The Bible... the Bible... the Bible... in all instances and things we find ourselves beset by the babbling of "the Bible" by fools of all stripes and colors. Yet how do I say such a thing? Words cannot express the joy I experience when reading "the Bible". The inestimable worth of such a thing has yet to be fully understood or grasped, and remains beyond the reach of our systems. Oh "the Bible"... the accolades and homages paid to it are never-ending.

Human dignity is expressed perfectly in the phrase, "...in His image." I cannot understand the attitude portrayed by so many pious crusaders which makes Man owe fealty to a Book. I cannot accept it. If such a bondage or servitude should be imposed, it is nothing less than a fundamental affront to the dignity of Man, and so a great offense against God Himself.

I am Man. I walk with my God. If I should be cast into the desert or deprived of all literature, I would stride confidently to my fate securely wrapped in His grace and His patronage. I do not need the Bible for this. If I should have never heard of such a thing, there I would be, as much a child of God as anything ever was.

My God, your God, our God. I shall seek after Him all the days of my life and no one can deny it.

I don't trust salary surveys comparing college grads to non-college grads. I think there is so much more to the equation than just doing a two-point data comparison. Things like personal or cultural habits that promote or encourage long-term employment, which does just as much or more than college education to enhance earning power. There are certain underlying factors to a poor, working person's life. Things like constant lay-offs, shifting employers, changing circumstances, lack of stability... on and on and on. If you can find a company that will let you work for them for 30 years... you're lucky these days.

The flip-side holds as well. There are people that are just so immersed in their particular class-culture that making more money is just an avenue to borrowing more money. I come from a neighborhood of non-college parents owning their own $150,000 (present value- my childhood home was 38k in '83) homes, which is a neighborhood a mile away from college-parents so deep in debt with $350,000 homes (because their numbers look bigger on paper) that they're well and truly fucked.

So this is my opinion: College education helps your earning potential, but the upper middle class life is a recipe for disaster. If it is the case that we need college degrees, it only because we have abandoned labor and destroyed unions to the extent that it is the only option left. It is not superior by nature, but by unfortunate circumstance.

It is true that college degrees help your earning potential, but that earning potential itself is decreasing over time in accordance with simple supply and demand. For every lower-middle class Joe who climbs the ladder and makes that Junior Executive/VP slot just before he retires, there are a thousand other Joes who never get anywhere near that.

Not everybody can be a superstar, a chief, a boss, or an executive. The value of your education will always be subject to market forces, and the plain fact that no one is going to pay you for your degree. You're going to get paid on your position and rank; and for every MBA out there (like a million or two), there are only so many slots available for serious potential. There is only one CEO.

Academics know this. Why get a PhD anymore? If you want one sure. But to get a job that requires one? Ha, have fun playing that game.

So I "passed" my math test today, and I guess I don't have to take any math outside of your standard stats course. So big ups for me refreshing my algebra II and basic trig after 10 years and more.

Aside from that, registration was your usual frustrating process of "all full" or "schedule overlap". So I'm doing Effective Writing (Fresh. Comp.) and French 101. I've had 4 years of German, but German wasn't open... History wasn't open... Chemistry, Biology and Physics wasn't open... so yeah... I didn't have much choice and I had to take something.

But, I like French, what little I know. I like to speak it and I like to read it, so why not have basic understandings of 2 languages? It's just a general requirement anyway, not like I was going to learn fluently anyways.

Good news is, is that their Religion and Philosophy majors are small enough to easily double major with little extra time. Neat! Why the hell not? Sign me ups.

I'm waiting to hear back from a full Religion class. The advisor said he'll e-mail the prof to see if he'll let me get in this semester, otherwise I'm stuck with taking only 2 classes. We'll see. A full-time job and three courses? Doable, certainly.

I'm concerned about horsey time and what is left.

Let my people go!

Peter Jackson does Alien Nation/V.

This photo makes perfect sense.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the class wank in equestrian.

Go working class!

Boo! Down with the yacht-owning bourgeois soft-backs! Boo!

Ah... class... it is the best... the only thing worth caring for.

Though seriously, I don't mind that rich people are rich.

I just can't stand how clueless they are.

So I has a maths placement test on Thursday. Yay. Taught myself quadratic equations, linear equations, inequalities... and uh... some other shit. Fuck me if I remember anything. I'm still just a little kid when it comes to math. Do this? Oh ok. Why? I don't know, you told me to, that's why.

But anyway, all I have to know is that x equals negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac over 2a. What that does is fuck all to me, but it works, and I can do it.

Simplifying complex rational fractions or some shit? Yeah, I'll get back to you on that.

Simplify (x^2+3x-2/x-2) - (3x-1/x+2)

Right... simplify... hrmm... ok...

(x^2+3x-2/x-2) - (3x-1/x2)

=zero.

