Strollerderby : class

Girl Arrested for Text Messaging in Class

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:00:00 GMT

A 14-year-old girl in a Wisconsin high school paid the price for ignoring her teacher with a court date and $298 in bail. The student was reportedly text messaging throughout math class, despite her teacher’s requests to stop texting and to hand over her cellphone.

She was sent to campus security, where she repeatedly stated that she did not have a phone on her. A female police officer was called to arrest the student for disorderly conduct. Upon frisking the student, the officer found the phone hidden in the girl’s “buttocks area.” (That’s certainly all the detail we need on that point.) The girl was barred from school property for a week and has a court date set to answer to the misdemeanor charge against her.

There’s no question that this girl has serious behavioral problems and needs to understand that there are consequences to her actions. But it seems like the school should have other remedial tools in place before getting the police involved. If we called the cops every time a kid ignored a teacher, we’d have one clogged justice system. For instance, if the school had enacted an outright ban on cellphones on school property (as many school districts have already done), the girl would have to deal with peer shaming for her misbehavior, perhaps the most effective disciplinary action for teenagers.

Then again, without knowing the full story, it’s impossible to judge whether or not the girl was so out of line that school officials felt law enforcement was the only option.

What do you think? Does some classroom misbehavior warrant arrest?

Do Cellphones Belong in the Classroom?

IOC orders investigation of Chinese Gymnast's age

Brett Singer — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:54:00 GMT

He Kexin won a gold medal in the uneven bars and also contributed to the Chinese beating out the U.S. in the team gymnastics event. She looks really really young, and there have been questions about her age for awhile now. The IOC has begun to formally investigate whether or not, "Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete," because of, "'discrepancies' that have come to light about the age of He Kexin." You kind of have to wonder what took them so long, but apparently someone, described as an "American hacker" by the U.K.-based Times Online, has uncovered documents that offer proof that Kexin is too young.

Watching the games, the judging also seemed biased, although that's more subjective. Still, I'm pretty sure I saw a member of the Chinese team fall in one event and not get any deduction, whereas an American who had a similar fall lost points. Béla Károlyi told Bob Costas that, "The lack of competence of certain judges is obvious," and it was tough to disagree.

Károlyi's wife Marta has attacked the age issue the way her gymnasts attacked their events, and while I think she went a little overboard, I agree that the whole thing is very suspicious.

Would the Chinese government lie about an athlete's age in order to gain a competitive advantage? And if so, what happens? The medals get stripped, but should they be banned from the Olympics for a time after that?

So – how old do you think she looks? 14? 16? Do I hear 12?

Source/image: TimesOnline

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Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

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Bela Karolyi likes to kill things

Brett Singer — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

When Béla Károlyi isn't training world-class gymnasts or telling Bob Costas that, "The lack of competence of certain judges [in this year's Olympic Games] is obvious," he likes to go…hunting.

When I googled Károlyi in an attempt to get the spelling of his name correct, this page was the fourth result. After seeing him comment, often mercilessly, on the various Olympic gymnastic events, I'm going to say that I'm not exactly shocked that one of his leisure activities is hunting big game.

I'm not going to say anything else about this, since, you know, I don't want to get shot.

Images/Source: bigbexotics.com

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

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Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Brett Singer — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Australian crewman won a gold medal in men's pairs rowing. For inspiration, he kept a photo of his kids tucked away in his shorts:

So he's a gold-medal winning dad, and has been keeping a blog at drewginn.blogspot.com.

It seems like there are more parents competing at the games this year, but it's possible that there always were and I just never noticed. One of those, "now that I have children I see parents everywhere" kind of things.

My wife asked me if I would keep a picture of the kids with me if I were competing in the Olympics. The fact that she would compare me to an Olympic athlete is one of the many reasons why I love her.

image: nbcolympics.com

source: abc.net.au

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Bored games

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Brett Singer — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

While we wonder whether or not the Chinese gymnasts are the age the government says they are, there's some other stuff happening over in China.

First up, British protesters were arrested for unfurling a "Free Tibet" banner (video below):

Second, and perhaps more disturbing, is this video of a British journalist being detained for covering said protest (video below):

But hey, what about that Michael Phelps? He won another medal, right?

Source/image: Daily Telegraph

It all started when Mary needed a laxative

When playgrounds attack, the sequel

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Shawn Johnson more mature than her coach

Should Countries be Allowed to Ban Women from the Olympics?

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Bored games

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Brett Singer — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:30:00 GMT

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that there was even more fakin' goin' on at the 2008 Olympics' opening ceremony.

Although the official opening ceremony guide said, according to the Telegraph, that "Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups." But the children were, "in fact all from the same [ethnic group], the majority Han Chinese race." According to the Telegraph, "The official guide to the opening ceremony said that the children did not just represent but 'came from' China's ethnic groups."

One thing that is interesting is the response, which is similar to the one expressed after the opening ceremony's Milli Vanilli moment. "I assume they think the kids were very natural looking and nice," Yuan Zhifeng, deputy director of the Galaxy Children's Art Troupe said.

