Padme and open-mindedness

This gal that I knew from grad school, Padme, said that people should strive to be rich because it stinks to be poor. I pointed out that one doesn't have to be rich in order to escape poverty. That is, she was guilty of committing the fallacy of the excluded middle.

Her response, "You're just being close-minded."

What a strange duck. Apparently, being open-minded means that one should agree with her. By her response, she showed that she was incapable of discussing the issue in a principled manner.

Biotech

Biotechnology: It's the wave of the future. I think it behooves everyone to learn a bit more about anatomy and cell biology. I benefited greatly from some of the "Great Courses" DVD sets from the public library.

Gretch, what are you doing?

Gretchen, what in the world are you doing? Have you no discernment? Have you no common sense?

Gretchen keeps making terrible decisions and spouting incredible foolishness instead of wisdom.

Yay

Whoopee do.

H.N.Y.

Happy New Year, folks. I wish I had a better place to ring in the new year last night. Got together with some friends for some quality dancing, but we could have used more space and a few more partners. Also some better music, though the band wasn't bad at all.

It was certainly a huge improvement over last year's New Year's Eve party. The dancing at that place was TERRIBLE. Blech. Amazingly, the folks I was with said that they had such a good time. I can guarantee that the folks I would normally celebrate with would have said that it was boringly bad.

Mightor

There was this cheesy old Hanna-Barbera cartoon character named "Mightor." He was a caveman superhero of sorts, and he was kinda reminiscent of Fawcett's Captain Marvel. That is, his alter ego was a normal young caveman (almost a caveboy) who could transform himself into this mighty superhero.

I'll confess... it did annoy men that some of the kids I knew kept referring to him as "Mighty Thor." Not the same character, folks. Pay attention.

And yes, I know that this is a little thing. No big deal. It does remind me that some folks are just really, really bad when it comes to processing words.

Tom Stroup and the S.W.A.T workouts

I really like Tom Stroup and his S.W.A.T.-inspired workout DVDs. He's an affable guy, a fitness instructor, and an actual S.W.A.T. captain. His workouts are also pretty darned good, and he manages to keep them interesting.

If you look at Amazon.com, you'll find some very positive reviews of his DVDs. You'll also find a few people who complain about the fact that his DVDs feature a bunch of skinny, physically fit female assistants. These reviewers complain about the fact that Tom calls them "real people," and they wish that he'd feature women who weren't so skinny -- people who look like they're just starting out.

Personally, I think that's a petty objection. After all, Tom presumably wants to show that his programs work, and featuring physically fit participants is a good way to do so -- especially since these are women who actually attend his classes. They are REAL people in every reasonable sense of the word. They simply set out to be fit, and they succeeded, just as most people can.

What's more, beginners are unlikely to demonstrate proper form or the right kind of energy, so they wouldn't tend to make for good models. Heck, one of his DVDs is titled, "SWAT Workout: Extreme Weight Loss and Fat Burning." I think that it makes perfect sense to feature people who look like they have been successful in burning off fat in such a workout!

Snopes and Drew

I have a friend named Drew who keeps sending out these mass e-mails, propagating all sorts of half-truths and urban legends. I've repeatedly referred him to Snopes.com and truthorfiction.com, but he never bothers to check his facts. In fact, after one time when I suggested using these sites, he said, "Well, why should I believe them? Anyone can say anything on the Internet."

Um, Drew, do you realize how foolish your statement is? You're saying that you don't trust snopes.com and similar sources because they're just sites on the 'net, and yet you're willing to blindly trust all these e-mails that you receive, even though their sources are anonymous and they seldom provide any citations that would attest to their accuracy. Do you not realize the cognitive disconnect that's at play here?

R Beers

I lost a lot of respect for Mr. Beers. He's a man who has good intentions, and in his own way, he tries to do the right thing... but he has severely disappointed me. In more than one way, too.

FB's tongue

FB, an acquaintance of mine (loosely speaking, a friend) REALLY, REALLY needs to learn how to control her tongue. I swear, there is no filter between her brain and her tongue.

The Dino Martinis

I just discovered the Dino Martinis, this fabulous jive band from Calgary. I love them. I wish that they had more CDs on the market.

Originality. Creativity.

Most people aren't very original. They aren't very creative. That's not to say that they can't be; rather, they just don't try very hard.

Argh.

Typing skills

I watched this technician at my auto repair shop type into a computer using the horrendous "hunt and peck" method. It was agonizing to watch. I tell you, everybody should learn how to type properly.

The thing is, some people aren't really motivated to learn. They're kinda like those folks who just want to mess around arhythmically on the dance floor, and who aren't motivated to learn anything better than that. I'm not saying that people need to become expert typists, but really... in this day and age, everyone should learn at least some basic typing proficiency.

Preparing cheat sheets

I had a flashback to my college days. I was recalling the times when my classmates and I had to prepare "cheat sheets" for our Physics and Mathematics classes -- that is, lists of equations that we could use while taking a test.

I did these things sensibly. I made sure to list all the relevant equations that I might not necessarily remember. That's what a cheat sheet is supposed to be, after all -- a memory guide.

Practically every single one of my classmates, however, took a different approach. They copied down every equation that they could find in the book chapters on which we were to be tested. They even wrote down stupidly simple equations like "V=IR", which we had been using for years and should have had completely memorized. It was pathetic.

I also remember David, one of my Math classmates. He was a Computer Science major, and not a very good one. For one of the algebra clases, he wrote down an entire sequence of how to factor an equation. In other words, instead of learning the princples behind factoring, he wrote down an example (probably more than one) so that he could use it to truly "cheat."

This disgusts me. College students should know better than to do that -- that is, if they are genuinely interested in learning.

Trademarks

Somebody needs a serious lesson in intellectual property law... more specifically, trademarks. Yeargh.

Whose Line

I really, really miss the old "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" crew. That was a talented bunch of guys.

W.

W has a brain that works in strange, bizarre fashions.

And no, I'm not talking about the former President.

This can be truly aggravating, I tell you.

Kate Harding

I think that Kate Harding is doing her "fat acceptance movement" a great deal of harm. I understand her sentiments and all the emotion behind them, but she is seriously misguided.

Mr2001

Been reading some postings by this fella named "Mr2001." The guy is pretty ridiculous.

It's not just that I disagree with his reasoning. There are a lot of folks out there with whom I disagree. Rather, the nature of his reasoning is just kinda infantile. He decries music copyrights, for example, and insists that there's nothing wrong with pirating music. His defense? "It's just a sequence of zeros and ones!" or words to that effect.

Got a headache

Got a headache. Must be the stress.