black locust manor

Follow-Up: Judges Sentence Juvies to Jail for Kickbacks

2010-07-23T14:10:00.002-04:00

Not often you get an update to stories a year later, but I'm glad this one came through!

20 years! Better than the 8 years they were originally slated for...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/07/23/us/AP-US-Courthouse-Kickbacks.html?hp

Readin', Ritin', and Rythmatic. Oh, and Recess too!

2009-02-26T12:54:00.005-05:00

I can't believe it took a scientific study to realize that kids need to play.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/health/24well.html?em

What a bunch of maroons!

A scientific study mentioned in this article "found out" that kids in school that were able to have at least an age-long 15-minutes of recess behaved better in class, and learned more.

If you read further, you'll find out that rats that were not allowed to play, were not able to mate. (Oh my!) There's a few politicians and world leaders to whom I'd like to deny play time, brush clearing and so on.

Perhaps the law should be: No Child Left Behind on the Playground

Judges Sentence Juvies to Jail for Kickbacks

2009-02-13T15:16:00.008-05:00

This makes me sick.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/us/28judges.html (updated story March 28)

Read it. Make sure you have a bucket handy -- you'll be sick, too!

I hope these two judges spend a month of time in real jail (not white collar jail) for every month they sentenced these kids for. If it is for the rest of their lives, well, they've made their bed, let them sleep in it with their new prison boyfriends. What a couple of motherfuckers!

This is an example of two people who should get double what they dished out. They should be ruined in every and any sense.

Outrage? Yeah, I got it.

What's even worse? They sentenced some 5,000 kids during the past 6 years, and some of them no doubt deserved it, but now they'll all be cleared of any wrong doing. Talk about getting off on a technicality!

From the article: "If the court agrees to the plea agreement, both judges will serve 87 months in federal prison and resign from the bench and bar. They are expected to be sentenced in the next several months. Lawyers for both men declined to comment."

Declined to comment? I bet those lawyers are as disgusted as I am... 7 years, 3 months in jail. That's a start. Loose their pensions, too? Better. What else?

Do you smell that? You do? That's the smell of 5,000 lawsuits!

Now -- if you're an unschooling family, and you find yourself in front a juvie judge... well, make sure you have legal counsel!!

Islanders Suck! You're Suspended.

2009-01-13T12:06:00.010-05:00

Tonight the Rangers play the Islanders. Certainly one of the best hockey rivalries around. Lot's of action: hits, fights, goals, penalties and attitude (why did we trade Avery?). These match ups never disappoint.

This morning on the way to work, my most (and only) favorite hockey song came on my iPod, as if it knew about tonight's game: Johnny Got Suspended, by the Zambonis.

Johnny is a Ranger fan, and he wears an "Islanders Suck!" t-shirt to school. His teacher sends him to the principal's office, who quickly suspends him and calls his mother. His mother is shamed and in a "state of disarray", but she also brings a message from his father: "Your father says he's proud, and the Rangers Rule!". Johnny Got Suspended for wearing an Islanders Suck t-shirt. Oh yes he did.

So what am I getting at? I remember school. Despite being a Rangers fan, I'm also an Islander's fan, and I'd (probably) never wear such a t-shirt. I was a HUGE Islanders fan when I was young. Winning four Stanley cups in a row helped! I wore an Islander's jersey to school all the time! I did not get into trouble. If I had worn an Islanders Suck t-shirt, I doubt I would have been suspended, but I probably would have been beaten up.

Despite all this, and my objections to standardized education, I still am nostalgic about things of this nature. Not the education, but the camaraderie, pranks and fun that can be had in school. I'm almost disappointed that I'll never be called to the principal's office to pick up my child for doing something daring and fun (that I'd be proud of) despite any rules, regulations and/or feelings that my son broke, hurt or bent.

I remember once in the fourth grade putting tacks on a substitute teacher's chair. I've never seen a fat lady move so fast. Her yelp alone was worth it! I was hero to my classmates and a pariah to substitutes. I'm sure my parents got a good laugh out of it, too. My dad got a good laugh when I reminded him of it recently.

And who wouldn't, really? I had to write a two page essay on why that was a bad idea. (the essay was a bad idea!) I got into further trouble by double-spacing my lines. But as I pointed out at the time, they didn't say it had to be single-spaced. That's how you piss off a principal! Good times.

Anyway, I don't think I'll have any of those proud moments. Aside from not going to school, my son is a Penguin fan.

Unschooling with 2 working parents

2008-12-01T19:21:00.004-05:00

Lately, we've been playing a computer game called "Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraption Game." It's a neat game in which you can either solve puzzles or experiment with gears, explosives, electricity, gravity, etc. The puzzles are goal-oriented contraptions with fixed elements, and you have to select objects from a given set that will satisfy the goal, e.g., using steam power to roast a sausage, launching nails from catapults to pop balloons, etc.

