Family visit, agenda, assorted Fs

[skreidle]

On the way to my parents' house, I called ahead to let them know I was leaving, and was asked to perhaps pick up some beer on the way. At the Huntsman Square Giant, I perused the selection, selected a six-pack of Shiner Bock, proceeded to the register, and discovered that my six-pack was, in fact, only a five-pack. The cashier in line behind me offered me a discount if there were no full sixes, but indeed, there were. Carrying on.

Arrived to find delivered Chinese food waiting. Huzzah! I also got a shot glass featuring the Bahamian flag, a glamour shot of my parents all dressed up on the ship, a 304-CD case that was unrelated to the trip (that I could've retrieved earlier), and some mail, including a check for a whopping $13.86 from the CD Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation (class-action lawsuit from however long ago.) :)

I also saw some other photos from their trip, though not yet the 120 digital photos my dad took, pet the kitten, and chatted with my dad for a while, before heading home.

I also garnered another item on my calendar; namely, a birthday dinner for Shauna on Sunday.

Thus I have pending:
Wed: Retrieve macaw from Chelsey
Thurs: Nation with Becky, pending logistics
Fri: Visit from Esther
Sat: Nothing yet
Sun: Shauna bday dinner
Mon: Possible dinner with Kat&Jess

---

Freaky!
From tittergrrl: Freaky fish from the deep dark sea, and more in the links in this MetaFilter thread

Flawed:
From skamille, another reason to hate No Child Left Behind: the gifted suffer. Having been in the gifted&talented program in elementary and middle school and attending a sci/tech high school, I can state that those programs are of inestimable value in fostering my own academic and social development. (Interesting debate that was spawned by her post about it, too, on the nature of public/private education.)

Funny:
From vinz_klortho: Useful phrases, in Aramaic, to utter while seeing The Passion

Fraudulent?
Hmm.. from theninjakitten: RFID Tags in New US Notes Explode When You Try to Microwave Them. Sounds conspiracy-theorist to me, but I'm not spending $20 to test it. I'm inclined to think it's an anti-counterfeiting metallic bit, anyhow.

Flippancy:
From seeking_insight: To a soldier coming home from war, the word "hero" looks surprisingly like a gesture of incomprehension, especially in our time when the word is on everyone's lips.

Comments

[idoru.livejournal.com]

.:rolls eyes
cos you didn't EXPECT a birthday dinner fo' me on sunday, as it's my birthday and i'm home?

[also, um, "good" "job" with the F alliteration there.. ]

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Well, if I'd actually looked at a calendar.. :)


I know, I try. ;)

re: gifted ed

[lanikei.livejournal.com]

first of all, YAY prof from w&M!!! she's awesome, a real leader in gifted ed, etc. she's also super friendly and accessible, etc etc. love her. love the gifted program at w&m... too bad i'm not doing it for my masters. suck.

beyond that... no child left behind act sucks a lot. but it's merely the final straw... everything in education goes in cycles (just like everything else, i suppose)... standardized testing was already becoming popular again (for no good reason), methods leaning towards a more liberal education is now turning back towards drilling and memorization, and gifted ed... the idea is simply that gifted kids will do well no matter how they're ignored. (the kids taht REALLY get screwed by this situation are teh twice-exceptional kids...) talented students in things other than things like math, science, or language have always been screwed

as a gifted kid, and someone who hopes to be a gifted educator... i can't blame the schools. at least they aren't (publicly anyway) telling kids what they told us at SMS... the gifted ones are expected to bring up the avg test scores... education doesn't get enough funding anyway (or at least the funding is poor allocated) and quite frankly with proper teacher training (or simply creative teachers) there really shouldn't need to me much of a gifted PROGRAM, simply something like a gifted ed advisor to be used as a resource... it's sad that gifted students can't fall under all of the acts for students with disabilities... :-( even at a school with such experts in the field, in my 2 semesters of classes about exceptional students (and EVERY class will have at LEAST 1 or 2 gifted/talented studnets as opposed to some of things we studied extensively like... autism) we spent less than 2 classes on gifted students. and one of those classes was an absurd waste of time due to poor lesson structure. as a whole, gifted kids are just ignored.

Re: gifted ed

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I was never told that at SMS, even out of SIGNET.

I think they should get as least as much attention as ADD, if we're playing Disability Favorites--since the symptoms are similar though the causes are quite different. :\

Creative teachers are hard to come by, unfortunately.. and even if they are available, they may not have the time/energy to devote to helping out the gifted few.

[xviragox.livejournal.com]

All of those crazy dead fish made me sad, but that link is cool as fuck!

*steals for later*

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Well, they may have been recovered dead already.. a few, anyway.

Whee freaky fish!

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I feel that the article shows that modern society has a flippant attitude towards the use of the word "hero"--using it without regard for the true nature of heroism.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Hard to work in the medium of alliteration, you know. ;)