I know that the longer I skip blogging the easier it will be to skip blogging. Tuesday was the funeral and it went better than I expected. This has only been a two day work week for me, but I will be glad for the upcoming weekend. Despite papers to grade and lecture to prepare it will be more restful than the last.
Instead of facing reality I chose to bury myself in cyberspace this evening and search for wp themes.
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We had a really nice Thanksgiving at home. Djembe fixed an exquisite turkey breast that was tasty, juicy, and absolutely perfect if I may say. He also made pumpkin and pecan pies. I am not a huge fan of pecan pie. I like it and all, but I don’t salivate for it every holiday. This was the absolute best tasting pecan pie! OMG it was awesome with a little vanilla bean ice cream on the side! The pumpkin pie was pretty good too. He tried a Paula Dean recipe that involved apple butter, really good. Tomorrow I plan to heat a little and try it with ice cream. 
The wine library selections paired nicely with the meal. (You may be wondering what my kitchen role was…sides. That’s all. Jem is the real cook and I can accept that. I’ve watched him enough that I could probably do the holiday meal if I had to, but why? He is so good at it!) After a morning of Macy’s parade watching, preparing for the meal, and having the meal the afternoon was spent taking the holiday nap. After playing a game or two with lil bit I curled up on the couch to nap while Jem enjoyed the NFL Thanksgiving day games.
Tomorrow is Black Friday, are YOU ready? Yeah, me either. I am not a Black Friday shopper. I just can’t handle it. TOO many people and most are in less than a Christmas spirit kind of mood. Don’t get me wrong…all about getting a good deal. Just not into fighting some little old lady for it. I have discovered that if I take my iPod shopping in the crowded chaos doesn’t bother me nearly as much. I had to go to Wal-Mart last night and I was completely oblivious to the insanity around me. Wonderful, beautiful, precious iPod. I must again thank Djembe for this exceptional gift.
Obviously I have been playing with my blog. Not really that thrilled with the white theme. I kind of like th header though. I’ll keep playing. I have another that I came up with, but it is dark. I’m wanting to go for something lighter and more festive. I found a wp theme generator that doesn’t allow complete and total control, but it does make things easier.
Finally I stopped ignoring the WP Dashboard notices about version 2.3.1 being available. I was still using 2.1 which was fine and compatible with all of my plugins and widgets, but I still thought it would be a good idea to upgrade. I should have researched a little more. Several plugins were not compatible so I had to go in search of similar tools. I found a great admin drop down plugin that makes site management cleaner. Instead of category-access I switched to hide-this. I tried it on a few old posts and it seems to work OK. I’m not sure if I like the tag cloud feature of the new WP. So many toys to waste time with.
Off to bed before I decide to mess with the theme again. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Do you spend Thanksgiving day alone or with others? How would prefer to spend it?
Most of the time we go home to spend Thanksgiving with my family, and sometimes visit his. It’s chaos. There was a time when you never knew who would be there…or know everyone there. We’ve joked that it used to look like a UN gathering. These days family gatherings are kid dominated. My aunt has taken the matriarchal duties of Thanksgiving prep. As frustrating as it is, I think she enjoys it. This year we will be staying home. We won’t miss out on the turkey, dressing, and such, but we will miss out on the chaos.
Growing up it was Gran that hosted the family. She spent the evening before and morning of in prep. Aunt and Uncles would gather, all the cousins too. After enjoying the meal all interested went outside for the backyard football game. Being the youngest it was an experience to participate while staying out of the way. Yes, without those games I wouldn’t have learned how to throw with a great spiral, dodge diving cousins trying to tackle me, dig my cousins tooth out of my forehead. Those were the days, and yes, I really did dig a portion of my cousins tooth out of my head.
Times pass and life moves on. This Thanksgiving I’m glad it has worked out where we will stay home. We’re tired and need the recovery time. Being at home base is best. It will just be the four of us. I must say I am interested to see how the Wine Library Thanksgiving selections pair with our meal. If you take a look in the sidebar you will see Djembe’s current fascination. I’ll have to persuade him to guest author a few posts concerning his wine findings.
Time now to retire. It’s rainy here so peaceful sleep awaits.
The Iron Bowl is a week out and the big question is who will triumph.
For those who are totally unaware of the intense rivalry that is southern football and The Iron Bowl: It is the rivalry game between Auburn University and The University of Alabama. Other schools have rivalry games, but this game and these fans take it to a new level.
