Wit & Whim

This evening I got on blackboard and received a notice and while I did not disagree with some of the content therein, it delivered the content in a rather pernicious manner and included ad hominem traits. This was posted by the same person who was talking about the evils of ad hominem argument when last I saw her. These university people are just as arbitrary and reactionary as any of the undergrads they deal with. While I was mentally eviscerating the duality in this situation a thought struck me. In a whirlwind of ADD perfection--a constant flood of totally disconnected and random thought made whole--details of my research were brought to the forefront of my mind and the realization of the arbitrariness of the system permeated my thoughts, conveniently connecting it all in a twisted web of fuzzy logic. Thinking forward to some of the general ed requirements that I must complete, I feel a new sympathy for the poor saps who consider themselves stuck in my history class. The vast majori...

Days that begin in total darkness are always so very long. The greatest evil that comes of working out and playing basketball at ungodly hours of the morning is that I have very recently imbibed large amounts of caffeine. Anyone who has tried this knows why it is not a good idea. The near impossibility of staying hydrated, coupled with the acidic substance in an empty belly, does not make for the most comfortable exercise. Don't get me wrong, this is not an excuse to slack. The old soccer rule still stands, I keep running until I am pulled off by coach or carried off by stretcher. But it certainly doesn't help matters, especially with the increasing violence and intensity of our morning matches. Today we were outnumbered, out sized, and--to be truthful--had a definite talent disparity; this is what happens when both of your best shooters are AWOL. As the smallest, and gutsiest, member of our team it is my job to collect all the rebounds and elbows, which I do beautifully. I hav...

After a solid month and a half of research, topic changes, and torturous perusal of melba toast grade ruminations on the state of education, written by people who take themselves, very, very, seriously, I completed my rough draft and am not so displeased with it as I thought I would be. Now I have a German exam tomorrow, but that should be my last serious work before finals. On the bookish front. I am reading the novel New York by Edward Rutherford and enjoying it greatly. Now I am going to rest and get away from the computer. I'm afraid that I overused it again in the last couple days, largely because my crazy ADD head decided it needed to alter topic again. I'm going to have to work something out with the little brain gremlins and whims that are always up there making mischief, of one kind...and another. If I had to guess, I think they would probably be assuaged by the rereading of Calvin and Hobbes. Just need to find time....

Today started well. By well, I mean after 7:00. I spent this morning making one last pass over the homework I finished last night. All was well on that front. I spent what was left of the morning listening to my music too loud and messing with the Dogmeat. A most gratifying use of my time. One negative thing. Pandora has instated a maximum on the number of hours you can listen for free. You can imagine my consternation when my music stopped playing and I found a message from the creators trying to shake me down. The issue is that there is nothing to shake out. I am going to have to find another method for augmenting my music supply. H'anyway. German was excellent today, as always, and we ended by filling out our evaluations. Dr.Roberts is getting some excellent reviews. The group is really great. We have no whiners, and the few who have whiner potential are smart enough that they have nothing to whine about. Lee is, in my humble and correct opinion, an excellent teacher and makes t...

When I wake up after a few hours of restless sleep, I am not usually expecting a marvelous day. But for the lack of sleep and the 2 1/2 hours of continuous exercise, for the exhaustion, both physical and mental, which I am currently experiencing, I feel good. The Exhaustion is the kind that comes with accomplishment, and so, comes with a measure of satisfaction. My homework is all done until December first and I held a solid run for longer than I have managed in a couple years. I have one last long day left before thanksgiving and after that I am close to next semester, for which I have a more interesting schedule. And, and, and... no Comp. After this I am to be assumed English language competent. Yays. I would put together something longer, but getting all my homework has involved some intensive computer work, which has definitely taken its toll on my eyes.

I have, as a good homeschooler, always been in on the secret that we learn and apply best those things which we enjoy. Why should I be surprised that my five weeks of preparation on a topic which I did not care for has caused me to loath said topic? I need to be able to accomplish unpleasant tasks quickly. This minute baby step by baby step process that the Moore has put me through has turned this paper from an easy task which I could have realized in a week, to a month and a half torture show of academic coddling and over preparation. This last assignment which made me re-reread part of the textbook and a bunch of my sources, only to make me write another little three page assignment talking about the six to eight page paper. It translated to hours of re-reading for some 25 minutes of writing. I am reminded of the Pointy-Haired Boss assigning progress reports every fifteen minutes until the engineers catch up on their work. And I am now exceedingly cranky.

I know some excellent Muslims. I hang out with a pair of them pretty regularly at school. Ahmed and Jasmina are perfectly normal. Jasmina is trying to talk me into political science and Ahmed has given up on talking me into Biology. There are good Muslims, maybe the vast majority of Muslims are good? I have been party to sample of the good ones and have never seen a bad one. But it is not the water in the northern regions of Africa that causes genocide. It is not the food which allows women no rights in the Middle East. It is not the trees which tell men to strap on bombs and kill the Jews. Orthodox Islam is corrosive. It eats away empathy and turns the noblest elements of the human will, self sacrifice, bravery, loyalty, and devotion, to a twisted cause. Do I wish there was no Islam? Yes, I wish that. But there is Islam, so we live with it and try to get along. Should we profile Muslims. No. We are Americans and that is not how we roll. We deal with each person according to their acti...

