Never Thought I'd Agree With This

We Can't Teach Them If They Don't Come To School

"Chronic absenteeism" means a student has missed more than 10% of the school days in a year.  This chart shows chronic absenteeism rates of several districts in the Sacramento area:

This data is a year old now.  I'd love to know if there's been any "recovery" in the years since the 'rona, but still, it amazes me that in almost half of those districts, a full third of students are chronically absent.

Update, 8/16/23:  It's not just the Sacramento area, or course:

Students across the U.S. have been chronically absent in record-high numbers after the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study from Stanford Research shows. 

More than 25% of students were classified as chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year because they had missed at least 10% of the school year. Comparatively, before the pandemic, only 15% of students had such high levels of absenteeism, the study noted.

Is the veneer of civilization so thin that the school shutdowns of 2-3 years ago continue to wreak so much damage?  It would seem so.

M/V Columbus

In the summer of 2018 I sailed on the M/V Columbus, of the British line Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV).  It was a beautiful ship, here are some pictures of her in those happier days:

As I said, a beautiful ship in her prime.  It was an enjoyable cruise from Amsterdam to Gibraltar to the Canaries to Madeira to Lisbon to London.  Two weeks, as I recall.

Well, she's not so beautiful these days.  Here's what she's looked like more recently, after being sent to a scrap yard in India after CMV went under because of the 'rona:

 Ship and aircraft boneyards seem like such a waste to me.

Me, 100%

Is Diversity Good For Higher Education Students, Or Not?

link

How I Spent My Evening With Friends

 

This was after breakfast, an escape room, and axe-throwing with them.  Great day!

Liberal Virtue Signalling

Our Corrupt Media

They are currently at step 2.

Believing In "Science"

What Side Would You Be On?

Pictures of Places

click to embiggen the pictures

San Francisco:

The Farallons:

I'd heard that these islands existed, but I'd never seen them before July 10th--and probably never will again.

Juneau, AK:

Skagway, AK

Icy Strait Point:

Tracy Arm and the glacier:

Prince Rupert, BC:

And my final view of San Francisco and the ship as we crossed the SF Bay Bridge on the way home:

Eagles

On this trip I saw humpback whales, what I think was a sea lion (the video is clear, I just don't know sea animals very well), and eagles; I did not see any orcas or bears.  Bummer on that last part.

Here are some pictures of eagles:

These were taken outside Hoonah, Alaska, the 3rd one when I was on a kayaking tour.  Click on the pictures to embiggen them.

These two eagles were in Prince Rupert, British Columbia:

Also in Prince Rupert I saw a flight of 4 eagles, seemingly playing over the water.  It was a beauty to behold.

Leaving San Francisco

After hearing, then watching the remainder of, a smash-and-grab in San Francisco, maybe leaving was a good idea even if I didn't have this view of the City and the bridge:

I took video going under the Golden Gate Bridge but it's over 300 MB so I can't post it yet....

Update:  Try this link for video :-)

The Plan Is To Be Home Tonight

The hint I gave:  Carnival Miracle.

I first saw this ship on my cruise to Alaska in 2014:

I took this picture in Skagway.

Two years later, I sailed on Carnival Miracle on a Mexican Riviera cruise:

I took this picture in Cabo San Lucas.

Assuming all has gone to plan, I boarded Carnival Miracle and left the Port of San Francisco on July 10th and sailed up to Alaska; as of the time I've scheduled this to post, we should be docking back in SF.

I will endeavor to post some trip pictures soon.  (Remember, I'm typing this before the cruise) I hope to get some "postable" video sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.

College Admissions

The Supremes have ruled, in the Students For Fair Admissions case, that Harvard and UNC (and probably every other school in the country except Hillsdale) used race in admissions decisions in an unconstitutional manner.  Hallelujah, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

The lefties are howling that the decision is raaaaaaaacist, that it perpetuates white supreeeeeeeeeeeemacy, and that in order to strike back at the evil white people, so-called legacy admissions at universities should be scrapped:

The next big fight over college admissions already has taken hold, and it centers on a different kind of minority group that gets a boost: children of alumni.

In the wake of a Supreme Court decision that strikes down affirmative action in admissions, colleges are coming under renewed pressure to put an end to legacy preferences — the practice of favoring applicants with family ties to alumni. Long seen as a perk for the white and wealthy, opponents say it’s no longer defensible in a world with no counterbalance in affirmative action.

It's a stupid argument, like most leftie arguments.  We didn't fight a civil war over legacy admissions.

