Congratulations and well done!

I was set upon for homeschooling, many years ago, in what had been a perfectly nice religious retreat, by a priest and a diocesan employee, both of whom I quite liked and had been getting along with swimmingly until they uncovered the homeschooling secret. I count it as harassment because I couldn't get away from them and they wouldn't let it go. The diocesan guy kept insisting homeschooling was a self-indulgence of the wealthy and therefore a betrayal of the poor. I (foolishly) countered that I knew homeschoolers barely above the poverty level. He insisted, no, you had to have a computer to homeschool - so you could contact other homeschoolers - and many people couldn't afford a computer. I said people had homeschooled before computers and lots of people just used the phone to talk to other people; he countered, triumphantly, that there were people in the diocese too poor to pay a phone bill. I surrendered. He was right, I am a sinner to homeschool until every family can pay their phone bill. I slunk from the meeting room, where the priest's independent comments about what a Bad Thing I was doing had encouraged other retreatants to start offering their own unsolicited criticisms, and drove home early. Haven't been on a retreat since.

Today's Samuel Johnson twitterfeed: Johnson @Boswell There is nothing more likely to betray a man into absurdity, than condescension; when he seems to suppose his understanding too powerful for his company. Johnson @Boswell Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Johnson @Boswell A child should not be discouraged from reading anything that he takes a liking to, from a notion that it is above his reach. Johnson @Boswell Greek, Sir, is like lace; every man gets as much of it as he can. #upperclassof1780 ------------------ 1000 pages read! 200 to go!

Walker Percy is overrated. Love in the Ruins was okay, but I don't get the Percy cult. Give me Brideshead Revisited instead, any day. Bed now, really.

Still going on Boswell's Life of Johnson. Slowed by a nasty virus that makes the words meaningless on the page. Homeschooling tomorrow will feature lots of reading to oneself while Mommy naps. I hope. Now for my appointment with Mr. Nyquil. Goodnight, ladies.

Evariste was blond? I'm dubious. I do like that last image of him, though. But creepy in a statesmanlike way. Blurred is probably the best way to see Dallas. That's how most of the university students see it at the Texas-OU game.... Yes, it certainly slows down the .jpg hunt when one gets sucked into reading old threads, doesn't it? Chekhov still belongs to me. I like your new avatar. I still think there must be some way to get your sign back, though.

Like you get to have a vote, what with your Galois transmutation. I found a few other pictures of him. He's changed over the years: http://providingcloudyservice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/SixMillionDollar.jpg http://www.wallpeapr.com/wallpapers/37281-steve-austin-wallpapers-2.html/steve-austin-wallpapers-7

Yes, everything's better with salsa, isn't it? Now I'm feeling left out of the club, and wondering if it's time to change my own avatar. Everybody else has new clothes for the start of school.

We have a half-day on Friday (morning work only) and then another half-day Saturday morning. Middle Girl likes this better, and it lets dh teach her programing and help her with her Greek homework.

Oh well if it's a question of what we actually say to the children, our mottoes are "Please quit," "Please do your work," and "The cat is not lonely." (As a change from the Latin, the visiting French tutor, who also found she needed the phrase, kindly translated that last one for me: "Le chat n'a pas besoin de toi.")

I don't have a duty to participate actively in the public schools. I don't even know what that means. Voting doesn't seem very active; and I've never heard a suggestion that homeschoolers refuse to vote, so I don't think that's really a problem. Heaven knows we pay our crushing property taxes; is that active enough? "[O]ne that your children will have to live with"???

Homicide. Blake's Seven. Sapphire & Steel.

Sorry - I suppose there was an elliptical "... if she complies with the DMCA's safe harbor provisions for hosts of third-party content that potentially infringes copyright, which she is" in there. And I recognize I'm not the one facing litigation, or being advised by actual lawyers. But I still think it's legally true that your good faith efforts make it true that you're not liable for third-party copyright infringement; you didn't post it, you didn't encourage it, and you require it to be taken down when you're made aware of it. And certainly none of Stacia's postings are what triggered the presumed DMCA takedown notice some obnoxious person has apparently sent. Mostly this is what I wanted to let her know. This isn't her fault. Anyway, again, terribly sorry this has happened, and we'll all pitch in and do our part. We owe you that.

Speaking of copyright infringement and images and avatars ... Who's going to tell Bill that E.C. Publications owns the copyright to Mad Magazine's "Spy vs. Spy"?

Okay; I've been reporting members with avatars that are clearly, obviously licensed characters from people and corporations that are serious about copyright infringement (Disney, Marvel, Pixar, etc.). Someone can PayPal me my thirty pieces of silver.

No no no no. To my, admittedly faulty, understanding of the law, nearly every image you post is JUST FINE. People issue bullying, overbroad, and fangless takedown notices all over the internet; there's a legal blog (Popehat) almost entirely devoted to the problem. They count on the fact that litigation is expensive to scare people into compliance. There's no way SWB would be liable for things other people have posted on her forum. And ordinary people like you, who post stuff that's just fine, have to waste hours of their lives combing through and deleting.

Doesn't Bridgeman v Corel say copyright doesn't apply? IANAL.... http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_v._Corel_Corp.

Dh has a part-time position in Scotland. Middle and Wee Girls are actually quite upset at the prospect of having to again spend a day at the immigration office, going through all the rigmarole for visas.

What should be done about avatars of people no longer posting that are clearly licensed characters or otherwise copyright violations? Reporting members feels weird, especially after all the discussion about trigger-happy overreporters.

The Watson/Provensen version is magnificent; if you can find it. http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Odyssey-Golden-Deluxe-Edition/dp/B000JJPUU2

Our unofficial motto has long been "Because knowledge is better than ignorance." It's the standard answer to "Why do I have to know that?" Quia scientia melius quam nescire. Lately though, with all the propaganda about Education for 21st-century Skills, our motto may change to "Educating for the Nineteenth Century."

Stacia, This is way outside what you're supposed to do on the internet, but why don't you pick someone, or a couple of people, here you *really* trust, and give them your password? I think I speak for all the BAWers in saying that anyone here would happily pitch in on the image deletion project.

(((Stacia))) Did you see how to do a .jpg search? It's much faster, and gets you past the 40-page limit.

Jane, Cumberbatch alert, Week 4, 2013; follow the "like." Page 1. Giraffe, same Cumberbatch photo, page 3 of that thread. Stacia, I've liked some of yours that I'd delete if they were mine. Forgive me for playing board cop. Please let me know about photo posts of mine that I've missed!

Actually I gather Gary Larson is very serious about copyright infringement.