Don't Back Down

In classrooms across the US today, some 80% of teachers are female. A recent report shows that in these classrooms, it is quite likely that the teacher in front of these classrooms then affects how those students learn - but perhaps not in the way you might think. If the teacher is female, she is likely to see the male students as disruptive. If the teacher is a male, the female students are less likely to think the class useful to their future.

Interesting. I never really thought of it. Perhaps there is something to this. It is also interesting that in the case of a female teacher it is the male students who are disruptive and in the case of the male teacher it is the female students who find the class does not fit into their future plans - there doesn't appear to be any issue that the male teacher has with the female students. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about how it appears to be the females who are unsatisfied, and I'll just keep moving along.

Read "Improving Scores with Gender Segregation" »

As on-again, off-again Ernesto bears down on Florida, we're reminded that it was one year ago today that Hurricane Katrina was battering New Orleans, and this produced an entirely new paradigm. As people in Texas like to say that everything there is bigger, when you speak of New Orleans, everything there is smaller. Before you go and get upset, bear with me. I'm not trying to insult anyone.

Let's start with the fact that some four hundred thousand resdents are still missing. I don't mean that they are absent and need to be found, I simply mean that the population of the city is that much smaller than it was at this time last year. Well, at this time a week ago last year. You know what I mean. That's the first indication that things are smaller. While some are undoubtedly trickling back in, it will be quite some time before this city is anywhere near its prior size - if it ever is that size again. And this isn't the only thing that has become smaller.

Read "Everything's Smaller in New Orleans" »

I'll admit that I'm a white guy who is all too rapidly approaching middle age and doesn't get a lot of things, and at the risk of sounding even more clueless than usual, one of those is why so many people are against an official language for the United States. Unlike a lot of people, I really don't have a problem with it and why it makes news when people want to create an official language really baffles me.

Of course my support comes from the assumption that the official language is English. If the official language is Albanian, I might take issue. Nothing against the Albanians, mind you - I just don't speak the language. It would also seem to make sense that the language of the majority would be the most logical choice, but then our government and logic don't always go together, do they?

Read "Proposing an Official Language" »

I've actually been relatively headache-free for a while, but for some reason tonight, I had one that just didn't want to go away, so I took a couple of Ibuprofen to help me get to sleep. I added an eye mask (my latest trick to help me sleep well) and it seemed to help me drift off without a problem.

Everywhere except for where they are needed, that is. While the Charlotte City Council tries to make up their collective mind about what sort of mass transit to approve on the East Side, it seems that one fundamental question is going unanswered.

As everyone got caught up in whether or not the concrete for a new section of Interstate 485 would be ready in time (a plant apparently had some sort of crisis, resulting in a supply problem, now resolved), they forgot to install the supports for the signs that direct drivers to the right place. Even worse, this isn't the first time that it's happened.

Read "Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs" »

Nestled near Paramount's Carowinds, we figured we would stop in for a bite to eat. As we neared, we saw signs advertising that kids eat free, which is always a bonus. As we got in, we found out that actually two kids eat free with each adult entree. If, however, kids eat off the buffet, they get a discounted buffet with each adult buffet. Which is a little odd, but whatever.

Read "Papa Pino's" »

Though it's fast food and fried chicken, the Bojangles chicken is different. It's spicy. Not too bad, mind you, but it does have a little kick to it. One nice thing about Bojangles is that they'll serve you biscuits all day. There are a few places that are getting into this spirit as well, but so far as I know, Bojangles has done it for a while now.

Read "Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits" »

On our recent trip to Rhode Island, we decided to visit a winery. Surely there are wineries in the area, right? As it turns out, there are. But first, we thought it would be even more interesting to stop and get some cheese when we stumbled upon this page, which mentions many companies offer tours of their facilities. We've previously been on wine trails - what could be cooler than a cheese trail?

After calling at least a dozen of these companies who we'd be somewhat near to, we found that only one of them was open to the public, and several just seemed to have no idea what you were asking when you inquired about tours of the facilities. So we went back to wineries. We didn't find the bounty we did with cheese-makers, but still, we found one, and we filed it away for later.

Read "Coastal Wine Trail of Southeastern New England" »

Another restaurant tucked into a strip mall, this one has come a long way since they opened two years or so ago. This wasn't much more than an empty shell of a restaurant. Since they opened they've added quite a bit of ambience to the place, with walls and lighting, so you feel like you're actually in a restaurant and not in a strip mall.

Read "Las Estrellas Mexican Grill and Bar" »

The International Astronomical Union, meeting in Prague, agreed on a proposal to define what exactly makes up a planet - and in so doing, trimmed our solar system to eight "classical" planets, unceremoniously giving Pluto the boot.

The new rules say that not only must a planet orbit the sun and be large enough to assume a generally round shape, but that it must "clear the neighborhood around its orbit" - something not done by Pluto because its orbit periodically overlaps that of Neptune (no word on why Neptune makes the cut with this happening - apparently this road doesn't travel in both directions).

Read "Pluto, We Hardly Knew Ye" »

The inventor of the chicken sandwich (or so they claim, and who am I to argue), the Chick-Fil-A has got to be the best chicken sandwich, and certainly the best fast food chicken sandwich. While they have come up with a grilled version in recent years, it's the original style that is all the rage. A pressure-cooked breast, served on a buttered bun with two pickles is just the treat.

Read "Chick-Fil-A" »