There is life on Mars

Cake Eaters

Inconceivable Realities

Total Rip-Off

I've always loved posters and graphic imaging in the classroom, and to convey information. Posters from ubelievablefacts.org are great examples and that's why there's a whole page of them on this site. In an inspired / plagiarist mood, I've taken the idea and started crawling with it.
From now on, from time to time, I'll post a new entry in my own total rip-off series:

Inconceivable Realities

All info featured is true, though hopefully it surprises you, even to the point you go do some additional research (talking to you guys tuition students) and learn some stuff.
So, to the first poster:

The Donut Man

I love Dr. Laura. Love her.
I'll give you all a minute to picture the Lee you thought you knew, listening intently and nodding along to hours of Dr. Laura.

It may take a few minutes.

.....

...

The other day there was a call that really stood out: The Donut Man call.

A mom was concerned with the fear, paranoia, and obsession with death that her 6 year old son was displaying, and how she should handle these issues before the funeral he was going to attend. She added that it had gotten so bad, even silly little kids' stuff like The Donut Man set him off. Dr. Laura asked what The Donut Man was.

The mom just kept assuring her it was a "kid's thing", or a "children's song"or "kid's videos and stuff." She was kind of all over the place, but her point was clear: society and my peers have approved The Donut Man content for children and so my child watches it. This was the first point of the call that really struck me, this total relinquishing of parental screening to society's standards.

We deal with this all the time. I let our daughter watch a lot of stuff that most people would never let their daughter watch. However, I've overruled a lot of stuff most people think is OK because it's children's content, by society's standards. 

Watch an episode of Spongebob Squarepants. Go ahead. Watch one. Have you ever taken acid? Mushrooms? Read about Ken Kesey's old trips? Maybe some Aldous Huxley? I'm just saying, an episode of Spongebob is like Hunter Thompson writing about a bath gone seriously wrong. I can barely handle it. It's psychologically fractious to say the least.

How about prime time TV on any network? How many dead people would you like your child to see in an evening? I know it's not for kids, but come on, what percentage of Americans huddle around Law and Order with the kids, as young as and even younger than our daughter? Statistics say most do. 

And what about ads? They are literally scientifically engineered to suck you in and program your mind and behavior. That's messed up. We never watch live TV. Only DVR'd stuff, and we always skip the ads. That stuff is mental crack.

For this mom though, an independent and unique analysis of society's standard-approved materials never occurred to her. She wouldn't even engage Dr. Laura on an explanation at first, just repeating it was Kid Approved. Finally, she relented and explained:

The Donut Man is a religious thing where a donut-shaped man teaches us that we all have holes inside that can only be filled by religion and until we fill them we're all a little bit broken inside and in our spirit too. 

Say WHAT!!!!????!!!!

So, you take a highly recognizable and graspable shape, two concentric circles, the donut, literally and figuratively the shape that most kids grasp first; you anthropomorphise it; you have it sing and dance into your child's consciousness at every level with the message that, "Hey kids, you have a hole like me!! Your insides are all messed up, right in your heart! It can only be fixed later, by somebody else! Good night now, sleep tight!" 

And then you wonder why your kid can't sleep?! Woah. That's out there. If you told me that it was a kid's horror story, I'd be more inclined to believe it.

Regardless, this mom makes the decision to make The Donut Man an integral part of her six year old kid's life, and good on her. But, once the kid starts to freak out, it's amazing that even then it never occurred to her there may be a connection. I may let our girl watch Family Guy, but if she starts to talk about giving the dog a Gin and Tonic (Brian the Dog), or making hyper-sexualized and inappropriate comments about the neighbors (Quagmire), or perhaps gets surprised plotting to assassinate my wife (Stewie), at that point I'm going to reassess my entertainment choices. If I come home and Rose is making out with Kip, our dog, I'm not going to ignore Family Guy as a potential contributing factor.

Dr. Laura tried a different tract, since the woman wasn't listening anyway. Even if you sign off on the Donut Man for your kid, what message does that send to your kid when he runs into non-believers, or people from different religions? You've taught him that they are all fundamentally flawed, messed up, missing something. If your kid runs into a foreign classmate and starts discussing these things, and lacks the broader context necessary to understand the ideas of an exclusive religion, there are going to be problems.
The mom didn't consider that. It clearly hadn't occurred to her, and the concept rendered her speechless or a few seconds.

