Howdy y’all

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! Hope you’re doing something with someone you love whether they’re there with you or somewhere else. Ye Olde Blogge doesn’t do much for Valentine’s as you might imagine that a cynical old curmudgeon wouldn’t. Anywho, it’s been a helluva week like all weeks are in the #COVID19 era.

• HIATUS: The school went on hiatus for a week due to all of the #COVID19 infections that we’ve had among our staff and students. We were scheduled to return on Wednesday 16 February, but the ministry changed their requirements from seven days of isolation to five, so we’re returning on Monday 14 February with negative rapid tests required for all. I don’t know about this logic, but hey, here we are.
• WEDNESDAY’S WHIFF: So, we missed Wednesday’s post. There are several good reasons:
  • First, retooling your lesson plans so that they work online isn’t as easy as they make it look in the movies. You don’t have your two minute montage of sitting at your computer doing “research” set to a peppy inspiring pop music soundtrack and then you’re Mr. Kotter or something.
  • Second, we have produced our report cards, which means writing a comment about each student you have. Only, you’re comments have to fit the mold: opening, praise, improvement all while citing work that the student did or didn’t do during the term. As you can imagine there’s a lot of cutting and pasting going on.
  • And third, all these comments have to be proofread, so the logical thing to do is to split them up among the faculty to peer-proof based on department. You know, you proof A’s, A proofs B’s, and B proofs yours. Sounds great. Only I teach in three departments: English, science, and social studies. So, I got to proof the 120 student comments of a teacher from each of those departments while some lucky soul got to proof the forty or so students that I had in each of those classes. No one realized it. I didn’t realize it until I was doing it, but then it was too late. Oh, and we were given, you know, 24 hours to do it in. And, somehow I have to do my planning for next week’s classes, too. Fuck me.
• FEEDING THE SPIRIT: Whilst shopping for glasses, we found the altar in shown in the feature photo. I know they are feeding the spirit of the store or an ancestor or both, but it sure looked like the way I feel about life recently. So, you know what they say, “Don’t bite the hand of god when you see it at work in your life, right?” Serendipity or synchronicity or whatever.
• PASSPORT UPDATE: I figured out what I’ve got to do. I couldn’t do it because see above. Next week’s adventure.

Anywho, I hope your week was better. Feel free to share the details on your personal whiffs or successes or Valentine’s experiences in the comments. On to the week’s reading!

READING!

From the Media

I still get up every morning and peruse the headlines and read the occasional article no matter how hectic the day is going to be. I still save a couple for Whaz Up whenever I come across anything even remotely suitable. So, here we are:

• VALENTINE’S DAY ETIQUETTE from the Cambodian Ministry of Education. It’s an interesting study of what happens in our globalized world as the older generation realizes that something is up with the kids. Some quotes are helpful:

“A small number of young people have acted foolishly, forgotten their studies, lost their personal and family dignity and abandoned their culture and Khmer national traditions,” said the ministry.

Education Ministry issues directive on proper etiquette for Valentine’s Day

And from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts:

Valentine’s Day in Cambodia should be an opportunity to share and ensure love with dignity, sincerity and purity to the loved ones around us, such as: family, parents, spouses, children, grandchildren as well as to relatives and friends, such as the disabled, orphans, and the needy, under the guise of writing greetings, gifts, socializing or eating together with pleasure, but Cambodians must respect Follow health rules by keeping gaps and in open spaces.

Ministry of Culture calls on young people to celebrate Valentine’s Day in accordance with Cambodian traditions

• COSMIC MATTERING: #ScienceFact! The religious types value their religious experiences and gathering because it gives their lives meaning in a cosmic-sense. They have their place in the cosmos. The science-types always thought it was because of social mattering, you know, meeting and hobnobbing with friends and looking down on all us heathens. (PsyPost)

From the Blogs

Pro-tip: Subscribing to blogs (hint, hint), makes it much easier to keep up with the bloggers that you like and never miss a post! Just scroll through your email perusing what you like.

• EXISTENTIAL ANGST? More like relief from existential angst by wandering the broad visitas of Usfman’s travels and reading of his appreciate the vastness of his interior self. I know that it has eased my tortured spirit. (Snippets of a Traveling Mind)
• WHITE OUT! Everyone on my social medias that are having cold and snowy winters are complaining so much I daren’t mention the balmy weather we enjoy here in the tropics this time of year. Luckily, though, the French have two films that might could help you appreciate the white stuff a bit more. Honest. Don’t laugh… especially not so maniacally. Put down that shovel! (cas d’interet)
• OUT! OUT! DAMN CLOT! If you thought you were having a tough go of it during the pandemic, maybe you’ve had a serious medical condition that couldn’t get treated because of how many medical resources our #COVID19 patients are taking up. If that’s you, you’re not alone. (Suziland)
• BLACK HISTORY MONTH! The things they didn’t teach us in school and are even less likely to teach our kids in school. Take the story of Seneca Village in what is now Central Park. (Introvert Awakenings)

The Friendlies

• A NARCISSIST CONVOY: Bobcabkings brings us another The Feathered Sleep poem, this time Footnote for a Narcissist. And, a timely reminder of the original wildcatting convoy that may have inspired our current sockpuppet protest. (Of Cabbages and Kings).
• THE MACHINE OVERLORDS! Tengrain gives us a link to an AI machine that will crank out narratives for you. It is hella interesting and distracting. It’s what the machines will find us doing when they finally do kick in our doors and drag us off into the long cold dark night. (Mock Paper Scissors)
• PLANET LICE. I think they’ve got a cream for that. The point resonates doesn’t it. We have to save the climate so it will continue to maintain our existence. Life on the planet will likely persist even if we don’t. (Homeless on the High Desert)
• ALL THE NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED! When you don’t have time to read all of them, Katie, you read Burr’s snarky commentary on them. (Fair and Unbalanced)
• SPEAKING OF MISSING STUFF! Scottie has all of the week’s comics that you may have missed, too! Now your world can be complete. (Scottie’s Playtime)
• THE HOTTEST WOMAN IN CONGRESS! You knew when they let the little ladies into those hallowed male halls that the Miss Congress beauty pageant couldn’t be far behind! Now, a certain Fully Loaded Boebert has been crowned the Hottest Woman in Congress complete with misspelling her name and a partially used Red Lobster gift certificate. And, they did it all without any irony whatsoever! M. Bouffant runs Mike’s Blog Round Up, which has links to even more interesting blog posts including, yours truly!(Crooks and Liars)
• IS RELIGION FREE? Infidel shares even more thoughts on religion this time with a meme roundup. It shouldn’t be missed! (Infidel 753)

Huzzah!
Jack

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The photo is mine, so now it can be yours. I hold no license or copyright on it. I don’t give a fig what you might could do with it.