The puzzles in this game, and puzzles like Sudoku and crossword puzzles, fall into a set of mathematical problems known as "constraint satisfaction problems." The challenge is to find a solution that satisfies the limitations that define the problem space.

Everyone lives with constraints in their lives (time, physical, financial, legal, etc.), and we can either choose to view our constraints in a negative, limiting light, or we can seek out creative solutions that enable us to thrive within those constraints. And there's plenty of people out there working towards loosening their constraints or perhaps eliminating some altogether.

Here's an example: sometimes local homeschoolers grumble about having to submit quarterly and annual reports in our state. But an unschooling mom I know has turned it into a positive experience -- her almost grown children enjoy reading through their old reports and reminiscing about the things they did, places they went, all they learned, etc.

For my family, we could choose to sell our house and move to a place with a lower cost of living, which would loosen the financial constraints we have. We've discussed this possibility, and currently there are more pros than cons to staying put.

There's another constraint we are unwilling to loosen -- our commitment to unschooling. For us, we've been able to strike a balance -- my husband works full-time outside the home, and I work from home part-time for the same company I worked for pre-child. My son has had an amazing nanny the past few years who (along with her son) have greatly enriched his (and my) life. They are busy having fun while I can be heads-down for a few hours a day, yet still be available if they need me for anything. And the rest of the day, my son and I spend together doing whatever strikes our fancy. Sometimes I'm bothered by our inability to be truly spontaneous, but it's a passing feeling. Things have fallen into place so well for us that I am in no position to complain. Even if we were to move and I didn't "have to" work, I probably would still work a little, whether doing what I'm currently doing or trying something totally different -- it's a mental and interpersonal outlet that provides me with opportunities for learning and personal growth. And the financial benefits allow us to do things like provide ourselves with a fun and comfortable "nest," and travel to unschooling conferences :).

Sometimes on unschooling lists people ask about working and unschooling -- are they mutually exclusive? I don't think so. If we can open ourselves up to unschooling as the best path for our children, we can open ourselves up to finding creative solutions to our own "constraint satisfaction problems."

Hunting, Gathering and Unschooling

2008-11-14T15:00:00.001-05:00

Next, a novel by Michael Crichton, dealing with genetic manipulation, gives some insight into schooling, and how it may actually prevent us modern humans from maturing. Read this excerpt:

... human beings now take longer to reach mental maturity — and many never do so at all.

Dr. Charlton believes this is an accidental by-product of formal education that lasts well into the twenties. "Formal education requires a child-like stance of receptivity," which "counteracts the attainment of psychological maturity" that would normally occur in the late teens or early twenties. He notes that "academics, teachers, scientists, and many other professionals are often strikingly immature."

Earlier human societies, such as hunter-gatherers, were more stable and thus adulthood was attained in the teen years. Now, however, with rapid social change and less reliance on physical strength, maturity is more often postponed...

Thus [Charlton] says, "in an important psychological sense, some modern people never actually become adults...

... he added that modern people "lack a profundity of character which seemed commoner in the past."

Hmmm.... so is he saying that school is holding us back? Does this explain why I love cartoons, video games and farting? Were Cro-mags and Neanderthals more mature than me? (no doubt!)

Actually, if I read into this way too much, George Bush's "No Child Left Behind" act is working! Everyone is a child. Sweet. Credit where credit is due.

Interestingly, while I write this, there's an interesting blog post on the times right now about whether or not rewarding children is helpful. (Not really, apparently). And now for executive pay...

Thus the late, respected, well-known author, Michael Crichton, was perhaps an unwitting advocate for unschoolers. Who knew?

Watch out for those dinosaurs.

Sawing Wood

2008-10-22T17:10:00.008-04:00

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck chucks a lot of wood?
A lot, if it's got a Japanese saw.

All my life I always complained how it was a pain in the ass to use a hand saw. Pushing this thing through logs or boards, with the blade buckling despite the thickness meant to prevent it. Complain, complain, whine and complain, but of course, never thought about inventing a pull saw. Luckily, someone did it for me many, many moons ago.

A few years ago I took a wood working course in which my instructor introduced us to the Japanese-style pull saw. Yes -- PULL! This was frickin' amazing. What a wonderfully easy and user friendly way to saw wood. Why didn't I think of this before ... (ahem).

I now use that saw for everything! It's like cutting melted butter with a Ginsu.

But the main thing, between using a Japanese-style saw, and learning kung fu, is that I've begun looking at the world quite differently. It's akin to looking at an object and the shadow it casts, and then standing in the shadow and looking at the object and the light source. It puts everything in a brand new light (however dim, you are after all, in a shadow now).

