Aesop's Fables 1

So a few short days of random trivia and as usual I'm bored an on to something else... namely Aesop's Fables. They're short, and hilarious, and totally true. They're a commentary of the ridiculous stupid psychological mind games we play with ourselves. Here's one:

A hungry fox saw some fine bunches of grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach: so he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, "I thought those grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour."

Fun Fact for the Day 3.8.12

Sticking with 18th Century United States, the continental congress of 1775 tried one last desperate attempt at avoiding war by sending what became known as the Olive Branch Petition. The petition, sent to King George III, was a humble plea to the king which tried to explain that the colonists were loyal to him, but felt unjustly governed by the rules of the English parliament. The petition asked the King to draw up a final plan that could avoid war that would give colonists free trade and taxes equivalent to those levied against people in England or no taxes with strict trade regulations. The King however refused to accept the letter and issued a Proclamation of Rebellion that called for Great Britain 'to use their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion'. We all know how that ended for him.

Fun Fact for the Day 3.7.12

Back in the US Presidential Election of 1796, election strategies were quite different than they are today. Each state nominated a certain number of electors and each of these electors in turn had 2 votes with which to vote for any two candidates for president that they wanted. At the end of voting, the person with the most votes would be president and the person with second most would be vice president.

The Federalists all wanted John Adams as their man along with Thomas Pinckney. To ensure that Adams would have more votes than Pinckney, a few delegates were told to cast their second ballot for some other person with no chance of winning.

However, the opposing Democrat-Republican party knew this. They wanted Thomas Jefferson to be president, but they had fewer delegates than the Federalists which made getting Jefferson elected unlikely. Thus, if they couldn't get their man in, at least they could mess up the Federalists' plan. Alexander Hamilton coerced some of the electors pledged to Thomas Jefferson to cast their second vote for Thomas Pinckney in the hope that Pinckney would end up with more votes than Adams and become the new president. The Federalists got wind of this plan and therefore tried to have some of their delegates switch their second vote to ensure Pinckney would not precede Adams on the final tally.

Unfortunately for the Federalists, the miscounted, and too many delegates switched their vote away from Pinckney, leaving Thomas Jefferson in second place and thus the new vice president with John Adams. It would be the only time that the President and Vice President were from opposing parties, and would actively work against each other to preempt the other's policies.

Fun Fact for the Day 3.6.12

In 1754 Benjamin Franklin proposed what became known as the Albany Plan at a conference of delegates of 7 (of the then 9) colonies of British North America. The plan called for unification of all colonies under the central authority of a governing council and a colonial president to be appointed by HM the King. Approved by the council of delegates, the plan was rejected by the colonies. Benjamin Franklin later reflected that had the plan been accepted and executed, it would have been very likely that the cessation would not have happened when it did, nor perhaps even for another century if at all.

Fun Fact for the Day 3.5.12

The US State of Georgia, chartered in 1732, was chartered with a ban on slavery. The idea was that without slavery, the province would have a strong (white) farm labor force with which to defend and serve as a buffer to the northern colonies if attacked from Spanish Florida. However, the ban was lifted in 1749, and only after a few short years of slaves pouring in, Georgia's labor force was homogenous with the rest of the US South.

The 13th Floor

Preface:
I just want to say (to whichever poor soul it is that is actually reading this) that its been a long time since my last post, and I guarantee less time will pass between this and my next.

The 13th Floor:
I live on the 14th floor of my building. No, I don't. But thats what the leasing office says. This is a 15-story building with 16 floors, without a 13th floor that is.
I understand the whole 'superstitious' aspect of not having a 13th floor, and I'm all for it. As I guy, I understand and encourage superstitions (namely with supporting sports teams, but if you really want to group civil engineering with athletics, who am I to stop you?).
However, what I cannot abide with is just skipping an entire number. Little kids in school aren't taught to count from 10 to 15 by going 'ten eleven twelve fourteen fifteen'. Similarly, civil engineers can't just go 'tenth floor eleventh floor twelfth floor fourteenth floor fifteenth floor'. You have to have a thirteenth floor.
As I previously said, I'm all for stereotypes, and as such, am not suggesting to actually put apartment units on a thirteenth floor unless thats what you really want to do.
Instead, what you do need to do is at least build a thirteenth floor instead of just calling the thirteenth floor something else. Make it an inch high. But a thirteenth floor needs to exist before you can build a fourteenth floor on top of it. Thats how math works, thats how civil engineering should work, and I think it'll make everyone happier in the end.

Back to school ...

