At the National Book Awards last fall, teen-fiction writer Mazer, who was chairwoman of the committee that selected the young adult award, said, "Right after the announcement of the five finalists, immediately voices were raised questioning the suitability of these books for the audience. They're too difficult, it was said. Too much violence. Too much sex. Too serious. Too laden with sorrow and pain for young minds and hearts.
"Those of us who write for young people are always aware that the guardians are at the gate. They're on the alert. They're vigilant to protect the innocence, as they think of it, of children, of young readers. These are the same young people who are bombarded daily by the cynicism, the din and lure of the commercial world. These are the same young people who face extreme problems of their own."
Mazer predicted that each book selected as a finalist would be challenged "not just once but many times as unsuitable reading."
How long are parents going to keep protecting the "innocence" of their children while ignoring the evidence that belies it? Why is it so difficult for these parents to realize that as long as they ignore signs their children would like answers to life's hard questions, the children will seek them out elsewhere?
link
(10:13 EST, Sunday, 11 March 2001.)
Once again, science proves the obvious, and once again, it's ignored.
All these researchers could have saved themselves a whole lot of time by talking to my high school Geometry teacher, who also taught Trig/Intro Anal (that's how the name appeared in the course schedule, snicker snicker) the next year. Same teacher, same hour of the day, but two consecutive years.
For geometry I was wide awake, attentive, and got the best grades in the class. The next year, however, I slept almost every day. Drove Mrs. Margrave crazy. I also fell asleep pretty regularly in physics (right after lunch), but Mr. Jaeger seemed to be much less disturbed by this. I was not an after-school napper either.
I still did pretty well in Trig/Intro Anal, but not as well as I'd done in geometry the previous year. This is entirely sleep-related.
It's always bothered me that so many people blame sleep deficiency on the supposed poor habits of the sleep-deprived person. I'm 30 now. I think if it were possible for me to fall asleep at 10 every night (or even just at a consistent time from night to night) I would have learned to do so by now. I'm not an insomniac by choice.
link
(11:23 EST, Sunday, 25 February 2001.)
"For example, in 21 percent of the 550 flight delays that were observed, the flight-information display said the flight was on time, when it was actually delayed more than 20 minutes. In addition, airlines made flight status announcements at the gate 66 percent of the time, but only 57 percent of those announcements were accurate."
"... The report found that more than a quarter of flights are delayed or canceled. Airlines need to 'address steps they are taking on matters within their control to reduce over-scheduling, the number of chronically late or canceled flights and the amount of checked baggage that does not show up with the passenger upon arrival,' [Inspector General Ken] Mead wrote."
Aha! So I'm not the only one who thinks that a large part of airline delays is poor scheduling by the airlines themselves. I've said for years that if you know that a particular airport or flight is going to be "late," then schedule that in. And pulling away from the gate "on time" only to sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes shouldn't count as "on time."
link
(9:53 EST, Tuesday, 13 February 2001.)
"In addition to the Apollo, a legendary jazz venue, the revitalized 125th Street corridor has a Starbucks coffee shop and a Krispy Kreme doughnuts franchise."
I really can't add anything to that.
link
(9:44 EST, Tuesday, 13 February 2001.)
"The actual numeric risk of mad cow is not high at all, but the concern understandably is," said Murray Lumpkin, a senior Food and Drug Administration medical adviser. "This is a disease that is life-threatening, that involves food eaten frequently and fed to our children, and is invisible to the consumer. It hits all the hot buttons."
What I don't get is why anybody would still be feeding their cattle animal protein in the first place. It's been shown to be dangerous in several countries in Europe (every one of them, of course, certain that "it could never happen here") and yet ranchers seem unwilling to discontinue the practice.
"... The FDA stopped the practice of feeding bits of cows, sheep and related animals to American cattle in 1997, and officials say these precautions have so far protected American animals and consumers from the disease.