However bad their argument, I agree with their solution.  As a taxpayer, I want public universities as well as private universities that get government money to be focused on education.  I want admissions based on merit and academic achievement.  I don't care who your parents are, I don't care if you worked at the soup kitchen, I want my tax dollars to support academic excellence.  

So I'm all for getting rid of legacy admissions, especially for marginally-qualified students.  I also support getting rid of athletic scholarships, especially for people who have no academic chance of graduating; let the major sports leagues create their own minor leagues.  Let's get our schools back in the business of educating.

Update, 7/2/23:  I think the left missed its target, as I don't think you'll find a tremendous amount of support for legacy admissions outside of those who fund or receive them.  It's not the "bullseye on the right's chest" that the left hoped it would be:

In reaction to the Supreme Court ruling that race-based affirmative action violates the Equal Protection Clause, there has been a lot of what-about-ism.

The biggest what about is college legacy and donor preferential treatment, meaning applicants who have an alumni family connection or who were related to a major donor received preference. As if those preferences somehow excuse the illegal racial preferences that permeate higher education...

Lower and middle income white students also are disadvantaged because they receive zero preference: Not race, not legacy, not donor. The legacy and donor preference may benefit wealthy whites, but they also increasing benefit wealthy college-graduate blacks and other non-white groups.

So it’s a mixed bag, and a what-about-ism that really doesn’t even answer the question of whether racial preferences are unconstitutional.

But to the extent “eliminate legacy and donor preferences” is a dare, I accept it and agree. By all means eliminate the corrupting influence of legacy and donor admissions preferences.

I'm glad we can find this common ground with our friends on the left. 

This comment on that post was 100% correct:

The court will never rule on legacy admissions because there is nothing unconstitutional about it.

If the whiners in Congress really wanted to do away with legacy admissions though they could simply pass a law that states that any college that accepts any Federal money must not have a legacy system.

But they’d rather whine about it for political points.

Update #2, 7/8/23:

Teenagers

Earlier today I read that "we allow teenagers to work, drive, pay taxes, etc, why don't we allow them to vote?"  The answer is that teenagers don't always make the best decisions.  Sure, they can be academic or athletic superstars (I've taught a lot of those) and they can be wonderful people (taught a lot of those, too), but their brains aren't fully developed yet.  Too often they make bad decisions--which is why we let them work only during certain hours, in California we limit their driving privileges for the first couple years they have their licenses, and why their car insurance rates are so high.

Yes, I know adults make bad decisions, too, duh.  Teenagers make more of them.  I know that I don't make near as many stupid decisions now as I did when I was a teenager!

So when I saw this article, I thought, the solution is pretty simple:

Almost two-thirds of teenagers globally have been targeted for “sextortion” schemes by criminals seeking to pressure victims into sexual activity or extort money, according to recent research.

Sixty-five percent of Generation Z teens and young adults have been targets of “catfishing” scams across popular social media platforms or had their personal data hacked by criminals, according to a June 21 report by Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc. and published by the WeProtect Global Alliance.

“In both scenarios, the resulting photos and videos were then used to threaten or blackmail the young people, with abusers demanding money, gift cards, more sexual imagery, or other personal information in supposed exchange for not releasing the material to the young person’s family and friends,” the report said.

Yes, I know adults also do stupid things regarding pictures and video of their naked bodies and sex acts.  Again with a small sample size, over the years my school has had many issues regarding students' sending naked pics of themselves or others to each other, but none of our teachers has.  The kids don't always make good decisions.  How many adults ate Tide Pods vs how many teenagers?!

I remember hearing about this:

In a May 3 press conference, Jennifer Buta, the mother of a 17-year-old boy from Michigan who committed suicide after being a victim of a sextortion scheme, asked parents to have “tough conversations” with their children about the dangers such scams pose.

Telling your kid not to send naked pictures of him/herself to others should not be a "tough conversation".  I can see how it might be awkward for some people, but it's a lot less awkward than the birds and the bees talk.  Not only can such a talk keep your kid from being humiliated, it might keep him/her off the sex offenders list, too.

A Few Pics From Puerto Vallarta

I see those angel wing pictures on Instagram a lot, do they mean something besides my innocence??

In my previous post I mentioned the climb up Mt. Everest.  Here's a view from up there at the overlook:

 Blogger has to compress the video a bit, unfortunately, but you get the idea.

I snapped this picture of a pelican at just the right time:

 

I didn't pay for surfing pictures, but I'm not sure how good such pics of me would look anyway!

As you can see, Puerto Vallarta is a beautiful place, and I had a great 6 days there.

Update:  a bonus picture from my last day, 2 ships in port!