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Greetings, Quotaholics:
We hear a lot about immigrants these days. The United States has quite
a problem with illegal immigrants and the ill feelings this has created
has spilled over to immigrants in general.
Now
I can’t help but think that if I were to sneak into Germany, France,
England or even Canada I would be caught and if not punished at least
sent home right away. But in the United States we don’t see much
enforcement of immigration laws. I’m sure it exists, it’s
just that you don’t hear about it much.
But a lot of immigrants are here legally. Many of them stay and become
citizens. Everyone who wants to send them home better check your family
tree. Unless you are of Native American descent, you’re a immigrant
too!
In order to become a citizen of the U.S. immigrants have to pass a test.
The test is supposed to prove that they know how the system works here
and have at least a general grasp of U.S. history.
According to an article I found at News9
(Oklahoma) website it might be time to start giving these tests to natural
born citizens too. The article claims that 75% of Oklahoma high school
students can’t name the first president of the U.S.!
“The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public
Affairs… Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said
the organization wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma
high school students know.”
“A thousand students were surveyed by telephone and given 10 questions
drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank.
Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly
in order to become citizens.”
“About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test
pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However,
Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the
students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.”
“Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said
Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire
country.”
“‘Jefferson later said that a nation can’t expect to be
ignorant and free,’ Dutcher said. ‘It points to a real serious
problem. We’re not going to remain ignorant and free.’”
My real problem with this is that I’d be willing to bet that the
kids who can’t pass the citizenship test can probably name a dozen
video games they like, or the last dozen tunes they downloaded, or Paris
Hilton’s current boyfriend!
I don’t know who is to blame for this sort of thing. The schools?
The students? Parents?
Should we expect students to be able to pass a simple civics test to
graduate? Is it too much to ask that the general population be at least
as educated about how the country works as the immigrants we allow to
become citizens? If we are voting for people to make our laws don’t
we need to at least have a little knowledge? Should you have to pass
a test to be able to vote?
How about our readers from other countries, do you have similar citizenship
tests? Would you expect your citizens to be able to pass? Would you
be shocked if your young people failed as miserably as the Oklahoma
students did?
Below are 10 questions taken from the citizenship test. I’ll include
the answers at the end of the comments section. Can you pass?
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
3. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
4. How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?
5. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
6. What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?
7. What are the two major political parities in the United States?
8. We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
9. Who was the first President of the United States?
10. Who is in charge of the executive branch?
Civically,
Comment
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“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” - Alan Kay
“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to
fill the world with fools.” - Herbert Spencer
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Chutzpah
[Thanks Noella]
Chutzpah is a Yiddish
word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, sheer guts plus arrogance;
it’s Yiddish and, as Leo Rosten writes, there is no other word, and
no other language,that can do it justice. This example is better than
than 1,000 words . . .the meaning of chutzpah
A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each.
Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time,
and as he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter,
but never take a pretzel.
And this went on for more then 3 years. The two of them never spoke.
One day, as the young man passed the old lady’s stand and left his
quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him for the first time.
“Excuse me, Sir. Thank you for your business. You are a good customer,
but I have to tell you the pretzel price has gone up to 35 cents.”
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“A man’s moral conscience is the curse he had to accept from the gods
in order to gain from them the right to dream.”
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother
just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be
better than yourself.”
“Facts and truth really don’t have much to do with each other.” - all
from William Faulkner, born on this day in 1897
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Speak right up!
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Grandkids
Somehow, I have garnered the reputation of being the grandpa that will
play with the grandkids in just about any way they wish. I don’t know
how this came to be. Maybe it began when I rode the whirly rides with
my oldest granddaughter when she was just barely tall enough to ride
them. Some of her first words spoken in public were, "Ride rides!
Ride rides!"
My other granddaughters had the trickle-down effect. Since I had done
such things with K1 (all my granddaughters have first names beginning
with K, so we call them K1, K2, K3, &K4), I had to do them with
K2 & K3. K4 hasn’t benefited as yet as she is only a 1 yr. old.
