The Ten Biggest Misconceptions We Learn In School

 FROM PAUL’S PONDERING BLOG:

“I do some teaching, and my kids are constantly turning in essays with tragically inaccurate examples, like "When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb..." or "Even Einstein got bad grades in school..." which society has for some reason decided to convince them are true. Actually, my kids are turning in examples more like "When Edison invented the atomic bomb..." or "When Ben Franklin signed the Magna Carta..."

1. Einstein got bad grades in school

Um... have you heard about this guy Einstein? Famous physicist? Relativity and all that? A genius, even? I'm pretty sure little Albert could handle his business in 4th grade arithmetic. Yes, contrary to popular belief, Einstein was a top student in elementary school, getting mostly top grades on the German grading scale of 1-6, which silly Americans later assumed, backwardly, were "D"s. The idea stuck because everybody loves the idea that their poor student can go on to great things. Sorry, parents, Einstein was teaching himself calculus at age 12.

Here’s the other nine misconceptions

Learn more about your ‘body burden’

Before we are even born, synthetic chemicals and heavy metals of all kinds begin building up in our bodies.  This chemical "body burden" is the focus of the information you will find on this web site.

The information on this site has been developed through the collaboration of health professionals, scientists, citizens groups and environmental organizations concerned about the chemical body burden we all carry and its health effects - known and unknown.

 

Idaho first to sign law against health care reform

  This move by the state of Idaho has many ramifications. One thing that I see becoming more of an issue is state’s rights.

  Experts are saying that the Supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution ranks over state law and that the so-called “Idaho Health Freedom Act” will be shot down in the courts when they sue.

  Critics also say that the state will have to hire another deputy attorney at $100,000 a year at a time when the Idaho coffers are empty and the state is looking at massive cutbacks in services.

I predict that this will be a “watershed moment” for states rights as 37 other states are looking at following Idaho’s lead. The Federal government is in for a fight.

Excerpt:

“Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter addresses the media during a news conference on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 inside his office at the Idaho statehouse in Boise, Idaho. On Wednesday Otter signed a piece of legislation that will require the state of Idaho to sue the federal government upon passage of health care reform which comes as Democrats in Congress hope to pass healthcare reform this weekend.” (AP Photo/Charlie Litchfield)

Awkward Office St. Patrick’s Day Bingo

Culture Buzz It's a big day! A day filled with potentially uncomfortable social situations at the workplace! You should easily be able to bingo on this because the people you work with always say such commonplace things. So keep track of your progress today and share the results below!

Facts & Myths about St. Patrick’s Day:

Fact: We really do all get very drunk on Paddy's Day in Ireland.
Myth. We all speak like Darby O'Gill
Fact: We normally focus on not wearing green.
Fact: McDonalds & Starbucks force green coffee and shakes on us too.
Myth: Irish alcoholism is a myth.
Myth: Leprechauns are real.
Fact: 99% of costume (novelty) leprachauns in Dublin are Eastern European and don't speak English.
Myth: Irish people take kindly to American tourists who wear green hats on any other day than St. Patrick's Day.
Fact: I have lived here my entire life and have never once heard someone say 'top o' the mornin' to ye' (I have also never heard anyone speak Irish who wasn't a complete douchebag). Now, you're ready to celebrate Paddy's (NOT Patty's) Day. Begorrah.

Thanks to BuzzFeed

Guest Opinion: John Cory says why he’s mad at both political parties

GUEST OPINION

By John Cory

I am angry.

I'm tired of pundits and know-nothing media gasbags. I'm tired of snarky "inside politics" programming. I am sick of the bigotry and hatred of "birthers" and faux patriotic cranks and their GOP puppet masters. And I'm really pissed at the Democratic Party that confuses having a plate of limp noodles with having a spine.

I'm going to vomit if I hear the word "bipartisanship" one more time.

It was "bipartisanship" that gave us this activist conservative Supreme Court. A Supreme Court that says money is free speech and corporations are persons except when real people try to hold them accountable for their greed and poisonous ways.

"Bipartisanship" gave us the Patriot Act and FISA and illegal wiretaps and two wars and "free speech zones" and "no fly" lists. God bless bipartisan America.

