"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Choosing one's battles by JS Magruder Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Drilling by Sherri B. I'm not sure I would call that allowing oneself to be bullied — it sounds more like choosing one's battles. What does being the etiquette police accomplish if the offenders are so utterly clueless they don't understand what they've done? Fine, so you bully someone back — what does that teach the child? Children will copy that behavior as well. As for getting a librarian or park employee to aid you in the effort, I wouldn't bet on it. I wasn't there and I'm not about to go out on a limb and guess what the intentions of these individuals were. From my own experience, most of the people I encounter that I'd deem rude are so wrapped up in their own lives they wouldn't understand what they'd done if you pointed it out. Even when the odd schmuck is perfectly aware he's line jumping or something out of the social norms, it isn't cowardly to let it go. Obviously, people who behave that way have things going on in their lives causing them to behave that way and probably deserve our pity, if not excusing. Rudeness is kind of subjective anyway. Would anyone be upset if a homeless person wrote in to say he was outraged at the manners of hundreds of people a day that walked past him without making eye contact? Is a child entitled to more courtesy than a homeless person on the street? They're both essentially vulnerable and helpless. The only behavior we can be responsible for is our own. Giving a tongue lashing to the clueless might feel like accomplishing something in the moment, but it doesn't leave anyone better off for having had the encounter. JS Magruder (whynotresist.blogsome.com) The inverse squared law by Chris M. Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Harvest the sun -- from space
I don't believe that this "gem" is making the rounds again. Listen — in order for this to be practical, the amount of energy that would have to be "beamed" to earth would be around 400 million times would the area being powered would need. This is because of the inverse squared law. Which states that any... ANY... radiated energy decreases by the one over the distance squared. That is Power at destination = Power at origin x 1/distance_squared. Not only that. But even if you could get enough power to show up at the ground, anything under the beam (which would be quite large at that point) would be toast. Chris M. You're probably right, but I know nothing of such science so I'll just charm you with my Homer Simpson impression: Helen & Harry
Cattle call by JR Mooneyham Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK How anecdotal evidence can undermine scientific results This article is more politically important than you might think. For it describes the phenomenon used by Republicans in the media for decades now to sway public opinion in their favor, even in cases where the scientific evidence was overwhelmingly against them (in other words, the vast majority of issues). While Bush mistakes innocent civilians for terrorists both foreign and native, his cronies can't even track foreign cattle entering America. JR Mooneyham (www.jrmooneyham.com/) Life goes on in Tehran by Marie K. Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Look at the pictures. I very much hope that the scenes shown will not be spoiled by the horrors of being attacked. Read the comments. You will see how bombing and murdering or injuring innocent Iranians would be ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL. Marie K.  The famous Mr. Hanky by Marvin A. Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Mr. Hanky goes to Wall Street by Pavel C. So I guess you are now going to find out just how weird the show SOUTH PARK really is. I have been watching it for years. It satirizes everything and everyone. One of the show's voices was a member of Scientology and took offense to a couple of their skits on it. He resigned in protest. So then they had a skit on him for a couple of shows. No-one is immune. I believe the show is one of the best. Marvin A. I love it, too. A couple of nights ago they reran the episode where the obviously deranged school teacher invents a gyromobile with control sticks that go up and down the driver's ass and in and out of his mouth, and I laughed hysterically... And even funnier, this was on over-the-air TV at 6:30 in the evening, in a country where the FCC tries to level a half-million dollar fine for the accidental split-second exposure of a fraction of a woman's nipple. Helen & Harry
Scoping out sociopaths by Herb Ruhs, MD Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Drilling by Sherri B. When a child sees an adult that's supposed to protect them turn away in fear they WILL copy that behavior unless they've a strongly established personality of their own.Thanks, I guess, for trying to stand up for me and my grandson. I have gotten a little frail now at sixty three with three cancers under my belt, but I have never, that I can recall, turned away in fear in any situation. I grew up a street kid, fought a lot of battles, spent nearly five years in Vietnam getting shot at fairly frequently, worked in locked wards of insane asylums, worked for many years in juvenile corrections, have had occasion to disarm and subdue violent people, and I have never seen the wisdom in responding in fear to any situation. I'm not even sure I could respond with fear in fearful situations. What I try to model for my grandson is a cool response to intrusive behavior that leaves us poised and capable of doing what logic and experience dictates as the most positive and compassionate outcome. Confronting folks of advanced age and likely cerebral dysfunction or obviously retarded adults is not my idea of effective and compassionate action. Situations need to be managed not mangled. By the way, in both cases I did call the attention of the attendants and librarians to the incidents, but only for their information, not for their intervention.
I would also like to direct readers to THE SOCIOPATH NEXT DOOR: THE RUTHLESS VERSUS THE REST OF US, by Martha Stout. A key problem in our society is the strong myth that sociopaths can only be found amongst the powerful. In fact to really understand these people all one really needs to do is look around you. You undoubtedly know some of these people (Stout's estimate is that they are 4% of the adult population. My experience is that once one has experience identifying them in one's personal life, it finally becomes possible to understand the phenomenon at work in politics, corporations and the professions. Everyone in my family has read this book. Herb Ruhs, MD Commingling by The Canadian Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re We are all hostages by Herb Ruhs, MD Considering that the US gets more of its oil from Canada than anywhere else, can Canada feel safe from attack?Absolutely. What would be the point when we our economies are already so closely inter-related (80% of our trade is with the US)? Unless we were to join OPEC.... Hey! Wait a minute... I wonder...nah. Just kidding The Canadian Utopia rising? by Wig Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Cafeteria trays disappearing as colleges try to rein in dorm waste The ultimate absurdity. I thought the food industry had already developed the scam of reducing portions to the level of the food almost disappearing.
LOL. One can always learn juggling. Wig Fears? by Stuart B. Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Constitutional lawyer Turley fears Dems will let He "fears" this? How's about he just plain KNOWS this. You see it every day in what little news is allowed to make the news — seriously, everybody knows that absolutely no-one in this all-criminal administration will face any sort of justice as a result of Democrats in Congress or Democrats in an Obama administration. What tiny slivers of justice are allowed will be brought about by state prosecutors, and by any honest career Justice Dept prosecutors who, by fluke, have not yet been fired and are, by double fluke, allowed to take action without retaliation. Stuart B. Survey says ... by Rainy Season Thursday, July 24, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Liberal bias by SirJ When I hear the word 'survey' I think of something conducted within reasonable scientific parameters, so the results can be deemed worth the bother of the work. Self-selected "surveys" are something different. Always seems to me there ought to be a different word for surveys conducted outside the bounds of scientifically-sound polling techniques. Maybe "blindfolded darts". Rainy Season |
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