Posts (page 2)
So here is the thing: I am so tired of dealing with people's CRAP! In the last two weeks, I have:
1) been called a racist by someone I work with (DUDE! I hate you cause you are a jerk, not because of the color of your skin)
2) been afraid to go to work because I don't want to encounter said person against whom I am allegedly racist (DUDE! This is my office, too!)
3) been yelled at for things that I haven't done yet (DUDE! That is not what I was going to do)
4) been the only voice of reason at more than one meeting (DUDE! You should listen to me; I am nearly always very close to right)
5) bombed a telephone interview for what is basically my only hope of reasonable escape from this horrible burg for next year (DUDE! I get nervous talking on the phone, okay?)
<end rant>
That is all.
I have been thinking of starting a new blog, and I need help with a name. You see, I'm going to try to make this a snazzy blog with its own domain name, so it has to be something short, clever, and easy to spell. (Before you suggest it, I would use Vox, but I want to have more control over user registration and commenting than Vox currently allows.)
The new blog will be targeted at folks who are searching for information about the evolution vs. creation debate, and will present the scientific side in a simple, easy-to-understand, non-confrontational manner. In my Internet perusing, I often find that the scientific viewpoint is misrepresented or omitted by creationists and intelligent design proponents, and I would like to contribute in some small way to addressing these gaps in their arguments. Evolutionists are often guilty of simply dismissing creationist arguments without actually addressing them, which just makes us seem arrogant and doesn't provide any basis for the average person to make an informed decision about what to believe, as they don't have balanced information from both sides. I would also like the blog to be a forum for a respectful discussion of the facts by readers on both sides of the debate.
So, with that said, do you have any suggestions? It would ideally have 'sci' or 'science' in the name somewhere, and maybe also a reference to design or faith or god or something of the sort. Please help!
Are you a good dancer or do you have two left feet? What's your signature dance move?
The Benes.
School is back in full swing, including a gargantuan stack of things people apparently expect me to read. Included in said stack is a statistics book, which does an excellent job at making no sense at all, or are just the damnedest, most awkwardest sentences. To wit:
"The quality of the characterization of the location of the dataset..."
"Just use one scored score..."
"People will usually not buy brassieres or shoes that do not fit well, even if the brassiere or shoe almost fits a lot of people.... the first size you would select to manufacture is the mode size, because it not only will fit people, and thus potentially be bought, but also will indeed fit the largest audience of potential buyers."
Ugh.
1. It is very hard to take the damned bus in this town. I mean, seriously, aren't we all environmentally friendly here in Oregon? Shouldn't this be easy? And why do I have to take a different bus to the store than I do to return from the store??
2. It is very hard to buy a jacket in the middle of summer. But I'm so cold, dammit!
3. Americans are lazy, and take no responsibility for their actions. A lady at the grocery store, riding in one of those electric-wheelchair-cart numbers, nearly ran into me and then blamed me for "nearly giving her a heart attack." Apparently, because her contraption made noise, I was my responsibility to avoid it at all times, even when it came careening around a blind corner at top speed. Minutes later, said lady left the store, lit up a cigarette, and walked at least three blocks with no problem. Lazy bitch.
Number of scorpions seen : 3
Number of scorpions seen which were not preserved in alcohol : 0
Number of beers drank in six weeks in Mexico : 17 (approx.)
Number of pounds lost due to unacceptably low beer intake : 20 (approx.)
Number of students on program with confirmed cases of The Deng : 2 (of 9)
Number of times I thought that I was the third student with The Deng, due to excessive hypochondria : 7 (approx.)
Number of times I may actually be third case of The Deng : 1 (and let me tell you, OUCH)
Here, to be precise.
That is all.
(Excluding what is contained in these parenthesis and in the footnotes, all of my words will be things that I can now say in Nahuatl, after three weeks of intensive language instruction. Hopefully this will not cause as much confusion for you as my language skills seem to for the people here. Note the importance of the exclamation points, as they help overcome (or perhaps create?) awkward but earnest language-learning moments.)
This is where I am staying!
Hello*! I like the looks of it here!
Who** is it?? Roosters!! One is shouting!
One time, we went to a party!
They danced! Old dancing!
Again! They danced!
Married ladies too danced!
Oh no! Coyote runs with goat!
Coyote is eating goat! No one helps goat! Oh no!
It is a very small goat!
Death*** is yellow here! She dances with Death***!
This food was not tasty! It was pig belly!
She serves me tequila by pouring!
I get drunk with free*** tequila! Hello*! Also I am sweating!
8 days later****, I went up this mountain! So big and far*****! Probably we will die! Snakes or scorpions will bite us!!
Donkeys accompany us! I made this donkey angry!! I can’t donkeys!
He can donkeys!
I like the look of these flowers! I shit near them! I used their leaves!
Soon we will arrive to the top! It is close now!
These ants bit me******! They are people-biting ants*******! But no snakes or scorpions bit us!
On the top!! Mountain!!! Where I live is at the water’s edge, there (on the right**)!
The mountain ants made me angry! My leg hurts where they bit me! But I am alive! Now let me go sleep!
* Actually, there is no word for ‘hello’ in the dialect I’m studying. Instead, you just comment on what a person is doing, e.g., ‘Oh, you’re feeding your pigs!’ or ‘Ah, I see you’re coming back from plowing, and on your way to put your twelve donkeys out to pasture!’ This is very hard for a beginning language learner.
** ’Who’ is actually the correct word for animals in this dialect, even when asking about the giant, multi-legged thing you find on your bed—‘Who is that?!?!?’
*** I do not really know how to say this word.
**** This is one word in Nahuatl—go figure.
***** This picture was, in fact, taken after about a two-mile walk to the base of the mountain.
****** This is a lie. In truth, the ants who bit me were very, very dead by the time this picture was taken.
******* This is actually the name of these ants in Nahuatl.
Number of days here : 8
Number of bug bites : 17 (approx)
Number of scorpions seen : 0
Number of scorpions seen by others on the program : 1
Number of people in the family I´m staying with : 7
Number of rooms in the mud hut where I live : 2
Number of pigeons I am sharing a room with : 6 (includes one chick)
Number of cages to house said pigeons : 0
Number of pigeons consumed : 0.5
Number of words I am to have learned by now : 1,000 (approx)
Number of words I have learned : 29 (actual count)
Number of tortillas consumed : 17,456 (near-actual count)
