Welcome to The Rambler, a blog dedicated to discussing literature, film, religion, and whatever else comes to mind. Please feel free to read, agree/disagree, and come back often.
Newsflash! This will be a very quick blog post intended to inform all those with any interest in my well being that I was in a car accident yesterday at around 3 PM MST. Another driver ran a red light, and this caused me to drive directly into the back right side of their car (at a pretty good speed). My car is likely totaled (both airbags deployed).
I think I'm going to be fine, I'm a little sore today, and my right wrist is a little burnt (airbags are VERY hot when they pop out), but overall I think I'll be fine.
The real fly in the ointment is that I was planning on driving home tomorrow for a family visit. I haven't seen my family since Christmas, so I'm overdue, and my brother was kind enough to take a week off so we could hang out and get into mischief.
Hopefully the lady who ran the red light's insurance will spring for a rental car...I don't want to have to cancel the visit.
That's all for now. Drive safe!
p.s. I know I rarely have any multimedia....but I do have pictures. So here is a rare treat.
p.p.s. I just noticed what a strange word "multimedia is." I mean, media is already plural. Medium is the singular form of media. So, having multimedia is sorta like saying multi plural. Sorta silly. I guess maybe you could rationalize everything and say that the multi refers to a few mediums converging (sound video etc) and that the media part only refers to how there are multiple existent mediums. But, that's not a very good answer. Anyway, on to the pictures.
Figure 1: My car's sad profile. Bumper on the bottom left.
o A full frontal shot. Sometimes I feel like my car is winking at me as it passes on.
This is the angle shot. I feel like it brings out the epic scope and tragedy of this event. You see the healthy and happy rear portion of the car....transitioning into the muddled front of a once beautiful machine. This sorta facial scarring has been known to produce villains in the past (two-face and the joker just to name a few). Luckily, my car had a better temperament than that. I think my car will just pass quietly into the night...
Not sure what I'm gonna post on really, just thought I'd write a bit.
Let's see. Well, I just read the Wikipedia page on Seltzer water. Last night I was at a place where the person with me ordered a drink that was described as having Selzter water in it. They asked what Selzter water actually was, and I told them I thought it meant carbonated, but I wasn't sure if I was right.
Well, here's the scoop. Seltzer water is carbonated water. We silly Americans used to call seltzer water carbonated water, and sometimes we'd call it "2 cents plain" (cause it was the cheapest soda you could get), but in the 1950s we started calling it Seltzer water...which is sorta like calling all tissues "Kleenex" and all ropes Lariats (both are trade names...not item names).
So, Seltzer is the genericized tradename for carbonated water, and the tradename comes from the little town of Selters in Germany where there used to be prolific trade of carbonated water during the 18th century.
Bet you were just dying to know all that. Thank goodness for Wikipedia.
Let's see, what else. Well, I went kite flying last night. It had been about a year (actually it was 1 year in April). I forgot how much fun that can be. It was really windy so the kite was zipping across the sky really fast. Good times. Let's see...what else.
Oh, and a fun thing to do (and I did this for the first time yesterday) is to talk to the perfume/cologne salespeople at the mall. They are hilarious. I think the commission thing makes them a bit greedy, and because of this, they agree with whatever you say( so you'll buy something) ...and this results in good times for all.
What you gotta do is talk to them like you're a connoisseur of perfumes and they get all excited and talk the biz with you. All you need to do is smell something and say something like "oh yes, this is quite an urban scent"....they'll unpack their adjectives immediately and share with you all the emotion, mystery, romance, and grandeur of that particular scent (as is revealed in the complimentary packaging).
The thing you need to remember is that whenever you compare a scent to some unrelated thing it makes whatever you say about that scent profound. For example, you can say something like "this scent smells like summers from my childhood" (I tried that one). When you do this they know they're dealing with a real pro.
When I said that the girl took my nonsense and ran with it. She was very animated as she explained to me the magical process by which the manufacturer of that particular cologne captured an abstract notion from my childhood and placed it in an alcohol base. It was amazing. And who wouldn't want to buy a concretized memory from their childhood for 30 bucks an ounce?
They'll agree with whatever you say about the product. Talking to these people is one of the greatest exercises in creative language (and B.S.) that you'll ever have. The salespeople B.S. all day so you gotta really bring your "A" game to discuss the intricacies of the perfumes at their level...but it's totally worth it.
Here are a few catchphrases that I found work well:
1) Oh, that's a very light scent! 2) That scent is very similar to a perfume called....oh what's the name....(they say something).....then you agree with them excitedly. 3) Really? What an amazing deal! 4) Do you have a scent more appropriate for (name some activity). 5) I would like a scent that will distinguish me. I don't want to be an Aqua Di Jio sorta guy, everyone wears that! Aren't you just sick of it? 6) Then of course, as mentioned before, just compare any scent to something positive...like sunshine, water, spring mornings, the pavement after it rains...anything. It's all deep and wonderful (the word for this sort of comparison is synesthesia...good vocab word).
Anyway, that's a fun activity. Try it sometime. And a word of caution...make sure you laugh after you're done talking with them.
Let's see...what else. Well, recently I re-read "A Portrait of Dorian Gray." I'm still not sure how I feel about that book. On the one hand I really don't like the story, but on the other the writing is beautiful. Oscar Wilde is a genius. He was a really witty, flamboyant, life of the party type.
But....he was also an immoral man. The unfortunate thing is he made immorality sound so cool. Here are a few things I copied down as I read the book this last time.
1) Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.
2) She is a peacock in everything but beauty.
3) The highest and the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.
4) Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.
5) Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. (sorta implying that it's fine to be corrupt if you are charming...).
6) There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
7) Beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face.
8) There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one's fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world...they live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They neither bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands.
9) One charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties.
10) I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. I have not got one who is a fool. They are all men of some intellectual power, and consequently they all appreciate me. Is that very vain of me?
11) What you have told me is quite a romance, and the worst of having a romance of any kind is that it leaves one so unromantic.
12) The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
Anyway, that's just the first chapter. Isn't that fun stuff to read? Too bad the message doesn't match the delivery. If Oscar Wilde had been a moral man, if he could have conveyed a strong and true message with his wit, he could have done so much for literature. As it stands he's a brilliant writer, but sadly, he never realized his potential.
Anyway, that's just a few random things. Hope you're all doing well.
Okay, so my unfortunate story for the week goes like this:
A post or so ago I shared a story of how I did some laundry and I forgot my towel when there was company over. Well, during that same laundry trip I got ambitions and decided to wash my down-feather bed comforter.
I had no idea that that thing would not dry.
