March 31, 2008

School: Financial Aid, Teachers, and Underwater Basket Weaving

Filed under: Imbeciles and Kooks, Personal — Adam @ 1:22 pm

I’m going to preface this by saying:  I take school pretty seriously, and am mostly an A/B student.  I’ve never failed a class, never gotten a D.  I have less than a semester worth of Cs on my record.  I’m more an A than a B student.  I generally like all of my teachers (so far I’ve lucked out) and they generally like me.  If not well enough to remember my name, well enough to remember me as a good student (which is what the head of my major’s department called me when she couldn’t recall my name; I’d only had one class with her).  I take above-full-time hours.  I don’t go out and party, I don’t smoke or do drugs, and I rarely ever drink (especially during the semester).
I’m not unwilling to take out loans to help pay for my school.  Because of the hours and the level of classes I’m taking it’s virtually impossible for me to work anywhere.  I tried for a while and it just wasn’t working; the places here that will hire a student aren’t friendly to going to school.  In fact, I’ve had three professors look at me like I’m nuts when I tell them I’m taking five classes (and none of them are bullshit easy classes), until I tell them I am JUST going to school.  So I’m working my ass off at school to get through it so I can get a Real Job and be a productive member of society and all that.

However, I think for people with high enough GPAs, the Pell Grant should maybe be doubled.  If you’re eligible for a full Pell and have over a 3.5, they should double it… assuming you’re in a major that will lead somewhere.  This means “everyone but liberal arts and psychology majors.”  (The two most common degrees given; they’re not worth the paper they’re printed on.)  I say this because someone who will have a Real Job after college is probably going to pay much more back in taxes in a few years. Also, if you’re willing to take out loans for school, then you’re either:  a) an idiot, or b) pretty serious about it.

I said that I’ve mostly lucked out with teachers, and that’s true.  I’ve yet to come across any really liberal nutter teachers, the kind that we hear horror stories about.  Might be partly because if my state were any redder they’d have to invent a new color for it.  But I have one teacher… how to explain it.  They’re very, very nice, but very, very bad at their job.  I’m not one to blame a teacher; I’ve had over a dozen different teachers, in many subjects, spanning my college career.  I have over 100 hours of class credits in various subjects, and there are only two teachers I blame for me not having As in their class.  I could say “and both of them are women” but as three-fourths of my teachers have been women, that would be unfair.  But both of them had something in common other than their genital type.

The current one teaches a class we’ll call Underwater Basket Weaving.  She’s a nice woman.  She just doesn’t know how to teach.  We have four classes left and we’ve not even started making a single Basket.  We’ve only barely talked about how to make a Basket.  We’ve had two homework assignments, one which actually dealt with making the baskets, but one that was simply how to draw the plans for a basket.  This is a senior level class, and it’s meant to be about the actual process of making baskets.  But she gets so focused on the minutia, the bullshit theory involved, and then anything remotely mathy she can find — even if making baskets requires zero math skill.

We had one test.  One person did well.  The average score was below 50%.  A person in the class who makes his living weaving baskets underwater got a score below 40%.  Because the test was just stupid and needlessly complex.  I still don’t know how I did, because I skipped the day she gave our tests back, and she hasn’t remembered to bring mine since.  I don’t really want to know.  I had her for a class last semester and it was much the same.  With four classes left, we’re not really going to get into the subject on a real, hands on approach — something that’s pretty much the point of the damned class.  She’s pretty much been barred from teaching lower level classes because she does the same thing.  A sophomore class I had for her was taught at a level that made no sense to some people with Master’s Degrees in the area.

One major problem is her teaching style.  She reads a little bit from the book, and asks the class to explain it.  This doesn’t work.  She’s supposed to be explaining it.  Another problem is her grading style.  I know there’s a problem with grade inflation and the like, but when only one person has a passing grade in a class, maybe it’s the teacher.  There comes a time when it’s not the fault of the students — the person that passed the test?  He only did so because he accidentally worked the wrong homework problem and it turned out to be nearly the same as one of the test problems… and so he had to figure it out on his own time ahead of time.  None of the rest of us had a clue.

