Alan Meek

Life is a gift...I'm just happy to be here

[Jackie Chea ⚖️ @Fair_and_Biased]

Conservative America watching Roberts and Barrett right now:

[Karen Vaites @karenvaites]

One year into cell phone bans, Dallas schools see 24% increase in library book checkouts.

👏👏👏

"Public school districts in Texas are almost one school year into the first statewide cellphone ban, and a North Texas school district is seeing positive impacts.

Dallas ISD officials said that, district-wide, they have seen a significant increase in library book checkouts, which they largely attribute to students no longer having cellphones with them during the school day.

"I started hearing, 'Oh, I'm so bored. I can't get on my phone after I do my work or during lunchtime,'" Hillcrest High School librarian Nina Canales said. "Once they lock into these stories, they don't seem to care about their phones at all."

From the first day of school to March 31, 2026, the district reported an increase of more than 200,000 additional books checked out compared to the previous year.

A look at the library checkouts for the previous year:

2025-2026 Total Circulation (1st day of school to March 31, 2026) – 1,084,837
2024-2025 Total circulation (1st day of school to March 31, 2025) – 872,430

Total library book checkout increase: 24.35%

At Dallas ISD's Hillcrest High, students are following this trend.

Canales said there were roughly 500 books checked out in the first nine weeks of the 2024-2025 school year. This school year, that number spiked to about 1,800 books.

"That floored me," Canales said. "I had to re-do the report again because I was like, 'What, are you kidding me?'"

Students felt the impact too.

"Now that I'm busy with a bunch of work and college, I don't find myself missing my phone that much, even at home," said Yamilet Jimenez, 9th grader."

By @laceybeasnews.

@JonHaidt @safe_screens

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@UKBaseball His nickname should be “Deuce”

[Kendra Middleton @KendraMiddleton]

Mom said we can have a sleepover

[GP Q @argosaki]

ACTIVE PARENTING

Rough play may look chaotic from the outside, but inside a child’s brain something powerful is happening. When a dad wrestles, tumbles, or play fights with his child, the nervous system learns how to feel excitement and then settle again. This back and forth helps build emotional strength, confidence, and trust. It is one of the few activities that teaches the body how to handle intense feelings safely.

Research shows that this kind of play strengthens the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for focus, problem solving, and self control. It also boosts BDNF, a protein that supports healthy neuron growth and strong connections. Even more surprising, studies reveal that rough play can synchronize brain waves between father and child, strengthening their bond and helping communication flow more naturally.

Gentle parenting is not always soft and quiet. Sometimes it looks like rolling on the floor, laughing loudly, and learning how to navigate big emotions through movement. Rough play teaches resilience in a way lessons never could.

#dailyzone #parenting #development #fathers #play

[GP Q @argosaki]

Engineers said it couldn't be done: Building a bridge across one of the world's deepest seabeds

The Rio-Antirrio Bridge defies everything you think you know about engineering.

Suspended 2,880 feet across the Gulf of Corinth, this structure connects mainland Greece to the Peloponnese peninsula over waters that plunge 215 feet deep.

The seabed here isn't solid rock. It's sediment 1,800 feet thick, sitting in one of Europe's most active seismic zones.

Earthquakes up to 7.0 magnitude?

The bridge was designed to handle them.

When construction began in 1998, engineers faced a problem no one had solved before.

Traditional bridge foundations wouldn't work.

Instead, they invented a solution: massive hollow concrete bases, each weighing 100,000 tons, rest on the seabed without being anchored.

These bases move independently, allowing the entire structure to shift and sway during earthquakes.

The bridge doesn't resist seismic activity.

It dances with it.

The numbers are staggering.

Four pylons rise 755 feet above sea level, making them among the tallest bridge supports in the world.

Steel cables weighing 42,000 tons hold everything together.

The construction required 350,000 cubic meters of concrete and took six years to complete.

When it opened in 2004, just days before the Athens Olympics, it instantly became one of the longest cable-stayed bridges on Earth.

But here's what most visitors miss: At the southern end stands Rio Fortress, a (?) 16th-century Ottoman castle that witnessed this modern marvel rise from the sea.

Built in (?) 1499 by Sultan Bayezid II, the fortress once guarded the narrow strait that was the only connection between two worlds.

For centuries, ferries were the sole passage across these waters.

The crossing could take hours in bad weather. The bridge reduced it to five minutes.

The fortress walls, weathered by salt and time, now frame one of engineering's greatest achievements.
You can walk through the castle's stone corridors, climb its ramparts, and look out at the bridge stretching across the gulf.

The contrast is jarring.

Medieval military architecture meets 21st-century innovation.

The bridge isn't static.
It experiences thermal expansion of up to three feet during temperature changes.
Wind can cause lateral movement of several feet.
Ships passing underneath have 170 feet of clearance, enough for cruise liners and cargo vessels.
At night, LED lights illuminate the cables, turning the structure into a glowing arc visible for miles.

Local fishermen say the bridge changed everything.
The gulf's currents shifted slightly. Fish migration patterns adapted.

The two shores, once distinct worlds requiring planning and patience to cross, became neighbors.

Real estate prices surged on the Peloponnese side.

Commuting became possible. Entire towns transformed from remote outposts to accessible communities.

Stand at Rio Fortress during sunset and watch cars stream across the bridge in ribbons of light.

The structure flexes and breathes, engineered to survive another thousand years of earthquakes, storms, and time. What engineers said was impossible now carries 10,000 vehicles daily across water that once took lives.

#RioAntirrioBridge #Greece #EngineeringMarvel #Peloponnese

Rio–Antirrio Bridge, Rio Fortress, Greece
📷 billy_drone_

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@WillClem4 @KySportsRadio Normally I’d agree. But St. John’s was pressing, so they asked for it. I have no problem with it

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

An old survival tool used to keep a smoldering fire alive while travelling.

[Karen Vaites @karenvaites]

Only 41%, of children between the age of zero to four are being read to every day, “a decline of nine percentage points from 2019 and 15 percentage points in 2012.”

We are definitely not messaging the importance of early reading to families.

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@DylanBallard_UK If true - he talked to a tax guy

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@KySportsRadio After the Tennessee Tech game, I thought Stoops was here to stay unless we were embarrassed in the final 2 games. Welp….

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@BridgetPhetasy I’m still here!

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@Anastasia_esq I’m saddened to read your account. Both my parents were teachers (although decades ago). I’m quite certain they would not be sad as much as mad that your daughter and you were treated this way. Please be encouraged - your story is worth the telling.

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@lebowski_eth @LooneyOldLady @KTmBoyle Definitely don’t move here. And if you visit, don’t think about eating at Dewey Destin’s - it’s just a shack down a gravel road. They don’t even have cloth napkins for Pete’s sake!

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@mkhammer Mark Pope at Kentucky is interested…

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@WhiteHouse @POTUS Note: no comma!

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@jwludwig @sjohns58 @brithume We are both body and spirit. Our body dies a physical death and will be resurrected in God’s sovereign timeframe. For believers, our spirit enters the presence of God (heaven) immediately upon death. That is what the Bible says.

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@DylanBallard_UK If only UK had a rivalry like OSU/UM!

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@Anastasia_esq I suspect the President and his legal advisors know this. But I also suspect that the President’s base, and maybe quite a few others, wish it (flag burning) were not done (even though permissible under Amendment 1). By signing the “EO,” he reminds the many of where he stands.

[Alan Meek @AlansLife]

@persianjewess I don’t think this is the White House