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Reblogged, Science Fiction, Thriller

Almenningen, Mikkel Adrian: Den perfekte familien (liksom) (8th grade)

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Dette er en fortelling min sønn skrev i 8. klasse på Steinerskolen.

mikkeladrian's avatarDesigning my US life

This is a story I wrote in 8th grade, for school. I’m currently trying to translate it. So exclusive contese for Norwegian readers. 

 

”DEN PERFEKTE FAMILIE” (LIKSOM)

STIL

 

Jeg løp som en perfekt sprinter for jeg visste at jeg skulle vært hjemme for 15 minutter siden. Kommer jeg mer enn 16 minutter for sent, så får jeg tv, PC, ute og venneforbud. Jeg måtte forte meg nedover den bratte, glatte nedoverbakken, før jeg måtte løpe opp den sandete, bratte oppoverbakken, før jeg måtte løpe ned den strie, brede elven og opp den høye spiraltrappen som er pyntet med sølv, gull og edelstener. Likevel kom jeg inn hele 19 minutter for sent, så da ble det 3 uker uten venner, PC, tv og ute forbud. En ting som gjør det verre er at jeg må sitte igjen på hjemmeskole i 50 minutter i 8 uker. Da jeg kom hjem…

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Autism / Aspergers, Reblogged

Sandy Hook Aftermath: Asperger’s, the Media, and Social Justice

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Falling into the trap of we/them thinking is so easy. This article demonstrates some of the dangers inherent in that worldview. While we all do it to some extent, trying to look beyond our own backyard could open our eyes to a new and wonderful world. I can hope.

Animals, Reblogged

Dolphins are victims of Australia’s most environmentally controversial project at Gladstone

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Flipper is in trouble yet again. Will their rights be able to survive this time? Unlikely, when it is big corporations against environment. Once again it seems corruption is rearing its ugly head. I wonder if humans are genetically unable to plan for long-term consequences.

Craig Hill's avatarCraig Hill

Australia’s most environmentally controversial project, the $33 billion expansion of Gladstone port in Queensland, is under investigation after being accused of breaching strict federal government audit conditions on harbour dredging and dumping of spoils in a World Heritage area.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke confirmed a review was under way into whether the project had breached its conditions by failing to get an independent assessment of its work.

The Gladstone port expansion has been plagued by controversy since the discovery of widespread fish disease in the harbour in 2011, which has been blamed both on record floods and the impact of dredging.

Allegations of audit failure, raised by environmental group Australians for Animals, came as long-term monitoring of humpback dolphins in Gladstone Harbour showed a population reduction of 40 per cent since dredging began. Researcher Daniele Cagnazzi said he would undertake a new survey in April to establish whether…

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Reblogged

Neurotaylor: Why Good Writing Matters

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Why Good Writing Matters.

Neurotaylor illustrates why good writing matters. Category is unimportant, it is the quality of the writing that determines whether the readers understand the message of the author.

Writing well is something I struggle with. Cracking the code continues to be just beyond my abilities. Maybe this is why I admire excellent writers so much.

Enjoy.

Biography, Reblogged

December 16 1775 Jane Austen born

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I remember reading Pride and Prejudice as an 18-year-old and loving it. This is almost 30 years ago. I wonder what it would be like to read it as an ancient woman? Another thing I wonder about is what Jane Austen would have thought of her own novels if she had been a practising author today.

Craig Hill's avatarCraig Hill

Jane AustenOn December 16th 1775, English novelistJane Austen was born, the seventh of eight children of a clergyman in a country village in Hampshire, England.

Jane was very close to her older sister, Cassandra, who remained her faithful editor and critic throughout her life. The girls had five years of formal schooling, then studied with their father. Jane read voraciously and began writing stories as early as age 12, completing a novella at age 14.

