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someone realized that the martini standard is as dumb as the reefer test . But |
the real reason I believe it didn't come up is that America often conveniently |
forgets about alcohol in it's zealotry over drugs. Between a quarter and a |
third of all Americans in recent polls said that alcohol had seriously |
affected their lives and their families. Only 9 percent said that was true of |
other drugs. |
We accept that a stiff drink in the evening doesn't in inevitably lead to |
alcoholism, and we need to accept that the occasional use of marijuana |
doesn't inevitably lead to drug abuse. Perhaps what we also need to accept is |
that if we're that concerned, we should be raising our children as |
I'm not a teetotaler. And I've smoked marijuana. Nowadays it seems, I'm |
supposed to stand behind the lectern and say I didn't like it, and I regret |
it. If smoking marijuana lost me a job I'd dreamed of all my life, as it did |
for Judge Ginsburg, maybe I would regret it. But right, now I don't. I do |
regret some of the things I've done during my life- lies I've told, people |
I've hurt- but not an occasional social drug use. At the time, I enjoyed it. |
In the years to come, there are going to be a lot of people in high |
places who grew up during a time when people were arrested for participating |
in demonstrations, left the country to evade the draft, had abortions and |
used drugs. Some will be good people, and some will be bad people. Some of |
the good people will have used drugs. And some of the bad people, the ones |
who would drive a steamroller over an elderly person to get where they are |
going, will be "clean as a whistle". We'll need a standard by which to judge |
all these people. The reefer test isn't it. |
Monday, March 2, 2009 |
Other Peoples Children |
I've never really been what you would call a "people person". I tend to be rude and very sarcastic and usually not afraid to speak my mind when I see or hear something that I deem is below the average intelligence quotient. Like Gallagher used to say "When I see stupid, I gotta say something." |
I have a short fuse and a hot temper. I will get right in someones face and cuss them out for phenomenal stupidity and I tend to throw things. |
Yet for some strange reason, I always end up raising or helping to raise, other peoples kids. It's bizarre. |
I've never seen myself as a father figure. All of my life, I just couldn't see it happening. I looked at myself and thought "Ye gads. I don't want to see a kid growing up with me as an example. Earth itself would be doomed." |
Yet it keeps happening. And the older I get, it seems to be happening more and more. |
And now I'm in a house with 175 children. Some of whom are older than I am. A few of them are almost the same age as my daughter. Let's not think about her, the poor thing. |
I remember thinking when I first got hired on that I'd spend my time patrolling a fence with a shotgun, or walking the yard and searching for weapons or breaking up fights. |
I obviously had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. |
Now I find myself again as a surrogate father. Telling them to behave or they'll get no rec. Telling them to stop doing whatever it was they were doing or I'd put them on time out. Reminding them to call their mother. Making them clean up their rooms. Telling them not to hang out with "those" kids because it will just ... |
And occasionally doing the same thing for other staff. Many of whom are half my age. Seems like I'm stuck raising some of them, too. They don't listen much better than the inmates do, most days. |
Theodore Geissel (the late great Dr. Suess, who had no children of his own) once said "Other people have children. I just entertain them." An admirable statement, I think. Myself, I would say "Other people have children and screw them up. I'm here to thump them when they get stupid." |
I'm still under the impression that the world would be a much calmer place if I was kept as far away from it as possible. |
I may be wrong, tho. |
1. Oh come on rev........We need you!I can only do so much myself. simple things like telling a kid to call someone Mister * instead of *joe*....Help an old lady on with her heavy winter the door for the teacher carring 6 large boxes. |
2. i'm convinced people are in prison because they were not properly raised in the first place. |
just ask them "who's yer daddy now". |
3. Don't forget your blog children. We sit at your feet and listen to your horror stories. |
4. Loopy- Common courtesy could have/should have been instilled gently when they were youngsters. Now it needs to be drilled in with a large stick. But they won't let me carry one. |
g- Unfortunately, I know who their Daddy is. It's the big pissed off guy pacing back and forth out on the yard waiting for his bi*ch to get back out of the hole. |
Guy- I'm just the visiting uncle who entertains now and then. I shouldn't even be allowed to raise rabbits. |
The open government paradox |
Why aren't governments as transparent as they could be? |
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Get the newsletter |
