Early-80's Boy
June 29, 2001
Does where you are born within a decade affect how you think of yourself and who you are? I was born in '71. But by the time you add in all those years in diapers (9) and baby food (7), it's on towards the late 70's before I have any real memories of my own. I remember the Regan presidential...
Does where you are born within a decade affect how you think of yourself and who you are? I was born in '71. But by the time you add in all those years in diapers (9) and baby food (7), it's on towards the late 70's before I have any real memories of my own. I remember the Regan presidential...
snippet: patterns
June 27, 2001
You can't help but pick out patterns. It is a compulsion, like the first time someone told you not to think of a banana and suddenly you were unable to think of anything except a banana. I saw an arc of helium balloons, and the first thing I thought was what a clever idea that was; how if you evenly...
You can't help but pick out patterns. It is a compulsion, like the first time someone told you not to think of a banana and suddenly you were unable to think of anything except a banana. I saw an arc of helium balloons, and the first thing I thought was what a clever idea that was; how if you evenly...
Barber Etiquette
June 26, 2001
To engage your barber or not to engage your barber, that is the question? Whether tis better to talk about things of interest to you, or to engage him in conversation of his interest, or whether with a bare word and antisocial attitude your joint quietus to make. I have never been clear on the best barbershop protocol. Unless you...
To engage your barber or not to engage your barber, that is the question? Whether tis better to talk about things of interest to you, or to engage him in conversation of his interest, or whether with a bare word and antisocial attitude your joint quietus to make. I have never been clear on the best barbershop protocol. Unless you...
You Know You Want to Know
June 25, 2001
Would you like to join my research posse? Picture it: there you are, out on the road, away from your local university's research library or the Internet, and you make a passing joke about being the King of Norway ("then I'll show them! I'll show them all!"). But you can't substantiate it. Does Norway have a King? Are they a...
Would you like to join my research posse? Picture it: there you are, out on the road, away from your local university's research library or the Internet, and you make a passing joke about being the King of Norway ("then I'll show them! I'll show them all!"). But you can't substantiate it. Does Norway have a King? Are they a...
The Wrong 1000 Words
June 22, 2001
The whole picture being worth a thousand words thing has always irritated me. Here's a picture I drew a couple of Saturdays ago. What do you get from it? Okay, you get a distinct and unmistakable sense of the many years I spent at Ecole des Beaux Arts de Tours studying classic forms. And, if you've seen a wider sampling...
The whole picture being worth a thousand words thing has always irritated me. Here's a picture I drew a couple of Saturdays ago. What do you get from it? Okay, you get a distinct and unmistakable sense of the many years I spent at Ecole des Beaux Arts de Tours studying classic forms. And, if you've seen a wider sampling...
snippet: fencing
June 21, 2001
I haven't said it in quite a while, but fencing remains the coolest sport on Earth. We suited up for electric fencing in the last part of class yesterday, and it was fantastic. I was the first guy on the strip and the last guy off, and I just flat out destroyed my hapless foe. Ooh. “Hapless foe” is pretty...
I haven't said it in quite a while, but fencing remains the coolest sport on Earth. We suited up for electric fencing in the last part of class yesterday, and it was fantastic. I was the first guy on the strip and the last guy off, and I just flat out destroyed my hapless foe. Ooh. “Hapless foe” is pretty...
Wednesday Quiz: Do You Even Want to Know What's in My Closets?
June 20, 2001
I have to say, Wednesday's quiz sparked off far more interesting conversations than I had expected. The event prompting the quiz came from me foolishly keeping a private journal on scottmcj.com. A couple of weeks ago, I kicked off the FTP process to update the public scottmcj right before I went into a lunchtime meeting. I came back an hour...
I have to say, Wednesday's quiz sparked off far more interesting conversations than I had expected. The event prompting the quiz came from me foolishly keeping a private journal on scottmcj.com. A couple of weeks ago, I kicked off the FTP process to update the public scottmcj right before I went into a lunchtime meeting. I came back an hour...