The east tends to work with it, as opposed the west's fix it or get around it or pave over it attitude. Neither on their own complete the picture, but both philosophies together offer the world the best solutions possible.

I can't abide by people who always know what's best (including myself). Those people tend to stay out of the shadows and never look at the light. They can't possibly know what's best.

You can't tell me your grass ain't greener until you've seen it from the greener grass over there.

How do you know until you've tried?

SPAMOTICA

2008-10-09T14:13:00.009-04:00

Ok, so you've all seen the spam:

• Enlarge your p e n 1 s
• Rolex watches
• prescription drugs from Canada

But this is new to me, in spam and content!

Now I want you to pay attention to the picture...

If you're trying to stop this sort of thing, wouldn't you think about dead and rotting puppies or something, rather than a nice pair of hooters? No wonder this guy needs help.

Just thought I'd share.
Peace, love and (woops, there it goes again, sorry honey, I tried to hold it back) ... cleavage.

PS: the best part of this spam? I'll be thinking about this guy's thoughts all day.
PPS: If you're looking for your own copy, the subject line was "Discover the Secret" from WWW news.

Blog Plagiarism is Lame

2008-10-09T13:39:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple of popular ways personal blogs are used:

as a journal, writing your personal thoughts down in your own words

as a collection of quoted excerpts or links to articles/sites you want to share, maybe adding comments about what you found interesting or what you disagreed with

Then there's a different way to blog:

find content you like that other people have written, copy it and change a few words here and there, and post it to your blog as if you had written it, without crediting the original author

Wikipedia defines plagiarism as "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Another term for this in relation to web content is "content scraping".

I haven't been blogging for very long, and I don't blog frequently. I can type quickly, but I write slowly. It can take me a long time to come up with phrasing that I'm satisfied with. So it's disconcerting to see a post from my handful of posts "remixed" on someone else's blog (and I do mean handful; this is a shared blog).

Whether it's called plagiarism, drive-by scraping, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", or whatever, I call it lame. If you like what someone else has written, just link to it and give 'em their props.

Sneaky Learning

2008-10-08T14:25:00.011-04:00

So my kid and I watch kung fu flicks from time to time, and I get to point out all the cool moves and we talk about good guys and bad guys and all that. As a kung fu practitioner (that's my sifu in the picture, many moons ago) I thought my son would also be interested in learning.

"Nah."

Well, for someone who is uninterested in learning kung fu, he's getting pretty good... Just the other day we were jumping on the trampoline and he asked if I wanted to see his new kung fu moves. "I've been practicing," he says.

Intrigued, I readily agreed.

Sure enough he shows me a kick and some punches which look suspiciously like they came from the forms I practice. Somebody has been sneaking peeks at me while I practice!

This is funny because there are a lot of kung fu movies where the kids have to sneak peeks because the father won't allow them (for whatever silly plot-induced reasons) to practice kung fu. But sure enough, they watch in secret, learn, and when they grow up, must avenge their parents' murder with the kung fu they learned in secret.

Hmm, on that note, it doesn't seem so funny anymore. At least there is a difference: I would like him to learn. Perhaps that will be enough to steer away any murder plans coming my way.

Anyway... just goes to show, your kids are learning whether you see it or not.

Pitagora Suicchi - yeah!

2008-10-01T23:39:00.004-04:00

We discovered a Japanese TV kids show called Pitagora Suicchi (Pythagoras Switch). Aside from the awesome Rube Goldbergian contraptions, they have other fun segments, like "Algorithm March".

This clip is a compilation of the contraptions:

Here's the "Algorithm March" with ninja:

"Do you have a wooden spoon I could borrow..."

2008-09-30T22:15:00.005-04:00

"so I can beat my kid with it?"

Someone told me that a friend of hers asked her this while visiting her house. It shocked me to hear that someone would ask such a question in all seriousness. I know this type of parenting exists, but I suppose because I don't personally know anyone who abuses their children (uh, that I know of), I am still flabbergasted that a mother would ask another mother this question.

This is an extreme example of what you won't hear if you spend time with radical unschoolers.

If you've been moving towards radical unschooling, subscribing to email lists, poring over excellent sites like Sandra Dodd's or Joyce Fetteroll's, or even just contemplating unschooling (I recommend reading some John Holt books) but haven't been to a conference or met any unschoolers in real life, I highly recommend making an effort to do so. While reading online (and taking the time to contemplate the philosophy and trying things out) will get you pretty far, spending time with radical unschoolers will give you more clarity as you get to know families living a more trusting, peaceful and respectful (and let's not forget fun and learning-filled!) life. Aside from the national and regional conferences/get-togethers, there are local groups in numerous locations, or if you can't find any, start one yourself!