The AL news website al.com has a lead story title Boos Reign on Alabama Football.
TUSCALOOSA - The players on the University of Alabama sideline began to head for the locker room before the clock struck 00:00. Most exited without a handshake for the opponent, and all exited with their chins hanging in the dirt.
When the Crimson Tide’s humbling 21-14 loss to Louisiana-Monroe became official on Saturday, when the 92,138 at Bryant-Denny Stadium finished booing their team as it fled the field, even those who participated couldn’t believe the result.
“Just looking at the scoreboard, seeing Louisiana-Monroe 21, University of Alabama 14 … Kind of crazy. Real crazy,” said Alabama receiver Matt Caddell.
Coach Nick Saban went a little further.
“I apologize to the people who support this program,” said Saban
It used to be said that MSU was worst in the SEC…even by their own fans in their own stadium. (I know, because it was said to me by some drunk student complaining about Auburn beating them.) It is possible that title is slipping to another team.
Is UA the worst in the SEC? Probably not. Lately the SEC is so unpredictable that from week to week the title could be traded from team to team. Coming off an embarrassing loss UA may rally and give AU a good game. Djembe says UA will have a HUMONGOUS chip on their shoulder and I have to agree. It may be the chip that pushes them to the goal line. AU’s defense isn’t bad so they will give the UA chip a good obstacle to overcome. AU has their own obstacles to overcome. Brandon Cox is unpredictable and his game is seriously hindered when things aren’t going great. Against UGA Brandon Cox and the rest of the team just gave up the last quarter. Home field advantage can be given to AU, but does it really matter? AU had an off week, hopefully they used it wisely and it will be an advantage come Saturday. UA has a statistical advantage. After being beaten 5x in a row the odds are on their side to pull out a win.
Ultimately, the Iron Bowl is currently a toss up. I would love to see AU make it an even 6 and I do believe it is possible. They are playing better than they were first half of the season. Consistency is an issue. UA stands a good chance of overcompensating for their embarrassment and making mistakes. We’ll see what happens. Regardless…War Eagle!
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Relaxing to the sounds of: Paul Stupka - River Flow
via FoxyTunes
I am fortunate enough to be able to teach a night class at the local university. The email through the university gets a TON of junk each day from people who don’t bother to check things out or they are simply hoping to get something for nothing. This is one received today. I don’t know why I opened it, but it was an amusing response to the spam forwards. Read. Laugh. Take heed.
OMG!!!!!
If you receive an email entitled “Bedtimes” delete it IMMEDIATELY. Do
not open it. Apparently this one is pretty nasty. It will not only
erase everything on your hard drive, but it will also delete anything
on disks within 20 feet of your computer.It demagnetizes the strips on ALL of your credit cards. It reprograms
your ATM access code, and uses subspace field harmonics to scratch any
DVD’s and CD’s you attempt to play. It will program your phone
auto dial to call only 800 numbers.This virus will mix antifreeze into your fish tank.
IT WILL CAUSE YOUR TOILET TO FLUSH WHILE YOU ARE SHOWERING.
It will drink ALL your beer.
FOR GOD’S SAKE, ARE YOU LISTENING??
It will leave dirty underwear on the coffee table when you are
expecting company. It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your
Nair with Rogaine. It will not only remove the forbidden tags from your
mattresses and pillows. It will also refill your skim milk with whole milk.******* WARN AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. *******
And if you don’t send this to 5000 people in 20 seconds, you’ll fart
so hard that your right leg will spasm and shoot straight out in
front of you, sending sparks that will ignite the person nearest you.Send this warning to everyone.
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Relaxing to the sounds of: Spyro Gyra - You Can Count On Me
via FoxyTunes
I ran across an article about Seattle schools “war on Thanksgiving” and it referenced “Myths of Thanksgiving” which you can find here and another version here. (You can read what other bloggers have to say by simply searching- but here are two that I found interesting: Michelle Malkin and Captain Yips.)
Before getting into my feelings about political correctness let me address the family/Thanksgiving myth in the second article:
MYTH # 2
Thanksgiving Was About Family
If by Thanksgiving, you have in mind the Pilgrim festival, forget about it being a family holiday. Put away your Norman Rockwell paintings. Turn off Bing Crosby. Thanksgiving was a multicultural community event. If it had been about family, the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them.
