uncool2pillow

Lou Barlow hates All She Wants to Do Is Dance http://www.avclub.com/articles/lou-barlow-on-why-he-hates-all-she-wants-to-do-is,102959/

I hesitate to get involved in the gun control debate, especially since this post has really nothing to do with the tragic attack in Washington yesterday. I mentioned long ago that when an entire country makes severe limits on gun ownership, it saves lives. Period. The U.K., Japan, etc. make this crystal clear. Here's the thing... There's a serious situation at a place I frequent. A former employee has been making veiled threats. Not directly of violence, but he is clearly unhinged and violence is now within the realm of possibility. While I would not personally want a gun for protec

A couple of colleagues and I play music in the halls of my 7-8 grade middle school on Friday. I have a few Wilco tunes, mostly commercial classic rock. Another one plays some of the more modern stuff. Today was her playlist and a kid said, "Good, no weird music, stuff we can understand." Then I realized what I play is, to these kids, what Sinatra was like to me.

I got an email invite to volunteer for this which I am going to do and get in for free! Woot!

George Zimmerman something something.

Let's debate ideas, not people. I could cite someone, like Christie or McCain or lots of other people, but I don't understand the point. It's the ideas that are important. Just read Atticus's post. It's much more on point than mine.

RCP is, like Drudge Report, a clearinghouse. I think they tend to give more prominent attention to conservative povs, but they publish liberal pieces as well.

There are lots of idiots on the right. There are plenty on the left. Your line of logic seems to suggest that if one (or ten or thousand) conservatives are loons, they're all loons. Just so you know, I don't hold your loony rantings against the whole left wing. If you're seriously interested in some mainstream conservative thought -- which I doubt -- you can start here: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ They post opinion pieces from lots of media, some left, but mostly leaning right.

Wait, we're not talking about Obama is gay anymore?

You're allowed to say any crazy shit you want. Let's hear who these main voices are. Cite your sources please. I am curious who you identify as the main voices of the party.

Listened to Stitches last night. This is a great LP.

The rumor is out there. There's a youtube clip of a guy saying he was "gay married" in college and the proof is the ring he wore back then. It's crazier than the birther movement, of course. I would wonder why he brought it up, but I think most of us -- left, right, and center -- have already reached the conclusion that his posts on this forum are better left ignored. Returning to ignoring now.

Most post-1492 imperialism was, to a large degree, about spreading Christianity. No the only reason, but it wasn't hidden or assumed. It was out there. Civilize the savage and whatnot.

So there's LOTS of people here making $500,000+? Wow.

Back to teaching, just for a moment. It is such a rewarding and satisfying profession in so many ways. For example, I'm checking some papers about culture tonight. Nothing hard, just trying to get my students to think about all that culture entails. I had this question on the sheet: "What do you wear on special occasions?" Here are 2 answers: Nothing Depends Seriously, did anything that awesome happen at your job today? Nope.

A good article. It also points out that the U.S. is not Finland. Our higher poverty rates, child well-being, and multicultural (specifically multilingual) society present huge challenges to American schools. It's also interesting that the article goes to great lengths to argue better teachers are a small part of the puzzle, then praises (justifiably) Finland's teach prep system. It also points out another strength of the Finland system is teacher autonomy. How important can that autonomy be if the system is what makes Finland great and not the effectiveness of the individual teachers? A

I didn't see the 1:2 ratio. In my experience that's a crock of shit.

Oh man. His new LP is just the best. If you haven't listened to him on Fresh Air, do so. Well maybe after tonight's show if you don't have time. http://www.npr.org/2013/09/02/216885758/jason-isbell-locates-his-musical-compass-on-southeastern

A randomly organized reply to lots of ideas addressed here: Bad at math, esepecially when lots of zeroes are involved and I'm sleepy I feel like I get a helluva lot of respect from kids, families, and the community in general. As much, if not more, than my teachers got, in general. I think technology is making parents a lot more demanding as it is "customers" in all fields. If amazon.com can tell me what books, movies, and CDs I want, why can't schools customize their education to my child's needs. I try to use all of the tools available to me to communicate with them. I'm sure m

So, according to this site, the war on terror has cost about $1.5 trillion over 12 years. http://nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/ I believe that's less than $15 billion a year (coffee's just kicking in, so my math may be way off here). Paying teachers like doctors -- not to mention CEOs) would cost 20x that. So, where is this money? Again, I'm all for paying me more. But the public will -- rightly, to my mind -- demand reforms in how we pay teachers before we entertain even modest pay increases.

This is all well and good. But do some math. There's simply not enough money. In 2010, there are about 850,000 licensed physicians in the U.S. (source: http://www.nationalahec.org/pdfs/FSMBPhysicianCensus.pdf). In 2011, about 3.7 million public and private school teachers (source: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28). Let's do some math. The median teacher pay is around $51,500 (source: http://www1.salary.com/Public-School-Teacher-Salary.html, not the most accurate looking Website, but we'll pretend otherwise because I am a teacher and I've got papers to grade after this pos

Yep. I am not sure this is adequately taught or learned. Maybe it's only something that experience can teach. Also, Eric, come to Iowa! Not the best state for the teaching profession, but it's improving and I'm sure better than WI. Also, my district, West Des Moines, is offering a helluva retirement deal. Lots of openings.

Hmmm.. $20 to listen to him talk... I'm in Des Moines, but I have a feeling his talk may be above my level of musical understanding. Tough call.

At what point did he criticize teachers? I missed it. At most, he said those in his district are fairly compensated.