In the quarter century since its creation, the Web has been a printing press and broadcast studio for millions of people whose voices would otherwise have been heard by only a few close friends. It opened a whole new world of sharing, and today nearly three-quarters of all Americans say digital technologies have improv... |
That means most of us are opening to the public minute details of our lives—where we eat, who we love, and how we spend money—all out in the open for others to see. |
All this new sharing has been driven by the open standards of the Web, but also by commercial interests such as Facebook and Google. The data that these new publishing and aggregation platforms collect and organize about their users is their primary tool for driving revenue from advertisers who are eager to get the rig... |
In addition to all the public sharing we're doing, we're also giving companies data that most of us would probably rather not be public—credit card and Social Security numbers, passwords, driving habits, impolitic emails, and nude photos. |
We open our private lives to these companies usually with explicit, though uninformed, consent. A computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon recently reported that it would take the average person about 250 hours to read all the privacy policies of the websites he or she visits in a year. We so badly want those comp... |
But that trove of data is a rich target for hackers, spies, and detectives alike. With Apple, Sony, Ebay, Snapchat, Home Depot, Target, and JPMorgan Chase all infiltrated in the last year, is it possible that an American doesn't do business with a company that's been hacked? Add in the National Security Agency's collec... |
We are living in a time of radical openness—not of our governments, but of ourselves. |
As we willingly open more of our lives to the public, government agencies are increasing their surveillance of us and also failing for the most part to take full advantage of digital technologies' ability to make public life more accessible and our public officials more accountable. |
In the wake of last year's broad debate about police conduct, body cameras are flying off the shelves like iPhones. Iowa is considering legislation that would require all law enforcement officers to wear them, but one version would keep those videos private unless everyone captured by the cameras consented to its relea... |
As our governments' powers of surveillance and their ability to be transparent are both increasing dramatically, we're giving them the former without demanding the latter. I can't think of anything more un-American and infantilizing than this kind of deference to government. |
Sadly, it's not just new technologies that are eroding open government principles. New government laws, policies, and practices at all levels are going into place to further shield the government's digital records from public scrutiny. In Washington, the state agency that monitors and publishes the campaign finance rep... |
Some government agencies see this growing demand for public data as a revenue opportunity. In North Carolina, I filed an amicus brief this year in a state Supreme Court case that I hope will stop the Administrative Office of the Courts from wholesaling its raw feed to data retailers. |
Public data is certainly big money for some vendors as well. One company that provides records management systems to law enforcement, Public Engines, enters into contracts in which it attempts to claim proprietary rights to the data. Public Engines has gone so far as to help police deny records requests and sue people ... |
As citizens, it's tough to argue that we're always using open government laws the way they were intended—to hold government accountable. Instead, we often use them to shame or threaten other citizens. The 2014 midterms saw Democrats in North Carolina and Republicans in Alaska and Colorado send mail to potential voters ... |
While it would be hard to argue that the Internet hasn't made governments at all levels more open, they clearly are not as open as they could be, nor are they as transparent as its citizens are. In a democracy, that's an odd paradox. |
If radical transparency is good for each of us, why don't we demand it of government? |
Plenty of people do, but one of the other paradoxes of open government is that the same platforms that promote our self-disclosure have also siphoned away advertising revenue from newspapers and local television stations that have been over the last century the most powerful and consistent advocates for open government... |
Citizens can help in this effort by using sites like or to share public data they’ve requested. Or, maybe the next time you open up your life on social media, you’ll use the #opengov or #foia hashtags to share how you help keep the spirit of open government alive as well. |
Sunshine Week: Open government is good government, runs from March 15-21, 2015 |
About the author |
Ryan Thornburg - Ryan Thornburg is an associate professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He runs and is the author of Producing Online News. |
What a precious gift one can leave the world bearing the circumstances that has lead to the climatic uncertainties in the recent times. Trees are the most important plant in the universe as they purify the air we breath and provide water. Without trees life would be complicated. Coming together of a great minds like th... |
