Sandra Day O'Connor blazes another trail
The former Supreme Court Justice has a new project: She's a video game developer. In an effort to educate American kids about how the justice system works and the role of the courts, she has been working with Georgetown University and Arizona State to create a program for 7th through 9th graders called "Our Courts."
Sandra Day O'Connor, 78, who served as U.S. Supreme Court justice from 1981 until her retirement in 2006, said she never imagined she would be asked to address a conference about digital gaming.
She said she got involved with developing the project called "Our Courts" out of concern over public ignorance about the judiciary and partisan attacks on what should be an independent institution.
"In recent years I've become increasingly concerned about vitriolic attacks by some members of Congress, some members of state legislatures and various private interest groups ... on judges," O'Connor told the Games For Change conference on using gaming technology for social improvement and education.
"We hear a great deal about judges who are activists -- godless, secular, humanists trying to impose their will on the rest of us," she said. "Now I always thought an activist judge was one who got up in the morning and went to work."
She said it was worrying to see members of the Senate requiring nominees to the Supreme Court to state how they would rule on certain cases during the confirmation process, and to see special interests trying to influence the election of state judges in states where such elections are still held.
"With partisan attacks and political pressure mounting, it's much more difficult to achieve fair and impartial judgments from the judges who are serving," O'Connor said.
The project will develop both interactive materials for classroom discussion and a stand-alone downloadable video game that kids can play on their own. According to Justice O' Connor,
The second part of the project will be for young people to use in their free time, O'Connor said, noting that studies showed children spend around 40 hours a week using media, including computers, television, videogames or music.
"If we can capture just a little bit of that time to get them thinking about government and civic engagement rather than playing shoot-'em-up video games, that's a huge step in the right direction," she said.
O'Connor said she had seen from her own grandchildren that technology was the best way to inspire children to learn and it was vital to speak to them in their own language.
The games and other materials will be available at www.ourcourts.org starting in September.
Maybe I shouldn't have been such a good girl...
Seems a new study indicates that moderate alcohol consumption decreases the chance of getting RA by 50%:
All participants were quizzed about their lifestyle, including how much they smoked and drank. And blood samples were taken to check for genetic risk factors.
The results showed that drinking alcohol was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. And the more alcohol was consumed, the lower the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.
Among those who drank regularly, the quarter with the highest consumption were up to 50% less likely to develop the disease compared with the half who drank the least.
The effect was the same for both men and women.
I guess this means that glass of red wine is back on the schedule. Just wish the alcohol and the medication didn't interact.
Like a duck to water
I've always been a big fan of turtles. More the idea of turtle than real turtles, mind you, but the symbolism of the turtle means a lot to me: wisdom, strength, balance. The notion that the turtle holds the whole world on its shell speaks to me. That's the way I feel a lot.
But there's a new animal on my mind lately. The duck. Like a duck swimming in a pond, it's all about what's on top of the water. The duck makes it look easy, right? Above the surface it's all a graceful glide. Under the water is a different story. The damn duck is paddling for all its worth.
This image occurs to me twice a week as I "jog" in the deep water of the therapy pool. My head and shoulders glide above the water, but below the surface my arms and legs are churning away. And the better I do this, the more still I look above the surface of the water.
We've also talked a lot about the duck in choir. Brahms' Requiem is a bitch, even for professionals. And we're a small group that doesn't rehearse nearly as much as a big group does. And a lot of people are overwhelmed. But like the Duck, we smile and pretend everything is under control. And the performance is wonderful.
It's amazing how well that works. If I smile and tell you I'm ok, you assume it's the truth and you don't look for my rapidly paddling legs under the surface.... If you tell me you're doing well, I don't look for the balls you're juggling in the hand that's behind your back.
So this week, I meditate on the duck. See the duck, be the duck. Glide along, make it across the pond. That's all I need to do between now and next Monday.
I like fast...
MY NEW LAPTOP CAME TODAY!!!!!!! It was supposed to arrive tomorrow but it came today!!!!