Now, I don't know this Donut Man. I only know what she presented to Dr. Laura.
Probably a pretty safe guess though: there aren't many different colors in his dozen; it's him, and eleven other plain glazed donuts. 

If you haven't see What the Bleep Do We Know? you need to.

What the Bleep do we Know?

Rose's Mini-Meet

BILLINGS GYMNASTICS SCHOOL IS THE BEST!!! 

We'll miss you!!!

My Little Bollywood Dancer!

Detention Billings Style: "Hang 'Em High Boys!!!"

Rose rocked this routine! Best in house at this part. So proud.

Notice of Allowance

I'm like the father of a set of crazy twins who just went to college far far away somewhere; those crazy kids are my patents, and right now they are at the stage where they don't call home much. I usually have absolutely no idea what is going on with them.
Yesterday, I got a call home, and boy was it a good one! My patents have been issued a Notice of Allowance (NOA) by the United States Patent Office. A NOA means that they have survived all the challenges posed by the examiners. This Opposition Period, is like a cross examination of the witness, where the patent office makes sure your claims line up, and don't mess with any pre-existing claims. Once you've survived this stage, there are only a few more formalities and then you get your registration.
My little babies are all grown up!!!
On the same day Rose had a gymnastics meet too! So, all my babies are all grown up.

The Garden State

My new house in Johor Bahru is in Taman Setiah Indah.
Taman = Garden; Setia = Faithful; Indah = Pretty; 
The Faithful Pretty Garden
Faithful and Pretty are not surprising. Very common names throughout Malaysia. So is Taman for that matter. But, in looking at the map of Johor one sees Taman a lot, even for a Malaysian City: Taman Pelangi Indah, Taman Desa Tebrau, Taman JP Perdana, Taman Puteri Wangsa, Taman Kepas Utama, Taman Kempas Indah, Taman Austin Heights, Taman Mount Austin, Taman Austin Perdana; the list goes on and on, those neighborhoods are just the ones right next to Taman Setia Indah on the map. Basically, well over half of the areas in town have Garden in the name.

Having compared JB to Jersey since 2011, this new coincidence makes me think I was always on to something. Consider:
Jersey and JB are viewed by Americans and M'sians respectively to be: big, unsafe, untidy, generally untoward cities. Both are on the coast, and live in perpetual shadows of their glimmering and much more famous neighbors right across the water: NYC and Singapore. Both are noted for manufacturing, shopping, and for being bedroom communities. Both are awash in garish neon waterfronts, loud and provocative urban culture.

These are the common perceptions. I haven't been out East since a long-ago family road trip, so I can't speak for Jersey; as for JB:
* Big? Ehh. Traffic is worse in other cities, especially if you're on a scooter. For such a big city, it is pretty quiet at night also, in most areas; it's a big city, but nothing like KL.
* Unsafe? Definitive NO on this one. Crime statistics in JB are through the roof, but they seem overestimated to me, and I never had any problems in one year there. Even had a dropped wallet returned. Intact. With cash. Lived in Melaka for less time, and had several run-ins: I was surrounded for an attempted bike-jacking, chased for an attempted scooter-jacking, hassled by mat rempit (biker gangs) on several occasions, and hit by a car on purpose on my MTB. All in Melaka, the famously tranquil and safe tourist city.
* Untidy? Not exceptionally.
* Untoward? Aren't all large cities? I didn't find anything outrageously seedy. Saw way crazier in Amsterdam. Amsterdam makes JB look like Amish country.

So, the reality of JB as the Jersey of Malaysia hasn't really panned out.  But that doesn't matter. Jersey is probably lovely. The popular perception remains, however, that it is nothing but the butt of New Yorkers' jokes.
So, what about this garden connection? Any truth to that?
.Jersey is called the Garden State because historically it grew much of the food for the neighboring states Delaware and New York. It was a proverbial overflowing basket spilling into surrounding states.
Johor came to economic prominence when Chinese farmers opened up the area farming Black Pepper and Cat's Claw (for medicine) in the early 19th century. In the 20th century it became Malaysia's number one Palm Oil producer.
So, in both cases, the Garden nickname nods back to a time when Jersey and Johor were both gardens, feeding their fancy neighbors.
Cool!

Long story short, I can continue to simply explain to people who don't know Johor:
"I'm moving to the New Jersey of Malaysia."

The Art of the Brick (and other Pics)

London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Billings Montana:
The Art of the Brick

WHY!!??!!??!!!???

Crazy Kids

Bro Down

Her Cheesecake brings the boys to the yard.