Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Rules kids won't learn in school

This list is the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the 1996 book “Dumbing down our kids: Why American children feel good about themselves but can’t read, write, or add” and “50 rules kids won’t learn in school: real world antidotes to feel-good education.”


Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it.


Rule No. 2: The real world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, people complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)


Rule No. 3: You won't make $60,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.


Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.


Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents called it “opportunity.” They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Miley Cyrus all weekend.


Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer.


Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest, try cleaning the closet in your bedroom.


Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, you get several tries to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.


Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. While we're at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself.


Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to work.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Quotes from Socrates

A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.

All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.

An honest man is always a child.

As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.

As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.

Be as you wish to seem.

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.

Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.

He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good.

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.

If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.

It is not living that matters, but living rightly.

Let him that would move the world first move himself.

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Miter Saw Table

In an effort to focus on something positive, I am going to add a woodworking category to this blog. Building furniture and projects is one of the ways that I keep my sanity. Although the extent that it saves mine may be the same amount that it frays my wife’s nerves. Hopefully we are achieving a workable balance.

Last year, I bought a miter saw to cut sugar maple molding for an entertainment center. I wanted something accurate to cut molding that cost $3 per foot. Of course, the saw is not much use without some way to hold the molding.

So like anything else I need help with, I went off to the internet. I found several designs for free plans and chose this design from Woodsmith.com. It is made from plywood and put together using dados. It’s about as simple as you can get for a project.

Here is a picture of the dado joinery, just like the plans show.



And here is a picture of the finished table.


I gave it a coat of Minwax stain for protection and have been using it ever since. I had this built in one afternoon and it has been getting more and more use. The back support may be too high, but so far it works and I can cut the back shorter if I need to. By the way, I did finish the entertainment center. The miter saw was quite handy when it came time to building the cabinet doors too.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Strive to be an Optimist

The pessimist finds fault;
The optimist discovers a remedy.

The pessimist seeks sympathy;
The optimist spreads cheer.

The pessimist criticizes circumstances;
The optimist changes conditions.

The pessimist complains about the apple seeds;
The optimist plants them.

The pessimist imagines impending peril;
The optimist sees signs of prosperity.

The pessimist disparages;
The optimist encourages.

The pessimist creates loneliness;
The optimist finds friends.

The pessimist nibbles at the negative;
The optimist is nourished by the positive.

The pessimist builds barriers;
The optimist removes roadblocks.

The pessimist invents trouble;
The optimist enriches the environment.

~ William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)

Found on Beliefnet. A little something for everyone, I guess.

Friday, February 26, 2010

All you need to know about carbon dioxide

Study the picture below…



This picture represents the volume of earth’s atmosphere. The last square on the lower right represents the volume of all the green house gases in earth’s atmosphere. The yellow section represents all of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The red dot shows how much carbon dioxide humans are responsible for.

Since carbon dioxide is a trace gas measured in part per million, it’s hard to notice it on an actual scale. Here is a blowup of the green house gas percentage so you can see how insignificant it is:



Look at that red dot and think about all the lies you have heard about the climate. Increasing carbon dioxide causes global warming - LIE. Increasing carbon dioxide causes more severe weather such as tornados, floods, droughts, and hurricanes - LIE. Increasing temperatures will cause famines and global catastrophe – LIE. Global warming may go down as the greatest hoax that was ever perpetrated on earth. The lies are unraveling so fast around the world that it is hard to keep up with who is involved and what deception they spread. The liars are running away from climate change so fast they are leaving whirlwinds in their paths.

Here is a list of what has come to light in the last couple of months:

-The Russian Institute of Economic Analysis asserted that the British Meteorological Office only used data from 25 percent of meteorological stations; the stations with the warmest data.

-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitored around 5,000 climate stations around the world until 1990. After 1990, NOAA eliminated the data from over 3,000 of these stations, eliminating stations at higher latitudes and altitudes; in other words, the cooler stations.

-IPCC lied about the link between increased natural disasters and global warming (there is no link) using papers that were flawed and not peer reviewed.

-IPCC lied about Himalayan glaciers melting going so far as to admit this year that they thought the false data would encourage policy makers to take action.

-IPCC lied about Amazon Rainforest decline based on flawed and non-peer reviewed papers.

-NASA claimed that 1998 was the warmest year on record, then changed it to 1934 after facing scrutiny over their data. They then made the claim that 1998 and 2006 were the warmest years on record. So far, NASA has refused all Freedom of Information requests to see the data.

-Phil Jones, head of the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, the main source of data for the IPCC reports and the primary source of climate hysteria, admitted last week that there has been no climate warming for the last 15 years.

-Phil Jones and the staff at CRU claim that they have lost or been careless with the data that they used for the IPCC reports; preventing other scientists from validating their work.

-Phil Jones, Keith Briffa, and Michael Mann, all leading instigators in the global warming hoax, were revealed to be destroying and hiding data to cover their lies when the Climate Gate Emails came to light.

The bottom line is that anyone with a basic understanding of the scientific process and statistics could have looked at the two pictures above and understood immediately that global warming could not be caused by emissions from cars and factories. The general public bought into the ideas of man-caused climate change hook, line, and sinker. Now, billions of dollars have been thrown away on the fear of climate change and kids are being taught the same lies as part of their education.

