Our education system is broken because so many families in America don’t have maps, and that’s why our education system is not helping South Africa as it should.
Since we now live in SC, I’m particularly proud of this video…
Month: August 2007
Breakfast
Coffee on the deck.
After such a hectic week, one of the most calming experiences of my life thus far was finally to be able to sit with wife and child on our own deck, with a forested background we own, sipping coffee.
Eduwonk.com: The Teacher Voice in Data-Driven Accountability
From Eduwonk.com:
Rather than invest in teachers, and capitalize on their knowledge, policymakers and administrators attempt to create systems that they hope will obviate the need for excellent teachers.” The Teacher Voice in Data-Driven Accountability
Fortunately, this is far from the situation in my new school…
Recipe for Exhaustion and No Time
Begin by
- Moving, to a
- New city, where you live in a
- New house, while starting a
- New job, with a still relatively
- New baby.
Eventually, I will begin writing here again...
RCG 2007
Dave Pack is stuck in a rut. Or maybe you’d call it an obsession. I would imagine it’s about all he talks about: the stats for his site.
In his latest sermon, “RCG 2007: Looking Ahead,” he talks about one really: web site stats. For about ninety minutes he goes on and on (and on and on) all the countries that are visiting his site, about all various government agencies are coming to his site, about how his site is so much bigger than any of the other splinters’.
How has he done it? The Google ad campaign. He finally gives some numbers on that.
Our ads have been shown over 700 million times. Other groups will talk about that, they don’t talk about it quite as much because they understand how big we are. And they’ve been clicked on, by the end of this month, 4 million times. Now, if you put a billboard up […] you get about one percent response. […] We’re finding that of the people who are seeing our ads, are coming to our site, and we’re only paying for those.
Shown 700 million times and clicked on 3 million times?! Wow! That’s a staggering 0.57% response! And that’s all he says about it. He doesn’t give any details about how many people, on clicking through, have actually stuck around. I suspect a great number of those clicks are from those who would like to see the RCG’s money wasted, and so they click just to cost them a nickel.
“So, cut to the chase — who comes to Dave’s site?” you’re asking. Well, the truth of the matter is, we really don’t know. Neither does Dave. He thinks he knows, but as we’ve discussed here before, getting a hit is not the same as getting a visitor. But don’t tell Dave — it’d break his heart. Anyway, without further ado, I present The List, more or less verbatim:
- Courts: Court of the Crown Prince of Bahrain; the European Court of Justice; the International Criminal Court
- Departments and ministries: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Kuwait Ministry of Communications
- Embassies: Russian Embassy in China; Iranian Embassy in the Philippines; the South Korean Embassy in Belgium; the Austrian Embassy in Israel; the Israeli Embassy in Canada
- Prime ministers and presidents: (“Somebody in the office.”) Presidential Office and Computer Department of Iran; the Philippines; Lithuania; Australia; Prime Minister of the Palestinian Territory
- News media: the Economist; the International Herald Tribune; Boston Globe; Washington Post; Toronto Star; New York Times; Washington Times; Jordanian News Agency
- Misc: Joint Command Southeast Headquarters; the Pentagon; United States Air Force; US Navy
That’s just to his main RCG site. The following have been seen virtually thumbing through the Real Truth
- Embassies in the US: Sudan; China; Bosnia; Canada; Botswana; Belgium; Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister’s and President’s offices in London, Iran, the Philippines, South Korea, and Russia - Associated Press;
- Foreign Governments: Israel, South Africa
- Misc: NATO headquarters, pentagon, NYC police department, CIA, Navy, Army, Air Force, United Nations (in Vienna, Geneva, etc)
Of particular interest to Dave is the increase in the visits from the Vatican. He explains that, for some time now, the Vatican has been coming every now and then, but only taking one item each visit. “One, one, one, one, one, one, then 22. And we know what they went in to see. Christmas booklet—couldn’t have been happy.” That’s right, Dave. They read your Christmas booklet — rather, your paraphrase of Armstrong’s — and now they’re plotting how to shut you up. Permanently.