I get nauseated every time the Senate explains how it takes a super majority to do anything for the American people. Tell you what Senate Bozos, if it takes 60 votes to pass legislation then it should take 60% of the popular vote to get you elected.

When some Tea Party crank says, "I want my country back," I respond, "No madam, you want your country backward."

When a deficit-mongering politician says, "How do we pay for this?" Why not ask, "What did you Republicans do with the surplus we Democrats left you?"

When a compassionate conservative says, "Healthcare reform is socialism," why not answer, "No, sir it is the moral and American way to care for people."

Yes, I can hear it now: "You are naïve and simplistic. These are complicated matters and require sophisticated solutions. Democrats are a big tent and strive for balance. But Republicans block our path at every turn. We are thinking and considering new ways to work in harmony with everyone."

Bite me.

The only thing you get with "harmony" is a Barbershop Quartet.

Democrats stop being Republican Lite. Stop whining about that mean GOP and their nasty messaging. Grow a pair, get a message, get a bumper sticker and hang it out there. Get some strong vivid talking points.

G-O-P = Greed Over People.

Greed Kills - jobs, people and the economy.

Terrorism is Viagra for Republicans: The more fear - the more excited they get.

When a soldier dies for America, who dares ask if they were gay or straight?

Don't act so shocked, Democratic Party. Have you looked around lately?

You're losing the young vote that showed up to elect Obama. You're losing those old enough to remember real Democrats. Why? Because you don't talk to them any more than you talk to me. You talk at me. You talk around me. You talk down to me. You talk about me. You don't talk with me. And you don't inspire and you don't champion and without that you are nothing more than an arbitrator of compromise and abdication.

You are facing a bully. Deal with it!

Republicans want the country backwards. They champion superstition over science because it entrenches ignorance and bigotry and captures the easily frightened.

Republicans treat the Constitution the way they treat the Bible, with selective interpretation and selective application to others while exempting themselves from judgment and accountability.

Republicans preach the gospel of fear because fear is darkness and darkness covers their theft of civil liberties and Constitutional principles.

For thirty years the Republican Party has claimed the mantle of law and order but now quake in dread of the American judicial system when putting terrorists on trial. How criminal is that?

Torture is illegal. Period. John Wayne and Jack Bauer were not our Founding Fathers - only in the make-believe world of Republican drugstore-patriots.

DADT needs to be repealed. Now. It is unconscionable, immoral, and disgusting.

Empathy, compassion and equality are not pejoratives. They are American values proven again and again throughout our history.

Republicans believe that bake-sales and cookies for chemotherapy best determine the value of life and healthcare because life is a pre-existing condition and the "free market" should not have to take on such a high risk - after all, no one gets out alive, so why should the corporation be left holding the bag? Unless of course the price is right.

Republicans believe that government should keep its hands off healthcare but should put its hands inside a woman's body.

Republicans believe in small government - small enough to hold the "right" people and small enough to be owned and operated by the "right" people. And who are the "right" people? Them. Not you.

Democratic Party, DNC, DLCC, DSCC or whatever your acronym - I have only one question for you: Really?

You can't win against these guys? You can't get your message out against these guys? You can't give America leadership against these guys?

Really?

PHOTO - American flag behind barbed wire, and all that implies. (Public domain photo)

‘Made in U.S.A.’ makes Cozy Coupe a rarity

This article is a last gasp effort to show we still manufacturer things in America.

You’ll notice, as you read, that this Cozy Coupe does have some parts manufactured overseas. The company is careful not to slam foreign toy makers because of this dirty little secret; the Coupe has been compromised!

I find it hard to celebrate this Cozy Coupe because if this is an example of an American success story we are truly in hot water…

Ride-along car is among very few toys still made in America

Excerpt:

“The Commerce Department estimates that 95 percent of the nearly $23 billion worth of toys sold in America in 2007 were imported, mostly from China, according to the latest industry report available. That's up from 85 percent just four years earlier.”

Early-morning temblor jolts people awake, puts first-responders on notice in Southern California

When I first saw this headline I thought, “Big deal. A 4.4 is nothing.” Then I read the story and was surprised to see it did shake a few things up, including a stretch of Interstate 5.

