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Every year the temperatures get hotter and hotter, and it stays hot longer and longer. I remember, back in the 80s, band camp was horribly hot and miserable, and we complained about the heat every day at practice. But, shortly after the season began, the temperatures began to level off and the chill in the evenings began to make it feel like football season. Once the half-way point of the season arrived, we were able to wear our jackets and sweats.
Now, my 9-year-old son is playing "little league" football and it is really dangerous for him and all of the other kids. We've had 90+ degree days consistently in Atlanta, and the heat indices have been hovering between 100 and 118 on a regular basis. The Gwinnett Football League has determined that when the heat index hits 105, practices will be cancelled. But, the notifications that the league receives comes from the weather center at the weather channel, which is NOT located in Gwinnett County. Their monitors are not in Gwinnett County, and so their readings can not possibly be accurate. Unfortunately, the only accurate reading would be a reading from the field upon which the boys are playing.
There have been practices throughout the last two weeks in which the temperature reading on my car thermometer has hit 98 and 99 degrees. It has been so hot on the field that we, the parents, have been sweating like we have just finished running a marathon. And we were just sitting and watching the practice. I am positive that with the humidity we've had here in Georgia lately, the heat index has definitely reached 105 a number of times.
As a mother, I worry every single day, but is this added worry necessary? We make the boys drink water constantly, we make sure that the coaches are taking their required water breaks. We squirt them down with a chilled water sprayer, and make them remove their shoulder pads and helmets when they break. But, is all that enough?
Is it really necessary for us to begin the "little league" football season at the same time that the high school begins theirs? We only play an 8 week schedule with 3 weeks of playoffs and 2 weeks of preliminary practices. Why couldn't we begin the football season in September? The temperature may still be in the 90s, but it would be in the low 90s, and more than likely, the 80s. That difference would be HUGE for the boys. We would still finish the season before the Christmas break, and we wouldn't be infringing upon the next sport season, which is usually basketball.
Every year we hear about a number of kids dying, yes dying, on the football field because of heat exhaustion or some other heat related issue. How many kids have to die before we adjust the schedule? How many child deaths are considered acceptable, and what's the number that will force change?
We do all that we can for our kids during these horribly hot summer days in the South, but there's only so much we can do when the schedule is set during the hottest days of the year. When will safety outweigh football?
Let's just get right to it. British Petroleum (BP) has no freakin' idea how a condom is supposed to work; but my 9 year old does, and he doesn't even know it!
Obviously, none of the BP executives have ever worn a condom before; OR, they were just so drunk back in college, that they don't have any recollection of ever having used one. And who, or what, is getting FU*%*D without a condom now? Our environment, and ultimately, US!
If you're offended by the language, too bad. This is one argument that deserves total outrage and a lot of cussing! On this one, I simply can't apologize for voicing my opinion as freely as it comes.
Here's the real issue of the day. BP has placed a small pipe, inside the bigger pipe, to try and capture some of the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. REALLY? Yep, that's what they've done. And why did they do this? Not to fix the problem...NOPE, not on your life! They went with this solution to try and capture as much of the undiluted oil as possible. They're trying to make sure it's not contaminated with sea water so that it can still be used to produce gas. They're not trying to capture everything that is leaking into the ocean. They're not trying to save the oceanic environment, the wetlands of Louisiana, or the massive fishing industry in the Gulf. In order to continue to earn a few extra bucks for the "good ole company," and to make sure that the well wasn't a total corporate failure, they're trying to capture as much pure oil as they possibly can. Sure, they're burning off some of the natural gas from the side of the tanker on the surface, but there's no way they're going to let go of the possibility of catching as much oil as they can. And if 80% of it ends up floating on top of the ocean, so be it. They've got their 20%, and it's useable.
What BP should be doing is, placing a BIGGER pipe, OVER the OUTSIDE of the smaller pipe from which the oil is flowing, in order to capture every single bit that is coming out of the well. And guess what BP, you might get a tiny bit of ocean water mixed in with the oil that you'd capture....but you'd get ALL OF THE OIL!!!!!!
It's kind of like wearing a condom to make sure that nothing escapes. I know it's not something that BP executives think about very often...SAFETY, and how to prevent unwanted things from happening. I mean, your track record on safety leaves a LOT to be desired. And we all know that most of the time, guys think about how they should have worn a condom after the fact, and by then, it's too late. Well, as late as it is, it's still not too late to put the right size condom, I mean pipe, over that other pipe! You can do it! You might not remember how it supposed to work, but you should, at the very least, give it a try.
I know, I know, you tried to put the big dome over it, (and we all know what happens when a guy uses a condom that's too big), it just doesn't work! And then you tried the "top hat." Of course, that thing was going to get blown off, because it's too short and too wide. But let's get to the real problem with those two solutions...both of them caused water or frozen moisture to get into the oil mix, and that was not going to be acceptable for BP. Could both of these solutions have captured the oil? Probably! Was THAT the first concern of BP? NOPE!
