Freaky Friday

In the process of making a comment on someone else's blog I pulled up Wikipedia to look up and make sure that I was citing a bit of internet "law" correctly. Reading the article led me to further "laws" and adages common to the net, and I thought I'd collect my findings here.

Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Quirk's Exception: intentional invocation of Godwin's Law with the sole intent to end a thread results in Quirk's Exception, rendering the invocation invalid (see the Wikipedia article on Godwin's Law).

Benford's Law of Controversy: "Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available."

Brooks' Law: "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later."

Dilbert Principle: "The most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management."

Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"

Ockham's Razor: "Explanations should never multiply assumptions without necessity. When two explanations are offered for a phenomenon, the simplest full explanation is preferable."

Stigler's Law of Eponymy: "No scientific discovery, not even Stigler's law, is named after its original discoverer."

Turned-In Thursday

Spring 07
Design
Positive/Negative Space Study
70% Positive - 30% Negative
14"x9"x9"
1-ply chipboard, acrylic paint

Insanity on All Levels

So today is "the day after". I feel for Kathy Sierra and all that she's been through with this incident. It's a truly horrible thing that no person should ever have to experience, however,it is a matter for the police not the knee-jerk reactions coming on its heels, which are almost as insane as the catalyst itself.

Refuse to blog? While support is good, this just looks more like running and hiding. It's exactly what bullies want: everyone to stop what they're doing just because they said so.

Call for a Code of Conduct? Wouldn't this start us down the road to where Freedom of Speech can no longer make it past the checkpoints?

Ban Anonymity? Wow. Just wow. The conceit involved in believing that you could actually ban anonymity on the internet is just astounding.

I think I'll just quote Strumpette and leave it at that:

So... now what do we do? Better question: what do the A-List leaders (blog demagogues) do? Answer: They can either take their ball and go home (Scoble, Rubel, Weil and others would have to actually get real jobs); Or what they can do is call for certain controls, the very antithesis of their platforms, the very things they all along told us they were dismantling on our behalf. In effect, forget the old rules; here are the new rules. Ironically, here’s the new hierarchy. Such is the cycle that defines history. We, of course, need new rules to protect the new rulers. Remember that.

...

“I” dentity, not our-dentity. It belongs to me.

I do really, truly, deeply sympathize with Kathy Sierra. What's been done is nothing short of a violation that has to cut as deeply as having someone break into your home. It is not free speech, but it is a matter for the legal system. Support Kathy by letting her know that you care about what has happened, but please step back and let the police bring assault charges against the guilty party. We don't need a code of conduct or any type of ban. We have laws, and most of us have the common sense God gave us.

Blame the Parents: Junior needs a Spanking

Have you seen the current whirlwind over at Creating Passionate Users? Kathy Sierra writes CPU and I drop in from time to time since 1) it's a girl writing about tech and 2) it's interesting, well written and entertaining. Yesterday's post, however, is not entertaining or interesting. It's horrifying.

Kathy writes:

"I have canceled all speaking engagements.

I am afraid to leave my yard.

I will never feel the same. I will never be the same."

If you've ever been a frequenter of any forum, you've undoubtedly come across a troll or two. Most of the time these trolls are harmless, flinging about rude names at random posters and offering anything but intelligent discussion, usually in anonymity. The things that have been posted about and toward Kathy run so far out of the realm of trolling that I cannot find an internet epithet capable of describing it, so I'll have to use one from the real world: criminal assault. If you really need the gorier details of what was said and done, please follow the link at the beginning of this post.

After reading the post myself, my immediate impression of the person(s) responsible is that this is a boy, somewhere in his teens or early twenties. Why? Probably because I watch far too many crime dramas on television, but also because I've been out there on boards, watching and reading. The fastest way to get the shit-pot stirred is to let a bored thirteen year old boy loose with a computer and an internet connection. I've also been to college, where bored, immature boys abound, only now they have their own apartments or dorm rooms to hide in while they make these absurd posts.

My question is: where are the parents?

First and foremost: why didn't they raise their child with enough morality to feel too guilty to even think about such posts, much less actually committing them to written form? I've thought about quite rudely telling someone what a waste of space they were for no other reason than they wrote something that pissed me off, but I've never actually done it because that's just insane, immature and stupid. I'd feel guilty about being such a twit. Why? Well, that would be due to the fact that my parents taught me that you don't attack people for no good reason: verbally, physically, or emotionally.