*Warning: Bitter Satire Ahead* In their eternal wisdom the federal Illuminati have discovered the secret to lower rates of fatality by breast cancer; we will now treat cancer by appeasement. After holding long diplomatic talks with the cancers, a Federal panel became convinced that the breast cancer would leave us alone if only we would stop fighting it. "The vast majority of breast cancers are benign and the rest might be as well if we would only stop persecuting them, they would leave us alone" said one official. These words come on the heels of recent findings that attempts at breast cancer prevention were actually counter productive. The official continued on to say that breast cancer was actually a "cancer of peace" that has long been inflamed by US medical intervention. The Panel found that current measures taken by the US medical professionals were "too expensive" and "came at the cost of too many innocent cancers that were not any danger to an...

Every so often I divert my attention back to the French Revolution. It asks one of those questions that has never been answered to my satisfaction. As good Christians, we are supposed to uphold and obey government, but what happens when the government is a mere tool which the powerful use to abuse and take advantage of the weak? What happens when a government's justice is become rancid and corrupt, when there is no justice? What happens when there is no means for peaceable reformation? Should good men sit there and watch as their fellows are trampled? I have heard the revolution is always a sin. Is it not also a sin to watch your neighbor defrauded of his life and property? And what if he is defrauded in the name of the law? What if government is rigged to allow some men to rape, defraud, and murder without tasting the consequences? Such was the case with the French. The peasants only had one answer for that oligarchy of worms. Don't get me wrong. The murder of the French arist...

This morning I could not sit still for bible study. I ended up wandering into James nearly empty class for the last five minutes of the lesson. James teaches bible study with the zeal of a caffeinated baptist minister. If today was any barometer, I imagine the chilluns are getting a much better Sunday-school education than any normally received by American crumb-crunchers. Next I will have to invade the She-woof's classroom. After all, who is making sure that the teaching is up to Corp standards? Later, about the time that everyone starts going into church, I realized that I was abandoned and alone. In the course of seeing to the effective deployment of acolytes in our weekly campaign against the forces of darkness, I again missed out on any chance of joining the choir; that, coupled with my mother being ill, reduced me to the sad situation of having to sit by myself. Very sad... Aha! But that was not to be. For some of the magnanimous members of my church family had seen my wretc...

Military Science and Leadership-101-class number two. That is when we dealt, however briefly, with responsibilities in the military chain of command. As a general rule, a commander is directly accountable for every man under his authority. Abu Ghraib was the commander's fault. So also, when you send one of your men back home dead, that is your fault and responsibility as well. A commander should feel every single loss, because they are on him. It is not pretty, but it is something you accept if you choose to command. Nine months, indecision, and shout-outs. Can anyone tell me what those three have in common? To me they are evidence that our Commander-in-Chief does not understand and comprehend the enormity of his office. Every life that the President of the United States spends is on him. His primary duty has nothing to do with our global image, climate change, health-care, or even diplomacy. Commander is not a title given because the founders thought it sounded cool; it is a char...

When I got into the Shewoof's car yesterday evening, I was greeted by the usually chipper and irreverent Roe Conn. However, his tone was not what I was used to. That is because he was talking about the shooting at Fort Hood. I was not shocked, later, when I found out that the shooters name was Nidal Malik Hassan; I had expected something along those lines. Mr. Conn apparently made roughly the same connection, which does not really surprise me. The connection isn't too hard when the shooter screamed "allahu akbar" as he shots his victims. But the members of the American media are now going out of their way to keep Islamic extremism out of the picture. I was amused by how the New York times was explaining it. Just go to their website and search "Fort hood." Compassion Fatigue and Pre-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are the early diagnoses given by the American media. His shouts of "allahu akbar" obviously had nothing to do with it. The fact that he h...

It's a gorgeous day out and my short-military short-hair feels most excellent in the breeze. I might miss the old stuff at some point, but not right now. Now I am enjoying that incredible, light, floaty, feeling that comes on the heels of losing half a pound of weight off my head. Have you ever had a really annoying and catchy song stuck, really, really, stuck, in your head? I will assume the answer is yes and then I will tell you that for me, today, that song is Bat Country. I do not even get the pleasure of having the guitar solo stuck in my head. No, i have the odd and quirky and completely weird chorus bouncing around my cranium. Also, German was canceled today, so I ordered a bunch of stuff from IUCAT...It's totally free. I will now make it my mission in life to make sure the people down at the IU library have something to do all the time. I started with about 10 books today, tomorrow, who knows. ;-p And now I need to get ready for comp. Shouldn't be bad.

I have recently begun playing basketball on Monday and Wednesday mornings before class, an activity for which they give me credit. Hooray for me. Basketball is a sport I have always enjoyed. However, there is an issue! My head would fit nicely beneath the armpits of several of the other gentlemen on the court. Easily. Not only do these players dwarf me, they also have lots of highschool basketball experience. I am going to need to develop some solutions to this problem...like kicking shins when the boss isn't looking. At least I like my team that I'm set with. These pre-dawn wake-ups are threatening to steal what little is left of my sanity. I think they are conpiring with The Moore. Today, this morning, I did something totally uncharacteristic. I went out of my way to avoid the people I know. I was tired , cranky, and in no mood to talk to anyone. I just wanted a massive cup of coffee -a massive caraf!- and a note saying my comp teacher recanted her intention to have us put o...