I am telling you, BP is more willing to risk the potential cash pay-outs, than lose more oil. Why? Because ultimately, they're going to get to pay one big settlement fee which will be dispersed to millions of affected people; and they'll probably get to go to court, and lower the final settlement amount. Of course, the pay-out won't be enough for anyone that is actually affected by this spill. Everyone will get a miniscule amount compared to what they should get from this disaster. And BP is willing to take their chances, and let the chips fall where they may.
It's amazing to me, that my 9 year old figured out the solution to the problem before all the BP engineers. As my family watched the news, and were told of the small pipe being put inside the bigger pipe; and that it would capture less than 1/2 of what was flowing out of the well; my son said to me..."Mama, why don't they put a bigger pipe on the OUTSIDE instead of on the inside so that they can get it all?"
BRILLIANT! Has my 9 year old solved BP's problem? No, he's just solved our problem, he's solved our environment's problem, he didn't solve BP's problem. Because that brilliant little boy wasn't thinking about capturing undiluted oil, he was thinking about capturing ALL OF THE OIL!!!
I planned for my first issue to be about Earth Day, and what our family was doing to help "save the Earth." Then, I looked through my son's school folder and almost had a heart attack. Evidently, South Dakota is now Missouri. WHAT?
There was a small map of the US with numbers 1-6 marking different states. There was a multiple choice list of the "correct" states from which to choose, and he was to fill in the blank with the correct choice. #6 was right in the middle of South Dakota, yet South Dakota was not among the choices. All of the other options were relatively close to the listed choices, but Missouri was the only option left for #6, which was clearly South Dakota.
As I was looking at the page, Connor quickly told me that he knew it was wrong, but didn't have any other choice but to use that as the answer. He made 100 on the page, but clearly, the teacher did NOT! And he knew it. I circled her error in red, corrected the incorrect option, and sent it back to school with Connor for him to ask her about it this morning.
And we wonder why our children do so poorly on tests, and why they are so far behind the rest of the world in education. And this page came from a teacher who's experience spans 30 years already. There is a map of the US right on the wall in the classroom, and there are about 5 globes at the back of the class. I am not a teacher, but I'm smart enough to know to check my work before handing it to the kids to use as a learning tool.
So far this year, Connor's teacher has been great. There haven't been any other instances like this one, but I'd say this one was a "biggie."
Here's my real issue. We are the only country in the world that does not truly promote "travel outside or inside" our country. Yes, we promote vacation hot-spots, we promote going on cruises, and to the beach or Disney World. But, we do not promote hopping in the car, or on a plane, and visiting as many states as we can; seeing as many things in each state as we can. We don't even have enough time to do that, even if we wanted to. Parents only get between one and two weeks of vacation each year, and no one wants to take both at the same time. We work so hard, and we don't want our vacations to be learning experiences for us or our children, we just want to relax and do nothing. And I don't blame anyone for needing that "time off." We all do. But, in most European countries, people get between 4 and 8 weeks of vacation a year, and Italians typically get the entire month of August to do nothing, or travel the world. If you don't believe me, just plan a trip to Italy in August and see how many stores are closed for the month; and just try to find a place to have lunch...there aren't many.
Luckily, I have traveled all over the US and through most of Europe, so my knowledge of geography is based on experience and not just classroom chatter. It was my travel experience that fueled my "want" to learn about where everything is, and how I could get there. Unfortunately, we are content in this country, for our children to stay close to home and never get too far away. And frankly, that is to their detriment. In an article from CNN education news, Fewer than three in 10 think it is important to know the locations of countries in the news, and just 14 percent believe speaking another language is a necessary skill. Really? They don't think it's necessary to know what country the news is referencing? WOW!
My plan to combat this geographic ignorance is to take my children everywhere I possibly can. I want them to have fun on every vacation, but I also want them to learn something as well. I plan to let them choose the things and places they'd like to explore, and make it an adventure. I don't want them to simply know where South Dakota is located on a map, I want them to see Mout Rushmore, and explore the Glacial Lakes region, and everything else that South Dakota has to offer. (And every other state for that matter.)
It might be more expensive, it might not be quite as relaxing as laying on the same beach every year, but they will grow up loving to travel. They will always have the desire to see more, go more places, and experience more things. I still have that desire, and it's because I have seen a lot, but not everything. There are so many countries I still want to visit, so many amazing things I want to see and do. That desire is what will teach my boys, without them even knowing they're learning, and that's incredible.
Truthfully, I just couldn't take it anymore. I love posting all of the issues that concern me on Facebook and Twitter, but I decided that I needed a broader vehicle for sounding my alarms. So, here I am.
Some of my issues will be personal, some will be about parenting & the process of raising two boys, some will be about what's going on where I live, but most will probably be political. If nothing else, I'm sure you'll find my rants and raves to be interesting. I plan on "letting it all out" on this blog, so prepare yourselves!
