End of Silence

An e-mail went out yesterday to the EFF-Austin list about Tamara Hoover, who’s apparently under paid administrative leave and being considered for termination by the AISD school board for artistic nudes of her on a flickr site. A search reveals over 600 pictures of her, only about 10% of which involve nudity, and from what I can see, it’s usually just an exposed breast, clearly nothing in the school board’s definition that would warrant termination. The Statesman has a story this morning as does Austinist. Ms. Hoover (I seriously thought that was a joke when I saw the URL. Simpsons, anyone?) has a MySpace page where she’s posting some of her side of the story, she’s holding back some since she’s exploring legal proceedings.

The comments on the Statesman and her blog seem overwhelmingly supportive of her. I have to agree with some comments that the discipline should be reserved for the other teacher and student who brought up the page in class. It sounds like the other teacher had it out for her and showed poor judgement by following up on the student’s initial comment. If the board does fire her, it’s another reason in the growing list that are causing me to seek alternatives for my own children. Let’s hope they come to their senses and keep her.

Update (2006.06.13 21:36 CDT): The Statesman has printed a statement from AISD General Counsel, which pretty much just says that they think she should be fired and they’re not going to comment until they make a decision…which will be to fire her.

Update 2: (2006.06.14 14:07 CDT): Fleshbot has also picked up the story (don’t click on that one if you’re easily offended as they cover the pr0n industry among other things).

Sadly, one of our first posts concerned the news that Ikea was considering a Round Rock location. More speculation followed once the news was official. Well, the wait is almost over, Ikea junkies.

The new Ikea location at University and I-35 is apparently ahead of schedule and will open this fall instead of the original target date of Spring 2007. So now you all you know what you’re getting for Christmas this year.

Anybody that knows me knows that I’m not the biggest sports nut. I casually follow the Dallas Mavericks and may catch a game or two here and there for sports other than basketball, but that’s about it.

However, with the Mavericks in the NBA Finals for the first time ever and World Cup starting up tomorrow, I’m in sports mode for the next couple of weeks (sorry, Spurs fans). Unfortunately, I’ve got to go to a rehearsal dinner tonight, so I’m DVR’ing the Mavs-Heat game. Shhh! I don’t want to hear it! I’m watching it later.

World Cup can be entertaining, especially as the teams are narrowed down. We’re getting the usual assurances that the U.S. team has improved and they’ll do better this time, but I have a hard time believing they’ll make it out of their bracket with the Czech Republic and Italy to get past. You can check out the schedule here, complete with nifty local time converter.

So where do you go to watch the big game? The consensus seems to be Ringers on Colorado between 4th and 5th although I’ve never been in there. What about The Warehouse? For World Cup in particular, it seems like Irish or English Pubs will also be hopping. Fado? What about the Ale House in the alley behind Old Pecan St. Cafe on Sixth?

Yes, fellow Austinites, it’s National Day of Slayer.

As you can see, I’m appropriately assaulting my co-workers with some of their fine musical stylings. I was hoping to find that at least one member of the Austin Alamo Drafthouse empire appropriately commemorating the occasion and Alamo Lakecreek is the only one showing the proper reverence.

In addition to that crap re-make of The Omen (trust me, go rent the original instead, though I must commend the casting of David Thewlis in the part originally played by David Warner), they’ve got a special screening of The Exorcist at 7:30pm tonight. Alamo South Lamar gets a pass because they’re hosting Dionysium tonight, coincidentally this marks two years for the monthly gathering of the hoi polloi.

P.S. Can somebody brave enough to endure the re-make tell me how they handle Damien’s birthday? It’s 6/6/66 in the original, so it sort of worked out with the release of the movie in 1976. Sort of. I can’t see how they’ll pull anything like that off in this one unless they set it in 2012 or something and, if they do, are there any flying cars?

I found this buried in the city PARD site after seeing a mention of it in a K-EYE story:

Statesman Swim Safe for Austin Kids is a non-profit program addressing the critical need for accessible swimming instruction. Through a partnership of public, private and corporate entities, the Swim-Safe Program works toward a safer community by teaching its youngest citizens the lifesaving skill of swimming. Enrollments is limited and primarily open to east Austin children (kindergarten – 3rd grade) with limited resources. Please contact one of the Recreation Centers listed below to determine if you meet eligibility requirements. The Swim-Safe lessons are provided by resources from the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department and the Austin American Statesman. Registration will be available through participating City of Austin Recreation Centers listed below and the Aquatic Office.

Recreation Center – Lesson Location – Phone Number
Alamo – Bartholomew Pool – 474-2806
Dottie Jordan – Dottie Jordan Pool – 926-3491
Dove Springs – Dove Springs Pool – 444-6136
Givens – Givens Pool – 928-1982
Metz – Metz Pool – 478-8716
Montopolis – Montopolis Pool – 385-5931
Rosewood – Rosewood Pool – 472-6838

If you are interested in donating to the Statesman Swim-Safe for Austin Kids program, please call 512/416-4700, category 7946 for a donation form to be faxed to you.

So there you go. If you live in East Austin and can’t afford swim lessons for your K-3 child, there’s a program this summer to help you out. And if you’ve got some extra cash and deem it a worthy cause, you can help out. Good stuff. The Statesman page for the program is here. I’m not sure if this is the first year the program’s been offered or not.