"But the FDA has found that compliance with the regulations is inconsistent. The agency announced last month, for instance, that 28 percent of the rendering plants that grind cattle parts into bits were not able to entirely prevent "commingling" of those bits with cattle feed. In feed mills, which prepare ground food for many different animals on different diets, 20 percent of plants did not have proper labels cautioning handlers of the presence of ground animal parts.
I'm not a vegetarian, and I likes me a good burger, but this sort of thing really makes me wonder about our cattle industry.
link
(23:09 EST, Thursday, 8 February 2001.)
I always wondered what a network like Comedy Central was doing showing a program like
Battlebots. I see I'm not the only one.
"This is a classic example of Cable TV demo-drift. Like the mobility of professional sports franchises that leaves teams celebrating the Mormon jazz of Utah or the splendid lakes of Los Angeles, cable niche markets begin to drift almost as soon as they're identified."
link
(12:44 EST, Monday, 5 February 2001.)
This appeared in the Post while I was busy being sick with the flu, so I just found it tonight.
In a city where the mayor was derided during his campaign for not being "black enough," the view from here is that McWhorter is right on the money.
link
(22:11 EST, Sunday, 4 February 2001.)
I'm a
replicating pod. The cats often seem startled as a result.
I have a voice lesson scheduled tonight, and last week's was a good one, but what with all the coughing I'm not sure I shouldn't go ahead and cancel this one. Except I've only had about a half dozen lessons since the start of November, and backsliding can occur as a side effect of infrequency. Bleh.
I disagree with the assessment that the Super Bowl was boring, but I'll say that it was a football geek kind of game and not a shootout, which seems to be the only kind of game the average consumer likes. I was muttering under my breath how I didn't think either quarterback was Super Bowl caliber right before the first interception. Both quarterbacks sucked, but even if Collins hadn't made it that much easier for the Ravens I think their defense still would have dismantled the Giants offense. Their defense was that good.
Ads: e*trade wins for the "Invest Wisely" one. The VW GTI caught in the tree was good for a snort, the monster.com ads were okay but not terribly inspired, and Anheuser-Busch batted about .500 (the "What are you doing?" ad being the best of the lot, followed by "It's not that bad"). Pepsi should just Go The Hell Away, Cingular should hire a different ad agency (they get credit for using the word "gimp," but that ad teetered on the edge of An Inspiration to Us All, and the rest of them were pointless), I'm not exactly sure what Accenture was trying to accomplish, and I'm disappointed that IBM reused an ad instead of bringing out a new one. Oh, and despite the hubbub surrounding the running of the squirrels (and the continued discussion of last year's visually clever but unoriginal cat herders -- the joke was long stale), I will never,
ever believe that EDS is capable of anything original, when they're known for requiring their male employees to wear coats and ties. Anybody who'll work under those conditions isn't the sort of person I want solving my computer problems.
The real winners of the night were the Eyevision folks. Those wraparound replays kicked ass.
Anyway, I should figure out if I'm going to work or staying home to cough in comfort.
link
(29 jan)
I'm amused by this. Nielsen is pretty tactful, but he does point out that the site could have been created by one person in a few days - so it's pretty galling that there were errors.
I agree with the analysis that the site must have been an afterthought.
link
(21:18 EST, Friday, 26 January 2001.)
I plead alignment to the flakes of the untitled snakes of a merry cow, and to the Republicans for which they scam, one nacho, underpants, with licorice and jugs of wine for owls.
I'm a little disturbed that somebody feels they need to require the pledge in schools. I'm not against saying the pledge, and we did it every day in elementary school, but I do have a problem with putting the requirement into state law.
It's also weird to go to any public event where the pledge is recited, since so many grown adults seem to blurt it out in syllables like they learned it back in first grade:
I pledge a legiance
To the flag
Of the United States of America
And to the republic
For which it stands
One nation
Under God
With liberty
And justice
For all.
It's one sentence. Have you ever heard anybody speak it in a way that actually sounded like they knew what it meant?
link
(14:02 EST, Thursday, 25 January 2001.)
