Ocelot Sideshow

Strategic default

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:25:00 +0000

I bought a house in Southern California a few years ago, meaning I now owe more than my home could be sold for. Despite not having bought a house as an investment, this situation is not a financially strong one. I've heard about people walking away for some time, even heard of people who insist it's the only reasonable thing to do but now those voices are getting more mainstream. Greater financial powers are running a huge guilt trip in response but their own hypocrisy makes that difficult to hear. Many good writers are making good arguments, so why do I keep paying my mortgage?

Goat report, 12/11/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:04:00 +0000

Goats can help you learn about common sense with the Monty Hall problem. Why wouldn't you want to get a goat?

Goat report, 11/15/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:12:00 +0000

Goats and kittens will help you learn how to use an apostrophe.

Better spell it out for them!

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Saw the pilot for the "V" re-launch and found it somewhat laughable although it had some good points (very creepy villain and new sleeper-cell plot). The math teacher in me was very upset with one scene: an FBI agent is telling her partner about how terrorist chatter has all decreased since the aliens arrived save for one group, whose chatter has increased significantly. We get a view of her laptop screen and sure enough, most of the graphs trend downward steeply. But one graph has increased and to make sure ALL OF US IDIOTS understand this, somebody added a little caption to the graph on the laptop screen saying "SIGNIFICANT INCREASE". Check it out:

There's a lesson in the math book I teach out of that involves reading graphs to tell if there's an increase, decrease, or no change. I usually skip that as it's a joke and most of my students will tune out at its simplicity. Nice to see that TV creators think more poorly of their audience.

The continuing adventures of Liz Goldwyn

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:34:00 +0000

Such excitement to see Liz Goldwyn, whose work I've so admired, in my Sunday LA Times. I love how the article says Liz 'just so happens to be the granddaughter of famed Hollywood studio head Samuel Goldwyn and counts fashion-world elite as friends and collaborators' as if those are unrelated. Amazing that somebody born into such privledge would have a career in the business of high-priced fashion. Can we bring back a robust estate tax, please? It is the moral thing to do.

Goat report, 9/29/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:18:00 +0000

In what is undoubtedly a Pulitzer Prize-caliber story, Stephen Colbert blows the lid off the US military's secret Goat Lab.

One way to legalize it?

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Something I frequently hear my students talk about is the hope that marijuana will be legalized one day. I've tried to tell them that they have some control over this in terms of registering to vote and electing legislators who will do so. However, I'm not sure this will work as there's a social stigma about weed that needs to be lost before legalization happens.

For a while I thought that it was only a matter of time before all the collegiate pot-heads would become respectable citizens who would hold office. When that happened, they would naturally legalize drugs because it was something that didn't have a bad effect upon them. I've come to realize, however, that the roadblock to this is the image of the tree-burner: the slacker, the dope-head, the fool who laughs at paint drying. This is not a good wage-earner or tax-payer, this is someone that our American Puritan work ethic always frowns upon. Alcohol, on the other hand, is seen as something that you earn with hard work ("It's Miller Time!"). So what the hippie lettuce lovers need is a "I'm a pot-achiever!" campaign. They need to prove they won't just waste away on their couches if they have a chance to smoke all they want.

Can this happen? I don't know; my own experiences w/ people smoking MJ are more along the lines of Cheech and Chong but I respect that people can use but not abuse. One way that the pro-chronic crowd can get their foot in the door may be thru selective legalization. Recent studies that it helps fight Alzheimer's could be seized upon to allow seniors to use it. This could have appeal to the American public: who deserves to light up more than those who have contributed so much to our nation? And while I have no data on this, I get a sense that the the plea to let the dying to have a toke is the argument most appealing to John and Jane Q Public, especially when those dying with great pain are brought up. Perhaps the folks at NORML should talk less about the drug war and more about grandma's suffering.

Goat report, 8/28/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:38:00 +0000

As previously forecast, George Clooney is staring at goats!

Goat report, 7/20/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Pretty exciting times for the semi-goats at the Los Angeles Zoo. Four goat variations have given birth there lately: markhors, serows, takins, and according to the press release, there's also a new Chinese goral that is apparently pretty camera shy.

To make up for their absence, here are some very cute baby nubians in Indiana.

Goat report, 5/23/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Happy Retirement to an old goat

More eco-driving

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:15:00 +0000

An update about my progress with eco-driving. The last few days I've been really driving like a granny and never letting the RPMs get past 2000 and the results are great. I haven't gone under 35 mpg for my morning commute and almost finished above 41 mpg this morning. I may have upset a few of the cars behind me with my snail's pace; alas.

This information is probably a bit of a surprise to those reading this who've ridden in a car I drove. Upon getting my driver's license at 16 I was called upon for a good deal of driving by friends and they agreed that my first driving instructor was James Bond. I did tone my driving down over the years and usually just move the speed of traffic, which can be quite fast in CA or NJ.

The biggest change in my commute is that it takes much more time. But this isn't so bad; way back in the 90s when I transferred colleges, my commute time was cut in half. My morning ritual of hearing a whole side of a 90-minute tape was gone as it sometimes only took 20 minutes to get to school. So I will spend more time in my car now but that allows me a few more minutes of shuffling.

