Saturday, August 27, 2011

Come Watch Some Flying on a Boat


From the Seattle Times:





More information: www.voilierspectacle.com


seattle citizen said...

I read about this, sounds great! The REAL show, tho' would be to see them do it when they're under way!

SP said...

...tell me about it- We had to go to the top of our mast half way across the Atlantic in a storm when the radio antannea fell and jammed the mainsail track so we couldn't reef the sail. Just two of us onboard, so when half of the crew is 45 feet off the deck/at night/with huge waves on a wildly girating mast the last thing on my mind was doing this show for fun!
(true story, actually)

seattle citizen said...

SP...that is one horrifying story! I can only imagine (my family had a small sailboat, a Pearson Ariel, until recently and I went up the mast in the bosun's chair a few times...but never in a storm where you HAVE to reef the main, so you HAVE to go up....eek!
The antennae jammed the track...THAT figures, it can't just fall off, it has to fall into the track...but of course!

Anonymous said...

a metaphor for the current school board

==sans Betty Patu, who is grounded

Waiting out Irene on vaca said...

Nah, Anon, it's a metaphor for how out-of-touch with the general population of students the regulars on this blog are when they're people who can afford to sail across the ocean in their own personal boats. They are so far removed from the low-income kids they are allegedly trying to "save" from the school district that it's not even funny.

la dolce vita said...

Yup, we are so rich and removed from poor kids we should just shut up and leave policy decisions to the Gates and Broads and Kopp and Duncan who know so much better than us what poor kids need.

seattle citizen said...

Waiting out Irene, that is just ridiculous, claiming that people who have sailed the Atlantic are therefore "out-of-touch" with poor children. You're classist, you're "us vs them," you're obviously out of touch with reality.

Robert Manry, a "lower-middle-class" guy, once bought thirteen foot boat for a few hundred dollars, built a tiny cabin up front, and sailed 3000 miles to England in it. I guess that makes him "out of touch with the poor."

Africans crossed the Atlantic hundreds of years ago in pre-Columbian times, as evidenced by art in South America that is similar to art in Africa. I guess they were the "rich" Africans, out of touch with their poor.

Polynesian sailors routinely sailed the Pacific in small boats...abandoning THEIR poor.

Sailing = "out of touch" elite wealthy people? Ridiculous. I hope that if you ever find a little money, Waiting, you buy yourself a sailboat and join the "wealthy elites" in their "cruises." You might just learn a little more about the world, about self-determination, about reliance on others, about the leveling effects on people and class of a hurricane at sea...

seattle citizen said...

Following Waiting Out Irene's lead, we should all remember to never accumulate enough wealth to buy a sailboat: It will make us "out of touch" with the poor.

Oh, and Waiting, how's your "vaca" going? I'm wondering if your vacation (that you spend money on) is rendering you "out of touch"? Are you feeling a bit more decadent, a bit pampered...a bit like you're spending money on yourself instead of on alleviating all the suffering in the world? Better check yourself, eh, or you're liable to become one of those elitists, sipping martinis on the salon deck as your crew dutifully polishes the winches with toothbrushes...

dan dempsey said...

Now I see...

There are achievement gaps because teachers are so well paid they are out of touch with the poor.

Great insight. Phooey.

dan dempsey said...

The problem with teaching today, is that those most disconnected from what works are telling those that know how to teach .... what they need to do.

Want proof .. look at the results over the last 10 years.

The quality of Ed Research is extremely poor. The UW and others in the "know" are failing to produce positive results; yet because their recommendations align with an ideology deemed correct .... the SPS fumbles on by following those in "the know".

One reason for the lack of effective teaching is because teachers are discouraged from using effective instructional materials and practices. This is particularly apparent when examining results from low income students and other educationally disadvantaged subgroups.

My thought for "Waiting out Irene on vaca" is
please be specific as to the charges you make.
What are the practices that the "regulars on this blog" advocate for that are not in the best interests of "the low-income kids?"

One of this blogs major strengths is as a forum for discussion of ideas and evidence. Care to join us?

SP said...

Sorry, "Waiting out Irene on vacation", but you make amazing jumps to blind conclusions without knowing our situation.
Actually, our sailboat was our only home for 20 years and we lived and travelled (sailed) all over the world all year long for probably less than you are spending on your vacation waiting out Irene.

Your "out-of-touch" assumptions might be better directed as this one is all wet.

Melissa Westbrook said...

Irene, that was one person with one story. Please, don't generalize to all of us.

Also, some of us here may be doing better in our lives than when we were children but you never forget your own childhood. I want better for all these kids and I want them to have the opportunity to achieve it.