4.04.2006
The Finest in Entertainment -
Professional Bull Riding. Ty Murray (7 time all around National Cowboy Champion) and a few other smart guys are now promoting the Professional Bull Riders Tour. FABULOUS. These bulls are HUGE, genetically bred and trained to buck off these cowboys. This show is on Outdoor Life Network (OLN) each Saturday and Sunday night. They have a 5 year contract with PBR.
Check it out! Your best bet is to cheer on the Bulls.
Bruce
posted by Bruce at 10:52 AM
1.25.2006
OK, new stuff.
My brother in law is REALLY up on computers and has opened a new blog which is "TECHY" and has lots of good information. Check it out @ http://benhz.blogspot.com/ He has specialized in applications that are FREE!
posted by Bruce at 12:45 PM
10.14.2005
WHAT do the terrorists really want?
My question is: If the terrorists were in a room and we said -- "OK, we've had enough, What should we do so that you will stop blowing your selfs up to get the 70 virgins?"
I wonder if they would have an answer?
By the way - We may run out of virgins at some point and then what is the incentive..
posted by Bruce at 12:35 PM
9.14.2005
I know, I know. Everyone has been waiting for the latest sage comment.
The lastest Educational Event is now: Brain Based Learning.
Not to go on and on here but.... what other kind of learning is there?
Big toe based learning, elbow based learning. Come on guys, lets think of something new!
posted by Bruce at 10:13 AM
10.26.2004
Another comment/thought on education -
Sometimes the least restrictive environment is also the most abusive.
posted by Bruce at 1:30 PM
8.10.2003
For Educators only!
"Differentiated instruction is simply a reaction to the failure of heterogenous grouping."
quoted from the Summer Issue of Kappa Delta Pi Record, pg. 149 by Bruce Cattanach
And remember - You heard it here FIRST!
posted by Bruce at 7:08 AM
2.13.2003
My new Mantra for Education
Having worked with Elementary age students for a while I've noticed that teachers and parents are becoming overly protective. The children are not allowed outside when there is a small patch of ice on the blacktop, or when the temperature drops below 35 degrees. The difficulty I see is that there is not enough bubble wrap in the world to cover all these children and protect them from the outside world. Let's work towards some normalcy here!
Freedom before Safety
posted by Bruce at 2:28 PM
9.30.2002
Observations from summer travel
In a short travel vacation from New Jersey to Washington D. C. to Chincoteague VA is became so apparent that obesity should be our central concern. E'gads, most folks are totally out of breath after one flight of stairs! This is a serious problem. Thank goodness that we don't have an agressive group like China or someone who really wants our stuff at our border. In hand to hand combat we wouldn't stand a chance.
posted by Bruce at 1:51 PM
5.16.2002
Ultimate is a Great Game
I recently started to teach "Ultimate", sometimes known as Ultimate Frisbee, to a group of Gifted and Talented 5th Graders. Wow - they took to it quickly and have even started a game up during recess. No physical contact, you can only advance the disk by throwing it (no running with the frisbee) and any pass that is not completed is a turnover. With simple rules, lots of running, skill sets with throwing and catching: Well - you have about got it all.
In Ultimate the saying is:
"When a ball dreams, it dreams it is a frisbee."
posted by Bruce at 2:31 PM
3.20.2002
Our Kids are really in trouble now
If you ever see a number of kids in front of a TV while its running a video - Look closely. This is the modern day opium. They are transfixed - completely and totally - most have their mouths half open. And the worst thing is - the activity is TOTALLY passive. Take your kid out doors - Please do it now.
posted by Bruce at 4:57 PM
11.27.2001
why are GUYS so dumb
We went to the WHIZ to pick out a TV for my sister in law's 40th birthday. There in the loading area was a White Ferrari with the trunk (front hood) open and the loading clerk with a TV in the box staring at a space between the wheels big enough for a bowling ball bag. Duh. What idiot would bring his Ferarri shopping for a Television? No one has a Ferrari as their only car. Just goes to show how dumb guys can be.
posted by Bruce at 4:10 PM
11.13.2001
the Talaban ARE evil
I just heard a report that with the takeover of Kabul by the Northern Alliance children are now out flying kites. It seems that the Talaban would not allow children to fly kites. Now that is really sick. I say, "Fly those kites kids, fly them as high as you can!!"
posted by Bruce at 1:17 PM
11.06.2001
Save Imagination Now - Don't let kids see the Harry Potter Movie
As usual, the corporate establishment is trying to CASH IN on children's imagination and their parent's wallets. Children who haven't ever experienced "escape reading" are now going to lose that opportunity. Rather than spending hours in imagination and enjoyment reading the Harry Potter books, the experiece will be completed in 2 hours. Those that have read the books will now have their mental images squashed and laid to waste. The McDonalds' action figures are popping out of the molds as you read this. Save a child from the corporate greed and let them keep on reading - Keep them from the Harry Potter Movie !