Taking Control
June 19, 2001
I was at the CC in a training class one Saturday a year or so ago, when we were still working in our old Saltmine building that was just a couple of blocks away from the CC. We had a lunch break, so I decided to walk down to work and check email, grab some free food, and generally get...
I was at the CC in a training class one Saturday a year or so ago, when we were still working in our old Saltmine building that was just a couple of blocks away from the CC. We had a lunch break, so I decided to walk down to work and check email, grab some free food, and generally get...
A New Literary Paradigm
June 18, 2001
So, I am reading Amusing Ourselves to Death, a long unapologetic philippic against TV culture and how it has diminished not only the quality of national debate, but has in fact affected our ability to even think and process lengthy issue discussion. That's quite a compelling argument! I'm not buying it yet. Then you might enjoy reading Postman's _Amusing Ourselves...
So, I am reading Amusing Ourselves to Death, a long unapologetic philippic against TV culture and how it has diminished not only the quality of national debate, but has in fact affected our ability to even think and process lengthy issue discussion. That's quite a compelling argument! I'm not buying it yet. Then you might enjoy reading Postman's _Amusing Ourselves...
snippet: my sitcom life
June 17, 2001
Yesterday, “Scott, can you take the master key here and go downstairs and lock the door? Be careful not to lock yourself out...” I rolled my eyes at the bonus instructions provided, so confident was I in my ability to successfully navigate the elevator to the first floor and effect a state change in the door lock. I hopped in...
Yesterday, “Scott, can you take the master key here and go downstairs and lock the door? Be careful not to lock yourself out...” I rolled my eyes at the bonus instructions provided, so confident was I in my ability to successfully navigate the elevator to the first floor and effect a state change in the door lock. I hopped in...
snippet: ghost cars
June 16, 2001
What if, hypothetically, we lived in a world where half the cars on the road were ghost cars. They look exactly like regular cars, have drivers behaving normally (talking on cell phones, eating McDonalds food, nodding their heads to booming bass lines), and were in every way indistinguishable from regular cars. The only difference would be that they didn't actually...
What if, hypothetically, we lived in a world where half the cars on the road were ghost cars. They look exactly like regular cars, have drivers behaving normally (talking on cell phones, eating McDonalds food, nodding their heads to booming bass lines), and were in every way indistinguishable from regular cars. The only difference would be that they didn't actually...
Right to Privacy
June 13, 2001
The Wednesday QuizIt has been something like four months or so since we've had a Wednesday Quiz because I've been on sabbatical from tutoring for the last while, my life being generally overcommitted. That hasn't changed, but I am starting to feel guilty about it, as if my pleasure received versus giving back ratio is all out of whack....
The Wednesday QuizIt has been something like four months or so since we've had a Wednesday Quiz because I've been on sabbatical from tutoring for the last while, my life being generally overcommitted. That hasn't changed, but I am starting to feel guilty about it, as if my pleasure received versus giving back ratio is all out of whack....
Non-Fiction
June 12, 2001
I have a problem with overhead projectors and non-fiction in that both put me to sleep faster than a 2x4 to the side of the head. While marking a few prelude minutes at the Belltown Pub recently, I was listing all the books which had been recommended to me in recent days that are queued up first in my reading...
I have a problem with overhead projectors and non-fiction in that both put me to sleep faster than a 2x4 to the side of the head. While marking a few prelude minutes at the Belltown Pub recently, I was listing all the books which had been recommended to me in recent days that are queued up first in my reading...
More Creationism
June 11, 2001
59 evidences that the earth is only a few thousand years old.http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/05agee1.htm How old is the Earth? 4.6 billion years (4,600,000,000 years) http://www.dc.peachnet.edu/~pgore/geology/geo102/age.htm How old is the universe?http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/html/age.html How long does it take to blink?http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov98/911697403.Me.r.html How often do we blink?http://www.msnbc.com/news/244710.asp God blinks, a day passes on planet Earth, agreed? That’s how I seem to remember the conventional wisdom, anyway. The...
