Thursday, March 30, 2006

David Noel Brings Home Trophy

Exiting UNC-Chapel Hill Senior, David Noel wins tonight's Slam Dunk Competition. Way to go David, those were some sick dunks. Everyone should watch Sportscenter on ESPN tonight or in the morning for the highlights, well worth it. A trophy in his last appearance in a Heels jersey.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

It's About Time

US raises pickup, SUV fuel standards through 2011 - Yahoo! News

It's about time.

UPDATE: In case you don't read the comments on this blog, you need to see Roch Smith Jr.'s entry for a Chevy Tahoe commercial contest here.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Toll Roads?

The NC Turnpike Authority is proposing the first toll roads in NC. Can anyone tell me where the extremely high gas tax money goes? I can tell you... in a piece I wrote here. WRAL has coverage here and WXII has coverage here of the toll proposal.

We already pay for the roads with the gas tax. We don't need to pay for them with tolls. I grew up in NJ, where the toll booth was a way of life. When they first proposed them, the spin was that once the roads were paid for, the tolls would come down. Guess what? They are still up and more expensive then ever. The also cause traffic, accidents, and pollution from stand vehicles.

My question is, if we already pay for the roads with the gas tax, then why the tolls? We can live with one or the other, but not both. By pushing the toll roads, the NC Turnpike Authority raises the question of where our gas tax money is going, if not the roads? I would also like to know if the highway construction is done by bid or no bid contract. If it is by no bid contracts, then we need to open up the bidding and get quicker and cheaper work done. If tolls go up, the gas tax must come down. Bottom line. WXII says that the Turnpike Authority is coming to Greensboro on June 15th to discuss the toll road proposal.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Schools: Greensboro or Beirut?

A prominent local business man, who I will call K, recently decided to move back to Beirut, Lebanon for better schooling for his children. He has told me that the public schools here in Greensboro are no match for the schools in Beirut. In Beirut they teach my children three different languages from the beginning, Arabic, French and English. They speak to them in all three languages at any given time. They teach my children science and show them to be creative. Here they do not teach them any of this.

I have known K since I moved here in the early '90's. He is a great man and a greater father to his children. What does this say that K would rather have his kids go to school in a warzone, Beirut, then in a safe environment here? To me it says a lot.

We fail our children when it comes to education. We fail them on so many levels. When I was going to school, there was always a list of supplies that I needed for me; now they send home a list of supplies that you have to supply for the whole class, 3 boxes of Kleenex, 2 reams of printer paper, etc... Obviously, this is because of budget shortfalls. We would rather buy bombs then books. That is a sad fact in this America, one I never thought would be.

We teach our children slowly and with kid gloves for fear that we might make them sad or depressed. We don't even teach our kids Geography like we use to. Maybe because they will never be able to afford to travel anyway. Science is a joke in school. What happened to encouraging our children to create and discover new things? Science is now a mere argument by selfish parents about the big bang theory or ID(intelligent Design). What happened to the periodic table of elements? Kids don't answer the, what do you want to be when you grow up question, with Astronaut anymore, they barely know about space.

We fail our children by letting local school boards be complacent. We don't fight hard enough for our children's futures. We wonder as our children grow, why they can not find jobs. They were never trained properly in the first place, that's why.

We base our children's schooling on test scores like the SAT. We don't teach them foreign languages, other then electives in high school, or if you are lucky enough to have your kid in a magnet school. After school activities are just as bleak. How many kids have to buy their own jerseys for sports? I didn't have to do that when I was in school. Where does the school budget go? It's not the teachers. It is certainly not the children. So where does it go? How much goes to Dr. Greir's pockets? We have to refocus our efforts on our children, they are our future. We have been passed by, by many other nations in schooling children. We take our teachers for granted and pay them accordingly. I think every teacher should make more then Dr. Grier does, and we shouldn't rush our teachers through their training either. We should have more high quality teachers, teachers who know their subjects.

Quite frankly if parents gave as much of a shit about their kids education as they did about what they eat in the cafeteria, we might be on the right path back. Parents are selfish when it comes to their kids, they want their own ideologies taught, with as little pressure as possible on their child's psyche.

Do I think that my friend K is insane for bringing his kids into a warzone for better education? No. What I do think is insane is that we don't treat our children's futures a little better then we do.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Animal Control Should Be On Call, Shouldn't They

I came home tonight to a large, looked like a Rot, in my front yard. I wasn't going to get close to see if it was friendly, so I attempted to call Animal Control. Animal Control is apparently closed at the end of regular business hours and I could leave a message. I opted to call the Greensboro Police non-emergency number. I was asked if an attack was currently happening, which it was not, and then told that the police would not respond unless there was an attack underway, or similar circumstances. I asked about Animal Control, and they told me what I already knew, and that I could call the number tomorrow.

My problem, I have a wife and young child to protect. Does anyone else think that Animal Control should at least be on call for what could be a very serious problem for any unsuspecting Greensboro citizen? I told the officer the policy was "retarded", because no one is available at night to help protect our citizens from an attack if they feel threatened, not even the police. Please weigh in, I think this is a problem that can be resolved rather easily.

Sorry For The Lack Of Posts and My Sickness

I know, I've been slack. Painting has been keeping me good and busy. Today at a fellow bloggers home. Not a complaint in the least, this schedule just doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging. I will do my best to post when I can. As my fellow blogger said, I did receive a nice HP laptop to replace the archaic excuse for a hampster on a wheel that I had been using. Thank You Matt. And thank all of you for your patience with my absence of my two sense.

My only complaint over this time, I caught what felt like the plague for a few days. Seems to be going around. I was told by a friend who is a PA at Mose Cone, that it is a viral infection and can not be treated other then over the counter meds. Anti-virals in the 1st 24 hours can help, but are very costly and not always effective. What worked for me, lots of Gatorade(64 ozs a day), Theraflu Cold and Sinus(every six hours), Motrin every 4 hours but two hours after the Theraflu, and an occasional Hydrocodone(by prescription only). If you feel like death has taken up residence in your human body, you have this plague. If you hurt from your head to your toes in every joint, you have this plague. For your sake, I hope you don't.

Good news, Today was day 1 past this plague. If I can slay this beast without a doctor,so can you.
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