The initiatives from any given institution àre of great health and importance to our planet and so is the Tree Garden. Usually it is not easy to do it alone. It is the power of a group that we çan join in and make something happen. One way to leave a mark here on earth is to participate and/or contribute in the tree ga... |
Awareness and sensitisation: this is the first bold step in making people accept the fate of trees and the general importance change starts with you. Doing it to to pay respect or remember a certain situation like a birthday, memorial service, and so on would attract attention hence succession. |
Partnership: It should not end only on telling people but joining hand, partnering with society to help the community and teaching them about trees and having rewards to the community. |
Events: for those things mankind is proud of and would prefer losing his/her life doing should be incorporated in line of commemoration. A role model in the society is today’s flesh but as age comes in the strength and abilities fade away. To be real as they fade the tree should be shining. That is the greatest loyalty... |
Remembering someone for the good deeds is one of the memories one could leave behind. Man is born, matures, age and die but the fruits of the hard labour is celebrated by the generation to come. Trees are such fruits. Providing a better tomorrow for generation to come. |
What we need to know about garden trees |
Apart from giving us good air, they are the fountain and source of water which is important to our daily need. |
Mature trees provide timber and other product like paper which is always used in the daily activities and provide safety to creatures like birds |
Different species of trees have a growth rate where soft wood grow fast compared to hard wood which take long to mature |
Trees can be grown anywhere provided they are supported with water for growth and survival. In the compound they provide good habitat for birds, beautifies the environment and bring the pleasure of cool and nice breeze. |
To do these requires having a common goal and starting initiatives that remind you of certain events. This is supported by the world trees planting day which has seen a recognition in the world records and is growing rapidly. |
To accomplish tree gardens the initiative is self driven having a guiding motive. Preparing garden trees requires landscaping expertise to eliminate congestion that would turn away the beauty. |
You can support this project and join them at: |
January 22, 2017 |
Travel | 5 Things to do If You Can't Get Tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child |
A decade after the last Harry Potter book was published and I completely underestimated how popular the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play would be. Not only are tickets for the next year sold out but every time they release more tickets, I'm inconveniently at work and tickets disappear faster than you can say Wing... |
Personally, I got over my Harry Potter obsession before the release of the 6th book. However, out of nostalgia, I kept reading the rest of them, including the recent Cursed Child screenplay. Reading the screenplay just made me want to watch the show even more. Sadly, I'll have to wait until tickets don't sell out so fa... |
1. Check out House of Minalima |
Located just a minute away from the palace theatre, House of Minalima is a small store/exhibition currently displaying graphic artwork from both the Harry Potter films and Fantastic Beasts movie until 4th Feb 2017 and 4th Feb 2018 respectively. The exhibition gives you s greater appreciation of all the finer details pu... |
2. Book Tickets for the Harry Potter Studio Tour |
While you don't have to book a year in advance to check out the Harry Potter studio tours, you do need to book a month ahead. Die hard Harry Potter fans will easily love visiting the studios where the movie was shot. If you're not the biggest fan, it's still worth checking out for the insight on movie magic. |
3. Graduate at Enigma Quest's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry |
Escape rooms have been popping up everywhere and while I have yet to check any out, Enigma Quest's Harry Potter themed one in London might be the one that pushes me to finally try it out. Instead of escaping a room, you have to pass a number of quests to solve within 60 minutes. If you pass, you graduate at the School ... |
4. Visit King's Cross Station's Platform 9 3/4 |
If you're a little broke, or looking to kill a bit of time before catching a train elsewhere, why not take a photo at platform 9 and 3/4 itself. Sadly, it isn't actually located between platforms 9 and 10. While they do charge for professional photos, it doesn't cost anything to grab a pic on your phone. Good luck not... |
5. Go on the Potter Trail in Edinburgh |
Instead of exploring London, why not go on a walking tour of the city that inspired J.K. Rowling's books. A lot of inspiration came from the city itself and she wrote several of the books there too. Not only do you get an insight on some Potter inspiration, such as Tom Riddle's grave but you get to visit less touristy ... |
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