Reading reading reading....

I kind of wonder why I hadn't read this one yet. The movie was on and I figured I needed to get going on that... I know it's been sitting on my shelf for a while. Funny enough, a lot of the analysis of this book is wrong, according to most people who have read it.

Seeing the movie and having been in the Army, you ask yourself, who the hell had the WORST combat tactics ever. I would have never gotten that close to any of those bugs. Why would they not just firebomb the entire planet? It doesn't make sense. Kind of makes me mad. Oh well, it is just a movie. LOL

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein




I figured it's about time.



View all my reviews

It's funny how that works.

I recently opened up the most recent copy of Harvard Business Review which I finally have a subscription to (don't have to steal dad's :) ), and funny enough, there's an blurb about exactly what I was talking about on the 12th.   I was even referring to CNN.com, but not by name.  I kind of was getting sick of reading... well, it's best served by an example.  I'm sure it won't take me long to find one....


Here's a comment from an article titled: 1 killed, 57 injured in Iraqi Kurdish protest
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is the worst dictator I have ever seen in my life, we can say worse than Saddam regime.


Seriously?  A party can't be a dictator.  A person is a dictator.


Then you have another article about Wolves, here is a brilliant comment... I can't even figure out how this fit into any semblance of discussion.  I think they're talking about furries, people who dress in animal costumes to live out fantasies... whatever they may be.  I can't make this stuff up.


Good! About time that governor learned how bad those furries really are. A bunch of children stalkers in their dog and wolf costumes, how perverted can you be?! I say kill the wolves and the people who pretend to be them so they can touch children bits while they get hugs!


Why do people even comment on this? It's really pointless.


And then one about Knees bearing the weight of obesity:


Duh, Get in shape America!!!!Save billions in health care costs.
Exercize more, eat less, eat healthy.


If you're going to comment for all the world to see, can you at least pay heed to your spell check?  And please, write in complete sentences.  I really get annoyed at people's laziness.


And here is another brilliant comment from the same article:


You know this article is missing one important factor, and that is, that there are relatively few doctors in this country who will do surgery on the morbidly obese. Yes, they will give bariatric surgery to those between 300 and 350 pounds, but not more than that. So what these stupid doctors are saying is that they need their obese paitients to lose weight to have surgery to lose more weight. If they could lose weight they would not need the surgery to begin with! I see it every day in my job and I feel so bad for all of them. Doctors are jerks.


Because they're jerks? That's quite a broad claim to make about somewhere around 400,000 individuals. I don't doubt that some are stupid since there are in fact stupid people everywhere, in every profession.  I heart ad hominem.  Although I ask myself if this individual is in that 350+ pound category since she (her name is apparently lilgtogirl, so I'm assuming here...) says "If they could lose the weight..." like she might have experience dealing with these difficulties. It just seems too personal.


Anyway, the bottom line of Clay Shirky's blurb (Cleaning up Online Conversation) about what he wants to do in the next year is pretty much summed up by the quote in blue from his little article. "In the 1990s putting up a forum that allowed anyone to say anything seemed like a good idea. It wasn't."  This is very true.  So very true.  Not everybody needs to open their mouths.  The first amendment wasn't created so you could spout off your ignorance.  Or, at least, nobody cares to hear it and it makes you look like an idiot... so you might as well shut your pie hole. Just sayin'.  I hope that when I say stupid things people tell me I'm wrong.  Or at least give me a look like "you are dumb" so I know.  Just so I know.  Haha...

Some people shouldn't be trusted to have children

There are countless examples.  I wish more people would use birth control.

It's not the first time Obama has faced ire from the right when it comes to childhood nutrition. Sarah Palin told Ingraham last fall that "the first lady cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat."


Sometimes I think there should be a parenthood test, if you don't meet a certain standard, you shouldn't be able to reproduce.  These issues bring to mind one of my friends from middle school telling me about her time as a social worker in NYC.  One mother in one of the programs was smoking while pregnant.  Please.  Although, the government can't be the one to monitor these sorts of things and tell people what to do.  It should come from a culture change, stemming from education.   

Comments on News Articles, blogs etc.

One of the most abnoxious things to me are some of the off the wall comments on news websites.

The most likely to respond, similar to a survey, are those that are either really happy or really pissed off.  The actual information and comments is not really a good indication of how things are actually going or what people actually think.  Similarly, this goes for blogs as well.  Those that are the most pissed or most excited or happy or whatever are going to write about it.  If its just "blah" nobody is going to waste the time commenting on it, unless you're a history book person or just documenting events with no opinion whatsoever.  But then still, what gets reported on, even in a documented fashion, is still likely to be stuff that whatever news agency thinks people want to read about.  I don't see how a news agency's website is really the right place for people to get up on their soap boxes.  I think that's what blogs are usually for... right? Haha...