I have at most three more classes with her.  In addition to Underwater Basket Weaving, she’s for sure teaching a class this fall.  I think I’ll call it Episodes in Frustration or something.  I’m sure she’s NOT teaching anything this summer.  So I’m taking three classes over the summer (how’s that for dedication to school?), and a small break this fall; four classes instead of five.  Two high level math classes and two high level computer science classes.  And by “high level” I mean “higher level than calculus.”

No matter how the financial aid works out, all this busting my ass will pay off as next spring I need one specific class to graduate, and any three other classes to make me full time and fulfill my credits requirement at this school.  If you guessed that those three classes will be “the easiest classes imaginable” then you guessed right. It’ll be my one last break before getting a Real Job so I can start paying for all the spending Bush is doing.

March 23, 2008

A boy and his dog.

Filed under: Pets — Adam @ 2:13 pm

I’ll not excerpt this, as there’s nothing really specific to reply to, but this story is extremely touching.  Never underestimate the bond between a person and a pet… it goes both ways, as evidenced by the dog’s reaction to seeing him again.

March 19, 2008

Guns, Heller, and Individual Rights

Filed under: Self Defense — Adam @ 3:58 pm

One reason that I could never support Obama or Hillary for any office that requires responsibility or more power than a bottle opener is their awful stance on guns.  I believe that the second amendment is an individual right, not a collective right.  I don’t believe all that fluff about it applying to a militia, and I’ll attempt to explain why and my thoughts.

I will concede, to start with, that 2A itself is a bit oddly worded given modern interpretations of the comma.   But I don’t base my beliefs simply on someone else’s interpretation of the Bill of Rights.  If you read what the Founding Fathers said, it becomes clear what they meant.  They meant for it to be an individual right applicable to all.  They would probably react negatively to the stupidity of the anti-gun crowd, but we’ll never know that unless someone invents time travel.

It doesn’t just apply to hunting.  Anyone who says or thinks so is a fool.  The phrase “hunting” doesn’t appear in the text.  It just doesn’t.  There’s nothing about sporting uses in there.  It doesn’t say it’s just for self defense, or one gun per person, or that there is a limit to how many guns a person can own.  It doesn’t say you can only own a gun if you keep a trigger lock on it, or hide the bullets, or use a gun safe.  There is a lot that the second amendment does not say.  It does not say that the guns are only legal for the militia as hard as some would like to wish it.  (However, as the militia is able bodied men ages 18-45 or so, that pretty much clears enough of a chunk of the population, now doesn’t it?)  It doesn’t say that the guns must be the same kind as they had in the late 18th century, nor does it say anything about automatic versus semi-automatic versus single shot. But it does say one very important thing.

“…shall not be infringed.”

Unless you are a proven danger to society and others the government has no business stopping you from owning guns.  By a proven danger I mean a violent felon or a lunatic.  In addition, the government has no business telling you that you can only own one gun, or only own long guns, or only own guns for hunting.  That’s just silly and none of the framers would have supported that.  Every time a government disarms its citizens, bad things happen.  India was disarmed by Britain, and even Gandhi frowned on it:  “Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.“

I consider the right to self defense to be a natural right, not a right granted by old men in suits.  If someone is trying to kill, or rape, or otherwise bring harm to someone then they are in the wrong and are to be stopped.  If someone is in your house they have violated the law and you cannot know what they are intending to do or capable of.  Innocents have a right to defend themselves against the criminals.  Period, end of story.

Any banning of handguns is an obvious infringement of the right to defend oneself.  So I agree that the DC Gun ban is unconstitutional.

I don’t consider that guns should only be owned as self defense, any more than I think they’re just for hunting. If you want to collect guns and stick them on the wall, that’s okay, too.  A little strange to some, perhaps, but 2A does not say “…shall not be infringed unless the ownership is strange.”  Hunting, self-defense, sport shooting, collecting, fun — whatever you want.

