10:18 – The chapter on Equipping Your Lab is finished and off to the reviewers. I’m working on the Preface now.
15:29 – I’m still working on the Preface, but I did finish writing the Dedication.
To Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882), a towering genius whose theory of evolution is the foundation of modern biology.
That should get the attention of certain homeschoolers…
You think? It’s merely the truth. There’s nothing I can do about people who refuse to acknowledge reality.
Yep. The world has a lot to thank theologians for, and Charles Darwin was one such.
If you were circumspect and wanted to avoid totally honking off the homeschoolers, maybe you could say:
“a towering genius and student of theology whose theory of evolution”
If you were.
Very good! Right up there with: “If I have seen farther than others…….”
I know some secular homeschoolers who won’t purchase textbooks if they have a single Bible quote somewhere in the opening pages, even if there are absolutely no other religious or Biblical references otherwise in the text (I’m not even talking about a science textbook here.) So on the flipside, it really wouldn’t surprise me if certain homeschoolers never made it past your dedication to Darwin.
…another theologian, like Sir Isaac Newton, King James II, and King Henry VIII. All four were pretty smart dudes, Chuck and Ike being the geniuses of course.
I wouldn’t think Robert would want to ‘honk off’ the homeschoolers, as they, hopefully, are sales for him. And as such I would certainly not hesitate to recommend his products, dedication and all.
Just to be on the safe side I think the dedication should be changed to either “To Barry Manilow, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time” or “To Hillary Clinton, the most beautiful Secretary of State of all time”.
Well, you might get some objection to that last one. As always, Manilow is safe ground, though.
Super Bowl coming to Indianapolis. The city has gone just plain crazy. Had a job over the weekend downtown, and I thought I was back living in Chicago. Wait lines to get into the parking garages, and wait lines to get out.
Maddeningly, they have renamed the streets to honor practically every team in the NFL. Now I left Indy in 1977 and returned in 2010, and after living in 6 different cities and 1 foreign country during the interim, I do not remember exactly where every street is. Came up out of the parking garage, knowing I was on Maryland Street, but not remembering whether I was north or south of some significant landmarks, so I would know which way to turn. No help from the street signs, as the real street signs have been taken down. Great! That ought to be a real help to out-of-towners for the Big Game.
By the way, at the radio project, we got a letter from our DC lawyer, reminding us that we cannot use the words “Super Bowl”–we must use the words “Big Game”, instead. Super Bowl is copyrighted, and unless you are part of the big money consortium, or paying to use the actual words “Super Bowl”, those words are off-limits. Unless it is a news item, referring to the trademark and copyright holders, it is the “Big Game”.
They are still racing to replace all the old-tyme-looking street lights for about 20 blocks all around the Governor’s mansion. Hmm. Good priority.
Thanks a whole bunch, Greg, for triggering my gag reflex twice!
As for the Big Game, Super Bowl, whatever; I watched both playoff games Sunday and all four teams phoned it in. They all sucked.
However, if Brady is firing on all cylinders (he sure wasn’t Sunday and admitted he sucked to the international audience, to his credit) with his tight ends, they can take apart any team in the NFL, past or present. Hell, if Vince Wilfork is on all sixteen cylinders, God help the other team.
To be fair, anyone who rejects the book because of that dedication probably wouldn’t have wanted to buy it.
Nationwide, only about 3/8th of homeschoolers do so primarily for religious reasons, although that percentage is considerably higher in the South. There are a plethora of religious curricula from the likes of A Beka, Apologia, Bob Jones, and so on, but very little in the way of secular curricula for homeschoolers (as opposed to re-purposed public school materials, which for science are not well suited to most homeschoolers).
What surprised me is that secular science materials are in demand not just from secular homeschoolers, but from religious homeschoolers as well. Apparently, for example, YECs find secular science materials less offensive than OEC science materials, and OECs find secular science materials less objectionable than YEC science materials.
Anyway, I’ve always stood up for the truth, and let the chips fall where they may. I’m not about to suck up to evangelical/fundamentalist homeschoolers merely to sell books. They don’t want science books anyway. They want pseudo-science books that pretend to be science books, like those from A Beka, Apologia, BJUP, et alia. If I wanted to make money by appealing to ignorance, I’d be writing books about homeopathy, astrology, the evils of GM foods, and so on.
Super Bowl is
copyrighted, and unless you are part of
the big money consortium, or paying to
use the actual words “Super Bowl”,
those words are off-limits. Unless it is a
news item, referring to the trademark
and copyright holders, it is the “Big
Game”.
I hate thid kind of stuff. Here, the equivalent is perhsps the European soccer championships. When one of the games took place in Basel, a little brewery on the route from station to stadium was basically blocked off, because a big beer brand had bought “exclusive” rights. One baker was threatened with a lawsuit for making loaves of bread shaped like footballs without having paid an advertising fee. At pur little whisky club, we took the opposite tack and promised a soccer-free zone for all those who were fed up with it all.
Too much money leads t idiocy and corruption. I’ll bet the NFL demanded the street sign swap!
Gee, can you tell I typed that on my Android in the train? Fat fingers and lousy proofreading…
I’m going to be spending much of next week just west of downtown Indy, so I’m going to do my best to avoid the fiasco. I’ll make it a point to drive in from the west, and avoid downtown as much as possible. Once I find a parking spot, I’ll be keeping it as long as possible. If I leave my destination to go somewhere else downtown, I’ll be walking.
I’m just glad I have enough brains to not go to my destination by taking I-70 East to downtown.
Super Bowl? That’s football, right?
