I am all about eliminating duplicated effort and creating economies of scale.

So, in that spirit, I’m declaring Nathan’s International Hijack Day^TM to also be Nathan Appreciation Day. We can show our appreciation not only by spreading chaos, but also by changing the subject to talking about Nathan.

So, tell Nathan why you appreciate him, in fact, fiction, or blank verse. In addition, maybe you could let him know what gift you’d send him for Nathan Appreciation Day, if, of course, you actually were into sending random gifts.

PS – I borrowed the appreciation day idea from Janiece – I promise I’ll return it undamaged, washed, and with the gas tank full.

When: The first annual International Hijack Day^TM, organized by Nathan, begins later today. (It’s set to Greenwich Mean time – which would be 4pm Pacific time.)

Who: We’re a group of bloggers who think it’d be fun to add to the level of random chaos on the web. If you’d like to join us, please go sign up on Nathan’s blog! (not here)

What: On Hijack Day^TM, we will randomize our comments. Rather than responding to bloggers on their own thread, we’ll go comment about it somewhere else.

How: If I want to respond to Jim’s blog post on belly button lint, I’ll comment on Anne’s post covering the Blue Smurf caucus. And Michelle may respond to a comment thread on Janiece’s blog by posting a follow-on to Shawn’s ode to his favorite cleaning product.

In my opinion, just to add an additional layer of chaos, participants can also 1) flame and troll as desired, 2) write outrageous and untrue statements, and 2) add red herring comments that aren’t related to anyone’s blog, driving us all crazy with the search for context.

If one of the participants has not yet put up a Hijack Day post, hijack their most recent thread with your random comments.

Where: Although a late participant may jump in, the current participating blogs include:

Anne’s Public Storage Space
Janiece’s Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men
Jeri’s Smug Puppies
Michelle’s Random (but not really)
MWT’s The Blog of Siram
Nathan’s Polybloggimous
Jim’s Stonekettle Station
Tania’s Who am I to Say?
The Brain of Shawn
Tom Snavely’s Web Log

Why: Because we can!

Caltech student Virgil Griffith has put together a fascinating data correlation on Books that Make You Dumb.

He’s taken the most popular books at every college, and correlated them with the average SAT score of those colleges. The resulting graphic runs a wide gamut, containing books from chick-lit to classics, and even includes a control choice called “I Don’t Read”. By his logic, books that correlate to a lower SAT score than “I Don’t Read” seem to be sure winners in the make-you-dumb contest.

Harry Potter was the most popular book mentioned on college sites, more popular than the Bible. With the odd exception of Fahrenheit 451, science fiction books seemed to appear above the median. The smartest book was Lolita; the dumbest was Zane.

The creator of this study is quick to point out that correlation does not infer cause & effect – but nonetheless, the resulting data is pretty fascinating.

I’ve read 49 of the books mentioned, heavily skewed to SF/F, modern lit and classics, but overall scattered throughout the median area. Not that a single data point has the slightest relevance here, but I believe my SAT score was a good but not spectacular 1270.

Note: if you regularly read BoingBoing, then this particular post isn’t news to you – I found this information there.

I, and many parents I know, am tremendously annoyed with their school district’s excess of in-service, no-school days. The district euphemistically calls them “Learning Improvement Days”. My current level of irritation has been triggered by January’s excess of them: winter break, plus MLK and an in-service day, plus an end of semester in-service day. My son has nearly been out of school as much as he’s been in it!

I went through and counted. Not including winter and spring break, our school district has:

• 7 Learning Improvement Days
• 6 Half-days
• 3 “Most employees don’t get the day off” holidays

That’s 13 days in 9 months of school! Coincidentally, that’s exactly what my employer gives entry level employees in combined paid time off and floating holidays.

I realize that schools do not exist to provide childcare; their purpose is education. Nonetheless, we families structure our lives around the school year, and schedule disruption is problematic. I’m fortunate; my older teens require little supervision so it doesn’t much affect my professional life. Parents of younger children, though, can end up burning all their paid time off just to make up for the district’s lackadaisical commitment to actually providing classroom education.

I actually taught for a year and a half, as a long-term sub for Department of Defense schools in the UK, so I can see this from a teacher’s perspective too. Many of my colleagues and I found the in-service days to be a complete waste of time; we’d show up late, for the minimum required time, and duck out early. The only days that were useful were parent teacher conferences and the quarterly grading/prep day. In today’s age of electronic grade reporting, I’m not sure why a grade compilation day is necessary, the information is already in the system.

So, my question is, why do districts get away with this, especially with today’s pressure to perform well on standardized tests (another subject for another rant)? Is it a concession to the teachers’ union? Is it simply an established institution that’s become bloated over time? I don’t recall more than a couple of in-service days a year when I was in school.

It certainly indicates no respect for the students or families attending schools in the district, nor a commitment to consistent classroom instruction.

What it does do is instill a sense of reciprocal apathy. If the school is going to treat classroom days so cavalierly, then I as a parent can treat my son’s school schedule with equal disregard. The easiest time for him to get into the dentist is during the school day? No problem. We can’t get a decently-priced flight back from our family vacation until a couple days after break? Oh, well, we can live with that. (I do realize two wrongs don’t make a right.)

Given the institutional indifference, it’s no wonder our children’s performance is falling behind that of Asian and European nations.

These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. While the recipe is similar to many others out there, the trick is threefold: mixing the butter and sugar until texture becomes creamy, using really good dark chocolate chunks and toasted pecans (or walnuts), and removing cookies from the oven while they still seem slightly underbaked.

I made them tonight – I thought baking might be therapeutic. I froze half the dough, and actually ate only one. I managed to accomplish comfort food cooking without emotional eating!

Dark Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies

1 c butter, softened
1 c brown sugar, firmly packed
½ c white granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 ¼ c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
8 oz dark chocolate chunks
¾ c toasted pecans, broken

Preheat oven to 350. Toast pecans on baking sheet for 8 minutes, stirring once, and set aside.

Increase oven to 375.

In stand mixer, or with hand mixer, cream butter, brown & white sugar together until texture changes and mixture is lighter in color and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix thoroughly.

Slowly add flour, baking soda and salt, and mix, scraping sides, until completely combined.

Fold in chocolate chunks and pecans.

Drop on baking sheet, using a heaping soup spoonful per cookie.

Bake ten minutes and remove while middle is still gooey. Let sit for at least a minute, then lift off to cooling rack. Makes 1 ½ – 2 dozen large cookies.

Dough can be refrigerated or frozen. (Thanks, Michelle K, for that tip!)

Recipe is courtesy of Jerilyn L, my childhood neighbor.