I have to treat them equally, don’t I?
My 2 grandsons live elsewhere. (My daughter gave me 4 granddaughters,
and my son gave me 2 grandsons) and they haven’t benefited by that trickle-down
concept. They have no compunction, however, about running at full speed
down the hallway or across the room to give me a NASCAR hug, complete
with roaring sounds & screeching "tires". I’m guessing
the "oof" sound I hear is the one I’m making at the time.
My grandkids often grab me by the hand and drag, almost literally, me
to go play something. And I’m loving every moment the bruises remain
to remind me of the fun they had. The other soreness serves to reinforce
the "muscle memory" for reminiscences of self & child
abuse. Why don’t they call it "child abuse" when a child abuses
someone else? Nevermind, the quiz comes later.
Although 2 of my grandkids are in "gifted student" classes,
I feel they are all exceptional. I can say, with all six of them, the
personalities are as diverse as DNA could make possible. One is a performer.
She walks out into the garden and stands on a footbridge and sings to
me as if she were on stage. Another is seriously into gardening. She
is growing vegetables, not just flowers. One would be a doorknob if
the job weren’t already taken. He would prefer just hanging around.
The one thing they all have in common is a well of energy that seems
to be deeper than mine. Mine collapsed. All I can draw out of that well
now is mud.
I love my grandkids. And I feel blessed that they love me back. We may
be related, but we are buddies, and that is more important to me. If
I have to suffer a few bruises and scratches along the way, well, it’s
worth it. I’ll just try to avoid those bouncy blow-up slide things and
whirly amusement rides.
Here’s
your quiz:
Do you have children of age capable to provide you grandchildren? If
your kids are younger, do you look forward to becoming a grandparent
someday?
If you have grandkids, are you the "kitchen granny" or the
"armchair grandpa", or are you trying to catch your breath
keeping up with the little critters?
If you have grandkids, how many do you have. If not yet, how many do
you hope to have someday?
Grandkids
- Had I Known They Were So Much Fun, I’d Have Had Them First!
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
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Email Kirsten
“And
God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light, but the Electricity
Board said He would have to wait until Thursday to be connected.”
~ Spike Milligan ~
On Wednesday I held a meeting in the ladies’ restroom at work. It’s
OK, really. All of the people attending the meeting were ladies, so
there wasn’t anything weird going on. I realize that a restroom is
a somewhat unconventional place for a meeting, but for three reasons
the venue made perfect sense. First, our network connection was down,
and since we all work off information on a SharePoint site, there
wasn’t really any point to us being at our desks. Second, the elevators
weren’t working, so there wasn’t any way to leave the building without
walking down sixteen flights of stairs. And third, the air conditioning
was on the blink and the restroom was the only cool spot we could
find.
Wednesday was not a good day for things at the office actually working.
But somehow we got through the day, and when we left we vowed to spend
Thursday catching up on the backlog resulting from all of these outages.
This morning my phone rang at 6:30 a.m. According to the display,
the caller was my boss, and I was very puzzled as I tried to work
out just what emergency would have him calling me at that time of
the morning. The emergency, as it turned out, was that no-one could
go to the office today. A variety of technicians had been working
round the clock to try and resolve the outages of the previous day,
and now there wasn’t any power in the building at all.
This in itself would not have posed a problem. With the wonders of
remote access, whatever I can do at the office I can do at home. In
fact, working from home was turning out to work out well, because
it solved the logistical nightmares I had been facing in my day. So
I logged in using my VPN access, did some work, and dialled into a
conference call. Things went well enough until about ten in the morning.
Then I got another call from my boss, telling me to log off immediately.
Apparently, the problem was so immense that many critical business
functions were being managed remotely, and they didn’t want us taking
up bandwidth. So we weren’t allowed to use our remote access unless
we were deemed critical to the daily running of the business.
