Verbisaurus Blogicus

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Now that the semester is over, I’m diving right in to about half a dozen books I’ve been meaning to read. I’m now about halfway done with Guy Harrison’s 50 Popular Beliefs that People Think are True. Here’s a great excerpt from chapter 19, “Television News Gives Me an Accurate View of the World:”

The primary problem with most television news today is that it’s just nowhere near the reflection of reality that most viewers probably assume it is. Much is said about conservative and liberal biases in the news, but political favoritism is a trivial concern compared to the irrational fears and warped perspectives that TV generates. Political leanings are not the biggest problems with Fox News and MSNBC. The primary problems are that they illogically prioritize news coverage, cover politics like sports events, present tremendous amounts of nonsense as important news, fail on competent science reporting, and stroke fears unnecessarily. Anyone who doesn’t know how to assess television news for what it is and recognize the nonsense is likely to end up with a wildly inaccurate view of the world.

Later, he says:

I wish more people appreciated the unique power of a book. Not because I happen to write books, but because I sincerely believe that books (most of them) are good for the world. One could make a case for the book being the most important and powerful invention of all time. Given the impact of the book on human history, it certainly has to make top ten, no doubt.

And:

If one is short on time and has only thirty minutes or so per day for reading, I suggest spending five of it doing a high-speed headline-skim of a couple of the most reputable news sites or newspapers, then use the remaining twenty-five minutes turning the pages of a good mind-expanding book or science magazine. High-quality nonfiction books and science magazines offer two thing television news is unwilling or unable to provide much of these days: information presented in depth and a realistic perspective of the world.

So, yeah, I liked that stuff. Don’t misunderstand me, though, I’m not saying you should read the book. Like Harrison’s other similarly titled book, this one suffers from too many overlapping beliefs. A book covering only 40 (or, heck, any arbitrary number would do) would be better. Harrison also has a bad habit of talking about how awesome his life has been. For example, in one chapter discussing the supposed moon landing “hoax,” Harrison takes a good two paragraphs to talk about what a successful photographer he’s been. Also – in that same chapter – he says it’s just unbelievable that all those astronauts and NASA employees would have lied about the moon landing, yet in other chapters, he says that just because someone claims something is true, doesn’t make it true. So which is it?

Bottom line: decent book with a lot of overlap. Some annoying bits in it. The best bits are quoted above.

Sunday, 13 May 2012

This evening, I asked Jennifer if she was disappointed that her Mother’s Day wasn’t very special. I mean, Owen made her something from school, and we went out for yogurt, but otherwise…it wasn’t really a special day. Jennifer didn’t seem to care – she said it’s just a Hallmark Holiday. I agree – in fact, I’ve used that term for several holidays as well. She said she doesn’t like being told when to commemorate or acknowledge certain things in her life. It’s an added, unnecessary pressure.

Over the past half-decade, we’ve been pretty inconsistent with our holiday celebrations. On most New Year’s Eves, for example, we’ve done nothing, absolutely nothing. Not even “watching the ball drop.” But once we stayed at Jennifer’s parents’ house and stayed up ’til midnight with them. And just four months ago, we attended a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s home. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day, Kwanzaa, and those Jewish holidays are other days we’ve observed to greatly varying degrees. Other holidays, such as MLK Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Labor Day, and Veteran’s Day are ”special” days that we pretty much ignore. It seems we participate in them if something arises: like if a friend invites us over to watch the fireworks. The remaining four holidays are more consistent, bigger deal, primarily because we have children. 

Holidays just aren’t part of my tradition – they bring me no nostaliga, they don’t bring my extended family together, and I agree with Jennifer that they can be a bother. “Oh, look, it’s Mother’s Day,” I think, “I guess I should buy Jennifer something and see if she wants to go out to eat.”

Instead, I like our own holidays and special events that we, as a family, have created for ourselves.

Monday, 14 May 2012

Speaking of which, today is Owen’s birthday. He is seven years old.

