I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

September 12, 2013 - 11:41 a.m.

Stop and Think

Once again I wasted hours this morning and I'm writing almost two hours later than I like. Actually since I'm getting up at 8:30 not 8:00 I should write by 9:30 so I'm only a hour and fifteen minute late.

You might have noticed that it was hot yesterday. It was hot enough that I broke my own rules and wore shorts and a short sleeve golf shirt to school. I still looked presentable. I should have taken a picture. I don't have a mirror in my room, maybe I'll start taking pictures of myself in the school bathroom. Or maybe I'll oust the alien in my brain that made me think that. I need a new tinfoil hat.

I was very good after class and graded both quizzes and entered the grades. I didn't email themselves to me. I have to set up dropbox at school so I always have my grades handy.

The grades were pretty good. Of course very few people got all 8 arithmetic with fractions questions right. They were all easy and this is tech math, college algebra. I think I'd like to teach a course is arithmetic skills for college. What people don't get is that using a calculator doesn't solve the underlying problem, that they don't know how to plan something out. They don't know how to find the easiest way of doing a problem or even see the need. To them, the way they know how to do is the easiest as it doesn't involved learning anything new or thinking. I had a friend that would drive a 1.5 mile long route to a place a quarter of a mile away because that's the way he knew.

I had no plans for yesterday and didn't do something just for the sake of doing something. I ate dinner at Whole Foods. I haven't done that for a while. I like their honey jalape�o chicken legs and mashed potatoes. Then I gave myself a treat and stopped at Ample Hills Creamery for the best ice cream in Brooklyn. I had a great sundae. That made me happy.

When I got home I decided to watch a movie on Amazon Prime. I chose Batman Begins. I got interrupted and have to finish it today. I'll do that after I eat. I need to do that kind of thing more often.

I don't like being on prednisone but it's made me feel so much better. My intestines are doing great. I bet I could eat the foods I'm now allowed to eat now and not suffer. I won't but popcorn is so tempting. If I could afford the good meds I could have the benefits without the side effects. I can't wait for the ACA to fully kick in. It isn't going to destroy my freedom, it's going to give me freedom. Ideology is the opposite of ideas. It replaces thinking with mantras. It's just like the poor math students that find anything easier than thinking. I'm an anti-ismist. You can quote me on that. Is that where I'm going today? That wasn't where I planned. I planned on other of my rainy day ideas that something reminded me of. But no I started I'll keep on this direction.

When I can afford it I'm a member of the ACLU. Liberties are very important to me. But I can't call myself a libertarian because the word has been co-opted by an ideology. Liberty is not an absolute and it isn't simple. What gives one person liberty often denies another.

I'm for peace but I'm not a pacifist. Once again it isn't easy. Saying "war is bad" doesn�t end wars. You have to actually think about each situation and decide what's best. But of course there are always people that don't want to do that.

I believe in the benefits of a market economy but I'm not a capitalist. Sometimes markets fail. You have to acknowledge that they aren't perfect. Sometimes there are other considerations, man does not live by bread alone. Most of the times markets are good. Sometimes they aren't. Yes once again you have to look at the specifics of a situation to know what's best. You can't pre-think.

And I believe that there is too much economic inequality but I'm not a socialist. The ideal economy wouldn�t have everyone having exactly the same as that ignores basic human nature, we need incentives. You can now go back to what I said about capitalism, it's the other side of the same coin. Saying a policy is socialist or capitalist is not an argument for or against anything.

Doing everything the same method doesn't work any better in politics and economics than it does in math. You have to stop and think before you start and come up with the best strategy for the problem you are dealing with. That's what I emphasize more than anything when I teach. There's a word for judging before the facts are in, pre-judging so to speak, prejudice.

Well that wasn't what I planned on writing about but in a sense that is fitting. Once I started I saw that this was the better way for things to develop. I thought about it as new facts came in and adjusted to them.

I have no idea what I'm doing today. I have a couple of concerts I can go to, Miss Tess or Ariana Gillis. I've seen them both recently but they are both artists I can see repeatedly. I'm not going to sweat it too much. I'll have fun at either.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile September 12, 2013
site search by freefind advanced


Follow on Feedly



about me - read my profile! read other DiaryLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!