Filed on May 17, 2012 at 10:10 am under by dcobranchi
The Carnival of Homeschooling v. 333 is up.
Filed on May 16, 2012 at 8:12 am under by dcobranchi
That’s what the banner read on last night’s “Glee.” They can sing, but they cannot spell.
Filed on May 9, 2012 at 8:48 am under by dcobranchi
This blog was born. That 1st post was just as inane as most of the rest of them.
Filed on April 26, 2012 at 6:11 pm under by dcobranchi
The SC Senate just passed a bill to allow HEKs to play sports at their local schools. Interestingly, the vote was 36-0.
Filed on April 6, 2012 at 4:27 pm under by dcobranchi
There’s an idiot down the corner from here standing next to the main shopping drag waving a big photo of Obama with the single word “Remove” under the image. Oh, and Obama is sporting a Hitler moustache.
Filed on March 24, 2012 at 1:25 pm under by dcobranchi
But I’m sure my fellow travelers meeting in DC today would be A-OK with that.
Filed on at 8:15 am under by dcobranchi
Every adult involved in this fiasco deserves to go to federal prison for a very long time. I figure they’ve admitted to kidnapping and false imprisonment.
PITTSBURGH—A southeastern Pennsylvania church subjected members of a youth group to a mock kidnapping and interrogations without telling them it was staged, and the outraged mother of one 14-year-old girl has filed a complaint with police.
The pastor of the Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Middletown said the church is “so saddened” that the girl was traumatized at the Wednesday evening youth meeting.
But the pastor, John Lanza, said Friday there have been emails of support from other students at the church, about 10 miles southeast of Harrisburg, because the intent was to prepare them for what they might encounter as missionaries. He didn’t disclose the names of those involved but said the mock kidnappers included an off-duty police officer and a retired Army captain.
“It was a youth event, to illustrate what others have encountered on a regular basis,” he said, adding that the focus of the lesson was “the persecuted church” in other countries.
Lanza said there were about 17 students at the meeting and the mock kidnappers covered the students’ heads, put them in a van and interrogated them. Neither the students nor their parents were told about the raid beforehand, he said, though it was discussed with the parents of one youth who might have health issues.
At the very least, the off-duty cop should be fired immediately. He’s way too stupid to be trusted with a gun.
Filed on March 21, 2012 at 4:11 pm under by dcobranchi
OMG! He’s a 2nd-rate quarterback. He is NOT the 2nd coming of Jesus. He’s not even the 2nd coming of John Elway.
Denver Christians mourn Tebow’s departure, say they’ll root from afar
Filed on March 17, 2012 at 5:21 pm under by dcobranchi
But I eat like one on teevee. Steel cut oats for breakfast. Corned beef and cabbage for supper, washed down with a couple of Sam Adams Irish Reds.
Happy St. Pat’s Day to all you real Irishmen and women.
Filed on March 16, 2012 at 8:04 am under by dcobranchi
I’m still sticking with the old-style shaving. I’ve probably a dozen old razors now and just last night purchased one made in the 2nd quarter of 1962. (That’s far from my oldest which was made in 1920.) But the Gillette Slim will be 50 years old sometime between April and June of this year. And, so will I. On May 13th, to be precise. So, it’s a “birth quarter” razor. I don’t really know why I find that utterly cool (and geeky).
In addition to the razors, I’ve recently re-acquired an old “vice.” I’ve picked up a couple of fountain pens. I hadn’t used them since college, and mine from back then are looooong gone. But eBay is a great source. Jinhao makes some beautiful pens at ridiculous prices. I bought an X450 and an X750 for something like $14 shipped.
Filed on March 15, 2012 at 5:46 pm under by dcobranchi
Or, rather, Dog of the Day.
I was on the AKC website and saw that there was a new breed recognized in 2011, the Xoloitzcuintli. Yeah, I can’t pronounce it, either.
Filed on at 9:21 am under by dcobranchi
For lots of fundy homeschoolers, Maher is correct. They really do want to make sure their kids aren’t “infected” with impure ideas like evolution and global climate change. And Santorum’s whine about a double standard is just plain crap. Sandra Fluke was a private citizen who was called a slut by the (unofficial) leader of the Republican party. Santorum is a politician running for POTUS who was called out by a comedian. Slightly different situation.
And Little Ricky really should keep his mouth shut about homeschooling lest he remind voters how he sent the bill for enrolling his kids in a cyber charter to PA taxpayers while they were living in Virginia.
Filed on March 14, 2012 at 5:03 pm under by dcobranchi
Do you think Mexico would accept it?