Actually, it’s gridiron.
Football is Aussie Rules in Australia and Soccer in the UK.
Some years ago I got a handful of people quite annoyed by observing that pro athletes are part of the entertainment industry. They dress up in bright-colored costumes and prance around in front of the paying audience. Clowns, in a word.
I have made that same observation, and have advised that we stopped calling them “stars” as they need to get their feet back on mortal grown. Same goes for TV, movie and pop “stars”.
Yes, the Patriots are playing the Giants. I had to Google the other day to find that much out.
Brad says:
I’ll bet the NFL demanded the street sign swap!
Oh, that is not the half of it. The 2 blocks around the stadium are in complete control of the NFL–including businesses. Then, in the 4 blocks outside that, retail businesses are under their control. So, for the duration of the ‘party’–which does have an official beginning and ending (dates I know not), and stretches over slightly more than 7 days–here’s the deal.
Hotels are controlled by the NFL. Purpose and booking, lock, stock, and barrel. One hotel is the media hotel. Another is the NFL big-whigs hotel, another is for guests the NFL wants to impress or reward. Etc., etc., etc.
Do you own a parking lot downtown? (One major company owns/operates most.) It belongs to the NFL. What? You gotta work right up to Super Bowl weekend? Too bad. You cannot use the parking lot or street parking. Thus, many businesses are renting parking space on the outskirts of town, and providing shuttle busses for their employees. Either that, or have your spouse drop you off downtown, but allow twice the usual time.
Are you a large business or factory near to the stadium, with your own parking? That parking is the NFL’s. Tell your employees not to drive to work for about 10 days.
Got a restaurant downtown in that 4 block area? You belong to the NFL. You cannot open to the public, unless you somehow wrangled out of the NFL’s hammer-lock. The NFL will keep you busy, because they have all kinds of parties scheduled. But, say the NFL has scheduled you for a dinner at 18:00. You cannot open to the public for lunch. Best that you be Jimmy John’s or some kind of fast food joint–otherwise, the NFL owns you for the duration. And they even own some of those as caterers.
Now none of this is a surprise. This is standard for the NFL, and the city knew about this from the first day they entered the race to be a venue. If it is a surprise to businesses around the stadium, then that is because the city did not tell them.
Of course, nobody in Indy would be complaining if Manning had been playing and they ended up in the Super Bowl again. But the Colts’ prospects look pretty dismal at this point.
My guess is that Manning is finished as a player. The word I get is that surgery and rehabilitation has brought him back to 99% normal. But go out there and take those hits again, and it will be an all over repeat of his neck and nerve problems, which may not be able to be corrected the second time. The guy is rich and now has a family to live for. Would you subject yourself to a possible life as a semi-cripple for more money than you can possibly spend in a lifetime?
The Colts supposedly have a big announcement coming up at the Super Bowl. I am betting Manning will move to coaching, they will take the kid from Stanford, and Manning will try to transfer his unbelievable abilities to the kid. And we all know now that it WAS Manning–and Manning alone–who was the power behind the Colts.
I hope my destination for next week being about 2 miles away from the
Super BowlBig Game is far enough away to be unaffected by this madness.I think you will be okay. It is only the area immediately surrounding the stadium that is going to be a mess–probably the area will be essentially pedestrian-driven, and cars will be scorned off the road.
But I look for main arteries to be clogged almost constantly, once that so-called ‘party’ begins. I got caught during that comic con–or whatever it was–during the summer. Indianapolis was once such a sleepy town, and now, it is often akin to what I had to deal with in Chicago during the ’80’s. The difference is that Chicago took it in stride; people in Indianapolis cannot wait to blast horns, give out fingers, and yell obnoxious and obscene things if one so much as slows down to see if the parking “full” sign is out at some garage. In fact, (I don’t know how it is in other Midwest cities) Indianapolis inhabitants are generally the most intolerant of any city I have lived in–in all areas of life, but yet while being one of the best at racial integration. Jeri, who grew up in Riverside, CA, agreed.
I also think Peyton ought to hang it up while he’s still healthy and strong; he also clearly has some talent as a comedian. His little bro ought to consider it soon, too, if his six sacks the other day are any indication of future poundings.
While noting the various derogatory and pejorative references above to NFL players as “clowns,” I have invited my good friend Vince to travel around with me and have a little chat with folks who think like this. We also have tickets for Oz so we can inform the officials down there how real football is actually played. After that, who knows? Maybe England and the Continent, to explain the meaning of the word. And Latin America and Asia beckon!
My good buddy Vince:
http://www.vincewilfork75.com/
OFD wrote:
“We also have tickets for Oz so we can inform the officials down there how real football is actually played.”
We already *know* how football is played. The AFL season starts again in about two months, I can hardly wait. And we’re mystified by the circus that is American “football”. 90% advertising, 10% “action”.
I used to love watching basketball. it used to be almost continuous action. But now they have so many interruptions I just can’t be bothered.
Well, the rumor now is that Manning and Colts owner Irsay are not seeing eye-to-eye, and Manning will be leaving soon — original rumor was to the Giants. A lot of the coaching staff has been fired and new ones hired, before a new head coach is in place. I would be mighty unhappy not to be involved in those hiring decisions, were I the new coach.
Irsay is reported to have told somebody that Manning is not more important than the team. Fact is — Manning IS the team, Jim, and there quite obviously is none without him.
Could be a surprise left, but it sure looks like Peyton will be departing Indy after the Super Bowl hoopla is over.
Not Giants. Jets. Confusing the brothers.