Academically clueless

You'd think people would know better.

I feel like rolling my eyes whenever I hear somebody claim that PhDs are not "real doctors." In their view, only physicians are real doctors, and other people are just pretenders to that title. Not only is that historically ignorant, it also displays a severe lack of understanding of how the title is conventionally used.

No, folks. Physicians are not the only ones who are real doctors. In fact, the PhD holders have a more genuine claim to this title, as do people with comparable degrees (e.g. the ScD or the relatively obscure DBA).

That was a terrible dance

So I asked this older lady to swing dance last night. She seemed like she could handle herself on the dance floor. That was a mistake.

Turns out that she was one of these overly stiff ballroom-style dancers. There's nothing wrong with that, but it can really stink on the social dance floor. When they insist on doing everything in a prim and proper way, with no energy and flair, it can make for a heavily disconnected dance.

And it can be so boring. I found myself looking at the floor due to the awkwardness of the dance. She pointed this out and corrected me, and she was right to do so (though this wasn't great dance etiquette). Still, I think that the failure of this dance was due to her lack of energy, since I've had countless successful dances with women over the years.

Entering rant mode

In the past, I've acknowledged that I'd like to be more positive in my postings. I don't want to just post about frustrations and annoyances. And honestly, I still feel that way.

To be truthful though, I do feel the need to rant and vent now and then. It's cathartic, and it helps me deal with stress. So I hope you'll forgive me if I speak about various annoyances and grievances for the next few postings. It'd really help me a lot.

Boring photos

Some of the people I associate with take the most boring photos. Case in point: We were at a costume party. Did these folks take interesting photos that highlighted the costumes? For the most part, no. They focused on a whole lot of boringly posed pictures -- people just standing around, smiling at the camera, for example. Or worse, a lot of headshots. No real activity, very few interesting poses, and a whole lot of BORING.

Here's a clue, folks. Photos in which people look at smile at the camera are almost always mind-numbingly dull. They require no creativity, and they almost never engage the viewer's attention.

AbiLogic

I just discovered the AbiLogic directory. I don't understand their name, but I do appreciate the fact that they make a point of being a spam-free directory.

Gym slackers revisited

Continuing my previous rant about gym slackers...

I don't doubt that some of them are just doing the best that they can. Some of them may have joint problems, for example. Given human nature though, it's a safe bet that many of these folks are in bad shape precisely because they don't push themselves very hard. That's why instead of jogging around when the instructor tells them to, they just go for a slow an leisurely walk. Or why they just sit around and gab when the instructor runs late, as opposed to working out while waiting.

That's the key. If it was just one or two people who were "working out" at this minimal intensity, that'd be something to expect. When virtually the entire room is working out at such a low level though, it's hard to believe that they're truly putting in a major effort.

Just today, we did this drill wherein we were supposed to throw some medium-tempo jab and cross combinations. Virtually nobody was throwing a proper punch, though. Several folks just kinda moved their arms around a few inches while swaying their booties from side to side. It was painful to watch, and even a bit demotivating. I couldn't help but think, "Folks, even when I was in bad shape, I still pushed myself hard. Yet here you are, just coasting through. You're cheating yourselves, folks, and you shouldn't expect to see any results."

Complaining again about slackers

I know that I shouldn't fret over this so much, but I've got to say it again. I'm really, really tired of people who attend the cardio kickboxing and cardio bootcamp classes at my gym, and yet who scarcely put any effort into their moves. I'm talking about the ones who don't put any 'oomph' into their motions and who consistently adopt the posture that requires the least amount of effort and expends the least energy. (For example, doing knee raises while standing straight up, rather than leaning forward and bending the supporting leg.)

Yeah, I know. Ultimately, it's their choice, and that's true. The problem is that they're often distracting and even painful to watch. They're also demotivating -- and I'm not just saying that, since I've even heard an instructor say the same thing.

I know it sounds harsh, but it's kinda annoying to see people put in the time but not the effort -- to basically throw the time away. It's also annoying because some of these folks wind up chatting amongst themselves instead of doing the moves. They are also likely to let loose with whines or groans when the going gets tough, instead of just doing the best that they can.

