evolution

When I have a dream and I start to see Dr. Nealy Newkirk and her perpetually-preserved smile in trans-fat free oil wrestling matches with that Spangles woman, it’s time to rotate the Goddam ads.

And probably time for me to lay off the tequila. But, whatever.

All right — at what point does someone not just punch these little brats in the face?

ACWORTH, Georgia (AP) — Georgia authorities Wednesday were searching for two young women, possibly teenagers, who robbed a supermarket bank branch, laughing as they held up a teller with nothing but sunglasses to disguise their faces.

The two handed a Bank of America branch teller a note demanding cash, smiled as they waited and then walked out with stolen money Tuesday, police said.

It wasn’t clear if they had a weapon, police said.

Here’s the surveillance camera picture, courtesy of CNN:

They’d better have God-damned good-and-well had a weapon. Otherwise, everyone in this bank at the time needs to be ticketed and fined for being a douche. Until I see the blue of gun-metal — and maybe even if I do — I’m slugging a laughing teenage girl robber in the mouth.

A California high school held separate pep talks on boosting test scores for its students, organized by race.

One of my problems with NCLB is that it basically sets up this very behavior. Proficiency scores are reported by “subgroup” — i.e., racial, economic, or special-needs categories.

The principal’s Orwellian response to critics:

Principal Bev Hansen said she held the divided student assemblies this year and last year to avoid one ethnic group harassing another based on test scores, arguing that the state has long reported test results based on race.

“In this country, race is a very uncomfortable topic, and it’s time we got over it,” Hansen said.

As one of the Newsvine commenters said, “Segregation doesn’t help people get over it. Getting over it helps people get over it.”

[Previously here and here]

The legislation sponsored by Rep. Lance Kinzer is about to turn into a pumpkin.

Good. Forget all the rhetoric from blowhard legislators and the teachers’ union’s partisan hacks. This legislation was a waste of time, attempting to do poorly what parents can do very well for themselves.

This caught my eye after my post on the use of the word “gay” as a synonym for “lame”, “silly”, or “stupid” (rather than for “someone in a same-sex romantic relationship”):

SANTA ROSA, CALIF. — When a few classmates razzed Rebeka Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions such as, “Do you have 10 moms?” she shot back: “That’s so gay.”

The girl was hauled into the principal’s office and a letter was added to her file, which resulted in her parents suing the district on First Amendment grounds.

As I said, this turn of phrase is pretty juvenile. And, it seems no one was really worried about harassment based on religious grounds, as it seems to be open season on Christians (and particularly Mormons) these days.

It seems a shame for such a storm to descend on a young person for simply having shot off her mouth.

So I’m debating with myself. As you know, I just (unofficially) passed the Society of Actuaries Course P exam. I’m debating whether or not to sign up for the next offering of the Society’s Course FM exam, which will be offered the last week in May and early in November.

If I take it in May, I will be better able to get an entry-level actuarial position sooner. But the next three months would be a bit like the last three, and I don’t know if I could be a studying machine for that long. On the other hand, November is a long time to wait.

Going back to my post on blogging ethics, it’s nice to know that if one of you flaps your lips a little too much, I can sell you out without too many problems: Federal court reaffirms immunity of bloggers from suits brought against commenters.