Friday, April 18, 2008

BOYS AND GIRLS

When I was a lad, I learned that there were two sexes. It was information that I really needed then, since I was in the difficult place where things that had never happened to me before were occuring. They made things hard. And sometimes embarrassing. Don't we all wish to be that age and have the knowledge we do now? And the header is um, different and interesting. Click on it. Save some money. . The state of Maine gave a test to about 15,000 eighth-graders to assess their writing skills, including their ability to form a logical position. When the state refused to release the results, a newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request and learned that 78 percent of the kids failed, which was 50 percent more than failed the test the previous year. Maine's Department of Education explained the results were "inconclusive", and they discarded them because students reacted emotionally to the test. "Kids got ticked off at the [question]," explained Education Commissioner Susan Gendron, "so it was not an accurate reflection of their writing skills." The essay-based test asked the students to support or refute the statement, "Television may have a negative impact on learning." I vaguely remember some of the essay tests I had in High School and it seems to me all of them required some kind of emotion to react to the theme. . Chinese restaurants flush with mouse meat Nutritious but potentially illness-inducing field mice are finding their way onto restaurant dinner plates in parts of China. "The trucks carrying mice arrive at 4 a.m. and all the goods can be sold out before 7 a.m.," a mouse broker said of the delicacy. Shipments of mice are being delivered daily from Hunan Province to restaurants in Fanyu, Zhaoqing, Dongguan and Nanhai in Guangdong Province, the broker said. The shipments increased from just one delivery a week last year, after flooding in central China forced an estimated 2 billion field mice from their holes near Dongting Lake, China Daily reported. Nutritious mouse meat is packed with protein and minerals, but health officials in Guangzhou -- where mouse meat was officially banned in 2003 -- warned it could carry infectious diseases. Did you visit the latest Olympics? . New Presidential Candidate... It's someone we know! There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President... and it's someone we know! See this news website about the surprising new nominee: http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370617&altf=Dbu&altl=Npwft Jot back a note to let me know what you think! . Confusion is one woman plus one left turn; Excitement is two women plus one secret; Bedlam is three women plus one bargain; Chaos is four women plus one lunch check. . Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you. . I Love Teddy Roosevelt... "In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” —Theodore Roosevelt, 1907. . Politician : One who shakes your hand before elections and your confidence thereafter. . When I went to the doctor for my yearly physical, my blood pressure was high, my cholesterol was high, I'd gained some weight and I didn't feel so hot. My doctor said that eating right doesn't have to be complicated and it would solve my physical problems. He said, "Just think in colors. Fill your plate with bright colors of greens, yellows, reds, etc." So, I went right home and emptied an entire bag of M&Ms onto a plate, ate them and sure enough, I felt better! ,