Are you kidding me? Were they even considering spending that much on toys? Don’t get me wrong I love me some i-everything, but when all is said and done an iPod is nothing more than a toy. Why would students need individual ipods? What a rip. I’m not too old, but back in my day, we had books. Yeah, books.

The problem with our current approach to education is it’s all money based. When are we gonna learn that spending tons of money on education doesn’t necessarily equate to good education. Kids don’t need ipods. Kids don’t need computers. Kids don’t need more money thrown at them. They need GOOD TEACHERS! Technology is wonderful. I love it. In fact, I remember as a kid playing Oregon Trail on the Apple, but it was like once a week at school.

Teach kids how to MAKE MUSIC. Teach them how to figure out equations with a pencil and paper. Teach them how to read. Teach them how to plan for the future. Teach them.

I believe the children are our future…teach them well and let them lead the way…show them all they don’t need ipods to survive!

That’s pretty sad. They need to just keep them in a protected sanctuary or something, away from all the coyotes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070416/od_nm/hungary_rabbits_dc 

What’s with all the rabbit news?

Check out this very informative article on “splogs” – blogs that are automated to “scrape” (steal) content from genuine blogs for AdSense revenue. I’ve noticed a few of my other blogs that have been scraped, and it bugs me to no end that people are so desperate to make a quick buck that they’ll go to these lengths to get it.

Here’s a few things you can do to “combat” scraping:

1. Use internal linking within your blog posts. Why? Well, if another site is going to grab my content and use it for their shady benefit, than the least I can do is get some use out of it. When my content is scraped, it’s reposted in it’s entirety. Although, I get a linkback to this blog, I can add an additional step to KEEP people on my blog: add links to other posts INSIDE of each post. That way if someone happens to land on a scraped blog, reads my ever-so-interesting content and clicks a link in my post, they’re transported from the splog, to the GENUINE  blog, MINE!
2. Use copyright notices in your feed or in each post. You can also grab a plugin that does this.

These simple steps make it harder for readers of splogs to miss the fact that the content they are reading comes from an actual blog, not just an automated script. They will be more likely to visit the source of the content and stay there.

“With this, it becomes obvious both to readers and to search engines where the articles really come from… and, incidentally, it also makes every stolen post link to me.” -www.thetlog.net

Interesting story about Pope Benedict’s feelings towards Bob Dylan that come forward in a book of memoirs about the late Pope John Paul. The book “is mostly a reflection on John Paul’s personality and his religious writings”

After more thought and interest in the actual story I decided to go and see the movie. I enjoyed it, thoroughly.

Not for the music, but for the inspirational story. The life and passion of “Wilber” is contagious and the movies emotional highs and lows are gripping. Overall, I think more could have been done with character development, but all in all, this was a great movie.

Pretty popular blog over there. Lots of good comments flying back and forth. No heated debate. Unfortunately I’ve posted 2 thoughtful and considerate comments which were not approved by the author.

Here’s the gist of my thoughts:

The blog entry is pretty well written and thought out. The title and topic are “Jesus Found Dead in His Grave” I have no problem there. But very quickly into the article Mr. David W. Boles leaps headfirst into a diatribe railing on Radical Fundamentalists and how they’ve hijacked the nation and how those poor, innocent “live and let live” types are being trampled upon by a tidal wave of conservatism that is rising in our nation. Now I am paraphrasing and being a tad bit sarcastic. I mean no offense. But I don’t understand AT ALL how this former line of thought has anything to do with the original topic.

Basically, the rest of the blog entry is a huge (and long) verbal smash against conservatives. Why do liberals hate so easily? Why are they so venomous? They preach love and acceptance out of one side of their mouths, yet they trash and shred any one who doesn’t fit their ideology. I understand that BOTH the right and the left side of politics have major inherent flaws. I see them, I accept them. But I don’t understand how intolerant tolerance is excusable on any level.

One common line of thought is that conservatives are not at all into helping others or meeting societal needs. Hogwash.

It makes no sense for someone to say that we should live and let live, let people live their own lives without oppression (from any source), freedom this freedom that, and then trample the rights of any one who thinks differently.

Sure we all do it at some point in some way. We all need to work on our tolerance and love. We all need to put politics aside and view each other as imperfect humans wrought with flaws. Maybe I’m venting a bit. Maybe I’m frustrated, I don’t know, but I don’t appreciate when the underlying current of an ideology is supposed to be love and acceptance, but it all goes out the window when that “love and acceptance” doesn’t fit an agenda.

My 2 cents. Take it or leave it.

This story relates how the North Koreans are once again spewing forth promises of compromise and compliance. I don’t know what to think, other than I hope that they do comply. It seems to me that dictators should be the last people on earth to control any form of nuclear weapons (energy projects). I hope this situation resolves.

Sounds too good to be true. Doctors say it probably is! However studies show that a diet rich in ice cream and other dairy products may lead to a lesser chance of being infertile. The numbers are marginal, but the study shows that women who eat low-fat dairy foods have trouble conceiving because of lack of ovulation. And those who eat regular dairy products are less likely to experience those same problems. Sounds like good news to me! Bring on the Ben & Jerry’s!

So prince Charles doesn’t like McD’s because it’s unhealthy? I’ve heard that the sausages his family farm produces have more fat in them than the food at McD’s. I think he was just shooting off at the mouth. However it brings up an interesting thought. At what point does the government regulate what individuals eat? I mean, I totally understand cleaning up our act in public schools as far as feeding kids healthy foods, but can one truly expect a government to actually ban a restaurant?

I say let people who choose to be obese be. The only problem I have is when they “impose” their lifestyle upon their own families. I know it’s kind of back and forth, but to me it’s not fair to a child to not instruct them INDIVIDUALLY at home how to make wise eating choices throughout life.

Every kid loves a happy meal, but it doesn’t mean they should have one for most of their meals. Make it special. Spread it out. Make it a treat, not a regular habit.

Cute story about two endangered species unnaturally befriending one another. This definitely has the trappings of a cute animated, Disney film written all over it.