The Japablackadonian Queen

 Curriculum was always my strong point when I was working.  About 30 years or so ago a beer company put out some materials on Black Queens of Africa. They included Cleopatra.  When a teacher used the materials in their lessons and a parent protested that Cleopatra was not Black, our Assistant  Superintendent of curriculum discussed it with me.

 I told her that Cleopatra was the last of the Ptolemaic dynasty which began with General Ptolemy seizing  Egypt after his King (Alexander the Great) died. 

In the end our she decided that teaching the issue as a controversy was an acceptable option. Problem solved.

By the way, in all the current controversy as to whether Cleopatra was Black or Macedonian or something else, I have discovered that Cleopatra was actually Japanese.  I can prove this. China and Japan definitely had trade relations at that time. Japan was heavily dependent upon silk from China (then a Chinese monopoly).  Therefore, it is possible that a Japanese man may have been in China as either a trader or on a diplomatic mission.  

He might have brought along his family. That family might have included a preteen daughter. 

We know that the Silk Road was functioning in that era with Rome importing, among other things, silk.

It is further possible that, for some reason, he might have done a reverse Marco Polo, traveling said Silk Road to Rome. 

Theoretically, he might have taken along his young daughter. (Maybe babysitters were hard to find for  years long expeditions.) It is possible that having arrived in Rome, although nobody wrote it down for some unusual reason, he heard about Egypt and decided to pay a visit. It is also possible that his now marriageable age daughter (traveling on the Silk Road was not rapid as very heavy traffic and poor road conditions were the norm) accompanied him to Egypt where a pharaoh (Ptolemy IX ) fell in love with her, took her as a concubine, and she produced a daughter. Said daughter was the mother of Cleopatra VII. (A.k.a., Our Cleopatra.)

Thus it is possible that this was the racially unclear grandmother of Cleopatra.  Since I like this idea, it is true unless you can disprove it, and you can't. Therefore it is true.

(That's logic, that is! And if you deny it you are a racist who hates Japanese people. So there!) 

Further by the way, Cleopatra's grandfather was Ptolemy IX and her father was Ptolemy XII.  What happened the other Ptolemys?

This is known as the Riddle of the Sphinx which terrified Greek people for some reason. 

Targeted

 Regarding a post on target pulling some LGBTQ merchandise due to death threats from neo Nazi groups I made the following post:

Me:  Target is trapped in the crossfire. If the stores support LGBTQ rights and sell merchandise indicating this, they are subjected to death threats from neo-Nazis. If they submit to the neo-Nazis and withdraw the materials or just plain don't support the movement, then they are sharply criticized by the tolerance crowd.

Not sure target has a way to win in this scenario.

L:  In trouble from all directions , so why not just sell shirts and whatever in basic form . Why do business have to make statements  everyone is a potential customer  , leave the printing to some after market shop . 

Me:  Targeting a particular group of customers to please them is a critical part of any business venture. What you're proposing is a business produce nothing but bland thoroughly generic merchandise. If they manage to get any funding to open such a store, it won't last a single quarter.

If you don't like what Target is doing, just don't shop there. Although I would certainly not support such a boycott. Nevertheless I would support your right to boycott them. But death threats? Surely you can cab condem that.

L:  Boycott never good idea , each person make own mind for what ever reason .

S:  Death threats to sales clerks? Seems to me that the nazi threat makers are the problem. Shouldn't be that hard to track them down and throw them in jail. For a long time. They are dangerous creatures.

S: I really meant it when I said that Trumps red hats are the programs of The Duce's black shirts or Hitler's brown shirts.

In fairness not all red hats are that extreme, but plenty of them are.

What Problem?

 Quite a telling discussion, giving insight into the unwillingness to face, much less deal with, the extremism our nation is suffering from today. I haven't bothered to post the link to the article because my post quotes enough of it to make the point clear.

Me:  I don't even remember where in the Bible it says blessed are the murderers or the lynch mobs, but I assure you this Pastor firmly believes that he is a Christian. 

