anonemouse

I found this site earlier today. It is absolutely hilarious. It is blogging community called Mock_the_Stupid. People post their experiences with stupid people and everyone gets a good laugh. Here is the link: http://community.livejournal.com/mock_the_stupid/

Wouldn't that screw with the fundies' heads, knowing that their religious holiday was originally pagan?

That's interesting. I din't know that. Sounds like it is like what happens when my Catholic uncle (converted from Disciples of Christ when he married) and my Southern Baptist uncle go at it over whether or not Catholics are "reall Christians."

That's how I feel, anyway. Just jumping through hoops for the amusement of the insurance company. I just got the go ahead to jump though another: the required pulmonology clearance. Hopefully, once this is done, my info can be sent to insurance.

You made me spit water all over my computer monitor!

I got hungry and went to get some take-out Chinese. Every time I go to this restaurant I get soup and a new entree because I haven't found anything that I want to order again. This time I tried chicken noodle soup and General Tso's Chicken. I finally found something at that restaurant that I like! Super-spicy, but yummy! Not yet banded, btw.

You know, I give up. I was raised to believe that part of being a responsible adult is taking other people into consideration. You think before you say or do something. I fail to see what is so bad about doing that. You just don't say certain things and expect everyone around you to agree. I won't stay silent when someone is making jokes about the gay guy at the next table and I won't stay silent when someone makes a comment that is clearly questionable. Don't agree with me? That's your right. But I went into this as an adult and I am finishing it as an adult. We modify our behavior every day. It is part of growing up. If we didn't, we would still be talking about things as if we were in pre-school and had no inkling of what was appropriate behavior. You don't have to be of a certain persuasion be offended by something. And I am not acting as the offense police. I just tried to point out why I thought what you said was offensive. I am not gay, but I would still be offended if someone was talking about "the fags down the street." And I would still speak up about it. If people don't speak up, people see no reason to change their behavior. If it did, it wasn't because of me. I never spoke (wrote) to you with a sarcastic tone. I never insulted you.

You're welcome, even though I am not sure why you are getting all sarcastic about stuff. As far as I knew, we were attempting to have a civil discussion. You made a comment that could be construed as being offensive. Nathalie and I pointed out what was offensive and tried to explain WHY it was offensive. No need to get bent out of shape. The thing about offensive stuff is this: You change what you can. If it is something that you or I do that is offensive to other people, we try to change our behavior. It is part of respecting other people.

No. What makes a person black or white or Mexican or Native American has absolutely nothing to do with what is in their heart. What is in their heart makes them a good or bad person, and that has nothing at all to do with race or nationality. Let me try to put it this way: Two people were born and live in Texas. One is a dyed in the wool Republican, wears a cowboy hat and boots, roots for A&M, etc. Another is a Democrat, plays golf, and never wore a cowboy hat in his life. Which one is the true Texan? One may be the stereotypical Texan, but it doesn't change the fact that the other is also a Texan. The way someone acts does not change what or who they are, in regards to nationality or race. It implies that one's race is, as a whole, not credit-worthy. Go ask someone of color on the board. Ask them if they would be offended if a white person came up to them and told them, "It's great that you are volunteering at the homeless shelter. You are a credit to the black (or hispanic or Middle-Eastern) race, you know." It implies that most people of that race would not do that. Another thing I just thought of: It doesn't matter whether YOU think that what you are saying isn't offensive. What matters is the reaction of the people you are saying it to. If they find it offensive, it is by that standard, offensive.

I am just going to ditto everything Nathalie said here. You may not have meant it in the way your statements came across, but that is how they come across. Remember, there is no way to imply meaning through body language or voices through the internet. What you write is what people read. Sometimes, it doesn't read like what you want it to mean. This statement basically illustrates what I am getting at. You are implying that someone has to act a certain way to be part of a certain race. So I just want to ask you this: What makes a person "black?" Silly me, I thought it was the color of their skin.

I hate to say it, but I am with Nathalie on this one. Should he have been convicted? Probably, but he wasn't. It doesn't seem right to for people to be able to go after someone twice for the same crime after being aquitted, and to me that is what happened. Go after someone in the criminal courts or in the civil courts, but not both. And Carlene, I also found your comment to be offensive. Do you have to act a certain way to be "black?" I am hoping you just misphrased what you were trying to say. If not, it makes me reconsider the respect I have for you.

