Thursday, 26 January 2012

Arizona, Brewer and books


Arizona lawmakers banned schools in the state from teaching "ethnic studies" classes. Unless public schools canceled classes that included racial and ethnic themes, the state could block schools from receiving millions of dollars in critical classroom funding.

But Arizona state officials pushed one school district too far: Tucson Unified School District not only cancelled its vibrant ethnic studies classes, but also banished any book that dealt with "race or oppression."

As a result, students and teachers say dozens of books -- including Shakespeare's The Tempest -- can no longer be taught in class, and some have even been removed from classrooms and locked up in school storage.

The literary purgatory of Tucson's school storage facilities now contains dozens of books that have race as a central theme. In addition to the boxed-up books about Chicano and Mexican American history and literature, classics by authors like Thoreau, Shakespeare and Atwood are seen as too controversial by school officials.

Please sign the petition:

Tucson School Board: Don't lock up knowledge, return books to students now!

*****

I suppose "ethnic bashing" is OK, so Jan Brewer's book is safe from the ban...


SB 1070, the bill that authorizes local law enforcement to question persons suspected of being illegal aliens, was signed by Governor Jan Brewer. She goes on and on and on about it in her book "Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border," ghostwritten by one Jessica Gavora, who also penned "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag" for Sarah Palin.

Apparently, President Obama didn't like Brewer's book. I read several excerpts on Amazon and I don't blame him. It's atrocious!

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Australia Day

The timing of this post may seem strange. Most of us are way behind Australia and this post celebrates Australia Day. It had to go up before our friends down under end their celebrations and move on...

I had invaluable help from a good Australian friend, who sent me copious links to some great videos. Today we pay tribute to one of the most ancient cultures on the planet, the Aboriginal People of Australia (40,000 years and counting!).

Artist: Kaapa Tjampitjimpa

According to their culture, the world dates from a time called the Dream Time and they sang about being every living and non-living thing in the world. They would inhabit every creature and every rock.





We have a lot to learn from these peaceful, gentle and very resourceful people. They mastered their environment while preserving it, without disturbing the natural harmony in the world around them.


We start the celebrations with a couple of dances:





And continue with two beautiful songs by an extremely talented musician, blind from birth: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.





We also remember some Aboriginal Australians who made their country very proud:

Evonne Goolagong, winner, Wimbledon, 1971

And again in 1982

Cathy Freeman, gold medal in Sydney, 2000 Olympic Games (400m)

Lionel Rose, first Aboriginal Australian to become a world champion boxer

Lionel loved boxing and music


Happy Australia Day!

A taste of heaven

A month ago we discovered that our local supermarket sells wild smoked salmon from Alaska. It looked much darker than the Scottish smoked salmon we normally buy and the slices seemed less delicate, much thicker... but we were curious, so we bought a packet.

A few packets later, I don't think we can go back to the anemic, almost transparent slices of farmed North Atlantic smoked salmon. Now we understand why they make such a fuss about salmon in the last frontier!

As a proper gourmet cat, Pirouette wholeheartedly agrees!


[I have another post coming up later. It's a celebration!]

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

His and hers poems


Tumbleweed sent me these poems:

A WOMAN'S POEM
Before I lay me down to sleep,
I pray for a man who's not a creep,
One who's handsome, smart and strong.
One who loves to listen long,
One who thinks before he speaks,
One who'll call, not wait for weeks..
I pray he's rich and self-employed,
And when I spend, won't be annoyed.
Pull out my chair and hold my hand..
Massage my feet and help me stand.
Oh send a king to make me queen.
A man who loves to cook and clean.
I pray this man will love no other.
And relish visits with my mother.

A MAN'S POEM
I pray for a deaf-mute gymnast nymphomaniac with
big knockers who owns a bar on a golf course,
and loves to send me drinking & gambling. This
doesn't rhyme and I don't care.

*****

Thank you, Tumbleweed.

Monday, 23 January 2012

Squeaking?

Oh, Mrsgunka!



Thank you, Mrsgunka, very funny!

Saturday, 21 January 2012

Beautiful and useful



This beautiful thing has practical applications. Here are some examples:

Electronic devices
Ferrofluids are used to form liquid seals around the spinning drive shafts in hard disks. The rotating shaft is surrounded by magnets. A small amount of ferrofluid, placed in the gap between the magnet and the shaft, will be held in place by its attraction to the magnet. The fluid of magnetic particles forms a barrier which prevents debris from entering the interior of the hard drive.

Aerospace
NASA has experimented using ferrofluids in a closed loop as the basis for a spacecraft's attitude control system. A magnetic field is applied to a loop of ferrofluid to change the angular momentum and influence the rotation of the spacecraft.

Medicine
In medicine, ferrofluids are used as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging and can be used for cancer detection. The ferrofluids are in this case composed of iron oxide nanoparticles and called SPION, for "Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles."

There is also much experimentation with the use of ferrofluids in an experimental cancer treatment called magnetic hyperthermia. It is based on the fact that a ferrofluid placed in an alternating magnetic field releases heat.

(Music: Gluck's Dance of the Spirits, from Orfeo et Euridice)

Friday, 20 January 2012

Owls and a pussycat

We like owls here on What Time, so MD sent me these two great videos:





Thank you, MD.

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Cute baby

Here's a quick cutie video to keep things going. We've been quite busy buying a newer car to replace our ancient, much loved Volvo. Will do a car post when we collect the new one. We need to share our excitement...