You also won't hear these said among radical unschooling parents (aimed at young kids):

"When I count to 3... 1... 2... "
"When we get home, you're going straight to time-out in your room."
"Don't make me come over there..."
"That's grown-up stuff."
"If you get an A on the test, you can watch an hour of TV tonight."
Excessive praise, the "Good Jobbing syndrome". (My favorite: a toddler girl tentatively pushing a train a couple of inches at a Barnes & Noble Thomas display, looking up expectantly at her mother, who enthusiastically responds "Good Pushing!!" Ack!)

Glamour

2008-08-19T16:40:00.014-04:00

Today I watched the super heavyweight weightlifting competition at the Olympics. These guys are big strong guys with not the most glamorous physiques. The image of big, hairy, sweaty, smelly...

Anyway, a little later I followed up reading the news and found an article about it on the Times' site.

The article describes the event as "the sport’s glamour division, involving immense barrel-chested men who weigh at least 105 kilograms." (231 lbs).

Glamour you say? I did a double take reading that myself. I was SO about to judge, but a little voice in my head told me to slow down and look up the definition.

"an exciting and often illusory and romantic attractiveness"

"the quality of fascinating, alluring, or attracting, esp. by a combination of charm and good looks"

Hmmm.

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder... and glamour, too? Heck, you be the judge.

The winner, the immense barrel-chested guy in the photo, is Matthias Steiner of Germany. He lifted 258 kilograms (568.8 lbs). Perhaps Ming Lo could have used his help.

Moving the Mountain

2008-08-17T14:03:00.008-04:00

Last week, Jet and I read Arnold Lobel's "Ming Lo Moves the Mountain", an amusing story about a couple living in the shadows of a great mountain. They are unhappy because the sun hardly shines on their home and rocks slide off the mountain, resulting in a leaky roof and damp house. All would be well if they could just move the mountain. The wife sends the husband to the village sage for advice. After several failed attempts to move the mountain based on the sage's advice, they learn that they must do the dance of the moving mountain. This entails bundling up their house and possessions, closing their eyes and walking backwards for several hours. They again follow the sage's advice, and when they finally open their eyes, "our dance has done its work! The mountain has moved far away!".

After reading the book, we talked about perpective and looked at the printout of M.C. Escher's Relativity that's taped to his wall (the Lego version rocks, too). We like to take it down, rotate it and follow the people on the steps, or leave it on the wall and tilt our heads every which way to look at it (more fun).

Embracing unschooling is akin to opening my eyes after doing the dance of the moving mountain. Boy, has my perspective changed. Simple words and phrases have different meaning for me now, and I'm much more cognizant of my own word usage. The word "teach" is a loaded term to me now. Just the other day someone said to me, "I taught him how to read when he was 4." Hmm. A switch in my brain flips on when I hear phrases like "let them", "make them", "have to" (in the context of arbitrary rules). Can a parent and child have a respectful relationship if the parent views his/her actions as coming from a place of control over the child?

Dividing life into school subjects is another area in which my perspective has shifted. I feel fortunate we latched onto unschooling while Jet is young. His world hasn't been parceled into discrete units of information doled out at specific times the way his schooled parents' were. I doubt he will develop dislikes or phobias of entire subjects, the "I hate Math" or "History sucks", because he won't be repeatedly drilled and tested in specifically chosen aspects of these vast subject areas that may have no relevance to where he is in his life. He is free to spend as much time as he pleases delving into one area and following its trails to other areas; there's no "Time's up for today and tomorrow we have to move on the next chapter, so we don't have time to answer your question."

Sure, subjects are useful for generally categorizing things, but there isn't a single thing or idea in this world that isn't related to something else in some capacity. And brains aren't wired to accept a new piece of information in isolation, without trying to assimilate it into what one already knows.

Here's an example: anvils. When Jet was younger, he was interested in water wheels. So we watched videos of working water wheels, checked out library books on mills, came upon a mill when we were visiting the NY Finger Lakes region, looked up woodworking plans on how to build a small home water wheel, etc. In the library, next to the books about mills was one about blacksmiths. So we read that one as well. Anvils. Next thing you know, we're watching Coyote & Roadrunner, and there's anvils being flung everywhere. Recently, we read a book about ears. Jet got a real kick out of there being an anvil (and a hammer) inside our bodies. And I just remembered a scene from Gilmore Girls asking "Where did all the Anvils go?" (Excellent question; apparently a lot of them were melted down during WWII.) And the Wikipedia entry about anvils has a section about anvils being used as percussion instruments.