posted by Bruce at 5:44 PM
10.30.2001
It is not a recovery effort anymore
Since the WTC event on September 11th, Firefighters and Policemen have been on manditory 12 hour on, 12 hour off shifts. This is completely INSANE. The firefighters and police need to go back to their jobs, helping people, putting out fires and enforcing laws. The WTC is now a demolition site. It is not a recovery site. Let's protect the physical and mental health of those that are alive - not keep them in the rubble searching for remnants of the dead.
posted by Bruce at 9:04 AM
10.18.2001
the walkaways
Another aspect of the WTC event are "the walkaways". These are people whose lives were not working out: financially strapped, family problems, affairs etc. They may have just left the towers, gone somewhere else and started a new life. To everyone concerned - they died during the event. In actuality they are living a new life elsewhere. How many walkaways are there - we will never know.
posted by Bruce at 9:44 AM
9.12.2001
We were there on Saturday September 8th
We had gone into Manhattan to visit friends visiting from Atlanta Georgia and Lakeland Florida. A bus trip to the World Trade Center and then we walked a half block to the Hudson River Club for dinner. I again marveled at Man's ability to build land (the trade center was built on land fill from Subway excavation) and then construct such an amazing structure. As the world knows - it's gone and with it so many people who had no right to die. I feel the need to write more but I am so numb having seen way too much on television already. The time for free men to act on terrorism is past due. Lets do it correctly, quickly and get it done.
posted by Bruce at 1:31 PM
8.15.2001
and what will they think of next?
Now that we have almost everyone driving monster SUV's, the next step will be to have everyone with their ear attached to a radiation source [ the cell phone ].
Personally I am looking forward to when we can all just plug an RCA jack into the back of our head and receive the message from the marketing gurus directly to our cerebral cortex. (my cynical comment for the month of August)
posted by Bruce at 10:41 AM
6.27.2001
My Brother is Famous
My brother Glenn Cattanach has re-edited/remixed over 250 dance songs. He
started in 1983 splicing 1/4" audio tape with a razor blade to create new
club (disco) versions of current dance hits. Glenn' combined the best parts
of various mixes of a song to create a club version that was improved over
the regular commercial 12" extended version vinyl record. These were
distributed by Hot Tracks to club deejays worldwide. Deejays would have an
exclusive version that was more "club friendly" that could not be purchased
commercially, was only available to working deejays and heard only in dance
clubs/discos. In 1993 be began using Mac based hard disc recording using
DigiDesign's Sounds Tools software and continued on until 1996. During this
time he worked with the legendary remixer Joseph Watts of Razor Maid. He is
currently retired from remixing but may return some day to remix again!
For a sample, check out Groovy Train: http://www.remixes.net/groovytrain.html
posted by Bruce at 9:29 AM
5.15.2001
Stuff ADDICTION
We are all just so addicted to "stuff". Yes, cars, boats, big houses, more houses, motorcycles, fancy furniture, fancy luggage and well --lets supersize our life with MORE STUFF And of course - if you don't really have enough money: just float a loan at 17% interest and put it on our VISA card. Get more, get more, and if you are just starting out - buy the best. Newly weds must have a BWM, Stickley Furniture and Vacations in Europe. WE ARE SUCH ADDICTS.
posted by Bruce at 2:08 PM
5.10.2001
We are doing it to ourselves
A recent news report indicates that 90 percent of all cancers are caused by environmental conditions. Mother nature is coming back at us with a vengence. Meanwhile, all our great medicine companies are working on drugs to combat the cancers which we gave to ourselves. Oops, mankind you are now trying to correct what you have caused.
posted by Bruce at 8:57 AM
4.16.2001
I visited the finest unique restaurant in North America this weekend. Only an hours drive from Nashua New Hampshire in Center Barnstead lies this fantastic restaurant. A house in the middle of the woods of New Hampshire which seats 12 for dinner with a set price menu and two employees - The Chef and his wife. Harold and Cynthia Huckaby, take your order and then serve up a fantastic meal. Well worth the drive - and we came from New Jersey. The restaurant is The Crystal Quail.
posted by Bruce at 3:13 PM
4.11.2001
My Sage Advice for Parents
When your child gets out of the fourth grade - send him/her to a sleepover summer camp for 2 weeks. It will really help out your kid and it will probably help you also. It provides freedom, responsibility, and an opportunity for a kid to wear a sweatshirt for two weeks nonstop. Camp also provides the child ample opportunity for finding where they are in a true pecking order, outside of parental supervision and support. This all will come in handy later - when you send the kid off to college: they won't come back after 1 week homesick and you've lost all that tuition.
posted by Bruce at 9:25 AM
3.29.2001
As we walk around the neighborhood I look up and see that a LOT of people have those little dish units on their roofs to collect radiation bits from outerspace and make a TV signal out of them. We humans are just sooooo smart! But at the same time, it also occurred to me that all those billions of radiation bits are pounding down on our little skulls everyday. I wonder, when they figure out that all this radiation from space is a problem what our heads will look like then! Are we really soooooo smart or just think we are?
posted by Bruce at 1:18 PM
3.28.2001
Every once in a while you run into something so extreme, so amazing that it just takes you. The fastest monohull sailboat on the planet. It's not a new design but something that has evolved over time. You can see some short video clips of the ten square meter canoe to see what it is all about. Do I want one - no not really. Would I sail one - IN A HEARTBEAT!
posted by Bruce at 9:09 AM
3.17.2001
Most of the many visitors to this page have emailed me saying "Bruce, when are you going to put up some more very sage and insightful comments".