Also, while not explicitly part of 2A, the constitution declares that any license given in one state should be respected in another.  I don’t want to be the test case for that, but I believe that this should require that concealed carry licenses be respected in all fifty states.  If I am legal to carry in Mississippi, I am legal to carry in the other 49, as well, just as my driver’s license and a marriage license will be legal in the other 49 states.  I think, at some point, this will have to go to the Supreme Court, as well.

Which is another reason I cannot support the likes of Hillary and Obama for president:  They would put people on the court that would hold views contrary to this view, and delay any gains there for decades.  McCain may not appoint people I would choose myself, but he would appoint better choices than those two socialists.

March 17, 2008

I am proud of my country

Filed under: Patriotism — Adam @ 12:10 pm

Now that I’ve recharged I’d like to drudge up an old topic and comment more on it.

I am proud of my country, and I have been especially proud many times over the course of my life. I was very proud of our endurance after September 11th, 2001, and our patience. Despite people in many countries rejoicing in the streets in our darkest hour, we did not go forth and destroy them. We waited until we were certain before going into Afghanistan. We waited. We seethed, some of us (me included) wanted to kill those rejoicing people with our bare hands. But we did not.

I was proud when, on July 26th, 2005, the Space Shuttle Discovery launched. The first since the loss of Columbia in the early months of 2003, Discovery took seven souls to the stars and the ISS. I cannot express in words the pride I felt seeing that great white bird on the launch pad, watching and listening live as they counted down the final ten seconds. Seeing it escape the atmosphere blasting along many times faster than the speed of sound. Knowing that we, mere humans, had just once again left the planet. Knowing that one day we’ll go further, faster. To quote Ronald Reagan, “It’s all part of taking a chance at expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the faint hearted. It belongs to the brave.”

I was proud of my country when we reacted to the tsunami by sending millions of dollars in aid and supplies, both through the government and through private charity. Citizens here gave more money of their own volition than any other country, and we did it quickly. I was also proud of us in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Yes, there were mistakes. Yes, things could have been handled better. But many people volunteered to help, people came down to help rebuild — many churches doing this for free — and people got food. Most of the deaths could have been avoided, I’m sure. But as a country, we did our best and we saved lives.

I was proud of this country in the aftermath of the 2000 elections, too. Yes, it was divisive. But despite all the vitriol and anger, the process continued peacefully (minus some “W” keys). There were no violent outbursts, no civil war. There’s a lot of anger still over it, but people aren’t going out in the streets and committing crimes over it. We’re still a united nation, if a little pissy. But we still had elections in 2002, and 2004, and 2006, and will in 2008, 2010, and 2012 without more than a bit of grumbling. Because at the end of the day, we’re Americans.

And though I wasn’t old enough to understand at the time, I’m proud of my country now for the fact we continued after Challenger. I’m proud of us for the fall of the Berlin wall, and for winning the Cold War. I’m proud of us because, even after 1992, we didn’t devolve into violence over the election, despite the fact the right felt about Clinton the way the left does about Bush 43.

I’m proud of my country because we have some of the freest speech in the world, and truth is an absolute defense against libel. We have some of the freest gun laws in the world. Despite some moral objections, we’re very accepting of homosexuality — in many countries, it’s a death sentence. We allow our citizens to defend themselves, our armed forces are volunteer only (until times of dire need, but God help the politicians who okay a draft). We have free and fair elections, with very few real problems.

I’m proud of my country because our poor have a standard of living equal to or better than the average citizen in Europe. I’m proud because despite a few crackpots like David Duke, we frown on antisemitism as a rule, and support Israel more than any other nation save Israel herself. Could our racial and religious tolerance be better? Absolutely. Could everything be better? Sure.

But we’re the freest nation on earth. We suffer under few restrictions to our speech, such as the ridiculous hate speech laws in Canada that are being perverted to quash people’s rights to speak out about Islam. We don’t have a “human rights council” attacking one of our citizens for publishing freaking cartoons. Are we flawed? Yes. But everything is flawed, and if you can’t love a flawed being you will never love any nation, any person, any creature. Nothing is ever perfect.