If you want to look for subjects, we covered a little history, metalworking, hydropower and food production (watermills), anatomy and sound waves (human hearing), physics (or how to defy the laws of physics a la Coyote), Latin (Roadrunner aka "Hot-roddicus Supersonicus"), vocabulary (Jet asked "What does 'Acme' mean?"), music, the list goes on.

As for Ming Lo and his wife, "There was happiness in their hearts for they both knew that they had made the mountain move." So too, does my family live with happiness in our hearts... and geometry-and-astronomy-and-Shakespeare-and-social-studies-and [insert your favorite subject here] in our lives.

forgiveness and stealing

2008-08-14T11:30:00.001-04:00

A couple of nights ago Jet and I were horsing around and he decided that he wanted to play the stealing game.

"The stealing game?" I asked. "Yeah," says Jet, "here you steal this" he throws me a widget, "and I'll steal this," picking up another.

"Do you know what stealing is?" I asked, perhaps concerned that he was showing criminal tendencies so openly and so young.

"No."

I went on to explain that it wasn't exactly "cool" to be stealing...

Later we were watching Avatar and Aang was talking about forgiveness. "What's forgiveness?" Jet asks.

This one was a little tougher than explaining stealing, but since we were watching TV, I made up an example of our TV breaking, so we took the neighbor's TV without asking permission, and they weren't even home when we took it. But they found out.

So we had to deal with resulting fall out, anger, resentment, police, jail, etc. But then in the end, our neighbor forgave us, and we were able to live in peace with our neighbors again. I'm sparing many details, but that was a tough conversation. Needless to say, our almost 4 year old lost interest about half way through...

TEST YOUR CHILD NOW AND OFTEN

2008-08-12T17:04:00.006-04:00

Oh boy, here we go...

A New York Times editorial from August 12, 2008 states that "lawmakers need to strengthen the requirement that states document student performance in yearly tests in exchange for federal aid." Since unschoolers care not for school, what does that mean? Unschooled children are not, technically speaking, students. They don't get federal aid, either. Unfortunately the law will not make any distinction.

In New York State, it is required that all students be tested from 4th grade (or so). Unless we get our kid enrolled (ugh) in some sort of "private school" that will exempt him, we shall have to test him. Rigorously and standardly, it would seem.

I'm a little disappointed in the Times's position on this. Generally they've been detractors of the No Child act, but this time they seem to be in the mood to strengthen it. Very surprised they aren't calling for its abolition.

That, dear reader, is up to the vote in you! Use it wisely. Petition your Senators and your Representative.

Process vs. Product

2008-08-10T17:31:00.004-04:00

The notion of "process vs. product" comes up regularly in knitting discussions. Process knitters enjoy the act of knitting, the feel of the yarn as it passes through their fingers, seeing the stitch pattern emerge, the meditative state of busy fingers. Product knitters love seeing, feeling, and using their FOs (finished objects), happily foregoing swatching or knitting with bulkier yarn in order to get their FO completed sooner.

Like many knitters, I have both process and product tendencies. But as an unschooling parent, I am much less concerned with how my child will "turn out". I had a conversation with someone who declared that they were considering prep school for their preschool-age child, so the child would get a "good" education, get into a "good" college and have the "right" connections in life. I'm not looking to mold my child into a packaged product, a slick and glossy FO whose "achievements" I can brag about.

I love sharing in his process of childhood, learning alongside him, watching him emerge and evolve. If one day, he could ever be considered an FO, I trust he will turn out just fine.

Emphatic Ice Cream

2008-08-07T06:58:00.016-04:00

So, after a 4-day process, we finally made ice cream in the hand-me-down Donvier ice cream maker. Minimally, it's an overnight process for vanilla ice cream (canister sits in freezer for at least 5 hours, cooked ice cream mixture cools in fridge overnight before it's ready to turn into ice cream).

It! Was! Delicious! And not just you, not just me, but Anyone! Can! Do It!

The Artlessness of War

2008-08-04T22:34:00.004-04:00

So I'm wrestling with Jet the other day and the topic of fighting comes up. So I go on to explain about fighting, why people fight, why nations fight. How sometimes fighting isn't all that bad, but mostly fighting is really, really a terrible thing. Especially, I tell him, when executed by morons. I go on, (why we're still wrestling, by the way) to trash the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, and the mistake we made going in there in the first place. How we should have been concentrating on Afghanistan and Pakistan all this time. Needless to say, the 3 y.o. boy lost interest. Me? I pulled down the Art of War and began reading.

Man, Sun Tzu would have given Bush a big old "F" in War Class.

Can I share with you some quotes from the Art of War? Please?

"Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage and sterness."

"Assess the advantages in taking advice..."