Personally, I feel that the government should not be telling us how many kids we can have. It should be something that we take the responsibility to do ourselves. Brandy, if you ask your friend how much time she spent taking care of her 16 siblings, I will bet a lot of money that she will say, "A lot." To me, that's inexcusable. When a couple has 17 kids, they simply don't have time to give them all the attention they should have. If "middle-child syndrome" is so bad when there are only three kids, think how bad it is when you are stuck in the middle of 17. Between working to provide the necessities for 17 kids and actually attempting to care for 17 kids, there isn't enough time in the day. Kids should be kids. They shouldn't be forced into the role of parent or caretaker simply because their parents decided to pop out sixteen other kids. Learning responsibility is great, but it can easily be taught without having to have 17 kids. Those kids are probably more responsible than most adults you know because they were forced to essentially grow up a lot earlier. They weren't allowed to be the kids they should have been. I am firm believer in not having more kids than you and your spouse can take care of. It isn't considered "kosher" to send them off to live with Granny when you start having more than you can look after at one time, so why is it okay to have your older kids become surrogate parents? If the only way you can take care of all your kids is to have other people (even family) look after them, you have had too many. Your friend's family sounds great on the surface, but look deeper. Were they allowed to be kids? Or were they forced to grow up before they were ready because Mom and Dad couldn't give everyone the attention they should have?

Well, yes and no. No extremist thinks they are being extreme but it doesn't change the fact that they are extreme. If you asked Fred Phelps and his nutso congregation, they could probably give you several explanations for what they do that they think are perfectly reasonable. Doesn't change the fact that they are nuts and that they are extremists. Extremism is simply being far outside what is considered to be "the norm". Having 25 kids? That's extreme. Thinking that the 9/11 attacks were because of our nation's tolerance of homosexuality (like Phelps and his congregation)? Extremism.

In this class, it is combined with the lecture grade. The lab is worth 1/3 of their entire grade. Most of the time, a person's grade in the lecture is similar to what they are making in lab. Since it is worth so much, if they fail the lab, they will generally fail the entire class unless they have done extremely well in the lecture. This is my third semester teaching this lab. I teach two non-majors' biology labs per week and assist professors in two education-majors' biology classes per week. I am also taking 9 credit hours of my own classes and working on my thesis.

I teach labs for a gen-ed course, so many of my students are sophomores, juniors, and seniors that have put off taking the class. The way I feel is this: I am not there to be their parent. They are all adults and are old enough to know when they have to put effort in. My duty is to show them the information that they need to know and to answer any questions they might have. I try to explain it to them, but it is ultimately up to them to learn it by studying their lab manual and textbook and by asking me questions. I am not unsympathetic to them. I was and am still a student, so I know what they are going through. Still, it's not an excuse for being late, skipping class, or just being a slacker. Unfortunately, some people have to learn that their actions have consequenced in order for them to learn what they can or can't do. In my classes, the consequence is failing the lab. Usually if they fail the lab, they will most likely fail the entire lecture class and have to retake it (unless they have a high enough grade to compensate). By the way, I've stopped offering so much extra credit. Now I only offer the extra credit that I am required to offer. Now I just sit back and wonder silently at some of my students, "Oh. My. GOD. How in the world did you even get in to college?" I also commiserate and blow off steam with the rest of the lab instructors. We sit and gossip about the really bad ones. That's my extra credit for teaching the course.

Yep. Not that a lot of the younger students aren't great, as well, though. I don't think it is just that paying their own tuition makes older students better or not paying makes younger students worse. I think how the student was raised and, to an extent, what their extracurricular activities are plays a major part in what kind of student they are. To be quite honest, I haven't had great experiences with many of the students that are active in either athletics or the greek system. I know for a fact that a lot of our tests are in their test banks. Not to say that those students can't be good on their own merits, but a lot of them are used to scraping by based on their popularity or being a good athlete. If I find out that a student is an athlete or a fraternity or sorority member, I admit that I sometimes have doubts about how good a student they are. They have to have a minimum GPA and most of the ones I have had experience with as an instuctor and as a student myself don't try to get higher grades than they have to have.

This is one thing that worries me about having surgery. I have trouble getting some pills down now, depending on the shape and size of the pill. I can easily take up to 500 mg it it is an oval shape, but my round 500 mg pills usually gag me.

