Divemedic

The plunge

Three years ago, I began dating a delightful woman. Within a month, we had taken our first trip together: we went to Mexico for a week.

Six months later, we were living together.

A month after that, I became a high school science teacher, so we would have extra money to travel and our days off would match.

Over the next two years, that woman from New York would change from mildly anti-gun New York girl to a CCW holding, gun carrying, Trump voting, libertarian leaning Trump voter.

To say that we had changed each other is an understatement.

So a year ago, on November 11th, we became engaged.

In the past week, we were married. It was a medium sized affair, with about 50 guests. The ceremony was short and meaningful, with many of the attendees saying that it was unique and fun.

She was so beautiful, and I was so moved. This was my third marriage, and for the first time, I cried at a wedding. I am not ashamed to say it. This woman is special like no other has been, and I am happy to have finally find the peace I have always longed for.

The after party was a blast, with an open bar, outstanding gourmet food. We are both foodies- I and my family are Cajun, and she and her family are Italian, so you know that the food there would be interesting, tasty, and not at all healthy. The chef we hired made great food, which we previewed this past summer, to make sure it fit our requirements.

Everyone had a great time.

Now I settle into the married life, once again.

By Divemedic, ago

Publicity Stunt

A woman claims that she was hiking and ran across a couple walking their dogs. It turns out it was the Clintons.

“I saw a couple of people and two little dogs walking toward me and as I got closer, I realized it was Bill and Hillary Clinton,” she told Inside Edition. “I asked to take a picture with her and he offered to take it for me, and the rest is history.”

This story is manufactured and untrue. You see, former Presidents have Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives, and therefore the woman would not have seen a “couple of people,” what with the SS agents tagging along, meaning that she is lying and the entire incident here was staged for media reasons.

By Divemedic, ago

Sanctuary City

Stockton, California is a sanctuary city. This means that you can be an illegal alien, and they will do all in their power to protect you and prevent you from being deported. Immigration laws mean nothing there.

However, you better not sell food without a permit.

“I don’t write the laws, I enforce them. And the legislature has felt that this is a crime,” said San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Kelly McDaniel. 

Funny that THIS law is where the DDA takes a stand. I guess some laws are important enough to enforce, and others aren’t.

By Divemedic, ago

Revolving door

Old Town is a popular tourist destination in Osceola County. I have gone there a few times myself. On Saturday nights, they have the Classic Car Cruise, which is a great car show for old cars.

Last night, several hours after the car show was complete, there was a bit of a fight there involving known gang members. Deputy Rios was called there to break up the fight was attacked and then shot by Angel Manuel Lopez, a known gang member. To say that Lopez has a criminal record is a bit of an understatement.

He has 16 arrests dating back to 2008 for drug offenses, burglary, battery, and armed robberies. In each of those cases, he was either found not guilty, received only probation, or charges were dropped when witnesses wouldn’t testify.

Now he is an attempted cop killer. The justice system doesn’t work.

By Divemedic, ago

Shell phones- a rant

It used to be that you would get a cell phone for a small token payment, and the cellular provider would then lock you into a 2 year contract, with an early termination fee of several hundred dollars for leaving. 

For the longest time, I simply maintained two lines that were activated a year apart, and this enabled me to get a new phone every year. That worked until the cell companies figured out that particular plan and began selling you the phone at a highly inflated price. They allow you to make payments, but the phones have about a 50% markup, and you are locked into cell service for as long as you continue to make payments.
The salesmen make all sorts of promises, and then have you sign a book length contract that even experienced attorneys cannot decipher. Then it turns out that the contract entirely favors the cell carrier. Isn’t this supposed to be what the consumer watchdog agencies of the government are for? Instead, business and government engage in a “one hand washes the other” arrangement where the little guy keeps getting screwed. This is why candidates like Sanders and Trump are so popular.
American cell phone companies are a ripoff. I was talking with people from other countries, and most countries pay less than $40 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data. Sure, you have to buy your own phone, but there are no early termination fees, no contracts, and you can switch carriers as you please.
These contracts are distorting the market, and there is no real choice or competition in the cell phone market. I have been a customer of every major cell phone company, most of them more than once. 
– I was a customer of Verizon in the late 90’s when they were still PrimeCo. Their service was so poor, and customer service was so rude, I left them and went to Nextel.
 
– I was a customer of Sprint back when they were Nextel. My relationship with that company ended with me filing a lawsuit when I cancelled service after my phone service failed during 2004’s Hurricane Charley. I wanted to cancel my service, they wanted to charge me a $600 early termination fee for cancelling a contract where they were the ones failing to keep up their end of the bargain. I paid the early termination fee to avoid the hit to my credit, and then sued them. I won the lawsuit, and was refunded my ETF plus a small amount for my time and trouble. 
– I went with AT&T for awhile, but their expensive service and the number of dropped calls was horrendous. I went back to Verizon in 2012
 
By Divemedic, ago

Security Fail

So I have a credit card with an electronics retailer whose name I won’t mention, but it rhymes with Breast High. Because I have been updating my physical and electronic security, I was on the company’s website trying to change my password to a more secure one. I last changed my passwords in 2014, so I was overdue for a change. While there, I noticed that the address they had on file was an old one that I no longer have access to. I resolved to change the address on file next.

When I tried to change the password, I got a message saying that the process had been unsuccessful. I was locked out, and now cannot get back in. Neither the old password or the new one work. I called the company, and they are telling me that they need me to read the numbers from the physical credit card in order to reset the password. I tell them that I do not have the card, nor have I had it in nearly two years.

They respond by telling me that I must read them the numbers in order to reset the password. They offer to send me a new card. I tell them that the address they have on file is an old one. She then offers to send the card to whatever address I give her.

