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Three Stories
Jun. 29th, 2006 06:53 pmToday I read about three interesting stories.
I read a story about a guy who lived for a week on ten dollars. You might think I would identify with this guy, but no. He did things a lot differently than I would have. For example he spent $5.68 of that $10 on a burger.
He did drink water instead of Gatorade on a bike ride. He did buy the ingredients for and cook a cheap dish (split pea soup, $2.38; dumplings from what was in the pantry) and he did eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and eggs. However, he also winged it a lot. He ate with friends. He ate at parties. A house guest brought beer. He got paid back a loan he had made (in food, not money).
I also read a story about a guy who went a month without getting into a car. He walked, rode a bike and took a bus everywhere. Although he was already fit, he started sleeping better and quit getting headaches during this month. He's also gotten in some better socializing with his family while they walk to church and such.
He actually talked thirty people into joining him in this "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive" program to help people get fit without having to go to a gym. He says, "Why is every other billboard in middle-America screaming at us to eat more, drive faster, live higher? Why has American become synonymous with excess? And the subtle message is, 'Don't rock the boat.' If you do, if you question this lifestyle, you aren't patriotic."
The most amazing part is that he lives in Tyler, Texas, a place that is basically the exact opposite of progressive.
I also read a story in the book Learning, Culture, and Community in Online Education. Apparently a first-grade classroom had only one computer. "The teacher had allocated five minutes for each child at the computer." It sounds like just another story of a pathetic use of technology in our crappy school system. But no.
"On their own, children developed a system in which one child used the left half of the keyboard, a second used the right half, and a third used the mouse. Thus, they managed to get 15 minutes each at the computer while achieving greater success in navigation or game playing than any one would have alone." First-graders thought this up and did it! I love them!
I read a story about a guy who lived for a week on ten dollars. You might think I would identify with this guy, but no. He did things a lot differently than I would have. For example he spent $5.68 of that $10 on a burger.
He did drink water instead of Gatorade on a bike ride. He did buy the ingredients for and cook a cheap dish (split pea soup, $2.38; dumplings from what was in the pantry) and he did eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and eggs. However, he also winged it a lot. He ate with friends. He ate at parties. A house guest brought beer. He got paid back a loan he had made (in food, not money).
I also read a story about a guy who went a month without getting into a car. He walked, rode a bike and took a bus everywhere. Although he was already fit, he started sleeping better and quit getting headaches during this month. He's also gotten in some better socializing with his family while they walk to church and such.
He actually talked thirty people into joining him in this "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive" program to help people get fit without having to go to a gym. He says, "Why is every other billboard in middle-America screaming at us to eat more, drive faster, live higher? Why has American become synonymous with excess? And the subtle message is, 'Don't rock the boat.' If you do, if you question this lifestyle, you aren't patriotic."
The most amazing part is that he lives in Tyler, Texas, a place that is basically the exact opposite of progressive.
I also read a story in the book Learning, Culture, and Community in Online Education. Apparently a first-grade classroom had only one computer. "The teacher had allocated five minutes for each child at the computer." It sounds like just another story of a pathetic use of technology in our crappy school system. But no.
"On their own, children developed a system in which one child used the left half of the keyboard, a second used the right half, and a third used the mouse. Thus, they managed to get 15 minutes each at the computer while achieving greater success in navigation or game playing than any one would have alone." First-graders thought this up and did it! I love them!