Magnitude-4.4 quake shakes Southern California

“Though the quake was considered small in size, it was felt over a large swath of Southern California.

People from San Bernardino County to the east and Santa Monica to the west reported feeling the quake.

"The building started shaking. That's it. I'm used to it," downtown security guard Ruben Solis, 25, said from his booth in the high-rise district. Solis said he checked his monitors and no alarms were triggered. "I got up and went on patrol."

photo source

Iconic Items Not Made in the U.S.A.

Here’s another dozen items that are no longer made in the good old USA:

“The granddaddy of all sneakers, the All-Star entered production in 1917 and took on basketball player and salesman Chuck Taylor’s name in 1923. Countless Americans used the high-top, rubber-soled kicks to establish their cred—from NBA star Julius Erving to the Ramones, Dr. House to Kurt Cobain. But when Nike bought Converse for $305 million in 2003, it moved production of all the company’s shoe lines abroad—even the cherished Chucks.”

People in power make better liars, study shows

This revelation will come as no surprise to the majority of Americans. I find it interesting that there was actually a study done to prove this.

In my opinion, all you have to do is follow politics. Every day brings revelations of more lies by politicians and the public becomes numb to their offenses.

So what can we conclude here? It’s really quite simple; people seeking power lie their asses off to get it.

Findings suggest that dishonesty comes more easily to those on top

Excerpt:

“There’s old saying: power corrupts. And a new Columbia Business School study titled, “People with Power are Better Liars,” finds there may be some truth behind the cliché.

“People in power are able to lie better,” said Dana Carney, a management professor at Columbia Business School and one of the co-authors of the study. “It just doesn’t hurt them as much to do it.”

Above Photo source -

“Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who is serving 24 years in jail for his role in the energy giant's 2001 bankruptcy in one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history, has appealed his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers are challenging a 1988 federal law that makes corporate bosses liable to prosecution for depriving shareholders of "honest services."

View related photos

Where the heck is Saint Helier?

There’s been 342 total visitors to this blog as of 1:00 p.m. PST today. Almost half have been International. I’m always amazed to find a Country/Island I never heard of. Today’s Island is - SAINT HELIER. Here’s what I found out about it:

       (Left)Coat of arms of Saint Helier Saint-Hélier - (Right) Location of Saint Helier Saint-Hélier in Jersey

Saint Helier (French language: Saint-Hélier, Jèrriais: St Hélyi) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St. Helier has a population of about 28,000, roughly 31.2% of the total population of Jersey, and is the capital of the Island (although Government House is situated in St. Saviour). The urban area of the parish of St. Helier makes up most of the largest town in Jersey, although some of the town area is situated in adjacent St. Saviour, with suburbs sprawling into St. Lawrence and St. Clement. The greater part of St. Helier is predominantly rural.
The parish covers a surface area of 4.1 square miles (10.6 km2), being 9% of the total land area of the Island (this includes reclaimed land area of 494 acres (2.00 km2) or 200 ha).
The parish crest is two crossed gold axes on a blue background, symbolising the martyrdom of Helier and the sea.

More International Visitors (as of 1:00 PST) were from:

Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Bandar Penggaram, Johor, Malaysia; Huddersfield, Kirklees, United Kingdom; São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Zoetermeer, Zuid-holland, Netherlands; Dartford, Kent, United Kingdom; Antalya, Turkey; Luzern, Switzerland; London, United Kingdom; Redditch, Worcestershire, United Kingdom; Durban, Kwazulu-natal, South Africa; Rezekne, Latvia; Athens, Attiki, Greece; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine; Longueuil, Quebec, Canada; Skopje, Karpos, Macedonia; Delhi, India; Parksville, British Columbia, Canada; Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; Caldicot, Monmouthshire, United Kingdom; Orthez, Aquitaine, France; Stilli, Aargau, Switzerland; Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine; Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, United Kingdom; Bucharest, Bucuresti, Romania; Dunfermline, Fife, United Kingdom; Köln, Nordrhein-westfalen, Germany; Luzern, Switzerland; Antalya, Turkey; Dartford, Kent, United Kingdom; Dublin, Ireland; Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, United Kingdom; Lisburn, United Kingdom; Bristol, United Kingdom; Steenwijkerwold, Overijssel, Netherlands; Hradec Králové, Kralovehradecky Kraj, Czech Republic; Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal; Birmingham, United Kingdom; Borovnica, Bohinj, Slovenia; Barnet, Hertford, United Kingdom; Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom; Kynsperk Nad Ohri, Karlovarsky Kraj, Czech Republic; Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia; Store Heddinge, Storstrom, Denmark; Kosice, Slovakia; Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, United Kingdom; Nancy, Lorraine, France; Madrid, Spain; Hilversum, Noord-holland, Netherlands; Wynberg, Western Cape, South Africa; Stip, Macedonia; Paris, Ile-de-france, France; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Minia, Al Minya, Egypt; Birmingham, United Kingdom; Gdynia, Gdansk, Poland; Male, Maldives; Espoo, Southern Finland, Finland; Glasgow, Glasgow City, United Kingdom; Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Bogor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia; Sofia, Grad Sofiya, Bulgaria; Lindfield, New South Wales, Australia; Stuttgart, Baden-wurttemberg, Germany; Rivne, Rivnens'ka Oblast', Ukraine; Saint Kilda, Victoria, Australia; Leigh, Lancashire, United Kingdom; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Rome, Lazio, Italy; Etikhove, Oost-vlaanderen, Belgium; and Nasik, Maharashtra, India.

images source

AS It Stands: Orientation study says getting lost could be in our genes

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 03/14/2010 01:27:36 AM PST

Hi. My name is Dave and I have a reputation for getting lost.

I'm not sure where it started. I might have earned it in junior high when I got lost in the school's surrounding neighborhoods while running with the track team. Having “directional challenges” is a label I've tried to shed most of my life.

This is the part where I confess past orientation situations and feel real silly while doing it. For starters, I need a navigator when I go further from home than the local post office.

My friends and family accept this, and are willing to assume the navigator's role at a moment's notice. Once, when my three sons were very young, my wife and I decided to take them to this refuge for cats (it was called a “Cattery”) about an hour's drive from where we lived.

It should have taken an hour. Three hours later, I gave in to my wife and sons and stopped to get directions. All guys know this is hard to do. This incident is embedded in my sons' memories, and despite the fact they are men now and have their own children, they bring up the incident all too often at family gatherings.

Go here to read the rest.                                                                  image source

It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National Debt

“A lot of people are very upset about the rapidly increasing U.S. national debt these days and they are  demanding a solution.

What they don't realize is that there simply is not a solution under the current U.S. financial system.”

Go here to read the whole article.

Catholic Church in Europe facing abuse claims

I’ve always had a problem with organized religions Each seems to attract extremists, and to believe it’s the “One True” religion.

It’s this narrow-minded attitude of self righteous people that turns me off. The “My Way or the Highway” religion requirements are hypocritical at best, and dangerous at the worst. Think Muslims who practice international terror in the name of Allah.

Then there’s this other terrible dynamic that seems all too common in the Catholic Church; Pedophiles. Sexual abuse cases with Catholic priests fondling children are being exposed worldwide daily. That trend has become one of the biggest threats to the Catholic Church yet; lawsuits suing dioceses that harbor pedophile priests.

Lawsuits alleging cover-up of pedophile priests could bankrupt dioceses

“Pope Benedict XVI, left, meets Archbishop Robert Zollitsch in his private library at the Vatican on Friday. Germany's top bishop says the pope encouraged him to pursue the truth about cases of clerical sex abuse in the pontiff's native Germany.”

View related photos

Prime-Time Supremacy – The New Look of Hate

 

The new FX series “Justified” shows a real and growing problem. Racism is alive and well in America today as more angry whites swell the ranks of White Supremacy groups. I have a column waiting in the wings about an all-white basketball league that is currently recruiting cities to play in.

