Lay down and think about the power of song and links...

I sometimes read Grammar Girls materials which are great and sometimes I read Miss Susy's prose on grammar which is also pretty good.  Both have written on the mysteries and complexities of the English words: lay, laid, layed, ly, lie, and lie.  Both did it with wit and humor and double entredres. At least one made references to Dylan's song: Lay Lady Lay.

Miss Susy said: First off, if Mr. Dylan were truly trying to get the lady in his big brass bed, he would have told her, "Lie Lady Lie" and, captured by his exquisite grammar, she might have given in. Doubtless, she left immediately upon hearing the phrase and Mr. Dylan was forced to work on his songwriting all by himself. Perhaps he devoted his lonely time to co-writing the lyrics for Mr. Clapton's song Lay Down Sally, as both of the songs erroneously use lay for lie


Grammar Girl puts it like this:   If you're more of a Bob Dylan fan, you can remember that "Lay Lady Lay" is also wrong. The lyrics should be “Lie lady lie, lie across my big brass bed.”

schwab: a little stupid on customer UIX

I tried to make sure that all my statements from the schwab brokerage house are paperless and not sent to my house. It looks to me like I've done it yet they keep arriving.

So I log into the Schwab account, take a screen grab of the setting, combine it with a picture of all the statements that just arrived, and put it in a message in their secure message center.

Twenty minutes later I get a Schwab email! I'm excited. So I got get my password, login to Schwab, and the "Secure Message" is that they got my message.

Can anyone tell me why they didn't put that in the email?  Instead, here's what the email said:

You have a message in the Schwab Message Center

You have a message from Schwab in the Schwab Message Center. To view your message, log in at schwab.com/message_center and review your new message, which will appear in bold. Please be aware that the Schwab Message Center cannot be viewed on Schwab's mobile site or mobile apps. If you need immediate assistance, please call 800-435-4000 to speak with a Client Service Specialist. Thank you for choosing Charles Schwab. And here's what the "secure message" said: Customer Service Print Date: 7/14/2018 Account:  Brokerage XXXXXYYY RE: Account Inquiry <<#2116613-8058006-9052574#>> From: Schwab Advisor Service Message #: 9052574 Thank you for contacting Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. This automatic reply confirms we have received your message and attachment and will review for processing. If your request is in any way a time-sensitive or trading related issue, please contact a Schwab Alliance Representative at 800-515-2157 Thank you for choosing Charles Schwab Advisor Services.

Modernizing FIFA and Soccer

I spend a fair amount of time worrying about one of my life-long true-loves: soccer.  I'm played and watched for fifty some odd years now and I'm saddened by the fact that soccer is just not keeping up with the times.

First of all, I'm a soccer lover and a traditionalist. I think the game is great. But it should keep up with the times and its pace of rule changes is just too slow. I agree with almost all the changes in the last 50 years many of which have been more about referees interpretations of rules than fundamental rule changes.

The changes have been (as I can think of them):

• a minor tweek to how kickoffs work
• Tightening of rules on fouls, professional fouls, and faking fouls
• Limited use of video playback for referrees
• The card system got tweeked a few times
• Offsides now only counts if they are involved in the play. Also, the tie now goes to the offense
• A limit to when passes back to the goalie can be picked up. And how goalies can move with the ball once they catch it.
• The shootout for tie breaking and an additional player during the overtime (it use to be that ties were resolved by extensive OT or who had the most penalty kicks or by replaying the game. Rule changed in 1978 I think)

What should they change?

The worst games are when one team goes into a defensive posture and keeps all 11 players back in a dense almost imprenetrable system that is dull to watch and frustrating for the players. Solution: don't allow everyone to go back on defense.  Create new lines, 10 yards off the center line and only only  8 of your players to go back on defense behind the line. This is derivative of a lacrosse rule and it would really open up goal scoring and attacking.  

Those same lines could be used to tweek the offside rule again so that it only comes into play after passing the line.  We could also, to reduce the lines that have to be drawn, get rid of the center circle and have the defense wait behind their line on kickoffs.

A penalty box much like hockey and lacrosse.  Players could be sent off for 5 minutes for various infractions which creates new possibilities to supplement the card system. And having one team up a player for 5 minutes would be really fun to watch.

What if we outlawed all passbacks to the keeper from outside the penalty box? 

What are your ideas?

How to start a hashtag?

I just saw a post by a teacher on Twitter, a new user. She asked:

Does my school district have a hashtag? Should it?  

I think it's a great question. Sure, some people create lots of hashtags but I've never read anything that addresses this context.

First of all, hashtags are like words. Anyone can create one just by using it. But mostly, they don't get picked up and create much of a discussion or community

Most hashtags that people create are pretty limited and don't get picked up.  I've seen hashtags like #wearingabowtie , #fellonpurpose , and #HSMP (homeschool me, please!) which did not get much popular use. Then there's the ones that have gone viral such #metoo

Also, it's a little different for a teacher who wants to create a hashtag for her district since the obvious hashtag, the schools initials, might have compliance or IP issues about it. For example, MiamiDade Schools (near where I live) are routinely known as MDCPS (Miami Dade County Public Schools). Their Twitter handle is @MDCPS.  So, would a private individual who starts using MDCPS as a hashtag be infringinon a copyright or trademark? I think yes if they used it for anything other than the obvious but also, there is virtually no enforcement so there's nothing to worry about. 

But, what if you were a new teacher working for MDCPS, should you then take a chance to start using #MDCPS

School districts of course are pretty strict hierarchal places and I'd be a little careful as a new teacher in doing such a thing. I might ask the district twitter account, perhaps by PM, what they think.