Teachers – Leave Them Kids Alone

Back in the 70s there was the song Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd that had the line Teachers Leave them kids alone.

Since then there seems to be way to many cases where the teachers aren’t leaving the kids alone. That is when it comes to sex. Every few weeks you hear of either a male teacher or, maybe even more so, female teachers have been indicted and convicted of sexual abuse towards one of their teachers.

The latest comes out of southern Delaware where a male student discovered the cellphone of a substitute teacher and found nude pictures of herself on it.

I really don’t know which was more stupid, having the phone being taken by the student or having nude pictures on the phone.

Some things should be kept private and personal. There may be a time and a place for nude pictures, teachers are over 21 and do have a private life. But having them at school sounds just a bit stupid. Why did she have them on her phone in the first place. It sure wasn’t to show the Principal.

Or was it?

I have heard of some teachers who try real hard to be friends to their students. They are adults and teachers. They shouldn’t be friends. They are there to teach and be a role models.

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When Will the Rain Stop

October 2, 2011
Delmarva Peninsula

Here we are. It’s the 2nd day of October and it has seemed that since the day before Hurricane Irene paid us a visit on August 27th every day has had a bit of rain fall. Of course sometime between then and now maybe we have had a clear sunny day, but it sure hasn’t seemed that way.

September has never been one of those months that I would call a favorite. As a kid September brought the beginning of the school year and the end of summer vacation. The only real good thing that with the beginning of school was seeing those friends that you haven’t seen since June.

As an adult many times September was a vacation month. Cheaper prices at the beach, but also a chance of the weather either getting cooler or as it was one year, and would have been this year, it rained the whole week.

But I think I can easily say that this has been the worst Septembers I have even had. Not because of the weather. No matter how bad the weather may be it is only a small factor of determining how bad a month can be.

It’s the news that comes to you that can make a rainy month even worst. My news had to do with learning that a close family member has only a short time to live. Cancer is the cause and it was determined that treatments would only extend life a short time. My love one decided to forgo the treatments.

Sometime the rain will stop, but when. Only time can tell.

What’s your Home Page

Every internet browser allows the setting of a home page. While I’m sure there are many who use the default that is set by the browser, many have selected their favorite page as their home. Here area few suggestions.

Search
Many times when we open our browser we are going to search for something on the internet. Google is a favorite for many. There’s also Bing and the old stand-by yahoo among others.

Social Media
Social media is used by millions and many have selected one of the big four, facebook, twitter, MySpace and Linkedin, as their home page.

Your hometown Newspaper
Printed news may be decreasing, but most newspapers have an on-line version. One that may post breaking news when it happens.

National News/International news
CNN, Google News, Yahoo News or even international sites such as BBC are used by those who crave news all day long.

Your Favorite Blog
There are millions of blogs and millions of postings on them each and every day. Some will selected their favorite blogger or blog as their home page.

Your Business Homepage
This is an obvious one.

My home page is google search. What’s yours?

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Originally published at SMBTechTips.com

Reflecting on Star Wars

This past week the Blu-Ray edition of the Star Wars series was released. Since I do not presently have a Blu-Ray player, I wasn’t one of the many who anxiously waited for its release. Although I do have to admit I am now considering getting a player with this as my first purchase.

Not that I need another copy of Star Wars. I have at least 3 VHS copies as well as a DVD copy.

With the release I put together this short recap, also published at 6 Things To Consider, of the movies along with a Quote of Wisdom from the movie and my short review of it.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
This is the beginning of the story, but the 4th of the movies produced. It tells the story of the discovery of Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One and foresees the beginning of the end of the old Republic and the Jedi Order.

Wisdom quote: Yoda: “Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.”

My rating: Perhaps the weakest of the movies and my personal least favorite. Was the pod race really necessary? As the first movie of the series (although the fourth made) it doesn’t seem to tell enough of the back story of the Jedi and the discovery of the Sith.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Taking place 10 years after the Phantom Menace, it tells the story of the young Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his dealings with love and hate as darkness falls on the old Republic and the Jedi Knights discovering their spiritual enemy.

Wisdom quote: Anakin Skywalker: “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse, rough, irritating and it gets everywhere”

My rating: A better movie than Episode I, but didn’t quite reach the heights of the last (first three). After seeing it the first time I felt as if they could have combined this with The Phantom Menace to make one movie. Felt this even more once Episode III came out

Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith
The movie takes place at the end of the Clone Wars and shows the destruction of the Jedi Order, the conversion of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force and the birth of his twins who although separated at birth will continue the story and help bring order to the galaxy.

Wisdom quote: Padmé Amidala “So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.”

My rating: Without a doubt the best of the prequels. But at times the movie seemed to be rush. I expected something big, a revelation, to happen to change Anakin Skywalker to the Sith Lord Darth Vader, but it didn’t seem to be there. Also it didn’t really seem clear why the Emperor wanted to save him. Also there were a couple of inconsistencies between what happen here and what was alluded to in Episode IV. Best of the prequels and even with the problems I felt this was the second best of the six.

Episode IV: A New Hope
The first of the Star Wars movies when it was released in 1977 it had only the title Star Wars. It tells the story of a young man and a mission to destroy the ultimate weapon and rescue a Princess with the aid of one of the last Jedi Knights.

Wisdom quote:Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Who’s the more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?”

My rating: I have always considered that this is my all time favorite movie and even now nearly 35 years after its release I still feel that way. Although I do think of it more as a single movie and not one of six.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Sith Lord Darth Vader leads a search for Rebel leaders as Luke Skywalker trains with the old Jedi Master Yoda.

Wisdom quote: C3PO: “The city’s central computer told you? R2-D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer.”

My rating: When it first came out, even though many was saying it was the better than Episode IV, I was not happy with the story or the movie. Looking at it from the view of the fifth of the series, I the story makes more sense. Was the love story better Han and Leia needed? That may have been my biggest complaint.

Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi
The last of the 1st set of movies tells the story of how the Evil Empire end and that Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader and the one chosen to bring balance to the Force, destroys the Sith.

Wisdom quote:Obi-Wan Kenobi: “you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.”

My rating: Much better than Episode V in my view, although I prefer. It is also the one that has been most changed by George Lucas since its original showing. I like the musical scene at the lair of Jabba the Hun that was in the 1983 version better than the Special Edition of 1997 as well as the ending music of the Ewok celebration. Over all it’s still my third favorite of the six.

The United States were First Eleven

It was on July 26, 1788 that New York became the eleventh state to ratify the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution’s Seventh Article stated that “The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.”

The ninth to ratify was New Hampshire, a little over a month earlier on June 21, 1788. Upon ratification Virginia, the the most populous state and New York, the wealthiest state still hadn’t. Although Virginia did become the tenth on June 25th. And New York the next day.

The Congress of the Confederation chose March 4, 1789 as the day “for commencing proceedings under the Constitution.” When Congress convened and George Washington took the oath as President, there were only 11 states of the United States. North Carolina and Rhode Island still hadn’t ratified.

Both of these waited until the Bill of Rights were submitted before their ratification. North Carolina on November 21, 1789 and Rhode Island on May 29, 1790.

The first state to be admitted that was not part of the original thirteen colonies of the Articles of Confederation was Vermont on March 4, 1791. Although Vermont had been operating as an independent state since the time of the Revolution.

By the time the century had ended and the election of 1800, two more states joined the union. Kentucky on June 1, 1792 and Tennessee 4 years later on June 1, 1796.