59 evidences that the earth is only a few thousand years old.http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/05agee1.htm How old is the Earth? 4.6 billion years (4,600,000,000 years) http://www.dc.peachnet.edu/~pgore/geology/geo102/age.htm How old is the universe?http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/html/age.html How long does it take to blink?http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov98/911697403.Me.r.html How often do we blink?http://www.msnbc.com/news/244710.asp God blinks, a day passes on planet Earth, agreed? That’s how I seem to remember the conventional wisdom, anyway. The...
Dreams
June 08, 2001
I dream sitcoms. And the worst part is that I'm just a minor character. Prosperous, busy, hip office. Midday. Elevator opens as Scott and Mark stroll by. Insanely attractive Dr. Luke (special guest star) exists the elevator. Scott: Luke! What are you doing here! Why aren't you at the hospital? Are you picking up a date? Dr. Luke: No, no...
I dream sitcoms. And the worst part is that I'm just a minor character. Prosperous, busy, hip office. Midday. Elevator opens as Scott and Mark stroll by. Insanely attractive Dr. Luke (special guest star) exists the elevator. Scott: Luke! What are you doing here! Why aren't you at the hospital? Are you picking up a date? Dr. Luke: No, no...
Big Debate Fun
June 06, 2001
[I get something like the debate below, and I start to think that maybe I'm good only in opposition ("support", R&GAD). I'm willing to jump right out and play devil's advocate for any side of any issue. It's the classic problem, right? It is so much easier to destroy than it is to create. You give me a pretty structure,...
[I get something like the debate below, and I start to think that maybe I'm good only in opposition ("support", R&GAD). I'm willing to jump right out and play devil's advocate for any side of any issue. It's the classic problem, right? It is so much easier to destroy than it is to create. You give me a pretty structure,...
Property Taxes
June 05, 2001
It's easy to build up a little righteous indignation about the myth of property ownership. You buy your house, and you think you're paying to own something. Even if you buy your house for, say, $200 grand, and then take your 30-year fixed mortgage (which you will pay an appalling $500k to pay off if you take the full 30...
It's easy to build up a little righteous indignation about the myth of property ownership. You buy your house, and you think you're paying to own something. Even if you buy your house for, say, $200 grand, and then take your 30-year fixed mortgage (which you will pay an appalling $500k to pay off if you take the full 30...
Three Days Later: Still Hungry!
June 04, 2001
Starvation Day 1 You have no idea how hard it is not to eat free pizza when you are surrounded by eighty people who are eating free pizza, suffusing the air with the scent of more than eighty pieces of free pizza. It calls out to you in that special voice that only free pizza possesses, "scoooooooottttt, freeeeeeeee freeee freeeeee!...
Starvation Day 1 You have no idea how hard it is not to eat free pizza when you are surrounded by eighty people who are eating free pizza, suffusing the air with the scent of more than eighty pieces of free pizza. It calls out to you in that special voice that only free pizza possesses, "scoooooooottttt, freeeeeeeee freeee freeeeee!...
Diazinon
June 01, 2001
I picked up a brochure titled: "Crane FliesDiazinon andDead Ducks" Published by our friends in the King County Water and Land Resources Division, it is a subtle little piece of literature with a just-barely-transparent subtext: "SEATTLE – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists said the lawn insecticide diazinon may be responsible for the deaths of several dozen ducks in...
I picked up a brochure titled: "Crane FliesDiazinon andDead Ducks" Published by our friends in the King County Water and Land Resources Division, it is a subtle little piece of literature with a just-barely-transparent subtext: "SEATTLE – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists said the lawn insecticide diazinon may be responsible for the deaths of several dozen ducks in...