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

May 02, 2013 - 1:01 p.m.

Annoying

I once started a blog that anyone could post to called "Annoying People." It's tempting to revive that. We encounter annoying people every day. I just have to make clear that most people aren't annoying, It's just that if you live in densely populated area you'll encounter hundreds, or even thousands of people every day and by their nature the annoying people stand out, they annoy you.

This came to my mind because one colleague came in the office and left the door opened when he left. Then another came in as I was leaving for the bathroom and she left the door open when she went out with the office empty. You NEVER do that. There is valuable things here, private things like grades and tests, and there is access to our computers. I turned around and closed the door and she didn�t say a word.

I have apparently solved the problem of people not signing off the computer. If someone does I leave this letter o 28 point type in their physical mailbox.

Please be considerate and log off the computer when you are finished. If you don't other people are locked out and have to unplug the computer and plug it in again so they can use it.

You have to log off the computer, not just the website you are using. You can also just shut the computer down. When you are finished you should see either the blue log on screen or the computer will be off. Thank you for your consideration of others.

I did it twice and neither offender has done it again. Going through channels and asking verbally didn't work.

I was semigood yesterday. I have to make up two tests, two finals, and two practice finals. Yesterday I came into the office and wrote one and a half tests. I was also bad. As I am so pressed for time I'm am making them take-home tests. I told them that I'm going to grade them much more strictly, very little partial credit. If they make a careless or arithmetical error I'll take off one or two points out of ten. If they make any essential mistake they get no credit.

I knew the class would love this so I gave a preamble to the announcement. "When I make the announcement don't get up and cheer and don�t' kiss me. That goes double for the men." I knew that would get a laugh. I can't resist it.

I promised you a story for today and I don't have one. I didn't do anything interesting. I was going to write fiction, I haven't done that in ages, but never got around to it. I could try now but I'd be working from scratch. All my fiction ideas have been in the same direction, they are about god. I've been thinking of writing a collection of short stories where a god of some sort is a character. Some possible titles are Practical Theology and Theogony � Not by Hesiod.

I had an idea of writing a story that starts with me telling you about how I can't write a story and then moves on to fictional adventures. That would be a lot of fun but I couldn't come up with a brilliant idea.

One thing I keep forgetting to write about is my weight. I knew I'd lose weight because I am off prednisone. The drug makes you retain water. People said I was losing weight before I was. But not it is real. I've lost about 4 lbs from where I've spent most of my time and 7 lbs from my top weight of the last year and a half. I am now 178.5 lbs. I don�t better. I hate when people say you feel better when you lose weight. I don't. But I do look better. That isn�t supposed to be important, and it isn't, but I still care. On the practical side it makes my trench coat fit comfortably. It's a bit small for me so If I gain any weight it gets tight. 5 lbs should not be that noticeable. It should be about 5/8 of a gallon, a half-gallon and pint. It is a bit more dramatic than that because it wasn't distributed evenly. The water is retained in my face and my stomach. That's a lot to come off those two body parts.

I finally saw the last episode of Stargate SG-1 on Amazon Prime. I was shocked to discover that I had already seen it when it was first broadcast. I just couldn't believe it was the last episode. It didn't resolve anything. It was one of the weird off-arc stories that I usually don't like. It was an episode about them being bored. That made me bored. So the series ended with the War on the Ori followers still going on even though the Ori had been destroyed with apparently no practical difference. It never was a show that it paid to think too much about. What it could be was fun. I did a bit of research and found that there was a direct to video finale that tied up all the loose ends. I watched that last night. It had an idiot plot. By that I mean the crises and only come about because people act like idiots. Nobody ever guards anything in the Star Gate universe. They lock things up but nobody watches anything and the locks are always ineffective. But it was fun watching the good guys win. It is a lot like Harry Potter I can enjoy it even if I think it's idiotic. I like it more ad I will watch it on my own. I only see Harry Potter films with friends.

For some reason I've been thinking about something that happened years ago. I took my mother to a meeting of her Democratic club at someone's home because it was to be followed by a screening of the movie Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. As you might guess it's a documentary about Fox News. The film is from 2004 so this was nine years ago. After sitting through the meeting the host told us that he wasn't showing Outfoxed but another documentary on all cable news. This one went into the political bias of MSNBC. You might be thinking "That's fair," but they said the bias was conservative! This was the true mirror image of Fox. It's all about a political agenda, not the truth. There is such irony that the host used deception, telling us the far more famous film was to be shown, to show us a biased film, on how the news is deceptive and biased. It's an irony I could do without. I don't get as angry at transgressors I agree with, I get more angry. I don't expect better from the right. They are working at a disadvantage; the facts have a well-known liberal bias. And they don't taint my opinions.

Why do so many people not see that honesty is the necessary priority for political debate to be of value. If the facts don't back up your position perhaps you should change your position. At least consider it. I love a quote from I Claudius. Augustus says this to Claudius. "Your brother says you are loyal to three things, Rome, your friends, and the truth." Are those values so hard to grasp?



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



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Horvendile May 02, 2013
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