Eco-driving

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:05:00 +0000

I've read about eco-driving a bit and gave it a serious go lately. My morning commute is about 10 miles and kept a close eye on my mileage with my ScanGuage, a gift from Frau Goat. My usual morning commute mileage is around 30 mpg, even getting below 29 if I hurry a great deal. But by watching my tachometer and staying under 2k RPM, I got 34, 35, and 36 mpg on three consecutive days. Usually I don't get that kind of mileage unless I'm on the highway for a couple of hours. Give this a shot (and leave earlier since you'll be driving slower).

Double goat report, 4/23/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:11:00 +0000

1) Time to dress up your goats!

2) Beware the coming of the Iranian goat clones!

Goat report, 3/28/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:03:00 +0000

A possible outcome of the recession: a rise in urban goating.

Rolcats

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:10:00 +0000

Haven't really gone nuts over the whole Lolcat thing, although most of what I've seen of them are funny. But I could really get addicted to the commie variation: Rolcats (via Heather). Brings to mind the incredible Nietzsche Family Circus, tho the latter has the value of being generated.

Goat report, 3/16/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:06:00 +0000

Since when is it posh to wear goat leather?

My Nation-ality

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:06:00 +0000

What's Your Nation-ality?

Sylvia Plath

Fun quizzes, surveys & blog quizzes by

Yum!

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Had a delicious soy variant of chorizo recently and was learning about the food when I came across a somewhat unappetizing picture of the Indian version of the dish. Although I haven't had to change many diapers lately, I still don't like looking at the lentils too much when having Indian buffet. But that chorizo dish looks like something from ratemypoo.com. Perhaps the folks at Sprinkle Brigade could provide a better picture for Wikipedia.

Goat report, 1/25/09

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:55:00 +0000

Beware of goats stealing things, not to mention thieves who turn into goats.

Holiday goat report, 12/18/08

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:53:00 +0000

And what's a holiday season without some goat sodomy?

Goat report, 11/24/08

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:53:00 +0000

I was very excited to see one of our 50 states has a goat license plate but then a bit concerned that it might get attacked by a confused mountain goat.

Babygoat's playlist

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:02:00 +0000

A while back I got a little cheap mp3 player in a drawing at a teacher conference. It's way too small (128 M) for my uses but seeing Babygoat begin to sing some songs from time to time inspired us to fill it with her favorite music. Here are some of her top requests...

Music from the Sesame Street canon is probably most popular, with the top choice being:

What's the Name of That Song. The original version is much better but I only have an mp3 of a later version.

1-2-3-4 is one of my favorite songs of late, discovered via a good feature at Entertainment Weekly on special guests on Sesame Street

Rubber Ducky is certainly a big hit in the tub

I Love Trash has led her to searching for Oscar in many trash cans she sees

Elmo's Song is only annoying the first 10,000 times

Sing After Me has her practicing melismatic singing from time to time.

Outside of Sesame Street, she likes
Moving Right Along (from The Muppet Movie) and Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here from Schoolhouse Rock, tho I suspect she thinks she's singing about lollypops. Other faves include Bicycle Race by Queen, Yellow Submarine by The Beatles, and This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas. I was hoping she'd pick up on The Elements by Tom Lehrer but so far she's not into it. She does love Kitty Cat Dance, thankfully.

Election 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:57:00 +0000

On my morning drives to work I've been hearing stupid commercials for Yes on Proposition 8 for about a month. They claim that if Prop 8 is voted down, it will force everybody to accept gay marriage and 'people could be jailed for their beliefs'. Only in the past week have I heard reasonable rebuttals in the form of No on 8 commercials. Nice to see the school super getting in the mix, too. It'd be nicer if we could get a yard sign to counter the numerous Yes on 8 signs in our neighborhood.

Also in the 'nice to see but did it have to come so late' category are the mailers from congressional candidate Tim Prince. Sad to see he's using a Prodigy email address but I like that he nabbed a good domain to talk about the incumbent, Jerry Lewis: www.yourcorruptcongressman.com.

Mongoloid

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:55:00 +0000

Recently I and my fellow faculty were given a lecture by a (retired) veteran teacher. He seemed a nice enough guy and obviously has many years of teaching experience under his belt but his lecture was little more than inspirational phrases that had little narrative connection between them. This is not unusual in education.

What is unusual in education is when he used the term 'mongoloid' to describe a hypothetical student that could not be educated. I found this a little troubling and was surprised to find that many of my colleagues did not know the term. Happily, they all agreed that any term that is used both for people with Down syndrome and those who are ethnically southeast Asian is an offensive term.

Bob Grant

noreply@blogger.com (Felix Pardalis) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:08:00 +0000

Back when I lived in New Jersey I spent a great deal of my car-time listening to talk radio. WABC provided a good deal of entertainment for me, with lots of dopey conservatives shouting all day long. One guy who was on in the evening was Bob Grant, who sounded like the stereotypical 'angry old man' whose views of the world were a little behind the times, to say the least. It was always fun when folks would call in to disagree with him and he'd just respond with an angry 'Get - off - of - my - phone!!!'

This week, I had the chance to get reacquainted with him as the poor old fool didn't recognize the flag of Ohio when it was behind Obama. In his defense, however, I will note that when one looks at all the US State flags together (as I did once at Philadelphia's Independence Hall), the Ohio flag does look a little silly next to the others with its non-rectangular shape.