Right after I washed it my roommate suggested that I use the clothesline in the backyard. I'd never used a clothesline before, so I was keen on the idea and I put the sopping wet blanket on the line.
When my roommate suggested that I put the blanket on the line I asked him "isn't it supposed to rain today or tomorrow?" He said "Oh, no, I have a sense for these things, it's not going to rain today."
This roommate is a woodsman, who is even as I type this in the middle of Alaska playing with fish or something...so I trusted him and hung up the blanket.
I went off to do a few things...and much to my dismay I noticed raindrops on my car window. Eventually it started pouring rain.
By the time I got home it was time to go to bed and my comforter was just sitting out there in the rain. I decided that it couldn't get any wetter so I just left it there.
I went straight to bed, but I didn't have a blanket. I thought I'd be tough and not worry about it, but at around 2 or so I started to get really cold.
I got out of bed and explored for some blankets but they were all gone (they belonged to the roommates who have moved out).
So, I lay there shivering in bed.
Now, I'm not very intelligent when I'm half asleep. I didn't think to explore further, or ask John for one of his 4 blankets (he uses them all). I just lay there bemoaning the cruel universe.
Eventually I started piling clothes on top of myself. I just took the laundry basket and threw all the clothes on my bed and sorta burrowed into the clothes. I made a makeshift clothing cocoon and slept for the rest of the night. When I woke up I saw the ad hoc solution I'd come up with in my delirious state and just shook my head. Once again I have proven that "sleep me" is a moron (but the pile of clothes I'd burrowed into did look sorta funny).
(by the way, my blanket now smells like a tent...I might need to wash it again).
In other news, school is officially done. The lowest score I had on a final was a 97% so I should have a 4.0 this semester. I didn't walk or anything, I didn't really see the point. But, it's really strange that that chapter of my life is over (but so much school ahead anyway).
Let's see....what else. Oh, I heard another riddle. It's sorta like the ball riddle I shared a little while ago. It goes like this:
You have 12 balls. One ball is different. The different ball is either heavier or lighter than the other 11. You have a scale. You can use the scale 3 times. How would you find the ball that's different?
This is important to figure out cause you never know....someday you might need to find a ball that is different from its peers....and you might have a scale that charges you per use or something...
Naw, really it's just for bragging rights, but this is a hard one so good luck.
Let's see...what else. Well, tonight a friend in my ward asked if I'd like to go with her to a place called the Purple Turtle. I guess they're famous for their shakes. It was pretty nice. Right when we got there we looked at the menu and noticed they had spelled Reese's Pieces with a "c" so it looked like "Reece's Pieces." We shrugged and forgot about it....but it came up a few minutes later.
It came up later cause I wrote down a few dashes on a napkin and told her we were playing hangman. The rule was you had to use a word that was visible in the restaurant. I used Reece's Pieces spelled incorrectly (it was visible so it was legit). It took her a while cause she dismissed that as an option once she tried the correct spelling.
Somehow the game turned to a discussion on spelling which got us talking about the IPA (international phonetic alphabet). I guess she learned IPA for her major (she's a masters student in English instruction).
Luckily I took a linguistics class about 4 years ago where I learned IPA (being a student forever has its perks). We ended up playing the weirdest game of hangman ever using the IPA. For example a word like Coke(this is one word I can actually type cause it doesn't use weird symbols) would be spelled "kok."
It was really fun (and sorta hard) trying to figure out words from their phonetic spellings. I must admit that the hangman was quite busy hanging people tonight.
As we talked our conversation turned to some decisions she's trying to make right now and this got me to thinking on something I've been stewing over lately....and that is the proper way to give and receive advice from other people.
It seems like there are three sorts of people who ask for advice: those that want advice, those that don't want advice, and those who just want to be told what to do.
People that want advice are sorta rare. What they want is to talk things over and to have another person weigh the options, see possibilities, cover things they might have missed, and just generally give them all the information necessary to make a good decision....this is advice (the root word in advice means means to look at, consider, and inform).
Other people just ask what you think so they can hear someone talk...even though they already have their minds made up. These sorts of people just want to pretend that they're conferring and discussing and being open minded...when in reality whatever you say will either be ignored, or, if you agree with them, used to validate their already made decision.
And finally there is the last group. This is the group of people that don't want to take responsibility for their choices. This is the group that asks other people for advice when in reality they're asking other people what they should do. This is sorta a cowardly way to go about things. People who make decisions communally are trying to distribute responsibility for a decision over the group....thereby absolving themselves of the responsibility of taking control of their lives. People who do this have faith in a group because they have no faith in themselves.
So when you give advice, my advice on how to give that advice is to help other people see good and clear ways of thinking. To remove contradictions, and to just in general help them make the best possible decision....but to make sure they make the decision.
This is what it means to give advice. And going back to my original 3 types of people seeking advice:
This is what category one people want (and I commend them).
This is what category two people need.
And this is what category three people should want.
I once had a talk with a girl who asked my advice on something and I told her what she should do. She listened to me, rejected a job offer, and completely changed the trajectory of her life. When I heard that she had dropped all of her plans and followed my recommendation I felt horrible. I began to wonder if I was right. I mean, she had all of the facts, I only had the facts she gave me....so she was way more qualified to make the choice (and she had far more at stake than me).
Things turned out great for her, but I exerted way more power than than I should have. If things had gone bad for her I would have been miserable. I overstepped my bounds.
Anyway, my main point is that we all need and should seek the advice from others, but we should also keep in mind that life decisions are ultimately the responsibility of the person living the life. When we help others we shouldn't merely validate and agree with whatever they say, but we also shouldn't be contrary and play devil's advocate....what we should do is give comfort, reassurance, and clarity...to increase another person's ability to make a decision-- rather than circumventing their need to make a decision.
Well, that's what I've been thinking about.
Oh, and the other exciting thing is I made the greatest Muse CD ever....seriously...ever!
Google is a company nearly everyone likes. In any area of the market that they choose to dominate, they usually enter the arena intelligently, and just take over the place.
Gmail, the Android OS, of course internet search engines....just about everything Google touches is golden.
As they've done so well I've cheered for them, cause I remember reading a book way back in the day about the company. The main point of the book was to share the story of how Google started up, and how from it's founding their motto was "don't be evil."
I think they've been pretty good about staying on the straight and narrow for a long time. They were hacked by Chinese hackers a few months ago and some of their users' personal information was lost (scary thing), but in response they hacked the Chinese hackers right back (and in under a day).
They have some of the most brilliant people in the world working there.
So, everything seems pretty great. But lately the budding conspiracy theorist has been getting a little worried.
