Short Update

For those of you who might be wondering why I'm not around for the next week or so, it's because I'm up enjoying the snow of Mammoth.  Obviously there is some internet, but I don't anticipate using it a lot.

That's the spirit!

So yesterday my dad and I decided that it would be fun to go shopping. It was about 11 am on a Monday (which I'd like to point out is a working day). We safely got in and out of Costco, with only one forgotten thing, but got completely derailed on the way to Best Buy. We were going to go look at car speakers and external hard drives, not to mention wine racks (although not at Best Buy), but when the traffic was backed up behind the stoplight before Rosedale, we used the Lowe's parking lot to turn around.

Don't people have to work? Or if they're unemployed, don't they have to save money? I mean, they can't all be teachers.

Plus, all the idiots were out yesterday! We decided to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond instead of Best Buy. Of course, neither of us realized that it is next In and Out, and that they put crack in their french fries (why else would it be so popular?). The fact that people will sit in line for all of their entire lunch hour just for stupid hamburgers.

In much more fun news, I've decided that watching Gilmore Girls is a very bad influence on me.

DONE

So I had three boring finals and one interesting one. Of course, by interesting I mean impossible during the time limit. But it was still really fun. I'm a bit disappointed that I won't get it back in order to play with actually finishing the problems, but maybe he'll hold onto them until next semester.

I'm definitely ready for a break and am looking forward to six weeks of relaxing, traveling, snowboarding, soccering, and general wandering around the house.

Let it Snow!

I'm all for the cold. I made sure there would be plenty of it where I went to college. But right now the heater is broken in the house, which means that the upstairs is very cold. During the day it's fine because the whole family crowds around the fireplace, but night is pretty cold.

Lately I've felt like it was spring in Spokane, because it's been really clear and sunny, but amazingly cold. I'm thinking the Garces Tournament this weekend will necessitate pants, gloves, and a beanie (good thing I'm at a secondary sight, and nobody will care).

It does, however, mean that there should be plenty of snow at Mammoth that won't be melting!

Embracing my inner-nerd

Okay, we all know I don't have trouble doing that, but I thought I'd share. For the past year and a half, I've been getting more and more into comics. Mostly this means graphic novels, but half the time, I'm reading compilations of weekly or monthly comics in graphic novel form. It's hard to pick an overall favorite of the ones I've read, but I can definitely pick a favorite in terms of art.

Back in the day, the art of comics was pretty run-of-the-mill. I believe they were usually printed in Sunday morning papers, along with whatever comic books came out. But these days, the art in them can be amazing - especially if it is originally published as a novel (and I mean graphic novel). Kingdom Come is such an example of amazing art (it's got a pretty good story, too). I can't imagine how much time the artist had to put into it.

Currently, this is adorning my laptop, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.



Obviously, that's Superman in the middle, and his reflection is Captain Marvel. They're both surrounded by a pantheon of superheroes (you can see Diana (Wonder Woman), Green Lantern, and the Flash directly behind him).

My only complaint against comics is that there's just so many of them! There's no way I can keep up with all the characters that I love.

"Back when I was your age..."

Last night I was helping my cousins write a paper for her English class. I should have been working on my own paper (like I should be now), but it sounded like so much more fun to edit hers. Anyways, it is on Greek culture in the ancient times (something I'm only slightly familiar with). I should point out that my cousins is a freshman in high school, and is in what they call Honors (the equivalent of our GATE program for freshmen).

Apparently, writing an essay is no longer creative in any way. They have a strict format they have to follow, called the Jane Schaffer Method. This format requires an opening paragraph of 3 - 5 sentences, and each body paragraph to have 11 sentences in the order of "Openings, concrete detail, commentary, commentary, concrete detail, commentary, commentary, concrete detail, commentary, commentary, conclusion. Then you merely repeat that for however many body paragraphs you need, and end with a conclusion that is basically the same as your intro. Further, my cousin is forbidden to use words like "would" and "could" (understandable) and "show" or "shown" (ridiculous).

Perhaps the worst thing about this method is that it encourages run-on sentences. For example, you can't introduce a quote in one sentence, follow with the quote in another sentence, and explain it in a third - because that doesn't follow the "fact, commentary, commentary" format. So you have to both introduce and include your quote in one sentence. Not only does it encourage run-ons, but it also encourages mindless repeating of yourself, merely to meet a sentence quota. Absurd!

But don't take my word for it. I googled "Jane Shaffer" and this highly entertaining blog post came up.

I should point out that it's possible that this whole thing isn't my cousin's teacher's fault. The school district apparently requires this method of writing. Please! Let's stop giving teachers a bad rep by tying their hands at teaching children creativity and how to find their own voice!

Miscalculation

I misjudged how long it would take me to finish my philosophy final this morning. It was supposed to start at 8:00 AM, and I knew that I wouldn't need the full two hours to finish the test. We were told there would be between 60 and 80 questions, all multiple choice, and many would be similar to ones we saw on our quizes. So I figured that I'd give myself an hour, and it would probably take me half an hour.

