Bought and Paid For
The 2008 presidential campaign and congressional races cost an estimated $5.3 billion, shattering all previous records according to the Center for Responsible Politics’ (Isn’t that an Oxymoron?). While that a lot of money, it is still less than the $6 billion Americans spent this year on Halloween candy, costumes and decorations.
America has finally finished its political campaigning … Now that is a “change” I can believe in! Utube videos mentioning Barack Obama or John McCain were viewed 2.3 billion times according to the measurement firm of TubeMogul. Knocking Britney sans underwear to #2 and Paris Hilton to a lowly #4.
Higher Education Elsewhere
The United States which long enjoyed the world’s top high school graduation rate, has fallen to 13th place behind such countries as South Korea, The Czech Republic, and Slovenia. The U.S. is now the only country in the developed world where you people are less likely to graduate than their parents were. If you are not sitting down to read with your child, if you are not taking an active part in his/her education, then shame on you. You deserve a “C” average president, that is what you deserve. Oh wait a minute, you just had eight years of that, I am sorry.
Internet Therapy Anyone
Recharge your brain! (I would but I forgot where you hook up the jumper cables) Youjustgetme.com rates your personality in categories such as out-going-ness and empathy and lets you find out how others see you. The “I Just Get Myself’ test comprises 40 easy questions but delivers a surprisingly insightful assessment. Sanityscore.com is one of the best online mental health resources. Find out about mental health, depression, anxiety and other emotional disorders.
Why am I telling you this or providing these links? Oh perhaps you haven’t heard, I had a half-million people drop by recently to tell me how much they loved me! All these are nice, but beware, they are not a substitute for actual professional assessment.
Tell Me It Isn’t So
Hostess Twinkies are getting downsized. Twinkie Maker International Bakeries will introduce a 100-calorie version of the snack pack favorite. This is because survey’s indicated that female shoppers gave them “a warm welcome to the smaller calorie snack.”
Also in other related nutritional news. Here is a supplementary bulletin from the Office of Fluctuation Control, Bureau of Edible Condiments, Soluble and indigestible Fats and Glutinous Derivatives, Washington DC, correction of directive 9434566201-A, which was issued by the Bush Administration awhile ago.
In the directive above named, the quotation on groundhog meat should read ground hogmeat. No other changes.
Going To Get Colder
The National Weather Service is predicting that a “colder than usual winter is fast approaching” to the dismay of many a home owner and the utter glee of natural gas producers and fuel oil distributors. As if we didn’t have enough problems.
I heard a story of an old Indian who got appointed to position of Chief in the tribe. One day all the members of the tribe approached him and said: “What weather do?” The newly initiated Chief told them, “me tell you tomorrow.” He then called the U.S. Weather Service and asked the man who answered up, “What weather do?” and he was given the reply, “about the same, maybe a bit cooler.”
So the next day, the Chief assembled all the tribe and told them, “Cool weather … cut firewood.”
A few months went by and again, the members of the tribe approached the Chief, and asked, “What weather do?” The Chief says to them, “I tell tomorrow.” Again he calls the U.S. Weather Service and asks the guy, “What weather do?” The man answering the phone says, “about the same, a little cooler possibly next week.”
The Chief tells the Indians, “Cut more firewood.”
Once again, the members of the tribe form a group and asked the Chief, “What weather do?” and as always, “I tell tomorrow.” He (the chief) gets on the horn and calls the U.S. Weather Service and says, “What weather do?” and the guy on the other end of the phone sez ……… “Man, it must be going to get really cold, these Indians around here are cutting firewood like you would not believe!”
Like the telephone company sez ….. “Bundle up and save.” ….. No wait, that aint right, that cannot be right, where is that newspaper?
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Filed under: Oklahoma, Recent, blogging, random | Tagged: elections, higher education, Hostess Twinkies, Internet therapy, U.S, weather data
Falling from the highest rate of high school graduation to 13th place in the world is another legacy of George W. Bush. His “No Child Left Behind Act” left millions behind. Why? Because it was never funded. American schools got stuck with all the requirements of the bill, but no funding to provide for the changes necessary. Students now learn how to pass the final test for graduation instead of learning facts in general.
Chalk up one more first for this administration along with a wrecked financial system, a military bogged down for years in two wars, a stock market at the same level it was 10 years ago, and real wages less by $2,000/year on average. Way to go George, and way to go for all who voted for him, especially the second time.
As a college instructor, I am amazed at how little incoming students know how to think for themselves. They all want to be told what to think, how to think, instead of perhaps investigating why they think the way they do about certain things. (My dissertation is on this tangentially, so I’ll try to keep this brief; sorry!)
Instead of the useless banking model of education (Paolo Freire; excellent read) where kids are seen as empty vessels to be filled with info, educators need to retool the system so kids learn HOW TO LEARN; not just be able to regurgitate facts and figures devoid of context and real world application.
We need to revisit Dewey’s primary theory; people learn by doing, not by sitting and listening while someone talks at them.
I get so worked up about this, because everyone who has ever done anything has had a teacher who taught them (well, besides savants and uber geniuses).