Here's why.
Just a few days ago I was using the google document feature and I clicked on the "other services button." I found out that Google has a medical records feature. What it does is it lets you input all your medical history so that it is held in one location...then doctor's offices can download it and get all your info. This is helpful because it makes it so doctors could get an accurate impression of your medical history....but the downside is that Google now knows nearly everything about another (and very intimate) aspect of your life.
Google knows what you search on the internet (although they've been good about not releasing that information), they know the books you read (google books), they know about your health (google medical record), basically, they have a profile on nearly everyone and everything, but fortunately, that profile was limited to the material you willingly provided on the internet.
This has sorta changed (and this is why I'm a little worried).
I just read an article about the google street car. If any of you don't know what that is, it's a little car that Google has (there are actually quite a few of them) that goes around and takes pictures of everything. It has probably driven down your street and taken pictures of your lawn gnomes already.
This is sorta cool because it makes google maps more accurate, and it makes the pictures available far more detailed. Someday the dream is that you'll be able to take a picture of your surroundings on your mobile phone, upload the picture, and if you're lost, google will be able to determine where you're at from your picture and unlost you (I think I made up a word).
This would be sorta handy.
What isn't as commonly known is that the google car was doing more than taking pictures of everything. As it drove down your street, it also noted your MAC address.
Your MAC address is your static address on the internet. When you access the internet this is your permanent address and it's linked to your computer.
Theoretically, if they have your MAC address, and they can link that to the picture they took of your real address (which they did at the same time) and you access all their services through your MAC address....then everything you do on the internet isn't so private anymore. Google has the information necessary to figure out everything about you....and to connect that information to you.
There is always a fine line between convenience and security. It's always been that way. It's how things have to work. For example, if you keep all your belongings in one place it's convenient...but it's easier to rob you.
Convenience comes from letting someone or something else do things for you...whether that's computers or robots or hired help....but this creates a dependency and a liability. When computers go down, businesses and lives stop....when robots revolt you get an apocalyptic science fiction movie, and when hired help turns on you they can turn to a competitor, or just flat out disrupt your life. This is the balance...you figure out how much convenience you want...and then you pay for that convenience with your security.
Google is extremely convenient. That company knows so much about all of us (they are in the business of collecting information after all). So, the cost is that we place a lot of trust in them...cause they now hold our security.
The Google CEO recently tried to quite the sort of fears I'm now voicing by saying that only people who have something to fear should fear about privacy...but that's just not true. That statement is painfully vague and it does nothing to explain why they need to collect information about EVERY aspect of our lives....information that goes beyond the services they now provide.
Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything. I usually laugh when I hear about the things people usually worry about...but I am a little bit bothered by this MAC address thing...because the possible benefits are outweighed by invasiveness. I think the Google CEO had things backward....those that abide the law, and those who have nothing to hide...those are the ones that should be worried....because their obeying the law makes them the one demographic that should be allowed privacy.
Anyway, this just me worrying out loud this morning. I always knew that google knew a lot about me, but I always thought that what they knew ended with what I willingly put on the internet. The google street car goes beyond what I willingly put on the internet...and this scares me.
Well, that's my rant for the morning. Here's the article if you want to read it:
Here's a dilemma, a conundrum if you will. What do you do if you have a shower that is separated from your bedroom by the living room, you forget your towel, and you have guests over?
This may sound simple but it's not. You get in the shower, totally unaware that one of the most trying puzzles of your life is only 20 minutes away.... you take a shower in ignorant bliss, and then you get out and reach for the towel and.....nothing.
You see, I had my towel in my room cause today was laundry day and I thoughtfully (and stupidly) took the towel out of the bathroom so I wouldn't forget to wash it.
So, now I'm out of the shower and I can't dry off.
I got a couple possibilities. The easiest thing to do is to just do the naked walk, lift up your chin, and with as much dignity as possible make it to your bedroom, dry off, get dressed, and call it good.
Unfortunately, this option really isn't viable since company is over this morning (people in town for my roommate's graduation).
Shaking like a dog doesn't really remove much water (never really works for dogs if you've noticed).
As you shiver with cold you stand there wondering what to do and you see your roommate's nice warm towels just hanging unused and you wonder..... but that's a line once crossed you can never go back.
Or, you can just get dressed while you're still wet and shiver the rest of the morning.
I had quite a few adventures this past week, but I'll probably get around to blogging about them soon, but I don't think I will today....so here's the abstract:
I went on 4 dates, some fun...some just strange, I had a conversation that was long overdue, I narrated an Easter special, I took a final, I was offered a strange job, I said goodbye to quite a few friends, I had my last week as an undergraduate in college. I had a prayer answered (finally, it took 6 months)....basically, quite an eventful week.
But, rather than write about all these individual events I thought I'd share a few riddles people shared with me this last week. I really love riddles. Here they are:
1) If you say my name I cease to exist. What am I?
2) If there are three boxes with fruit in them. One box is filled with oranges, one box is filled with bananas, and one box is filled with oranges and bananas, and EVERY box is mislabeled, and you can only ask to see one fruit from one box. Which box would you ask to see the fruit from so that you could correctly label every box?
3) You have 9 balls and a scale. The scale doesn't tell you the weight, it is only a balance scale. It only tells you if one side is heavier than the other.
You have 9 balls but one ball is heavier than all the others. You can only use the scale twice. How would you use the scale so that you could separate the ball that is heavier than the others?
These were all pretty fun. Have at them.
Remember, riddles are good for you. They're like vegetables for your brain.
Hey everyone, Well, today is a study day, but I'm not gonna study. I got a lot on my mind anyway. I had a professor ask me if I'd like to help him write a screenplay for a movie about Socrates and I'm trying to think about how I'd write that, I'm feeling the after effects of eating fettuccine alfredo twice yesterday,
(bad planning, I forgot the philosophy department was going to buy me dinner at an Italian restaurant... if only I planned my days better. I had Italian food for lunch at 3 and then I went to the dinner at 5....stupid)
and I have a headache.
It was a fun at the dinner anyway. I sat next to one of my professors (who is actually one of the world's most recognized scholars on ancient philosophers) and I was able to ask him important questions like "was Socrates really polygamous?" and "Did Nietzsche die from syphilis or a brain tumor?" These are questions that everyone should have a ready answer to.
Today I went and got some lunch at a cheap little mexican restaurant near where I live. I was eating by myself at a table. The only other people in the restaurant were a young couple and their child that looked about 2 years old. The father was digging into his food not paying attention to anything else, and the mother was playing with her son. It was pretty cute. The little guy was just starting to walk and he'd go as fast as he could, and his mom would chase him around and block him off, and then he'd laugh and try to get around her by going a different way, and then she'd block him, and he'd laugh, and then she chased him all around the restaurant.
