DJing the Debt Ceiling Talks

Debt ceiling talks break down...again!  Obama and Boehner knock twice on the pipe.

"Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando and Dawn

Good Night Valentine !

   From one of my favorite sites: Awesome Thing #301 : Laughing in Bed

And whether you’re giggling in the bunks with your brother, whispering in sleeping bags at a slumber party, or just lazing around on a sleepy Sunday morning with your wrinkly sweetheart of fifty years… well isn’t it a beautiful moment when you’re suddenly smiling in pitch blackness and laughing in a pajama-clad moment of intimacy.

Laughs in bed are a little bonus at the end of a long day.

Egypt: Hoping for Better Future!

After a long 30 year winter of military dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, hope springs eternal.  Congratulations to Egypt people for ousting a corrupt despot.


It is important to remember that the uprisings have for the moment resulted in a military junta.  I suppose a military council is better than a military dictator.  But please remember this is just the end of the beginning for Egypt.  And that Egypt is now exactly back where it was in the 1950s after its military ousted the British colonists.  There is no parliament, no constitution and military rule.

Help! My New Charlotte Property Tax Notification Shows A Huge Increase

New Property Tax Values Shock Some Owners


Charlotte property homeowners have 30 days to respond to newest real estate tax accessments. 

In 2006 (at the top of the market), we appealled our property tax valuation and it was dropped 15%. Since then the real estate market has dropped roughy 20%,   But Charlotte has seen fit to increase our property value by 22%. 

Appeal your property value assessment now!  I am.  At least local real estate appraisers will have have great business for the next month.

FYI - The Charlotte Observer has many interactive tools for viewing tax assessment valuations

More Catholic School Boosting

Educating Our Children: Catholic Schools Doing More With Less


A 2009 comparison between public and Catholic school SAT scores show that public school students had an overall average of 496 points on the critical reading portion of the test while Catholic school students scored 533 points on the same portion. Catholic school students outscored their public school counterparts by an average of 23 points.


What makes the numbers more impressive is that Catholic high schools spend more than $2,000 less per pupil than public schools.  In Charlotte, I currently pay roughly $3,000 annually for elementary school education and approx 3,500 for a middle school student.   In addition to providing a great educational foundation, our local Catholic system  innovatively uses technology tools to enhance learning.  

Can iPads, MacBooks help students learn?  Charlotte Catholic High School is taking part in a pilot program to find out

As part of a semester-long pilot program to test new technology in the classroom, Charlotte Catholic High School has given select classes iPads and MacBooks for use in the classroom.

About three weeks ago, two junior U.S. History classes and one senior Discrete Math class began testing some of Apple's best-selling products to see which is the most effective teaching tool.

The laptop classroom (a teacher leading classroom discussions with laptop-enabled students) is already a reality in many elite private New York City schools, with the concept stretched into the establishment of a few experimental  private "laptop schools."  

God, Can You Hear Me Know?

Bless me iPhone for I have sinned

An iPhone app aimed at helping Catholics through confession and encouraging lapsed followers back to the faith has been sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the United States.


"Confession: A Roman Catholic App," thought to be the first to be approved by a church authority, walks Catholics through the sacrament and contains what the company behind the program describes as a "personalized examination of conscience for each user".

I know the Catholic Church is trying to modernize itself, but this seems rather silly to me.   It may however, bring you spiritually closer to your phone.

Another Reason to Post a Glam Facebook Pic?

It might end up on an internet dating site!

Dating’ Site Imports 250,000 Facebook Profiles, Without Permission

The site Lovely-Faces.com was launched this week, with profiles — names, locations and photos — scraped from publicly accessible Facebook pages. The site categorizes these unwitting volunteers into personality types, using a facial recognition algorithm, so you can search for someone in your general area who is “easy going,” “smug” or “sly.”

The site's homepage message slyly states:  "Welcome to the only dating site that lists real people, sincerely posting their real data and picture. You'll feel comfortable watching them. Just like in Facebook."

Both are true statements. First, The dating site (legally) mined publicly available Facebook page profile pictures and data. Second, it took a page from Mark Zuckerberg's playbook who famously hacked Harvard University computers to get pictures of coeds for his "Face Mash" website, which preceded Facebook.
Karma! Ha!

What this means to you:  Either completely remove your public picture for assured privacy OR post your greatest glam shot if you're game for some unintended internet exposure.

(All kidding aside, social networks are pushing out ethical and legal boundaries on data sharing and digital communications.  Some may be progressive and "good," but there is are many negatives to network info sharing too.)