I usually don't fall for stuff like this . . .

Fragment 1:

I have worked 2 jobs in the past 10 years where at least part of my job was being aware of fraud and fraudulent behavior. So when I received an e-mail today from UPS that said my package was coming and just to open an attachment to get the tracking #, I should have known better.

But for whatever reason I opened the attachment because from time to time I do have packages sent to me for products I am reviewing or free trials I see advertised. However, I should have noticed I was not addressed by name, nor was there any indication of my real address or anything like that.

Bottom Line: this was a malware scheme. The moment I opened the e-mail attachment my security system zapped it from here to Feliz Navidad. However, things could have been a lot worse. If you ever get an e-mail asking you to do anything even just open an attachment don't do it. The best thing to do before even opening a suspicious e-mail is google the subject. If I would have simply googled United Parcel Service Notification E-mail, I would have soon found out it was a scam and not even have to trust my security program to protect me.

Fragment 2: What do you get the Dad/Grandpa who has and/or gives away everything?

My Dad is a hard person to buy for. I have talked in these pages before about how his goal in life is to de-clutter by giving all his junk to his kids. On Monday I realized my Dad was coming over to fix things at my house the next day and the day after that was His birthday. I decided that the best thing to dp was throw him an impromptu surprise party. Bunny made a cake (Puppy and Spider Droid helped.) My Dad showed up slighltly after the cake came out of the oven so we moved it to the desk in my room where Bunny frosted it once it had cooled. I would go in there from time to time to check on Bunnies "Math".

On Tuesday night I saw that the first 100 primes were still written on a dry erase board from our history unit on Pythagoras. This gave me an idea. I rewrote the primes and stopped at 73 which is how old my Dad was. I then draped my Sox Throw (No it is not a 1919 reference) over the dry erase board.

After the cake was frosted. I took my Dad out to the shed to ask him some question. This of course was a ruse so Spider Droid could remove the throw revealing this . . .

Bunny and Puppy brought out the cake and we had a celebration.

Fragment 3: Rainbow connection on C.D.

Today, Puppy went in her room and saw a rainbow on her wall.

The sun was shining through the Window reflected on a c.d. on a bookshelf and the rainbow was visible on the ceiling.

Fragment 4: Crazy Video.

On Tuesday, I was helping Spider Droid make a power point presentation. I kind of went stir crazy and made this video . . .

Well that's all the fragments for today. click here to head back to Half Past Kissing Time.

They don't get Giving (up).

Another Wednesday, another Lenten observation.



Last Saturday it became abundantly clear to me that we were watching too much t.v. in the house. When I say watching t.v what I mean is watching videos and DVDs on our t.v and watching Internet shows on Hulu and other outlets and watching d.v.ds on the computer. We have not had the ability to watch broadcast t.v. since 2005. I also need to back up the truck and say that for the past month or so our television has not worked so when I said watching too much t.v. I meant watching too much computer. Whatever you call it we were all watching too much of it. On Saturday Puppy was going absolutely crazy as I was setting up a show for her. The girl had addict written all over her. She wasn't the only one. It seemed like all we did was have shows on. It became clear to me that something had to give



On our way out the door to a myriad of activities on Saturday I mentioned to Amy that starting immediately there would be no t.v. watching (or whatever it is we do.) until Friday night which is usually a family movie night for us. I had a speech already to give to kids. Amy in her wisdom, said don't tell the kids that there's no t.v. for the week. She thought that the kids would feel like they were being punished and in reality we were not taking privileges away due to bad behavior. She and I decided that of the kids asked to watch something we would just say no and suggest a different activity perhaps one that was less entertainment oriented.



This week Puppy has asked to watch a show about every 12 minutes, which is a little down for her. We just say no and move on.



The other kids have seemingly forgot about t.v. for the week. They both can earn a 1/2 hour a day with electronic media (either the computer or the d.s.) during the school day. Besides that 1/2 hour, the rest of their free time has been unplugged and they have really enjoyed each other. All 3 kids have been busy with puppet shows, playing with toys that have been long neglected and playing games like monopoly and mastermind. ALL this on a week that so far has not been fit for much if any outside free time.



Spider Droid did ask to watch a show tonight. But besides that neither one of them seems to notice they are giving up t.v. for the week. Like I said in the title, they don't get that they are giving up.



My title has a bit of a double if not triple meaning. I don't think that most people in my country get giving up. Think about it there are two times a year that we associate with giving up. One is New Years with it's new years resolutions and the other is Lent.

There are also two other reasons in our culture for doing without, conservation and the economy. But the truth is we don't need a calendar or a reason to practice giving up. We can do so at any time.