Basically, as long as things look OK, they are. For more, read (and see) this.

source/image: Daily Telegraph

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

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Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

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Shawn Johnson more mature than her coach

Brett Singer — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Maybe the U.S. Gymnastics team coach Márta Károlyi could take a lesson on how to lose gracefully from the gymnasts themselves.

After the U.S. won the silver (or lost the gold, depending on who you ask) Márta had a few things to say: Asked about the controversy over the ages of several Chinese gymnasts, including bars standout He Kexin, Karolyi stressed that while she had "no proof" that the competitors in question had not yet turned 16, she had noticed that "one little girl has a missing tooth". A baby tooth, presumably. "Certain countries go by the rules," Karolyi continued, "and certain countries may not." She also accused the judges of "psychological warfare" because of the time it took for the scores to be posted.

So how did the ladies on her team respond?

Pretty damn well, actually.

Shawn Johnson, the 16-year-old world champion, was more…well, mature about the whole thing. "In the end, we’re more than happy and proud to represent the USA wearing silver around our necks," Johnson said. "We respect the Chinese for what they’ve done. They had a great meet and brought their game."

Also: "We are proud of each other no matter what we do, we are still a family no matter what."

Did I mention she was 16?

Here's a video promo Shawn shot before the games. In it, she says that gymnastics is about falling, and getting back up, no matter what. Sounds like a good lesson for her coach.

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Hunka hunka burnin Barbie

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

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Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Birth inspires lottery ticket purchase

Retarded movie boycott

They Say: We're Fatties Because We Eat More Than Ever

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Brett Singer — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:22:00 GMT

So. Like much of the world, I'm watching the Olympics. Women's Beach Volleyball is on. The wife refers to this event somewhat derisively. At first, I think that this is because of the fact that, you know, it's beach volleyball. How is this an Olympic event?

Then, a couple of days later, I catch a glimpse of the Men's Volleyball. Which is played indoors. By a team of more than two players. Fully clothed.

Suddenly, I get it. She's not saying that the women aren't athletes, or that it isn't a sport. It's that the women play on sand, barefoot, in bikinis. The men play in a gym. In clothes. Did I mention that?

Women's Beach Volleyball – the name itself is somewhat silly, since there is no Women's Indoor Volleyball, or Women-Standing-On-Hot-Coals Volleyball (CORRECTION: there is indoor women's volleyball, but they wear hot pants, so, y'know...) – is played by women in bikinis. Athletic looking bikinis, yes. But still bikinis.

After winning a point against the Belgian team, a song comes over the sound system. Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

OK.

UPDATE: The Table Tennis Federation actually asked the female players to wear more revealing outfits.

image: latimes.com

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Team more mature than coach

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Hunka hunka burnin Barbie

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Matthew McConaughey keeps placenta

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Birth inspires lottery ticket purchase

Retarded movie boycott

They Say: We're Fatties Because We Eat More Than Ever

Reading, Writing and ... Deuteronomy? What gives?

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:06:00 GMT

A school district in Louisiana was ordered to stop giving away free bibles to students, because it goes against the separation of church and state.

It seems the Gideons -- the same group that makes your 1-hour stay at Motel 6 feel slightly shameful, even if your status as Client No. 8 doesn't -- were allowed to give out free bibles outside the principal's office and the students were notified that "Hooray! Good readin' has finally arrived!"

Well, the ACLU sued on behalf of one family and the school district fought it and yada yada yada, a federal judge said no dice. The giveaway has got to go.

And because we're all about religion here at the SD, and because in my liberal little burg by the bay this would go over about as well as breastfeeding on Delta Airlines (remember that?), I have to ask: Are kids getting bibles in schools all over the place? Is this normal? Clearly I've got a few issues with it myself, but I'm just hoping these are isolated incidents. Why? Because it's not up to the school to put one religion -- or lack of -- over another. One girl was afraid she'd be considered a "devil worshipper" for not accepting a bible. Now what kind of lesson is that exactly?

Kid Tattooed In Class, School Admin Not Happy

Kelly Mills — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:36:00 GMT

Back in my day, if a high school kid wanted a tattoo, you had to go to some dirty, scary hole-in-the-wall and say "yes" when asked if you were over 18 and then some shaky-handed speed freak would do that little rose on your ankle or whatever. That's why kids today are lucky. Tattooes are so acceptable you can even get them in your classroom. Yep, feel free to have that that old-school apple with the banner that says, "Hot for Teacher" inked right at your desk, as long as you have permission from your parents.

Okay, maybe it didn't go down exactly like that, but a high school student recently got tattooed during class and the school administrators are not happy. A cosmetology teacher invited a tattoo artist to speak to the students, and during the lecture one kid got permanent eyebrows tatted on. Of course, a classroom is not exactly a sterile, clean environment, so this isn't recommended. The school did not have advance knowledge of the tattoo plans, and my favorite quote is from the spokesperson: "It's not part of the curriculum for that class. That class is focused on hair and nails." Aw yeah. Teasing and spraying is okay, but not ink.