A proposed new law in Arizona would give employers the power to request that women being prescribed birth control pills provide proof that they’re using it for non-sexual reasons. And because Arizona’s an at-will employment state, that means that bosses critical of their female employees’ sex lives could fire them as a result. If we could harness the power of the crappy ideas coming out of the state of Arizona, we could probably power a rocket ship to the moon, where there are no Mexicans or fertile wombs and everyone can be free to be as mean a cranky asshole as they want at all times! Arizona Heaven!
Yesterday, a Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed Republican Debbie Lesko’s HB2625 by a vote of 6-2, which would allow an employer to request proof that a woman using insurance to buy birth control was being prescribed the birth control for reasons other than not wanting to get pregnant. It’s all about freedom, she said, echoing everyone who thinks there’s nothing ironic about claiming that a country that’s “free” allows people’s bosses to dictate what medical care is available to them through insurance.
I am boycotting that state. In fact, I’m boycotting everything and anything that has to do with that state. Arizona Tea? Boycotted. Arizona Diamondbacks? I’d watch a Red Sox doubleheader before I sat through a single inning of the Dbacks. The Grand Canyon? Fill it in. I will not spend a nickel in that godforsaken haven for morons and misogynists.
Filed on March 10, 2012 at 8:55 am under by dcobranchi
I attended the other evening an induction ceremony for Phi Theta Kappa honor society. It’s basically the junior college equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa. The main academic requirement for membership is carrying a 3.50 GPA, so these students are all doing very well. Interestingly (and disconcertingly) of the 100 or so inductees, about 80 of them were female. That’s not anywhere close to the demographics for the school overall. There’s no doubt that the girls are crushing the boys in terms of grades. I’m not sure what to make of it, but it can’t be a good thing.
The other thing I noticed is that I live in a depressingly lily white region. There was one minority student inducted (an Indian based on appearance and last name). No Asians. No African-Americans. 99 and 44/100% white like Ivory Soap. It made we wonder about the diversity of the faculty. I think I might do some digging.
Filed on March 4, 2012 at 6:39 am under by dcobranchi
I had an ear worm all day Friday and into Saturday morning. I had listened to Pink Floyd’s “The Final Cut” online and was surprised that they had added a song to it. The fourth song is now the very haunting “when the tigers broke free.” If you’ve ever seen the movie version of “The Wall,” it’s played at the start. Well, that song got stuck in my head. Badly. By yesterday evening I had finally escaped. And then flipping channels last night, guess what movie was on VH1 Classic. Right, “The Wall.” And guess what song started the second I tuned in. Right, “when the tigers broke free.”
It starts at 8:55.
Filed on March 2, 2012 at 5:24 am under by dcobranchi
and make a million bigots cry.
Filed on February 7, 2012 at 6:48 am under by dcobranchi
Grilled “cheese” sandwiches taste better if you take the plastic wrap off the “cheese.”
Filed on February 5, 2012 at 2:01 pm under by dcobranchi
Filed on at 10:30 am under by dcobranchi
Hard to pass this one up. A Kindle Fire for $199 with a $50 gift card at Wallyworld. For those of you with college-bound HEKs, Amazon has lots of e-textbooks available. Katelyn is using hers for a couple of classes and loves it. They had an open-book test a couple of weeks ago. Search functions are just too easy. 
Filed on January 29, 2012 at 6:06 pm under by dcobranchi
That’s the question that Newsweek Mag’s cover next week asks.
Filed on at 10:15 am under by dcobranchi
The Logical Fallacy of the Day:
The ninth annual Day of Purity is coming up, being held this year on Valentine’s Day.
Amber Haskew, the group’s international president, says they are encouraging people to mark the day by wearing a white ribbon or wristband to symbolize their commitment to purity and fidelity within marriage.
“Living pure is just so, so important,” says Haskew. “Everything from higher income to a lower divorce rate to the obvious physical benefit, and even a lower amount of depression, is found in those who are sexually abstinent outside of marriage.”
Filed on January 15, 2012 at 9:19 am under by dcobranchi
At least 43% of them are.
And based on his horrible performance yesterday, are these same folks going to conclude that God now has switched sides and is rooting for the Patriots?
Filed on January 14, 2012 at 3:51 am under by dcobranchi
Seen on the front of a can of Campbell’s potato soup:
Farm Grown Potatoes
I’m an industrial chemist. I know we can do some amazing things in the lab. But I was unaware that we can now synthesize potatoes.