Our family likes to turn the t.v. off for the summer. It is a time with lessons over for the Summer and the family home for the summer that we can enjoy each other and the activities that a Midwest summer affords. A different time we ate only rice for a week to get an idea of how 1/2 the world lives.
.



Your family might have other ideas for giving things up. It might be that you cut out all extra spending so you can throw a party. Whatever you do it can help bring your family closer together and to learn something in the process.



Another way that some people don't get giving up is in not understanding the reason for giving things up.

Hosea 6:6 says:
For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice,
And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. NASB

This reminds me of an anecdote from 11 or 12 years ago. Someone was telling me about how proud he was that His son and His son's girlfriend had given up on ice cream for lent. I found this particularly odd because at the time the couple was living together outside of marriage.

I tell that story not to seem judgemental but to punctuate that God wants our obedience more than our sacrifice. Giving things up doesn't make up for obvious flaws in our moral character.

Lent is an excellent time to give something up so we can start get a grasp on how much Christ gave up for us. I am just saying it should not be the only time.

P.S. watching our t.v. intake will get a little harder starting tomorrow, as my Dad fixed our t.v. and will bring it back in the morning.

Six Simple rules on How to get 50 or more comments on your post about home education.

Sandy Laurence recently did something I have not been able to do in over 2 years of blogging. On February 28th She posted this piece about what she thought were some disadvantages on home education @ Type-A-Parent. Within a fortnight she had received over 100 comments on her article.

What Ms. Laurence achieved that I have not, was to generate more than 100 comments on one post. The most comments I ever received was 40, when I was giving away 50 state quarters. That's not even a comment a quarter!

I don't want to just pound away on Ms. Laurence's piece as she is not the only blogger in the past couple of years to surpass my high water comment mark by posting about homeschooling. Sylvia Biu wrote a piece a couple of years ago called Homeschooling is a Bad Idea. To date she has received almost 60 comments about it.

So based on these and other posts about Home Education, I present:

How to get 50 or more comments on a post about Home Education.

1. Write a post about Home Education.

2. Come out against it (or at least be leery of it).

Both pieces question the effectiveness of homeschooling in their title and their first few lines. Both topped the 50 comment mark. Phillip Faustin started out well in that regard in his 2007 piece, entitled "Homeschool is Dangerous." Except Phillip really came to the defense of Home Education. The result: 0 (Count them) comments. I am not saying that all good pro home schooling pieces will garner no comments. But it has been my experience that these negative pieces get much more attention.

3. Present misinformation as fact.

Sylvia Biu says this in her second paragraph:


Homeschooling was originally thought to be a good idea, but recently it has become the subject of late-night comics. Now, it is mostly frowned upon for all but severely disabled children or those otherwise unable to attend school for whatever reason.

WOW. That's like saying that democracy used to be a good idea but isn't any more because it has become the subject of late-night comics. Then the second "fact" follows one of my favorite rules for passing on information. Say it: don't back it up. Mostly frowned upon by who? Don't know. Doesn't matter. Sylvia Biu said it, that settled it. Not likely.

4. (Very similar to #3) Start with facts and sprinkle-in falsehoods.

Here is a prime example from Ms. Laurence's concluding paragraph . . .

The vast majority of American children successfully attend public or private schools.

That starts out like a solid fact. The vast majority of American children attend public or private school. Throwing in successfully, throws the fact under a bus. I guess it depends on what you mean by successfully. If you mean anything other than they get there and back, it's not successful. Consider these quotes from the Time Magazine review or "Waiting For Superman." . .

Americans also can't afford the fantasy that we have the world's best educational system. The U.S. is near the bottom of advanced countries in math and reading scores. We may not pass sleepless nights worrying about Finland, but that country's kids get a world-class public-school education, and ours don't.

And this about film producer Davis Guggenheim . . .

What he found in his two years of researching Waiting for "Superman" (with co-producer Lesley Chilcott) was that a lot of schools aren't right for any kids.

That hardly seems like a definition of successful. But point out this or any other inconsistencies in her piece to Ms. Laurence and you get . . .

5. Defend your right to have opinions. (Even when people are questioning your facts.)

In more than one of her comments and in a subsequent post trying to clean up her previous mess, Laurence said something like this:


.. .this IS a blog. These aren’t research papers. Each article I’ve written has contained my opinions.

She was right about one thing, this is a blog. However her post contained facts, or at the very least opinions written so they looked like facts. For instance What she said about the vast majority of American children did not seem like an opinion, it seemed like she meant it as a fact. Blogs might not be the place for facts, but if you are going to use facts, use them properly. I will save any more of my opinions about opinions for an opinion piece I will be placing here soon.

Also opinions can be argued, refuted, and even refined due to the presentation of facts. I would think that the owner of opinions, especially an owner who shares those opinions on the Internet would welcome the presentation of facts to the discussion of those opinions.
6. When you do state opinions make them as preposterous as possible.

