What's on your mind today?

[Dave]

While sitting through a presentation today I had a coughing fit, wheezing, tears and all. My throat felt ticklish and no amount of desperate coughing seemed to make it stop. I didn't have any water with me but just as I was about to get up and leave I remembered I had bought some cough drops with me.

There is a cough drop god.

I have never believed in water as an aid to stop a cough, or any other windpipe problem like food "going down the wrong way".  Stuff stuck in the gullet, yes, but for the windpipe surely you need as much lack of obstruction as possible? A mouth full of water ciuld have you drowning if your system reacted the wrong way!

I have an ocassional swallowing problem where food ends up in the esophagus, got a pretty good cough reaction - projectile coughing! Sometimes it goes far enough down to cause the epiglottis to spasm shut - breathing in becomes a problem. But I have learned not to panic, take very slow breaths, hold for a few seconds and relax, then cough the air out a bit. Think its the epiglottis because breathing out would push it open and is not such a problem.

Well, what I really wanted to do was swallow a mouthful of something rough, like sandpaper, to alleviate the ticklish sensation which is incredibly annoying. But since I knew there was a drinking fountain down the corridor and no sandpaper in the vicinities, I automatically thought of water. 

Try carrying a few small balls of 0 grade steel wool - just in case!

[Tank]

Temp where I work, in Temple, Texas, is 110 right now.

Time for a wet T Shirt

[Tom62]

Packing, transporting and carrying loads of boxes from 4 AM till 6 PM with temperatures above 30 degrees is not my idea of a fun vacation. 

[Dave]

Packing, transporting and carrying loads of boxes from 4 AM till 6 PM with temperatures above 30 degrees is not my idea of a fun vacation.

Vacation?

[Velma]

How's Zilla doing?

He's doing okay, considering. His health issues seem to be stable for the moment. This Friday he is having another stent put in his eye to try to bring down the pressure. We will see how it goes. It is supposed to be a 15 minute procedure, but we've heard that before. 

[Icarus]

This monthls issue of Scientific American has an extensive article titled: Bringing Darwin Back. 

The piece begins with the plight of a school teacher who is marooned in a tiny charter school in the outback region of southwestern Georgia.  The town is named Baconton. Population  900.  It is an agrarian town that mainly thrives on the production of pecans.

The teacher in the article is Dr. Patti Howell. She teaches the sciences, including biology, to 10th, 11th, 12th grade high school students.  That part of the state of Georgia is  profoundly religious. The Baptist faith is not just prevalent, it is obligatory.  There are regions of this country and certainly in rural Georgia where that is the norm.   Ms. Howell is  tasked with the need for teaching the details of Evolution.  That is what one would describe as being between a rock and a hard spot.   She did not get her PHD teaching credentials by doing her  thesis on Intelligent design or creationism. 

I am hurting for her.  If she teaches reality, she will be criticized at the very least, losing her job at the worst.   Yes I have that on my mind today.   I would like to start an insurrection on her behalf but if I was able to do that  (I believe that I am capable of that)  she would be even more at risk..... Some things in life are No Fair!   

[No one]

Where, why, how, and when?

[jumbojak]

In a past life insurrection was something of a specialty of mine. It almost never goes according to plan though. Maybe I just wasn't as good as I thought I was...

[Tank]

This monthls issue of Scientific American has an extensive article titled: Bringing Darwin Back. 

The piece begins with the plight of a school teacher who is marooned in a tiny charter school in the outback region of southwestern Georgia.  The town is named Baconton. Population  900.  It is an agrarian town that mainly thrives on the production of pecans.

The teacher in the article is Dr. Patti Howell. She teaches the sciences, including biology, to 10th, 11th, 12th grade high school students.  That part of the state of Georgia is  profoundly religious. The Baptist faith is not just prevalent, it is obligatory.  There are regions of this country and certainly in rural Georgia where that is the norm.   Ms. Howell is  tasked with the need for teaching the details of Evolution.  That is what one would describe as being between a rock and a hard spot.   She did not get her PHD teaching credentials by doing her  thesis on Intelligent design or creationism. 

I am hurting for her.  If she teaches reality, she will be criticized at the very least, losing her job at the worst.   Yes I have that on my mind today.   I would like to start an insurrection on her behalf but if I was abl
e to do that  (I believe that I am capable of that)  she would be even more at risk..... Some things in life are No Fair!   

Is the story of the teacher real or a fiction to highlight the issue?

[Tank]

How's Zilla doing?

He's doing okay, considering. His health issues seem to be stable for the moment. This Friday he is having another stent put in his eye to try to bring down the pressure. We will see how it goes. It is supposed to be a 15 minute procedure, but we've heard that before. 

In his eye!!! FFS medical knowledge moves on apace!

[Tank]

Where, why, how, and when?

London, arousal, on a bed, tomorrow.

[Dave]

Wasn't some sort of federal law making teaching evolution mandatory passed? Or did that only require it was offered as an alternative to creationism?

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Wasn't some sort of federal law making teaching evolution mandatory passed? Or did that only require it was offered as an alternative to creationism?

Not to my knowledge. There was a US Supreme Court Ruling in 1968 (Epperson v. Arkansas) that said that a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution was a violation of the First Amendment, but no federal statutes have been passed, I don't believe.

[Dave]

Wasn't some sort of federal law making teaching evolution mandatory passed? Or did that only require it was offered as an alternative to creationism?

Not to my knowledge. There was a US Supreme Court Ruling in 1968 (Epperson v. Arkansas) that said that a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution was a violation of the First Amendment, but no federal statutes have been passed, I don't believe.

Ah, that is probably what I misremember!

[Icarus]

[/quote]
Is the story of the teacher real or a fiction to highlight the issue?
[/quote]


The story of the teacher is painfully real.  One can use Google search to find the lovely little town of Baconton. It can also find the names and specialties of the Baconton Community Charter school., their football team, their grade averages as compared to the state averages, the names and specialties of the teachers,and pictures of the disproportionate number of  well manicured hard shell Baptist churches in such a tiny town.

When observing the many pictures of the homes and other buildings and landscapes of the community, it would be easy to entertain the possibility for living there. 

I expect that some of our members, like Dragonia among others, is  more than familiar with the desirable climate, landscape, and other positive features of that area.  She lives not very far away from Baconton.  Both she and I are also aware that there are an incredible number of otherwise intelligent people who are so far out in spiritual left field as to be dangerous to our hopes for survival. 

As a long term admirer of teachers, I am hurting for Ms Howell and all the other beleaguered science teachers in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, The Dakotas, and elsewhere.

Not to worry I will get over my emotional episode.  I will remind myself that one must take the bitter with the sweet