Monday Moanin'

My kid went to the UM-Air Force game on Sat.  It is great to see the Ann Arbor liberals charging $7 for a hot dog and $5 for a bottle of water.  Ah, those greedy Republicans!  "Yeah, but that's different."  Of course it is.

Last Sun or Mon AM, I ran with the temps at 37 degrees.  This AM, a week later at the same time in the morning, it was 68, with a great deal of humididity.  (The weather page on the computer read 100%!)  Winter or summer?

Protesters have rioted again recently in St. Louis and at Georgia Tech.  There's been quite a bit of damage with the looting, burning, etc.  Police cars have been torched and businesses destroyed.  One of the leaders of the protest insisted that the trouble, the violence is coming from "outside" agitators.  Maybe, maybe not.  But if so, the peaceful protesters then won't have any trouble identifying and turning into the police those who have just destroyed other people's property, including the police cars.  Or are the prosecutors' offices really not interested in bringing charges against the thugs?  After all, what if there are more protests?  For that matter, why don't the people who have had their businesses, cars, homes, and even bodies damaged or destroyed start a protest against the self-identified "peaceful" protesters?

I heard a member of some school board member, some place within the state of Michigan, on the radio this AM.  I think he is proof of the validity of Mark Twain's observation of school boards.  He was insistent that, in the public schools, math and science teachers should receive higher salaries than English teachers.  He specifically singled out "English" teachers, although I'm sure he meant history, art, phys ed, music, etc. teachers, too.  After all, those subjects don't prepare one for a job, don't make graduates job-ready, don't make students more marketable!  What a fool this man is!  And the radio host (I have no idea of the guy's name; I was just "playing the radio.") agreed.  People know I am not one to call all teachers "great" or even "good."  There are far too many lousy ones out there.  But to hear such ignorance of the value of a well-rounded education (or at least the teachers who help to provide a well-rounded education) from someone who sits on a school board is disturbing.  I hope he was appointed and not elected!

I may have posted this before, but I just thought of it again this afternoon.  If I were conducting interviews for prospective teachers, one of my questions would be "What did you do with your books from college?"  I suppose that's a bit unorthodox, but I think it would help me determine the candidate's attitudes toward education.  OK, if one is a history major, looking for a job in history, I can see tossing or selling physics books (although I kept them) or if a physics major, looking for a job in physics, tossing or selling the history books.  Maybe the money was needed.  But that could be part of the interviewees answer.  I think the answer to this question would tell me more than the As and Bs on the transcript, since colleges give out nothing but As and Bs now.

Speaking of college books, I still have a good number of mine, along with my notebooks from many, if not most, courses.  Some of the books I'd still have, but were damaged when our basement flooded many years ago.  And, as I tell my students, I think I had textbooks in just two or three courses.  We had other sorts of books.  For instance, in my first history course, there were 12 books.  I remember that clearly.  In a course on the French Revolution and Napoleon, we had three books alone on the Napster; one was a brief bio and another a book of letters.  A book of letters?  Yep, a book of letters than the Napster wrote to others, letters others wrote to him, and still more letters others wrote to others about the Napster.  And they weren't just for the courses.  They formed the basis for my oral comprehensive exams, too.

Yet another sign that the Apocalypse is nearly upon us.  I heard that one state (NJ?) football association is considering using replays to check officials' calls--in high school games!  C'mon, high school football?!?!?!  Well, last Fri the home team had a fourth and 6 and had to get across the 20-yard line for a first down.  It went for it and was stopped well short of the 20, not really close.  The two linesmen signaled "First Down" and play went on.  I was  silent for a while, until a dad sitting by us asked, "Am I just messed up?  Were they given a first down and weren't even close?  Others then chimed in, questioning, first, their own perceptions.  As each came to realize, it became obvious a big mistake was made.  Bitt then said, "Yeah, they had to get across the 20 and look where the ball is spotted now."  Well, short of it.  And the opponents didn't put up a stink and, in fact, didn't protest at all.  I guess when a team is up four TDs in the 4th quarter, what difference does it make?

I see a Tiger pitcher was hit in the head with a line drive last night.  That is frightening.  Many balls leave the bats at faster speeds than pitches arrive.  It's really surprising that more pitchers aren't hit and hurt badly.  I am not pitching to Major League hitters, but when I throw BP, it's always with an L-screen.  I remember being drilled above my eye just three or four years ago, when my reflexes were far greater than they are now; the ensuing gash required 7 stitches, my first and only ones in 60+ years of sports.  I wonder if pitchers will soon be wearing equipment, face masks like softball pitchers wear?