Secondly, if they did try to raise their child with some sense of morality, why didn't they notice that it didn't take? Seriously. At some point, someone that disturbed had to be pulling the wings off of flies, shaving the neighbor's cat, pushing smaller kids off their bicycles, or punching their sister. I know that parents can't be omnipotent gods in their child's world, I have three children of my own to teach me that, but there are signs, indicators, that should tell you something is not quite getting through to that child.

Finally, if they did notice, why didn't they do something? Again, parent's can't be over the shoulders of their children 24/7, but if there was an indication that their child was even having thoughts or inclinations in the general direction of where the posts about Kathy have gone, why didn't the parents discuss it/take away the computer/send him to a therapist?

Ten to one, when the police investigation is over and all of this breaks, the offender(s) will be some white middle-class suburban sixteen year-old numbnut who was getting a huge laugh out of it with his dumbass buddies right up until the cops showed up on his doorstep and his clueless parents will be standing on the lawn weeping and wringing their hands crying "But he was such a GOOD boy!"

Here's my list of parental "TO DO" list:
1) teach your children to respect themselves
2) teach your children to respect others
3) teach your children to respect property, theirs or someone else's
4) teach your children responsibility for their actions
5) teach your children that it is not bad to fail, only to never try or never try again
6) TAKE SOME FUCKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR NOT TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN THESE THINGS
7) be INVOLVED in your children's lives

<rant>

Personally, if I catch one of my children committing an act of disrespect, and I know that I've taught them otherwise, I WILL be handing out a whipping. Scream abuse all you want, but I've never met a kid who didn't understand and fear the gravity of a good old fashioned "cut me a switch" ass whipping. I've also never met a kid who received one of these whippings that ever repeated the offending act. Screw "time-out". "Time-out" + willful child + parent too scared to whip = "Go ahead. Tell my mommy, she won't do nothing!" Now, that doesn't mean skip "time-out". Try it, if it works, congratulations, use it as long as it works. When/If it fails to produce results, whip that ass.

Then there's also the fact that my kids are going to hate me for "invading their privacy" and "ruining their life". Privacy is for the bathroom until I know I can trust you with your own decisions. If I can trust my kids at the age of 8, then wonderful! I'll be letting them do some things on their own. If can't trust my kids until they're 42, then I'll be up their ass with my nose square in their business until then. Regardless of either situation, I WILL be monitoring what they do on and offline to the best of my ability.

Parents need to quit being scared of their kids, and they need to quit looking for someone else to blame when either party fucks up. THEY ARE THE KID, YOU ARE THE PARENT! FUCKING ACT LIKE IT!

</rant>

<insert expletive here>

Remember that hideously long and rambling post a few days ago "The Almighty Registration"? Well, it was all for a big fat NOTHING. <insert expletive here>

Registration began last week and, of course, my registration "appointment" (the time frame during which the system will allow a particular student to schedule classes) was not until today. Naturally, the classes I need to take are full at the times I need to take them to make my carefully fussed over and meticulously planned schedule work. <insert multiple expletives here>

So, I made due with what was there and here's how it shapes up for now (note to DH: bookmark this post so that you don't lose my schedule and wonder what days I have class! =P ):

Monday, Wednesday, Friday
 8:00 -  9:50am VIAR 235 Art and the Computer
11:00 - 11:50am LATN 101 Elementary Latin

Tuesday and Thursday
 8:00 -  9:15am VIAR 323 Art since 1945
 9:30 - 12:15pm VIAR 260 Introduction to Sculpture

I'm really starting to think that the university conspires to make non-trads the last students to schedule. Yes, I'm that paranoid and that fed up with the whole thing. What a <insert expletive here>!

Sawdust Gets Into Uncomfortable Places

So here's a strange shape:



I warned you. Anyway, why is it here you ask? Because it will be cut out of wood in various versions of scale then assembled together in various rotational orientations to produce a three dimensional sculpture. Mostly, though, I just needed it somewhere more or less universally accessible so that I can get to it during class.

