The first introduction to the ABC’s on the Starfall site is animated and sounds out each letter, both in capital and lowercase form. Easy arrows and sparkly areas point the child in the next click area.

 


 
Followed by a number of comical and fun examples of words that start out with each letter.

 


 
The reading section adds another element of fun and takes your child to the place where they can choose to put words together, view fun animations or participate in interactive games that involve building sentences (while you play)

 


 
One of the most difficult parts of the English language is learning the exceptions to the rules. Starfall addresses these challenges nicely with a side section where your child chooses the topic and the animated words, sounds and music display how sometimes certain letters and combinations of letters are pronounced differently.

 


 
The only down side to this site is that they don’t follow the main menu through all of the pages, so there are times that you need to click your back key.

Overall, from a teaching and learning standpoint, this is by far one of the better websites for kids, parents and educators.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder within the Republican party and the subject of private matters pertaining to women’s choices regarding their bodies, it has. The need to control women’s bodies within the party has recently been at the forefront of the news, sparking heated debates across the country on all sides.  So what gives?  Why are they interjecting their opinions and trying to impose their will onto such private matters as women’s accessibility to things like birth control?  Better yet, why is it any of their business?

The recent flap over the Sandra Fluke case where ultra conservative and right-wing nut job Rush Limbaugh went on a days’ long attack of the college student for merely testifying in regards to the Affordable Care Act that the need for affordable birth control was not only necessary but the right thing to do, all things considered, has brought the topic crashing into living rooms and offices all across America.  For weeks it was the topic of discussion at water coolers everywhere as people weighed in with their thoughts on it, many of them as misinformed and misguided as the party’s seeming need to control women’s bodies in the first place.

So what is behind it?  First it was the long-standing and widely controversial topic of pro choice versus pro life.  But it didn’t just end there.  Besides the latest intrusion into women’s lives it seems they’ve become the moral guardians of our sexuality as well.  If ultra conservative Rick Santorum had his way, we’d all be barefoot and pregnant and kept out of the workforce so as not to invade the inner sanctum of a man’s world by taking their jobs that apparently we have no right to in his opinion.  Where did these outdated draconian notions come from in this day and age?  Hadn’t they quit rearing their ugly heads decades ago?

Apparently not.  Just weeks after the Fluke debacle came the shocking passage of a bill in Utah deeming it unlawful to teach sex education of any form in its schools.  Why you might ask?  Good question.   It seems the conservative Republican party in Utah in their infinite wisdom feels that it’s wrong to have anything taught about sex other than it’s sinful unless conducted between a married man and woman.  What they’re neglecting to consider is sex education isn’t just about teaching young adults about sex.  It’s about human chemistry and bodily functions as well, something that all educated people should know about.

When asked whether they had concerns that many kids would not therefore receive any counseling on the subject due to their parents being ill at ease with the subject matter and might never find out about the birds and the bees until it was too late and an unwanted pregnancy or unnecessary STD was introduced into their lives, they waived the question aside citing it was a parent’s right and God given prerogative to keep them in the dark if they so chose.  This is astounding and begs further consideration as teen pregnancy rates and life-threatening venereal diseases are bound to be on the horizon in Utah’s near future.
And what about Kansas and several other predominantly red states where they’re fighting to severely limit women’s rights to speak for themselves when it comes to their bodies?  A recent sweeping bill in Kansas on the topic of abortion prompted opponents to come out in full force and enraged women across the state, including incurring the wrath of Rep. Annie Kuether (D-Topeka) who demanded to know of them why Kansas legislators had the time to debate bills that discriminated against certain peoples and in short allowed men to dictate to women what they will do with their bodies.

And so it goes that the fight against women perpetrated by the Republican party at the hands of its male members continues to amaze those of us that feel it’s our right and our business to conduct our daily affairs with respect to our bodies and no one else’s.

Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/kansas-abortion-bill_n_1478706.html

Although the budget would lead to thousands of layoffs and gut the state’s infrastructure and education spending, it was nonetheless cheered on by conservative activists and businesses alike, leading to a further separation in the masses. What is it they just don’t get? We’re barely getting by as it is out here. It’s no joking matter. Revolutions have been started for less. Their trickledown economics just aren’t panning out. As the division in classes grows wider, more middle class Americans are realizing that their dreams are being set aside for the aspirations of the elite and that soon they’ll cease to exist.

The very same people that scoffed at the notion of two distinct and separate classes with no middle ground aren’t scoffing anymore in Florida after his startling proposal. In terms of taxes, Scott plans to cut $1 billion in property taxes over a two-year period and nearly $1.5 billion in corporate income taxes in the same time frame. This would involve cutting the corporate income tax rate from the current 5.5 percent to 3 percent and gradually phasing it out completely by 2018. The question begs: is a yearly pay cut in the amount of $2,335 for Florida teachers worth a $44.72 property tax savings to Florida homeowners with homestead exemptions? The answer is not bloody likely.

But wait. It gets better. Because Florida is required by law to balance its budget, besides cutting billions in Medicaid assistance to those at the lowest rungs of the income ladder they’ll be ravaging the budget of the already under funded Department of Children and Families and cutting the education budget by a whopping $4.8 billion over the next several years. Florida schools have long ranked poorly in the United States. And even states with higher rankings across the country have been struggling with budget cuts and inadequate school supplies and funds for programs. What makes Mr. Scott think that cutting corporate income taxes and giving homeowners a negligible property tax break at the cost of teachers’ already paltry salaries is the misguided answer?

Sources:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/03/07/149060/rick-scott-teacher-pay/

It wasn’t that U.S. automakers had shipped all their jobs overseas back then but that the imports were hurting their sales, thus diminishing demand and in essence putting workers here in this country out of a job. The distinction is there between imports and outsourcing jobs overseas, but the end result is the same: less work = less money in American’s pockets = less money to spend on products and services here in this country.

And this is where it gets confusing for most of us. If you close up your factories over here to go abroad to turn a greater profit and leave your former employees without jobs and enough businesses follow suit, where are we as citizens supposed to come up with the money to buy your products and afford your services? Did none of these big businesses ever think this far in advance? Come on, people. It’s not rocket science. We’re broke and our economy is in a shambles, but who can be surprised.

These companies built their businesses on the sweat of hard-working Americans and reaped the benefits of their labor and then got greedy and decided to close up shop and flee like a thief in the night to what they considered greener pastures where they could enlist sweat-shop labor that would work for pennies a day, and they’d still like us to support them financially through our patronage and by picking up the slack on their tax breaks that we all absorb down here in Lilliput where all us little people reside.

So what happened? Free trade was supposed to be such a good thing. Well, to a certain extent it is but, like everything in life, only in moderation. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Corporate America certainly wasn’t doing its part to help bring America out of its economic malaise. The paper stated it surveyed employment data by some of the nation’s largest corporations such as General Electric, Caterpillar, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Chevron, Cisco, Intel, Stanley Works, Merck, United Technologies and Oracle, among others, and found that they cut their workforces by 2.9 million people over the last decade while hiring 2.4 million people overseas!

Though there are no exact figures on just how many jobs have been lost due to this turning of the tide, the paper went on to make mention of the fact that this is actually a sharp reversal from trends in the late 1990s when these very same companies were creating more jobs in the United States than overseas. It’s also troublesome to note that in 2001, when our country was in full meltdown what with the horrors of 9/11 that had unfolded, these corporations began adding more jobs abroad than at home. How’s that for patriotism? We build you up and make you who you are and bring you profits and wealth and then it’s heave ho and farewell. We see how you are…

Sources:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/04/19/159555/us-corporations-outsourced-americans/

Three days later on April 23 the U.S. Coast Guard would suspend its search-and-rescue operations for the missing and discover the rig upside down a quarter mile from what would become known as the faulty blowout preventer. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs would go on to glibly say, “I doubt this is the first accident that has happened, and I doubt it will be the last,” leaving most Americans in a state of utter shock. Over the next two days it was determined by the Coast Guard’s underwater cameras that the well was leaking 1,000 barrels of crude per day, and plans to stop the leak through the use of a remote underwater vehicle to go in and activate the blowout preventer were approved.