Busy setting it up and re-downloading all my happy programs. I already copied my (oldish) Firefox profile from hubby's computer and have set that up. Then firewall, virus scan, ad blockers, image manipulation software, Google talk and Nvu.
And I need to get my Office disks and Roxio and some games. Almost there!
4
Well, I wasn't sure about ALL of the skin diseases, but since I knew by heart-pity me- all of the D&D monsters, process of elimination pretty much gave me the two I didn't know.
Yeah, I was a chick magnet in school. Probably a good thing that I met my wife later. Much, much later.
Posted by: physics geek at May 20, 2008 09:43 AM (MT22W)
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hi there. i guess i went into the whole supporting mccain thing kicking and screaming but i am getting more use to the idea. for me it was the supreme court appointments - i needed reassurance that he wouldn't give us another ginsberg or souter. and YES i love the chaos in the democratic primary. for the first time last night i had fun watching a hillary speech!
Posted by: zoey at April 23, 2008 11:28 AM (oNP5F)
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I am loving the bloodsport of the Democratic primary season. However, I'm not ready to give McCain my support. In fact, he won't get it because I cannot in good conscience vote for him.. Truthfully, I didn't think it would matter much, but I'm beginning to wonder if the Democrats are actually stupid enough to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory this year. This year had all the makings of a donkey landslide, but now I'm beginning to wonder.
Posted by: physics geek at April 23, 2008 01:47 PM (MT22W)
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Yes, I'm loving the democRAT primary. Get some popcorn and sit back and enjoy. BTW, I grew up in Fresno.
Posted by: Alan at April 23, 2008 03:30 PM (vuVDm)
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McCain will get my vote by grudging default. I simply cannot vote for Obama or Clinton. Not gonna happen.
I, too, am finding the prolonged Democratic primary delicious. Usually they are pains in the keister to conservatives; for once they are turning their pain on each other. I LOVE IT!
Posted by: Phoenix at April 24, 2008 05:59 AM (4N2f4)
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McCain...the lesser of the evils. Real EVIL however, is watching our potential future leaders (it's a good chance) turn reality into a child's play. It's not a game, but I suddenly am transported back to junior high playing dodge ball, nailing the opponents as hard as possible, just for good measure and to prove I'm all badass. Sadly though, I looked more like a jackass (pun intended).
It looks like we may be in some serious trouble.
Posted by: Lauren at April 24, 2008 07:57 AM (iUfJz)
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Wow...from my previous comment, you would never know that I know how to use grammar properly. Sheesh.
Posted by: Lauren at April 24, 2008 07:58 AM (iUfJz)
Posted by: Richmond at April 24, 2008 11:52 AM (PN4cx)
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I'm taking a mop and bucket to clean up the puje but yeah, I reckon I'll vote for McCain ....that is unless he selects Mike Huckabee as his veep and then I will just sit it out....I cannot in no way rationalize a vote for a religious nut
Posted by: GUYK at April 26, 2008 05:21 PM (uyoGg)
Why is it?
I am so frigging much more productive working at home.
For example, I have sent a number of critical emails, both work and personal, arranged the appointment for the puppy's spay (next Monday, poor puppy) and gotten the sheets off the bed to be changed as soon as the mattress cover comes out of the dryer. I also showered and sorted and started a load of laundry. Also on the work front, I read through a number of documents regarding our upcoming accreditation review.
AND I have been blog reading and twitter-ing AND watching baseball.(KC vs DET on ESPN).
AND I only got up 2.5 hours ago.
If I was at work I would have: commuted, made photocopies, and sent some emails.
I love working from home.
Oh, and for the record, you can also keep up with me courtesy of my twitter page.
1
I notice that too. If I have anything really crucial and concentration-intensive (like going over proofs of an article or grading student research papers), I have to take it home and work on it.