To Be Continued: Resident Evil

As previously stated, I am embracing my inner geek/nerd/dork, and this is the result at the moment. My DH has very diligently gone and found a reason for me to want the Nintendo Wii he's been begging for. Behold! Resident Evil lives!

Now, this is the game that scared the living crap out of me for many delightful nights when I was living far out in the country where the only thing you'd hear for hours on end was the wind and crickets. Occasionally, a couple of the cats would make a little noise, but for the most part it was you, a dark room and a game that delighted in having things jump out of nowhere for the sole purpose of making you shit yourself. It was GREAT!

Will Capcom come through for us and produce another great thriller that eats even more of your concentration than the original or are we headed for one big pile o' poo?

The Almighty Registration

Warning: what follows is generally a bunch of incoherent rambling while I talk to myself and try to figure out how to make class time, mommy time, wifey time and daycare hours all work together. Feel free to ignore it and move on to the next post.

So here we are again, in the squiggly anticipation time between the tease of advising and actual registration. This is yet another semester where I find myself facing the conflict between what I need to take and what makes for a schedule that works here in the realm of reality.

Here's the short list for the fall: one final science elective (in this case Geology 105: Geology and Man, also known as "rocks for jocks"), Art and the Computer, Drawing III, and Art Since 1945. That's assuming that I take Introduction to Sculpture over the summer.

The thing about any schedule is that my youngest son is still nursing so I need to be available to him, my older two children prefer to breakfast at the daycare on campus (which requires dropping them off by 8:00am) and I have a proven track record of routinely skipping any class that does not immediately follow another. (Once I'm on campus, I'm on campus and need to get it done or I'll leave between and never make it back. I know, I'm horrible.)

So, given those factors consider: Introduction to Sculpture (time intensive and not really something I can work on at home) has one section available in the summer, Monday through Thursday from 12:45pm to 3:30pm. First of all, a three hour studio is not my idea of a rockin' good time. At least, not when the persistent rumor in the department is that the professor lectures for the duration of the class time and leaves you to accomplish the assignments in your own hours. We're not talking a small feat here. We're talking about three sculptures, the finished assembly of which tends to be as large as you are (assuming you're almost six feet tall and one hundred fifty pounds), and are made of various materials including but not limited to: wood, plaster, metal, and chicken wire.

An alternative for the summer would be to take Introduction to Painting, another time intensive studio that also needs to be done in the studio itself. It carries a much better time slot of 8:00am to 10:10am Monday through Friday. Besides, two hours in class and having that class time to actually work sounds much more appealing to me. The drawback is that I would then be forced to sacrifice Drawing III for Sculpture come the fall.

Speaking of the fall, Geology and Art and the Computer play nicely with me by lining up very neatly Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00am to 9:50am and 10:00am to 11:50am, respectively. Art Since 1945 does an excellent job of falling right into the preferred time slot of 8:00am to 9:15am Tuesday and Thursday, but then we encounter a SNAFU when it comes to scheduling Drawing III, the only offering that fits with my other classes is 11:00am to 1:45pm. That gap would kill me. Not enough to get off campus and get any thing done, but too much to just sit around Fletcher with my thumbs up my ass. Sculpture swoops in to the rescue with a 9:30am to 11:45am offering.

Seems like an easy proposition, right? Painting in the summer, Sculpture in the fall since, if you're not a painting or sculpture major, the two are interchangeable. The miserable little bit of that is that I really need to get around to Drawing III and IV before I get so far out of practice that I have no hope of actually completing either of those courses with a grade worth reporting. As it is, it's been so long since I took Drawing II that I'm having problems with my orthographic drawings in Design this semester. It's not a problem grade-wise since the drawings aren't graded, but it is a massive problem when you get into the nuts and bolts of planning some of these three dimensional pieces, especially the wood projects.

Oh well, what's a girl to do? Guess I'll put the kids to bed, have an imaginary glass of wine (sometimes I wish I hadn't decided to breastfeed), and head off to the wood shop for another late night at Fletcher Hall. That place really needs a coffee shop in it.

... of the Emergency Broadcast System

Had this been an actual emergency, information would have followed.

I am embracing my inner dork and making peace with her.