Strong Is The New Pretty, This Friday…

1) Strong Is The New Pretty. Photographer mum’s depiction of her sporty, fearless daughters, aged 6 and 9.

And she has a helmet on!

Mean girls. On the field, that is 🙂 (SO much better than in the movie, don’t ya think?)

Dis is cute, though…

The Miss would be sooo fascinated by this last, because it involves two huge loves for her – water, and a BALL. Throw in the school guinea pig or the dog, a few places she can seriously make your heart stop by clambering up – the higher the better – and she’s going to be having all her meals here. Better yet if you can swing an IV drip so her hands are free.

For real though, I especially like sports for girls because somehow I have this idea it nixes some of the Mean Girls mall crawling, preening and slam-booking… Also, you’re not checking your phone/ Facebook on the pitch or in the pool or sparring ring… In a world where we increasingly can’t seem to put our smartphones down, playing a sport where you have to watch the ball or your opponent or etc makes you forget about what’s on your phone for awhile.

Also, the message is clear: for your team to score, for everyone to win, you need to learn when to pass the ball. (Played netball for OUB in the Singapore Corporate Games predominantly as wing defense; we came in third 🙂

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2) Why A Harvard Professor Has Mixed Feelings About Going Into Finance

“…You might assume that stock markets are just a big casino, in which skilled traders extract money.

But arbitrageurs can create value, and stock markets can play an important social function. They determine which companies receive capital cheaply and which pay a heavy price for it, determining where factories are built, which retail stores are expanded and where research and development happens…” 

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3) In honour of Rockstar’s current learning unit in school about Geography….. I think. (Not sure about the “honour” part): 17 Powerful Images Showing The Devastating Effects Of Overpopulation.

Tar-rich zone in Alberta, Canada

Extracting coal in Tagebau Hambach strip mine, Germany

Our tech rubbish that usually ends up in a third world country

Geography of Olde was my most-hated subject going into SRP (the government public exam you take aged 15 or 16). To me it was all memorise-which-country-produced-what. Not sure how much application there was, I just remember being grilled and grilled on pure memory work.

(Now, pure mugging – memorising – is really not my strong point. My Sour Grapes response to 3 hour closed book exams (which to me are like the worst thing I will ever do in my life) is WHERE In Life Am I Going To Be Seated At A Desk Where I Can’t Just Google, And Need To Vomit Out Everything I Know In 3 Hours? Now, remembering WHERE to look for what I need quickly, that’s a different story…….)

So anyway I much prefer the way Rockstar is learning his Geography now, all “real-world application”… They even threw in a little reading encouragement – there is an English reader series out there based on the character, “Flat Stanley.” Before Easter break, the kids decorated their own Stanleys (I then took Rockstar’s to be laminated because I had no idea how long FS had to last before we got The Pic Rockstar would choose to apply to his assignment).

Dis Rockstar’s Flat Stanley. In da plastic.

Rockstar did dis. (Yes the “D-uh” shirt was his idea)

Part of the reason being because close to 10 years ago, JD did…

…Dis.

From A Dog’s Beautiful Life…

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4) This just in: Tweeting Grannies is a thing. Here’s one. (Call me a prude however, I think granny or otherwise, no one should dress in just leaves for a gadzillion people on the internet. Or get stoned. No getting stoned. Because if you are out of your tree you are probably not thinking of new ways to Save The World (from global warming and stuff).

(In the interests of full disclosure, my 91 year old grandma had at one point an email account with the name “sublime.” Simply because her initials and maiden Chinese name sound like the word 😀 (she was in her mid-70s btw). I don’t know if she still has it, I should probably check, but I remember in JC being asked what all the lesbian porn spam emails  she was getting was about <major cringe> proving it’s not just our kids we need to protect from stuff on the internet :D)

I rest my case.

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5) Rockstar Skit is …. Wait for it…. Basketcase. :D:D:D

Hangin’ out just shootin’ a couple hoops one evening, the Miss decides to put herself in the hoop…

Why not?

Eschewing otherwise characteristic seriousness, Rockstar decides to join her.

(Admittedly the first time she did this, Rockstar was uh, not happy; he was trying to shoot some hoops and all! Sometimes she’s helpful in encouraging our otherwise too-serious elder offspring to laugh things off. When she’s not driving him absolutely nuts.)

Why not indeed?

And now….

Issa slam dunk!

Good weekend, dears…