Nope. 15 minutes is all it took. So now I have an entire extra hour to kill on campus that I tried to not have. This is because I don't have my second final until 5:30. I have a paper and powerpoint presentation to finish for it, and I know if I go home I won't get it done, but I really don't want to be here all day.

At least I got to the library early enough that I have a nice spot staked out (with an outlet claimed). Of course, I'll probably have to vacate at some point to scavenge for food, but hopefully the extension cord I brought will help me find an outlet later.

Some people!

Sometimes it amazes me how stupid people are. Well, maybe that's being harsh, even for me. Perhaps it would be better to say "uneducated" instead of stupid. Or perhaps "unwilling to become educated."

Take today, for example. As I was sitting in line to buy this week's parking pass, a person in front of me had to be told how to fill out a check. He didn't know that on one line you write the words of the dollar amount, and in the box you write the numbers of the dollar amount. I wonder if he knew where to sign. Now if I'm honest, this isn't really a case of being stupid. But by the time somebody is in college, they should have taken it upon themselves to learn how to write a check, especially if, say, they have a checkbook. But in the land of debit cards and online shopping, I guess that isn't necessary anymore.

Second case. In my philosophy class, we occasionally have to participate in an online discussion board though Blackboard (I think we've done this three times). On of the previous discussions that we had was on whether or not there all theories of social and political arrangement involve some assumption of the moral equality of all people. This would be because every theory (except ones that any rational person would automatically discount) involve some sort of equality, or some thing that ought to be distributed equally (for Nozick, this is libertarian property rights, for Rawls this is equal liberty and initial distribution of primary goods).

Anyways, we have this online discussion, and I'd say about 90% of my classmates object to moral equality because "people don't have the same views on morality." Perhaps it isn't clear because I haven't quoted the entire introduction to the discussion, but this is obviously not what "moral equality" means in this case, which is even more obvious if you read our required reading for the discussion (of course I realized hardly anybody actually read it).

So about two or three people make a post about relativist morality, when I make my post. I nicely (at least in my opinion) that almost everybody missed the point, and proceed to explain what the conversation should actually be about, pointing out that I think the moral equality of human beings is based on a shared rationality (although sometimes I have to be in doubt of this). But it doesn't matter! First of all, somebody disagrees with me (silly person!), and everybody still continues to discuss whether or not all people hold the same morals (the answer is a resounding 'no').

But then, in class, our professor points out that "almost everybody missed the point," and refers to my post about the true topic we were supposed to be discussing. But it doesn't matter again! People are still posting (required participation that they didn't realize before, so they're trying to make up some points) and still talking about the lack of universal morals. I just don't get it. Can somebody please explain to me how people can be so stupid, for lack of a better word?

I'm trying not to be harsh, but it's rather difficult when the correct topic has been pointed out not once, but twice, and is still posted for them to read. And I don't want to hear that it's because they're undergrads, or young, because I'm really not that different a student from when I was younger and an undergrad, and I would have gotten the point then. Plus, most of these people are still older than me!

I love this book

In my political philosophy class, our textbook is titled Political Philosophy: A Beginners' Guide for Students and Politicians. It's really quite good - straightforward, well written and organized, and includes most relevant topics. It's also, on occasion, very funny. The author is British, which means nothing, except that some spellings are the British way, there's lots of references to British government (although not exclusive), and his British humor comes out frequently.

The latest awesome quote is this:

"Since most of us believe that democracy, at least in some form, could be legitimate, this point may seem academic. (That's 'academic' in the pejorative sense that condemns my profession to the elucidation of irrelevant niceties)."

And if you don't find that as funny as I do, you're lame.

Crap....

So my headaches usually come in pairs, spaced a few days apart. Which means the one I have right now is going to bring its friend over to play, probably on Thursday night, just to spite me (just like the last time I had a Arabic test followed closely by a huge math test followed by a 4 hour drive to Bakersfield).

Uncool, self. Uncool.

First a president, now a web browser!

I can't believe this. Apparently there is a new web browser specifically tailored for the African American community. It looks exactly like Firefox, but has a black color scheme. Also, it apparently comes preloaded with a bunch of bookmarks that might be of interest to the black community. Because apparently they are unable to go and find their own bookmarks like the rest of the internet community.

Seriously, though? I guess I'm too stuck in my non-minority role in America to see how this is necessary, or even a good thing. We're never going to get beyond race until we stop making it a distinction (which I've said before, and I imagine I'll be saying again). But maybe I'm naive, and that'll never happen. So perhaps it's a good thing that every ethnic group might someday have specific web browsers. Because, you know, they wouldn't take us to the same exact place.

Kiss a wookie, kick a driod

This is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4

Guy didn't write the song, but it's still impressive. And mad props go to the group that wrote the song (if you're really interested, you can follow the link from the video details).