We Won

Granted, New York and Maine did not approve of the gays getting married. But we won anyway. The proof is below:

A Seattle high school video class (read: homos and artsy heteros) composed this all-in-one-take video to challenge their cross-town rivals.



I'm gay, and that's fucking gay (and is it just me, or is that the Pod People synthesizer playing in the background?). But the cross-town high school's response is, well, the fucking coolest thing you'll ever see a high school do at the instigation of the gays and their gay-adjacents.



We won. Rachel Maddow sums it up:

I love the internet

I'm making out my exam. I, of course, go off on tangents while fact checking and read about people & events that I'm interested in. That's what we do. I've always wondered about John C. Breckenridge. He was VP under Buchanan and the Southern Democrat who lost to Lincoln in 1860. I always kinda wondered why he was never considered for Confederate leadership, since he had been right there in D.C. I knew that he became a Confederate General and was at Shiloh. Well he was from Kentucky, which is why he was probably not considered for civilian leadership, and he was only 35! when elected VP. He was heavily involved in the fighting, and actually did become CSA Sec. of War in early 1865. He tried to bring an end to the thing and of note he made sure the Confederate archives in Richmond were captured intact by Union troops. He fled the country to avoid treason charges and then came back after being pardoned and was critical of the Klan. Okay, run-of-the-mill history geek stuff. Then it gets fun. I learned that his grandson was an actor, none other than John C. 'Bunny' Breckenridge, who played the Ruler in Plan 9 from Outer Space for his friend and fellow cross-dresser Ed Wood. Of course, Bunny was played by one of my all-time favorite actors, Bill Murray, in Ed Wood. I love the internet and wikipedia rules. Back to the test-making salt mine.

US History Final

37) This Kentuckian was one of the most influential politicians of the early to mid-1800’s. He was a strong nationalist who served as Speaker of the House, Senator, and Secretary of State. He was a founder of the Whig Party and five times an unsuccessful presidential candidate. He was known as the ‘Great Compromiser’ for settling difficult disagreements between North and South.
A) John C. Calhoun B) Henry Clay
C) Daniel Webster D) James K. Polk E) None of the above

Bromide Beware.

Cash-for-grades scandal rocks campus at Diablo Valley College
More than 70 current and former students at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill are being investigated for allegedly paying bribes of up to $600 to have their grades raised on official transcripts, officials said Thursday.
$600 bucks. I thought the going rate was much higher!

GateTree Better Hide The Brown Party Liquor

Apparently teachers, or soon-to-be teachers, can't have fun. Even legal fun. Who knew that 21st-century technology would be used to enforce 19th-century morals?

A Fine Day

I spent all day at school working on my AP US History Syllabus we have to submit for some newfangled audit to make sure we can teach (a reasonable concern, admittedly). To this end I'm continuing to ram The Civil War by Ken Burns down my kids' collective throats, with questions to answer, of course. This afternoon we had a low-carb wrap sammich. We went outside to watch Thisbe try to break free from her tie down through any means necessary and to see the turtles frolic. We were treated to a show when a turkey vulture, my favorite carrion bird, feasted on some road kill out on the access road. A fine day indeed.