Newest Entry Older Entries Links Rings Cast Guestbook 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 November 23, 2010 - 10:38 a.m. Sweet Spot I have a notion of what I'm going to write about today and it's a bit of a cheat. I can't remember what I wanted to say. I'll start with simply telling about my day and see if that triggers anything. If not I have my backup plan. So many students were out yesterday. The theory is that they get off Wednesday to Friday so they might as well take off Monday and Tuesday too. Oy, that is not good reasoning. We did important things. Back on Friday I derived the quadratic formula. One student actually said it was cool to see it actually derived. That's why I teach it. It is cool. It's also very simple and well within their abilities. That's why I make them not only see it but know how to derive it themselves. Tell me if I acted inappropriately. I gave the derivation a big lead up and explained how important it was and that they'd be responsible for knowing it for the test. A student walked in late, just after I finished deriving it but was still talking about the derivation. He asked, "In my other classes we just had to know it, are we going to have to know how you got it?" I didn't say yes. I said, "We went through that. Ask someone else after class." I was annoyed at someone coming in late then wasting class time. I don't trust my reactions when I'm annoyed. Yesterday I taught work problems. The ones that go it takes Pippin three hours longer than Merry to finish a cask of ale. If they drink together they can finish a cask in 2 hours. How long would it take each of them alone? I am proud of the way I teach that. I came up with it on my own. It is totally different than the way I was taught and far more intuitive and logical. I show that it really the same as motion problems, the ones where rate � time = distance. I also like making references in problems. Not one student in my class knew that yesterday was the anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. I always knew Pearl Harbor Day and D- Day. I bought hot dogs rolls when I went shopping. They don't always have the fresh baked ones at the Stop 'n' Shop. When they do I buy them. I don't have any actual hot dogs in the house so I've been making sausages. One of the things I've been trying to do to not put on weight is stop using gratuitous cheese. No more cheeseburgers for me. I'm making exception with sausages. I love what it does to the consistency. I love how much pleasure I can get out of Italian sausages with cheese on really good rolls and mashed potatoes. I had a Taylor ham and pepper jack cheese omelet for breakfast yesterday. I don't do a good job at cutting down on the cheese. But I enjoyed my food. I thought I was going out right after school today but I'm not. I'll have to take something out to defrost for dinner when I finish writing this. I pretty much eat out of my freezer. I'm actually contemplating not seeing Eric Schwartz tonight. That seems ridiculous but he doesn't go on till 9 and that's just an awkward time. I finish at school at 4:45. I'll see how things go. I know I should really be writing about the new TSA security measures and more importantly people's reaction to them. This is one of those cases where I disagree with everyone. That doesn't mean I'm for them or against them. It means I don't like the arguments that people making on either side. That means I have to have my thoughts more organized. I was going to cop out and show you pictures of NERFA but while going through them I remembered one thing I wanted to write about, the sweet spot. We each have sweet spots in our taste that resonate. What inspired this was John Platt calling harmony trios his sweet spot. Tennis is also a sweet spot for him and I bet that's where he got the term. What reminded me was I saw a photo of one of my sweet spots. That's Coyote Run and yes you do see a man in a kilt playing a didgeridoo. That's a confluence of sweet spots. I loved those guys. Why didn't I put them in my top echelon of discoveries? Because they are so in my sweet spot. When something resonates with you like that you lower your standards. They don't have to be as good for you to enjoy them. John's taste is very close to mine but the type of performer I'm most likely to disagree with him on are harmony trios. Of course I love Red Molly and I first recommended We're About 9 to him. I don't dislike harmony trios. It's just that my standards in them are more demanding than his. My standards in Celtic didgeridoo music are almost certainly lower than yours. I had a friend as a teen who'd go gaga over blondes. If he said a girl, was hot and she was blonde I didn't take it seriously. He thought any blonde was hot. I know that people are not going to share my love for some of the weird bands I like. Weirdness is another sweet spot. That doesn't mean that I won't give them my highest level of recommendation, it just means that they have to be even greater in my mind till I give it. It's important when dealing with your reaction to the world to realize it isn't just the world but yourself that you are talking about. I'd write more but I have to get ready for school. I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge: please hold me accountable. My Amazon Wish List Previous Next 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 Tell the World What You Think About Me creative commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. 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