Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

My Earthquake Experience
August 23, 2011

I write this after the 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit central Virginia about an hour ago. I’m recalling the exact personal circumstances of the event, since all I’m hearing in the news is a bunch of people saying simply “I felt shaking”.

I’ve been working at home all day, as usual, sitting at my desk. I was reading through some code for a project I’m working on, when I started to ask myself why I couldn’t seem to focus on the text on the screen. I sat back a bit and looked at my monitors as a whole. They were shaking. The top one, which is wall-mounted, was swinging back and forth slightly on its arm. I looked over to the planter for the hops, where I have four long bamboo poles for the vines to climb on. All four of them were swaying like they were in a heavy wind.

Class Administration
August 12, 2011

The kids’ school called the house last night to inform us of the new “activity fee” they’re imposing on sports and arts programs. This whole situation has me riled. Perhaps it’s caused by something that I just don’t understand, but it merits complaint regardless.

After an interesting discussion with the Habari folks about what could improve education in the US, I’ve basically solidified my opinion that paying the teachers more - what I hear most as the solution for improving education - won’t improve things. I’m not saying teachers shouldn’t be paid more, but rather that doing so won’t improve education in our country. And to further clarify, neither will all of this testing, but what is primarily at issue for me is the money, especially as it relates to extracurricular programs.

I’m still wondering what happened to resolve the strike back in 2008. I assume we’re simply paying the teachers more, as they demanded, but without disclosing that to the taxpayers immediately. And instead of taxing us more directly, they’re cutting funding of extracurricular programs, to replace that funding with a mandatory “activity fee” for students that participate in those activities. Yeah ok, nevermind that it’s often the extracurricular activities that keep poor, at-risk students interested in school at all – Something else much more mundane has me riled.

Why can’t the school district send out class assignments before August?

Kid RPG
August 11, 2011

I’ve been playing Heroica and Talisman with the kids lately, and combining that fun experience with prior desires to create a simple paper-based game, I’ve come up with a new idea that I think both I and the kids will like.

The game I’m thinking of consists of a single book that provides all of the background materials necessary to play in short sessions while waiting for dinner to come at a restaurant, using only a pencil and a blank placemat.

Playdate Protocol
August 04, 2011

Recently, one of the parents of Riley’s schoolmates called to arrange a playdate between her son and Riley. I don’t remember having so many playmates as a kid, and I certainly don’t remember how my parents arranged them. Even though I appreciate the opportunity to socialize Riley among his classmates outside of school, this whole process seems kind of strange to me.

It’s not so strange that our contact information is available. The home and school association produces a White Pages-like book of student names and addresses, organized by grade. You can opt in/out each year, but most parent include their addresses for purposes of convenience, like setting up playmates. I assume it also helps for homework help, since some of Abby’s classmates have called asking for clarification on something they were doing in class.

The Inbetween Things
June 22, 2011

I was struck again several times just this weekend by this idea that I’ve been having regarding levels of knowledge and learning. And when things come in batches like this, it makes sense to pay attention and think about them.

The basic example of the situation is this: When you first learn about a subject, you are by definition a novice. Depending on the topic area, there may be many books on the subject geared toward your knowledge level. As you become more adept though, the number of books on the topic that are worthwhile to you dwindle.