Little did they know it would end up proving to be far more difficult than anyone had imagined, and for weeks it appeared that the situation was going nowhere as BP continued to falter in its efforts to contain the mounting disaster. On April 28 it was determined that the flow of crude gushing into the gulf was now at a rate of 5,000 bpd (barrels per day) after a third leak was discovered, making the disaster five times greater than previously guesstimated. BP would admit that same day that their attempts to repair a hydraulic leak on the blowout preventer were unsuccessful and proving far more difficult than previously imagined.

Fast-forward a month to experts estimating that the crude being released into the gulf is more likely to be 20,000 to 100,000 bpd with no end in sight and Americans growing increasingly restless. Several more weeks would pass with coastal shorelines now being directly impacted when Hollywood’s James Cameron, best known for his hits Titanic and Avatar, attempted to come to the rescue – or so he thought. Mr. Cameron valiantly offered the use of his own submersibles to aid in the containment and repair efforts.

On June 1, 2010, Cameron had participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, DC to aid in brainstorming for solutions to the gulf oil spill. Cameron said he offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill but that he was “graciously” turned away by BP with no explanation as to why. The following day at the All Things Digital technology conference he was quoted as saying, “Over the last few weeks I’ve watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what’s happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don’t know what they’re doing.”

The question to this day remains why after over 40 days of dismal failure on BP’s part would they look a gift horse in the mouth? It had already been determined by the Obama administration days earlier that the price tag for this horrific disaster was going to be the hefty sum of $10 billion. What could they have possibly lost by accepting Cameron’s aid? Were they afraid that they would appear even more inept at the handling of the situation than they already were? There was little chance of that. Public opinion had already been formed weeks earlier. That ship had sailed, along with any hope of salvaging the petroleum giant’s reputation.

Days later BP would manage to successfully cap the well with a combination of golf balls, tire tread and cement, which sounds pretty jury-rigged even to us nonscientist types, but at least they got it done. They would, however, accept the help of another Hollywood bigwig weeks later in the form of Kevin Costner’s oil-water separation machines he personally developed with the help of his scientist brother through Ocean Therapy Solutions. He has invested $20 million of his own money since the early ‘90s on the project and had hoped to see them put to good use.

BP spokesman Bill Salvin confirmed the company had contracted with Costner and Ocean Therapy Solutions to use the machines saying, “We recognized they had potential and put them through testing, and that testing was done in shallow water and in very deep water, and we were very pleased by the results,” but declined to say why Cameron’s assistance was rejected. Around the same time BP was trying desperately to save face with a series of ad campaigns designed to lessen public outrage while agreeing to pay a $20 billion down payment towards losses sustained by victims of the catastrophe. It’s probably safe to say at this point that we will most likely never know the reasoning behind their refusal to accept the Oscar winning director’s help.

Sources:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/bp-oil-spill-timeline-deepwater-horizon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/kevin-costner-oil-spill-machines
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/03/us-oil-spill-cameron-idUSTRE6520X020100603

Long before the call to arms was heard and it wasn’t yet fashionable, such former Hollywood starlets as Bridget Bardot and Doris Day were on board heading the charge. Both women have made it their life’s mission in their retirement to bring about greater awareness of the intolerable situations many animals endure in testing facilities that amounts to downright animal abuse. These days you’re just as likely to see such stars as Alec Baldwin, Pamela Anderson, Alicia Silverstone, Sarah McLachlan and many others taking part in their ad campaigns bringing heightened awareness to the cause.

PETA hopes to one day end the suffering of all animals and encourages change world wide in our consumption of them and our use of their byproducts in the form of pelts and leather goods, but so far it’s been met with a lot of resistance. Although it’s managed to slow the sale of furs over the years, in essence striking a blow to the industry by brow beating fashionistas who once thought nothing of wearing them publicly, their efforts to convert the masses to veganism have not met with as much success. The same holds true for leather.