All of this means that I cannot work today. Beyond calling into a
couple of meetings, there’s really nothing I can do. So in effect,
I get a free day off.
I’m all broke up about it. In a few minutes I will get up from the
coffee shop where I’m currently sitting, go home, and suffer through
an afternoon of actually having time to myself.
I love my job.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
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Today I’m going to continue the story of “Dan”, a “Complex System
Tech Support Analyst” for Dell. As I told you on Monday, we have a
server with a drive that has gone bad. Dan thought updating the firmware
on the drive would fix it. We tried that last Friday, but it didn’t
fix the problem. We’ve been running with a bad drive on our production
server for a week. Luckily the disk is part of a RAID array, so there
are other disks that are carrying its load.
Anyway, Dan the Dell Dude sent my PFY a link to another update he
wanted us to try. I don’t know about you, but I’m not real comfortable
“trying” stuff on a production server. I want it fixed. But my boss
said to give it a try, so my PFY started early on Wednesday and tried
to install this latest update. The problem with that one is that Dan
sent us a link for 32 bit Windows, and our servers are running 64
bit Windows. So My PFY e-mailed Dan and told him that, and Dan sent
him another link to try. That link didn’t work… 404-Page not found.
We had played around enough. My PFY e-mailed Dan and told him the
link didn’t work. He also told him we weren’t going to download anything
else, we were going to get a new drive. I wanted them to send out
a tech, but my boss said just get the drive. He didn’t want one of
their idiots touching our server. Dan e-mailed my PFY back and told
him the drive would be here in three hours.
Now, what I want to know is how Dell stays in business. The drive
cost Dell $150. It also cost them a couple of hours of tech support,
so let’s call it $200. Now let’s see what it cost us. There were a
couple of hours when our production server was down while we were
trying what Dan wanted us to try. We have over 100 users. Let’s say
we pay them an average of $15.00/hour. This little game Dan wanted
us to play cost us $3,000 in lost productivity. Then there were the
many hours my PFY was either on the phone with Dan or running tests
Dan wanted to see so he could send us the wrong link to try.
So what have we learned from this? Well, several things. First, if
we call Dell and a guy named “Dan” answers, hang up. Second, if we
have a known hardware problem, don’t tell them what operating system
we’re running. It doesn’t matter. It’s a hardware problem. Third,
if our support contract says we can get a tech, get one to transport
the part. Don’t let them near a keyboard. Fourth, an impressive title
doesn’t mean it was deserved. And fifth, my boss isn’t even close
to being the prick I am.
Oh, and don’t mention Dell to Wendy. Do you mind if I include your
comment in my report to Dan’s boss?
Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball with Dell
E-mail Dear Tim
Comment
on this article
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Miscellaneous Tips
Do not use metal bowls when mixing salads. Use wooden, glass or china.
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Kind of light turnout today. I was afraid the line was a stinker!
Next opening line…
There was a young girl from St. Paul…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
There
are things that go bump in the night
Those things that can cause terror and fright
Spook yourself insane
With matters mundane
Listen hard enough and you just might
Maria in Illinois |
There
are things that go bump in the night
Some will cause quite a fright
But the noise that I heard
Sounded more like a turd
Does a turd make a noise, that ain’t right. - Bonnie |
There are
things that go bump in the night…..
They leave when you turn on the light…..
Their really scary you see…..
But they never hurt me…..
‘Cause I run ’til I’m plumb out of sight. - Skeeter
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There are
things that go bump in the night…..
That act like they want to fight…..
And I’ve found that some…..
Are from drinking that rum…..
That we "limericked" the other night. - Skeeter |
There are
things that go bump in the night…..
That make my cheeks get real tight…..
Then they bump into me…..
And scare out the pee…..
