Sunday, October 27, 2013

If I were god....

If I were God, I would create a hell for all of the engineers who create and design warning buzzers---deliberately obnoxious and loud noises, totally redundant--to tell me, e.g., that the bus doors are about to close or that the elevator door is open....

I would trap those geniuses in a room where all they could hear would be those ugly noises, and all they could see would be the lights at the intersection flashing, counting down the time left to cross....
10 ...9...8.....7....

And they would hear and see this crap for all of eternity.

Oh would that I could do that to them....................

Sunday, October 20, 2013

David Walsh's review of "Pulp Fiction"

I never understood what was good about Pulp Fiction.  But, I think David Walsh does an excellent job of summing up its good and bad points, and provided something so rare in coversations about movies (in my neighborhood anyway) --an actual analysis of the film.

I continue to be amazed and pleased by the reviews at the World Socialist Web Site.  Who would have imagined?  Where have I been to have missed all this?

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1998/08/pulp-a13.html

Saturday, October 19, 2013

The Stupidity of a Doctor

I asked some students what they would do if they had a million euros....

I would buy a Lamborghini and a Jaguar.

I would take a trip around the world.

I would invest it.....maybe in real estate...

If I had a million dollars, I would hire a nurse and doctor to take care of my parents
around-the-clock.

I would also take regular visits home.

But none of that would solve the problem of the insensitivity and stupidity of doctors.

A doctor recently suggested that my mother could no longer take care of my father, and
that he should be placed in a "home".
To even suggest that my mother and father might need to separate, at this late time
in their live, has caused an incalculable amount of emotional suffering for my parents.

If there is such a thing as emotional intelligence, then this particular doctor has (once again)
proved that he is emotionally un-intelligent, an idiot.

(I've written about this guy on this blog before.  He used to piss me off too......)


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Zeman verus Obama

My student said, "But surely Obama is better than Zeman".

(Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic)

My answer:  "How many people has Zeman killed?"

Obama, with drones, has killed hudreds, maybe more.

He promised to close Guantanomo, and he did not.

I don't have much good to say about Zeman, but so far as I know, he has not yet murdered anyone, and he has not endorsed the use of torture.  (In fact, I think I heard him once say something about US war crimes...........)

Link:
Guardian Video about Guantanamo:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/oct/11/guantanamo-bay-hunger-strikes-video-animation

Note:
Innocent people are being tortured in Guantanamo.  People who are KNOWN to be innocent.

Added note:
This is exactly the danger which Edward Snowden has warned us about.  The USA and UK and other governments now have the power (through the internet) to manipulate any conversation you've ever had on SKYPE or the internet, and use it against you---if ever you are falsely accused, or if your name happens (mistakenly) to appear on a certain list.

The danger which Snowden warns about has already happened without even trying to fabricate a story which "paints" you as bad!  Innocent people  have been tortured and imprisoned in Guantanamo.

Follow-up Note:
And now there are important reports on the brutal savagery of drone attacks....
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/10/23/how_do_you_justify_killing_a

Did I imagine it?

Margaret Mary Vojko, formerly an employee of Duquesne University, was buried in a cardboard casket....(After teaching for twenty five years.....as an "Adjunct Professor" she died poor.)

Refugees in Italy were buried in....?  Well, were their caskets cardboard?  I can't tell, but on the TV screen (computer screen) they don't look like cardboard.......

More respect for the dead in Italy?  I really cannot say; but it makes me wonder............

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/death-of-an-adjunct-703773/

Sunday, October 6, 2013

little things matter

I am now posting an email I just sent to a friend:

Just imagine.  The Czech Post Office in downtown Prague---not far from the train station---is
open Saturday and Sunday from 2pm until midnight!
 
That's amazing and convenient.
 
I went there yesterday to mail a letter, and did not have to wait in line.  In Pardubice, I ALWAYS
wait in line!
 
In the USA they would not believe me if I told them the post office is open on Sunday---and
after dark!
 
Little things like this matter.