Austen’s quiet, happy world was disrupted when her parents suddenly decided to retire to Bath in 1801. Jane hated the resort town and found herself without the time or peace and quiet required to write. Instead, she amused herself by making close observations of ridiculous society manners. After her father’s death in 1805, Jane, her mother, and sister lived with one of her brothers until 1808, when another brother provided them a permanent…

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Reblogged

No Longer Blinded by the Right

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The world is unfair. I am lucky and live in a country where water is abundant while people in other countries die of thirst. How is that fair?

Not only that. I live in a country that thus far has been lucky enough to have harvested the income necessary to keep Norway out of the financial crisis that has hit so many other countries hard. How is that fair? While we here in Norway are doing well, people in other countries are having to move in with their parents again, losing their jobs and not able to pay their debts. How is that fair?

Even here in Norway there is plenty of unfair stuff. My children are lucky and have parents who are  well-educated and who are lucky enough to be finished with our debts. They have grown up with safe and boring parents. How can this be fair, when there are children here in Norway who live in difficult circumstances and lack the opportunities that our children have?

I have a son that struggles with Aspergers. How is that fair, when others don’t?

Life is a joke. It really is. Most of all it isn’t fair, not for anyone. We do not deserve our lives, we just have them. That is all. Luck of the draw.

BroadBlogs's avatarBroadBlogs

“It’s not fair that you get a free lunch when my mom has to work to pay for mine.”

That’s what I told a classmate at age 10.

In this view I was like a lot of conservatives.

In his book, Why Americans Hate Welfare, Martin Gilens found that while most want to fight poverty, many don’t like welfare, feeling the recipients are lazy and undeserving.

George Lakoff studies how language affects the mind. He says conservative morality is based on the notion that people should have “liberty to seek their self interest and their own well-being without worrying or being responsible for the well-being or interest of anybody else,” especially since — in their view — welfare fosters a “culture of dependency.”

All we need is equal opportunity, right?

Until taking a high school course taught by a conservative economist and a liberal political scientist, presenting opposing views…

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Reblogged, Young Adult

Wooley, Emma M.: What it’s Like Being a Teen Girl (October 22, 2012)

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Emma M. Wooley shares an incredibly important message about what it means to be a teen-girl on her blog. Folks, this is what it is like for most girls out there. Girls are treated as objects, and continue to be after their teen-years. It’s just the way things are right now.

But they do not have to be. Each of us has the responsibility to teach pre-teens and teenagers (boys and girls) that some things are off-limits. Talk about sex, boundaries and being wanted with your kids.

If you are a teen-age girl:

YOUR BODY = YOU DECIDE!

Reblogged, Young Adult

Objectification’s Role in a Suicide

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Taking care of our young should be priority one, not driving them to kill themselves.

Amanda’s stalker was a terrorist in his own right. He tortured her through his relentless stalking. Nothing she did could help her escape. While I strongly doubt it, I hope that some part of him feels at least some shame.

BroadBlogs's avatarBroadBlogs

More than sexual objectification was certainly involved in 15-year-old Amanda Todd’s death. But it seems to have played a role.

It all began when Amanda and a few of her middle school friends started videochatting with strangers just for fun. Some told her she was “stunning, beautiful, perfect,” a complement any 13-year-old would enjoy. Eventually, a man asked her to flash. And she did.

A year later this same guy found her and threatened to send the nude photos to her family, friends and her entire school if she didn’t “put on a show for him.” When she refused, he did.

Amanda became the laughingstock of the school and lost all of her friends. Anxiety and major depression overtook her life and she turned to drugs, alcohol and cutting to cover the pain.

She moved a couple of times, trying to get away, but her stalker always collected the names of…

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Biography, Mystery, Reblogged

October 14 1975 Trial begins in Amityville murders

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I remember reading The Amytiville Horror (1977) as a teen-ager. It had me freaked out. After that the house on the cover of the novel was part of my nightmares for a long time.

While not as paranormal as the novel, the real-life story of the Amytiville family is just as frightening/strange. What motivates a young man to kill his parents and siblings? Craig Hill gives us a look at the story behind the story.