Eventually in their wanderings they ended up near my table. As they were playing around where I sat the owner of the restaurant came up to me and tried to be really friendly. He said "that's sure a cute kid."
I didn't know why he was talking to me, but it was a cute kid, so I said "yeah, he's a cute kid." And then I didn't say anything more.
The owner tried to keep the conversation going and he said "so, how old is he?"
I said "I have no idea?"
He looked at me really surprised. He said "you don't know how old he is?"
I said "nope"
By now I realized his mistake, but I thought I'd let him work through it all on his own. Unfortunately, he didn't catch on very fast...but he kept on talking.
He looked at the young mother and said (jokingly) "how do you feel about him not knowing how old your son is?"
The lady looked at me and the man shocked. She said "I don't know what you mean, why would he?"
I shrugged and gave the body language equivalent of "beats me?" as I watched the awkwardness unfold. The manager just stood there with a dumb look on his face...slowly computing....computing....computing.....and finally! Understanding! His face slowly lost the slack and unintelligent look....his mouth closed...his eyes focused....and then, all of a sudden... embarrassment. Avalanches of embarrassment!
I smiled at him and pointed to the other man in the restaurant (who was still digging into his nachos with complete disregard for health, cleanliness, and propriety).
When the manager fully comprehended his error his face turned beet red. He apologized to the lady again and again. I tried not to laugh, but the whole thing was pretty funny.
The lady picked up her kid and went and played over near her husband again, and the manager ran into the back room as fast as he could.
It really was pretty comical. The man was very animated, and flustered, and red in the face. He seemed far more bothered than he should have been...neither of us were offended.
In other news, last night after my second dinner a friend in my ward asked if she could come over and watch 500 Days of Summer with me. I guess she had heard that my roommate John had just bought it. I said sure and she came over. But when she got here she started talking about some book called "the 5 languages of love." I've heard this book mentioned before but I haven't read it or anything. She explained to me what the main idea was and she asked me what I thought about it. I told her I didn't really have an opinion on it, never gave it much thought, and that she'd be better off talking to John about it since he's a psychology major. John got sorta annoyed cause he thinks most pop psychology is trash, but he indulged her and had a conversation with her about it.
Most of the discussion revolved around reasons why that book wasn't very good (although both John and I had never read it).
For those who are curious, the 5 love languages( if I remember them right) are.....
1) Words of Affection 2) Gifts 3) Acts of Service 4) Quality Time 5) Physical Touch
You can remember this with the slightly racist mnemonic "White girls are quite pretty" (sorry just came up with that, best mnemonic that came to mind on short notice)
.....oh, I can't help myself. Here are a few more mnemonics that might be better.
"Why give a queen painkillers?" "Wicked gymnasts always quilt pathetically" "Worldy goods are quite posh" .....okay, I'll stop there.
This conversation sorta bored me. I'd much rather have watched 500 Days of Summer. That's a really good movie. As I write this my roommate is watching it in the other room and I'm wondering why I'm typing this right now.
Anyway, I just want you to know that....
You're all great (words of affirmation) I hope you enjoyed this post I put together for you (a gift) I hope it helps you (acts of service) It took me some time to write (quality time) And if I see you anytime soon feel free to ask for a hug (physical touch)
And that means......I just communicated that I love you all!
Well, I'm off to go play ultimate frisbee.
Oh, and just so you know, today is the day the Titanic sank. I think the year was 1912 but I'd have to look that up to be sure.
Sorta weird, today is my last day of classes at BYU. I've been a student here for a long time and now it's all over. I've thought things through, and there really is no way to drag things out at this point. I have 1 major and 2 minors, and you're not allowed to have 2 majors and 2 minors, so the only possible way to continue to take classes would be to change a minor into a major, but there is no logic major, so I'd have to become an English major. And since I'd rather slit my wrists and do push ups in saltwater than become an English major, I guess I gotta graduate.
I will probably be in Provo for a little while longer. There are a few classes that I'd like to sit in on over the summer, I am going to study the GRE with a friend, and I have a few job leads I'd like to check out. Also, I'd feel pretty bad just ditching my calling so soon after accepting it.
I know I won't be able to go to school around here, there just aren't any schools nearby that would be good enough. I've said that around some people and they've said "oh, look at him thinking he's all that" but it's true. I've worked hard and done very well in school, and it would be a complete waste to stick around here. None of the schools around here have a graduate program strong enough to get me where I want to go. Most of the professional degrees here tie people down to Utah, and while I don't mind Utah, I'd like the freedom to go anywhere I want and have a job. I'm going through this whole career path thing slowly, but also very carefully. I know sticking around here for school would be a shortsighted misstep.
Also, I sorta need to do it for my pride's sake (horrible motivation I know). I mean, around here there are these guys who are hot stuff who graduated from BYU with a degree in something boring like business and they get their middle management jobs. These guys are rich around here because everyone around them is a student. To be honest, I can't help but think these people don't have much ambition. They are the biggest fish in a really small pond. I know I couldn't handle falling into that rut. It's a nice payoff now (these guys have "real jobs" and they make the girls' hearts flutter with their ability to provide), but I don't see how far they will be able to go with those jobs. They are stuck here. At times I am jealous of them cause they're settled in their career and all the indecision of the future is behind them...but at the same time I wouldn't be happy settling with what they have. So, I gotta make sure I move past that sort of life...I don't want to have an average life with a moderate income, trapped and bound to a place, in a job I don't like.
That's why I know I need to get a professional degree, and from a good school. A professional degree could take me anywhere. So, law school it is. But, I'm also going to take the GRE, and I'm going to try to get into a joint program where I can get a Master's degree along with my J.D. Hopefully I'll be able to practice law in my area of emphasis. I guess what I'm doing is compromising. All this time I was thinking AvB when in reality I could go AB. This will take a lot of extra work (I'll need to get accepted to both programs at the school), but I think I can do it, and I got the next year to prepare for it.
This next year will be a tremendous blessing. I'll be able to prepare my applications very carefully and I'll have the time to explore both options (law and academia). If all goes as planned I should have a very versatile education.
Anyway, that's the plan right now. I hope it didn't sound pompous at all. I'm just trying to blog this out and keep my family posted (they ask quite frequently what I'm gonna do next). So, that's it. This next year is going to be a big one. A lot of changes are in store. But, I feel ready for what's coming up. I'm tired, and sorta broken down, but things are getting better and I'm getting back to where I was before the disaster that was the last year of my life.