A few weeks ago, I asked him if he wanted to go to school on his birthday to pass out treats to his classmates, or if he wanted to stay home and go do something. Surprisingly, he wanted to go to school. I think he’s seen other classmates pass out treats on their birthdays, and so he wanted to do it to. So he brought in temporary tattoos. He also got to wear a special crown today announcing it was his birthday.

After school, I brought him home where Jennifer had wrapped and hidden several presents. The presents were all hidden on the main floor of our house, but since Owen is really bad at looking for things, it took quite a bit of clues for him to find everything. There was a small gift on the shelf in the porch, another one behind the clock on the mantle, one in the kitchen cabinets, another in the key holder, and – appropriately - a gift-wrapped book on the book shelf.

After that, we took off for a nearby park, where Jennifer took pictures of Owen wearing the same shirt and tie that he’s worn every year on his birthday. This is kind of a pain, since Owen’s policy when being photographed is strict non-compliance, but Jennifer managed to get some good photos. It’s going to be fun to see his growth through the years while wearing the same shirt every year.

Then we headed to the Olive Garden – the restaurant Owen picked for dinner.

Owen got a phone call from his grandma (my wife’s mom) and my sister wishing him happy birthday. Before bed, I read him TWO chapters (double the normal amount) – one from each of the two books we’re currently reading together, and we marked his height on a 2×4 that we keep expressly for that purpose. Judging from the marks on the piece of wood, Owen grew about as much while he was 6 as he did when he was 5.

This coming weekend, he’s having a small birthday party.

I thought it was funny how, several times today, he said, “I can’t believe I’m seven now. Daddy, can you believe I’m seven?” Well…yes…I can. But only because I’m kind of a freak when it comes to tracking dates on the calendar.

Happy birthday Owen!

Friday, 11 May 2012

Tonight, Jennifer and I watched the first 75% of MacGruber, and I think we are dumber for it.

I thought I would like the comedy. I was a big fan of MacGyver in the 1980s. I even wrote to Richard Dean Anderson once. So, maybe I was expecting too much. There were funny bits, to be sure, but the whole thing didn’t seem to work together. I think this is a common problem with Saturday Night Live sketches turned into movies: they’re funny for five minutes, not 90.

The main issue, for me, was that the movie began with a strong indication that MacGruber is the most amazing soldier the US Military has ever had: he’s been on tours of duty in several theaters, and has won a dozen purple hearts. The first time we meet GacGruber, he is able to identify his guest without even turning to see him and he subsequently launches himself in the air, backflips, and lands face-to-face with his guest. But then…he’s jsut a buffoon. Didn’t really make sense.

Save yourself the time…rent something else.

Saturday, 12 May 2012

 We got a lot done around the house today. I removed about a dozen more landscaping bricks from the front yard, installed a work bench in the garage, removed wiring from the old garage door opener, and pulled dead ivy off the side of the house. Jennifer sprayed weeds with homemade organic weed killer, and watered our flowers. Owen pulled out weeds. Isla just made it difficult for everyone.

At one point, Jennifer asked when I planned to clean up all the sticks, leaves, and debris on our garage’s roof. I said, “Let’s do it now.” So she helped me get our big ladder out of the garage and position it alongside the garage.

Then she took a picture of me:

Here you can see that the right side of the roof is already cleaned off. That’s ’cause I had just done it. The debris had been up there for so long that the leaves had rotted and returned to soil. There were weeds growing in that soil! I used a rake and a broom to get everything off. During the course of the day, the roof finally got to dry out there. Now we’re waiting for a good rain to come along and wash it off. In the meantime, unlike the previous owner, I plan to get up there more than once a decade.

Also today, we all went on a bike ride. This was Isla’s first experience bicycling. Here she is in the trailor:

How cute is that?

Thursday, 10 May 2012

 Yesterday, during a news interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, President Obama finally came out of the closet, declaring his support for same-sex marriage.

I’m glad he did. In the past, he had stated his support for such unions, but ever since he began his run for the White House, he’s been in some sort of middle ground. I assume that Obama, like most politicians, was trying to do what he felt would give him the greatest chance of getting elected.

The big word he used for the past four years was “evolving,” like in this article from last June. I was a bit disgusted that Obama would take that spineless middle ground for so long. Obama – moreso than any previous Commander-in-Chief – should recognize the harm in slighting one particular group of Americans.