I realized why it is that I want to go back to school so bad. Its because I dont feel intellectually challenged any more. Living in an academic world with people of comparable intellect, I was never overburdened with stupid comments or idiocy. But now, released into the 'real world' where there is no filter from this, I find myself surrounded by stupidity. I feel myself become stupider with every day I dont pick up a Math text book. My brain is wasting away, thanks to the general public. Sure, money is great, but is it worth it? I dont think so. I'd rather go back to school, be poor, but be intellectually stimulated. I want to be around people who understand my discourses, and can reason and ration with some semblance of intellect. If you're one of those people, send me a message. We should chat.


UPDATE (July 2011): I'm back in school! Have been for 8 months now. And although it is nice to converse with 'people of comparable intellect', I now remember how nice it was to have things like 'free time' or 'time to go out for a drink' or 'time to sleep' or 'time to do anything really'. Oh well.

What I Think...

People are stupid. We just are. Especially in today's day and age. I fully believe there was a time when people where stronger. When society was better. When people were purer. I am not pure. I wish I was. My name means purity. So where did I go wrong? (I'll come back to that) My point is that almost everyone I know has made some serious mistakes in life. I know I have. And guess what, there are always consequences for the decisions we make and for the actions we take. However, wisdom is not inherent in any one of us; it is gained from experiences. The man who has made the most mistakes in life is the man who has had the most opportunities to gain the most wisdom. However, most people I know don't learn from their mistakes. They make them, they make excuses for them, they pretend like they're ok now and it was a fluke and it'll never happen again, and they go on repeating them.

What I think is that life is about being the best person you can be. I also believe its never too late. I also believe its already too late for most people. The first mistake you make is the first opportunity you have to realize you've made a mistake, and not enough people do. I remember every single decision I made that I regret. And for all but one of those mistakes I can happily say I've not repeated. My one weakness .... I lack the catalytic ability to release what I see and hear and can feel inside.


.... this is one weird post ... I can't remember why I started or where I started from or how I ended up to where I am now, but I leave you with this ...

... How many times have you closed your eyes and followed your heart in the last week? If its under 7 its not nearly enough.

I have to go now. Who's closing their eyes? I am. Are you?

Some quotes I like ...

"Don’t be so humble - you are not that great."
"A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines."
"A goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid."
"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
"Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence."
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former."
"You can pretend to be serious; you can’t pretend to be witty."
"A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it is the stupid ones who need all the advice."
"I heard someone tried the monkeys-on-typewriters bit trying for the plays of W. Shakespeare, but all they got was the collected works of Francis Bacon."
"Why don’t you write books people can read?" - Nora Joyce, to her husband James
"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before."
"I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying."
"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."
"You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."

Second Rate

As I came to work today, walking through the parking lot, I noticed a woman on the ground with a maintenance worker sitting next to her. As a generally helpful chap, and since I'm an EMT, I decided to go over and see what was up. Turns out she slipped on the curb and hit the ground pretty hard, hurt her knee and elbow and was pretty light headed and close to fainting. So I sat with her checked out her knee and elbow (which all was fine) and talked to her and calmed her down, gave her some water, and sat with her while she lied down. Anyway, it took about 10 minutes for the Nurse to show up, and during that time I continued talking with this woman and helping her relax (she was fine. she was kind of just scaring herself to some bit) until the nurse came at which point I figured they'd take her to the nurse office to lie down for a bit before releasing her. Anyway, when the nurse came, she marched in right up to the woman and started bombarding her with questions. Her bedside manner was ATTROCIOUS. I mean, good god, it was horrible. If this was an EMT Practical and I was a trainer I would have blasted her for having horrible bedside manner (thank you IEMS for setting my standards of patient care high, although I suppose real credit goes to my grandfather, whose standard of patient care is higher than anyone else would ever be able to achieve, he was THAT good). Anyway, a security guard came with her and when the nurse came I backed off for a moment and was about to leave when the woman started freaking out again and looked at me with a face that shouted 'umm what the hell is going on, this nurse is freaking me out, come back, you made me feel calm' so I explained to the security guard that I was an EMT and that I waited here with the women for the past 10 minutes and all the guard said (I swear we could have replaced her with a robot. In fact, we could have replaced the nurse with a robot too for that matter) was 'thanks but you have to leave. you have to leave. goodbye, you have to leave'. Aside from being treated like a second rate citizen, which I HATE, it was really appauling to see the standard of care that this lady was receiving. If I was a patient with something wrong the last thing I want is a nurse who's freaking out more than I am. Anyway, I didn't want to cause a scene, that would have just made it worse, so I walked away. I don't know what happened to that lady, but I hope they didn't botch it completely. I'm sure she's fine, but man, some times, I really wonder how the heck people get off being so shitty at what they do.