I think for me, psychologically, when I'm at work, I have in the back of my mind, "You can be interrupted any moment" (and I often AM) and I can't focus on things as well. At home, I know my phone's unlikely to ring (the students know that it dang well better be an end-of-the-world-is-nigh type emergency before they call me at home) and no one's going to come knocking on my door "just because" I'm in and they're bored.
Yes, I can shut my office door at work but that doesn't keep people from calling/e-mailing/knocking on my door. I guess when I take stuff home everyone realizes that I really MEAN "I need not to be interrupted on this" but they don't believe it when I stay in my office...
Posted by: ricki at March 31, 2008 06:01 PM (qrkix)
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Well, of course *I* highly recommend it.
I'm already twitterin' ya, babe. (I know, I don't know the lingo.)
Posted by: Margi at April 02, 2008 09:46 PM (zfeQt)
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P.S. You're far more organized than I am, but there are approximately 1.25 days like you described in my typical week. The other, leftover days? They're a lot of rushing around and typing frantically to make a deadline.
ALL DAY IN MY JAMMIES.
Mweheh.
(Actualy? I lie. I've taken to wearing scrubs for casual-work attire. Comfy as jammies but not as embarrassing if you have to run to the store. Heh.)
Posted by: Margi at April 02, 2008 09:48 PM (zfeQt)
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Boy for a day.
Speaking of spaying, our neighbors gave us a cat named Ming Ming. A pretty little thing. Hairy too. When the time came, I took her to be spayed. The vet asked "why do you want to spay this cat?" I said "because we get all of our animals fixed" He repeated "but why do you want to get this cat spayed?" I said "because it is time" He smiled and asked "who told you this cat was a girl?" He held up the cat. He said, as he pushed up Ming Ming's two little peas in a pod, "he's a boy. You see, here are his testicles." I thought for a second and then said "o.k., then cut them off."
Tiresias has nothing on him. (thank you Genesis - Cinema Show)
Should have called this story Three minute eggs.
Bucking Trends
We do that a lot around here I guess. First we bought a house when everyone said we should wait (if we had waited, we would never have closed on a mortgage courtesy of everyone and their aunt foreclosing...)
And now we bought a dishwasher (custom order since it's white... and the date stamped on the back is actually 3 days after we paid for it) when durable goods orders are "inexplicably" down.
1
We have always done everything exactly wrong... yet here we are and it seems to have worked out. I conclude that the best thing to do is - do what works for you. *grin*
Posted by: Teresa at March 27, 2008 02:52 PM (rVIv9)
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Most of us 'real-lifers' can't wait for the 'best marketing move'. Have to do it when we need to. Can't always afford to wait.
Posted by: Mrs. Who at March 29, 2008 09:39 AM (ZUGLD)
You are brilliant, insightful, and intuitive. You understand people better than they would like to be understood. Highly sensitive, you are good at putting together seemingly irrelevant details. You figure out what's going on before anyone knows that anything is going on!
Why you would be a good superhero: You don't care what people think, and you'd do whatever needed to be done
Your biggest problem as a superhero: Feeling even more isolated than you do now
Chat me up
In the left sidebar, below Fred and the Sudoku game is a new AIM widget.
Since AIM is now included in Gmail Chat, I'm available whenever I'm logged in to mail. And you don't have to be an AIM clone either, you can sign in as a guest. But either way, be sure to tell me who you are, as I don't see your screenname on my screen.
Chats are private, as well, no one else visiting the site can see the conversation.
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.
Interesting, as my religious upbringing is #3 and #5, being both Orthodox and Methodist.