Alas, he finally came out. This article by the Huffington Post cites several reasons, but basically, Biden had already expressed his support, so the pressure was on. Additionally, it’s an election year, and Obama’s stance likely solidifies support from, well, many people who were probably going to vote for him anyhow.

Making this sort of stance is often termed “flip-flopping.” I absolutely hate that politicians and reporters use this word in referring to candidates’ and politicans’ changing views. In fact, I hope that our politicians flip-flop on matters over time. As people – me included – learn new information or accumulate new experiences, our ideas change. If they don’t, then we’re dead…and while a corpse may be preferable to some live politicians, I am still hedging my bet that the best person for President is a living person.

In the 1960s, Nixon indicated he did not care for environmental issues. But then he signed the bill creating the EPA. Guess he flip-flopped. Good for him! Either he realized that enviromental issues were important, or he realized he needed the support of constituents who did care about the environment.

In 1988, George Bush, Sr. said: “Read my lips: no new taxes.” But then he got elected and created new taxes. Again, good for him. I’m glad that once he came into office, he realized he couldn’t get the support of Congress and get the budge to work without raising taxes.

A bunch of congressmen recently signed some pledge saying they wouldn’t raise taxes. I’m glad they feel that way; I’m not crazy about taxes going up everytime the government needs more money, but I think signing a pledge is a bit excessive. Surely, you never know what might happen or what might change in the future. So, please, flip-flop.

Of course, since it’s an election year, GOP candidate Mitt Romney had to make a stand in response to the President’s. He said: “I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name.”

This, of course, is a flip-flop from his stand back in 1994, when he claimed to be sthe better choice for gays among Senatorial hopefuls (his competitor was supre-liberal Ted Kennedy). Here’s a chart that shows Romney’s and Obama’s evolving  flip-flopping.

And notice how Romney states he only supports civil unions, as long as they’re not equal? Wow. That’s crazy. During the first half of the 20th Century, the United States tried out “separate but equal.” It didn’t work out, primarily because separate never was equal (and because complete implementation would’ve been cost-prohibitive), so they dropped it. But this…this is worse. Romney has no pretenses that gays should be treated equal. He wants them separate AND unequal.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I wish certain parties would join the 21st century: GLBTs deserve equal rights, we need to protect our environment, and women should get final say over their own bodies. Can’t we just agree on that? Because then, we can debate things like foreign policy and the economy and it would actually be interesting to hear the different views and to have to think about who I will vote for.

Monday, 07 May 2012
At a local yogurt shop with Owen this afternoon, while we sat quietly eating out comsetibles, a song came on over the speakers. This conversation ensued:

Owen: What’s “hoomor”?

Me: What?

Owen: “Hoomor.” H-O-O-M-O-R. The lady in the song keeps saying “hoomor has it.”

Me: Oh. No, actually she’s saying “rumor has it,” and it’s spelled R-U-M-O-R.” [Note: Yes, I know Adele spells it "Rumour," but I didn't want Owen to learn it the wrong way. Adele is British and British people always get our language wrong.]

Owen: Oh. Well what’s that mean?

Me: Rumor? That means, like, something you’ve heard but you don’t know if it’s true or not. Like if I say that I heard a rumor that you’re going on a vacation, but I don’t know if it’s true or not until I check with you.

Owen: It still doesn’t make sense – “rumor has it?”

Me: Oh, I see what you’re saying. Yeah, it technically doesn’t make sense. “Rumor has it” is a colloquialism. Do you know what that is?

Owen: No.

Me: Well, it’s like a fun way of saying something. Like, she’s singing about how she’s heard rumors from her friends that her boyfriend doesn’t love her anymore, so she is telling her boyfriend that she’s heard rumors, but instead of saying “I have heard rumors that you dont’ love me anymore,” she says “rumor has it.” It’s just a funny way people say it. It doesn’t really make any sense, and it’s tough for kids, like you, who are learning the language, because they might understand all the words, but not understand what the words mean when they’re put together like that. People who move here from other countries have the same problem.

