Where have all the hummingbirds gone? Long time passing.
One day my feeders were being bombarded with these mean little birds. Then they all vaporized. Gone. Do hummingbirds migrate? If yes, then where do they go for the winter?
Hummingbirds are mean and aggressive. They fight with each other and probably would fight me if I got in their way.
I guess they are finished with me for the season. I bought them new food and everything. I hope it keeps until next spring. Do you still have these snarky little birds at your house?
I’ve been using the same hummingbird food for 4 years (crystals I mix with water) and they don’t seem to mind. I had hummingbirds early last week and poof, they disappeared. Yes, they migrate south. Perhaps the weather got too cold at night.
Yea,it was like over night they disappeared.
I use a concentrated liquid I get from Amazon. You open it and then refrigerate it. I think it will be fine as long as I refrigerate it. They can be persnickety about food.
I think my neighbors put out real premium stuff because sometimes they turn up their noses at what I serve.
I had a few last week as well, I don’t have any humming birdfeeders but they do love my roses. Now that you mention it I haven’t seen any the past few days either.
Finally, the Clintons are grandparents.
Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.
Neat! Congrats to all the Clintons and proud dad.
Jesse Matthew has been forensically linked to the murder of Morgan Harrington.
This sounds like a serial killer to me.
Camille Paglia, the so-called contrarian feminist writer and current educator, has a very interesting article in Time Magazine online entitled: “The Modern Campus Cannot Comprehend Evil.” It pertains to the current case at UVa and others like it and seems well worth considering, especially if you are a young woman on campus (or her parents).
@Wolve
Here’s the link
http://time.com/3444749/camille-paglia-the-modern-campus-cannot-comprehend-evil/
Two excerpts:
Wildly overblown claims about an epidemic of sexual assaults on American campuses are obscuring the true danger to young women, too often distracted by cellphones or iPods in public places: the ancient sex crime of abduction and murder. Despite hysterical propaganda about our “rape culture,” the majority of campus incidents being carelessly described as sexual assault are not felonious rape (involving force or drugs) but oafish hookup melodramas, arising from mixed signals and imprudence on both sides.
Colleges should stick to academics and stop their infantilizing supervision of students’ dating lives, an authoritarian intrusion that borders on violation of civil liberties. Real crimes should be reported to the police, not to haphazard and ill-trained campus grievance committees.
And
Misled by the naive optimism and “You go, girl!” boosterism of their upbringing, young women do not see the animal eyes glowing at them in the dark. They assume that bared flesh and sexy clothes are just a fashion statement containing no messages that might be misread and twisted by a psychotic. They do not understand the fragility of civilization and the constant nearness of savage nature.
____________
This is why I will be training my daughter to be armed and to be alert; to not casually accept those drinks offered, to understand that her parents will come get her, no questions asked, no matter the time or place or we will get someone there that CAN help her, if she is inebriated.
This culture does not teach the values that protected women any longer. Chivalry is dead. She cannot depend upon men to be civilized or protective.
I going to have to ponder what you have just said. I hate to say this but I am going to agree with a lot of what you have just said. The biggest problem seem to be alcohol and drugs with an emphasis on alcohol. That isn’t new.
I think attire is another problem. I constantly have this conversation with certain family members.
I had the same conversation with my daughter about any time, day or night. I didn’t see that she was armed. Your daughter won’t be able to be armed many places she goes. I think common sense replaces some of being armed.
Now there is a bunch of talk about “blaming the victim.” I don’t think using common sense blames the victim. We can do a lot as females to reduce the risk of sexual assault. Where are you going? Who will be there? Are you traveling with friends when you are with people you don’t know well? Is your attire non-provocative? Is your conversation provocative?? Those sorts of things.
I had a good friend in college who was gang raped by many members of a fraternity. She had passed out so everyone took a turn. Had she not had too much to drink, criminal pigs wouldn’t have been in a position to do what they did. They also weren’t sent to jail. Their fraternity lost social privileges for a year or something like that.
I am now going to go out on a limb. Oafishness doesn’t mean it isn’t really rape. Stranger rape is not the same as date rape. but rape is rape. Stranger rape is combined with the fear of not knowing if you will be dead or alive after the situation is over. Date rape most people live to tell about. Other than that, total violation.
I forgot to say that college campuses weren’t reporting correctly, if they were reporting at all.
Case in point…what did Liberty do about the incident with Jesse Matthew in 2002? No one knows.
I read the Time article. There is a little too much putting down of academic bs. Much of what she says is true, especially about sexual predators.
