Tax-Free Weekend

In case you don’t know, this is a tax-free weekend for Energy Star-rated appliances, including washers, dryers, freezers, refrigerators, air conditioners, heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers and programmable thermostats. Dishwashers are not included.

Energy Star appliances are more efficient and cost less to run (and, of course, are thus more environmentally friendly than older models).

Many retailers, like Lowes and Home Depot are also planning sales. Just FYI.

Gifted Education Sites

I have a lot of info about parenting gifted kids. Here are two great sites. Though they’re targeted for high IQ children, they contain information that is useful for raising kids that fall along any point in the spectrum.

http://www.coe.unt.edu/gifted/parents/
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/

I’ve found that kids–no matter their IQ–like to do a lot of the projects and activities that the gifted do (i.e. designing and building a roller coaster).

Whites Minority in Finney Co, Kansas

Just another reason why we need to teach all of our students to be multi-lingual. We need to start young. When they are in pre-K. It’s good for our society and for children’s brains.

An interesting quote from the article, “But much of the United States is looking more like Garden City. New census figures show more than one-third of the people in the United States are non-white and a staggering 47 percent of the population under the age of 5 are a minority.”

Forty-seven percent doesn’t sound like a minority. Neither does 33 percent. So when do we stop considering people part of a “minority”? And when will our government leaders and corporate leaders be more representative of our society?

One day, we’ll all be the same color, and then perhaps we’ll focus more on our sameness.

Another Good Quote

For you, for a kid…

“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.”
Henry Ford

Clinton has Soul

Or he’s in Seoul. Srsly, though, Clinton is speaking about climate change policies and how to reduce CO2 across the world. The irony is, we’re having a difficult time with those green policies ourselves.

I like what Clinton’s doing, however. Clinton’s Climate Initiative is proposing something interesting–building a city in FL that will absorb more CO2 than they use. They are taking “carbon neutral” one step further. For a further look, see here.

Now if we could just get all Americans on board to at least aim for carbon neutral cities and zero-energy homes. We’d be doing our part.

Car-less City

Well, eureka! What I thought was lost, is found:

One of my passions is the environment. So I thought this article in the NYT was particularly cool: a city that is almost without cars.

If you buy a home in the German town of Vauban, and you have a car, you must purchase a space for $40,000 (yep, the price of another car!) and keep it in a garage located on the edge of town.

Citizens bike or walk around town. The city is configured for multi-use. No more suburbs without practical businesses. Everything’s integrated (yes, like in the old “old” days.) You can do all your business right in town. No need to drive 20 minutes in your big SUV to a shopping mall.

Another cool thing: no stand-alone houses. A lot of energy is lost through the exterior walls of homes. All the homes in Vauban are built in one continuous unit, several stories high. They are so efficient, that they require little or no winter heating.

Ironically, we’re coming full circle. And this is how we will truly tackle–at least in part– the fossil fuel/GHG problem–by reconfiguring our cities.

Refusing Medical Treatment

It always makes me sad when I hear a story of a parent who is required by law to get some sort of medical help for his child. I can see both sides.

I see the parent who thinks that chemo is killing her child–or for whatever reason–believes that the human body or that God can make the child well. I see that. I know first-hand how bad chemo can be. I know it can also save a life.

I see that it is also sad when the law must step in and take control. Like the mother of Daniel Hauser–she clearly loves the child, she gave birth to him and has loved and raised him. It does seem unfair that the law must step in.

Help for unemployed

Wow. This article on murder/suicides in the family doesn’t suggest a strong link between the economy and family violence. However, I was amazed by this graph, which shows a direct correlation over a 50-period between suicides and employment rates. When employment is high, suicides drop, and vice versa.

Maybe we need to offer long-term counseling for folks who’ve been laid off. Maybe the unemployed need some objective, third-party “buddy” to make sure they stay connected and monitored. Maybe…

Visiting Rights

Here’s a story about a woman who was not allowed to visit her partner as she was dying.

This is why we need equal rights for all citizens. It’s totally unfair to this woman that she was not allowed to visit her partner of 15 years in the hospital.

It also seems to me that a lot of this is up to the hospital staff who “police” the patients and the visitors. If I were a nurse, it would be clear to me that it is unfair to prohibit a partner from visiting. It doesn’t matter if I am hetersexual or homesexual. I cannot decide for others whom they should love.

Mom, You’re to Blame

It is always incumbent upon mothers to mold their children and to teach them positive social skills. Fathers don’t have that kind of pressure. If a kid is bad, the mother is the first one blamed. (Sorry, to stereotype dads, but this bias towards mothers is long-standing.) The mother also takes the brunt of a kid’s bad behavior.

For more insight, read this intersting article about “Mother’s talk.” Teaching your children empathy (through talk and self-reflection) is more important than your IQ or socioeconomic status when it comes to producing kids with good social skills.