Well, I better get some sleep. I only got 3 hours sleep last night (had to write 3 papers...procrastinating). I hope you all have a great day.
Okay, so it's Saturday morning. I'm going to take a test in about an hour or so. But I thought I'd post first.
And, in other news, I got an A in metalogic so I'm pretty happy about that. Woohoo! Not only did I learn about the foundation of mathematics....I also learned about humility.
Anyway, today's post will be on core personality characteristics and whether we have the ability to change them. A few times in my life people have mentioned to me the topic of core personality traits and secondary traits. What they argue is that we have a few core personality traits that are sorta hard wired into who we are, and that we have secondary traits that are manifestations, and that flow from, those core traits. Most traits we see in people are secondary traits, and it's only through abstracting from all expressed traits that the core 5 are visible.
The core 5 are these:
conscientiousness: How detail oriented you are. This is self-discipline, it's the ability to make and keep goals. This sort of persons plans their behavior.
Openness: this one is sometimes called "intellect." This is the inventive mind, it's open to new information and experience. This core characteristic is interested in things like art, adventure, emotions, and new ideas.
agreeableness: measures how pliable your personality is. Do you go with the flow or take charge. This is also related to how compassionate you are, and whether you're suspicious and antagonistic toward others.
neuroticism: how extreme in emotion you are (high highs and low lows). This is the proclivity to experience negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, self-doubt, anger or dissatisfaction easily.
extroversion: whether you get fuel from other people or they take it from you. This is the category describing people who actively seek stimulation in the company of others.
Okay, so there are the core, and it is thought that we can't do all that much about our overall disposition in these areas. And, I'm not sure how I feel about that. And I'll tell you why, but now we gotta get into some literature to lay the foundation for my position.
A clockwork orange is a book about the importance of free will. In this book a man has his ability to choose taken away (because he was an evil man) and the result is that he becomes broken and unable to do anything. As his freedom is removed, so is his humanity. In the end he is given his freedom back and he turns his life around and ceases to be evil.
Now I mention this in book form because there is a film version (probably what most people are familiar with) that is completely different. In the film version they don't depict the last chapter of the book, and the main character (Alex) never changes. When he gets his freedom back, he is excited to be evil again. The movie ends with him and a malicious grin, and you know that through all his experience he learned nothing.
The main point of this story is freedom. And that's where the title comes from. Anthony Burgess (the author) used this title because he said that without freedom you're just a clockwork orange. The orange represents life, it's filled with juice and it seems vibrant and bright. The clockwork represents mechanisms, it represents wind-up toys,--things that always do the what they are made to do without variance.
Instantiating this, a clockwork orange person would be someone who appears to be alive and free, and full of life, but really has no life. This person's humanity is an illusion and they're really nothing more than a clockwork, waiting to be wound by the universe.
The core message of the book is that people must be free, and they have to be able to change. Because if we can't then we're just clockworks, seemingly alive, but in reality just living machines, unable to grow.
Les Miseables takes a different angle on this theme and shows how important for us to accept the possibility of change.
In Les Mis the main character (Jean Valjean) completely changes his life. He goes from a criminal to one of the most Christlike men ever depicted in literature. But even though he has grown so much, there is a man following him who doesn't believe his change is genuine. This man is Javert. His inability to adapt, and to recognize Valjean's growth eventually turns him into an evil and broken man that takes his own life.
Javert's stance on life is depicted in a song called "Stars" (in the broadway version). In this song he sings about how the stars are reliable and they never change. He sings about how much their immovability means to him... how he relies on it. And one can infer from his song that he values immovability in his life just as much as he values it in the heavens.
Later when he catches Valjean they have a confrontation and Javert says that "men can never change."
When Javert finally realizes that Valjean was a good man, and that he had really changed, Javert can't cope with this revelation. He believes that his view of an immovable nature is completely irreconcilable with the change he has seen in Valjean. His view of the world comes crashing down,and in the end he kills himself. This is tragic because at heart he was a good man. It was only his lack of compassion and faith in humanity that he erred.
Now, to sum up, we have Clockwork that argues that we must be free in order to live, and we have Les Mis that shows us from the other end that not appreciating human freedom can lead to death (for most people figurative, but for Javert literal). But the question is do we have any sort of evidence in our own experience to argue that these statements about human freedom are accurate?
Well, this is an age old debate in philosophy. The argument that we are bound and wound, and set to be a certain person because of the way the universe is set up is called "determinism." In this view everything is predictable and brought about by cause and effect, and because of this, human behavior (also being an action) is predictable and the result of cause and effect...even emotions, preferences and desires are the effect of a predictable cause (or causes). In this view there is no freedom, because every choice you make is merely a reaction to a cause, and not an active choice.
The main problem with this view is that without freedom their is no culpability. Think about it, if a man is wired to do evil, it's not the man's choice, and punishment won't change him because it wasn't his choice in the first place. Punishment implies that you can change future behavior...otherwise it's just meaningless pain.
Now, some might argue that the punishment is just another force in the universe. In this counter-argument they would say that "punishment does change the man, because, although he acts without freedom and according to his innate wiring, if we change his experience, his wiring will direct him down a better path. He isn't changing, but through inflicting pain we rewrite his programming. So, although he's not morally responsible, pain does serve a purpose."
To this I'd say that the question isn't whether or not punishment will change the man. The question is whether or not the man is RESPONSIBLE and whether it's ethical to hurt him if he isn't responsible. If he made no choice, I don't see how it would be. There is no guilt without choice, and since we often feel guilty, we must admit that we have the power to choose. There are counter-arguments to this, but none of them are very persuasive.
In the end, choosing makes us human, and without that we're just machines. And because we have the ability to choose, we have the ability to change.
I feel guilty all the time. I wish I was better than I am. I see parts of myself that I don't like, and I want them gone... and the beautiful thing is I can change them. The very pain that makes me want to change is proof that I can change (because I feel bad and guilt is the result of choice).
So, back to the 5 core characteristics. It may be true that these 5 characteristics are part of who we are. And I don't think that's a problem. I know that those 5 characteristics in me change very little. But you got to remember that no one ever interacts with "neuroticism" or "agreeableness." These are the abstract. What people interact with is you on a daily basis and they see the manifestations of these characteristics....the secondary characteristics....and this is what you can control.
Also, I think that through controlling secondary characteristics you at the very least modify your core characteristics.
Whatever you dislike about yourself is something you can work on, and in time change. You have to believe this. If you don't you fall into determinism--you become a clockwork. Change takes time, and it's certainly difficult, but the very guilt and sadness making you wish you could change is the evidence that you are free and that change is within your reach.
