This guy is crazy.

He makes some good points, but he’s a bit too eccentric for me to take seriously.

Mark Bauerlein, I fart in your general direction!

This guy is so full of himself.  First off, he’s an ENGLISH professor.  How does that qualify him to make such generalized comments about today’s youth?  Maybe if he was a sociology professor or a psychologist, but an English professor?

This guy has no clue what being young is like these days.  He claims that future generations are going to be screwed.  I agree with that, but not because of Facebook, MySpace, cell phones, and Blackberries (idiot).  There are plenty of individuals from my generation that are civic minded and aware of the world scene.  Just because not EVERYBODY is going to grow up to be a Senator or English professor does not mean that we should be labeled the “Dumbest Generation.”  Even among his generation of 50 somethings, there is a fair share of janitors, factory workers, general laborers, and other occupations necessary to make society functional.

In fact, I bet that of the people from his generation, most of them are NOT professors or doctors, and there are just as many middle age people running around drinking beer and smoking pot as there are in today’s generation.

I bet his problem is that he can’t see intelligent individuals among his students because they don’t stand out as being particularly of use to his own research on the Dumbest Generation.

And about his first comment, concerning Germany, Japan, Italy, and Russia…Italy was our ally at the latter part of WWII, so that answer should have also been acceptable along with Russia.  That test needs to have its construct validity challenged.

Journey is melting the Earth!

DO NOT WANT!!!

NOOOO!!

[Falls onto the floor weeping]

Honestly, I didn’t even know if she was still alive…but now that I know for a fact she is dead, it makes me sad.

Is Mexico really far away from California?

I arrived at the office around 3pm to pick up a student (which itself is rather unorthodox, as 99% of the time we pick up students at home).  He was waiting in the “reception” area, I went ahead and introduced myself, and we headed out to the car.  We were out there for about 10 minutes talking about such things as defrosters, blind spots, and emergency flashers.  I asked to see his permit, at which time he admitted that he doesn’t have one.

No problem, as a driving school we can issue temporary student permits. We head back inside and I get him started on the necessary paperwork in one of the empty classrooms. I return to the reception area and begin to catch up on my own paperwork.

There is a girl, who looks to be about 18 or 19 (maybe older) sitting in

Barefoot it is!

Since going barefoot is somewhat commercially (and socially) unacceptable, I’ve had to compromise.  On a recent (like a month or two ago, but whatever) trip to San Diego, I purchased some good looking backless sandals.  I got them at some old-timey shoe shop in Old Town San Diego.  They had lots of leather shoe products, like cowboy boots, moccasins, and a variety of other lame stuff I would never wear.  Oddly enough, most of the stuff there was made in China, including the sandals I bought.  Maybe they were hand-made by Chinese children that earn 20 cents a day.  Maybe they were mass produced in a factory.  I’ll never know.

Anyway, since I got these sandals, they have been my number one pair of footwear.  While not ergonomically designed to mimic the bare foot experience, they have suitably kept my feet drier and consequently led to my soles getting thicker and tougher. On our recent holiday up in the mountains, I went mostly barefoot. Only rarely did I walk across a surface that required special attention (sharp gravel), and even more rarely did I have to stop and brush a thorn or other annoyance off the bottoms of my feet.

Therefore, if I continue wearing these sandals, eventually my feet will be tough enough to go barefoot all the time (unless I’m out at a place that requires footwear…so just about everywhere then).

Abandoned Payphones

Check out my new photoblog at Abandoned Payphones.  If you know of any abandoned payphones, send in some pics.

Drowning Pool for Jesus

Benny Hinn can totaly tap into some Christian chi.  Or maybe he uses the Force?