Blogroll

The 5-Alive Guide for helping keep youthful drivers safe is such a good idea that it gets a favorable mention in editorials in both the evening and morning newspapers. This is something the kids will hope their parents don't read, because if they do, the first few years of driving won't be nearly as fun as they had imagined. Or as deadly as the parents fear.

The prime directive of libertarianism and a pretty good restatement of the Golden Rule: "Just don't stand on anybody's head." Not sure I buy this marriage of conservatism and Dead Head-ism, but it's a fascinating read. For sure, more people on the right are fans of Jerry Garcia than of the Rolling Stones. Joke I heard once: What did the Dead Head say when he ran out of pot?

It's a rite of passage for teens to congregate with other teens and behave so obnoxiously that adults get annoyed. When I was growing up, we had to drive all over creation to have this pleasure, stopping at places like Halls and Gardners just long enough to let our car engines cool. These kids today, I swear, they have it so easy; all they have to do is go to the mall. But now the malls are striking back. Useful phrase to remember: "I've been thrown out of better places than this." 

The answers for the quizzes posted here in the last three days:

Downtown quiz, Part 1: What does Reservoir Park have that downtown needs? Answer: park benches. Downtown quiz, Part 2: What is missing from this stop on a downtown walking tour? Answer: park benches. Downtown quiz, Part 3: What does this site have that the rest of downtown needs more of? Answer: park benches. Kind of a theme there. (Watch the video.)

This brings us to:

The Curbside Challenge

This must be one of those stories where the authorities know a whole lot more than is revealed in the news stories, like maybe the whole family is dangerous and the best thing is to get the kid out of there. Otherwise, it's hard to see the heinousness of a woman selling her baby for a pittance to the grandparents who have done most of the raising of the baby anyway.

I've always liked the great movie "12 Angry Men," but for a long time I probably took the wrong lesson from it: The jury system works, and the truth will prevail! Actually, 11 of the jurors in the movie were nincompoops who were ready to send the defendant to the chair without a minute of discussion. And most juries don't have the Henry Fonda character to slow them down and make them consider the actual evidence in the case instead of their own prejudices and preconceptions.

What does this site have plenty of that the rest of downtown doesn't have enough of? Answer to all three parts of the quiz tomorrow.

Here's the deal: Daylight-saving time is now a reality in Indiana. You can skip the "fall back" part in a couple of months, but be prepared, as difficult as it might be to think about, to "spring forward" by setting your clocks an hour ahead when the time comes. And forget about the time zone -- it isn't going to change.

Sure, you can argue with me, and we can get a great blogging debate going about the serious issues affecting Fort Wayne and the world. But wouldn't you really rather hug me?

Well, of course: "The factors that improve student performance often seem a fuzzy list of hard-to-define assets like good teachers, effective principals, smaller classes, and the right curricula, only some of which are directly related to dollars." We've been arguing about this for about 100 years, and the answer is no: Money does not buy good education.