The Government Is Here To Help

Chaplain Luken said in the comments of the previous post:

There is nothing that the Private sector does that the Government can't do less efficiently, less compassionately and less effectively.

Well said Chaplain!

Suspend The Teachers Instead

Commandant Principal Mayerik of Morton High School in Indiana suspended 128 students on the first day of class for inappropriate clothing.

I'm guessing that the principal hasn't even given a thought to suspending teachers for ineffective education. The entire school system is seriously screwed up anyway and the whole experiment should be abandoned. The recent story about the homeless man and his daughter who were living in a forest is a fine example of how easy it is to educate children. His daughter was, as the story put it, "educated beyond her years."

Educating any given child is easy. With the exception of kids that have serious learning disabilities, teaching children is easy; they're sponges. Sure, different kids have different levels of intelligence and different aptitudes but it's easy to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and adjust their education accordingly.

The Collectivist Education camps that we send our kids to now are mostly "one size fits all." Yes, there are charter schools, home study programs, etc. but those are simply a poor response to the effectiveness of private and homeschool education programs that have been in place for a long time.

Rather than suspending kids from an institution they don't belong in to begin with, let's suspend the entire school system.

Miscellany

I had to replace a hard drive for someone so I went to Best Buy and picked up a 120 Gig drive and it was only $50.00. Can you believe that? That's about $0.41/MB. And here's a warning for you while I'm at it. BACK UP YOUR DATA!

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Google has apparently taken Newsgroups of it's main search page. For those of you that don't know what that is, don't worry about it. For those of you who use the vast knowledge base stored there, you can still find Newsgroups on their site here. Newsgroups have been my primary research tool when it comes to solving computer problems for many years.

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Pismo Beach is an incredible place. If you ever get a chance to spend a weekend (or more) there, I highly recommend it.

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If you get a chance to see the movie Dreamer with Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning, I recommend it. It actually made me shed a few tears. If you're not a dad with a little girl, it might not have the same effect on you.

You Talking To Me?

I took this picture this past weekend. Click on th epic to get the large version and get the full effect. The look on his face is just hillarious.

Getting back on track for more blogging. I think I just needed a beak break. My mind has been on other things. Hopefully I'll be back in action soon.

In the mean time, I'm giving you the bird, just don't let it ruffle your feathers.

Interesting Theory

I had a conversation with a former cop yesterday who told me that on a recent visit to the East Coast he requested a ride-along with the police in the town he's planning on moving too. Apperently the police there weren't very well trained in the fine art of proper safety and tactics when stopping a vehicle.

He did a little spot training with them and they apparently didn't understand how seatbelts could be used to their advantage when a traffic stop gets aggressive.

I always assumed that the seat belt laws were put in place by the busy bodies who wanted us all to be safe and healthy and happy on the roads. After my conversation with this cop, I have come to believe that the seat belt laws were put in place primarily for "officer protection."

Think about it. Seat belts prohibit an aggressive driver from getting out of the car quickly. They severely restrict the range of fire a driver has if he wants to shoot back at cops. Any movement by the driver is easily detectable by movement in the shoulder strap.

I still think the baby-sitter mentality was somewhat responsible for the seatbelt laws but it appears that at at least part of the motive led us just that much closer to the police state we're heading for.

The One That Got Away

Man and fish can go home and tell the same tale - The One That Got Away!

When he saw a companion on his boat hook a giant fish during a sea angling contest, Ian Card was delighted.

Next second, the scene of triumph turned to horror - as the 14ft blue marlin leapt out of the water across the vessel and speared Mr Card through the chest with its spiked bill.

I would love to have seen that on video!

Some EcoFreak will come along and claim it's just natures way of getting revenge, just like the unusually high number of shark attacks last year.

It's just too bad that they couldn't save the guy AND the marlin; what a trophy!

Three Engineers

Now for a little change of mood from the last post:

Three engineers were standing around discussing what sort of engineer it took to create the human body.

The first engineer says, "An electrical engineer obviously created the human body. The entire body operates on a highly sophisticated electrical system with the brain regulating the whole thing.

The second engineer says, "You have a good point, but it must have been a mechanical engineer that designed the human body. Look at the physical structure; the way the muscles and bones work together. It's a thing of beauty and grace.

With a dismissive tone, the third engineer says, "I hate to break it to you guys, but the human body was designed by a civil engineer."

"What?!!! Where did you come up with that nonsense?"

"Well," said the third engineer, "Who else but a civil engineer would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreation area?"