Another classic video that promotes common sense. We should apply this for ourselves and our government.
Random Thoughts
- “Stop attributing quotes to me falsely.” – Albert Einstein
- When someone asks me if I want cheesecake, it sounds so much more appetizing than if it was called cheese pie.
- When it comes to web design, you can’t beat spiders.
- I am bound and determined to make a time machine. So I will occasionally look around to see if I figured it out yet.
- If we evolved from monkeys, why don’t I have thumb feet? Thumb feet are much better than big toe feet.
- If anyone has an extreme phobia we usually have an understanding and empathetic view. I feel sorry for people with homophobia, no one helps them out in their terror.
- Why don’t any restaurants serve sloppy joe’s?
- An added bonus of Christianity is that you have more weapons against vampires.
Random Junk
1. “Stop attributing quotes to me falsely.” – Albert Einstein (He didn’t really say this. That’s where the irony comes in.)
2. When someone asks me if I want cheesecake, it sounds so much more appetizing than if it was called cheese pie.
3. When it comes to web design, you can’t beat spiders.
4. I am bound and determined to make a time machine. So I will occasionally look around to see if I figured it out yet.
5. If we evolved from monkeys, why don’t I have thumb feet? Thumb feet are much better than big toe feet.
6. If anyone has an extreme phobia we usually have an understanding and empathetic view. I feel sorry for people with homophobia, no one helps them out in their terror.
7. Why don’t any restaurants serve sloppy joe’s?
8. An added bonus of Christianity is that you have more weapons against vampires.
Religion of America
I have been around the internets and found quite a few disturbing lies and distortions of history. Only looking at comments around the internet one would conclude that the founders of the USA were a bunch of secular, rabid atheists. Once again if you look into it, you know it is hogwash.
The one I will address now is that Benjamin Franklin was an atheist. Benjamin Franklin’s parents were Puritans and he was baptized as a youngster. He later associated with the Presbyterian Church for a short time. In 1725 he stated that he didn’t believe Christian teachings and became a Deist with a distaste for “organized religion”. He later came to be embarrassed by a pamphlet he wrote putting organized religion down. He found that he and some of his friends that he had converted to Deism had a decay in moral standards. After that he returned to endorsing “organized religion” without really ever joining one. Clearly he was not an atheist though.
Franklin even set forth what many founders called the “Religion of America” that was taught to children in school. From a letter to then Yale President Ezra Stiles he said:
“Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render to Him is in doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting it’s conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion.”
Here is a video that sums up nicely, in a hilarious way, what the founders believed.
Deaf Chat Rooms
In a college class that I was required to take called “Developing Multimedia for Accessibility”, I had a teacher that really got under my skin. He had no plan for the class at all and he would just ask us what we wanted to do for the class. The first 5 weeks of class was an endless repeat of the teacher asking us what we wanted to do for the final, which was apparently going to be our entire grade. I decided to stop going to class and come back near the end of the semester when things were solidified. I popped in for one class in the middle of the semester and was amazed at what I heard.
Continue reading “Deaf Chat Rooms”Deaf Chat Rooms
In a college class that I was required to take called “Developing Multimedia for Accessibility”, I had a teacher that really got under my skin. He had no plan for the class at all and he would just ask us what we wanted to do for the class. The first 5 weeks of class was an endless repeat of the teacher asking us what we wanted to do for the final, which was apparently going to be our entire grade. I decided to stop going to class and come back near the end of the semester when things were solidified. I popped in for one class in the middle of the semester and was amazed at what I heard.
The teacher obviously had no idea of what to teach so he was surfing the net looking for accessibility related materials. He was talking about assistive technologies and how there are many wonderful things that help disabled people to perform many more tasks than they could normally. He came across a link to a deaf chat site and he said, “Would you look at that. That is just fantastic that we now have technology that enables deaf people to be able to chat.” You would think that shortly after making such a statement, he would realize his folly. But no, he spent the 45 minutes that remained in class talking about it. I wanted to just yell at him, “DEAF PEOPLE CAN READ AND TYPE!!!” But I was also curious as to how far he would go on the topic before he eventually realized that deaf people can chat anywhere on the internet. He went on and on about how it was great that deaf people could now have a place where they were able to communicate and that if someone hadn’t thought to start this site deaf people couldn’t chat. As time progressed I wondered what my classmates were thinking about this lesson. Were they as purely annoyed as I was? One guy sitting across the room from me seemed to be the only person that felt as I did. But he did not share my curiosity for how far the ignorance would go. He raised his hand and, in an attempt to derail the Idiot Express, said, “Deaf people can chat anywhere on the internet. I think the only special thing about this site is that deaf people can chat about issues that concern deaf people with other deaf people.” I thought, “Well, he did it. This exciting ride is over.” Just then the kid sitting in front of me proclaimed that he thought the site utilized technology that converted typed words into sign language. As he said this the teacher grew even more excited and a few students joined in the discussion with enthusiasm. I looked at the guy in front of me and drained every ounce of restraint in my body to keep from punching him in the side of his head. So now the class is running with the idea that Deaf Person #1 types in a message on their keyboard, which then is converted to moving hand gestures and seen by Deaf Person #2. Deaf Person #2 then types in a message which is converted to sign language and sent back. If they can both read and type then why would there ever be a need for the sign language conversion?