Filed on January 10, 2012 at 5:40 pm under by dcobranchi
Well, I am thoroughly hooked. There are just so many variations of razors and blades and shave creams and soaps and aftershaves… I’m having lots of fun experimenting. Fortunately, as hobbies go, this one is pretty cheap. I recently bought a really pretty vintage (but new) brush and Schick Injector razor off eBay. Total cost was around $20. I’m old enough to remember ads for Schick razors, but they had pretty much disappeared by the time I started shaving. Too bad, really. The razor gives a wicked close shave. Fortunately, blades are still readily available and eBay has tons of the razors. So, here’s the setup for today:
Schick Injector — Type G1 — manufactured between 1946 and 1955.
Blade — Current manufacture Schick Injector blades from China
Brush — Bristle-Tite Badger — age unknown but the style is out of the ’50s, I think.
Cream — Bath & Body Works Bigelow
Aftershave — Barbasol Brisk
The Barbasol Brisk is worth a try even if you have no use for any of this other crap. It’s only $1.75 for a big bottle at Dollar General. Tons of menthol that feels really ice cold going on. I’m a sucker for menthol anything, especially at $1.75 per.
Filed on January 1, 2012 at 10:32 am under by dcobranchi
The Dis Brimstone-Daily Pitchfork has some breaking news:
The man arrested in the Midland [Texas] International Airport for attempting to take explosives aboard an American Eagle flight has been identified as Trey Scott Atwater of Hope Mills, North Carolina. Little has been disclosed about the man who is accused of trying to take a package of Composition 4 explosive on board American Eagle flight 3283 yesterday morning. Some media outlets are saying that it was a “bomb” while others have not confirmed this. Initial reports stated the man said he was active duty military and this too has not been confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hope Mills, North Carolina is 15.5 miles from Fort Bragg Army Base.
Hope Mills is just outside Fayetteville. Yee-hah!
I hope this is just a case of a stupid screw-up (like he forgot he was carrying C4 in his backpack) as opposed to something a little more sinister. Regardless, if the guy really is military, it’s not a good day for Ft. Bragg.
Filed on December 31, 2011 at 4:37 pm under by dcobranchi
This one has to be among the dumbest laws in the country. Via Hell’s leading daily we learn that starting tomorrow in Illinois you will have to show a gov’t issued ID in order to buy Drano. And a couple thousand other regular household items.
A new Illinois law may require you to spend more time in the checkout line and provide personal information. Starting January 1, residents must provide a photo ID and other information when purchasing products that contain caustic materials. That means everything from drain openers, to pool chemicals, to toilet bowl cleaners will become harder to buy.
[snip]
After the New Year, not only is it a Class 4 felony to carry around caustic chemicals like drain opener or toilet cleaner, but businesses who sell it must be shown a government issued ID and fill out a form with a host of information about the customer. Batteries are exempt from the registration log requirement.
“I’d say it’d probably take a minute and a half approximately,” McInturff says about taking down the information.
The law originated after two women reported sulfuric acid being thrown in their face. One attack was deemed a hoax after the women admitted doing it to herself.
I swear that sounds like it should come from The Onion. How the hell did this make it through the legislature?
Filed on at 12:02 pm under by dcobranchi
The wackos at OneNewsNow just sent me an email with their year in review. Here it is in its entirety:
OPENTAGSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterVIEWINBROWSERTAGArg
Delimiter_MS_ORG_IDArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArg
DelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAG
ArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiter
SHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArg
DelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArg
DelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArg
DelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiter
SHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiter
ArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArg
DelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArg
DelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiter
SHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiter
ArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiterSHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiter
ArgDelimiterArgDelimiterEmailAddressSHORTUNSUBSCRIBETAGSubscriberId SHORTCLICKTAGArgDelimiterArgDelimiterArgDelimiter
Yes, I think that pretty much sums up everything of “value” about ONN.
Filed on December 22, 2011 at 8:10 am under by dcobranchi
Fideist?
I’m in an email exchange with someone who is arguing philosophy and theocracy. I’m accused of being intolerant, materialistic, and fideistic.
I’ll proudly wear the crown of materialistic. And I’ll admit that I have no tolerance for voodoo. But fideist? I take umbrage at that one.
EDIT: But perhaps I’m being unfair. Here’s the post that the author sent me to comment upon. Now y’all get to comment, too.
Filed on December 21, 2011 at 2:37 pm under by dcobranchi
But only if membership includes a light saber.
Filed on December 20, 2011 at 12:26 pm under by dcobranchi
I think I could really drive DFS nuts (pun intended) with this.
Filed on December 19, 2011 at 8:43 am under by dcobranchi
I’m looking for a lamp for our living room. The table it will sit on doesn’t have access to an outlet, so it really will have to be an oil lamp. The best ones available are Aladdin. New ones tend to run in the $200-$300 range. I’d prefer an antique but I think this one might be a bit over-priced.