Monday, 16 January 2012

Be careful on the golf course

View_From_Here sent me this joke:

Two women were playing golf. One teed off and watched in horror as her ball headed directly toward a foursome of men playing the next hole...


The ball hit one of the men. He immediately clasped his hands together at his groin, fell to the ground and proceeded to roll around in agony. The woman rushed down to the man, and immediately began to apologize... "Please allow me to help. I'm a Physical Therapist and I know I could relieve your pain if you'd allow me," she told him.

"Oh, no, I'll be all right. I'll be fine in a few minutes," the man replied. He was in obvious agony, lying in the fetal position, still clasping his hands there at his groin. At her persistence, however, he finally allowed her to help. She gently took his hands away and laid them to the side, loosened his pants and put her hands inside. She administered tender and skillful massage for several long moments and asked, "How does that feel?"

"Feels great," he replied, "but I still think my thumb's broken!"

Thank you, View.

Saturday, 14 January 2012

Quick thinking

Mrsgunka sent me this joke about two naughty ladies...


Two women were out for a Saturday stroll. One had a Doberman and the other, a Chihuahua. As they walked down the street, the one with the Doberman said to her friend, "Let's go over to that bar for a drink."

The lady with the Chihuahua said, "We can't go in there. We've got dogs with us."


The one with the Doberman said, "Just watch, and do as I do."

They walked over to the bar and the one with the Doberman put on a pair of dark glasses and started to walk in.

The bouncer at the door said, "Sorry, lady, no pets allowed."

The woman with the Doberman said, "You don't understand. This is my seeing-eye dog."

The bouncer said, "A Doberman?"

The woman said, "Yes, they're using them now. They're very good."

The bouncer said, "OK, come on in."

The lady with the Chihuahua thought that convincing him that a Chihuahua was a seeing-eye dog may be a bit more difficult, but thought,"What the heck," so she put on her dark glasses and started to walk in.


Once again the bouncer said, "Sorry, lady, no pets allowed."

The woman said, "You don't understand. This is my seeing-eye dog"

The bouncer said, "A Chihuahua?"

The woman with the Chihuahua said, "A Chihuahua? They gave me a damn Chihuahua?!"


Thank you, Mrsgunka.

Friday, 13 January 2012

Life!



I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweater
Ain't got no perfume, ain't got no bed
Ain't got no mind.

Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schoolin'
Ain't got no love, ain't got no name
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
Ain't got no god.

And what have I got?
why am I alive anyway?
yeah what have I got?
nobody can take away...?

Got my hair, got my head
Got my brains, got my ears
Got my eyes, got my nose
Got my mouth, I got my smile

I got my tongue, got my chin
Got my neck, got my boobies
Got my heart, got my soul
Got my back, I got my sex.

I got my arms, got my hands, got my fingers,
got my legs, got my feet, got my toes,
got my liver, got my blood...

I've got life,
I've got my freedom
I've got life
I've got life
and I am gonna keep it
I've got life
and nobody's gonna take it away.
I've got life!

Thursday, 12 January 2012

The birds, the bees and other friends

We need some beauty to counter the ugliness of the video I posted earlier. It comes courtesy of Mrsgunka.



Thank you, Mrsgunka, we needed it.

Shameful

This nasty video is all over the internet. It may have not been filmed in Afghanistan, but what it depicts is very disturbing.



The BBC reports:

The US military has said it is investigating a video that appears to show a group of marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters.

The origin of the video is not known, nor is it clear who posted it online.

Marine Corps headquarters at the Pentagon said in a statement: "The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps. This matter will be fully investigated.''


These are some of the comments on the Liveleak website:


. Islam dictates that the body must be washed before burial - nothing wrong here, just helping out.


. It's "wet-down" time. Buy them lads a few beers so they can continue to piss all over the sand-monkies faces. If I was there I'd take a huge dump on one of those Taliban dude's heads. Hey, maggots gotta eat too!


. i'll bet it was cleaner than the water in that country.


. They should have shit on them first. Fuck the taliban, they are worth less than pig feed.


. They are dead. They don´t care.


. AWESOME!! Piss on those dead bastards!!!


. LOL! Final insult before they meet the maker and are cast to Hell with the rest of the MooSlimes.


. Excellent, well done lads, piss on them and what they stand for.


. They rolled up to the pearly gates expecting their 72 virgins and all they got was a stinky golden shower.


. HELL YEAH! done that to a grave but never on the body itself.. woohoo. must be awesome.


Whether the video is genuine or not, the fact that it has gone viral and has attracted these unkind comments doesn't do the US armed forces any good.

Tuesday, 10 January 2012

i-Laugh

Tumbleweed sent me this very funny story:

It all began with an iPhone...

March was when our son celebrated his 17th birthday, and we got him an iPhone. He just loved it. Who wouldn't?


I celebrated my birthday in July, and my wife made me very happy when she bought me an iPad.


Our daughter's birthday was in August so we got her an iPod Touch.


My wife celebrated her birthday in September so I got her an iRon.


What my wife failed to recognize is that the iRon can be integrated into the home network with the iWash, iCook and iClean.

This inevitably activates the iNag reminder service.

I should be out of the hospital next week!!!


iHurt.


Thank you, Tumbleweed.

Monday, 9 January 2012

Lost goat

MD sent me this. It's ingenious!

At a high school in Montana, a group of students played a prank... they let three goats loose inside the school.

But before turning them loose, they painted numbers on the sides of the goats:

1, 2, and 4.

School administrators spent most of the day looking for...

No. 3...


Thank you, MD.