I love my flawed country, and I am proud — damn proud — of it. We have rough spots, but they’re no worse than any other nation’s history. We are the freest people on the planet and that cannot be stressed enough. The United States of America is the best country on this green and blue rock. If it weren’t so, all the people pretending we’re so horrible would move to one of the states they hold up as ideal. But we’re not the horrible racist rights-tromping bogey men they present us as. We allow men like Jeremiah Wright to spew their vicious, hateful rhetoric. He remains a free man despite his disgusting, vile words. He remains a free man despite attacking the so-called racist government blatantly. Many who claim the government perpetrated an atrocity on its own citizens in 2001 for political gain still roam the streets, unmolested by the government they so abhor. Because they have the freedom to do so. Because we let them.

Because there are men in uniform, men that some protesters spit on, that carry big guns and will fight to the death for their right to say those horrible things. We protect everyone’s rights — even the ungrateful, the spiteful, the vicious, and the hateful. In fact, the left that so derides this nation tends to be the group most pushing for the degradation of our free speech rights. Yet, here I am, typing away like the proud fool I am. Because this nation protects my God-given right to do so.

So yes, I am proud of the USA, and to hell with any of you that aren’t.

March 16, 2008

Please, people.

Filed under: Peeves — Adam @ 3:27 pm

I made a post at my old blog like this, and due to Murphy’s Internet Pedant Law, I ended up making nearly as many mistakes as I pointed out.  So here’s hoping I don’t embarrass myself.  Fortunately, Firefox has a spell check by default now.   So here goes, a basic guide to grammar for all you monkeys out there that can’t seem to grasp it:

Then/than:  Then is pronounced in a way that rhymes with “win.”  Than rhymes with “Anne.”  Then implies a time passage of some sort.  “We went to the store then we voted for Hillary.”  “I was for the war then I was against it.”  Than is a conjunction for comparisons.  “I voted for Hillary rather than Obama.”  “I’d rather McCain win than Obama.”  Please get these right.  This has easily become my biggest pet peeve, possibly because I see otherwise intelligent people do it.  I cannot take you seriously if you cannot get these two words right.

There/They’re/Their:  This one baffles me.  They are so obviously different if you understand the language.  There is positional, of sorts.  “How’s the weather there?”  “Don’t touch me there!”  They’re is very obviously, by its spelling, a contraction.  It means “they are.”  “They’re all liars and crooks.”  “We’re ready for whatever they’re going to do.”  Their, thus, is neither the directional nor the contraction.  It’s the ownership.  There should be easy to remember; it’s spelled similar to here.  Their is similar to our and your — two vowels and an R.  “Don’t trample their rights.”  “I hate their campaigns.”

Here/Hear:  If you mix this up, in anything other than very informal conversation, you are too stupid to breed.  I’ve been guilty of this on occasion when I’m not paying attention (or when I’m being a pedant and thus opening myself up for mistakes), but this one is simple:  Here is positional, hear is for hearing.  Hear has the word “ear” in it, so it shouldn’t be too hard. “I can’t hear you over here.”

To/Too/Two.  Two is a number.   Too means “also.”  To is neither of these; it is a preposition or adverb.  Example:  “I want to go with you.”  “I want two breasts.”  “I love you, too.”  The motherload:  “I want to go with you two, too.”  They’re not the same.  Please do not use them as such.  “To” does not denote also.  It does not denote a number.  It is a widely used word, but it’s not that way.  Anyone using “two” in place of these other two (hah punny) needs to be pepper sprayed.  And neutered, too.

Lose/Loose:  Okay, this also baffles me.  Typically, someone uses these wrongly by saying “We’re going to loose.”  They add a letter to the word lose.  Which is just — what?  Why?  Loose means “not tight,” like a woman who favors horses.  Lose means “the opposite of win.”  “We’re going to lose the election because of that loose bint.”  Seriously, don’t make a word longer.  I thought internet speech centered around making words shorter.  If anything, I’d expect to see people saying “lose” when they mean “loose” but I don’t and it’s strange.