Blink. Blink.

This “security measure” is more security theater. All anyone has to do is give their address, get a card, and then get the password. Security fail.

By Divemedic, ago

Crime spree

I put my surveillance cameras in place during the first week of August. It takes about 5 weeks for the DVR to run out of space and begin writing over the old recordings. My cameras can see quite a long way. I can view at least 10 houses and their yards from my house. In the past three months, I have seen the following:

–  My lawn pest guy was just putting the “pesticide” sign in the yard and leaving. I got a refund of $375 and I now do it myself.
– I caught the lawn mowers cutting my screen and damaging several sprinkler heads, as well as the low voltage lighting. They came out and fixed it.
– I caught one of my neighbors’ pool guys using my garden hose to add makeup water to the neighbor’s pool. They agreed to pay for the excess water. It turns out that I was billed for nearly 2,000 gallons of water over my normal usage.
– When my neighbor’s house was burglarized, I happened to get the miscreants on my camera. They now have their own camera system.
– I also caught some local youths setting off large fireworks, damaging some property. I gave the recordings to the affected neighbors.

These cameras have caught so much in such a short time, that I am amazed and wondering if this is normal, or if this is some sort of minor crime spree.

I was asked to join the neighborhood watch. I politely declined. The last thing I want is to be labelled as some sort of wannabe cop racist vigilante ala George Zimmerman. It’s a shame when you can’t get involved without being a suspect yourself.

By Divemedic, ago

More indoctrination

When arriving at work this morning, I found this in my mailbox:

I want to you take a close look at what the schools want teachers to do:

– Organize discussion groups in class or after school to talk about and promote homosexuality.
– Bring up homosexuality in conversations with friends and in class discussions.
– Put up posters and wear items promoting homosexuality.

Here is my feeling on this:
– I teach chemistry. Promoting homosexuality is not a part of my course content. I won’t do it. I am not going to tell underaged teen boys that it is acceptable to suck dick, or underage teen girls that they should be out there licking pussy. I am just not going to do it.

– From a biological standpoint, if homosexuality were to become the norm, our species would cease to exist, as it interferes with reproduction. This by definition makes homosexuality a behavioral disorder. That isn’t to say that people who are homosexual should be mistreated or bullied in any way, nor forced into treatment, but I don’t feel that it needs to be celebrated or promoted any more than does flatulence, halitosis, or coronary heart disease.

– As far as transgenders: just because you believe yourself to be a woman does not make it so, any more than I would be a chicken if I claimed to be one. If you believe yourself to be of a sex other than the one which you biologically are, you have a mental disorder. Treatment should be offered for this, but not forced upon transgenders, unless that transgender belief endangers you or others.

However, professing the above beliefs and opinions would get me terminated if it were to become known amongst my coworkers. Free speech, my ass.

By Divemedic, ago

Teaching evaluations

On March 7th of this year, I was hired by a local high school to teach physics and chemistry. The teacher before me had been fired for absenteeism two months earlier. They had been in the classroom with substitute teachers for over three months of class time when I was hired. It is difficult to find qualified teachers in STEM fields, and even harder to find qualified teachers for chemistry and physics. Maybe this is why:

The results of our teacher evaluations just came back for last year. The evaluation is based upon three factors:

1 Your plan for teaching and improving yourself and your students (Called a Professional Development Plan or Deliberate Practice Plan)
2 Your classroom skills, as evidenced by a classroom visit and observations made by a school administrator
(These first two factors are called your Instructional Practices Score)
3 Student performance on end of year standardized tests. 
The scores are on a 4 point scale, with 3.50 and higher being superior, 2.5-3.49 being average, and anything less putting your job in jeopardy.
The standardized tests that my evaluation was based on, was administered during the week of March 28 – April 1. Spring break was the previous week. In other words, I was employed by the school for exactly 11 days before they were tested.

Even better, the students whose test scores were the basis for my evaluation were 10th graders. Physics and chemistry are 11th and 12th grade courses. There is no standardized test for either chemistry or physics, so the school uses the 10th grade reading test to rate all teachers whose class does not have a standardized exam.

So that third factor, which comprises 40% of my evaluation, is testing students that I don’t teach, in a subject that has nothing to do with the subjects I teach, and tested them on skills that they learned or didn’t learn before I even worked there.

When my classroom teaching was observed, it was during a physics class. In the the first instance, they were testing the math formula for determining pendulum period. They used different weights and different lengths of string to build pendulums to see which had the greater effect on pendulum period. Then they had to use the pendulum formula to construct a pendulum with a 2 second period. 
During the second class, the students were measuring frequency and wavelength of ultrasonic waves, and using that to calculate the speed of sound in various mediums. 
What did I get as a score for my IPS? A 3.2.
The test that the students took just two weeks after I was hired? I got a 2.49 for that. For performance that didn’t even happen when I was there.
How is that an accurate or fair assessment of a teacher’s skill? Do you know why I was evaluated like this? Florida law says that I get a large bonus if I am a new (to the district) teacher and my SAT scores were above the 80th percentile. By giving me an evaluation from last year, they get out of paying me that bonus.

The teacher across the hall from me is a law school graduate. Last year was her first as a teacher. She is always in an hour early, and leaves an hour late. She got her evaluation today and burst into tears. 

The education system is systematically dysfunctional. Teachers who don’t care are simply there to put in time, get a paycheck, and have summers off. Talented teachers who care are often run out of the classroom and return to other careers.
By Divemedic, ago

Obamacare

“If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period… In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year…So this law means more choice, more competition, lower costs for millions of Americans.” President Barack Obama

By Divemedic, ago