Owen: Are there other colloke…colloquil…

Me: Colloquialisms? Oh yeah. There’s loads of ‘em. [Thinking for a minute.] I can’t think of any right now, though. [Thinking some more.] Nope. I can’t think of any. Listen to this part of the song, she’s about to say “rumor has it” a bunch of times.

Owen: Why do they play this song?

Me: It’s just a popular song right now. She’s a famous singer, and when famous singers make new songs, radio stations like to play them.

Owen: Why is she famous?

Me: I don’t know all the reasons. She’s a good singer, but I suppose there’s a lot of good singers who aren’t famous.

Owen: Why is she a good singer?

Me: Well, she can sing really high and really low. And she can change pitch pretty easily. She also does things with her voice that most singers can’t do.

Owen: I bet her mom and dad are proud of her.

Me: Yeah. Hopefully they are. I hope they would be proud of her even if she wasn’t a really good and famous singer, though, right?

Owen: Yeah.

We got up to leave, and as we passed the cashier, I said, “See ya!” Then I said to Owen, “Hey, that’s a colloquialism – ‘see ya’. See? It doesn’t really make sense, it’s just a fun way of saying “Good-bye, we will probably see each other again sometime.”

Owen: My hands are sticky.

Tuesday, 08 May 2012
As today was the last regular class of “The Twentieth Century and You” (or whatever it’s called), the professor asked what we felt were the most important accomplishments or issues for the United States between 1900 and 2000.

One student raised his hand and said, “Civil rights.”

Yeah, that’s a good answer. You might hear ‘civil rights’ and just think of the racial issues of the 1960s, but that’s just the most memorable part of it. The whole century, really, featured women’s rights issues and black-white issues. To a lesser extent, there were pushes for Native American rights, prison reform, gay rights, and reforms in immigration, poverty, and education.

The next student said the triumph of democracy. I think this is a good answer, too. On the one hand, it’s not right to say democracy has triumphed, since many places are without democracy, and many other places (including the US) could go a long way towards becoming a true democracy. But really, indigenous groups have pushed for their freedoms and for expanded rights. The Nazi and Soviet systems are no more, and the majority of the world – under European colonialism in 1900 – is now under self-determining rule. Did you know that as of 2004, the majority of the world lives under democratic law? And look at a world map: oodles of countries (where “oodles” is defined as “196″) and very few colonies.

A third student said “The ascendancy of technology.” This is another good answer, and not just because the student used the word “ascendancy.” This dovetailed into the related issue of the US’s change from isolationist, to shared superpower status (first with Britain, then with the USSR), to it’s standing as the sole colossus on the globe.

A fourth student said “Vietnem,” which just proves not everyone understands basic American history.

Wednesday, 09 may 2012

I met with the professor today to hammer out a few questions regarding the upcoming exam. While talking with her, she commented on my vote for a 45 minute exam yesterday. Let me take you back one day real quick…

So, in class yesterday, the professor asked if anyone had any questions about the impending exam. I raised my hand and said: “Last week, you said the exam would be 45 minutes, but today you said one hour. Which is it?”

She said: “Which do you want it to be?”

I shrugged as if it was obvious, and said, “45 minutes.” A bunch of my fellow students balked at this. One student turned to look at me and said, “Why would you want only 45 minutes?” I hurriedly explained, “If she’s only expecting 45 minutes of writing, we don’t have to prepare as much, and we can write for, like 50 minutes and get all the info down.” The professor put it up to a vote.

I was the only one who voted for the 45-minute option. Everyone else, it seemed, wanted the teacher to expect an additional 25% of work.

So, today, in her office, the teacher said, “I don’t think those other students knew what they were voting for.” I laughed and said, obviously, I agreed with her. “They way I see it,” I said, “If you are only expecting me to write for 45 minutes, then I can write for close to an hour and I’ll be able to cover everything. But if you’re expecting an hour’s worth of writing, now I have to write for, like, 70 minutes to fit in everything you’ll want.”

She agreed. She said a lot of the students are still young and are overwhelmed by all the issues of the late 20th century. I asked her if she’d every heard “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”