Blog Title: Right Wing Nation

Great, I Guess

So a week ago Saturday, Dec 27, we drove back from Indiana. Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself, so let me start over. Twenty-five years ago, when I was a starving grad student and lived in a cheap, nasty rental. The window unit was broken, and I was going to replace it — important, because unlike read more..

Crap, Revisited

Remote no programee cause IR on receiver no workee. So DirecTV is sending me a receiver, which will get here in 2-5 business days. Until then, the only way we can operate the satellite is from the front of the box. Grrrrrrrr!

Crap

Best Buy sent me to DirecTV (it’s leased equipment). The tech has had me reset the remote, but we can’t program it to operate the DVR. I’m on hold. We bought this DVR on June 24 2008. Grrrrrrr . . .

Houston, We Have A Problem

The remote died last night. Well, I’m not sure if it’s the remote or the DVR, because the remote operates the TV input and the tuner, but not the DVR (and satellite receiver). As I’m sure you realize, this is a disaster, so I’ll be going to Best Buy in about thirty minutes when they read more..

Repost: Navigating The Group Work Maze

I was prompted to write this by a comment Rory made on another post. He said: Jetgirl, I truly sympathize with you in the group learning setting. In the military we have to attend leadership courses that require group speeches. I always ended up writing the whole speech and coaching the other members of my team, read more..

Things That Really Drive Me Nuts

Well, thing. Since people started doing it back in the 80s, it has really annoyed me. I thought I’d get used to it, but as time has marched on and more people have adopted it, it only irritates me more. I speak of that very tired, very 80s, but oh, so chic habit of typing everything read more..

From The Irony Files

Gay Patriot: Bush increased American gay rights, Clinton took away American gay rights. Facts are facts. Ah, the irony Indeed.

Missed Opportunities

We were supposed to get freezing rain and maybe an ice storm this morning, turning into rain as the day got warmer (well, less cold), so when I left for 7:30 Mass thirty minutes early, I fully expected slick roads and probably a late arrival. But there was no ice or rain (still isn’t), and read more..

Epiphany

Amazingly Awful

It’s been 18 years since it came out, so I guess it isn’t surprising I had forgotten what a stinker Lambada is. It really is amazing that everything about a movie could be so bad. It’s even more amazing that such a godawful movie could have started a dance craze across the US. It’s even worse read more..

You Gotta Be Kiddin

Fifteen minutes into the first period and Florida is up one over Pittsburgh. Here we go again.

Tsk, Tsk: UPDATED

Those Presbyterians are up to it again. The French government says vandals have torched 30 percent more cars on New Year’s Eve this year than during the holiday last year. Burning cars on the last day of the year has become a tradition in underprivileged French suburbs. Underprivileged. Don’t you love liberal code words? And speaking of idiotic read more..

You’ll Never Forget These

Tex-Mex at its very finest: Chorizo and cheese enchiladas They’re rich and filling. Two or three per person, and this recipe makes 15 or 16. Note: Mexican and Spanish chorizo are not identical. Mexican chorizo is not cured; Spanish is. If using Mexican chorizo, just slit the casing and squeeze it out. If using Spanish, pulse read more..

Those Inevitable Lists, Part 7

And you thought the NYT was bad? Our favorite prosecutor, Patterico, lists all of the distortions and lies in the LA Times for 2008 (he should compile his list of all of the lies Balko has told, too). Oh, get a cup of coffee. It’s a seriously long list.

Well, Duh.

Remember I mentioned errands? Well, I wondered why nothing was open, until I realized that it was New Year’s Day. I think I mentioned that it was, but it just didn’t click that everything would be closed. Came home to put stuff from the store away. To Eat ‘n Park (ugh) as soon as I eat read more..

Well, That Was Stupid

Today is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so there’s Mass at 11:30. I then have a couple of important errands scheduled before I meet the priest at 2 o’clock at (ugh) Eat ‘n Park (the location was his idea, not mine). And the Winter Classic starts at 1 o’clock. I completely forgot read more..

Addition To Shopping List

I just got through making caramel fudge. Well, that’s what I intended to make. I always do the water test in addition to using the candy thermometer, so when the thermometer said it was 225 (soft ball stage), I put a bit in a glass of cold water. It formed a ball, but it wasn’t soft. read more..

Seriously

I don’t recommend products much, but this is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. Oh and yes, it’s spicy hot. But sooooooooo good.