"...I have heard of military operations that were clumsy yet swift, but I have never seen one that was skillful and lasted a long time. It is never beneficial to a nation to have a military operation continue for a long time."

Du You, a commentator of the Art of War, says, "Arms are tools of ill omen — to employ them for an extended period of time will bring about calamity. As it is said, 'Those who like to fight and so exhaust their military inevitably perish."

"When your forces are dulled ... your strength exhausted, your supplies are gone, then others will take advantage of your debility and rise up."

Li Quan, another commentator: "A large scale operation involves enormous expense, which not only breaks you down in the field, but also exhausts you at home. Therefore a wise government does not keep its forces in the field."

I could go on, but I'll spare you, dear reader.

To Bush's credit, Sun Tzu is a big proponent of Shock & Awe. However, Du You says, "if you do not first think about the calamities of danger and destruction, you will not be able to reap any advantage."

Hmm... I seem to read a lot about the calamity of exhaustion in this book.
Next? I will apply The Art of War to wrestling my son. Poor kid won't stand a chance!

Blog Carnival "normal" day

2008-08-04T17:54:00.010-04:00

Thanks to Ren Allen for suggesting the "normal day" blog carnival topic over at familyrun.ning.com -- tracking our day yesterday was an amusing and interesting activity. I know young children say all kinds of things and ask all kinds of questions, but some of the questions and statements were more interesting/amusing than normal, I think...

Sunday Aug 4th, 7:30ish - Jet (3yo) wakes up and reaches for two hourglasses, one of which I found last night. I couldn't remember if they were both 3 minutes so we did a little experiment to find out. "Blue's going to win because blue's my favorite color."

Next, we check on the fire department to make sure everyone is still there and ruminate over whether there were any overnight emergencies.

Then we head downstairs because Jet proclaims we're going to have pancakes this morning. Blueberry. Except we don't have blueberries, but would strawberries and raspberries do? After preparing the dry & wet ingredients, we decide we're not that hungry and to wait for Erik to wake up.

Time for some pipe construction -- "but you have to line up the 'apc' codes". I say "oh, the UPC codes?" I go on to talk about how each code is unique to the item that's sold, but he kind of ignores me and goes back to the kitchen (probably because he knows about UPC codes from scanning at the supermarket checkout, or mom is boring this early in the morning).

In the kitchen it's "let's make ice cream". We recently got a hand-me-down circa '70s Donvier ice cream maker that we haven't tried using yet, but Friday I put the canister part in the freezer because the box says you need to chill it in the freezer for at least 5 hours or overnight. Yesterday we were busy with other things, but today, we thought we'd make the ice cream for Jet's grandparents, who were coming over for lunch. The instructions were missing from the box, so I found and printed them off the web but didn't spend much time reading them (more on this later).

Erik comes downstairs and we have breakfast. Jet is a bit overzealous with the syrup and ends up with pancake soup. Mmm.

Jet: "Let's play poptropica." (online game)
Me: "OK."
Jet: "Why do they make new islands?"
Me: "So people keep coming back, and they can sell advertising". And we talk about that a bit. The ads are new since the last time we played about a month ago. There are transition screens that used to have just a backdrop, and you moved your avatar across the screen to get to the other side. Now there's a big Sears ad taking up most of that space.
Jet: "I changed my mind. I don't want to play poptropica right now."
Me: "OK. Wanna go outside?"
Jet: "Yeah yeah!"

It's around 9:30 as we head outside. The rain barrel is full from a heavy rain yesterday -- perfect for dredging/working on the evolving dam. Jet asks "Is water very strong?"

I remember to take a video of what our "door bells" sound like, a response to a post by Julie Boerst on familyrun.ning.com.

Some neighbors come back from hiking on the trail at the end of our street. Dad and daughter. Daughter joins Jet in dam-building, then they decide to jump on the trampoline. While they do that, I knit a few rows of my bumblebee socks and chat w/neighbor.

Then it's back to the rain barrel, with a pit stop on the stone wall along our property to play fireman for a bit. Back at the rain barrel, Jet says that they need an "in-charger". I say "oh, you mean someone in charge?" "Yeah." So neighbor becomes the "in-charger" and Jet becomes the "in-spector", the structural engineer whose job it is to make sure there are no "pressure leaks" in the dam.

Neighbor dad goes to his house to get a snack, so it's just me w/the 2 kids. Out of the blue, neighbor daughter (4yo) says, "Jules, my dad has a big penis. And behind the penis is, like, a ball". I kid you not. And this was said not 2 days after a friend of ours was telling us about her 2yo daughter loudly saying "Daddy has a huge penis" in the grocery store.