First off, I thought I'd share the funniest video you will see in the next 3 days.
When you watch this video pay attention to the subtitles. The best one is "Quiggley finds his 2,000 word vocabulary insufficient to express his emptiness."
Anyway, to a post. Today someone mentioned a John Donne poem, and it made me think about poetry a bit. Here is a John Donne poem that I really like. I actually shared this poem on this blog when I first started blogging, but back then I didn't explain it all. So, here is the poem with commentary.
A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING. by John Donne
As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say, "Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."
explanation: in this poem a man is leaving the woman he loves. He seems to do this often. We don't know if it's for business, family, or even by force. We just know that he is leaving and she is sad, and he's trying to soften the pain of his departure. The imagery here is how he wants her to feel about his leaving. The assumption is that a virtuous man passes from this life prepared and confident for what comes next (pass mildly away). Also, the death here described is one so natural and mild that you can picture his friends surrounding him, wondering if that breath was the last because it was so gradual and restful that the transition from life to death would be unrecognizable. This is how he wants her to feel about his departure.
So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ; 'Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love.
explanation: this is him playing off the last imagery of passing peacefully, he then argues that the weak expressions of failed love expressed by so many (crying and wailing etc) is not fit for the higher love that they experience. Because their love is so secure, the common (or lay) expressions of sorrow are inappropriate. Also, he doesn't want people to know of he sadness they both feel. He wants to separate with a dignity appropriate for his elevated feelings.
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ; Men reckon what it did, and meant ; But trepidation of the spheres, Though greater far, is innocent.
explanation: here he is talking about how as the earth turns (representing time moving and the day to day life) it brings temporary fears and discouragement, and people seem to want to make sense of all these trifling matters. But then he points to the spheres (the stars in the sky) and notes that these stars are so much greater in size and scope than anything on this planet, and yet they sit there apparently unmovable and unchanging, causing no sorrow or pain (innocent).
Dull sublunary lovers' love —Whose soul is sense—cannot admit Of absence, 'cause it doth remove The thing which elemented it.
explained: sublunary lovers means lovers under the moon....and under the moon means on this earth (only thing under our moon). So he's really saying "earthly lovers." As we learned from the last stanza, earthly lovers are those who are tempermental and changing, who as the world turns change their feelings. They are also constantly trying to find meaning and substance in fleeting and changing things.
When he discusses the absence and the removing of what elemented it, he's pointing out how most loves are found in particulars, in accidental and changing properties. And that when those properties are gone, the love is gone (because that which elemented it (element being the most fundamental part of a thing) is gone). He is saying that their love is based on something more, it is based on the person, but the intrinsic part of that person that is uniquely them, not some accidental property like profession, hair color, or favorite activity.
But we by a love so much refined, That ourselves know not what it is, Inter-assurèd of the mind, Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.
Explanation: here he compares he says that there love is so refined that they don't really understand it. It's impossible to understand what makes a person uniquely them, and since that is what he loves, he cannot express his love. But what he does know is that his love is secure in his mind, he knows that even though he will miss looking in her eyes, holding her hand, and kissing her (eyes, lips, and hand), he knows that they are connected at a level that transcends these expressions, he doesn't confuse the expression of emotion with the emotion itself, and he's sure that they have nothing to fear, cause their love is something higher than both of them.
Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to aery thinness beat.
explanation: this is a beautiful stanza. Here he is saying that they are two people, but really one, so rather than think of his leaving as a separation, he thinks she should think of it as an expansion, because since they are the same, his traveling does not separate them (can't separate when you are of one substance) so the result is that it is merely a stretching. As he travels distance, their relationship expands to overcome and encompass that distance. He compares this to gold. If you try to pound gold it gets paper thin, and it is smooth and beautiful. The thinness he is describing is so thin it could rest on the air (aery thinness). So, their love is like gold, and it's like a gold that is spreading out very far to take in whatever distance he must go.
If they be two, they are two so 25 As stiff twin compasses are two ; Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th' other do.
explanation: and here he is saying that if they do need to think of themselves as two separate things, then they are two separate things in the way that a compass is two separate points conjoined at the center. She is the foot of the compass placed firmly, and he's the writing part of the compass off doing something. But when he moves, she moves also with him, she is there with him in some way that he can't really express.
And though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home.
explanation: Here he continues the compass metaphor, and points to how the compass will move with his travel, and perk up (grow erect) when he comes home. So, he's saying she'll be glad to see him, but all along she moved and felt with him.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th' other foot, obliquely run ; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.
Explanation: here he is saying they are that compass, that he will always return to her, that she is the center, and no matter where he goes he will always come back and end where he began.
Another point here is that when John Donne wrote this he was familiar with symbols we don't use very much. The circle represents eternity, and the compass makes circles. So, the thing they create together through his movements also represents the eternal nature of their love.
Anyway, that's that poem. Poetry is good times. I've been trying to read more of it lately. Hope you're all doing well.
Hey, I'm bored writing a paper, so I thought I'd let my mind wander and write something on here.
Anyway, the story I'm going to tell you is probably only funny if you know the poem I'm referring to. Actually, it might not be funny even then. But, it's the only thing I thought to post on so it's what I'm gonna share.
Okay, so today I was talking with someone in my ward. She's a really nice girl that likes my friend. She asked me what kind of a guy he is, and I let her know that he's a lot like me (he's a philosophy major too), but a better person. She asked "how so" and then I informed her that I am a sophist while my friend is a philosopher (now in reality I'd say I'm more philosopher than sophist but I figured I'd handle this discussion polemically so my friend would look better).
And what's the difference? Well, a sophist wants to be right. They manipulate arguments to skew perceptions and get their way. A philosopher wants the truth, and they figure if they have the truth they'll be right. They create arguments so they can share better ways of thinking and help those around them.
After I clarified the terms she asked me to give an example of me exercising sophistry. Now, I think that knowing me she'd have ample evidence already. But, I guess she wanted more evidence cause she asked me to skew the truth of that old poem with all the contradictions in it. She said "you know that old contradiction poem kids sing....it goes something like
One bright morning in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight, back to back they faced each other drew their swords and shot each other, One deaf policeman heard the noise, and came and shot the two dead boys."
I told her I knew the poem. (When I was a kid I used to recite it and think I was so clever and funny because it's crazy to have the morning in the night, and shoot people with swords and all that).
She then said "well, defend it, make it make sense."
