The Peaceful Gnome

I have always loved Gregorian Chant, Issues Etc. talked about it on Monday, take a listen:

Here we go again , more of the same old BS only now instead of Bush it's Obama spewing lies. I said it before the election and I'll say it again, Obama is nothing but another corporate whore, just like Bush. The only "Change" he ...brought was the amount of melanin in the oval office. Another War in the Works by Paul Craig Roberts Shared via AddThis

My mom has been with us all month and this was my last few days off before she flies back to Arizona on Wednesday. So we crammed a lot into a few days, which we do even when she's not here actually ;-) On Wednesday Serenity and I went to Shadow Cliffs where we met up with some unschooling friends and spent much of the afternoon keeping cool in the lake. On Thursday Serenity and I went to the library in the early afternoon and got several books to read. Later in the day mom and I were off to San Francisco where we had dinner at CPK and took in a set of Mahler at the SF Symphony . It was not your normal performance, it was being recorded for a TV/DVD thing and the soloist was out sick... nice anyway though. On Friday we all, Lora, Serenity, mom and me, went to the Winchester Mystery House . Now that is a very strange house :-/ On Saturday I went with Serenity and mom to Mt. Diablo for stargazing with the Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society . I saw more things in the night sky that...

Here is another bone headed idea brought to you by Govco, your full service killer of dreams: More government indoctrination, more bullying, more drudgery, less playing, less real life learning. Yep, sounds like a plan to me. More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation - Yahoo! News Source: news.yahoo.com Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

Here is a no brainer, ending prohibition is the only way to go, IMO. I do like the comments from the narc, his job is threatened by this law so he tries weak, very weak, scare tactics. "Marijuana smokers will wreak havoc on the streets driving stoned!" Huh, yeah, right, just like beer drink ers do. It's a separate issue from legalization though. BBC NEWS | Americas | California mulls legalising marijuana Source: news.bbc.co.uk In 1996, voters in California approved a referendum that made it legal for the first time in decades in the US for people to consume cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Earth in Genesis does not refer to the planet but to dry land. Now that makes excellent sense to me. Understanding Earth - Science and the Sacred Shared via AddThis

Great post about entropy, decadence and the end times... Father Hollywood: Are things getting worse? Posted using ShareThis

I usually listen to Radio Paradise when I want to listen to an eclectic selection of rock music, but sometimes they are just to "serious". So I was looking for something else to listen to when I came upon Planet Pootwaddle . It is now my favorite rock music station on the net! From the "What it Be" section of the site: Planet Pootwaddle is an extensive collection of both familiar and eclectic music coupled with a healthy dose of 12 year old boy humor and all seamlessly bound together with our unique blend of production, or as we like to call it "jingle magic"

I just got tickets to the San Francisco Symphony for Thursday night. It's a night of Mahler conducted by MTT, should be awesome! The baritone soloist is Thomas Hampson: Find more videos like this on San Francisco Symphony Social Network Here is some other guy singing part one of Songs of a Wayfarer that will be on Thursday's program:

I just wanted to make the location of the Group Pool of photos from Good Vibrations a bit more obvious: It is right here: Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference Photo Pool.

I've uploaded some more photos to my Good Vibrations Flickr page here . Also there is a "pool page" of photos here that I hope to add mine to pretty soon. On Monday we left San Diego and traveled up to San Simeon where we stayed overnight at the Motel 6. Today we visited Hearst Castle, very cool, and that counts as "history" for our "schooly" family and friends ;-) Then we had a picnic at the beach in San Simeon where we watched hundreds of pelicans diving into the water after fish. A short way up the coast we saw 60 or so Elephant Seals, or as Serenity and I tend to call them "Sea Elephants." :-)

We are on our last day at the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference in San Diego . We're having a great time, learning lots of new things, meeting new people and making new friends. It's a nice hotel, nice city and all in all I'm really glad that we have come. I have not been taking many pictures because I've been way too busy to do it. I have a few posted up on Flickr right now but that's mostly from the Thursday beach potluck. I think I'll take some more tonight at the dance and maybe this afternoon poolside. Or not :-) I'll post and let you know if I do.

Over the weekend, Mom, Serenity and me all went up to Fiddle Creek campground on the Yuba River north of Nevada City. We had a great time! Serenity especially loved meeting the two rats that Jaden brought, Russia and Rose :-)

Well, it looks like a consensus is forming in California, we are going to ignore those closed signs on the parks :-) From the SF Gate: The question on everyone's mind seems to be, "How do you close a beach?" One imagines giant tractors hauling away the sand, or armed guards standing sentry at the shoreline. I'll admit I've entertained visions of Schwarzenegger himself stomping on toddlers' sandcastles. The reality is far less dramatic. "There will be nobody to clean the restrooms and haul away the trash," Stearns says. "Parking lots may be barricaded." But people will still be able to walk in and out of the parks, just as they've always done. Even if there's no toilet paper in the restrooms, I daresay beachgoers will find their way to the dunes. Northern California is uniquely equipped to maintain its gnarly vibe despite the loss of funding. After all, this isn't Malibu. On Bay Area beaches, lifeguards are as scarce as the su...

Great article on schools as prison and unschooling by Peter Gray Published on Psychology Today ( http://www.psychologytoday.com ) “Why Don’t Students Like School?” Well, Duhhhh… By Peter Gray Created Sep 2 2009 - 4:40am Someone recently referred me to a book that they thought I'd like. It's a 2009 book, aimed toward teachers of grades K through 12, titled Why Don't Students Like School? It's by a cognitive scientist named Daniel T. Willingham, and it has received rave reviews by countless people involved in the school system. Google the title and author and you'll find pages and pages of doting reviews and nobody pointing out that the book totally and utterly fails to answer the question posed by its title. Willingham's thesis is that students don't like school because their teachers don't have a full understanding of certain cognitive principles and therefore don't teach as well as they could. They don't ...

So, Bible Logos software is having a bible giveaway , which reminded me that I can link to scripture from within my blog, which I think is cool but I don't use it much. Which then led me to ponder, why not? I suppose it's because I post about daily life and political rants more than I do about reading God's word. Which is really lame because I do read the Word each and every day after all and could probably find something to say about it every day at that. So then, Ephesians 1:9-11 was part of my reading this morning. It reminded me that God really does have everything under control and that it's all going to come together in the end to His glory and my good. :-)