Come to the nerd side. We have pi.

Yeah, I should have used this blast and pic last March. Oh well.

Pam's comment this morning re. Rep. Weiner: "Next he'll claim he has a sex addiction." That does seem to be the standard course.

Speaking of, Tiger announced today his leg injury isn't healing as quickly as he'd hoped and he won't play in the U.S. Open later this month. The golfer anointed as "the greatest ever" has quickly all but dropped out of the picture, still four majors short of Jack Nicklaus' record - a mark that was supposed to be in his rear view mirror by now.
Hey, Lebron. You paying attention?

I listened to NPR through my iPod on this morning's bike ride and the topic was the shortage of skilled workers available for businesses that are hiring. That morphed into a discussion of our failed educational system vis a' vis the rest of the developed world. We're not turning out young people with adequate training in math and science, necessary for modern day manufacturing. They agreed something went wrong with our high schools when we began allowing kids to graduate with anything less than four years of math and science.

Huh??
I didn't take four years of H.S. math or science. If that had been required I'd still be walking the halls at Ballard High School. I suck at both subjects. I got charity grades in those classes and did only adequate work in English and the like. However, I ruled in the music rooms!

Requiring me to take (and presumably pass) four years of H.S. math and/or science would have been the equivalent of requiring the math and science geeks to play cello or sing oratorios. I can't spell calckyouluss, never mind do it. Does that mean going no further than Algebra (with a D) means I got a bad education or was ill-prepared for adult employment, or contribution to society?
I don't think so.

I do remember being required to take shop classes through Jr. and Sr. Hi. I chose a semester of wood shop, print shop (it would take too long to explain) and drafting. Then I elected auto shop - 2 years worth. I did about as well in those classes as I did in Algebra, but as I matured mentally and physically that knowledge came back to me and stood me in good stead. OK, not the print shop part, but the rest of it.

At B.H.S. we had jocks, bandies, nerds (we didn't have that word then; we just called them the chess club or the debate society), and losers. We also had the shop guys who were good with their hands and felt most at home at those big rooms on the back side of the school. They went on to be welders, machinists, carpenters, electricians....

So what happened to shop classes? They went the way of high school orchestras. Budget issues? I don't know, but I did hear that in some states good welders start at $70k a year. Start at!

Not every kid should go to college. IMHO some of them would be well served if they had the option of H.S. shop classes without having to go to a vocational school.
When I'm king of the world....

I have a toothache. Nasty. I have an appointment with the dentist tomorrow afternoon and I know what he's going to do. Step one is poke at the tooth with a sharp instrument. "Does that hurt?"
I suspect the next step is to send me to the oral surgeon who does all the extractions. He and I have done business twice before and I do NOT want to go back. He has no "bedside manner" and inflicts serious pain. The first shot goes between your gum and cheek but it's the second one....
Into the roof of my mouth and directly into the nerve. Incredibly sharp pain.
I am reminded of a cartoon I saw years ago. A guy sits down in the dentist's chair, reaches out and takes hold of the dentist's privates and says, "I'll let you know if it hurts."