I accepted her challenge and this is what I got--I'll go through it line by line
One bright morning in the middle of the night: Morning is when you wake up. Sometimes people say "my morning started earlier than usual." This is because morning is a relative term. It's not just a time, it's the time of an action--namely, when you wake up. So, if you woke up in the middle of the night, that would be your morning. Also, 12:01 would be midnight, and it's technically morning. As for brightness, brightness doesn't always mean light. A bright child is a smart child. A bright future is a good future. So, taking that into consideration, we have a bright morning---meaning it's a good morning.
So, what we know is someone's morning started around 12 or so, and that it was a good morning for them.
Two dead boys got up to fight: This one is pretty obvious, their family name is Ded. So, it's the Ded boys. You know, "the Ded boys are into trouble again, Mr. Ded will be so angry with those rascals" sorta thing.
Back to back they faced each other: Facing someone doesn't always mean having your face toward them, it also has an abstract sense. Someone can face cancer and cancer doesn't even have a face. What face usually means is to oppose or confront something. You can do that back to back quite easily.
Drew their swords and shot each other: these were guns with bayonets--which are a sword attached to the end of a rifle.
One deaf policeman heard the noise: the policeman is deaf, but only in one ear.
And came and shot the two dead boys: The Ded boys are now living up to their family name.
So, there we go. The poem has no contradictions. This is sophistry. Sophists were for the Greeks what lawyers are today. Not a very useful bunch, but they always did well.
Well, I better get back to work. Hope you all have a good day.
Okay, today I thought I'd ramble a bit. It snowed today and there was ice on my walkway. This got me to thinking about the two times I've fallen on the ice.
What does it mean when it snows in April anyway? I know April showers mean flowers in the subsequent month, but snow? What rhymes with snow?
So we can have April showers bring May flowers. April rain is sure a pain. April snow, looks like blow (snow is a euphemism for cocaine...so is blow) April ice isn't very nice. April snow you'll freeze your toe. April snow makes flowers not grow.
This is a stupid exercise...sorry, I'll stop.
In other news today is a big day in Mormondom. April 6th is the day the church was founded. That's 180 years today. Also, today is Jesus' real birthday. So, Happy Birthday Jesus!
Side note: Given that the year zero is in fact the correct year for Christ's birth (which we know it's not, but it's the best we got), then Christ is 2030 today (going by the day he was embodied). Actually, maybe he'll be 2030 in 3 days. I don't know if we count the time he administered to the spirits in prison. He was dead then, so does that count toward his total age (cause it's time since he was born) or do we go with actual days lived? I've never tried to calculate the age of a resurrected being before. Well, I'm sure this line of thinking isn't very important.
So, as I mentioned earlier, in honor of the strange weather, here are the two times I've fallen on ice:
Those that know me know I'm light on my feet (always nice to start a paragraph complimenting yourself)....for this reason I have spent many years on the snow, but I've only fallen twice. I've almost fallen many times, but I was always able to balance myself with my cat-like reflexes before tragedy beat me into the snow.
Fall 1:
On my mission I bought new boots that boasted "improved ice traction." I figured I'd put my new boots on and try them out on completely frozen driveway. I ran and stopped on a dime....just kidding. I guess iceboots (as I imagined them) don't exist. I slid for about 5 feet, trying to balance, comically overcompensating both ways and never quite getting it right, and then my feet flew forward (and out from under me), and I fell flat on my but. I don't think there can be dignity in such a situation. Sitting on your but on ice after you fall is just flat out degrading. People can laugh at you and you must admit their laughter is just.
Second fall was after I dropped a girl off. This was a girl who was going on a mission. We'd gone on a few dates, but I mostly thought of her as a friend (partly because I knew she was going on a mission). We had dinner together and we started driving back. It was a wonderful conversation. It was one of those few conversations you have in a lifetime when you really just connect with someone, and you feel comfortable, accepted, understood....it's a great feeling. I think these sorts of conversations happen more frequently around huge events, like a close friend or family member moving away or the death of a friend.
Anyway, after a while I realized we had been driving for a long time and I figured we should be at her house by now. I asked her how close we were and she said "we're taking the long way, the really long way." She'd given me what she said was a shortcut so our conversation would go on for longer. I thought that was really sweet, and it was nice to know she was enjoying the conversation as much as I was.
Everything was perfect, it was bittersweet, but perfect. I was excited for her to go on a mission cause I knew she'd be a great missionary, but I knew I'd miss her too. But I felt at peace with the whole thing. We came to her house and I walked her to the door. We talked on the doorstep for a while longer, and then I said I better go. Since we'd talked for so long, my goodbye had become a visit, and she offered to walk me to my car. I walked three steps down the driveway, saw a puddle and started to jump....and then all of sudden there was no air in my lungs... I actually fell forward. There was a patch of ice I hadn't seen, and I was trying to jump over a puddle, so I pushed off with my foot, but that foot slipped straight back with no traction and I went face first into the puddle. It really hurt! But my pride hurt even worse.
So, this wonderful friend who was leaving on a mission now and the last image she has of me was me falling on my face into a puddle on her driveway. She asked if I was okay with concern in her voice. I said "yeah, only my pride was injured."
Once she knew I was okay she started laughing at me. I appreciated her consideration in at least making sure I wasn't injured before laughing at me.
That's how I said goodbye. I'm really cool.
Anyway, those are my two falls. I hope you all have a great day, if you're in Provo, kiss winter goodbye, cause I'm sure after this freeze spring will get it's act together.
I had a really strange dream last night. I told it to some friends today and they were all quite fascinated by the implications. Here's what happened.
In my dream I was running through a building. It was sort of like a hospital. I can't remember what I was running from, but I know that it was important that I run as fast as possible because what was chasing me was really bad.
I ran out of the building and as I ran out the door I turned and I saw shaking and I heard a rumbling sound. I ran as fast as I could to get away from the building, and when I was a suitable distance ,I turned again and watched the building explode.
I kept on running (still don't know why I had to run) and then all of a sudden my dream stopped. Everything stopped moving--the world was just completely frozen, and then I heard my own voice...the voice was pretty critical and it said "you totally got that wrong. You saw where the building was shaking. The support was going out on the left side, it would have fallen that way. You had the building fall on the wrong side. Let's do it over so you get it right."
Right then my dream re-wound, and I was back in the building, and I was running out, and everything happened the same way, but this time the building fell correctly. I kept on running and the dream proceeded as any other dream would.
When I woke up this morning I was really curious as to what all this meant. I mean, I'm not a fan of dream analysis, but this was a strange dream. And while I disagree with most if not all dream theory, I do think dreams at an individual level are often insightful.
