Right Wing Nation

I don’t recommend products much, but this is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten.
Oh and yes, it’s spicy hot. But sooooooooo good.

so does this.
Months ago, I saw several dishonest statements on edublogs (sorry, it’s been months ago, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to find links at the moment), stating that zeroes are not valid scores. This is not dishonest in itself, but the threads upon which I commented were those in which […]

Republished because it needs to be said again.
In my experience, too few teachers give enough thought to assessment — not standardized exams, but the assessments they design for their classes. If you’re one of these teachers who hasn’t really thought much about it beyond writing exams or quizzes, read on.
Curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment are the […]

The Carnival of Ed is posted at Bellringers.

John Nolte’s Ten Worst Films of 2008.

The 2008 Festive Medical Myths even doctors believe.

Sugar causes hyperactivity in children
Suicides increase over the holidays
Poinsettia toxicity
Excess heat loss in the hatless
Nocturnal feasting makes you fat
You can cure a hangover

Well, not a list per se. Puck Daddy reviews the year in hockey, with octopi gunk.

The Best Notable Quotables of 2008: The 21st Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting. And you know the winner has to be Chris Matthews:
I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My — I felt this […]

Amazon is offering up to 30% off on new textbooks.

Dutch liberals get a clue.
“The mistake we can never repeat is stifling criticism of cultures and religions for reasons of tolerance.”
Government and politicians had too long failed to acknowledge the feelings of “loss and estrangement” felt by Dutch society facing parallel communities that disregard its language, laws and customs.
Newcomers, according to Ploumen, must avoid “self-designated […]

Ken DeRosa and I wrote this article for Edspresso a couple of years ago. With the change in administration, the article disappeared. So I’m re-publishing it here.
Forget the wading boots for the educration hype about High Tech High. You need a hazmat suit and oxygen tanks, because there’s nothing here but organic fertilizer of the […]

I’m watching a movie, Ghost Image, on TMC. The name seems to be misleading; it’s less of a ghost movie than a murder mystery (and it’s not clear there are any ghosts).
Elizabeth Röhm can actually act. Wow.
It’s not over yet. The reviewers on IMDB didn’t like the twist at the end. It’s actually pretty good […]

Tim Blair’s 2008 World of the Odd:
Farmer Kofi Owusu copped an unexpected inquiry during a romantic encounter with a goat on his farm in Ghana. Lost in goat-lust, Owusu was tapped on the back by neighbouring farmer Adams Kusi, who asked: “My friend, what abomination are you committing?” Declining to reply, Owusu fled the scene.
[ […]

Stats.Dot.Org’s Dubious Data Awards for 2008

Mix one part peanut butter and one part honey. Eat by the spoonful.

Uncle asks:
Can we talk about it yet? No?

on fighting:

Hockey Fans on Fightingby emcerlain

Subtitled: This is what middle America looks like.
Some didn’t come out too well. They tend not to when you take them out of a car going 70 mph. Like the first two, taken in Indiana. The first was to document the limestone. Indiana has so much limestone they face roadworks and build partitions with it. […]

Yesterday’s, that is. We were badly overdue to stock up at the Asian market, so we did. But it’s Sunday, so we’re having a decent, God-fearing, Christian meal: Pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, and crescent rolls.
It was 70 in the Ohio Valley, even past Pittsburgh yesterday, until we got up into the Alleghenies, then […]

Pics and more later (I left the camera in the car, and the driveway is solid ice).

It’s 4:15 am, and it’s 62 degrees here. I’d like to leave at 7. Weather outlook is good today, and we could make it back by dark.

Clicky for biggy:
First, St John the Apostle, where I went years ago, and where I went to Midnight Mass (more on that later). They built a new church, in an entirely different place; it’s a good thing I went to the webpage to check the schedule, or I would have driven to the wrong place, […]

Season’s Greetings:

A voice from the unheard voices of the Christians of the Middle East who have been witnessing to faith in the Saviour since His incarnation in their midst.
An Arabic Christmas Carol (Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity)
Today is born of a virgin He who holds the whole creation in His hand.
Today is born of a […]

Handel. Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra and the Tenebrae Choir.

Madrigale, He Shall Purify:

Charpentier, Magnificat (St. Luke 1:46-55).

Magnificat anima mea Dominum,
et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salvatore meo,
quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae.
Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes,
quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericordia eius in progenies et progenies
timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo,
dispersit superbos mente cordis sui;
deposuit potentes de sede
et exaltavit […]

Pergolesi, Salve Regina, sung by Andreas Scholl:

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
ad te clamamus
exsules filii Evae,
ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
Ora pro nobis sancta […]

It’s a good thing I decided to search online to see if the parish had a webpage so I could check the schedule, or I would have driven to where the church used to be for Midnight Mass.
They moved.

The Gospel According to St. John, 1:1-14.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light […]

Everything went smoothly. Snow everywhere in Pennsylvania, until you get to the westernmost part of the state, but dry, clear roads, and very little traffic. Surprisingly little. Ohio was fine, too.
Until Springfield.
That’s about 30 miles east of Dayton, and 70 east of the Indiana state line. Suddenly, it started to rain, and we didn’t need […]

Our secular selection, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Judy Garland from Meet Me in St. Louis:

Indiana University’s own Straight No Chaser, Silent Night:

Carol of the Bells:

Il Divo, O Holy Night

Domingo and Pavarotti:

Gregorian Christmas Day Mass, monks of the Abbey of Our Lady of Assumption, São Paulo, Brazil. As the monks process into the church […]

Tim Blair:
Seattle’s Winter Solstice Winterfest has been re-scheduled due to winter.
Also:
Lack of snow used to be cited as evidence of global warming. Now too much snow is cited as … evidence of global warming.

So for some reason, I had it in my head we were driving to Indiana on Wednesday — but of course, we’re not, because Wednesday is Christmas Eve. We’re leaving today. And guess who’s not packed?
That means I’ll be offline, as in sitting in the Explorer, until this evening, and once again, the hotel has […]

They prefer HDTV.

“All Iraqis today are Christians.” -Iraqi Interior Department spokesman.

From her wikipedia entry:
The famed conductor Arturo Toscanini told her she had a voice “heard once in a hundred years. “Once he heard her sing, he knew instantly that with a rich voice like hers, there was no way that she could fail. In 1934,[2] impresario Sol Hurok offered her a better contract than she […]

XM Satellite channel 866. It’s called “Holiday Pops,” but there’s nothing pop about it. Great music. Good for when company is in the house.

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming! Frederica von Stade and the American Boys Choir:

While at the store yesterday, I saw that every jar or honey warned that it shouldn’t be fed to children under a year old. I was curious. I had never heard that, so I looked it up.
Honey can cause infant botulism.
I thought honey was a natural antibiotic, or something like that. Maybe I heard that […]