1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Orthodox Quaker (93%)
3. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (88%)
4. Seventh Day Adventist (79%)
5. Eastern Orthodox (75%)
6. Roman Catholic (75%)
7. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (64%)
8. Liberal Quakers (56%)
9. Unitarian Universalism (54%)
10. Orthodox Judaism (53%)
11. Reform Judaism (51%)
12. Sikhism (50%)
13. Islam (48%)
14. Jehovah's Witness (47%)
15. Bahá'àFaith (47%)
16. Hinduism (46%)
17. Mahayana Buddhism (42%)
18. Neo-Pagan (42%)
19. Theravada Buddhism (42%)
20. New Age (40%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (33%)
22. Jainism (31%)
23. Nontheist (30%)
24. New Thought (28%)
25. Taoism (28%)
26. Scientology (26%)
27. Secular Humanism (25%)
Drowning in work, but I needed to pop in and ramble and be political and stuff
- First of all, I want to start out by saying tonight's Golden Globes were the BEST AWARDS SHOW EVAH. I'm certain that I am not the first to say so, but it was delightfully refreshing to not have to listen to blather about designer dresses and celebrity dates and political bullshit speeches from idiots who, for the most part, are merely talking out their asses. Not to mention 3 hours of bad comedy and rotten stage numbers. Thirty minutes. No bullshit. I loved it.
Thanks Writer's Guild. I wish we could have you picket ALL the awards shows.
On the other hand, I think you writers are a bunch of selfish bastards. See, LA really is a company town. And all the NON-writers are really suffering. One of the news stations reported that if the parties accompanying the awards shows are cancelled, just the parties, that's $80 MILLION out of the area economy. $80,000,000.00. That's a hell of a lot of crews and waiters and caterers and delivery guys and lots of others who are barely hanging on in the best of times, and who are facing a serious crisis because a bunch of writers want 2 more cents per DVD. The actors say they're in solidarity with you, but they can afford to. Strangely enough, it's the richest among them who are calling for your selfishness to end. George Clooney and others have begged the parties to come back to the bargaining table, someplace they haven't met in WELL over a month.
In the meantime, crew members, caterers, security guards, and all the other "little people" are struggling. Not to mention the store owners, construction firms, barbers, restaurants, and other businesses that aren't getting business because Hollywood is essentially shut down.
Get your shit together and grow up. That is all. But do skip the awards shows.
-Top Gun is an ass-kicking movie. I think more people should watch the first half-hour and the last half-hour, and think about the implications of what's going on for TODAY. We came to the conclusion that if more people actually THINK about what's going on in the world, you'd hear a HELL of a lot less whining about the war.
-Psych is the best show on TV. If you don't watch it you should. Especially as NBC will be running episodes starting in February.
-We watched a lot of TV tonight. I needed the mental break. On a whim we flipped it to "Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant" on VH1. It was actually funny. And it had a damn good soundtrack (incl. Depeche Mode and The Cure). We also watched Home Makeover. Damn if that show doesn't make me cry every time I see it.
-The Puppies are beginning to get along. I even have photographic evidence. They were in the same chair. I was so shocked I jumped up to get the camera before they could figure out I was going to take pictures. I'll post them tomorrow when the camera and I are in the same room.
-Who turned on Fred's Espresso machine? Seriously. WooHoooooo!
-My mind must be on another planet. I usually have a mind like a steel trap, but I have forgotten a ton of things this weekend. Stress, and a working subconscious. First, Attila Girl asked me to guestblog for her for a few days. And I forgot. I was supposed to begin calling for jury duty this weekend, and guess when I remembered to do that? 11:05 PM, when the news dude started talking about Brit-Brit going to court tomorrow.... yeah. Go me. And I forgot a bunch of work stuff I need to get done before tomorrow.
And what am I doing? Blogging and procrastinating. Because I can.
1Psych is the best show on TV.
It's must watch TV for me and the spouse as well.
Did you catch the rerun of the pilot? They had a different girl playing Maggie in the first episode. You might remember her as the beeyatch extraordinaire from House this year.
Posted by: physics geek at January 14, 2008 01:29 PM (MT22W)
2
That last little bit about procrastinating is one reason why I love you so much.
I resemble that remark. A bunch. Mweh.
Posted by: Margi at January 15, 2008 11:45 AM (Cms8m)
PP, 
, 
((, 
DD, 
), 