I also, since I'm headed to law school next year, have been reading a lot about reasons not to go.  There are a myriad of reasons listed, some evidence points to blogs of disgruntled graduates finding a job market lacking.  I do sometimes wonder what kind of expectation management they've been doing.  Contrary to, it seems, these recent graduates' opinion, they're glorified college graduates.  Most students to graduate law school are just that, college graduates with a little extra--a professional degree.  But these students, despite their LSAT scores and GPAs that made them promising law students, they don't really have a whole lot to offer the job market in general.  Sure, there are some exceptions, and there are some even differing exceptions where a student graduates from law school prepared to get a post-school job (though proving this to potential employers takes considerable effort on the part of that student I think).  I have learned a couple of things, having worked for a couple of years in a rather demanding job.  One is that college doesn't prepare you to work.  It gives you a tool box full of nifty tools, but doesn't really tell you even how to use them or teach you the creativity to use other tools en lieu of tools you might not yet have.  Creativity is something not taught in school, neither are people skills, the ability to communicate effectively with others.  I just had a conversation with my mother yesterday about a situation at her former job.  A guy that worked with her was so difficult to work with, that he kept getting moved from job to job.  Regardless of how smart the guy was, he was pretty much useless to everybody because of his, well mostly, lack of tact when dealing with people. There was always a general consensus with my friends in the Army: we'd prefer a Soldier that was easy to work with and that could effectively communicate over one that couldn't.  You can't teach people skills, but most other things you can work with.

This isn't to say that experience guarantees success.  I watched a guy that screamed "Joe" (a guy that looks like a Soldier and has the mannerisms of a Soldier... even the hair cut) when I was at the Law School fair in Atlanta and I cringed when I heard him talking.  The military does a couple of things... but teaching you to communicate with civilians is not one of them.  If you can't take a step back and remember who you are and what you're doing then you need to just stop and take a breather.

Will I still go to law school? Yes.  My main reason is I want the legal education that comes with it.  However, am I this disillusioned to realize that the job market might be hard on me when I get out? No, I'm not.  I'm hoping nepotism (you do what you can to get your foot in the door, that's just the way it is!) might get me a little, and if not I'll take what I can get.  I never had dreams of being a Law and Order type of attorney; I've always been more fascinated by some of the philosophy.  I hope that when I get out my successes as an Army Officer will add an extra polish onto what I have to offer.  I'll just make sure I follow my dad's three H's: Humbleness, sense of Humor and Hardworking.  I think that these really are the keys to success.

Odd Idea

Wouldn't it be interesting if the Vice President were elected by a vote of the people like the President?

As of now, of course, the VP, while not seemingly a power house, actually holds a lot of clout in some situations.  If the President kicks the bucket, that's right, he's the President.  The VP stands in for the President in many other instances too.  Currently, the VP is selected by the President and approved by the Congress (Amendment 12, Constitution/Bill of Rights).  Though really, why can't the people elect both?  In addition, the Vice President heads the Senate and is the tie breaker for any votes that can't be decided.

I guess my thing is I always thought the "running mate" is kind of stupid.  It detracts and distracts from who we're really installing as the head of state, the United States.  Certainly, Palin distracted from her running mate, and you can argue in a positive or negative way (my personal opinion is that the woman is a hot mess, but that's beside the point).

Superbowl

For one of THE American pastimes, the Superbowl is probably one of the most out of reach traditions (save for sitting in front of the TV) for the average American.  Going to the Superbowl I'd think would run likely around 3,000, more than a lot of things many people can't afford anyway...

And then we got there, and it was one of the most pretentious events I've ever been to.  "Look at me, I'm so great, I'm the Superbowl!" It was kind of depressing.  Not that I wasn't glad to be blessed with the opportunity to attend thanks to the stars aligning (and planets); how my boyfriend and I managed to swing it for less than $400 is amazing.  Every chance they got, a new star or "important" person was featured on the jumbo--I mean, ridiculously huge--tron.  Like, look who is here! We're so cool everybody wants to come see us in person!

Maybe that's because it costs so much.  You have to feel like it was worth it to pay all that money for a five hour event. "Look, you're here, it's been totally worth it to pay what you could buy an entire car with to come see a five-hour event."

I shouldn't complain, I know.  I was one of the lucky ones and I did have a great time.  I have been blessed with good friends, who have good friends, who have very good friends that could get us into this event.  But thinking about it, if we wanted to go, how would we afford to?  I guess it will be sitting on the couch most likely for the rest of my life. Not that I mind really, time with friends and family is most important, much more important than being around a bunch of famous people that I don't know after all. Maybe some of my friends will be famous someday?

Protesters paid...

After the Internet shut down and the social media machine was disabled temporarily, it's back to the down and dirty hired mobs for the Egyptians it looks like.  Just like old times.  There are so many accounts and many speculations about where Wednesday's pro-Mobarak demonstrators came from.  Some might have been genuine.  In a dictatorship that has been going on for 30 years, there are sure to have been some distingushished "haves" (vs. the "have nots") who would like to stay in a place of power.  But  many, I'm betting were paid and encouraged by the regime or its cronies.  Sigh.

Some of these pictures are pretty nice. Read the blog for an explanation of the last two pictures.