Quotations of the Day

"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor."

--Robert Frost


"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you."

--Robert Fulghum


"I am intrigued by the fact that most of us seldom look for any guidance on how to perform competently as a parent..."

--Bill Gates, Sr.

More photos from Iran

Up to the election.

Another set from the aftermath, June 22, 2009. Number 34 is heart wrenching. The YouTube video is absolutely devastating.

Photos from Iran

From The Big Picture, two sets of photos.

June 15, 2009

June 16, 2009

Iran

Timeline since the election.

New Roger Federer Netjets commercial

Robotson's 888 Book List for 2009

Updated 6/08/2009

Shhhh! It's a secret. I'm not telling him that I am keeping a list of the books we read together so that I can surprise him at the end of the year with his accomplishment. I'm not going to put non chapter books on the list. I'm also not going to fill the list with what I want him to read. Instead, I'll let him choose and fill it in as we finish. I'll probably sort them into categories at the end of the year if I see any patterns.

1. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. Superfudge by Judy Blume
4. Benjamin Franklin by Conrad Stein
6. Fudge A Mania by Judy Blume
7. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
8. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

1. Tower Treasure Hardy Boys book 1 by Franklin Dixon
2. Tale of Despereaux by Kate DeCamillo
3. Double Fudge by Judy Blume
4. Fudge A Mania by Judy Blume
5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
7. Mr. Popper's Penguins By Richard and Florence Atwater
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

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Quotations of the Day

"Children need adults in their lives who understand the relationship between boredom and creativity — and are willing to set the stage so that kids can create the play."

-- Richard Louv


"Parents worry about kids’ boredom, so they schedule their lives to keep them busy. But empty hours teach children how to create their own happiness."

—- Alvin Rosenfeld


"When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn't a loss of faith for me, it was a discovery of self."

-- Brad Pitt


"The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness."

--Andre Malraux

And they lived...

I'm not entirely sure why I watch romantic movies. I enjoy them while watching, but always feel empty at the end. It's like I want to see the happily ever after. Can you imagine a movie where it's just scene after scene of happy moments? I don't know if I'd actually like it, but I always feel like I would. Anyway, two I'd recommend are Penelope and Love and Other Disasters. I wish neither one had ended.

Goodbye Norbert

“You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be.”

--Chuck Palahniuk

Quotations and word of the Day

"Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense, differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only as far as the guardsman's cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club."

--Thomas H. Huxley


"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true."

--Bertrand Russell


"People find life entirely too time-consuming."

--Stanislaw J. Lec


Word of the day!

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 20, 2009 is:

deasil • \DEE-zil\ • adv
: clockwise

Example sentence:
One pictograph shows a group of warriors dancing deasil around what appears to be a gigantic wild boar speared numerous times.

Did you know?
According to an old custom, you can bring someone good fortune by walking around the person clockwise three times while carrying a torch or candle. In Scottish Gaelic, the word "deiseil" is used for the direction one walks in such a luck-bringing ritual. English speakers modified the spelling to "deasil," and have used the word to describe clockwise motion in a variety of rituals.

Sore

Every time I sit or lie down, the girls are all over me. Only they can't sit still, it's constant movement. After three and a half years of this, I am beyond bruises. It's just a constant ache. So I stand a lot, and my feet hurt all the time.

I move around the house, sitting down on the couch for a few seconds before they are on me. I go into my bedroom and lie down for a minute. Then they come in. I stand at the computer, and they get up under me and push so I'll pick them up. The more I move, the more it hurts.

I should focus more on the love of my children, but it can be really hard when in constant pain.

Quotation of the Day

"Ask children. Hear them. Teach children to ask the questions they want answers to. Believe that what a seven-year-old has to say is important. Because it is. Just ask."

— Ann Marie Corgill, Of Primary Importance: What’s Essential in Teaching Young Writers

Jam Wow

Another brilliant remix by Steve Porter.

2010: The year of the bible

At least that is what Paul Broun wants President Obama to designate in this bill submitted on May 7th, 2009.

While I don't think it has a snowballs chance, I'm pretty sure some letters can and should be written to remind Mr. Broun that the bible has no place in government at all.

Problem solved....next!

Banks want to give back the TARP money. And those are just for April and so far in May. There are many, many more. (Hint: Click each word.)

The House needs another $94 billion for Iraq, Afganistan, and the flu.

Seems simple enough to me. But wait...

The Senate doesn't want the banks to easily give the TARP funds back.

Why am I not surprised?

Slap Chop remix

Quotations of the Day

"To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true!"

-H. L. Mencken


"Whoever ceases to be a student has never been a student."

--George Iles


"To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all."

--Peter McWilliams

Classic Poetry

Sleep
by Sir Philip Sidney

Come, Sleep; O Sleep! the certain knot of peace,
The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
Th' indifferent judge between the high and low;
With shield of proof shield me from out the prease
Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw:
O make in me those civil wars to cease;
I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.
Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed,
A chamber deaf to noise and blind of light,
A rosy garland and a weary head;
And if these things, as being thine by right,
Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,
Livelier than elsewhere, Stella's image see.

h/t Classic Poetry Aloud

What we are reading

Robotson - finished Moby Dick and Double Fudge. We are moving to his book club book for April which is The Tale of Despereaux.

Me - I finished The Book of Learning and Forgetting by Frank Smith, a recommendation I got from Teacherninja. It was a great read and goes along very well with TJEd. I finished Genesis last week. Moving on to Exodus this week. Yip. That's as excited as I can get about it. I'm also reading The Read-Aloud Handbook (another h/t to Teacherninja here). Loving it so far!

Girls - we read nightly from whatever they pick off the shelves. Current favorite is Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.

Quotations of the Day

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."

--Peter Drucker


"All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse."

--Benjamin Franklin

A sign for Sunday

This morning there was a man holding a sign at the corner of a busy intersection that said, "Jesus is God" on one side and "Jesus paid the price" on the other. I wasn't able to get a picture.

Classic Poetry

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam
(The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long - Horace)
by Ernest Dowson

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.

h/t Classic Poetry Aloud

Georgetown covers an abbreviation for Jesus. Oh No!

So the President gives a speech yesterday at Georgetown and the stage erected covered the religious symbols in the hall. The backdrop wasn't very tall though, so they used some wood to cover the very top which had the letters IHS (an abbreviation for Jesus). Obviously, Georgetown didn't have a problem with this or they would have said no. They didn't cover the other 26 appearances of IHS around the hall, but apparently that doesn't matter.

The comments on this are so ridiculous.

Quotation of the Day

"The enemy of humanism is not faith. The enemy of humanism is hate, is fear, is ignorance, is the darker part of man that is in every humanist, every person in the world. That is what we have to fight. Faith is something we have to embrace. Faith in god means believing absolutely in something with no proof whatsoever. Faith in humanity means believing absolutely in something with a huge amount of proof to the contrary. We are the true believers"

--Joss Whedon h/t Friendly Atheist

Quotations of the Day

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."

--H. G. Wells


"Often it does seem a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat."

--Mark Twain