Better teachers, equipment won't improve schools as long as students avoid work | Deseret News

How true! How very true!
Better teachers, equipment won't improve schools as long as students avoid work | Deseret News:

'via Blog this'

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Second Amendment Victory: 71-Year-Old Saves the Day as Two Men Try to Rob Internet Café - Independent Journal Review

Yeah! Refuse to be a victim!

Second Amendment Victory: 71-Year-Old Saves the Day as Two Men Try to Rob Internet Café - Independent Journal Review:

'via Blog this'



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Ann Coulter: On July 4, remember: We are not French

Ann Coulter: On July 4, remember: We are not French:

'via Blog this'

A very good article. Read it!

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Back home

After spending the last nine months teaching at Sahuarita High School and living nearby in Green Valley AZ we are now home. The position ended so I'm out of a job.

My provisional teaching certificate in Arizona requires a math test which I've taken, but don't know if I've passed (It was really hard!) and SEI (structured English immersion) which I'm taking online right now. If I don't pass the math test I won't be able to teach in Arizona. I had one interview lined up but now it's a middle school position, so I think I'll cancel. I've had some nibbles, one interview resulted, but nothing else. I'm not sure if I'm going to be teaching at all next year at this rate. It's all very frustrating.

Home is a mess because we're in the middle of a big remodel. I wish I could just retire in peace, but we can't live only on my retirement. I wouldn't mind writing books but I need some immediate income, not something that might come about down the road.

I'm kind of floating with no idea where I'm going right now.

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New home

My new home.

We've got a nine month lease on this place in what I call a "geriatric" community. the scary part is I'm old enough to live here. We've got a heated pool right across the street. It's quite nice.

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Moving to Arizona

I've settled in here in Arizona. I received the job offer and moved down here to Green Valley (which is just south of Tucson) the same day. Sahuarita High School is a great little school. The staff is excellent and the students are for the most part great. It's difficult leaving the grandkids but it needed to be done.

I'm now officially a double dipper. I'll be getting retirement from Nevada and working in Arizona. If my wife was still working we'd be on easy street. Without her income we're taking in a little less, but that's the way it goes, I guess.

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Why won't things go right?

I retired in June and although I fully intended to get another job, I was in no hurry. Then my wife lost her job and we were facing two thirds salary for me and 50% (unemployment) for her. I started looking. I had several interviews and almost got a position in Idaho, but a former supervisor, who I shouldn't have used for a reference because we disagreed a lot, but did, because my other references were unavailable in July, backstabbed me.

Then a had a phone interview and got a position in southern Arizona. I was offered the position on Friday and school started on Monday. We packed up and arrived Saturday morning. I spent Monday and Tuesday fighting with AZ certification, and finally had to go with a sub certificate. We almost went home Monday night, but tried again to get licensed and got the sub certificate on Tuesday.

We immediately moved out of the motel, signed a lease and are living in a comfortable, small apartment.

Then I couldn't get my wife's computer to work with the wired internet. Mine worked fine! I messed with it until it worked and went to bed. Today I was in the classroom for the first time and loved it, but when I got home I was anxious to get some work done online.

Now my computer wouldn't work with the wired internet. My wife's was still working fine. So down to BestBuy for a wifi router and a printer--wireless of course! Router worked great. Printer connected to the router just fine. Computer wouldn't communicate. I finally had to plug the printer into the router directly and low and behold it finally worked! So once again I'm going to bed very, very late!

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When Osama Bin Laden was killed, he was met at the Pearly Gates by George Washington, who slapped him across the face and yelled, "How dare you try to destroy the nation I helped conceive!"

Patrick Henry approached, punched him in the nose and shouted, "You wanted to end our liberties but you failed."

James Madison followed, kicked him in the groin and said, "This is why I allowed our government to provide for the common defense!"

Thomas Jefferson was next, beat Osama with a long cane and snarled, "It was evil men like you who inspired me to write the Declaration of Independence."

The beatings and thrashings continued as George Mason, James Monroe and 66 other early Americans unleashed their anger on the terrorist leader.

As Osama lay bleeding and in pain, an Angel appeared. Bin Laden wept and said, "This is not what you promised me."

The Angel replied, "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you in Heaven. What did you think I said?"

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An environmentalist changes his mind on nuclear power!

"Read the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/21/pro-nuclear-japan-fukushima

You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology.

A crappy old plant with inadequate safety features was hit by a monster earthquake and a vast tsunami. The electricity supply failed, knocking out the cooling system. The reactors began to explode and melt down. The disaster exposed a familiar legacy of poor design and corner-cutting. Yet, as far as we know, no one has yet received a lethal dose of radiation.

Some greens have wildly exaggerated the dangers of radioactive pollution..."

