surprise winner
A friend sent this to me: Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own as President.
Fun.
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Technorati tags: presidential, election
Fun.
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Technorati tags: presidential, election
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up - And nothing went wrong
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Apollos Academy. The carnvial has a set of Aesop Fables to link the posts together.
The Tutor has had bad luck in hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling. Each of the previous four times something major went wrong and almost stopped her for hosting.
This week, no problems!
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
The Tutor has had bad luck in hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling. Each of the previous four times something major went wrong and almost stopped her for hosting.
This week, no problems!
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education, Carnival of Homeschooling
When Homeschooling Disappoints
I found some very helpful quotes in the California Parent Educator, Summer/Fall 2008, Vol. 19, No. 3/4.
These are some of my favorites from the article, "When Homeschooling Disappoints." by E. R. Sample.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education,
These are some of my favorites from the article, "When Homeschooling Disappoints." by E. R. Sample.
Just because my reality doesn't measure up with my expectations doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong with my reality. Maybe the problem lies with the expectations.
Homeschooling costs us everything, but it is worth more than the cost.
The short-term, daily analysis is some what like having to weigh ourselves every five minutes.
Remember homeschooling is NOT a means to an end. It is not the sure-fire path to Harvard, seminary, or perfect children.
As long as there is free will, there is no absolute method to guarantee our children's behavior.
We are just one leg of a long journey for each of our children and they are just one leg in our journeys. We don't have to settle every aspect of their lives on our watch.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education,
Monday, November 03, 2008
Please vote intelligently
There is a push by many to have lots of people vote in the election tomorrow. Many seem to feel that large numbers of people voting is a good thing.
I would much rather have ten people vote intelligently, thoughtfully, with due consideration about the issues and the candidates, than to have a thousand people just vote along party lines.
Please study the issues. Please ponder the history of the candidates. Think about what would be best for the country, and what would be best for your children.
Please vote intelligently.
Thank you.
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Technorati tags: election, vote
I would much rather have ten people vote intelligently, thoughtfully, with due consideration about the issues and the candidates, than to have a thousand people just vote along party lines.
Please study the issues. Please ponder the history of the candidates. Think about what would be best for the country, and what would be best for your children.
Please vote intelligently.
Thank you.
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Technorati tags: election, vote
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