Sorry all, I have been struggling with the reality of putting a Windows 2000 Lab in place for elementary students. MicroSoft has lead us to the point now where all previous software (DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows 98) are now incompatable with the NEWEST OS. That's been what I've been doing.
But I was struck recently how we have been DUPED by the marketing genius of America. Now everyone must drive large gas guzzling SUVS that can go off road. Yep, housewifes must take the Durango to the supermarket @ 11 MPG because they might just have to engage that 4 wheel drive and blast through a puddle on the pavement. As soon as OPEC decides to drop the hammer on our economy - we will indeed be toast.
posted by Bruce at 3:29 PM
2.09.2001
COMPUTERS ARE NOT REFRIDGERATORS!
Go to Sears, buy a refridgerator and plug it in - 10 years later it will still be making ice. If you buy a computer and plug it in, 10 minutes later you may have a error message. We are not there yet. This is not Star Ship Voyager where you talk to the computer and it gives you intelligent answers within seconds. Remeber: the internet just got pictures in 1995 !
posted by Bruce at 11:31 AM
1.31.2001
WHY is it that people can spend hours in a grocery store working to save a nickle on a jar of peanut butter but then can go to the track or Atlantic City and flush hundreds into the slots. Go figure!
posted by Bruce at 12:07 PM
1.25.2001
Sometimes this "internet thing" really seems to work well. I was looking for a particular video for years in rental places and never could find it. So I searched on Amazon - it wasn't there - but there is a Z-Shop (??) area. This place called Out of Print Video came up and they had the video. I sent them the money and in 2 days it was in my mailbox. This just wouldn't have happened before the internet. Yep - great stuff this internet.
posted by Bruce at 11:46 AM
1.17.2001
Looking for another vehicle? Saleen has a top drawer car which sells for US$375,000.00. Take a look here. Naturally, you couldn't put it in your driveway if you had to go over a curb but..... on the straightaway -- it WILL GO.
posted by Bruce at 1:16 PM
1.16.2001
Some of the folks creating on the web - well, they are pretty smart and must have a good bit of time on their hands. Take a look at this shockwave file [ don't bother if you don't have shockwave ]. This is a really nice piece of programming.
posted by Bruce at 8:54 AM
1.10.2001
In looking around the United States it often amazes me at how much us little ol' humans have altered the landscape. Wow - Think of all the asphalt and concrete highway laid down, those big bridges, airplanes flying around, skyscrapers and of course the big dig in Boston. Had the American Indians been still on the land, rather than the Europeans - imagine what North American would be like now ? Of course, the next question is how much "progress" have we really made ? All a matter of perspective.
posted by Bruce at 1:38 PM
1.08.2001
Recently I have been to about 4 dressup "affairs". Its pretty obvious, but the media has now told (and the women have believed) that you may only wear BLACK to dress up affairs. Also - a few trips into NYC has shown up the same trend by males and women for daily wear.
When viewed from the air it must now look like a bunch of black ants moving around. I'm looking forward to when this "dead look" passes and we can see another color emerge as "fashion correct".
posted by Bruce at 11:05 AM
12.20.2000
Weather sure has a different effect on the generations. When we were kids - our parents used to walk 5 miles in knee deep snow to get to school.
We used to play in knee deep snow.
Here in New Jersey they have a delayed opening on 1/4 inch of snow and the students can now say to their kids -- "We stood in a quarter inch of snow and waited in 35 degree temperatures for the school bus". What could possibly be next ??
posted by Bruce at 8:22 PM
12.18.2000
Sometimes it is amazing what you can do on the web. A new site is out where you can actually design and build your own sneakers to your exact specs. Too much. I haven't tried it but the programming for the site is great just by itself. Check out customatix.com for a look at the future of casual shoe design.
posted by Bruce at 1:32 PM
12.17.2000
It December 17th. Its going to be 50 degrees today. Its northern New Jersey. We have had 3 inches of rain which could be 12 - 15 inches of snow. It would appear that "global warming" is a reality.
posted by Bruce at 1:23 PM
12.15.2000
Last night I watched "The Matrix" on video. It was my third time seeing the movie. If you haven't seen this futuristic view of reality I recommend you do. The website for the film -- The Matrix
posted by Bruce at 9:14 AM
12.14.2000
Getting this bad boy to configure was a bit of a job, but then after I quit trying to be fancy and make directories and all it worked.
Reading the directions always does help...... especially with computers.
posted by Bruce at 12:57 PM
Blogger.com is a service that allows one to post to your web site without using an HTML editor and FTP. Its all set up by blogger. Pretty cool, so stay tuned.
posted by Bruce at 8:33 AM
