Government to track truant students via GPS ankle bracelets

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5961312.html

“Court authorities will be able to track students with a history of skipping school under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System monitoring.
….
Penn said the electronic monitoring is part of a comprehensive program she started four years ago to reduce truancy. She cited programs in Midland and Dallas as having success with similar electronic monitoring measures.”

This takes “compulsory attendance” to a new and insane level.

Such ridiculous government intervention and intrusion of privacy would be laughable if it weren’t really happening…

The Forgotten Man of William Graham Sumner

I just read this portion of an essay written by William Graham Sumner in 1883 which I wanted to share to show yet another reason I advocate less and less government:

“As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X, or in the better case, what A, B, and C shall do for X…. [W]hat I want to do is to look up C…. I call him the Forgotten Man…. He is the man who never is thought of.  He is the victim of the reformer, social speculator and philanthropist, and I hope to show you before I get through that he deserves your notice both for his character and for the many burdens which are laid upon him.”

Here is the whole essay if you’re interested:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1//AIH19th/Sumner.Forgotten.html

What daddy has learned so far

Alexander is now 3 weeks old and I have learned some very interesting things so far about babies and being a parent.  I just wanted to share some of those things I’ve learned:

1. Babies are noisy sleepers.  When Alexander sleeps I hear almost constant little noises.  I read in a book that is normal as babies are in REM (when muscle activity is still active) for a much larger percentage of there sleep than adults are.

2. A baby can fart just as loud as you can.  The other day I was holding Alexander and I swear he farted louder than most farts I have ever heard.  Apparently size does not restrict the volume of a fart.

3. A babie’s head looks weird.  I remember when Alexander was first born and I saw his head for the first time: it was gross…  I did not know that the skull surrounding the brain are four seperate plates when they are first born.  Now his head looks more normal (even though it’s still huge) but when I hold him I can still feel the separation of those plates and it still feels kinda weird.

4. A baby boy’s private parts are pretty big compared to his body.  When I saw it in the sonogram and after he was first born I thought “that is a manly boy” but apparently that is just normal.

5. I read that it’s literally impossible to spoil a baby in the first two months of life.  Apparently they are not aware of there surroundings and what not so you can’t spoil them.  So there are no worries about getting him too used to sleeping in the same room as mom and dad, or getting too used to be rocked to sleep etc in the first two months.  After two months though they start to become aware of there surroundings so bad habits need to be avoided and good habits initiated after two months.

Those are just the first few that popped into my head but I’m sure I’ll think of more later.

Basically I love being a daddy.  Looking into those innocent eyes is one of my favorite things now.  I highly recommend it to everyone.

One last note: I highly recommend the book Baby 411.  It’s a book about everything about babies in there first year.  It’s great for looking up answers to questions you might feel too stupid to ask and has been an invaluable resource to myself and Amy.

Bill of No Rights

I found this pretty funny document that is called the “Bill of No Rights” which points out, in a humorous way, the various things that many people believe are rights but in fact are not at all.

For example number 9 says:

“You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have one, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities in education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.”

Anyway here is the link to the entire thing if you want to see it: http://keelynet.com/humor/norights.htm

I think it’s pretty funny but actually true.

Hello World! Alexander Thomas Brown

Alexander Thomas Brown

Alexander Thomas Brown was born on July 29th at 3:49 PM weighing 5 lbs 14 oz at a length of 19 inches.

“When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.” – E. T Sullivan