I just got this picture back of me, Brenda, and the kids on a ship in the Atlantic, sailing into Hurricane Isabel

I don’t know why my hair looks so goofy.

COMMENTS

Submitted by jim at 9/25/2003 3:57:12 PM

FYI: http://www.snopes.com/photos/isabel.asp

The government (FDA) recently approved Seasonale, a form of birth control pill designed so that women only menstruate once every 3 months.  Research suggests that until girls reach puberty, they perform better in school than boys.  Girls talk earlier, read earlier, count earlier. In preschool, they score higher on IQ tests than boys. They usually receive better grades in elementary school than boys, yet in public schools far more gifted boys than gifted girls are identified by fifth grade. Girls tend to start falling behind in their talents and abilities sometime between the fifth and ninth grades.

Obviously menstruation is only one of the difficulties for girls as they reach puberty, but it seems like it would affect their ability to pay attention in class, how the do on tests, etc.  I’m wondering, will the time come where parents place they daughters on Seasonale or some equivalent in order to help them perform better in school?  Do parents now have a loophole where they can teach abstinence while supplying birth control?

The kids got a new game called Dino Math Tracks. Justin and Danielle were playing.

Me - “Oooh, Danielle you better roll high or Justin is going to win on the next turn.”

Danielle picks up all four dice and …

In case you’re wondering, the odds of that roll are 1 in 1296.

Our cubes finally arrived this morning, so one again our office was turned into the world’s most expensive group of movers. There were large piles of boxes and computer crap where our cubes were to go, so we had to find new homes for everything. The logical plan was to barricade the fire exits since we never use those anyway (It was suggested, but we decided to cover the walls, windows and workplaces instead).

Sounds like Bush’s Faith based Initiative is moving forward. I was going to write a long rant on why I am opposed to this, but I would just be joining a long list of detractors:

* http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/raasch/r084.htm

* http://www.au.org/press/pr22001.htm

* http://slate.msn.com/id/2086617/

So I decided instead to offer constructive criticism. If the Federal Government thinks that these groups need more money, why not offer additional tax credits to those who donate to charities. Trust that people will donate to the organizations that deserve the funding. There is no need to make the Federal Government the middle man. By passing the money through the government, less money ends up getting to the charities (money must be spent deciding which groups deserve funding and distributing that money to the groups).

I have never been to Yosemite Valley National Park, so my opinions are those of an outsider who doesn’t fully understand the issues.  That said:

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 The Yosemite Valley plan, released three years ago, was designed to improve visitor experience in the valley and allow natural processes to occur. It would reduce the number of campsites to about 500 and day-use parking spaces to 550, to help the effects of park crowding and traffic congestion. The plan was shaped after 20 public meetings and more than 11,000 citizen comments.

At a recent congressional hearing, however, U.S. Rep. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) criticized the plan.

…

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I was listening to NPR this morning on the drive to work and they were talking about this.  For some reason it hit a nerve with me.  NPR’s take was the Radanovich motive was more to enrage the environmentalist than get a bill passed.  From what I heard on the radio and what I read, I would summarize it as follows:

Democrat Plan: Reduce the number of people who can use the park, but in doing so preserve the park and make it better for those who do use it.

Republican Plan: Provide as much access to the park as possible.  This will promote local businesses.  Who cares if the park is in a downward spiral because of over utilization.

My Plan:  Treat it like a theme park.  If its too popular, expand it or give it some real competition.  Turn additional lands in the area into National parks (say within 30 - 45 minute drives of the park) or buy adjacent land and add it to the park while maintaining the current number of parking spaces and campgrounds (just in a larger area).

Of course as I said, I’ve never been there, so it might be difficult to implement my plan.  I’m just wondering if they considered alternatives or if they each have tunnel vision.

Driving in to work today I saw the sign on Fritz’s — Pumpkin Concretes are Back.  I know where I’ll be tonight.

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I took Friday off work.  While I was out, someone took the liberty of cleaning up one of my plants.  The plants on my desk include - 1 oak tree (8 inches, living), 1 maple tree (9 inches, dead), one mother-in-law plant (given to me by a coworker, living), one plant that was cleaned up (looked like a dieing palm bush when I left on Thursday, looks like a living palm tree today), reminents of a dead flowering tree, dead or dieing grass and the remenants of a dead oak tree.

I’m not complaining, but I have to wonder who cleaned up the plant.  We have a service that waters the companies plants.  I’m thinking the “plant guy” couldn’t stand to look at my palm plant.  It looks like it was cleaned up with professionalism and great care.