More on Jesse Jackson

Today, I received an e-mail newsletter which said that Jesse Jackson is urging the creation of more jobs.

Yeah, that was brilliant, Jesse. Truly profound. Why does anybody bother listening to this parasite?

Jesse Jackson -- ugh

Jesse Jackson's latest tirade regarding LeBron James is really sickening.

Here's the story. Dan Gilbert took LeBron to task for his narcissistic media spectacular, in which LeBron hyped up his big decision to play for Miami. Gilbert correctly pointed out that this egofest was in poor taste.

And what did Jackson do? He said, "LeBron is not a child, nor is he bound to play on Gilbert’s plantation and be demeaned." In other words, he is insinuating that Gilbert thinks LeBron is some sort of slave who is obligated to play as Gilbert deems fit. Nevermind that Gilbert was not objecting to LeBron's career move; rather, he merely pointed out that this prodigy has exhibited poor taste in hyping up his move.

Jackson likes to play the race card at every opportunity. He is an opportunist, and his actions are slimy beyond belief.

Eakins

Gretchen Eakins is a relatively obscure actress/model. She's also perky, attractive, and seems like she's probably greatly underrated. I like her, and I wish that there had been some gals like her at my old high school and college.

So disappointed

Darn, drat, darn, darn, darn.

What a disappointment.

Psych

Man, I love that show.

7/7

It's 7/7 today. Do you feel lucky, punk?

Wonder Woman in the original SuperFriends TV show

So I'm watching this episode of the original SuperFriends where they have to deal with objects made of this plastic substance called FRERP. Wonder Woman had the task of creating a solvent to get rid of this substance. What's more, the villian even acknowledged Wonder Woman's scientific brilliance, predicting that she could indeed develop such a solvent.

Too bad the writers didn't treat her that way in subsequent seasons of this show. They sure dumbed her down.

Boot camp was disappointing

I was really disappointed in tonight's cardio bootcamp class. Our regular instructor is in Vegas, and I was told that this close friend of hers would be filling in. As in turned out though, another lady altogether led the class.

Some folks liked her. Personally, I thought she was mostly boring. She definitely didn't push me very hard.

The first half of the class was rather slow paced and low in intensity. She certainly didn't move as fast or as vigorously as our regular instructor. Some folks in the class probably preferred that, but personally, I didn't feel challenged.

Neither was the gal behind me, apparently. She's not a young woman, but she works out hard. The two of us agree that a boot camp class should be tough and demanding; otherwise, why call it "boot camp"? As she said, when it comes to the tough, physically demanding moves, we should say "Bring it!"

Judicious use of animation in PowerPoint

In an earlier post, I talked about how it's annoying to see someone simply re-read the text in their PowerPoint slides. I also said that trivial rephrasings aren't quite as annoying or insulting, but they do come awfully close. I also suggested that it helps if we keep the PowerPoint text brief, so that we can expand on their meaning as we speak.

It also helps if we use simple animation effects to make the text appear only as needed. It's trivial to learn, and anybody with even an average IQ can make it work.

Independence!

It's Independence Day! Don't take freedom for granted.

Manuals, dang it!

It's so annoying. So many companies don't produce decent documentation for their products. They're not interested in producing manuals that are intelligible, much less systematically written. Bah.

The problem is that a lot of techies don't develop their writing skills. What's more, a great many of them don't consider writing skills to be important. It stinks.

PowerPoint

I'll say it again -- I hate it when people give a presentation or lead a discussion by reading the text on their PowerPoint slides -- treating PowerPoint as though it were a teleprompter. It's colossally dumb and it's very annoying as well.

Now, some people don't actually read their slides. However, they will sometimes have detailed points listed in their slides, and then they'll state those points in their so-called "presentations." That is almost as annoying and almost as insulting.

A better approach would be to use a few short bullet points -- not detailed sentences, but brief phrasings. One's presentation can then expand on those phrasings.

My leg hurts

It hurts. I'm getting old. These tendons just don't take as much physical abuse as they used to. I wish that I had been a lot more physically active in my younger days. Now I'm trying to make up for that, and it's tough -- tougher now, since I can't jump and kick as much as I could have in my younger days.