UPDATE: Yesterday he was asking $24,400.
Filed on December 18, 2011 at 1:12 pm under by dcobranchi
The Chicago Trib today discovered the old-fashioned shave. Pretty cool. Their price info is way off, though. The cheapest stainless blades run about 8 cents delivered. The most expensive double edge blades that I’ve seen run around 30 cents in lots of 100. But they don’t last that long. Maybe 4-7 days.
Filed on at 6:04 am under by dcobranchi
Here’s a short piece on folks in religiously-mixed marriages. No mention of atheists marrying religious folks, of course. I’m sure raising kids in a faith outside your own can be tough, but I really didn’t grok this bit:
Deborah Wiener wasn’t particularly attached to her Catholic upbringing. So the Alamo mother of three didn’t mind raising her sons in her husband’s Jewish faith. Over the years, she learned the Passover traditions and perfected matzo ball soup. However, Christmas was always hard for her.
“I would start getting depressed because I missed having a Christmas tree and not going back to Minnesota to celebrate with my siblings,” says Wiener, 60. She also was sad that she wasn’t passing on those Christmas traditions to her children.
Just because they didn’t celebrate Christmas meant they couldn’t go see her family? I really hope her husband isn’t that much of an ogre.
Filed on at 5:52 am under by dcobranchi
Do we have to keep on beating this poor dead horse? Really?
Gene V. Glass, a research professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, referred to both series as he spoke disdainfully about for-profit online education companies, which he has done extensive research on…
But don’t misunderstand. He worries about nonprofit online education systems, too, he said.
“Some of this started a long, long time ago in two ways, for disabled kids who were home-bound and for kids in remote, rural areas that don’t have access to certain courses,” Glass said. “Most of those were sort of admirable efforts.”
That online learning population started to get replaced over the past decade or more by home schoolers, he said.
“An 8-year-old kid on the kitchen table with a laptop,” Glass said. “That’s their schooling. It’s ridiculous. This is not a way to improve education.”
Filed on December 12, 2011 at 5:33 am under by dcobranchi
Until they learn to stand up to bigots.
Filed on December 5, 2011 at 12:03 pm under by dcobranchi
Just a quick update to this post. In the interim, I’ve inherited my grandfather’s shaving gear (including a very nice badger brush). I’ve also purchased a couple of old Gillette razors. And all of the other stuff (soaps, creams, aftershaves, etc.) that go along with these. But all of this double edge safety razor stuff just seems to modern. So I just ordered a straight.
This particular straight uses disposable blades. I don’t know if I’m going to enjoy straight-razor shaving enough to want to spend the hundreds of dollars on a classic blade, hones, and strop. This one was only $10 shipped.
Filed on at 11:43 am under by dcobranchi
Hi Fellow Education Blogger,
My name is Sarah Camiscoli and I’m a part of the Outreach Team for the documentary Brooklyn Castle (ex-Chess Movie). It’s a great film about a low-income junior high school in Brooklyn, New York (65% of students are from homes living under the poverty level), that has the highest rated chess team in the whole country (the trailer is here — I hope you’ll watch: www.brooklyncastle.com). To cut to the chase, we’re very near finishing the film (in fact, we’ve just started to submit to film festivals) and rolling out our outreach campaign (which will focus on getting more chess programs in schools throughout the country). To pay for these things, we’re using Kickstarter. And I’m reaching out in the very humble hope that you – via your education blog — will help us let people know about our project, and spread the word.
Our project page is here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rescuedmedia/finishing-brooklyn-castle-formerly-chess-movie
I know you are immensely busy and there’s a lot of other chess news to cover, but if you might even give us and our project a mention, and we can get more eyes on it, I really think we can meet our goal. And, of course, we’d be immensely thankful.
Thanks so much for your time, and best to you.
Filed on December 1, 2011 at 2:51 pm under by dcobranchi
The end is near. Really.
Filed on November 26, 2011 at 11:42 am under by dcobranchi
The mythology-inclined still hate atheists.
One hundred and five students read a brief vignette about a man who fails to take responsibility when he hits a parked van with his car, and then pockets money from a wallet he finds on a sidewalk.
Participants were asked whether they thought it was more probable that this clearly amoral man was either (a) a teacher, or (b) a teacher and a second identifying factor. That factor varied for individual participants; for some it was “a Christian,” while for others it was “a Muslim,” “a rapist” or “an atheist.”
