Cars, Books and Cell Phones...

~A couple drivers who got ousted from their 2004 rides that I am keeping my eye on:

Ricky Craven
I first noticed Ricky because he was from Maine, my home state. But I also liked him because he was low key, down to earth and in it for the racing, a rather refreshing change of pace considering the hoopla many of the Young Guns cause around themselves. I also hear the charity snowmobile day he does every year is a lot of fun. They booted Ricky out of the 32 last year because of lack of performance, but when Bobby Hamilton Jr. got in it, they didn’t do any better, suggesting it was the TideRide that blew, not the driver. Ricky has moved onto the Craftsman Truck series now, racing for Roush. I read in an article recently about his “stepping down” out of the fishbowl of Cup racing to the Trucks where he said “I had forgotten this was fun!”

Ward Burton

Lots of people make fun of “Wahd Bootin’” because he literally sounds like you would imagine General Robert E. Lee sounding like. (Truth is sometimes I find him easier to understand than the fast slur of Carolina Mountain accent.) But the reason I like Ward is because of his environmental work and he seems to be a rather quietly unique individual. The former Daytona 500 winner doesn’t have a ride at the moment something his brother Jeff attributed to (getting) “caught up in the fact that people want to hire 12 year-olds. They don't want to hire a guy who has experience. They want to hire a kid who doesn't know anything.” (and with some of the teenage development deals in the works, that’s not really an exaggeration). Which is simply a shame on so many levels. Though I think he is being a bit of a snob for not taking a Busch or Truck ride, I’m waiting to see him back on the track.

~Good Omens Great Reading! – Neil Gaiman is one of the most creative people currently walking around on the planet. I was an avid fan of the Sandman comic book series, probably the single most thought provoking and literate graphic novel ever written. Yes, yes, it’s a comic book, but this was the medium taken to it’s absolute height of artistry, story-telling and expression. I have never heard of another comic book where Death has a floppy hat collection, a mythical place decides to take on human form and wander around earth for kicks (and was only supporting player who appeared twice during the entire run for the book), Destruction quits and gets creative, Emperor Norton the I was the result of a bet and ancient Gods either return to the Dreaming from whence they came…or walk the earth as travel agents. Like some alien anthropologist making you think about life, the universe and everything by turning reality on it's ear. Just a mind-blowing work.

Anyway, while I really enjoy SciFi in the visual mediums (Babylon 5, Star Trek: Next Gen, Firefly), my sister is the one with her finger on the pulse of the SciF literary world and will toss books she really likes my way. Sometime I will read them and sometimes I won’t. Things like Snowcrash I devoured, but the Cryptonomicon was too dense of me to take on recreationally (at least at that time, now that it’s a series with a lot of history involved I may retackle it). Gaiman has written books since he retired the Sandman series, but American Gods was a little too random to capture my interest so a few months ago she lent me Good Omens which Gaiman wrote with SciFi author Terry Pratchet. I only cracked it open this week.

Oh. My. Gods. I have not laughed so hard in an age.

The story is: What if Armageddon got really screwed up?

So far in my reading Satan’s minions have mixed up the anti-Christ with another child and one demon & one angel got blindingly drunk and decided they actually liked it here better than both their respective realms...

“"We'll win, of course," Aziraphale said.
"You don't want that," said the demon.
"Why not, pray?"
"Listen," said Crowley desperately. "how many musicians do you think your side have got, eh? First grade, I mean."
Aziraphale looked taken aback.
"Well, I should think--" he began.
"Two," said Crowley. "Elgar and Liszt. That's all. We've got the rest. Beethoven, Brahms, all the Bachs, Mozart, the lot. Can you imagine eternity with Elgar?"
Aziraphale shut his eyes. "All too easily," he groaned.” ~ Good Omens

...so they are working against the “ineffable” plan by working the loopholes in the rules.

If you enjoy Monty-python/Douglas Adam-esque randomness of British humor, you have GOT to read this book.

~Student Suspended for Recording Teachers Classroom Outburst

Video Here

So instead of disciplining the teacher for violating the students civil rights, The Schools administration suspends the student who “caught it on tape”? Talk about missing the point!

Yes, Patriotism is good, but students actually have a legal right not to stand for the anthem or take the Pledge of Allegiance. Jehovah’s Witnesses for example, do not believe in acting in any ritual they might be construed as worship unless it is for God and God alone. As long as the student is not disruptive, they can refuse to take part in those activities.

Probably this student was just being an ass, but the teacher obviously had no control over the class or his own temper. The fact that they thought to record his behavior indicates that his yelling was a consistant behavior pattern. Yes, teenagers are very provoking sometimes (Gawd knows I was), but if you cannot create a rapport with them (usually by giving them respect) and handle their more annoying moments, if you cannot control a class by commanding respect, and this teacher has obviously lost both respect and control, then you shouldn’t be teaching high school.

I agree that cell phones should be turned off during class so as not to be disruptive and to prohibit cheating (and most college professors now have come up truly imaginative ways of getting students to do so. My Modern Civ professor will make you stand up and sing for the class if your cell phone goes off), but they are also a very useful tool for a child’s protection allowing them to contact their parents or authorities in case of emergency and in this case, providing evidence of an authority figures emotional instability and potential for abuse.

The administration should have given the student detention for being unruly and sent the instructor for anger management training, not suspending the student for ten days for recording the incident and not disciplining the instructor at all.

What is also frightening about this is the threat that was implied on the student for not participating in “patriotic displays”. Is that really what America is about? “Stand for the National Anthem or else”? Is that really patriotism? America is not about a flag or a song, it’s about freedom and that means the freedom to practice one’s faith or to make a political statement by not participating.

As one poster on Fark.com put it “The La-and of the Fr...NO SITTING!” ~ Orlphar

Damn near blew my tea out my nose.