I would be remiss if I didn’t make a nasty comment about athletes and some who have this demi-god attitude of ownership about women. That plays a part also. Somehow the athletic prowess is turned into power. We might say the same thing of some politicians.
@Moon-howler
Pocket knife.
Mace.
Kubotan
Hair pin
sharp object on key chain.
Pointy reinforced fingernails
Martial arts training.
Chain saw…..
One does not need a gun to be armed.
I agree completely about common sense.
tire iron
baseball bat
purse (the deadliest of all)
Did the White House completely make up the Khorosan group (one of the “JV” squads)? That is what it’s starting to look like, but what would that mean for the Administration if true?
Yippeeeee!! For the first time in more than a decade the pawpaw has produced more than a few clusters of fruit! The opossums can have what we left on the ground this year. This stuff is better than anything you can buy in the grocery store and I foresee some custard, pie, and possibly bread coming our way. I might have to get a bat or tire iron to reach the stragglers.
Pawpaws are nice understory trees but sucker all around the parent plant.
If the tree is full it means we are going to get a tremendous amount of snow.
@Jackson Bills
Media Matters response in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
FYI – Manassas Fall Jubilee this Sat. (Oct.4th, 10AM-5PM).
Come join the fun in Old Town!
Thanks for the invite, Steve. Where have you been lately?
Breaking news.
Possible overthrow of North Korean dictator by his sister.
Or…possibly not.
Congratulations to UVA for their win over Pitt.
Congratulations to VA TECH for their win over North Carolina.
Great day in the Old Dominion. Today was perfect football weather.
This ebola in the US has confirmed to me that right wing media are fear mongerers who ignore science and logic. The talk about witch doctors and screening passengers is laughable.
Arghhhh! Drats, my poor Nats!
Sorry Steve 🙁
The cultural war intrusion into the teaching of AP history is an interesting topic to argue over who is the bigger propagandists.
The fight over how to teach math was always a hoot. The ones who didn’t understand math always wanted to have kids just memorize flash cards because the answer was on the back. If they had to explain regrouping their heads exploded and they blamed their inability to explain mathematical concepts to their kids as bad curriculum. Phone do arithmetic so now the time wasted on memorizing math facts and practicing mental arithmetic should be spent on understanding concepts like time value of money.
The mathematically weak want to recommend THEIR way to kids. What’s wrong with this picture. Do it MY way. Do it MY way. I am such a success story.
There was a Spanish priest who caught Ebola in West Africa. They brought him home to Spain for treatment, but he died from the disease. Now one of the nurses in Spain who cared for the priest has come down sick and has been tested positive for Ebola. She is now under treatment. There is an internet photo of her being moved by ambulance with a police motorcycle escort. Imagine the trace back necessary for her recent professional and patient contacts. Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone, over 120 people reportedly died from Ebola in a single day day this week. Fear mongering, you say?
At work…morale sinks lower, the rate of administrator required “busy work” increases, educators seriously discuss the merits of working at Costco or ANYWHERE else over current jobs, and it’s only October. God help us.
DB, name the one biggest cause in the low morale.
I am curious, especially now I am a free agent.
I let my certificate expire and was pleased to do so. The only thing that makes me question if I would do it again is the retirement.
Moon,
I will preface this with it’s not just one school system’s newest trend, but several, as I have first hand knowledge of: Entire grade levels are now required to spend one day per week with the principal in an ALL DAY data meeting about how to improve student learning. So, for 1 day per week, the entire teaching staff of a particular grade level are ABSENT from their classrooms to discuss data and how to improve student outcomes. All of the students in one grade level (K on Monday, 1st on Tuesday, etc.) are bereft of their teacher one day per week while the teachers are required to discuss data/outcomes and student improvement. So, due to these weekly data meetings, students are really getting only 4 days per week instruction from a certified teacher while the teacher, forced by admin to attend the data meetings is still held responsible for the educational outcomes of his/her students.
Who came up with that lame brain plan? So 20% of the week’s instruction isn’t being provided by a certificated teacher, and yet that teacher is being held accountable for educational outcomes. Let me guess…I expect this is happening at an at risk school. Insanity! I expect discipline takes a tumble also.
Isn’t 40% of a teacher evaluation based on testing outcomes? I seem to remember that little state “gift” also.
The county had some sort of 8 step intervention that took up lots of time also when you could be preparing for instruction. It didn’t even matter if you had good test scores. Let’s take up hours of planning time a week to make them even better.
I am sorry that teachers are being subjected to this insanity.
Toss in the fact that their in many schools is a remediation team whose job it is to help students who require extra support. Well, this team of remediation specialists must spend one week per month in data discussion with principals, soooo the students requiring remediation only actually receive remediation for 3 weeks per month.
