Author: bmagnus

Music Monday: Come!

 

In Closing: yes yes yes, of course I’ll serve up more NSA, privacy, and Ed Snowden links, you can count on me!; RIP Kalashnikov; ancient super-volcanoes; he’s got the right to say stupid, hateful shit and I’ve got the right to continue ignoring him; nice doggies, bad handlers; not sure why people think they have the right to ignore the law, nor why they think kids having babies is a good idea somehow; a few moments of economic clarity; wouldn’t get much traction as the Screw Everybody Treaty; rich white criminal; zero thinking policies; would require backbone; Cuba; or, you know, we could start school late enough that kids don’t have to walk in the dark.

What I Learned This Semester

The fall semester is over and grades are filed. Let me fill you in on just a few new discoveries! Maybe it will help you impress a friend while watching Jeopardy someday. Ok, probably not.

General:

  • You can always find a place to park on campus for an 8 AM class. The bad news is that it’s still an 8 AM class. 
  • It’s a little shocking how many people will simply stop showing up to class without bothering to drop.
  • Equally amazing is the number of people who plan on taking a hard class twice to get a better grade.
  • Online coursework takes discipline that many people simply don’t possess. “Oh, I don’t have to worry about those 3 assignments until December!” Right. That’s the same December when you have all those finals, remember.
  • You can’t expect people to know how to pronounce words in a language they don’t speak.
  • It seems like every new textbook comes with a DVD or passcode to a website of “helpful” study materials. Most of these are not quite as “helpful” as advertised.

History:

  • I had mistakenly thought the old Lincoln Highway followed the route of US 30 west to Oregon. Turns out it changes route numbers and goes through Northern Nevada.
  • If you tried to turn the events surrounding the Cal Neva in the late 50s and early 60s into a novel, nobody would believe it.
  • It turns out that Nevada voters in 2014 get to decide on a change to our State Constitution to allow greater taxation of the mining industry.
  • Most people don’t think to use hyperlinks in lieu of citations.

Spanish:

  • In a Spanish class, nobody expects you to know Japanese.
  • Flashcards are still important for learning a foreign language.
  • “Textbook/Workbook” is a nice way for a publisher to make everybody buy new books.

Anatomy and Physiology:

  • Reticular connective tissue looks a little like a cherry tree in blossom.
  • There’s an area of your brain that handles a reflex to turn your head and look before you even form the question “What was that streak of orange and roaring noise?” Of course in Vegas it’s a coin flip whether that particular combination is a tiger or a sports car. Likewise about which would be more dangerous to encounter while walking about.
  • Fancy color pictures of cadavers aren’t as useful as you’d think for learning anatomy.
  • Weight training does not produce more muscle cells, just muscle cells with more stuff in them.
  • Beta blockers are great for recovering heart attack patients, but lousy for anybody trying to improve their blood pressure through diet and exercise.

Ok, here’s the In Closing bits: you know I wouldn’t deprive you of a bunch of NSA, privacy, and Edward Snowden links, right?; on wages, fair wages, poverty, homelessness, and related issues; loophole; Palestinians; the next big fight in CONgress; worst CEOs; and just in time for Christmas, bad gifts.

ZOMG! He’s Asking About the Future!

My local news channel decided to cover some information about the Arapahoe High School Shooter, specifically using this “chilling” — that’s Channel 8’s descriptor, not mine — quote:

During a 2010 9NEWS town hall style debate, the then-freshman was selected from the audience to ask a question.

“What would you like your legacy to be,” Pierson asked.

Concerned about his own legacy even then, he told friends he had big future plans that were centered around his passion for speech and debate.

Right. So let me make sure I’ve got this right. Every kid who plans for the future might be planning something sinister for the future? Do we lock them up, maybe get them mandatory counseling so they won’t worry about planning for the future any more?? See, the thing that confuses me is that I’ve been told since I was 12 that “winners” and “successful people” have goals they work towards, perhaps even seeking to leave a “legacy” behind in the world. Does that make Napoleon Hill a subversive writer? What about Paul J. Meyer?

What about kids who “had very strong beliefs about gun laws and stuff”? Should we lock them up? Do we need a suicide watch on any student thrown off a school team? Is attending Bible meetings a warning sign?

It’s easy to force pieces into a puzzle when you know what it looks like at the end. Human brains are built for pattern recognition. “In retrospect, there were warning signs.” Sure, warning signs that would apply to millions of people who do not bring a weapon to school with the intent of killing someone.

Many thanks to all those who made this incident as short as possible with few victims. Let’s stop glorifying murder now, shall we?

Music Monday: Christmastime in the City

 

In Closing: NSA? Sure, I got your random links right here (and why exactly would Snowden take a deal that forces him to shut up?); Muslims; I’m not sure how equal wages equals abortion but then I’m sane; let’s hear it for statistics; friendship; race card; Keystone XL is not only a bad idea, it’s unnecessary; cyberspace robots; and there are moments I miss Seattle.

The NSA Scandal is a Gift that keeps on Giving

So, let’s get started. No particular order here.

The NSA is apparently tracking a lot of information about where people are based on their cell phones. I’m not sure whether this makes it better or worse, but this appears to be a big deal overseas, where Bad Guys might want to follow American spies “case officers.”

More and more people of note are publicly saying that “surveillance” of personal data is wrong, and that would include what the NSA’s been up to. In fact, 8 major American tech companies have asked the Feds to please stop already. Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that they stand to lose money. Security experts have already said they can no longer trust Intel’s crypto technology, and that means companies that actually need secure data have to migrate off systems that use it — potentially migrate off Intel hardware altogether.

I think the Feds honestly want to catch some terrorists. Even though the job is tough. Even though so far, they’ve had to manufacture terrorists in order to actually catch one. Of course maybe if they stopped playing World Of Warcraft it would be easier.

Despite all this controversy, it looks like the Government wants to do as much as possible to make it look like they are making changes, while in fact changing as little as possible.

Merry Freaking Christmas.

In Closing: Some thoughts on the minimum wage and the wages of workers in general (and lookie here, education turns out not to be a magic bullet); Duhpartment of Research says keeping your body healthy might keep your mind healthy; food lies; shadow inventory is a crock; funny how you have to have money for taxes to matter; the stimulus did work, but not like you can tell; good analogy; about time.

But the CEO might not be able to afford a second Bentley!

You’re going to have a hard time convincing me that raising wages a few dollars an hour is going to result in massive inflation in an environment where every fast food joint I can think of is highly profitable and introducing new low-price options on a regular basis. On the other hand, I can see where raising wages a few dollars an hour might relieve strain on the safety net and result in increased spending in general, which will in turn raise GDP without the government having to perform voodoo rituals on the actual economic data or gasp spend money.

That is all.

In Closing: There’s always more room for NSA, spying, privacy, and general stupidity links (go on and sign that ACLU petition like I did this morning); I hope nobody thinks this is good for the flying public; if only the anti-vax morons were the ones reaping the folly of their actions instead of their children and communities; kill it; interesting notion; not buying it; stupid breeder tricks; right on, Dave; and pet tigers turn out to be a bad idea.