Speaking Of Needing To Be Said Again

so does this. Months ago, I saw several dishonest statements on edublogs (sorry, it’s been months ago, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to find links at the moment), stating that zeroes are not valid scores. This is not dishonest in itself, but the threads upon which I commented were those in which read more..

Assessment 101 Redux

Republished because it needs to be said again. In my experience, too few teachers give enough thought to assessment — not standardized exams, but the assessments they design for their classes. If you’re one of these teachers who hasn’t really thought much about it beyond writing exams or quizzes, read on. Curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment are the read more..

Carnival!

The Carnival of Ed is posted at Bellringers.

Those Inevitable Lists, Part 6

John Nolte’s Ten Worst Films of 2008.

Those Inevitable Lists, Part 5

The 2008 Festive Medical Myths even doctors believe. Sugar causes hyperactivity in children Suicides increase over the holidays Poinsettia toxicity Excess heat loss in the hatless Nocturnal feasting makes you fat You can cure a hangover

Those Inevitable Lists, Part 4

Well, not a list per se. Puck Daddy reviews the year in hockey, with octopi gunk.

Those Inevitable Lists, Part 3

The Best Notable Quotables of 2008: The 21st Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting. And you know the winner has to be Chris Matthews: I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My — I felt this read more..

Students And Parents Note!

Amazon is offering up to 30% off on new textbooks.

Today’s Shocker

Dutch liberals get a clue. “The mistake we can never repeat is stifling criticism of cultures and religions for reasons of tolerance.” Government and politicians had too long failed to acknowledge the feelings of “loss and estrangement” felt by Dutch society facing parallel communities that disregard its language, laws and customs. Newcomers, according to Ploumen, must avoid “self-designated read more..

Hi Tech Hype

Ken DeRosa and I wrote this article for Edspresso a couple of years ago. With the change in administration, the article disappeared. So I’m re-publishing it here. Forget the wading boots for the educration hype about High Tech High. You need a hazmat suit and oxygen tanks, because there’s nothing here but organic fertilizer of the read more..

Wow. Who Knew?

I’m watching a movie, Ghost Image, on TMC. The name seems to be misleading; it’s less of a ghost movie than a murder mystery (and it’s not clear there are any ghosts). Elizabeth Röhm can actually act. Wow. It’s not over yet. The reviewers on IMDB didn’t like the twist at the end. It’s actually pretty good read more..

Those Inevitable Lists, Part 2

Tim Blair’s 2008 World of the Odd: Farmer Kofi Owusu copped an unexpected inquiry during a romantic encounter with a goat on his farm in Ghana. Lost in goat-lust, Owusu was tapped on the back by neighbouring farmer Adams Kusi, who asked: “My friend, what abomination are you committing?” Declining to reply, Owusu fled the scene. [ read more..

Those Inevitable Lists, Part 1

Stats.Dot.Org’s Dubious Data Awards for 2008

Mmmmmmm

Mix one part peanut butter and one part honey. Eat by the spoonful.

Question Of The Day

Uncle asks: Can we talk about it yet? No?

Hockey Fans Speak Out

on fighting: Hockey Fans on Fightingby emcerlain

Trip Pictures

Subtitled: This is what middle America looks like. Some didn’t come out too well. They tend not to when you take them out of a car going 70 mph. Like the first two, taken in Indiana. The first was to document the limestone. Indiana has so much limestone they face roadworks and build partitions with it. read more..

All The Errands That Were Fit To Run

Yesterday’s, that is. We were badly overdue to stock up at the Asian market, so we did. But it’s Sunday, so we’re having a decent, God-fearing, Christian meal: Pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, and crescent rolls. It was 70 in the Ohio Valley, even past Pittsburgh yesterday, until we got up into the Alleghenies, then read more..

Home

Pics and more later (I left the camera in the car, and the driveway is solid ice).

Ugh. Trip Back.

It’s 4:15 am, and it’s 62 degrees here. I’d like to leave at 7. Weather outlook is good today, and we could make it back by dark.

Family Get-Togethers

Clicky for biggy: First, St John the Apostle, where I went years ago, and where I went to Midnight Mass (more on that later). They built a new church, in an entirely different place; it’s a good thing I went to the webpage to check the schedule, or I would have driven to the wrong place, read more..

From The Penguins

Season’s Greetings: