The Mayor ,'End of Days'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Allyson, that is too bad.
Kat & Jesse: GA, I totally thought at the end of last season that she was going to get an abortion -- thus the appointment with the clinic that she mentioned to Meredeth. I'm guessing that she totally intends to keep the appointment, but of course, there is no way that they would ever allow this to go smoothly nor would there be any chance that Burke would never know and thus, next week's episode.
They should have asked the legion of first-graders who knew brontosaurus, but had never heard of apatosaurus!
They also could have asked Fred Flintstone. What's he gonna eat at the drive-in, now that brontosaurus burgers are no more?
T-Rex T-Bones?
Wait. They wouldn't have those at a drive-in.
Damn. I can't shake the sad about that poor girl. I keep thinking about her and feeling awful for her loved ones.
Cafepress @@ as promised: [link]
Thoughts? Suggestions? Money goes to b.org? Or set things at base prices (most are, right now).
Those look good, Raq!
I agree, the first half of TAR was kind of boring, there isn't much excitement to be had when you have to follow 36 people driving 9 SUVs -- not enough time to spend with any, or develop much suspense, and you don't even have that much exotic scenery. :-)
Also, the early legs are the ones where the incautious, over-excited, easily-fatigued, or stupid (take your pick) get weeded out as they misread maps and forget to heed important clues written out in plain English.
As for the specific episode, I think they got lost looking FOR 86, rather than ON 86 (or was it 83?) -- anyway, if I caught it right, the correct direction to go was WEST on 30 to hook up with the right highway, rather than EAST, since it stands to reason that you go east from PA to get to DC -- you do... eventually.
In conclusion: Map reading skillz are important. So is having other people on your team double-check the maps and the clues.
In conclusion: Map reading skillz are important. So is having other people on your team double-check the maps and the clues.Ben's having a huge Geography test today, with longitude/latitude; maps, map keys, scales, compass roses, locators, cardinal and intermediate directions.
Gah. I studied hard. I want to take it for him. Um.
Heh. I don't think that's allowed, Cindy. Besides, I don't think you'll pass disguised as a small boy....
I can't remember ever learning how to read maps -- I wonder if that's why so many people are map-illiterate, they never had it explained to them.
He does look a lot like me. All I'd have to do is lose 50-60 pounds and a foot of height, bind my breasts, and I'm good to go. I won't even need make-up, except for these pesky crow's feet and smile lines, which he brought out in the first place!!! I might even be able to cram my feet into his shoes. My hair's a little darker, though.
Poor guy has the same glitch re longitude and latitude that I had. And I eventually got it, but it still hurts my brain in a funny way, trying to help him get past the glitch.
Longitude lines (meridians) are the vertical lines. So in his head (and once, in mine) it was very confusing to remember that they actually give you the degrees East or West, because it totally feels like it ought to be a north/south thing. And ditto (in a reverso sort of way) for latitude lines (parallels).
He'd then blank out, finding a spot on the map, using the latitude/longitude coordinates. I'd give him the latitude point, and he'd stop there, even when I'd say, okay, you know it's along that line, and longitude will help you figure out where.
Finally, I had him trace the lines in the text book (and erased the heck out of them, later), to find where they intersect. I hope this teacher doesn't care if his test paper ends up looking like a doodle pad.
Most of the information was otherwise easy for him, but there's a ton of vocabulary. It's largely his fault that he is having a hard time. He should have started taking home the Social Studies book, last week. I'm 90% convinced he remembered to do so last night, only because I was in the school yesterday, and so taped a reminder note in his locker.
It's not hard stuff--it's just a lot. Last year, was heavy on math and reading. Both come naturally to him, so he could generally hear something once and get it. He's a little surprised by the concept of actually studying. Fourth grade is so different from third. We don't have a good read on this teacher's testing style yet, either. So it's not like we can look at the information, and know what we'll see on the test.
Ooof. Sorry, Natter. That was a lot of me-blurt for the morning. I guess this stuff has been on my mind all night.
No, no -- it's keeping me entertained this AM. And that is important! Big Eyes