Troy's Posterous Site

First, there was the burger with a fried egg on it (aka Royal Red Robin Burger) from Red Robin. Then came the 'Double Down' from KFC. Now, we have reached the pinnacle of burger-dom: The Grilled Cheese Burgermelt from Friendly's. It's a burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches instead of the standard bun!

Friendly's is kind enough to provide you with nutrition facts, so you can see just how many calories are in their new Burgermelts. Be sure to check out the Friendly's nutrition facts before you visit.

There aren't any Friendly's in my neighborhood, but if anybody has tried (and lived through it), let us know in the comments. Looks good, but you probably shouldn't eat any more meals for the rest of the day.

For fast food Chinese cuisine, in my opinion, nothing beats China Express. It's a bit pricier than your regular strip-mall Chinese food joint, but you get what you pay for. Restaurants are clean, towards the upscale end of the spectrum, and you can view their menu nutrition facts online before you visit.

Try the General Tso's Chicken! Yum!

Gifted education is not a reward for white children and a way of punishing kids by putting them in the "stupid class." It's an educational intervention for children who need it. Maybe if we keep saying that often enough, the message will get through.

I agree with Laura Vanderkamp's assertion that "In general, it's better to have a smaller, more targeted gifted program than a huge one that ropes in students who just happen to score in the top 25%." If 25% of a student population is "gifted", then the program needs modified so that the percentage of gifted students reflects statistical findings.

As a parent, I'm tired of gifted program being seen as 'elitist' or 'only for white kids'. If educators and administrators think this way, the kids are going to think this way. This way of thinking undermines education for all students.

On Monday I found myself in the company of a close friend, discussing gifted students. It had never dawned on me that his assumptions about “them” were grounded in myth. I chose to explain myself in terms of his situation; always a good idea when trying to get your point across. He is a songwriter and recording artist and so I asked him to remember back to when he learned his first three chords, then proceeded to have him imagine that he was only allowed to play those three chords for six months. He’d have to wait until next year to learn a new chord. “That doesn’t make any sense”, He said, realizing the stagnant nature which exists in many classrooms. 

When I discuss gifted issues with administrators, parents, etc. I realize that just about everybody believes the 'myths' about gifted education. As parents, I think we haven't done a good enough job about expressing what it means to be gifted, and what our children need to be successful. It's like I've said before- you are your child's best advocate.

When does 2 + 2 = 5?

When you're taking the state math test.

Despite promises that the exams -- which determine whether students advance to the next grade -- would not be dumbed down this year, students got "partial credit" for wrong answers after failing to correctly add, subtract, multiply and divide. Some got credit for no answer at all.

For this reason alone (and there are many more presented in the article), local schools need to maintain control over which students advance to the next grade level. As this "partial-credit" mentality gets more prevalent, it's only a matter of time before our gifted students start getting credit for unacceptable work.

In the real world, you don't get partial credit. The outcome is either right or wrong- there's no middle ground.

Students have a lot of social reading experiences during the school year; they go to the library with their classes, they have book discussions in small groups in class, and they participate in school-sponsored reading challenges. Participating in a summer reading program allows kids to be part of a reading community.

If you live in a state or school district that doesn't have a year-round schedule, summer vacation can have detrimental effect on your student's learning. Unless your child is like Phineas and Ferb, you probably need to stimulate them during the summer. Even gifted students need to have some amount of intellectual activity during this time.

Summer reading programs are a great way to do this. Some book retailers offer these programs, but almost every library offers a reading program during the summer. In addition, you can use the time your child is at the library to catch up on some reading of your own, or grab some 'me' time that you can never seem to find.

If you want to do some reading of your own, here's some great books that I recommend:

Disclosure: These are books that I recommend to friends and family. Amazon will give me a few cents if you decide to purchase one of the above books. Thanks!

Subway restaurants are everywhere (you can even find them in some Wal*marts). Lately, they've been expanding their menu to include things like pizzas. I thought the quality of their food was lacking a few years ago, but it seems like since Jared Fogel got involved, they have improved the quality of their menu. AFAIK, they were one of the first sandwich places to use artisan breads like oatmeal or asiago cheese.

Online learning has the potential to vastly improve the educational experience of American children. And at the same time, it can empower families to be their child’s educational manager. There will come a day when families can design a portfolio for their child that includes a little of everything on the educational options menu: home schooling coupled with online courses, public or private school coupled with a virtual tutor, available 24 hours per day. The possibilities are endless.

Virtual learning environments are a great way to supplement (or in some cases, replace) your gifted student's regular classroom setting. Check with your state or local school board to verify that virtual learning credits will count towards your district's graduation requirements. This seems to vary widely even among districts in the same state, so YMMV.

· A Taste of the South in Atlanta
If you’ve ever spent anytime in the South it’s likely that you’ve come to experience the deliciousness and friendliness that is Chick-fil-A. It’s standard fast-food fare outside of the airport, complete with drive-thru windows, but it’s all chicken and no beef. For those that have never had the classic fried chicken sandwich with pickles and nothing else, you’re in for a treat (and don't forget a side of waffle fries). Our only warning is that the employees are usually crazy friendly, but we can’t guarantee that at the airport location. Help out the cows and “eat more chikin” next time you’re near gate A11 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Chic-fil-a is always a great place for our family for our family to eat. Great food, clean restaurants, and a family-friendly environment ensures that we keep coming back! Check out the Chick-fil-A nutrition facts at their website. I love their milkshakes!

BTW, Chick-fil-A are introducing new, spicy chicken sandwich to the menu. I can't wait to try it.

Maybe the most unique drill-down-deep information is provided by Otarian, a vegetarian restaurant with two locations in Manhattan.

Each item on the menu board is listed alongside its carbon footprint, in kilograms, and the footprint of a similar meat dish. For instance, Otarian figures that 1.38 kilograms of carbon are released to make an order of tacos, compared to 2.43 kilograms for beef tacos. The menu board thus informs taco eaters they have saved the release of 1.05 kilograms of carbon into the atmosphere.

Otarian’s founder writes about empowering customers to help the environment one meal at a time. It’s not clear if all customers use their powers to figure out the carbon numbers.

“I noticed and tried to figure out what they were trying to say with it, but it was kind of confusing,” said David Chung, a medical student who ate there recently. “I don’t know what saving a kilogram does either.”

I don't think the nutrition information rules were created so restaurant owners could make fools of themselves.