Of course, says, Pack
I don’t know that [Pope] Benedict [XVI] went to 22 pages on our website. At some point whoever did it is going to go back and report it to him. […] That will happen. […] It may have already happened. […] It may have been the visit that he said, “Find out more, and get back to me,” with a thick German accent. I don’t know.
Perhaps nothing he’s said before so clearly illustrates how little thought Pack really puts into what he says. Benedict speaks English in the Vatican?! The content of the imaginary command is just as ludicrous. It sounds as if Pack has been reading too many cheap spy novels and Chick tracts in his free time.
Pack is clearly delusional. Think of what he’s suggesting: because he’s saying Christmas is pagan in origin the Vatican is going to put a contract out on him. Compared to death threats, feces-smeared Virgins, murdered nuns, I think any suggesting that Pack’s little pack would elicit more than a laugh from anyone in the Vatican is, itself, laughable.
So the Vatican, the CIA and the NYPD are all visiting Dave’s site. The question is, how realistic is Dave’s understanding of all this? Talking about presidential offices supposedly visiting his site, he says that it doesn’t have to be the president, of course. It could be “Joe the Janitor down in the basement.” But he says that he doesn’t “know that Joe the Janitor would have access to the International Criminal Court website.”
What is he talking about? Is he saying that Joe the Janitor wouldn’t have internet access while working at the International Criminal Court? Is he saying that Joe the Janitor would somehow be trying to access the International Criminal Court’s website through the RCG, or vice versa? Is this just a misspoken bit of nonsense? Or is it an illustration of how very little Pack really knows about internet technology?
Dave’s a smart man, so I’ll reluctantly go with it being a verbal stumble. Yet such verbal stumbles often reveal hidden truths. For instance, in the same sermon, Pack begins talking about how Christ could raise up stones to do the work — literally. And then: “I’ve used and recognized certain people. ‘That’s just a rock.’” There you have it — David Pack finally fessing up to his entire leadership model since he’s been in a position of any sort of authority: he uses people.
It’s good that he’s admitted that. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it, David. We’re all proud of you…
Crawling
New video with L learning to crawl -- rather, already knowing. Didn't catch enough in the act of learning...
Fan Participation
I sometimes play guitar for L. She likes it, but she doesn’t sit quietly and listen, much to my dismay. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate music — she loves music. The problem is she wants to play too:
It’s not that I mind her playing. Rather, it’s somewhat dangerous: her little fingers fit between the strings and a tug can cause her sudden pain as the string digs into her.
Still, it’s an enjoyable way to pass some time.
Horse
The Girl met her first horse the other day:
She wasn't exactly thrilled.
Details
When looking for a house, there are certain things you look for and think about and many details that just seem to disappear. Then, when you go to paint the house, you notice the details.
You notice, for instance, that a door was poorly hung and instead of fixing the problem, the installer just modified the placement of the strike plate; that all the door hardware has been painted, and that paint is now peeling; and that someone was once so lazy with painting that he didn't bother opening a window before painting it:
And all the things you want to correct (to put it mildly) grows daily. Hourly. By the second, sometimes.
Top Painting Music
I’ve been painting. Lots of it. A house of it. And it’s not done.
But I have determined what music works best with painting — that’s always critical.
Topping the list, without a doubt, was Bach’s Mass in B-minor. Bach just exudes linear symmetry and exactness — just what you need when painting.
Next: Grateful Dead’s classic American Beauty. It’s a great travel album, and maybe that has something to do with it — traveling from one corner of the room to another and back again, from one room to another and back again, from one end of the house and back again … there’s a lot of walking to painting.
For jazz, Coltrane’s A Love Supreme seemed like a good choice, but it was too intellectual (read: tiring) when painting. I found Ellington’s Piano in the Foreground to be about perfect: not too stimulating, but not overly mellow.
Bad choices:
- Mahler’s second — I love it, but I swear, too manic-depressive for work.
- Beck’s Mellow Gold — like Love Supreme it’s too busy. Odelay was better, but not much.
- Springsteen’s Ghost of Tom Joad — holy cow! You can’t be depressed while painting!
In the end, silence was actually fairly acceptable.