Random Typing

Sometimes there are things I just have to get out of me. Fortunately, blogging is a convenient way to do just that! So here goes....

-Sometimes people with political, social, or religious views different from yours act like jerks. That does not mean that all the people who agree with their views are jerks also. It also does not excuse you if you act like a jerk in response.

-Grammar Nazi moment: Could have: a way of stating a possible result, I could have bought a new car if I had saved my money. Could of does not mean ANYTHING AT ALL. Please stop using it, all you people who do.

-Most of the problems I have encountered as a teacher, student, soldier, boyfriend, son, brother, citizen, etc. result from people not communicating. We spend most of our lives around other people, talking, writing, reading, interacting, and yet so often we are absolutely miserable at communicating and frustration, suspicion, distrust, and unhappiness are the result.

-If you support the "Tea Party" movement, don't have a knee-jerk response that anyone who questions you is a socialist or communist. Respond to detractors with logic and sound arguments, not names. If you don't support the "Tea Party" movement, don't call people who do "teabaggers." "Socalist" and "communist" are not insults; "teabagger" is. It is crude, inappropriate, and will not do anything to change anyone's mind. Grow up. Grow up.

-I'm sad to notice that all the commercials on the radio or TV talking about the importance of the 2010 Census do not mention at all the ONE reason why a census is mandated in the Constitution: to determine the population so that states may be properly represented in Congress (Article 1, section 2). To me it seems like that is a far more important reason than any of the other things they bring up, all of which can be addressed locally most of the time.

-Grammar Nazi Moment: Lose means the act of misplacing an item or being defeated in a contest, loose means not securely fastened or of low moral standing. I wish I had ten dollars for every time I've seen the first word spelled like the second. By professionals. Adults with college degrees. English is your language. Learn to use it properly!!!

-Most things are cheaper a few weeks or months after they become available. Often, patience results in saved money.

-I've seen some commentators deride certain public figures for not attending a prestigious, private or Ivy League university. These same people are staunch advocates of public school unions and harshly criticize independent grade schools, charter schools, and home schools. I am waiting for some of these people to notice the contradiction.

-No one likes a know-it-all. Fortunately, we have blogs that you can choose to ignore.

-During a break at work today, I caught some of an ESPN show where several people were discussing the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It hit me, these people are passionately arguing who is right or wrong about what they think will happen in a basketball game. And they get really worked up about it. The more I contemplate this, the more bizarre it seems. We don't take the Psychic Friends Network seriously, but people will wager hundreds of dollars based on what these folks say. And for all their experience and knowledge of basketball, their odds of being right are about the same as what the Psychic Friends will give you.

-For the record, I think nationalized health care is a bad idea. Here's why: I know people in wheelchairs, with cancer, with multiple sclerosis, all sorts of unfortunate conditions. I like the idea that if a particular provider or insurance company doesn't provide good service, they have the option to look elsewhere. Most people agree that, well-intentioned as it was, No Child Left Behind created more problems than it solved in the educational system. Odds are that massive health care legislation will do the same thing. After all, how many other government programs run more efficiently and cost less than the experts predict? Zero. Every single time.

-Along the same line, the President was a lawyer, and is married to a lawyer. A lot of lawyers are way, way overpaid. In fact, the outrageous fees in malpractice lawsuits are one reason why medical costs are so high, because doctors must pay high costs for malpractice insurance. The President has demonized bankers for being overpaid. He has demonized doctors for being overpaid. He has demonized insurance companies for being overpaid. But he hasn't said a word about the overpaid malpractice lawyers. Coincidence? You decide. I won't say anymore on this subject since the President is, legally, my boss. (Also, not trying to pick on lawyers; just stating facts.)

-Some folks criticize religious people for their prohibitions or limitations on drinking, or premarital sex, or foul language, or kosher diets, or why certain holidays are observed. Yet we are bombarded with news flashes on why certain foods cause cancer, certain drinks make you fat, why smoking will kill you, cell phones will kill you, television will kill you, driving will kill you, flying will kill you, why you aren't exercising enough, and why you shouldn't exercise too much. I guess no matter what you believe or how you live, some people just can't resist trying to tell you how you should.

-The above statement does not express a belief in a relativistic world view, far from it. I'm actually just making an observation about common trends in our culture from different ideological viewpoints.

-Tennessee is a football school. Kentucky is a basketball school. The difference between the two is that Tennessee still occasionally defeats Kentucky in basketball.