Meanwhile, Erik is picking up the trash that got strewn around the knocked-over trash can (raccoons). There's even a chunk of leftover mushroom quiche around the corner and up on the patio. Guess the raccoons enjoy dining al fresco too. After some under-the-breath muttering, Erik heads off to the market to pick up some salmon to grill for lunch.

Other neighbor kids come out and they all ride bikes for a bit. Jet gets bored of riding and wants to jump on the trampoline instead, so he and I go jump until we're tired.

Back inside, it's ice cream-making time. Remember, I didn't read the instructions; just checked that we had the ingredients. Turns out you need to cook the mixture, then refrigerate overnight. Doh! We make the mixture but have to wait until tomorrow to actually make the ice cream.

11am - Jet wants to watch Coyote & Roadrunner. Works for me. While he's watching that, I straighten up the house and vacuum. Erik comes back from shopping, marinates the salmon and mows the front yard. I finish cleaning, solve a little more of last Sunday's crossword, and join Jet who's watching a different Looney Tunes, "A Bear For Punishment". He asks "What is punishment?" We discuss for a bit. Then later, he asks "What's instinct?" I ask him where he heard that, and he said in Bugs Bunny, the circus episode, which we hadn't watched recently, but I guess was something that popped into his head.

Oh, sometime during this timeframe he made "cheese and cracker soup" with his snack and drink. Sorry, no pictures of that to share.

1pm - Lunch w/grandparents. Frisbee throwing w/Annie.

Jet is busy in the sandbox, creating a "water demolisher". I tell Jet his "water demolisher" reminds me of Anasazi cliff dwellings.

4pm - Grandparents head out, and Jet zonks out. Sometimes he naps, sometimes he doesn't. Today it's a long one.

6pm - Dinner & Coyote & Roadrunner again. Jet asks "What does TNT spell?" I offer "tint?" We look up what it stands for -- trinitrotoluene.

After dinner we go for a stroll down the path to check for frogs in the bog.

Jet takes a few photos unassisted:

We come back and build a marble run.

Then we read some books. Jet loves designing and making zany contraptions, a la Rube Goldberg, and I found an Arthur Geisert book, "Lights Out", at the library that is right up his alley. The premise of the book is awful, but the contraption is fun. We read that and look at a couple of Goldberg inventions, then move on to the "thin books".

The "thin books" are the "Let's Read and Find Out" series, and we read "Hear Your Heart" and "What Happens to a Hamburger?". This reminds him of the model body we have and so, of course, there goes the man's entrails again.

By this time I'm pretty beat. Jet & Erik build a small train track and wrestle a while; eventually we all crash for the night.

Truly scrumptious flies

2008-08-02T09:25:00.015-04:00

Spiders do love flies. The first two photos (from last summer) are of a large spider (maybe 1.5 inches? Can you identify it?) latched onto a fly. The second two photos (from this week) are of a much smaller spider who caught a fly in his web. The flies were similar in size. The small spider spent a great deal of time securing the fly, flipping it over and moving it several inches. Unfortunately, when we checked on the spider the next morning, it was gone. All that work and it didn't get to enjoy its catch.

Girly Garden

2008-08-01T23:49:00.015-04:00

As far as colors go, pink and purple are not my faves (yucky memories of being dressed in frilly pink dresses as a kid). However, there's some great Cleomes (spider flowers) and a large Buddleia (butterfly bush) blooming in the yard that are making me rethink my position.

This Eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, has no issues with purple...and I shouldn't either. If we had a yellow butterfly bush, we probably wouldn't get as many butterflies since they're not as attracted to the yellow variety.

Germany elects new US President

2008-07-28T18:01:00.011-04:00

So we all see that Barack Obama went to Germany to speak in front of a million people. It was actually more along the lines of the Million Man March! Remember that? Right, about 200,000 people. Respectable, but let's not blow this stuff out of proportion, shall we?

Anyway, the head of Der Speigel's Foreign Desk, Gerhard Spörl, calls Barry "No. 44". (Can I call him, Barry?) 44: that's the number of our next president. Herr Bush, Jr. is No. 43, Poppy is 41, and Billy Blue Dress is nestled in there at No. 42. Hillary Yellow Pant Suit (who dresses her? sheesh!) will have to wait for 45. (note: five and twenty-ten-ten;-) )

So Gerhard summarily elects our next president a full 99 days before we get to hang our chads. The sheer audacity of it makes it hopeful. Can we indeed see a change in America's future. Re-engage the world as our friends, instead of giving everyone the cold shoulder? Is there hope for America? A country that Gerhard calls a "somewhat anemic, pragmatic democracy". (Note to self: Don't forget to watch the Daily Show tonight!)

