Four for Friday

(Link at left)
June 14

Q1 - Music: A friend of mine has just over 1,500 songs on his computer that he listens to throughout the workday. Over time, he has become of tired of hearing the same music over and over again. His question is this... how do you branch out and find new music that you'll like?

I use Launchcast. I get new stuff every day. Not all of it is good, but once in awhile a new gem appears and I fall in love. The other thing I do pretty consistently is enter all the reviewed albums in Entertainment Weekly into Launchcast with their ratings (tagged so I know the rating is from a review). That way I get to hear stuff someone else thought was good. I never would have bothered with the last Johnny Cash album if it hadn't gotten such high praise, or the last Loretta Lynn album (produced by Jack White of The White Stripes), if not for doing this, and that would have been sad.

Q2 - Church: The Church of England believes its Manchester Cathedral is no place for a gun battle, much less a gory one that can be viewed in any living room. Sony's PlayStation 3 release "Resistance: Fall of Man" features a battle among British and American soldiers and aliens inside the cathedral. The Anglicans are demanding an apology and a contribution to the Church's antiviolence education campaign using the game's profits. Sony maintains that it will not alter the game. Do you think the Church is owed an apology and payout?

Well, it does seem to me that if you make a movie using a 'real' place, you have to go with whatever restrictions that location places on you. I think it should be the same, and you should have to at least get permission if you're going to use a real place in a video game. Good heavens (ahem), people, you are video game designers! Your whole world is created from scratch. If you can't get permissions, create your own personal cathedral to shoot up!! Go, Anglicans! Just another reason I won't be buying any Sony game products. OK, that's a lie: it's another excuse I can use for not buying them!

Q3 - Take it With You: There's an old saying that goes something like this: You can't take it with you when you die! If you had to choose three items to be buried with, what would you choose?

My wedding dress (no one else will want it!), pictures of my husband and son together with me, and a set of Dewey Decimal books. Which, by the way, I don't own so I'd better get right on that!

Q4 - Hotels: When you stay at a hotel, do you take the free toiletries home at the end of your stay?

Of course! Most of the time, at least, especially if I haven't used them. I bring them back and put them in the donation for the homeless. Dude, whatever you say, I've paid for those: I didn't ask for them to be put in the room, and I NEVER ask for extras. I also never take towels or linens from the room, but I have snagged the kleenex for the car on occasion if we're having a problem with runny noses.

June 22 -- The Education Edition

Q1 - Hands Off: Hugging is now a punishable offense at a Fairfax County, Virginia, school. School children at Kilmer Middle School in suburban Washington, DC, are now under a zero-tolerance touching policy. They're banned from poking, prodding, hugging, and even high-fiving one another. In your opinion, is this a good or bad thing?

I have tried to keep to a no-hug policy at my job with the kids for close to 15 years. Anything can be (and frequently is) misinterpreted. However, I really do think this policy is a little asinine: no high-fives? I have to say that any school district who thinks that they can keep kids from running into each other in the halls is popping some serious drugs. Kids this age can barely control their actions, they're growing like weeds and changing in every dimension--they are going to touch. Have these school district people never seen those horrible monkey experiments from the 50s and 60s where the babies receive no hugs and become completely (truly) psychotic?? What are we teaching our kids? That ALL touch is bad? Oy. Get over yourselves, people!

Q2 - School Lunch: Did you bring a bag lunch to school or did you buy your lunch in the cafeteria? Did any of the schools you attended--excluding college or prep school--offer breakfast?

I was a lunchbox kid as a grade-schooler, but my mom relented in junior high and high school and I usually bought lunches from that point on. I don't remember if they offered breakfast when I was little. We sold donuts for fund-raisers in high school, and I do remember some kind of non-compete deal with the breakfasts served then. Not too many people that I knew ate breakfast at school, though.

Q3 - Paying for Performance: Starting this fall, New York City students and their families could earn as much as $1,000 a year for doing well on standardized tests and showing up for class. As part of the City's new Opportunity NYC program (a conditional cash transfer program aimed at helping New Yorkers break the cycle of poverty), families can earn $25 or $50 per month for 95 percent school attendance for elementary, middle, and high school students; $25 for attending parent-teacher conferences; and $50 for obtaining a library card. An improvement in scores or proficiency on standardized tests at the elementary and middle school levels can earn a family from $300 or $350 per test; while at the high school level, a student can earn $600 for each passing grade on individual Regents exams. Incentives of $25 will be earned for both parental review of the test and discussion with teachers; high school students can earn $50 for taking the PSAT exam, and will share $600 with their parents for annually accumulating 11 credits, and a $400 bonus for graduating. Again, in your opinion, is this a good or bad thing? Should we be offering cash incentives for academic participation and performance?

Parents have been paying their kids for good grades for years...decades. My husband got a 'reduced rate' for his car insurance (i.e. his parents paid it if his grades were good) twenty years ago. Still, we don't hand over cash for Sparky's good grades, nor will we start (tempting as it might be). I think I'd have less of a problem with this concept if, instead of handing over money, the school district would invest in a bond or a scholarship for the kid. I think there's some value there in accumulating and waiting for the payoff. I would prefer that the kid have to use the money for something besides video games and snack food. On the other hand, that $350 could probably buy groceries for his family for a week in some cases.... It's very complicated.

Q4 - High School Reunions: Have you ever been to a high school reunion (yours or someone else's)? If so, what was it like? If not, is it because you refuse to go to one? If so, why?

We went to both of our 20th high school reunions a few years ago. Mine was outstanding. Beast's...sucked. We'll go back for my 30th (well, I will for sure, and Beast will if he can). We won't bother with the horrible Spring (Texas) High School reunions. People were downright rude, beyond just simply ignoring people they didn't know, they were actually verbally barring Beast from talking to his buddies. Jerks. Not unexpected in Texas, but very disappointing. There were some people at my reunion who were still stuck at age 18, but they weren't the ones running the show. Instead, they huddled in clumps in the hall or in the hall, talking only to one another and ignoring the rest of us hoi polloi. Also very disappointing, but...whatever. At least I made an effort to say hi to some of them. Oh, the drama of being a teenager when your physical age is actually approaching 40!