And it just don’t seem right. - Skeeter
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There are
things that go bump in the night
And some of them give me a fright
There are monsters and ghosts
And unholy hosts
Of vampires who can’t stand the light! - Author Unknown |
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Re: Cliff and immunity
I got to run around and fall in the dirt, but I was a bit clumsy and
confused by ball sports. My chronic low energy may stem from my mother’s
innovation of rationing liquids to save on changing diapers. Anyway,
I did develop hay fever, but few other health problems. Stinging Nettle
ingestion finally cured the allergy, although it takes a week of daily
use to start working. You’d probably like these videos about dangerous
play.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/gever_tulley_on_5_dangerous_things_for_kids.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_action.html
The local tradition here is to let babies crawl toward a fireplace
or campfire as close as they want. That way, when they can walk, they
never fall in. - Bob of the North
I played Red Rover with
boys. Does that count? Not good with game balls. did ride bikes without
kneepads and helmets. We didn’t even know they existed. Not being
a "germ-o-phobe", I have a healthy immune system, as do
my kids. - L&K, herm
Not only did we get to do all the things you mentioned, we played
on rail cars, hiked in the woods, and went barefoot from Spring until
well after Fall set in. We also ate food that had been sitting on
the stove all day, or that we picked up off the floor after dropping
it and a myriad other things I can’t even think of now. And……we
were hardly ever sick with anything!!! - Bonnie >^,,^<
Answers to all 3 questions: No. When I was young, I was a girl. BUT!
We did play Red Rover evenings right in the street, and Kick the Can.
The boys never let me play baseball because I couldn’t hit a ball
with any size stick, but they let me play touch football! We were
discussing the value of a good immune system at breakfast this morning.
Time was when mothers went out of their way to get kids to catch chicken
pox and measles to BUILD immunities. I never did get measles, but
I spent a lot of time in sick rooms with kids who had it because Mom
hoped I would get it. DPT shots were given then, and I was also inoculated
as a young adult for TB. For a bunch of years after that, my TB tests
showed Positive and I had to show the scar on my shoulder where they
had jabbed me 32 times with a needle. And when they invented it, we
all got Polio shots, even the oldest daughter who had had one of the
3 forms of Polio. The death rate of typhus, polio, diphtheria and
whooping cough was much different before sulpha, penicillin and other
magic medicines.
Americans apparently go in phases. In 1900 dirt was okay. You bathed
only on Saturday night back then. By the 1930’s it wasn’t. There was
a poem going around about the Antiseptic Baby and the Prophelactic
Pup. lampooning the idea of being too clean. Then it must have been
okay to get a little dirty as long as one bathed or showered daily.
Guess that has grown into an Obsession. My 12th grade English teacher
ended our year in her class by singing a parody of an old hymn. I
have never forgotten it:
Blessed be the tie that binds
My trousers to my shirt.
For underneath there lies
Last week’s accumulated Dirt! - Nancy L in Ohio
Re: Kirsten and child abuse
I empathise with what you said. Every time I convince myself that
capitol punishment is wrong, I read something like this, and could
easily pull the switch myself. However, if we ever as attorneys refuse
to challenge the state’s every move, we are letting it dominate us.
Believe me, such a situation is more dangerous than people who deserve
to die having appeal rights. - Lucille
As someone who does counseling
and especially has had contact with people in abuse cases, these people
never need to see the light of day. There actions were probably influenced
by past behavior but their future actions will also be influenced.
Their behavior is set in stone. - BJ
in Guthrie
Re: Juvenile detention
I personally think this is sad. When you start letting kids do as
they choose they no longer respect you. Kids want you to lead them
and show them authority. - dEE
Re: Kirsten’s laundry
The laundry came from the
over night clothes and the ones you guys wore home. - dEE
Answers to Citizenship Test
1. The
Constitution
2. The Bill of Rights
3. The House and the Senate
4. Nine
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. Atlantic
7. Democratic and Republican
8. Six
9. George Washington
10. The President
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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