I hope there's hope. The Germans seem to make some sense, as well as nice cars. But the sense does not extend to an "anemic, pragmatic democracy." Perhaps something was lost in translation? Perhaps it is meant to say our "democratic pragmatism is anemic?"

Auf Wiedersehen

28, 29, 20-10!

2008-07-26T12:13:00.002-04:00

I’ve come across this before, how when some children are learning to count in English, that when they get to 30, they say “twenty-ten”. This is logical, and Sebleebler did this too.

In Mandarin Chinese, there are no "teens" or different words for multiples of 10. "Eleven" is "ten-one", "Twelve" is "ten-two", etc. "Twenty" is "two-ten", "Twenty-one" is "two-ten-one", etc. "Thirty" is "three-ten".

And who says Mandarin is hard to learn?

Here's "Twenty-one Reasons Why English Is Hard to Learn" (I believe this is from Richard Lederer's "Crazy English"):
1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there was no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen on how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

aunt : ant :: jaunt : jant?

2008-07-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

I used the word “jaunt” in an earlier post. Sebleebler and I enjoy rhyming, and lately he’s been interested in how things are spelled. Seeing the word “jaunt” got me thinking about phonics and regional dialects.

I grew up pronouncing aunt like the insect, ant. Plungerhead grew up pronouncing it like “awnt”. If phonics was the only way to learn to read, I might have a harder time when first encountering words like “jaunt”, “haunt”, and “taunt”. On the other hand, learning about the aunt/ant exception might loosen my brain up to being more receptive to the gazillion other exceptions in written English. It’s ultimately a wash since our brains are quite capable of accepting such language idiosyncrasies into our personal knowledge repository, but it's fun to think about regardless.

How about these?
good wood | food mood | blood flood

Do U Urdu?

2008-07-26T11:36:00.000-04:00

Originally posted to another blog July 21, 2008
--------

It's a great era in which to unschool. The "interwebs" has made it sickeningly easy to have access to a vast amount of information and exposure to other cultures from the comfort of our living rooms.

Sebleebler, a huge fan of Tom & Jerry, wanted to find recent episodes on YouTube. Tom & Jerry are not known their loquaciousness, but one episode we watched did have quite a bit of dialogue... in Urdu, no less. And Sebleebler was eagerly watching it and giggling as usual. In fact, he watched the Urdu-dubbed ones several times in a row.

We've also learned a little bit of German through his interest in fire & rescue. I still have trouble pronouncing "Feuerwehr", but if we're ever in the EU and have an emergency, we'll know to dial 112 instead of 911.

Being exposed to different languages and cultures while following the interests of a 3-year-old? Priceless.

Now, if we could only teleport ourselves (or "jaunt" as Alfred Bester calls it in "The Stars My Destination") to anywhere in the world any time we'd like...

What’s going on with the New York Rangers?

2008-07-25T17:09:00.000-04:00

What the heck has Glen Sather been drinking? Hogwart's Special Absent Mindedness Potion? Luckily it was just after he let Jagr go. Sorry, but it was time.

But back to Sather: Sean Avery — we’re like 100 times better at winning games when Avery plays. So he lets him go. What gives?

What happened to Prucha? His first year he’s great, scores over 20 goals. Last year they demote him to the checking line at best, hold him to 7 goals. Such a promising player, he should be on one of the top two lines. He’ll probably go back home, too. All the Czechs seem to be going back to Europe.

And why leave Shanahan dangling? We need a captain now. He’s definitely got another decent year in him. Let him lead and bring up all those youngsters. That’s why we have them.

And that Redden deal? We were good on defense! We need people who score some frickin’ goals, man! Be honest Glen, your mixing your medications, right?

Sather is going right back to where we started before he made the “about time!” decision to rebuild three years ago. Last years team needed to be tweaked, but he destroyed it.

Jagr gone. Avery gone. Shanahan going? Sather must go!

Encroachment

2008-07-25T17:04:00.000-04:00

Not just a silly foul in football (american football for you non-americans out there).

Humans, since the first settlement, have encroached on wildlife. Every time I see deer walk by our house, I think of the fence I built to keep them from eating our garden. Every time I find the garbage cans ransacked by racoons, I vent my frustration verbally (or sometimes with pee) to the nearby forest as I pick up after the nasty, stinky mess they leave.

However, nowadays, I fail to be furious. It’s our own damned fault, after all. If we didn’t pave away the wilderness for those ever-so delightful strip-malls and planned communities, take away their homes, their lands, then we wouldn’t have these problems.

What happens when a bear walks through town — “SHIT! We gotta get that… that… THING! out of here. How dare it simply walk into town. Shouldn’t it be extinct or something?”

Man oh man! Just what have done to this world?