What exactly is wrong with viewing Thanksgiving as a time for family? Let’s evaluate the term…THANKSgiving, the giving of THANKS. For my family I am thankful. One can also be thankful for community, life, health, or any number of things. I don’t think I have ever associated Thanksgiving about JUST family. When I think about the first Thanksgiving I imagine it was simply a thankfulness for having food and surviving.
Moving on…
It is a given that the native Americans received a raw deal. Unfortunately that is the cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations. Yes, that sounds insensitive. Apologies, but is it incorrect? To the best of our ability with the knowledge available to us students should be taught accurate history. This teaching has to be age appropriate. Captain Yips article reference irritates me. First graders had their head dressing and buckles and hats shelved because someone complained that it was not an image that needed to be promoted. They were deprived of a fun learning experiences indicative of their ability/comprehension level.
Earlier in my blog hopping I was marveling at the memory of Sage. I do not have this gift. Maybe it is because there are so many things that I would prefer not to remember, but even now my recall is rather pathetic. Regardless, I do have a fond memory of my third grade Thanksgiving celebration. We were allowed to dress as either a pilgrim or Indian. I chose Indian. My grandmother made my costume. It was a beige velvety material with fringe at the bottom and on the arms. On the fringe and around the neck Gran attached cowrie shells. I think I even had moccasins to finish off the look. I loved my Indian costume. I loved the time that Gran took to make it for me. The day itself I don’t remember any specifics, but in pictures I was happy. We learned about Thanksgiving, and I’m sure we learned some things that were not 100% accurate. However, we were introduced to the concept and what we studied was age appropriate.
So here’s my thought on political correctness…do we explain in great detail the brutality of American expansion and its detrimental impact on the population of natives to a first grader? Do we cease celebrating an American tradition because some have ancestors on the losing side of expansion? I don’t think Thanksgiving is about celebrating American domination in North America. It is a holiday that has come to represent a time for family and for remembrance of those things we take for granted. There is respecting the culture of others and then there is taking political correctness to absurdity. It irritates me when groups use kids to push an agenda. Maybe it is my Americentricity coming out, but I just don’t see Thanksgiving as being an anti-Native-American holiday. Without the help of natives, and a few strong leaders, the colonists wouldn’t have survived and thrived. But then, these thoughts are coming from someone who is offended by the blame placed on modern society for atrocities committed during the Antebellum period of American history.
Just in case you’re curious, these are cowries and Gran had thousands:
And more from: http://www.cbu.edu/library/faculty/plagiarism/
How common is plagiarism?
In 2001, Donald L. McCabe of Rutgers University performed a study of 4,500 high school students that found that, “74 percent of students admitted to cheating seriously on an exam one or more times; 15 percent admitted to turning in a paper largely taken from a Web site or a paper mill; and approximately 51 percent admitted to not citing the source from a Web site when using a few of its sentences in their papers” (Straw).Another study performed in 2002 asked 698 undergraduate students how often they plagiarized. In this study, only 24.5 percent admitted to having cut and pasted text from the Internet without proper citation. Interestingly, more than 90 percent of the undergraduates reported that their peers were probably doing the same (Kellog).
An article on the National Science Teacher Association web site reports that, “In another poll, 80 percent of top high school students admitted to cheating during their academic careers, the highest percentage since the “Who’s Who Among American High School Students” survey began 29 years ago. In the survey, 95 percent of cheaters said they had never been caught” (Toppo).
This is so unbelievably common. As I grade papers that are blatantly plagiarized I think to myself, “do they think we’re stupid or that we just won’t bother to check?” Other statistics indicate that profs just don’t want to take the time to check whether a paper is plagiarized. Well, if you don’t care then why bother assigning it? Figuring out what is plagiarized and what is not is a tedious job, but the WWW makes it easier.
Another thing that amazes me is how bad students are at plagiarism. Some will print directly from their browser, or leave hyperlinks showing- as if we won’t notice!
We teachers are partially to blame. We assume they know what we mean when we say cite your source, don’t copy. We assume they know that paraphrasing is changing more than one word. We assume too much. As much as they may moan and groan about it, we have to teach them what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it. Sometimes it really is unintentional. However, others are just liars that are trying to pull a fast one. These students are the ones that I do not feel bad for when I print their paper from the net, highlight the plagiarize portions and label with an identifying 0/F. Have an issue with it? Read your syllabus buddy and count your blessings that you aren’t being kicked out of the class or school.
