Thought for the Day

"A human lifespan is less than a thousand months long. You need to make some time to think how to live it." -- AC Graylin, Philosopher

(via)

Read more here, if any.

Quote of the Day

From the March 14, 2008 Chronicle Review (The Death of a Conservative Icon):

“(Regarding William F. Buckley) Along the way, Buckley found time to launch the National Review, write thousands of nationally syndicated columns, run for mayor of New York—when asked what he would do if he won, he answered, “Demand a recount”—and tape 1,504 episodes of Firing Line.”

That’s productivity, right there, and I love the recount answer.

When you combine Buckley's death with the recent passing of Tim Russert, we've lost two pretty big names in journalism this year.

Read more here, if any.

Some Motivational Tidbits I’ve Found in the Last Few Days

The first was an ad from SAS which says that bees make one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime. That’s a lot of work for not much results, but the cumulative effect of all those bees making honey is a neat thing.

Later on I was watching the Spurs/Lakers game and they had a piece on Spurs coach Greg Popovich sharing a quote from Jacob Riis that I think speaks pretty powerfully to what we do in the classroom every day:

“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much a a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

I like that visual.

Thanks to Khandor's Sports Blog for having the quote.

Read more here, if any.

Quote of the Day

“As the school critic Myron Lieberman once noted, policymakers are more interested in the illusion of change than in actually making substantive change.”—William Silky in the 1/9/08 Education Week

Read more here, if any.

Quote of the Day

“In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.” — Mark Twain

Read more here, if any.

Quote of the Day

“I wish I was as cocksure of anything as Tom Macaulay is of everything.”—William Lamb

Read more here, if any.