You’re/Your.  This has got to stop.  I swear, you people don’t realize how stupid you are when you say something like “Your an asshole.”  My “an asshole” what?  Your implies ownership, and it isn’t hard to remember:  Your looks like “our” which also implies ownership.  You’re has a freaking apostrophe and an extra letter.   It is very obviously a damned contraction.   So again, it  baffles me when someone says: “You’re feet” when they mean “Your feet,” for example.  Why are you making it longer?  Think and it all becomes clear:  You’re is a contraction.  For what?  You are, obviously, because nothing else makes sense.

It’s/its.  I don’t blame people for this one, but I’m throwing it in anyway as a tip.  It’s is always “It is.”  Never use It’s unless you mean “it is.”  Even in the case of possession.  “Its hair” is correct if you mean “the object’s hair.”  “It’s hair” is correct if you mean “It is hair.”  There’s a reason for this:  Most pronouns don’t use the apostrophe when they imply ownership.  His, hers, yours, ours, theirs, its.  There are a few that do, but I can’t recall them off the top of my head.  It’s is only “it is” and nothing else, ever.  I’m guilty of this (and I have to pound it into my head the difference) but there’s no reason not to know the rule.

Those are all the major problems I can think of right now.  I’m not an English major.  I almost minored in it, but decided I’d had enough.  I may take a few English classes to fill out my required hours, but they’ll be easy classes that I take just to take the required hours to graduate.  I’m a computer science major, and I have to say, it would do a lot of good for a lot of you who write code and comments to understand the language a little better.  Verbosity is not a bad thing.  Being able to explain your thoughts to someone is not a bad thing.  There’s nothing wrong with correct grammar.  It’s not really any more time consuming — if you can’t type fast enough correctly, perhaps you need to work on your typing skills.

I type pretty immaculately and I type faster than anyone I know.  So it isn’t a problem that can’t be overcome.  I’m not saying be an English genius — I know what a gerund is, but it’s not necessary for most people to know that or how to diagram a sentence.  It’s more important to know how to use it than how to explain it.  But it’s not nearly as hard as people make it out to be.  If someone can understand the syntax of C++ they can understand English.  It’s a lot simpler than programming is.  I’m using this as an example because typically a lot of the problems I see come from otherwise intelligent people who understand computers, or people who are somewhat competent on the internet.

I blame public school, honestly; everyone I know with crappy grammar went to public school.  Most of them also don’t know squat about a lot of other subjects, either.  Subjects I do know.  Which means either I’m some sort of genius or the public school system in this country sucks more dick than a porn star without taste buds.  But bashing schools will be another post.  Learn English if you’re going to speak English.  Good ideas don’t come from morons.

March 5, 2008

A wise man (and new (to me) blog)

Filed under: Self Defense — Adam @ 12:28 pm

Via Kim du Toit, a scary story with a good ending thanks to this wise man. I’m going to use this to vent a bit about gun grabbers…

There he is, one of us “gun nuts,” so “paranoid” he’s carrying a gun… so “bloodthirsty” he’d shoot someone. Yet he didn’t have to, and he protected himself and his daughter. Because, maybe, just maybe, those of us who believe in a right to self defense aren’t about to just open fire every time we’re slightly spooked. He handled it very calmly, and wisely. The man isn’t a paranoid-bloodthirsty-gun-nut. He’s a man protecting his family.

There’s nothing wrong with being vigilant, being prepared. We don’t make fun of people for carrying a spare tire and a tire iron, or women who take self defense classes. But when a man wants to carry a handgun, and is willing to go to the lengths of being fingerprinted and carrying a license to allow this, suddenly he’s some kind of paranoid lunatic. Truth is, there is crime in this world. Noshit, right? But there is. There are murderers, and people break into houses and do awful things — like Jonathan and Reginald Carr, or this group of thugs. My cousin was murdered after giving over his money. So maybe I’m a little bit biased, but hey, that sort of bias doesn’t stop the gun-grabbers.

There is crime, men do horrible things on occasion. Yet a certain group of our population wants to malign those willing to step up and defend themselves and others. I think we’re winning the battle with these people, and I think we will eventually win because I believe when presented with reasonable arguments about their safety, most people will come to our side — sane people want to be safe.