“A teacher and an atheist” was the equation most likely to chosen over the simple “a teacher.” Astonishingly, it was slightly more likely to be chosen than “a teacher and a rapist.”
Filed on November 23, 2011 at 4:49 pm under by dcobranchi
They’re open all day Thanksgiving. Therefore, they’re not getting a single one of my holiday shopping dollars.
Filed on November 17, 2011 at 6:42 pm under by dcobranchi
Crash your vehicle into the DMV building.
Filed on November 11, 2011 at 11:11 am under by dcobranchi
It only happens once every hundred years.
Filed on October 25, 2011 at 5:36 am under by dcobranchi
in a bowl on the floor.
Last week one of our cats got lost in the house. Seriously. She was gone for almost 72 hours and we were sure that she had gotten out and was gone for good. We found her stuck in a closet that must have some kind of secret passage way in and out, because it’s just a few feet from Katelyn’s bed and the cat had meowed so much over the 3 days that she lost her voice for a while. After that ordeal, she was a little dopey, wandering around aimlessly and sleeping in very unusual spots. She also started eating the dog’s food. Their bowls have been side-by-side for almost 5 years, and she’s never even sniffed at it until this recent episode.
Today, the dog got even. He emptied her bowl.
Filed on October 22, 2011 at 3:06 pm under by dcobranchi
I love this profile of an OWS protester in NYC. She’s one of us:
She called herself a “radical unschooling mom of four, midwives assistant, roller-derby queen, rock-star musician, activist, dreadlock princess, African-bee keeper, organic vegan freak and a surrogate for the second time.”
Filed on October 18, 2011 at 5:48 pm under by dcobranchi
This post likely will appeal to maybe 0.1% of the very few readers I haven’t yet driven off. So be it.
In the last couple of weeks I’ve started wet shaving (or “wetshaving” as some would have it). I bought a Burma-Shave shaving brush, some soap, a pristine late 1940s Gillette Tech — 24k gold plated (about $10 including shipping on eBay), and some Personna double edge blades ($0.20 ea).
The combination makes for a very nice close shave. I’m enjoying the ritual of it. Lathering up the soap in a mug is an art in and of itself (an art that I’m not close to mastering). The whole process takes maybe 10 minutes total or about 5 minutes more than the new-fangled foam in a can and cartridge blades. It’s possibly the best 10 minutes of the day.
Filed on September 28, 2011 at 5:53 am under by dcobranchi
Leigh Bortins, founder and CEO of Classical Conversations argues that her $1M+ after tax income is not enough. She appears to think that she deserves a tax break. And she implies that cutting her taxes in half would allow her to hire an additional 10 employees.
Leigh Bortins, for example, owns a startup business selling homeschooling education curriculums and providing seminars for families. She files it as an S-Corp, meaning her business income is taxed at personal rates.
Bortins reports $1 million to $2 million in profit on her tax return each year, and she said the nearly $1 million she paid in taxes this year on her 2010 income could have allowed her to hire 10 more employees (at an average salary of $50,000) and she still could have given $500,000 in taxes to the government.
I guess they teach Voodoo Economics at her “school.”
Filed on September 23, 2011 at 6:36 am under by dcobranchi
Pretty much sums it all up. The scientists at CERN are doing science correctly. They’ve asked researchers in Japan and the US to attempt to replicate the results. I’m not taking XKCD’s bet.
Filed on September 15, 2011 at 5:22 am under by dcobranchi
Q: Raise up your daughters in the way that you think they should go, and when they’re grown up they will…
A: Be miserable.
B: Perpetuate the species.
C: Escape if they’re lucky.
D: All of the above.
Filed on August 17, 2011 at 5:43 pm under by dcobranchi
This one is horrific. Here’s the gist:
1. Middle school girl gets raped at school by classmate and tells administrators.
2. Administrators accuse her of lying and force her to apologize to the boy.
3. Girl is expelled for the rest of the school year.
4. The next year the boy rapes her again.
5. Boy is arrested and pleads guilty.
6. Girl is suspended from school for having a bad attitude and for “public displays of affection.”
7. Girl sues school district.
With a little luck…
8. Principal is fired. Superintendent is fired. Girl gets a couple million tax dollars to pay for counseling for the rest of her life.
Filed on August 13, 2011 at 7:51 pm under by dcobranchi
If the more you crave popularity the more you use Facebook, what does that say about us Luddites who’ve deleted our accounts?
A recent study published in the journal “Social Psychological and Personality Science” found that adults have almost as much need for being popular on Facebook as teenagers do. And people who crave acceptance are more likely to share personal updates and post birthday greetings on friends’ walls, said Emily Christofides, lead author of the study.
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