But the advances they’ve made over the years can’t be denied. These days it’s not only not uncommon to find disclaimers on most any product you buy such as shampoos, makeup, dyes and dozens of others, it’s pretty much become the norm. The same holds true for the entertainment industry in that now during filming of a television series or movies where animals are involved they’re overseen by a representative ensuring that no animals were harmed during production. And there’s no denying the influence they’ve had with shows such as the heart wrenching ASPCA-related Animal Cops that are barely watchable.

Thankfully after repeatedly exposing such outrages ranging from chickens being punted like footballs by twisted workers for suppliers of KFC to the deplorable and inhumane treatment of monkeys for medical testing, the public’s perception of the group has improved over the years from the bum rap of being a group of crazies and bleeding hearts likened to tree huggers to compassionate beings with a legitimate cause.

Sources:
www.peta.org

The glitch in the system caused an error in the FAA’s ability to generate flight plans, including listing flights under their respective flight numbers, as well as equipment issues, runway take offs, as well as flight points and altitude checks.  When that system failed, it took down the warning system the FAA has in place to alert pilots of specific flights of potential cautions or things they should be aware of in the future, such as inclimate weather and runway closures.

The problems cleared up by mid-morning, but there were several delays and backlogs that had to be updated.

The system the FAA uses is dated, and while it was highly touted for its effectiveness when first installed, it has now fallen behind due to age and being obsolete.  Updates are hard to come by and with the frequency of system crashes increasing, the FAA may need to look into an overhaul to prevent disaster.

The first is the most obvious: Jordan’s accomplishments built the NBA to what it is now and without it, the opportunity for many of the next generation’s players wouldn’t exist, or exist in a state nowhere near what it is currently.

The second: anyone wearing the No. 23 is simply living in the shadow of Michael Jordan.  No matter how great the player is, after what Michael Jordan did during his career and the number of championships he acquired, no player will have remotely the same impact on the sport.  Regardless of talent, Jordan was the right man, at the right time.

The third ties into the second.  Playing under a different number, The King can build his own legacy.  Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have been heralded as the “next” Jordan, but that is an unfair comparison because they are two players in a much different era.  A new number lets LeBron build his own legacy, away from the one Mike made.

LeBron realizes that not even he could overshadow Jordan’s legacy.

Basically (for those of us who know nothing about video games and the like), when you play this game you have a big gun and you do a lot of shooting. Let me put it another way for you: I know when my roommate is playing this game…because I hear gun shots coming from his room.

Still this M-rated military game, which was released on Tuesday, earned $310 million in opening-day sales alone. According to Daniel Terdiman, a blogger for CNET news, 4.7 million copies were sold in the United States and the U.K. alone in order to break this record.

Just to put this in perspective for you, The Dark Knight made $155 million in the opening WEEKEND. The next top-selling video game was Grand Theft Auto IV which also made $310 million in first-day sales worldwide. (Modern Warfare made $310 million in just the U.S. and U.K.)

So, for those of you who are against violent video games, you may not want to join the millions of people who have purchased this game. I’m not into video games so much, but for those of you who are… What do you like about this game? Why is it so popular?

Something I find rather interesting about this little tidbit news story is the fact that the only reason the media are all over this and everything else related to Ms. Prejean is because she apologetically offended the gay community. The girl freaking spoke her mind and actually spoke it quite eloquently for a southern California valley girl and the world still can’t get over this woman’s tactful exhibition of…. Wait for it…

Free speech.

The last time I checked, this was still a free country and one that supposedly values the right to free speech so highly that we made part of our very first amendment.

Anyway, so all the gossip news now is covering Carrie Prejean implants, Carrie Prejean Playboy, and overall Carrie Prejean pictures. I guess everyone wants a look at those unnatural boobies so that we can once again dig up more reasons to make the gay community feel better about itself by trashing an otherwise decent American woman.

I’m so over this.