I disagree.

> Hate pastor says trans-supportive parents should be "shot in back of the head"

"We can string them up above a bridge so that the public can see the consequences of that kind of wickedness."<

D:  These hate pastors are apparently all over the country, some working in mega-churches.  According to Wikipedia-

Capital punishment in the Bible refers to instances in the Bible where death is called for as a punishment and also instances where it is proscribed or prohibited. A case against capital punishment can be made from John 8, where Jesus speaks words that can be construed as condemning the practice.[1] There are however many more Bible verses that command and condone capital punishment, and examples of it being carried out. Sins that were punishable by death include homicide, striking one's parents, kidnapping, cursing one's parents, witchcraft and divination, bestiality, worshiping other gods, violating the Sabbath, child sacrifice, adultery, incest, and male homosexual intercourse (there is no biblical legal punishment for lesbians).

Me :   Way back, about 10 years ago or so, I was speaking with the philosophy club out at the VVC and pointed out to them that the Christian Dominionists (started by Rushdoony) were very quiet about it but were heavily influencing the evangelical movement in America. They want to bring back the death penalty including for children who are defiant or "curse" their parents. 

Once again the rise of this extremism parallels the abandonment of organized religion by younger Americans. I refer to them as the anti-evangelicals. Instead of spreading the good word they drive people away from it.

L: And you believe what’s said on media ? There are writers  just dreaming up stuff to stir people up . Remember their medicine show only makes $ when folks watch .

Me: L it's not just on the media. I watched the preacher preach this message. He recorded it at his own church. He's proud of it.

I have watched quite a number of other "Christian" preachers say very similar things. Not reports. Their own broadcasts of themselves. 

I know there's a lot in the world you don't like. I don't like a lot of it either. But at least I can  face it and acknowledge it's real.

Shoppin' Around

 Interesting post from Facebook so I thought I'd reproduce it over here.

Post: Just want to see how many people think that shop class should be put back in our schools...if you are 1 of the few, re-post.

My two responses:   Thankfully it's not totally extinct though there are fewer offered than there used to be.

Schools should educate every child not just those regarded as college material.

The world takes a lot of skills to run and some of those skills are better paying  than those for most college  graduates.

There is a new kind of shop class called tech classes. For example my grandson just aced his robotics class.  It doesn't fix sinks or cars or wire homes, but at least it recognizes the need for real world skills as opposed to purely academic skills.

Just thought of an interesting story that I should add. Talking to a guy in a bar about five years ago, somehow the discussion turned to the theories of a well-known physicist (can't remember which one). He commented that they had been  classmates back in his undergrad days, but he realized that physicists don't usually make a lot of money so he changed his major and became an electrician. He said he had no regrets.

Old Reform In New York

 Responding to report everything was going to be just fine in New York schools because they have adopted a phonics program that's going to solve all their problems.

And here we go again. A magic simple answer to a very complex question.

Some children do learn by phonics. Others do not. This is a simple reality. I was never any good at phonics but I went to preschool reading at a third grade level. 

Does this mean phonics isn't effective? No. It means phonics was not effective for me. Phonics was a mystery with which I struggled and with which I had difficulty, even while I was usually the best reader in my class. Other children depended very heavily upon phonics. 

It's about time that non-teachers started realizing that teachers know a thing or two about teaching. 

There are no simple answers. There are no magic answers. Every child learns in their own unique individual manner and we should be open to whatever methodology works for any particular student.

It is believed that this is a new start. But it isn't. It's the same old garbage. Everything few years a new magic cure is pushed upon the schools. If only everybody does exactly this one simple minded thing everything will certainly be better. It never is. It never works. I can only repeat a comment from Dr. Tye,  and that is that we keep reforming schools but never have any serious change in schools because we never change the deep structure of schools. We just make superficial changes and offer simplistic solutions to complicated issues.

>“This is the beginning of something new,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said in the announcement of the new reading curriculum.<