I Love Seafood
Anyone who knows me well also knows I love seafood. I found a great deal of amusement in this story. It started 2 days ago. Apparently a 22-pound lobster was saved from being someone's dinner and it was to be sent to an aquarium instead. Initially the funny part was that it "boiled" down to a case of P.E.T.A. vs P.E.T.A.:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Wholey a letter asking him to work with the group to release Bubba back in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine.
Another group calling itself People For Eating Tasty Animals reportedly offered Wholey a hefty price for the lobster. At Tuesday’s price of $14.98 a pound, Bubba would retail for about $350.
As I was dreaming about how that lobster might taste, I received the news that Bubba the Lobster died. But that made me more perplexed. Now that the animal was dead, would it be ethical to eat it? Why waste the meat? Or they might as well make some money and donate it to perhaps some sort of "Lobster Lobby" or something? Imagine 15" inch long claws. Mmmm...
Ahh but the good men of science came up with a better idea. Use the shell for display and try to determine the cause of death. I rest so much better knowing that people care so much for the comforts of animals.
More Hum Drum
I had a really good blog entry a few days ago about the issues with musicians and sampling other music. It took about 1 1/2 hours to write up with a good deal of internet research. Then the moment before I was about to publish it, I hit some link or something and trashed the whole thing. I'm too lazy to redo it, but I'm still upset over it.
...
In an unrelated event last thursday, my brother was doing some testing on a computer he was going to setup. However he had left it in my room. Sometime around 3AM the computer turned itself on. I think I woke up about 3:15AM completely disoriented to some loud whirring noises and blue and yellow flashing lights. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on. But when I did, for the life of me, I could not find the off switch in the semi-illuminated darkness. Growing incredibly angry I pulled the cord and went back to bed. However I didn't immediately fall asleep. My boss asked me why I was so sleepy on friday morning's meeting. I told her I had a near-miss UFO encounter the night before. Too much technology.
...
And in a final tidbit of craziness, the 3 (of 4) beloved munchkins spent the weekend. Needless to say I'm tired. I hate to call it yet another fruitless weekend, but anything else would be inaccurate.
Posted in: Life,
Sensory Compensation
Sounds like something out of Star Trek, no? Since I was in elementary school I would always find it irritating when someone told me that they could not study without some sort of "noise" (music or whatever). That never sat right with me.
I was reading Parade Magazine this morning and looked upon "Ask Marilyn". Someone wrote in:
I have fairly bad eyesight. But why is it that when I remove my glasses, I can't hear people as well?
You’re straining to see clearly, so your senses are competing for attention more than when you wear glasses. This is why people often close their eyes when trying hard to to hear something. It’s also why listening to music isn’t conducive to studying.
I can never get myself to disagree with Marilyn vos Savant's logic or analysis. Usually my brothers agree. ... So you people, you know who you are *cough*merrick*cough*, quit loading your MP3's or CD's when you're about to study. You might just possibly be more productive.
The Mother Tongue
My parents placed my siblings and me into a private elementary school in the hopes of getting an optimal education. Often at times "private school students" is synonymous with "rich kids". So when a facility or resource is not available due to the smaller student body, usually the parents will have to pay extra (umm, extra extra) to provide this for their child.
Case in point. I was in 7th grade and the "Junior High" (translation: 7th and 8th graders) considered the possibility of have a foreign language program. With less that 30 students per grade such program did not exist. I became instantly infatuated with the idea. My only (immature) thinking was how cool it would be. I didn't care for the language. I don't even remember which one I liked, but I knew it was a cool idea.
I took home the flyer, seeing as it costed extra money, my mother was completely against it. Her excuse: "I don't see it beneficial for you to learn a french or spanish or whatever when you can barely speak your mother tongue." I know in reality the only reason was money. However I was angry all the same. ... And the saddest part? I'm angry at myself now. I'm upset that I did not take that cue 13 years ago. Not that I didn't learn a foreign language, rather that my mother was(is) right. I disregarded my native language.
Ah, well, another victim of cultural decadence in America.
Still Bloggin!
Yeah, I'm still here. Down with a nasty cold, sitting on my bed with a laptop (thank God for 802.11b!) ... Anyways, I always find it interesting how people generally place a great deal of significance in arbritrary numbers (present company included). This should be my 100th post. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing, in fact, I'm surprised it took so long to get to 100.
Back in the fall of 2000 my Technical Communication prof was explaining how something called a "blog" would be revolutionary. I wasn't paying attention. Now it seems like everyone (HardBlogger?, GM?) has one. Some surveys have claimed 2/3 of blogs are not regularily updated while other put the guesses at: 1/2 or 1/4? Either way even 1/4 of millions is A LOT of useless blogs! To counter what Tai said: "Do I really feel like what I want to say is worth another person?s time to read? Unfortunately, the answer is I usually come up with is ?No.?" I say, you don't need someone else to read your blog for it to have value.
So my coworker started his own blog recently, my Intel buddy in Austin is giving a second stab at his blog and I just found out some of my family friends discovered my blog! More readership, more blogs! Alright. Now excuse me while I get some more tissues.