Even as the walls of climate change hype are falling down all around them, the EPA is continuing its foolish stance on regulating carbon dioxide, and senators are still moving forward with the cap and trade tax. The president maintains that the science of man-made climate change is sound; even though the data is suspect, the process has been shown to be flawed, and a conspiracy to manipulate the science has been revealed. The president, the EPA, and everyone who wants to believe in man-made climate change are the real deniers now.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Mushrooms

I have the unique opportunity of teaching workshops for continuing education credits as part of my job. While they are usually related to forestry, once in a while I do something out of the box just for something different. I gave our staff survival skills training on one occasion. This time we are going to learn everything we need to grow shiitake mushrooms in the woods.


I already enjoy cooking and eating fresh mushrooms, mostly the boring button mushrooms readily found at the grocery store. Although I have been eating morels from the woods for the last several years. Here’s a great picture of one. I find that morels taste best dipped in corn meal and fried in light oil.

While researching for this staff training, I learned that mushrooms are fungi. We get some of our best food with the help of fungi. Blue cheese and brie are flavored from fungi. Cacao beans must be fermented with fungi to destroy the bitter flavor they have naturally before being processed into chocolate. Yeasts used in beer and bread are a type of fungi. By the way, the alcohol in beer is made from microbial pee. The yeast eats the sugar and pees out alcohol. The holes and texture in bread are made from microbial farts! That is how yeast causes bread to rise.

Getting back to shiitake mushrooms, they are nutty and garlicky and really meaty compared to white mushrooms. You can order the spawn in the form of wooden dowel rods and drive them into holes drilled into an oak log. Corn and beans come from seeds, mushrooms come from spawn or spores. Six months to a year later, you have mushrooms. And a 3 or 4 foot log can produce mushrooms for several years in the right growing conditions.

I am planning on trying to grow some myself, so I’ll post again at some point with pictures and advice. You can read up in the meantime at UK Extension here.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Camp Calomine

Here is a cartoon that I really enjoy. I have never seen it in print, but I appreciate the conservative tone and the camp setting. You can view more at the Camp Calomine website here. Below are a few of my favorites. Click on each one for a larger image.




Monday, February 1, 2010

Wood Is Green

I have been amazed at the number of people who call themselves environmentalists and know nearly nothing about the environment itself. Their gullible nature, when it comes to nature, leaves them vulnerable to the whims and lies spread by supposed environmental groups who are always on the prowl for tragedies to profit from.


Environmental groups have spread the message that wood is not good, that wood products are not sustainable, that somehow using them kills forests and ruins livelihoods in tropical countries. They have attacked tree farms as a wicked and destructive pastime, and referred to pine plantations as biological deserts. Yet, these same groups have never attacked landowners of cornfields, wheat fields, or strawberry farms, or apple orchards. These “biological deserts” as environmental groups would refer to them, cover millions of acres.


I suppose the need for food has prevented them from profiting by attacking farms and produce. But environmental groups have profited enormously by attacking people who grow trees instead of corn. These same groups have even convinced the public that concrete, steel, and glass are more environmentally sustainable than growing trees. I like many products that are made from concrete and steel, but I have to draw the line when outrageous claims are made about their “green” superiority. It takes a lot of electricity, and therefore a lot of coal, to recycle glass and aluminum and to process iron ore for steel. Using guidelines set by environmentalists themselves, glass, steel, and aluminum are not green, especially if recycled. Here is what “green” looks like if you want to promote glass, aluminum and steel:



Contrast the picture above with this “biological desert” below:



Once something is mined, it is gone and that is why they call it non-renewable. Trees and plants are renewable resources. You can grow them again and again, just like corn. While you are waiting for your tree crop to mature, you can hunt, hike, and enjoy all the benefits that forests bring to life. Trees help clean the air and water, provide habitat for animals and recreation for humans. They can then be harvested and turned into useful things for people (see what trees provide here) and then you can plan another forest, or let nature do it for you in the case of hardwoods.


Fortunately, there are groups who know better and can see through this madness. Wood has a great story to tell and the folks at Wood Is Green are trying to get that message out. If you are not building with wood, you are not being green. Check out their website and help get the message out. They are just getting started, but something tells me this message will resonate loud and clear all around the planet.


Friday, January 15, 2010

Quotes from Billy Graham

I admit that I have gotten slack about posting to this blog. I wanted to average one post each week and 51 posts was close enough. Let's start 2010 with some advice in quotes from Billy Graham:

Read the Bible. Work hard and honestly. And don't complain.


Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

Give me five minutes with a person's checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is.

A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone.

A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.

Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion - it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.

Believers, look up - take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.

God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with.

God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.

I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.

If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.

If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew.

It is not the body's posture, but the heart's attitude that counts when we pray.

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love.

Prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God.

Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.

The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.

The men who followed Him were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same.

The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless.

The word 'romance,' according to the dictionary, means excitement, adventure, and something extremely real.


Romance should last a lifetime.

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

You're born. You suffer. You die. Fortunately, there's a loophole.

There is nothing wrong with noticing an attractive woman. The problem occurs when you turn around for a second look.

The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.

We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.

Only those who want everything done for them are bored.

My home is in Heaven. I`m just traveling through this world.