My older students have usually been the best ones, except for the one guy that kept coming in to my 8 AM lab 30-45 minutes late because he didn't get off work until 3 AM. I finally had to talk to him after class and tell him that he would either have to start coming in on time or find another lab that fit into his schedule. It wasn't fair to give him the same credit as eveyone else that was there on time. But yeah, usually the older students are the ones that really take it seriously and stick around to ask questions. I have found from teaching early labs this semester, though, that either you get the really good students that like to get all their classes over early or you get the horrid students that were too lazy to register before all the later classes were full.

I hate it when you get asked all the time about when you will be having kids. And then when you tell people that you don't want them, they get all, "But EVERYONE should have kids! They're great!" and they give you weird looks. To be honest, I don't think I will ever have kids. I simply don't like them. I like babies, but I also love handing them back to their parents. I'll leave the kid duty to my brother, who actually seems to like them. I literally don't know what to do with them once they start walking and talking. I'd rather not be around them at that point.

Yeah, I emailed the lab coordinator and told him my side of the story just in case she decides to go whining to him about not being allowed to take the final exam. My philosophy is that everone should take responsibility for their education. You get up early enough that you can get to class on time, you turn off your cell phone in class, and you don't expect instructors to make exceptions for you. If you are having problems, you let the instructor know immediately. For example, some of the people that took my labs last year were absolutely unmatched in laziness. I offered the opportunity to get more than 10% of their entire lab grade in extra credit, a total of 22 points when their lab grade was only 200 points. They had the opportunity to increase their grade drastically. Did many of them try? No. I had a lot of people that just never bothered to take advantage of it. Of course, they then emailed me at the end of the semester, wanting me to offer more extra credit. All I said was, "Sorry. You had the opportunity and didn't take it. That's your fault, not mine." I know it sounds like I am pretty harsh, but I really am not. I have even been known to tweak grades if I felt like the student had tried really hard. For example, the first semester I taught, I had a girl from China take my lab. She tried so hard, but the language barrier was giving her problems. When she got a 58.5 (passing is 60 and above), I tweaked her grade a point so that she would pass the lab. I have only ever done that for people that have actually put a lot of effort into the class, have come to me and asked questions, and have shown me that they were trying. I am willing to help them, but not if they sit around doing nothing and then expect to get an A out of the class.

To be honest, it doesn't really bother me. Now if I was going around and posting nude pictures, that isn't something I would want a prospective employer to see if they Googled me. LBT, though? Not exactly shameful, IMHO. All that I am doing here is trying to make myself healthier.

Not to mention the way having that many kids can affect your health. I don't want one, let alone 20.

I really want to have surgery by the end of the year, if I can. I might not get to, though, because of a few problems: 1. Just found out I have to be cleared by a pulmonologist before I can even get my insurance submitted. Getting an appointment for this might take a while. 2. My doctors' office workers can't seem to understand that I need the last 5 years of my files. All of it. Not just documentation of the first time I was there and the last time I was there. The surgery center needs the WHOLE DAMN THING! :target:The one that I did my weight-loss program with didn't even send the records for it. :speechles

Apparently, I have to pay $2000 out of pocket, but the insurance will pay 100% of the remaining.

I told my mom I wanted her to go to a surgery seminar with me. When she found out that the seminar was for weight-loss surgery, she freaked out. I kept trying to tell her that it was just a seminar, that there wasn't any requirement to go through with the surgery after the seminar. She thinks it is too expensive, too drastic, etc. I wish she would realize that I AM FAT. I have BEEN FAT for years and years. Every time I diet, I wind up weighing more than when I started the diet. I am already having health issues. I really hate to say this, because she is my mom and I love her, but I really think she tries to sabotage me whenever I do go on a diet. When I am not on a diet, she tells me that I can't go on eating like this, that I need to lose weight. But whenever I am on a diet, she is all, "Come try this [insert fattening food], it is really good." I keep telling her, "No, I don't want any, I'm not hungry." She keeps saying, "C'mon, just try it!" Sometimes, I think she subconciously doesn't want to be the fattest person in the family, which she would be if I lost weight. I really want to do this, but I am still dependent on my parents because I am a full-time grad student. I think I have enough money saved up to pay for any costs the insurance company won't cover (as long as they cover the majority of the surgery), but I really need their support. My mom wants me to talk to my brother's girldfriend, who is a nutritionist for a bariatric surgeon. I don't want to talk to her, I know it would probably get back to my brother, and therefore the entire family. I am a very private person, and I seem to only be able to talk about things like this with people I don't know.