I think that we dream about what we think about when we go to bed, and I think we often use our dreams to sort through the events of the day and process all the new info. So, I guess (in that view) our dreams, since they are derived from our waking experience, can also be used to teach us about our waking experience...maybe to reflect what we're thinking or worrying about. Anyway, given all that, what could this mean?
All I know is I was criticizing myself, I was self-aware in a dream, and I spoke to myself. Perhaps the most interesting thing is the rigorous perfectionist tendencies that have haunted me most of my life are a part of me--even in my sleep. So, when people complain about me being overly critical, I can at least tell them I am critical unconsciously...and I got proof cause I was critical in my sleep (which I'm pretty sure is my subconscious or my unconscious or something).
Anyway, that's the dream. It's a dream where I corrected my own dream, or at least I corrected myself having a dream...and I was sort of a jerk to myself about it.
Okay, I'm writing a paper on sexist language (not my idea), and I gotta say some feminists are crazy.
Now, don't get me wrong. I consider myself a feminist. I used to really throw people off in my English classes cause I'd start nearly every comment I made with "speaking as a feminist." I think it's funny how women feel like they have a special right to the term. But that is neither here nor there.
What gets me is how invasive the steps some feminists would like to take to correct the English language. But before I go too far, let give you a little history on feminism.
Feminism comes in three flavors (contrary to belief--most people seem to think it comes in two flavors: women who hate men and women who tolerate men...but this is horribly false).
Flavor 1: First Wave Feminism. First wave feminism was about overturning laws that held women back. This was when women fought to vote, when they fought to be able to own land etc.
Second Wave Feminism. This type of feminism took the next step and fought for equality with men. This sort of feminism went on for quite a while, and now we're supposed to be at...
Third Wave Feminism. This is a much more broad term (and some people even disagree over whether it exists). It is very general, basically, this sort of feminism is about exploring what it means to be a woman in all the different ways possible, it doesn't espouse values of all women (why it's very general) it tries to let women explore their own values, and then determine womanness from that.
Third Wave Feminism is considered the feminism of the new generation. It was a response to the lack of interest expressed by many young women to second wave feminism. This upcoming generation of women don't know what it was like before feminism started evening the playing field, so they sorta take it for granted (or so the argument goes), and as a result, they have come up with a new form to sort of appeal to the youth. This is the group that likes Alanis Morisette, Jewel, and anyone else that played at Lilith fair.
Anyway, the main issue is equality, and there is no denying that the English language has a strong male bias. But the question is whether that bias causes a problem, if it's worth correcting (or even correctable) and whether it even reflects sexist thought.
I mean, when I use "guys" to refer to all the people in the room I'm not thinking about referring to only the men. I am sort of annoyed with the idea of correcting an entrenched language. Sure, English changes all the time, but it's a natural process. If views toward women change, language will eventually follow suit, it doesn't require legislation.
There are some really ridiculous requests.
Some women want the word changed to womyn or wommin because they don't want the word "men" as part of "their" word.
I actually do agree with them regarding changing policeman to police officer...but police person just sounds stupid.
I don't want to have to call the founding fathers the founding people (they want this...even though all the founding father were men!)
They want to rewrite America the Beautiful so it changes from "And crown they good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea" to And crown thy good with communityhood, from sea to shining sea."
First off communityhood isn't even a word, and even if it was it's so ugly (not that many feminists have a problem with ugly (just kidding (sorta))).
While we're rewriting history and eviscerating the English language, we might as well clear up folk etymologies too. Folk etymology is when people assign meaning to a root word because of a similarity. For example, the word Bridegroom.
Bride groom has been shortened and we now say Bride for the woman, and groom for the man. But groom means serving boy or someone who takes care of horses. Why is this?
Well, the original word was brydguma, which basically meant bryd (bride) and guma (man). So the word meant bride's man. But around the 16th century (pretty sure on the year... I didn't look this up) guma stopped being used to mean man, and it was replaced with grome (which is a serving lad) because it sounded similar. So, we then shortened the word and now we got groom to mean guy marrying a girl when it means nothing of the sort.
But, we see bride and groom and we just cut it off and assume a meaning for groom....this happens all the time. And it is something that some misinformed feminists want to fix.
So what words can we fix? Well, I haven't got a list but I'm gonna see how creative I can be and come up with some.
Mendacious means dishonest. I think we need to make it peopledacious, or perhaps womandacious.
mendicant means relying on charitable donations and what not. Lets change this to womendicant (please no jokes on this one).
menstruate...nevermind.
mankind is peoplekind
mantra is now womantra or peopletra...recite that.
manta rays are now womanta rays. Watch out...they sting.
The praying mantis is the praying persontis.
Germanic is now Gerpersonic
Here is a nerd one....wolverine's claws are made out of adamantium. But now they're adapersontium.
humanitarian is now hupersonitarian.
Maniacal (crazy) is now womaniacal
Well, I could go on, and this is sorta fun, but I'm gonna head to class.
Yesterday I used a computer at the library (already blogged about being there, 2 posts yesterday...crazy I know). The keyboard on the free use computer was disgusting. I began to imagine all the people with colds and runny noses...people that picked their nose...and all of them had used that keyboard--for the first time in my life, I began to worry about germs.
As I was sitting there reflecting on the nastiness of the keyboard I decided to write a poem instead of working. It's just a little drivel, but it was fun to write.
The Keyboard
Bits of skin, Someone's hair, A crusty booger too, When you're at, A library computer, All this waits for you.
Just take a keyboard, Press a key, And root around inside, Cause there you'll find, The nasty things That in your keyboard hide.
And if you want, Additional proof, Then here's a little trick, Take your keyboard, Shake it about, What falls out will make you sick.
Yeah, gross poem I know...but then again so was that keyboard.
Oh, and here is something a witty person said yesterday. Unfortunately, their humility is so great that they will not credit for the beautiful imagery of this sentence.
"We're past beating a dead horse. The horse is dead, and processed, and now the two of us are sniffing the glue."
Anyway, short post this morning. I gotta get some work done.
p.s. Funny thing...you know how I mentioned that sociology professor who used the word "eschatology" wrong? Well, after class we talked for a while and I humbly asked him if he meant eschatology and I spelled it out, he said yes, then I told him that I was under the impression that that word meat the study of the end of times...because that's what the etymology of the word means. He looked up the word between now and then. He just apologized to the class and said he'd used the word wrong. It was really awkward. But it was very impressive. I've never seen a professor admit to being wrong like that.
The problem is today he is talking about logic. He is trying to explain what inductive and deductive arguments are...and he doesn't understand either. I might have to talk with him again after class. I think he might hate me.