There... much simpler!

You know what is stupid about putting things off?

The things you put off are the easiest fucking things to accomplish.

But that's probably why you put them off.

It is a vicious cycle.

There was one thing, a few years ago, that I consciously recorded as being put off "until tomorrow".

I put it off until tomorrow for six months, because I could always just do it tomorrow.

I was amused with myself. For 180 days I took note of it, and delayed it. I thought about it, every single day, for 180 days.

Now isn't that just plain ridiculous?

I've been watching 200 people wait for Obama and that Russian Presidential person-guy on the internets. This is more interesting than actual news. Silly peoples, don't you know that I are watching yous? Quit picking your nose important guy.

We took Lucky out yesterday. She did very good. All she needs is the right direction and communication. She may be a hot-blood, but she behaves tremendously well. She still doesn't want anything to do with the river. She doesn't panic per se, just a constant, low-level struggle to get away from the scary water. But hey, at least she didn't try pushing me into the water this time. Heh. I just want to get her to be able to stand on the shoreline and take a sip or something. But it is a big scary river, so we'll see how that goes.

At one point on the trail, I wanted to give her a little break and liberty, but she decided to get tangled up in a stand of small trees. Solution? Just break through the trees and trample them down. Oh well, I guess the State won't miss them that much. She could be a lumberjack!

I don't know, I guess I always thought that horses would shy away from trees and cluttered places with shadows and darkness... but no, she really just wants to go off into the forest for some strange reason. She walks through branches and leaves and pine needles and everything without a care in the world. For as skittish as she can be, the trees don't bother her at all. Just bangs right through everything, dragging her body and face through the brush and brackle. She always wants to go off trail into the trees... weirdo horse.

So Amadinejad wanted to debate the American President.

Request ignored.

Now Amadinejad wants "public negotiations in front of international media".

Oooh... you tricky bastard.

I almost fell for that one.

That's the great thing about authoritarian dickwads. They think they're so smart and sly. No, you're not. The only reason you get anywhere is because you're just that much more willing to kill people. Hitler wasn't a genius, Hitler just beat the shit out of people. One person who beats the shit out of people can intimidate thousands. This is why we call people 'thugs'. They ain't smart, they're just scary and mean and violent. That's all.

I am absolutely appalled at the amount of commentary going on in various places about Governor Sanford's wife.

You know, the whole, "Well she probably was neglecting him..." line of thinking. Dear God... do these people have any clue? And so many of them are said by women!

Why is it that Very Important White Christian Men "have difficulties and trials" whereas everyone else "sins"?

Let us all sit quitely and ponder the incredible trials men of such great stature must endure. I can only imagine the load and stress of being Very Important, and can only shake my head in awe that they did not fall sooner.

Here's to you Governor Sanford, for not failing until now... or something...

/sarc

In addition to "Blame Canada", I propose a new tradition: Blame Affirmative Action!

It's easy. Here is how it works.

1)Don't get something.
2)Blame Affirmative Action.

Example:

"I didn't get hired today. Damn Affirmative Action!"

Or,

"I didn't get into Harvard. Stupid Affirmative Action!"

Or,

"My wife left me! For a black man! From Canada! Goddamned Affirmative Action!"

The sad thing is that conservatives really think all of this stuff is about being friends.

As if the government is involved in facilitating friendship. Do you know why the question "Why can't we all just get along?" is a stupid question? Because it isn't about "getting along". It's about the law. I don't care if you can't get along with other people. This isn't the governments job. If you can't get any minority friends, you might wanna take a look at yourself for a second.

I mean, seriously, I don't give a shit if your next door neighbor hates your guts, for whatever reason. I don't give a shit if your neighbor won't let your kids play with his kids. C'est la vie. The government isn't about your stupid little daydreams.

Point it out to them and they'll stare right past you. Once again, for reinforcement:

They will believe and will tell you that the only race problem in America is the race problems faced by white males.

Commence laughter.

There is no video of Warren Zevon's "Veracruz"... :( Excellent song.

Or "Vast Indifference of Heaven."

:(

Talk about under-appreciated. HE STUDIED UNDER IGOR STRAVINSKY!!!!!

Evo-psych is the new astrology. Combined with neuroscience, it becomes a whole new brand of phrenology.

So I watched Gran Turismo Torino the other night. Enjoyable movie for as far as it goes. The main thing for me was noting how it was a movie made about a veteran not by veterans.

There is a certain pathetic quality to those men who use war as some kind of personal excuse for nigh on 50 years. All that dude needed was another veteran to tell him to get over it. I mean, really, if it defines and controls you that much for that long, you're not strong, you're not tough, you're not anything you make yourself out to be. At some point you go, "Well shit, that was a long time ago, I guess it doesn't matter now."

If I was the priest, I would've told him to stop being a whiny little baby about it.