(Holly, a student from L.A.) Welcome the blog I brought with me to college. holly_hunt@brown.edu
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Oh you
Submitted by: littlecvoong
ha. the freeway in the radar is my freeway. what up, 210.
HOME!
Lent 1
Hi and welcome to ASH WEDNESDAY!
Today, millions of Catholics around the world (and some sympathizers such as myself), were really hungry all day. Lots of them had little ash crosses on their foreheads.
Though I am not Catholic, or even baptized, I observe the Catholic fasting days of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. I think fasting is good for the mind: it resets your cravings, and you realize how much your day revolves around physical sustenance. I had 2.5 more hours today than I usually do, and I used that time really productively.
The hardest part of fasting isn’t really the not eating. Humans are designed to go a day or two without food before things go haywire. While it’s hard to be around people who are enjoying a nice meal, self control for one day isn’t that bad.
But try not eating for a day without complaining about it. It’s a metaphor for Lent, the forty-day period when Catholics try to rid themselves of bad habits and add positive changes to their lives. Lots of middle-schoolers will give up chocolate, for example. And they will complain about not having chocolate every day they don’t have any.
As a priest once explained to me, each person fasting has chosen to do so out of their free will, so there’s no reason for them to whine about it all day long. Fasting is not an excuse for anything, except for perhaps a lack of focus as the day draws to a close.
Today I made a conscious attempt to not mention that I’m fasting, though I let myself slip three times. The point of fasting is for my benefit, ultimately, and letting it get in the way of my interactions with others completely against the point.
Match-up: Federal programs at risk from the budget proposal, and the cost in dollars to Americans from specific tax breaks for the wealthy.
(via wilwheaton: It’s pretty clear who Congress gives a flying fuck about, isn’t it?)
If this is true, I am angry.
I can’t believe Noor got to meet her/be on her tour bus. So jealous.
yup.
So she’s opening for Jason Derullo at MIT’s Spring Weekend and all.
Visual Delight: ‘Organizing the Bookcase’
(via greghartlegotrandom)
N.B. — Watch the little dragon on the side table.
Teachers make too much money!
Food for thought.
Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)
WHAT A DEAL!!!!
