Google Fun - Zerg Rush (4/27)

So, have you Googled the term "Zerg Rush" today?  If not, you need to.  Just type it in at www.google.com and wait a few seconds.  Those wacky Google developers are having fun again.  Don't they know that Easter has already passed?!?!?

Tupac Back from the Dead - As a Hologram

I am a huge fan of music, but I have never been big on rap.  It would have been pretty cool to been at Coachella and see Tupac rise from the stage, though.  The hologram was awesome!  If you have not seen it, you should.  If you are offended by language, you may want to find another version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajVGIRsKXdo

It is amazing to me how real this looks.  I have heard that they may take this act on tour.  If it is around Austin, I may have to go check it out.

Pricing for F1 Circuit of the America's Out - OUCH

So the pricing has come out for some of the tickets at the Circuit of the America (COTA) track here in Austin. Well, I guess you can tell the type of people that come to the F1 race events.  I have never been to a racing event, but I have to say from the pricing, I think the clientele at F1 and NASCAR are quite a bit different!

Granted, I already had heard that the people that followed the F1 events were well to do, but I think I was caught by surprise with the discrepancy that this pricing will bring.  Sure, the tickets being shown right now would be considered the "box-seats", but they seem to be really expensive, especially since this is just one of the stops on the F1 tour.  Here is a link to the article I was reading:

http://www.kvue.com/news/F1-ticket-prices-range-from-375-to-1250-147298595.html

If I am reading this correctly, it appears to me that the cheapest of the premium tickets will be close to $2,000.  This includes the seat license and season ticket.  So, it would be for more than one event at the track.  I think they only have 2 listed as of now for the year.  Here is a link to the prices:

http://circuitoftheamericas.com/tickets

Well, either way, it does look like they are coming along on the track.  It should be pretty cool to have an F1 event in our backyard.  If they are able to get all of the premium tickets sold to people coming in from out of town, that should be great for the economy, because if they can afford those tickets, they will be spending some serious cash in the area.

NYC Wanted to Ban Words from Tests

So the New York City Department of Education wanted to ban words that they felt were "loaded words" and distracted children from learning.  I find that to be a very strange statement - "words that distract you from learning."  It brings up thoughts of history when some not so good people would go out and burn buildings in order to keep people from learning what was in there.  The knowledge was destroyed because it clashed with the beliefs of the the time.  We even have a name in history for one of the those times called the "Dark Ages."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography)

Now here is a list of the words:

• Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological)
• Alcohol (beer and liquor), tobacco, or drugs
• Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)
• Bodily functions
• Cancer (and other diseases)
• Catastrophes/disasters (tsunamis and hurricanes)
• Celebrities
• Children dealing with serious issues
• Cigarettes (and other smoking paraphernalia)
• Computers in the home (acceptable in a school or library setting)
• Crime
• Death and disease
• Divorce
• Evolution
• Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes
• Gambling involving money
• Halloween
• Homelessness
• Homes with swimming pools
• Hunting
• Junk food
• In-depth discussions of sports that require prior knowledge
• Loss of employment
• Nuclear weapons
• Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling)
• Parapsychology
• Politics
• Pornography
• Poverty
• Rap Music
• Religion
• Religious holidays and festivals (including but not limited to Christmas, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan)
• Rock-and-Roll music
• Running away
• Sex
• Slavery
• Terrorism
• Television and video games (excessive use)
• Traumatic material (including material that may be particularly upsetting such as animal shelters)
• Vermin (rats and roaches)
• Violence
• War and bloodshed
• Weapons (guns, knives, etc.)
• Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/50_words_banned_from_nyc_schoo.html

To me, for the most part the list above sounds more like a brainstorming session of interesting topics to talk about and less of a list of words to avoid.  Maybe times are changing and there is no room for debate in our society anymore.  If there isn't, opinions must have changed to facts and that means there is now one opinion that is the right one.??

If school is supposed to be about learning, then shouldn't we be learning how to live together in school?  In my opinion, if you ignore the differences at school, the kids will not see that there are differences.  When children are with their families, they are with like-minded people.  When they are with friends, they are with similar thinking people usually.  When they doing activities, they are with people who are doing activities that either they all enjoy doing or all are made to do.  

So, it seems to me that one of the best times that children can experience diversity is when they are in school with other children that are from different backgrounds, different cultures, different religions, and different beliefs.  So they have an opportunity to see those beliefs and to experience ideas that are outside of their normal exposure.  What a great opportunity for them to learn that there are other ideas out than what they have exposed to.  What an awesome time for those kids to see that even though people may have differing ideas, they can still play together and get along.  It may even be a time to learn how to express those ideas to each other in ways without having to cause harm or injury to others.

So, growth and tolerance can come out of these scenarios for these children.  Maybe the only issue is that parents fear their children may grow up to have different ideals than they did because their children learned about different viewpoints.

I am glad that NYC DOE voted this down, but will some other DOE try to pass this in the near future?  I hope not, but I fear they will try and succeed.  

As I said earlier this action brings up thoughts of history.  It also brings to mind one of the first episodes of SouthPark.  All of the families were getting upset because of the Christmas program and the different beliefs.  S, they had to make a program for Christmas time that had to reference to anything offensive.  It took Mr. Hankey the Christmas poo to talk some sense into them.  The Christmas program always cracks me up.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/episodes/s01e10-mr-hankey-the-christmas-poo