Numerical anomolies and other stuff

This Wednesday morning (right after midnight Tuesday night), at 1:02 and 3 seconds, the time +date will read:

0102 03 04/05/06

This numerical phonominon will not occur again for another 100 years

(I cant get the normal font size back - sorry everything else will be in big bold letters!)

The "DADDY" effect
The wife had a half day today at work. We all met up forlunch and playtime. The zoo was out target, till it started to rain. So we went to a local mall that has a really nice and big play area. **(HEY ) I FIXED THE FONT!!)


I'm so glad that she was there. She got to witness first hand what I call the "daddy effect". I've heard stories of how Normal Jean could walk down the street unnoticed, but as soon as she internal projected herself", everyone immediately new she was really Marilyn Monroe. Today, I turned on my superpower for the wife to witness first hand.

The boys were had been playing for about 20 minutes or so. There were about 25 kids, of all age ranges/gender/ethnicity. My boys both ended up playing on what looked like a spilled drink (open at both ends). It was made of thick foam, and created a tunnel for the kids to go thru, or climb on. Lance was close to it, and Logan was ontop of it. I started walking towards Lance like a gorilla - arms in the air, legs bowed, swaying slowly back and forth (much the same way HE'S started to walk ). He laughed and tried to run away. Logan started to yell to me, so I went after him next. I was on the ground, but tickling Logan, and acting like a monkey.

All of a sudden, I look around, and Im surrounded by kids. What was moments ago a pretty even distribution of kids throughtout the entire play area (50ft deep by 100 wide), was now a concentraion of about 15 kids sitting on and around me. All watching me play with Logan and Lance. Some started to introduce themselves, ask me my name, and such. Instant interest. Up to this point , I had done nothing but play with my own kids.(And, of course, make a monkey outta myself). I had not talked to other kids - not ackoledged that they were there - and was not acting like a wil dman in that I was a danger to anyone. BUT - immediately, one mother walked over and took her child to sit with her on a bench - another mom came over and actually stood guard! She, I soon found out , had a 5 and a 2.5 yr old. Her son introduced himself, so I introduced the boys to him. That mom was weird. She stood there, like I was some kinda predator, but engaged me in pleasant and open conversation, as we discussed our kids and their abilities at different age levels. Im glad she was not rude, but I still got the impression that she was the guard, and I was the prisoner. She could "afford" to be nice to me because I was being "checked" by her standing there.

I've often told the wife how, if I cared or payed any attention to it, that playground moms need to spend mor etime "playing" with their kids, and how I get strange looks and reactions because I play with mine.

BTW- 2 things of interest about today's "gathering".

1. After noticing the flocking to me, Logan and Lance had a whole group of kids to play with - after introducing them to everyone, Logan had someboys to play with, and Lance had a few girls chasing after him!

2. My wife overheard 2 boys (one of which was the oldest son of the "gaurd" lady) asking their mom as they were "removed" from my area
"He didn't lift me up like that - I wanted to play too"
AND, ya gotta love this next one.....
"But mom, why doesn't daddy play with me like that?"

BINGO!!! What have I been saying!?! Dad's need to spend more time with their kids. Kids crave an male role model. Kid also crave a parental adult (time to include/blame the moms here too) that will PLAY with them on a PLAYground.
DEE DEE DEE

Aikido class was (GODDAMNED FONT IS MESSING UP AGAIN _ SORRY!) good tonight. Not sure if I blogged about it, but I will be testing fo rmy 5th kyu on April 22nd. Even thought I pretty much know up to 2 higher belt worth of stuff, I can only take one belt at a time. But at least Im running pretty damn good with the 5th kyu stuff. And trying to brush up on the 4th and 3rd mean that Im not so focused on the 5th stuff that I'll stress or choke. I had previously been told (by a student) that I might be tested (and promoted) for a higher rank than just the first belt. But the teacher said only 1 belt at a time, or the Japanese organization frowns on you.
(For those who don't know - in aikido, kyu ranks are those below black belt. There are only 5 of them. Most aikido dojos don't hand out color belts. When you start - until you reach black belt, you wear a white belt. Only your "status" changes based on your rank. The GOOD thing about this is that it seems to lever the ego field, since you never know what rank anyone is (cept black belts). I now think that colored belts are for kids. Also, the main aikido dojo in Japan issues you what's called a "passport", which certifies your rank and is honored at almost every aikido dojo world wide.

PASSING - OPPS, Lowering the bar

The city of Virginia Beach recently made concesions after losing/or had made concessions after being threatented by a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice. It was alleged that the police depart unfairly reviewed and excluded participants based on their race. Not outright, but by exrcising discriminatory review practices. They had to RE-review those applicants that got the boot based on poor testing score, rescore them based on the NEW scoring method, and allow those who pass under the new scoring method the opportunity to continue down the road towards employment on the police department. Appearently, the MATH section of the test will be grade significantly less that before. Also, the city has agreed to create a Compensation fund for 124 applicants who failed.
In a letter received by the city on Feb. 7, the Department of Justice said that between 2002 and mid-2005, approximately 85 percent of white applicants passed the math test; approximately 66 percent of Hispanic applicants passed it; and approximately 59 percent of the African American applicants passed.
This begs that we ask the question: How much lower do we need to LOWER our standards of emploment to get enough minorites on the streets with guns to protect us?

It also add credibility to something I said back in college, that almost led to my being thrown out. I was taking a "diversity" class, and we were talking about "racially biased employment standards". The bitch teacher asked "what constitues a standard as being racially biased?" I answered
"A minority group that doens't feel like doign it, like rising to the level of the requirment. If the job requires a college degree, and minorities just don't feel like going to college, that requirment becomes racial biased. If you then require a high skool diploma, and minorites say 'eh, screw that - Im not down with skool', then that high skool diploma requirment becomes an ethically biased highing practice."

Needless to say, this fired up a shit storm with me in the middle. Actually, me on the only lonely end. No one else had the balls to say this. And here we have it playing itself out. Blacks can't meet a requirment, so they bitch, and that requirment gets lowered until enough of them can pass it to make them happy. At least the hispanic comunity has commented that they disagree with the Dept of Justice, and DON'T want the standard lowered. By doing so, THEY feel that it says that mexicans can't do math no good, and are incapable to doing better. Now THAT'S the attitude! Don't lower the damn bar! Raise the level of personal acceptance when you fail. Not that I hold cops in the highest regard anyways, but how low do we have to lower standards? How studiper do we want those high skool diploma'd, gun toting egomaniacs than they already are? Is there some guarentee that dumber minority applicants will be able to do the job better, or be less of an asshole, than those jackass white cops who are already partolling our streets? (I hate cops - I used to be one).
On second thought, I think the CIty of Virginia Beach may be pulling a big funny on those 124 applicants. They created a "compensation fund", with money in it, to be distributed to people who can't count worth shit. Let's see --- $250,000 - divided by 124 - holy shit! That's at least $300 for each of you! Enjoy!