Mike Falick's Blog

Choking Game Tragedies Continue: A 15 Year Old Military School Cadet is the Latest Victim

The San Antonio Express News reported yesterday on yet another senseless choking game injury.  In this most recent case,  a 15 year old military school cadet was found in his room by his roommate.  As of the date of the report, the student was in intensive care.

The incidences of "choking game" injuries and deaths continue to increase.  For more information, please see my prior posts here. 

The map to the left, from The Dylan Blake Foundation, shows the number of choking game deaths in 2005.

To see just how widespread this problem is, click here for the latest news stories containing the works "choking game" -- it's truly frightening.

Can You Pass the 3rd Grade States Test? This Website Will Give You the Chance

Here's a website that gives you the opportunity to see if you can locate each state in the United States.  The website also contains geography tests for the rest of the world broken down by continent.

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE ON THE CALENDAR OPTIONS FOR 2007-2008

Today is your last opportunity to vote on the 2007-2008 school calendar.   Please take a look at my prior posts on this subject here and here.

You can click here to vote.

Carve a Virtual Pumpkin Here

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

As a way of celebrating (or alleviating boredom), here's a website where you can carve a virtual pumpkin.  Isn't the internet wonderful.

Lt. Gov. Dewhurst Takes a Stand Against High School Steroid Abuse: Calls for Mandatory Random Testing of Athletes

Regular readers of this blog are familiar with my prior posts on steroid abuse in high schools (here and here).  That is why I am pleased to see Lt. Governor Dewhurst's recent statement that he will seek legislation to require random testing of all Texas high school athletes with the cost being paid by the State. 

(The website for the National Institute on Drug Abuse has a tremendous amount of information on anabolic steroid abuse).

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Dewhurst: Schools need steroid testing

He'll ask lawmakers to OK random screenings for all Texas athletes

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst called Thursday for mandatory, random testing of all Texas high school athletes for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, a move that if approved by lawmakers would create the nation's largest steroid testing program for high-schoolers.

Mr. Dewhurst, the leader of the Senate, promised that the state would pay for the tests, which he said are needed to curb a dangerous habit that can cause depression, violent behavior and other health problems. In some surveys, up to 2 percent of Texas students in middle schools and high schools report having used the drugs.

"I want to protect the children of Texas from the dangers of anabolic steroids," said Mr. Dewhurst, a Republican who has sought to round out his pro-kids political credentials during his re-election campaign.

Alexandra Robbins, NY Times Best Selling Author of The Overachievers: The Secrets of Driven Kids, Will Speak at Stratford HS on November 1, 2006, at 7:00 p.m.

Alexandra Robbins, the New York Times bestselling author of The Overachievers: The Secrets of Driven Kids, will be speaking on November 1, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. in the Stratford High School Auditorium.  From the announcement in the current issue of the Stratford Spectrum (.pdf):

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Worried about the intense pressures on students to succeed and the skyrocketing stress of the college and private school admissions processes, New York Times bestselling investigative journalist Alexandra Robbins returned to her high school during the year of her ten-year reunion. For more than a year, she followed students who were bright, funny, talented, and lovable – and who struggled over whether the way some circles labeled them actually reflected their identity. Robbins delivers a poignant, funny, riveting narrative that explores how our high-stakes educational culture has spiraled out of control.

Robbins regularly appears on national television, including shows such as 60 Minutes, The Today Show, Oprah, The ColbertReport, and The View. Since graduating from college in 1998, she has written for several publications, such as Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, and The Washington Post.

An award-winning speaker who lectures frequently, Robbins also does consumer brand consulting, particularly about the adolescent and twentysomething age groups. In her spare time, she plays on several soccer teams, watches NFL games, bakes pies, and re-watches the original Star Wars trilogy and early Steve Martin movies.

Gamesolo.com: A Great FREE Game Website that will Help You Have Fun/Waste Time

Gamesolo.com is another great website that will either (1) provide hours of free entertainment; or (2) waste huge amounts of time.  Maybe it's really both.  Regardless, here is the complete A-Z list of all of the games from the Gamesolo.com website:

3 on 1
Alien Showdown *
Attack of the Robots
Banana Monkey
Bat and Mouse
Black
Beer Monster *
Boom Boom Volleyball
Bottle Capper
BowMan
Bubbles

 

Why is a College Degree Worth an Extra $23,000 a Year?

More on the importance of the college focus:

Today's Houston Chronicle is carrying the Associated Press story showing that a college degree is worth $23,000 per year as compared with adults who have a high school diploma and $32,000 per year more than a high school dropout.  The numbers:

Average Annual Income:

• College Graduates: $51,554
• High School Diploma: $28,645
• High School Dropout: $19,169
• Advanced College Degree: $78,093

Additional findings:

• 85% of people 25 and older had at least a high school diploma or the equivalent in 2005
• In 2000, 80% had a high school diploma or the equivalent, and a little more than half did in 1970.
• 28% had at least a bachelor's degree, compared with about 24% in 2000 and 11% in 1970.
• Minnesota, Utah, Montana, New Hampshire and Alaska had the highest proportions of adults with at least a high school diploma — all at about 92 percent.
• Texas had the lowest proportion of adults with at least a high school diploma, about 78 percent. It was followed closely by Kentucky and Mississippi.
• Connecticut was the state with the highest proportion of adults with at least a bachelor's degree, nearly 37 percent. It was followed closely by Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey.
• Nearly 47 percent of adults in Washington, D.C., had at least a bachelor's degree.
• West Virginia had the lowest proportion of college graduates, at 15 percent. It was followed at the bottom by Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisiana.

Who Will Control the Middle East? This Website Graphically Shows 5000 Years of Territorial History in 90 Seconds

This fascinating website asks the following provocative question:

Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on. Who will control the Middle East today? That is a much bigger question.

The website (using flash media) shows the occupation history of the middle east over the past 5000 years -- in 90 seconds. 

An interesting view of the history of this troubled region of the world.

Steve Irwin Talks About How He Would Like to be Remembered

This is a video of Steve Irwin talking about how he would like to be remembered.  It's both chilling and uplifting.

Prior posts here and here (Steve Irwin's daughter's tribute).