So 25% of the time the remediation specialists are shooting the crap with the administrators instead of teaching the children. Why aren’t the parents up in arms about this? Wait, don’t tell me. They are being fed a line of crap about how this is helping their kids.
Is this coming down from the superintendent?
there not “their” I apologize
Then there is the individual interview…..(scary music) Principal sits behind keyboard and asks questions such as “How will you improve upon your class data?” Principal types teacher responses. One teacher said to me “Can I say I will improve my student outcomes by no longer attending data meetings?”
That teacher should say that. Perhaps this is something we need to explore more on this blog. NCLB’s dirty remains linger on.
What basically amazes me is that people still play the games involved in NCLB. What I would want to say is change the student population, then my test scores would improve.
Speaking county….Reagan Middle is going to have higher test scores than Fred Lynn Middle. Let’s just admit that coming right out of the gate. I just chose those two schools for no real reason other than starkly different demographics. The western school probably has an average household income well in excess of $100k a year. Fred Lynn has an average household income of whatever blue collar workers make, often with the adults in the house working more than one job. Without some real fancy footwork, those test scores aren’t going to even be in the same plane. Yet…expectations are the same for both sets of teachers? Yea, right.
Oh, someone from the county please come on here and tell me I am full of it. I won’t be holding my breath because everyone knows I am speaking the truth.
Thanks for your input. I think we need to do more education-speak on here. Cargo is getting ready to go into the field. Maybe he needs to know more of the reality of all this.
Downton Abbey season 5 has started in the UK. We’ve watched the first two episodes. I won’t post any spoilers but I will say that so far I don’t like season 5 as much as season 4. Moon-howler will absolutely love episode 2 though. There are two different scenes that you will love.
Overall though the series seems to be bogging down. The show timeline has moved 12 years but people don’t act like 12 years has past. Thomas is still scheming, Bates & Anna are still Bates & Anna, everybody just seems to be treading water.
My other complaint is that the show is getting a little too self aware. We get it, the times are changing, but the characters don’t have to run around saying “The times sure are changing” every 5 minutes. It’s like the old saying about writers. A bad writer says a character is angry. A good writer writes what a character does and the reader understands they are angry. DA should show the times changing instead of constantly saying it.
On the bright side, they are using Maggie Smith a lot more. And that’s never a bad thing. I’d be happy with the Dowager Violet and Friends show.
Ok, one minor spoiler. There’s a scene where they have a “wireless” (aka radio) installed at Dowton to hear the King give a speech. Everyone is gathered around to listen. As the King starts to speak (very staticy. You can barely hear him) the Dowager stands up. Everybody looks around for a fraction of a second and then everybody stands. Very funny to see people trying to figure out what the etiquette is for listening to the King on the radio. (And Mrs. Padmore asks “He can’t hear us, can he?”)
Thank you so much for that update. Tell me again how to do this. I have friends and family in UK and Switzerland. I am green with envy.
I can’t wait to see episode 2.
Funny about the King on the wireless.
@Moon-howler
Thanks.
I’m following this quite closely and going in with my eyes open. I EXPECT this type of CYA BS.
Even with all of this…..its STILL better than being deployed with the military or working for an armored car company……..
These meetings are nothing more than attempts to massage the data.
Perhaps if we had gotten the federal government completely out of education, we wouldn’t have this BS.
I think I might like working for an armored car company better. I do know this. It isn’t a job gets easier the more experience you get.
I am not going to debate whether the feds should or shouldn’t be involved. They are. I think the real challenge is living with the reality. What can be done is NCLB does not need to be funded. Repeal it or don’t reauthorize it. That can and should be done.
@Moon-howler
“What can be done is NCLB does not need to be funded. Repeal it or don’t reauthorize it. That can and should be done.”
That would step on progressive toes……the media would erupt in to the “The GOP hates kids” mantra.
But…if we can get the conservatives in charge of Congress with a GOP president…… you can always send that idea up to your congressman.
It is not the various bills or actions taken by government that are the problems. If NCLB was repealed tomorrow….another would just take its place.
You have to remove the actual authority for that government entity to do such things….or remove that gov’t entity.
We need basic structural changes in existing laws.
How should teachers be measured to see if they are effective in the classroom?
Not the way they are measured now.
Its difficult to measure an art. I would evaluate how a teacher presents a lesson, are the students engaged or at least paying attention. Does the teacher effectively use the tools at hand to communicate homework assignments, communicate to parents, etc. Are the students in the classroom respectful of that teacher and each other. Does the teacher handle MOST of the discipline problems his or herself? Is that teacher professional or does that person gossip and stir up stuff. Does the teacher stay on topic most of the time?
Those sorts of things….
We use a slingbox to essentially remotely watch a TV in the UK and do the same for some ex-pat friends so they can watch football.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingbox
So who is your favorite Downton character? Because after episode 2, I’m guessing you’ll have a new one.
Arghhh! Arghhh! Nats are out and the stock market is dropping !!
But good news, no doubt our Great Leader will soon declare
Ebola a JV sickness. That should comfort the nation.
The market is back up 250 points now. Rest easy.
The moon is fantastic, fabulous tonight!
It really was bright and beautiful tonight. I didn’t see it rise even though I was sitting outside. Was it red tonight?
@Cargo…I love “massage the data” I just may want to borrow that. I think the kick to the gut for teachers in my school and others too has been that administrators are now assigning the SMART goals (goals that teachers are supposed to choose for evaluation purposes). The SMART goal/eval process as developed by the state was/is open to teachers to decide upon their (the teacher’s) educational goals for their current class. But the administrators have stolen this opportunity from the teachers and have created uniform goals for all student achievement across all grade levels irregardless of any other factors like sped, esol, socioeconomic factors etc. So here you go: the SMART goals for EVERY teacher in my school (ESOL, SPED, Coach, K-4 gen ed, Specialist (math/reading), Interventionist (remediation):100% of students in all subgroups grades 1-4 will achieve 70% or higher on ALL assessments. K: 70% of students in ALL subgroups will achieve 70% or higher on ALL assessments. If you as an individual teacher have students that maybe make a 68% pass rate on one particular test you as a teacher have failed even if your students all pass the other two assessments. You still receive a check mark in the “unacceptable” category of your SMART goal form that deals with test data no matter what the rest of your data shows because YOU FAILED to attain the 100% pass rate on ALL assessments on the goal someone else told you that you HAD to create.
So the City of Manassas is programming its teachers for failure this early in the year. You might has well not try. Most of you will fail. 100% of the students aren’t going to pass, in all probability.
@DB
There is absolutely NO way to get 100%. Too many factors are out of the control of the teachers. This is ludicrous.
Perfect example. My daughter is having issues with school. She is currently failing 9th grade. No teacher can guarantee that my daughter will pass. They can only do the best that they can and demand that she meet standards. She is failing due to missing a lot of school due to health issues AND because she has not stepped up to do her work.
You are correct. (Savor those words from me) No teacher can guarantee the behavior of another human being.
I hope your daughter works through all this. Otherwise, maybe she just needs to fall on her face and learn from her mistake. I do know, its very difficult to make up a great deal of missed work. Sometimes schools will cooperate. Other times, not so much.
@Moon-howler
I’ve already told her that if she fails due to lack of effort….she gets to enjoy the consequences. I will NOT make a special effort to save her.
Good for you. I would plan a neat trip that she wont be able to go on during the summer because her young tail is in summer school.
You can lead a horse to water….
FYI- Manassas City Candidates Forum – 7PM on October 17th
Manassas City Hall
Nobel Peace Prize awarded the that amazing young girl, Malala.
Co-prize winner is Satyarthi from India.
Malada really is amazing. Not sure it was worth being shot in the face.
All nations must have all “hands on deck” if they are to prosper
in the 21st century. Demeaning and holding down half the population
is the road to ruin for any people.
Yes, Malada is amazing. A great example for all of us.
@Cargo,
Yes!!!!!! I totally agree that 100% is not possible. My son is a freshman in HS and while he goes to school everyday, his LD in perceptual areas, combined with a poor working memory pretty much screws his ability to do math. I’m talking about a boy who at the age of 15 yrs CANNOT tell time on an analogue clock, or understand money. He frequently is lost in school halls because he takes wrong turns, struggles with using his locker because the numbers confuse him, has difficulty writing with a writing tool, can’t spell worth saving his life but he can read ANYTHING and can decode a new word in context like a pro. His vocabulary and reading comprehension is far above his peers. He passes science and history and reading tests no problem. Once upon a time there were Sped diplomas and Gen ed diplomas. No more. Once upon a time there was consumer math (the useful stuff). Now the only diplomas are for the ones who pass all state SOL tests.
The educational system does not meet the needs of kids unless they plan on going to college. I am not even sure they meet those needs either because those kids hare held back by those kids who aren’t going to college being in the wrong ed course.
We need far more vocational training. We need to act like we believe in multiple intelligence instead of trying to cater to the book crowd, half assed.