Three books I am reading right now that I highly recommend include "Memoirs of a Breton Peasant", "Sports and Recreation in Ancient Greece" by Waldo Sweet and the audio book "Dreams of My Father" authored and narrated by Barack Obama.
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This is old, but I still love it! Ozzy has always been one of my heroes. His character has not changed since he came on the scene in the late 1960's Here are two great commericals with Ozzy. Friday I went to a history seminar at the University of Michigan. The theme was more or less can historians draw comparative conclusions from ancient history for modern times. The first speaker looked at The Athenian war against Sicily and drew heavily upon Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War. This was a good example as the Athenians were full of themselves because of their recent accession to empire status. The Athenians were not real clear on the population of Sicily or there military ability. The comparison could be made between their situation and the US decision to attack Iraq. Another speaker spoke about the Romans and their social interactions with other peoples. A third speaker talked about the Mongols and although interesting, he didn't seem on topic to me. The final speaker was a military historian who works at West Point. Her view of today's US military is it needs to find lessons learned in all historically important events, even if lessons learned are not there to be found. In an interesting juxtaposition with what I am taught to become a secondary education teacher most of the historians on this panel were reluctant to say that comparative histories are a strong objective or focus that historians should take. I found the talk to be interesting if not entirely convincing.
Zoe and I also went to an EMU hockey game at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor on Friday. It was a game against Western Michigan. EMU got hosed with a 5-3 penalty kill and Western got two of its goals on the powerplay. EMU lost in a shootout. The main difference I saw between this game and higher level hockey is the speed for plays getting set up. Players took forever to make decisions and often opportunities were lost because players took too long to decide when to shoot or pass. The goalies are mostly stand up goalies. Very little butterfly style goaltending occurred. They use one ref and two linesman and the officials have their names on their backs as should be. Zoe almost got nailed by a puck, but the puck hit a rail instead of her. So if you have even a drop of trekkie blood running through your veins you know by now that Sylar is going to be Spock in the new Star Trek movie. Just think of what this means for the Vulcan mind meld. Now when Sylock (Spock+Sylar) melds minds with someone he will eat absorb their brain cells and gain their powers. Kirk Beware! Given that Spock can use the Vulcan nerve pinch, this new Sylock hybrid will have the power to paralyze his victims and feed with emotionless glee like an Illithid on steroids. Imagine how pissed Dr. McCoy will be when he loses at Vulcan Chess because Sylock can us telekinesis to move the chess pieces when Bones isn't watching. I can't wait to see Sylock split open some Klingon warrior's brain case for a snack! In my Norse D&D campaign I had Dok Alfar who were rebels who opposed the Alfar who were the mainstream elven race. The Dok Alfar are not necessarily dark skinned. I bring this up because I recently read a really poor article trying to claim D&D is primarily white supremist in nature. The first link is a nice resource on Alfar. The second link is an article about how D&D for the whitie. This post is about things that bother me right now. Right now, the economy bothers me. That damned economy is punishing me in many ways. First, both I and my mother paid too much for our houses in the last five years. Mind you, unlike many, I bought the cheapest house I could afford and got it with a Fixed rate mortgage. Still, the value has gone down significantly and I would have a great deal of difficulty finding a buyer, let alone breaking even on the house.
I am about to complete my teaching certificate. I actually have delayed completion because of the economy. Although I am a far better teacher than financial analyst, my university job is fairly secure. How do I justify quiting a secure job during an economic meltdown so I can do what I was meant to do. As a history teacher there is a high chance I would not find work locally. Hence I would have to sell my home in order to find employment. My mother is nearly blind and dependent upon me therefore she would have to sell her home and follow me. There is also a high probability that when I complete my certificate there won't be a job waiting for me. Then I am unemployed during one of the worst periods of economic history our nation has faced. To make matters worse the education department has fouled up my pre-teaching experience and with less than four weeks remaining in the semester I have yet to be assigned to a school. That experience is likely to be a problem since I am a full time worker. I also need to register for certication testing. I cripple myself with procrastination because I don't want to take another bloody test. Standardized tests are not a good measure of anything. I even worry about the nation. Will the Constitution survive the next ten years? Obama brings hope, but disaster (BUSH) has ravaged civil rights, our economy and our bearing in the world. It is much easier to destroy than create. Will everyday people demand the change they crave? Will the politicians listen? How far would you go to have the things your ancestors took for granted? Does it even matter to you or would you prefer to be lead to the slaughter? I am an optimist as I think are many Americans. I am also lazy, but not in the way Americans are often portrayed. I work full time, go to school, volunteer, take care of an aging parent, try to keep the house from falling apart, try to keep deadbeat relatives and some of her deadbeat friends from taking advantage of my mother, and then I don't feel like doing anything else on work nights. I'm worn, but I am hopeful. I think the internet will help us remember democracy as long as the telecom companies are not allowed to kill it. PAX Have you seen this article? First of all, I don’t see the point in antagonizing the helpless on this subject. Believers are going to believe, and a billboard doesn’t do anything for the non-believers in my opinion. I taught mythology and trying to explain to people who haven’t got the capacity to use logic or metacognitive reasoning skills is a waste of time unless you have years to undo the programming and a voluntary subject. |
Dean StevensI am responsible for all that appears before you. Categories
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