From the NYT, an editorial on …. well… I guess how to spout (the same old) lies?
Gosh, I don’t even know where to begin. The whole thing is just full of misinformation.
This was a choice piece tho:
States routinely grant concealed carry licenses without proper background checks or training. Indeed, among the evidence Bush officials ignored in their haste to relax national park gun limits was the long list of violent crimes committed by dangerous people with state concealed carry licenses. Contrary to gun lobby claims, the evidence suggests that permitting concealed weapons drives up crime rather than decreasing it.
And your evidence is where?
Actual empirical evidence (to the contrary) can be found here and here and here and here and here and here and if you really need more I can find it.
Furthermore, who wrote this editorial? If you’re going to open your yap at least have the guts to identify yourself and stand behind what you say.
If I remember correctly, the grade scale in my public government school was:
A 100 - 94
B+ 93 - 90
B 89 - 84
C+ 83 - 80
C 79 - 74
D+ 73 - 70
D 69 - 64
F 63 - 0
So the students referred to in the article have to maintain at least a 70 to participate in other activities, but parents are complaining it’s too high and want to go to a 60.
To me, that’s a big fat fail no matter how you cut it.
Just read this piece about some Nebraska state legislation regarding their concealed carry laws. This is a good sign, and I hope it goes through. Slowly but surely Nebraska’s laws will improve.
It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t incredible, but it was enjoyable… I didn’t feel like I wasted my money when I walked out, but I didn’t feel like the Earth was moved. It was fun. A cookie-cutter predictable plot, only so much character development and thus attachment (at least Susan developed and you had some sort of bonding to her). The animation was good, the 3-D was pretty well done. I did find myself laughing out loud at some things, and was into the suspense when called for. Some memorable lines that the kids and I quoted on the drive home.
So, not bad. A fun flick, and good time with the kiddos.
What I really liked was some previews. I’m looking forward to the next Pixar movie, Up, and seeing the preview for 9… oh yes, I want to see that movie. I’m a sucker for Tim Burton.
Updated: I forgot to say. There were some uh… “negligent discharges” in the movie. Violation of rule number 3 (booger hook on the bang switch), violation of rule number 2 but in a way #2 was OK since it was technically pointed at something worth destroying. What does it say about me when while watching those parts of the movie the rule violations were the first things that went through my head? Then I used it as a “teachable moment” with the kids on the drive home? 🙂
Just received an email from (my) Senator John Cornyn’s office, pointing me to an editorial he wrote for the Austin-American Statesman. The topic, why he is voting against the budget.
Again I say, I’m not 100% with Cornyn, but overall I like the guy. Here’s one example of why.
Today is particularly windy. Sustained winds in the mid 20 MPH range, with gusts pushing nearly 40 MPH.
There’s a pond near our house, and it is home to many ducks. Being springtime, the ducks are wandering the neighborhood in search of food and nesting areas. Our house is a popular destination because we always put black oil sunflower seeds out for them. The usual crew of mallards and muscovy ducks made their routine morning visit, but then we were greeted by a new group:
A mother mallard and her seven babies.
Of course my children were all excited, proceeding to name each one of them. We put down more seed just for them and watched them eat. Then… the wind would blow. I don’t know how much a duckling weighs, but it’s not much. The wind would blow a strong gust and you’d watch all seven ducklings get blown into the yard, rolling tuckus over teakettle, struggling to get back on their feet against the blowing wind. It was a pitiful sight, but of course had a good degree of cuteness to it. I wish I was able to catch some video of it for truly it was a sight to see.
I was at the dojang today and because we only had a few people and thus space to do so, we spent time working with staff. One thing I did was work on a staff form, Joong Bong Il Hyung (middle staff, 1st form). You can see a portion of the form here:
Notice at the beginning of that clip how the gentleman is doing 360º turns? I spent a lot of time on that today because I always have problems with that movement. I know the theory of what to do, like a figure skater that you need to turn your head all the way and focus your eyes on some point, keeping your head level, and so on, yet still it gives me trouble. However something hit me today that worked like a dream.
I took a cue from my motorcycle riding. On a motorcycle you look where you want to go. Where you look, that’s where you will go. So if you look down, you will go down. If you look through the turn, you’ll glide gracefully through the turn. Looking is very important to motorcycle riding. I noticed when I was turning that while I looked, I was only looking at the end points… that I start facing north (if you will) and look north, then I perform the 360º pivot and work to lock my eyes 360º around at the end point. But what am I doing with my eyes during the turn? Well, I wasn’t looking at much of anything… my eyes just went, wherever, I couldn’t tell you.
What I did was ensured that as I turned, my eyes stayed involved. No I didn’t still focus on any points during the turn, but your eyes still have to do something… they will still be looking, they will still be taking in whatever whirrs past them. So what I did was kept my eyes level the whole time. My eyes were semi-actively scanning and taking in everything on a plane parallel to the ground… kept it all level, kept my eyes involved. And lo… I was steady. I could pivot and rotate without any problem.
This has other implications too. Not just for empty hand martial arts skills (e.g. helping with 360º spin kicks, turning back kicks, etc.), but even for other tactical matters. I did notice while I was turning, while I wasn’t actively looking at anything, I was certain that I was taking in a great deal of visual information… I was far more aware of what was going on around me (duh!). Just goes to show that we’re not always aware of what we’re doing, and these little things can matter.