But in the case of Xavier above — his gun may have saved his and his daughter’s lives. Yes, the goblins probably wanted a game, but when has that stopped them from murdering someone? If someone is willing to violently break the law, you can’t know how far they’ll go. His gun may have saved their lives, and he didn’t even have to fire it. Because sometimes being prepared to act is more valuable than acting.

March 4, 2008

Gary Gygax has died.

Filed under: Geek Stuff — Adam @ 12:37 pm

I don’t have a better link, because the site has been slashdotted, but Gary Gygax has passed. If that name isn’t familiar to you, he was the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons. Because of this, not only was he the father of role-playing games, he is pretty much one of the most important people in geek culture and history.

Wow, that feels weird to write. But it’s true. I don’t know how many people play his games, or games based on them, but I can guarantee it’s a lot of them. You probably know someone who does or has, if you don’t or haven’t. Myself, I’ve never played a single moment of D&D or any similar game, but I’ve always been interested in the games. Nethack, a game I play often, borrows a lot from various sources, including D&D. I’ve always found myself more interested in the ideas and mechanics of D&D than actually playing it.

Nonetheless, this is a sad day for geekdom. Be nice to your nerds today.

Update: See, geeks are everywhere: D&D co-creator Gary Gygax, R.I.P.. Malkin was a D&D geek — who woulda thought?

March 2, 2008

Well, that was interesting.

Filed under: Sports — Adam @ 8:36 pm

I meant to make a post before I left today about how tonight’s game should be interesting, as the previous two between us and Charlotte turned out to be shut-outs — Thursday, they beat us by a brutal 0-3, and Friday we beat them by 1-0.  In a three game series, I figured it would be interesting to see who took the “tie-break” away of the games.

Early — very early, like two minutes in — Charlotte got a penalty for high-sticking and drawing blood.  Four minute penalty, and unlike a normal two minute penalty this one sticks if the team is scored on.  With around 2:40 left of the four, we scored on them.  That knocked out the first two minutes, giving the Seawolves another 2:00 on the man advantage.  And they capitalized, making it 2-0.  Soon it was 3-0.

The entire second period was scoreless on both sides, but there was a lot of action.  Our goalie, #1 Ryan Munce, did some amazing acrobatics to stop them scoring on a two man advantage.  We’re talking, some Matrix, Mr. Miagi, Kung-fu voodoo shit.  I cannot describe in words the things this goalie was doing to keep that puck out.  I said in a text to some friends that if there were a Medal of Honor in hockey, he would have qualified for it.

In the third period, the Seawolves kept getting on the board again, all the way up to 5-0.  The Checkers started playing pretty dirty, getting a few high sticks in (and drawing another four minutes for it).  The one they drew four minutes on, a lot of fans thought should have been a game misconduct — the guy clearly did it on purpose, and to hurt our guy.   It wasn’t the most unsportsmanlike thing I’ve seen in an ECHL game.  I know some of it was frustration — they got a “goal” that didn’t count because their player was interfering with our goalie, so not only did they not get the point they picked up a penalty for their trouble — but some things are just uncalled for.

We got to 6-0, and started picking up our own penalties.  Charlotte had a two man advantage when two of our guys got pulled for tripping, and managed to end the shut out.  Less than a minute later, while still down by one man, the Sea Wolves came back and got a shorthanded goal, making it 7-1.  It stayed that way until the end.

This was damn near a perfect game for Ryan Munce (again).  This is the team that I was seeing in early January — it’s nice to have them back.  This win puts us that much closer to sealing our playoff spot.  We’re twelve points ahead of Pensacola in the rankings, with about fifteen games left for Pensacola. We could lose our spot in playoffs if they closed that gap.  If we keep playing like tonight, though… they won’t close it.

This was the last home game until the 21st of this month, which starts the three game series with Texas.  If we can come out of that series having taken the better of it, I will be amazed and have some serious hope for our chances at the Kelly Cup.  Texas has mauled us before, but we’ve handed them one of their six regulation losses.  Not many teams can say that.  After Texas, we have a single home game against Pensacola — there will be drama if the playoffs spot comes down to that game or the next against them in Pensacola.