I was searching through the archives of Copyboy's blog, 'Not Worth Mentioning', and I came across his 'Doodles Drawn Instead Of Paying Attention At Work'....His doodles reminded me of a video that I had seen a while back.... Jamie Bell, a college student in the UK, created a flip book/stop motion animation doodle film titled 'A Brief History Of Pretty Much Everything'....The final product consists of approximately 2,100 pages from 50 books of paper, and was created over a period of three weeks.... The project was used as his final project for his art class, and you'll be happy to know that Jamie got an 'A' on his project.....Check it out.... He put more work into this one project than I put into all my years in college....
While perusing a post that pitted game show hosts Alan Thicke and Marc Summers against each other over at 'Just The Cheese' by Powdered Toast Man, I started thinking....What's the first thing you think of when you hear the name Marc Summers.... Double Dare? Ok, the second thing.... That's right, Pickle Pops.... Wait.... You didn't think of Pickle Pops?On an episode of the Food Network show 'Unwrapped', hosted by Marc Summers, appeared a short segment on the now infamous Bob's Pickle Pops.
Do you ever sneak a sip of the pickle juice after you've finished the last crispy dill? Or added the pickle juice to a recipe to give it a little extra kick? Well, Pickle Bob had an even simpler idea.... Frozen Pickle Pops. It started out as a small operation at the local skating rink, where Bob would freeze and sell the leftover pickle juice. After quickly and repeatedly selling as many pickle pops as he could make every weekend, Bob decided to take his idea to the next level.Packaging the Pickle Pops in a traditional Otter Pop fashion, Bob has taken his spicy dill, regular dill and lemon dill flavored pops nationwide. The pops contain only pickle juice and are currently being marketed as a healthier alternatives to sugary desserts.... The pops are currently being marketed to schools and concession stands nationwide, and could soon be seen in a store near you!
The good people over at ShoeBoxBlog.com have possibly created one of the funniest comic panels ever! 
Seriously, what did we do before Google? Or Wikipedia for that matter? I remember having to use something called an encyclopedia when I was in high school.... Remember pulling each 70 pound volume off of the shelf, just to learn a random outdated fact about the population of South Dakota?
I wonder what school was like before calculators were invented? We really do have it easy, don't we? Are we too reliant on the internet?
As our son is about to turn 5, my wife and I are faced with making the difficult decision about the horrible six letter word - 'school'. We've got a little while to decide, but we're leaning towards home school....
A couple of weeks ago, my father and I were having a conversation about my first days in preschool. I don't remember much about it, other than sobbing and screaming for my father to come back and get me while he stood behind the white picket fence that separated the two of us.... He says that dropping me off was one of the hardest things he's ever done. I'm not that way.... I would have knocked down the picket fence and taken my son home.
Luckily, I have the benefit of my wife being able to stay at home to raise and teach our children. Granted, we're not sure whether our son would thrive in a home school, public school or private school environment. But we might as well try the home school thing first. If it doesn't work, we have other options. Although I do have to admit, it does scare the crap out of me to send my son to school for eight hours a day.Wow, that was not what I wanted to talk about..... Let me get back to my topic.... In an attempt to shrink the state's massive budget deficit, Utah Senator Chris Buttars has proposed that the state cancel the entire 12th Grade. Well, that was his initial proposal, after backlash from the entire State of Utah, he proposed that the 12th Grade become optional to students who have already completed their high school requirements. Senator Buttars says that the proposal could save the state up to $60,000,000 (10% of their total budget deficit).
Why not? My wife always makes the point, we are in school for approximately fourteen years, and that's before we choose whether or not college is our life's path.... That's a long time! Is 12th Grade really necessary? I could have lived without it.... And I probably would have worked a lot harder to complete my required courses, knowing that I wouldn't have had to complete a fourth year of high school. Now, my brother, the high school teacher, will think otherwise (But that's another story entirely, he also thinks that he's Michelle Pfeiffer from 'Dangerous Minds'.... Seriously dude, you teach in Orange County, California - You don't live in a 'Gangster's Paradise'!)....
I do feel bad for the teachers who would be out of work, but seriously, if my son can finish his required high school courses and get his GED in two years while completing school at home, what's the incentive to send him to high school for a required four years? Let him get out and on with his life!
