kids in the US (as opposed to Korea) were actually rating themselves as "excellent" at things like math where they clearly weren't.

Or we could just wait for them to get to college to find out they're not....

I am reminded of the Toothpaste for Dinner guy doing experiments with a Neti Pot. Pretty funny when he moves past water...

struck me about how they came up with their results was that they didn't focus on trying to evaluate some nebulous "self-esteem" but showed that the kids in the US (as opposed to Korea) were actually rating themselves as "excellent" at things like math where they clearly weren't.

It seems like that could measure expectation more than "self-esteem". If a kid does great on every math test, then there isn't any reason he or she shouldn't rate themselves excellent. A problem I'm seeing with our kid's school is that getting poorer preforming students to score well enough on tests is much more important that challenging better performing students. I can't really blame the school that much, that's how the game is rigged.

yoiks. I'm still afraid of the neti pot, but now that I have a nebulizer, I don't ever need to think about having one.

We've been doing fun nebulizer experiments (on me, not Noah). .10ml of Vicks Vapor with 5 ML of saline is just about enough to quicko open the sinuses.

ALSO, did I say thank you to everyone who funded K's proposal was funded! So EXCITING. So thank you!

The video is here: [link]

Why yes, I should be working, but I'm sort of obsessed with the NY Times today. I'm floored that the Manhattan Project actually had sites in Manhattan.

In “The Manhattan Project” (Black Dog & Leventhal), published last month, Dr. Norris writes about the Manhattan Project’s Manhattan locations. He says the borough had at least 10 sites, all but one still standing. They include warehouses that held uranium, laboratories that split the atom, and the project’s first headquarters — a skyscraper hidden in plain sight right across from City Hall....

Manhattan was central, according to Dr. Norris, because it had everything: lots of military units, piers for the import of precious ores, top physicists who had fled Europe and ranks of workers eager to aid the war effort. It even had spies who managed to steal some of the project’s top secrets....

“That’s amazing,” Alexandra Ghitelman said after learning that the buildings she had just passed on inline skates once held tons of uranium destined for atomic weapons. “That’s unbelievable.”

ita the only thing that has worked reliably for you is drinking the night before, and whatever it is they give you in ER? Does morphine not work?

Morphine distracts me, but doesn't really cut the pain. Enough dilaudid that I can't see straight (but of course I pretend I can and carom off the furniture) is about it, when it digs in and gets bad. What I need is lower-grade prescription pain meds so I can stop it from digging in and having to go to the ER and get all juiced up--I just don't like it, on many levels.

Just got caught up after a day and a half:

{{{flea}}}{{{Sophia}}}{{{everyone with tooth miseries}}}

Augh, ita, no meds and no Tivo (and, if I'm reading right, either inadequate or no tequila as well) is a wretched state to be in. I'm very sorry.

sumi, thanks so much for the MSCL updates! I burn, I pine, I perish for the new DVD set. Though I also cackle with glee over still having the extra disc from the original DVD set, with the lovely Holzman and Herskovitz interview, not to mention the ultra-rare lunchbox.

And now, back to work. Of which I am very weary, but I really can't afford to slack off after having spent the last two weeks working from home (i.e., not really working at all) while Matilda's day care provider was on vacation. Curse you, wee job! ::shakes shaky fist::

I'm still afraid of the neti pot

I really dig my neti pot. Is that weird?

I'm sort of obsessed with the NY Times today.

Today the NY Times gave me the home address of the lead singer in a band I like, which just made me laugh and laugh, and consider sending him temporary tattoos of kittens.