Month: March 2021

Suspended Plans

Bad News, SHTF

It looked as though New Wife and I would be able to move back into our apartment around next Monday (March 8), but that was before we went back there yesterday evening to get a few things.  Here’s what greeted us, firstly the living room:

…and the laminate flooring has gone bye-bye too.  Next, the entrance hall:

And finally, the master bedroom:

…but amazingly, the carpet (which was soaked) is being covered up to protect it from the carnage — which means they don’t plan on replacing it.  Uh huh.  Time for a little explanation of the facts of life to Management…

But it looks as though month-end will be a more realistic move-in time, now.

And once again, folks:  Thank you all so much for your unbelievable generosity.  It has made all the difference, by enabling us to order replacement furniture and such before the insurance company made its final settlement offer — the excellent news being that we’ll be getting a full settlement of our stated replacement value, and the funds will arrive either tomorrow or the next day.  But having that little bit of financial security immediately after the catastrophe made all the difference to our mental well-being, and we are eternally grateful.

Helping Hand

Education, Homeschooling

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that parents can tailor the curriculum and teaching methods towards the individual child’s needs.  In our case, we improved Son&Heir’s reading level, for instance, by imposing a strict three-hours-per-day reading regimen — topic or authors of his own choice, of course — and inside two years he went from a three-grades-below-average level to twelfth grade level, at age 15. (His favorite authors were Daphne du Maurier and E.L. Salvatore, and by age 17 he’d read their entire works respectively — an enormous feat in the case of Salvatore, whose works are prodigious).

For #2 Son, who was high-functioning autistic, we improved his reading ability by letting him watch any TV show he wanted, as long as sub-titles were turned on.  This was prompted by the fact that being autistic, he dreaded loud noises — he’d clap his hands over his ears and become near-catatonic — which meant that he would have to turn the TV sound way down to avoid being startled by dramatic increases in the soundtrack volume, but which resulted in him not being able to follow the dialogue and plot.  The sub-titles enabled him to follow the story, and it improved his reading level by a similar degree to Son&Heir’s.  (At age 17, he was yelling at the TV adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo  for being a travesty of the original plot;  I wasn’t even aware that he’d read the thing, but he had.)

So when I saw this, I nodded with approval:

…simply because I’d proven it to be true in my own experience as a homeschooler.

If you decide to do this, though, be aware that while comprehension and reading skills will improve, you have to work really hard on correct pronunciation, if like in #2 Son’s case you also turn down the TV volume (the spoken word teaches that, of course, so you have to be patient, thorough and non-judgmental in your constant correction).   I and the other family members still have to work on this when we talk to him, even though he’s now in his 30s.  (For those who’ve known him, you may suddenly feel very old;  sorry.)

But to improve reading skills at pretty much any age, closed captions can be your friend.

Oh Noes

Food & Drink, Nannies, Science!

More from the world of dietary science:

Regular meat-eaters are more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions than those who shun or ration animal products, a study from the University of Oxford has found.
The research found a meat-lover who eats 70 grams of meat — processed or unprocessed — more than a peer is at 15 per cent higher risk of heart disease, 30 per cent more likely to get diabetes and almost a third (31 per cent) more likely to develop pneumonia in the future.

I did the work so you don’t have to:  70 grams is about 2.5 oz…

Whatever.  According to this lot, I should have died about 15 years ago, given that my daily breakfast contains inter alia  a large piece of boerewors.

And yet, here we are.

News Roundup

Bad News

With commentary, spicy like Odalys Garcia:


…apparently there was some Hollywood awards show, and a few trendies and old Commies sounded off, like anyone outside their own circle cares what they think anymore.  Viewership was 5.1 million, compared to Trump’s CPAC speech with 31 million online viewers.  LOL


…a great idea for spending a whole bunch of other people’s money on a movie that maybe 0.0000005% of the Western world will actually pay to see, e.g. the previous such effort, Ballbusters.  And speaking of which:

A mother-of-three spat pepper spray into a police officer’s eye after it was fired into her face and mouth as she was arrested in Bristol
…for some reason, I just can’t seem to find any sympathy for P.C. Pepperspray.


…how about the “politics of fuck you”, you racist hustler.

Never mind, President Bigbucks is riding to the rescue:


…and as a real African American, I cannot wait for you honkies to gimme wass ri’ fooey mine.


…yeah, why IS that, President Braindead?  


…which would be like saying that someone’s cough has got better, now that he’s dead.  More to the point:  WTF is the “World Economic Forum” and why should anyone be listening to them anyway?


…and no doubt, the next Republican president is going to make him as dead as Bin Laden (because President Mail Fraud sure as hell won’t).


…surprising as it may seem to some Brits, not everyone in the world cares about the antics of some titled twat.


…[insert cock joke here]


…in Portland-Am-Rhein.


…and yet Over Here, we can’t even indict the bureaucrats who tried to undermine a legally-elected Republican President.  And speaking of which:


…as if just being John Brennan wasn’t embarrassing enough.

Did someone say, “More Odalys Garcia”?

Thought so.

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

“H‑E‑B has done more for Texas than our own government leadership for the past year.
I literally trust a southern grocery store chain more than the people whose job is to be there for us when we need them.” — Miles Luna #BLM (@TheMilesLuna) February 18, 2021

Not going to argue with that.  Our Central Market (owned by H-E-B) was Johnny-on-the-spot when the SHTF two weeks back.

Reader Mike S says that Floridians feel the same about Publix.  Anyone else on their local chains?