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Ann Coulter A Glowing Report on Radiation

Ann Coulter has a great column (here) about the radiation scare in Japan. I've read research for years that a little radiation is good for you. She quotes much of the research I've read and also some I haven't seen.

With the terrible earthquake and resulting tsunami that have devastated Japan, the only good news is that anyone exposed to excess radiation from the nuclear power plants is now probably much less likely to get cancer.

This only seems counterintuitive because of media hysteria for the past 20 years trying to convince Americans that radiation at any dose is bad. There is, however, burgeoning evidence that excess radiation operates as a sort of cancer vaccine.

As The New York Times science section reported in 2001, an increasing number of scientists believe that at some level -- much higher than the minimums set by the U.S. government -- radiation is good for you. "They theorize," the Times said, that "these doses protect against cancer by activating cells' natural defense mechanisms."

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Star size comparison

This is a fantastic video!



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from "Blogging teacher blogging again."

This is a very good description of how our education system is broken:

"There are serious problems with our education system today - with the way that schools and school district and students and parents take teachers who enter the education field full of life and hope and a desire to change the world and positively impact kids, and beat the life out of them and villainize them and blame them for everything - and those need to be brought to light. If this 'scandal' opens the door for that conversation, so be it. Let that conversation begin. Stay tuned here."

Read the rest here: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/28/2011/february/15/blogging-teacher-blogging-again-1.html

It was written by Natalie Munroe who was suspended following the discovery of her blog which contained complaints about the school (without mentioning its name) she taught at. Munroe's blog is here: http://natalieshandbasket.blogspot.com/

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It's Snowing Because it's too Hot!?

This is a very good commentary on "global warming" By Doctor Everett Piper

Ok - I am sitting at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport right now - stranded because of the 100-year-blizzard that just hit Texas and Oklahoma - and the news from Al Gore is this: "increased heavy snowfalls are completely consistent with" you guessed it…" man-made global warming."

How insulting.

I've about had it with this lunacy and nonsense.

How stupid do these people think we are?

Read the rest here.

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Bandit

This is my new family member. His name is Bandit. He's a shelter dog I picked up today from Adopt A Rescue Pet.


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The real temperature graph

So called scientists named Mann and Briffa created hockey stick graphs that supposedly prove global warming. When Steven McIntyre requested the raw data he was refused which is unprecedented. After taking legal action he obtained the data and quickly found why the men wouldn't release it. It was so badly flawed that it was meaningless! The accompanying graph shows the real temperature change of the last 2000 years using raw data from Mann's and Briffa's studies and other sources. It is clear we are no where close to as warm as it was 1000 years ago.

The graph and above information is found here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/04/jo-nova-finds-the-medieval-warm-period/

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Paving company damages my son's car!

We've had a company putting in a new sewer line the last few months. Today they were paving the road where they had dug. Unfortunately they had very narrow pathways through the cut in the asphalt which was about a foot deep. I say unfortunately because my son missed the path and dropped his car into the hole. Two popped airbags are the result! When we went back for these pictures they were widening the path through the cutout. You can see (kind of) how deep it is. When I called the company I used the word "pothole" and the man said in a sarcastic way, "We don't put potholes in the road, Sir!"

I told him "You most certainly did! You cut the asphalt out of the road!" He's sending a claim form.

I'm not feeling too charitable about it. My son is very upset, his car is damaged, and everyone knows how expensive airbag replacement is. When he got home he was coughing and choking from the fumes caused by the airbag explosions. The dashboard was still smoking!

I'd followed a truck pulling a trailer through the same spot about an hour earlier. The truck made it through, but the trailer dropped into the hole. The path was very narrow and very hard to see. The paving company widened it after my son dropped his car into it. They better pay for the damage, or else.





















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Unbelieveable survey

I just received a phone survey. The questions were as follows:

1. How likely are you to vote in November? very likely, somewhat likely, not likely. I pressed 1
2. Are you more likely to vote Republican, Democrat, or independent? I pressed 1
3. Are you more likely to vote for Sharon Angle, Harry Reid, or someone else? I pressed 1
4. What is the best reason to vote for Harry Reid? Sharon Angle is dangerous or Harry Reid can do more for Nevada? Say what?

I waited in disbelief for more options, there were none. I hung up. If this is the kind of biased, unfair surveys Dingy Harry's people are using he's in deeper trouble than he knows!

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Our great nation in peril...

For those who may be discouraged because we have a president that hates this country and is doing all he can to destroy it:

Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won’t fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through.

(Harold B. Lee, an Apostle of Jesus Christ quoted from Ye Are the Light of the World 350-51)

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BP Oil Spill

Dr. Roy Spencer has a chart to put the BP oil spill into perspective.































Click on the chart for a better picture.

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A real temperature graph!

This is a really good predictive model of global temperature. This was done by a quality control engineer, Mike Flynn. Click on the graph for an explanation. Or click on the link above



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