TennCare
I'm still going to do a long, in-depth post about this monstrosity at some later time, but I just heard on the news that they are going to start paying for obese TennCare enrollees to go to Weight Watchers. WTF?? Oh, they say it's to try to reduce medical expenses caused by obesity, but come on. It's not like Weight Watchers is too expensive for someone to pay for out of their own pocket if they are really that motivated to lose weight. My mom was a lifelong member. She was never obese, but she didn't like the middle age spread. The cost was never an issue except that it was a bit of an incentive to actually stick with the program since she was paying for it. The fees to join and for the weekly meetings cost less than what most of those people probably spend on beer, cigarettes, potato chips, cookies, or whatever. BTW, TennCare, if you aren't familiar, replaced Medicaid here in 1994 and has bankrupted the state. It was designed after Hillary's healthcare plan.
More Crazy Math
My fourth grader was home sick with strep on Friday. He's all better now, but he has been working on his make-up work. He was doing a math worksheet and asked me to help him. The name of the worksheet was something like "Problem-solving: Guess and Check." He didn't have his math textbook so I couldn't look up what this 'guess and check' method was. One of the questions was something like this: There are two numbers. One is 9 more than the other. Their sum is 45. But it wasn't worded that simply. They used about 6 or 7 sentences to say that. Anyway, you were supposed to use this 'guess and check' technique to find an answer. I told him, "I'm sorry I have no idea what they want with this, go ask Daddy." (I love to say that sometimes, "go ask Daddy," parental buck-passing, lol) I don't know what they decided with it. I'm too sick and tired to think too much about it right now.
Kiss Me Deadly
I love to listen to Jack FM. You can even listen to it online . What I like about it is that it's like someone broke into my house and took all my 'dream' compilation cds. Or they've hijacked my napster playlists or something. I'd say at least 80% of what they play I really love. That's impressive to me. Anyway, I've been listening to it since it started here a few weeks ago. I haven't heard a lot of repeats, though there are a few. One in particular puzzles me. It's Lita Ford's 1988 hit "Kiss Me Deadly". That was never one of my favorites back then, and now it just kind of amuses and perplexes me. I never understood why you would want someone to kiss you deadly. Wouldn't it have made more sense to say, "Kiss me once, kiss me twice, kiss me deeply"? I guess that just doesn't have the same heavy/fluff metal ring to it. Maybe it means something like 'kiss me so that I feel like I've died and gone to Heaven'?
Deadly= Died and gone to Heaven
Well, yeah, I'd say according to today's math that's a true enough statement.
Anyway, right now kissing anyone might be deadly with this horrible, extreme case of strep throat. Hearing that song several times over that last week or so might have been some kind of sign foretelling that I was going to get this deadly feeling in my throat. I told David last night that it felt like I had that flesh eating disease. I took a flashlight and looked at it, and my uvula (not to be confused with vulva) looked like cauliflower. Not real appealing, eh?
Oh, come on, kiss me once, kiss me twice, kiss me deadly! (hey, I did call this post 'Sick Thoughts')
12 comments:
Still sickly huh?...that's a bummer....I hate being/getting sick....feel better soon!
11 16 05
Hey I hope you feel better. Here is a way to explain the math problem, but it is certainly more algebraic. Two numbers exist. Call them x and y. Their sum is 45. Hence x+y=45. One number is 9 more than the other. So let y=x+9.
Now you have x+y=45 But also that y=x+9. Combine these expressions to get the following:
x+y= x+ (x+9) = 45
2x+9=45 Now you have an algebraic equation and will balance both sides to get the answer. Subtract 9 from both sides:
2x+9=45
2x+9 (-9)=45 -9
2x=36 Now the two is multiplying the x and we want x by itself so divide both sides by 2 to get:
2x=36
2x/2=36/2
x=36/2=18
Now since x=18, and y=x+9, y=27 To check if the answer is right: just add 18 to 27-> 18+27=45
I think this was too difficult for a nine year old because the steps require an understanding of all these different processes. Perhaps the teacher should build the basics first and more gradually introduce algebraic concepts. Hope this helps and have a good day:)
I tried to figure this out too, too hard for a 9 year old, especially to make their poor parents try to figure it out!
Hope you are feeling better RaeAnn!
:* Princess
mike, thanks! I just called the dr's office to see if it's normal for me to still be feeling this bad. I'm waiting for them to return my message.
mahndisa, thanks! I also showed my son the equation x + (x+9) = 45, but what they were wanting was for him to use whatever their 'guess and check' method is. Since I didn't have the textbook to look it up I didn't know what to tell him. I know they are building up to algebra because he's already done some very basic algebra problems. But their method of approaching it is very odd to me.
princess, thanks! Math education is really screwed up these days.
Guess and check. Let's see...OK I'll guess an answer, plug it in, then see if it works. If not, I'll adjust it accordingly until, finally, I arrive at a solution. I'm guessing that's what they mean. You can check and see.
Maybe I'm just catching on to this stuff, or maybe I don't travel enough, but it seems "jack" is a format for radio stations that you can find in (probably) every major radio market. I know there's one in the KC area and another in the StL area, both playing "whatever we want," usually being a mix of 80s and 90s rock. That makes it easy for somebody traveling to find the type of music they like to hear. It was done with "the fox" as well. Good concept, I guess, unless you're looking for diversity.
Hey, how come you linked to uvula and not vulva? Just curious. ;-)
dh, that makes sense to me about that 'math'. And Jack just started here a few weeks ago. The one here plays a lot from the 70s and even some 60s too. It has more variety than any other station in town. I'm not sure if all the Jacks play the same music at the same time though. And just for you, here's another link:
http://www.luckymojo.com/faqs/altsex/vulva.html
word ver. = tnqboep (not sure what it means but it just looks relevant somehow)
What will happen with the weight watchers thing is that tons of people will get on it, but since they aren't paying they won't bother to stick with the program! That burns me up.
My daughter has brought home some wierd math shit too. Must be new.
I haven't even THOUGHT about Lita Ford in years. Talk about your flashbacks. I listen Jack FM sometimes too. It's new here isn't it?
I'm glad to hear it's not your vulva that looks like a cauliflower!
Hope you're feeling better by now?
Wow. I am glad I am not in 4th grade anymore. Although, that guess and check method got me through a lot of algebra equations!
Didn't Lita Ford do that duet with Ozzy Osbourne? What was that called?
Sorry. My brain is fried. I hope you and your cauliflower uvula feel better soon.
11 16 05
Hey guys: That duet was called "I Close my eyes forever" with Lita and Ozzy! Rock on!
kat, yeah, Jack just started here a few weeks ago. It took over the 'oldies' station. I used to listen to it sometimes, but I usually change stations a lot looking for a good song. lol
sierrabellla, me too! thanks, I went to the dr. again last night and got some new antibiotics.
kristi, thanks, I'll be catching up on your blog this afternoon.
mahndisa, yeah, that was it! They always equated Love and Death. lol
oops, I didn't mean to snub you madman! Thanks for the well-wishes and I'm glad you're back in action.
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