I watched in amazement as the class discussed what a wonderful idea it was. I feared for society, as it was the largest gathering of purely ignorant people I have ever beheld in real life. (I haven’t ever been to a session of Congress.) I did my final project for the class and got an A. I learned more about the power of stupidity in groups than I did about accessibility.
In Defense of Cleon Skousen
I have come across a few articles recently which disparage and belittle the accomplishments of W. Cleon Skousen. The main criticisms people have are first, that he was fired from his position as the Chief of Police in Salt Lake City; second, that his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, distanced itself from him and third, that he is a crackpot who believes that people want to form a one world government. Each of these charges are distortions and/or lies and when examined truthfully are extremely benign.
The first accusation is true. He was indeed fired from his position as the Chief of Police. Saying this alone makes it sound like he was incompetent or negligent in some sense. You only need to find the reason and timing of his dismissal to know that he was fired because he disagreed with the Mayor about enforcing laws. Mayor J. Bracken Lee fired him and then called him a liar to discredit anything he might say about Lee and his illegal activities. Mayor Lee later stated that it was his worst political decision to fire Skousen since crime jumped up 22% shortly after Skousen left. Any reference to his stint as police chief as a negative for Cleon is a twisting of the facts. I came across an old 1994 family reunion video I have and there is a good section about Skousen’s Police Chief experience. I will let him defend himself.
The second accusation is not true, but is a twisting of a separate announcement by the church. Skousen had formed an educational, political group called the “Freeman Institute” which would read about and discuss many political issues. Some members of the LDS faith had been using the church buildings to hold meetings. Any LDS member who has attended meetings during an election year has heard the standard announcement that the church does not support any particular candidate, nor does it allow it’s buildings to be used for political meetings. In 1979, since the buildings had been used by some in the Freeman Institute, the church sent an announcement to stop the use of buildings which stated, “This instruction is not intended to express any disapproval of the right of the Freemen Institute and its lecturers to conduct such meetings or of the contents of the lectures. The only purpose is to make certain that neither Church facilities nor Church meetings are used to advertise such events and to avoid any implication that the Church endorses what is said during such lectures.” That hardly sounds like the church distanced itself from Skousen, but rather that they had an interest in maintaining a tax exempt status.
The third criticism is based on his belief that people were conspiring to bring about a one world government. In today’s world of continental unions, talk of a one world currency and treaties that give away sovereignty of nations to a global power, a reasonable person would never say that this idea is for crackpots. People have even admitted to being part of a conspiring group to put the world under one government. Criticizing Skousen on this point could just demonstrate complete ignorance, complete complicity or both.
I find it to be very ironic that a major point that Skousen made about the people seeking to gain power was that they were changing history by omitting or twisting certain things when teaching it and now his legacy has fallen victim to the same distortions.
Stages of a Restaurant
Hip, Fresh and New
Everyone is going there for lunch. You can usually count on waiting in a line or being on the list for a long time. The food is terrific and there may even be some new type of gimmick in use. They have big heaping helpings of whatever you order. This stage seems to last a while, but only long enough to get people hooked. This stage also includes the optional expansion mode where several other branches open up in various places.
Drop in Food Quantity
Suddenly one day when you stop by you notice that they didn’t fill the bowl all the way with rice or the burrito seems a little thinner. You feel ripped off a bit but the food still tastes good. In the back of your mind you imagine a meeting in the back of the kitchen where the employees are told to start skimping on stuff.
Drop in Food Quality
This visit is always the most sad one. They must have started ordering their beef from somewhere else and it just doesn’t taste right. Not only do you have to choke down the meal you purchased but you must choke back the tears.
The Long Absence
You protest the new choice of food supplier by not going back to the restaurant for a very long time. You hope that others are doing the same to send a message that the food is horrible now.
A Test Run
“We haven’t been to _______ in a while.” You think it might be safe to try again. When you arrive you find the prices are slightly higher than before which gives you hope that they picked a better food supplier. You are disappointed though as you find the food just isn’t as good as it used to be.
Joke Phase
This phase is reserved for places that consistently over time have had such bad food and/or service that the only thing they are good for is a punchline. Your friends will make jokes about it and if the restaurant was nationwide you will get some late night material out of it. After this point there are only two options.
Option 1 Re-branding
The restaurant will do everything they can to make people forget about the time that someone found a full toenail in that omelette; or that waitress who was extremely racist. They will update the logo and clean out the dining areas for the first time in years. The PR people will have the machines moving with new commercials showing plenty of happy black people eating off of clean dishes. This phase gives them a 50/50 chance of getting back on top or moving to the next option.
Option 2 Embrace It
There always has to be that place for loadies to go at 2am when they are hungry. Another important part of their customer base is the people who were too drunk for the bars to keep around. This grimey little establishment just has to have a toilet and something made with potatoes.