The Screaming Viking

Attached is a letter from a death row inmate.  This guy killed a 17 year old girl to whom which he offered crack for sex.  From the article I read, the father of the girl was pretty distraught about the letter.

deathrowletter

For several years there has been a change coming down the road for education.  In the past few years, with the introduction of the smart phones really, that change has been accelerated.  A lot of knowledge that people insisted kids memorize has changed to knowledge that can be found on the internet.  We need to change some of our focus from recalled knowledge to retrieving knowledge.  I don’t think this should be a whole sale shift across the board…there is some knowledge that is important…but that knowledge is changing from “facts” to “concepts”.  Is it important that I know the capital of Mississippi?  What that ever important?  Is it important that I know how to spell?  To some extent yeah, it probably is…but once a kid has passed the 5th grade it’s time to switch that focus from memorizing how to spell words over to knowing where to find the data.  Do we need to extensively teach geography?  or should we focus on the the knowledge to use the tools to find out about the current geography in an area?  Writing and penmanship is getting less and less important, but composition and effectively communicating is becoming more important (IMO).  So many people have a personal blog, lots of people us facebook/twitter/txts to communicate…maybe we should offer some course work involving communicating effectively in 140 characters or less?

We have such a limited school day, limited dollars, limited resources in general, it’s unfortunate that educational institutions are not keeping up with the knowledge and skills that are relevant in society.  I could go on about this, expand on my ideas…but I’ve burnt up way more than 140 characters.

Man, I don’t know what is going on but I’m using more than twice the power at the farmstead than I did in Fargo. I’m not just looking at the dollar amount here…which the farmstead is actually slightly cheaper than fargo…I’m looking at the kwH’s used. I’m not sure what exactly is causing the problem. I reduced my freezers from 4 down to 3…maybe that will help in the long run, but it didn’t help that much on the last bill. I can’t remember right off hand when I did that though so it might have been 1/2 way through the billing cycle. Other than that…I’m at a loss. I heated with electric in Fargo, so I would have thought at the very least it would be the same. The only thing I can think of is the water heater, the drier or the fridge in the meat house. I’m going to unplug the fridge tomorrow…maybe it’s running constantly or something. I turned it way down and in the time I’ve spent down there I can’t think of hearing it run.

I’m also going to talk to the electric company and see if they can help me identify what is sucking all the power. I’m not sure if that’s a service they offer…but I sure hope so!

Dead at 56

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]