Excerpt from NewsWeek: 

“Harlan is not the charming, genteel Mayberry you'd expect from a small town in Kentucky with a population around 2,000. At least not in Justified, the new FX series starring Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, a maverick U.S. marshal dispatched to Harlan after he gets trigger-happy on a suspect in a Miami restaurant.

It turns out that Harlan's little local white-supremacy group is part of a real and growing problem. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, membership in white-extremist groups is ticking upward, as downtrodden, angry Caucasians seek an outlet for their anxieties about a black president, illegal immigration, and a leaky economy. Still, the supremacy surge seems to be much more acute in Hollywood than anywhere else in the country.”

Read the whole story here.                                                       Photo(s) source

The reason the Mayan calendar ends in 2012

A laugh for Friday…

and a rainy day…

cartoon source

Past Pot Column Appears on T-S reader polls Today

I noticed that a column that ran last October was the 2nd Most Viewed on the Times-Standard list this morning at 8 a.m. It dropped down to #3 when the article “Three arrested in Eureka POP raid” took the top spot. It’s still the 2nd Most Emailed. I find it interesting to see something I wrote six months ago on today’s reader input gage Online. Here’s the column:

Marijuana proven effective in treating different types of cancers

Here’s links to the web sites that picked it up:

Tulsa NORML – Cannabis News – Hemp News – Michigan Medical Marijuana Association –Medical Cannabis – a patient research platform – Lobita – Worldwide Marijuana Seeds – Cannabis Culture – Legalize Cannabis Alliance News Database – Soft Secrets Forum –Cannabis To You – Canned in Totnes (Note: this site plagiarized my article and claimed to have written it)- Hemp Info- The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation – The Cancer and Marijuana Blog – Medical Marijuana Doctors – Cannabis News (this site ran the column – 1/11/2010) – The Washington Post – Post Partisan (Quick takes by Post Opinion Writers – Google shows my column here - but I had trouble finding it in their WP archives – I think you have to subscribe) – The Marijuana Cancer Cure Cult (this site ran my column on 2/3/10) – and Cannabischat (scroll down).

Photo source

The 21st century version of Alice in Wonderland

Michael Ramirez Cartoon

School Cancels Prom Rather Than Let Lesbians Attend

Homophobia is still rampant in Jackson, Mississippi. Just ask 18-year old high school senior Constance McMillen.

Rather than let her wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend to the high school prom school authorities cancelled the prom!

Here’s what they had to say:

"However, at this time, we feel that it is (cancelling the prom) in the best interest of the Itawamba County School District, after taking into consideration the education, safety and well being of our students."

Whose safety are they worried about? McMillen and friend, or the entire student body? It’s a point to ponder after reading the whole story here:

School prom off after lesbian’s date request

VA looks at new effort to reach homeless veterans

I know that news from the 41st Congressional District – and not ours – doesn’t interest a lot of people here. Perhaps it should. Look at what Congressman Lewis is doing for veterans.

Comments by Jerry Lewis:

“On any given night, 131,000 veterans can be found sleeping on the streets and in homeless shelters across America. These former men and women of uniform now represent one-third of the nations homeless population. In our own Inland Empire community, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates there are nearly 2,000 homeless veterans who struggle every day to find a place to sleep and to eat a decent meal.

Under the leadership of my good friend, Secretary Eric Shinseki, the VA has pledged to end homelessness amongst our nations veterans in five years. This ambitious goal will provide nearly $4.7 billion a year in healthcare, housing, job training, education, and other services targeted at not only helping veterans exit homelessness, but also at preventing veterans from becoming homeless in the first place.

On March 4th, 2010 at the FY2011 Budget Hearing for the VA, I spoke with Secretary Shinseki about this important issue. In our conversation I pledged to support the VA in its efforts and I challenged my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to also support this national imperative. As we proceed with the work of Congress in the months ahead, the House Appropriations Committee on Veterans Affairs will now make ending homelessness amongst our nations veterans a top priority.
With this investment, our country will seek to ensure that no man or woman who serves our nation is forgotten.” Photo source

Vigilant Pug Helps Save Drowning Cat

Chloe the Pug saved her sister Willow, a Siamese cat, recently. Forget about fighting like cats and dogs. These two are best friends.

Read the story here.