Consider Slyvia Biu who said . . .


First, unless a parent is himself a previous honor student or a genius who mastered more than just the three R’s, a child may not receive quality home education. Even if a parent earned a degree in one or more areas, it may not suffice and could limit the scope of a child’s knowledge, unless a parent excelled in other major subjects or supplements with tutors in areas in which he may be weak.

Sure it's an opinion. She says may not and could limit. But come on, really! How many public or private schools only employ teachers that are honor students or geniuses? How many of those teachers have earned a degree in more than one area? This is just an example of setting the bar higher for home educators than other educators without any reason. Her opinions were so off base that many commented just to tag her out. (Baseball reference, couldn't resist.)

So, if you want a homeschool post with more than 50 comments follow some of these simple rules and you should be just fine. Here is a bonus tip if you want to make the century mark.

Bonus Rule: Be abusive to your commenters.


Sandy Laurence had a few choice words for her commenters. Like this . . .

Well, at least I’m getting reader participation. I expected people to disagree with some of what I said, but I figured the good homeschoolers would be better at reading comprehension.

Or if that wasn't direct enough she later said this . . .

Did you really read what I said? Are you offended because you’re one of the homeschoolers I described in my post? If you’re not one of them and, instead, are doing a good job with it, I’m not talking about you. Get over yourself. And brush up on reading comprehension.

Thanks for your well-thought-out comments.

In her follow up post she tried to explain her rudeness by saying that it was because her piece was edited and she didn't realized it was edited. So she thought people were misreading her. I understand what it means to be edited for newspapers and other blogs. The first thing I do is read my piece as it appears in publication. She could have done that ,and as I tell my kids, you don't have to say (in her case type) every thought in your head.

That's all I have at the moment. If you want, you could prove me wrong by helping me get 50+ comments on this post. I think (and hope) it only follows the first rule. Feel free to pass it on to friends and neighbors because, when all is said I done, I just want more comments. Please!

Sorry, I got a little carried away there. But that doesn't mean I don't want you to comment :)

For those joining from HSBA Post click here or on the graphic tto head back to the Green Edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Ereth's Birthday

Sunday's Cool

A Link Up & A Look Ahead

A Link Up: Bunny Girl read this book and enjoyed it. So I asked her to read it again and write chapter summaries for it. She has been placing those book summaries in her blog, Bookworms & Bunnies. Click here to see her first entry. clicking the title of her blog or the cover of her book will bring you to the latest entry.

A Look Ahead: My next idea has a variety of people I need to thank for. First: The good people at Why Homeschool who manage the Carnival of Homeschooling. Secondly, Life Nurturing Education, who hosted this past week's carnival. Thirdly, Arby of the Home School Apologist who wrote this very good post about culture where she referenced a post giving the same old recycled opinions why home schooling is not such a great idea, and finally for Sandy Laurence who wrote the aforementioned piece entitled Homeschool Disadvantages.

Why all this build up? Because in reading Sandy's post and the myriad of comments that followed said post, I was given material for no less than 3 future posts of my own. You know the maxim, if life gives you lemons make lemonade? Well until I read Sharon's post, there hadn't been a lemon like that since the Yugo came on the market. The pieces I have planned should be pure lemonade. The first of which, "How to get 50 or more comments on a post about Home Education" should roll out tomorrow.

NCAA Round 2 Bracket Progress

Day 3. Dave -Winners: West Virginia, Kentucky, Cincinnati, U. Conn, Temple, San Diego State, Richmond, Pitt, Butler, Kansas State,Wisconsin, Gonzaga, BYU, Florida . Losers: Louisville points lost: 4.5, Michigan State points lost 1.

Amy - Winners: West Virginia, Kentucky, Cincinnati, U. Conn, Temple, San Diego State,Pitt, Butler. Kansas State, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, BYU, UCLA, Florida. Losers: Vanderbilt points lost 1, Louisville points lost 7.5.

SEE PREVIOUS POST FOR POINTS EXPLANATION.

Day 4. Dave- Winners: Ohio State, Marquette, Syracuse, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, Illinois, Purdue, Fla. State, Notre Dame. Losers: Villanova points lost 1, Georgia points lost 1.

Amy - Winners: Ohio State, George Mason, Syracuse, Washington, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, Purdue, Notre Dame. Losers: Xavier points lost 1, University of Nevada Las Vegas points lost 1, Georgetown points lost 1, Texas A&M points lost 1.

Results after 2 rounds:

points earned

Dave: 28.5 (1.5, 27)

Amy: 27 (1,26)

Possible Remaining Points:

Dave: 91

Amy: 86.5