Craig Hill's avatarCraig Hill

On October 14th 1975, Ronald DeFeo Jr. went on trial for the killings of his parents and four siblings in their Amityville, New York, home.

The family’s house was later said to be haunted and served as the inspiration for the Amityville Horror book and movies.

On the evening of November 13, 1974, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. entered an Amityville bar and told people his parents had been shot inside their home.

Several bar patrons accompanied DeFeo back to his family’s home, at 112 Ocean Avenue, where a man named Joe Yeswit called Suffolk County police to report the crime.

When officers arrived, they found the bodies of Ronald DeFeo Sr., age 43, his wife Louise, 42, and their children Dawn, 18, Allison, 13, Marc, 11, and John, 9.

The victims had been shot dead in their beds.

Ronald DeFeo Jr., 22, initially tried to say the murders were…

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Reblogged

Come Out, Come Out Whoever You Are

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Coming out of whatever closet you are in will lessen the anxiety we feel and hasten our ability to accept ourselves for who and what we are according to psychologist Carl Rogers. I believe that people who accept who they are and who others are will be people who are able to feel true happiness in their lives.

BroadBlogs's avatarBroadBlogs

By John DuBois

With apologies to Glinda, I only changed one word to make a point. I’m sure she won’t mind because she’s an ally who supports equality and justice for all, gay, straight, or otherwise.

Whereas Glinda had asked the little Munchkins to come out of hiding, I ask that all future LGBT folk come out, too. Not from hiding in the bushes like the Munchkins were, but hiding from their true selves — or even from themselves.

Today more non-LGBT allies are championing us and lighting the way (thank you Lady Gaga) and we have more opportunity to express ourselves than in other times and places.

Which reminds me, a while back the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was asked how gay people in his country were treated. His response? “There are no gay people in Iran.” To which I retorted (yelling at the TV), “Yeah, as soon as…

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Reblogged, Science

Aldo Leopold’s soundscape

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Aldo Leopold’s soundscape

Check out University of Wisconsin – Madison’s article on how researchers have taken Leopold’s field notes and reconstructed a “soundscape” of how the chorus of birds must have sounded before all of our modern sound-intrusions.

Biography, Mystery, Reblogged

Hill, Craig: September 15 1890 Agatha Christie is born (2013)

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I believe I have read every one of Agatha Christie’s mysteries and watched a great many of the series made about Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and others of her fun characters. 

Craig Hill's avatarCraig Hill

On September 15th 1890, Mary Clarissa Agatha Miller, later known as Agatha Christie, was born in Torquay, Devon, England.

Raised and educated at Ashfield, her parents’ comfortable home, Christie began making up stories as a child. Her mother and her older sister Madge also made up stories: Madge told especially thrilling tales about a fictional, mentally deranged older sister.

Agatha married Colonel Archibald Christie in 1914, before World War I, and had one daughter. While her husband was off fighting in World War I, Christie worked as an assistant in a pharmacy, where she learned about poisons.

She began to write on a dare from her sister and produced her first mystery novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who would appear in 25 more novels during the next quarter century. The novel found modest success, and she continued writing. The Murder…

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Biography, Children, Reblogged

Hill, Craig: September 13 1916 Children’s author Roald Dahl is born (2012)

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Roald Dahl was an amazing author. My children have adored him, especially my youngest. We have all of his audiobooks. An amazing man.

Craig Hill's avatarCraig Hill

On September 13th 1916, Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) and James and the Giant Peach (1961), was born in South Wales.

Dahl’s childhood was filled with tragedy. His father and sister died when Dahl was three, and he was later brutally abused at his boarding school.

After high school, he traveled widely, joining an expedition to Newfoundland and later working in Tanzania.

In World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter pilot. He flew missions in Libya, Greece, and Syria, and was shot down in the Libyan desert, suffering serious injuries. (He saved a piece of his femur, removed in an operation after the accident, and later used it as a paperweight in his office.)

After he recovered, Dahl was sent to Washington, D.C., as an attachÝ. There, the writer C.S. Forester suggested he write about his war experiences…

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