A Tale Of Two Schools
My wife and I have a thirteen year-old son and he'll be starting high school next fall. We've gone to two open houses for schools he might attend. One is the school he would be sent to automatically, the other is one he can choose to apply to attend.
The first school's open house, the school he is automatically set up to head to, was not perfectly executed, but they did a far better job at selling their school. They most of their staff in attendance wearing school colors. The principal was cognizant of the notion that we were taking time out of our busy lives, so he knew to move it along. They even had a parent talk about the virtues of the school. The school was also easier to navigate, but, if we needed help, it was easy to find someone because they were all wearing the school colors.
The second school's presentation was not as well organized. They started late, but the principal didn't seem to think it necessary to adjust the schedule or shorten her talk. A school counselor spent way too much time going over which districts were set to automatically accept students and which dfistricts would need to apply.
And the school was a maze. And old school, built of a hill, with a newer expansion built around it. One of the teachers said that, after 9 or 10 years there, he still gets confused from time to time. So, you would think there would be a map for visitors. Nope. Or staff and students in school colors abundantly available for information. Also, nope.
The worst part was when we found one of the classrooms for a session with the teacher to learn about the class, what it had to offer, what the teacher's expectations were, etc., the door was closed and locked. This is an open house. We had the right room. What gives?
Before we had even gotten to the locked room, our son stopped us and said, "I don't want to go here. I'd rather go to the other school." We did convince him to try one more session, but that was the locked room.
We've been told it is a good school, but we don't want to force our son to go there if he doesn't want to. Besides the first is also a good school and we think he'll be challenged and get a good education there.
The second school did have cookies, though.
Pedantic Moment: McDonalds McCafe Intern Ad
This moment of pedantry was prompted by the McDonalds TV ad for their McCafe coffee, mochas, and lattes. Put simply, the intern is sent on a coffee run. He returns with coffee and some change. He states that they give him "way too much money," but the change he hands back what looks like a reasonable amount to me.
Sure, that doesn't sound exciting. I make a bigger deal out of it on the show.
Recently, comic/actor/writer Ricky Gervais appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Colbert is a devout Catholic and Gervais is an atheist. As in the case with previous guest Bill Maher, Colbert challenged Gervais on his atheism.
When Maher was challenged there was plenty of snark on both sides. Gervais and Colbert were more respectful of each other and that seemed to me to work better when presenting the atheist view to a believer. Sure, snarkiness can have its place when played for uncomfortable laughs, but I think Gervais' method worked better.
Gervais pointed out that the talk show host himself didn't believe in a great number of gods, but that atheists just go one god more. He also argued, very well, that if all religious books were destroyed and rewritten a thousand years later, they wouldn't be written the same. Science books, on the other hand, would come back the same. The theory of gravity, of evolution, of germ-caused diseases, etc. would all come back the same. Maybe with some updates and refinements as science is always refining itself, but still essentially the same.
The Catholic admitted that was a really good argument.
10 points, Ricky!
Is It A Phone Scam Scam?
It's been in the news that there is a phone scam attempting to get people to say "yes" on the phone. Then that answer can be used to do nefarious things. What the alleged scammer does is ask, "Can you hear me?" The receiver answers "yes" which is recorded.
I shared an article warning of this scam, but a friend of mine questioned how the recorded "yes" could be used to any nefarious benefit. That got me curious to find out.
At this point, Snopes is saying the claim is unproven and they, too, question how this scam benefits the scammer.
So, is this really a scam? Perhaps. I would still advise that you hang up. You don't want to be dealing with telemarketers, anyway.
I did relate a story from a few years ago of an attempted phone scam at where I work. The scam was to get my company to pay a cancellation fee for the services which they claimed my boss wanted to discontinue. I was unaware we were getting whatever that service was, so I told them I needed to talk to my boss. I talked to my boss and we hadn't been getting their services. He'd never heard of them.
Invoices started to show up in the mail demanding payment. I thought I had somehow messed up and got the business on the hook, but my boss said to just ignore the invoices. At some point, a phone call came through (maybe more than one, I can't remember) demanding we pay up. I was told they had a recording of me acknowledging we owed the money.
I told them we weren't going to pay and that we knew they were a scam. I hung up on them and we haven't heard from them since.
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| ESPN Films |
Even though I haven't finished watching it yet, I recommended this ESPN 30 For 30 documentary series on OJ Simpson to my listeners. It covers OJ's rise from poverty to football glory, both collegiate and professional. We learn about the civil rights movement that grew as Simpson's career flourished, and we learn how he didn't want to be thought of as the color of his skin and kept himself away from the movement.
It deals with civil unrest and the rioting in the aftermath of the four LAPD officers being acquitted for the beating of Rodney King and other civil rights abuses suffered by African Americans, while Simpson climbed the ladder of success. And, of course, there are the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and the "trial of the century."
It is a fascinating look at the man and at the history that surrounded him.
Be warned! In part four, the documentary reveals the crime scene photos. The camera looks full on at the damage Simpson was accused of doing. Very graphic!
Music heard on the show...
Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: 'One Step Ahead' by Split Enz & 'Lay All You Love On Me' by ABBA
First ad break bumpers: 'One Step Ahead' by Split Enz & 'Lay All You Love On Me' by ABBA
Second ad break bumpers: 'Limelight' by Rush & 'One At A Time' by The Who
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle
That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com
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