... the rich folks whose greed lead them to invest their fortunes with one guy, who was playing a shell game with their money. I'm sorry, but I don't feel sorry for folks who have been privileged and now have to go get jobs -- welcome to our world. Really, if I had that much money, I could NEVER trust one person with all -- or even a majority of it.
... the folks in California who are getting snowed on. Boo freaking hoo. They just said the following on the radio, "It may be -25 in parts of Minnesota, but California may get a dusting of snow." Yea -- go away. It is cold enough here that the snot freezes in your nose. We passed the dusting of snow a long time ago. The sad part about living in 'paradise' is that it makes you weak -- and, if you can't handle a little snow, you are weak.
... My logic students. If they'd kept on task until two weeks ago, they wouldn't have to be taking this final -- and I wouldn't be grading 46 of them today. Grrrrrr. Really, I should be grading about 20ish, but the little snowflakes couldn't be bothered to do their homework.
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8 comments:
1. It's common sense...don't put your eggs all in one basket.
2. It boggles me how a miniscule amount of snow can cripple these places.
3. Live now, pay later...it's been taught/learned far too much as of late.
Someone who was mean might come along and ask how well your place would do with a 6.9 earthquake.
Remember that bridge that fell down in Minneapolis a while back? It just fell down. By itself. No earthquake.
In constrast, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, the San Mateo/Hayward Bridge... not a one fell down in the '89 earthquake. (Admittedly, the Bay Bridge lost a panel.) I wonder how many bridges in snowy midwestern cities would be standing after an earthquake like that?
Good thing I'm not someone mean :)
1. Don't those people remember what happened with those who invested their whole pension with Enron?
2. Yeah, when you have seven feet in four days..or two feet in 24 hourse, then bitch.
3. Sucks to be them!
In defense of warmer places crippled by snow, they do not have the infrastructure to handle it. Nor are individual folks equipped for it--in terms of appropriate clothing, snow tires, knowledge etc. It's one thing to handle snow when you have the gear and another when you don't and I do mean that both collectively and individually.
I say that as someone who grew up in an area that got lots of snow but who lives and has lived most of her adult life in places that don't get snow but once every couple of years. It's easy enough to scoff and yes, people get a little ridiculous. But I have to admit, it's pretty unnerving to find yourself driving in the snow on roads that are unplowed even though every snowplow in the state is working on it. Or worse yet, were snowy, never plowed and then melted slightly (because it was only ever hovering around freezing) and then froze again when the temperature dropped again. And you're out there with people who have neither snow tires nor the first clue that slamming on your breaks at the first sign of trouble is generally a bad plan.
when you add the fact that the vegetation is not equipped for it either and you have any number of the trees that overhang the roads dropping limbs at a moment's notice, it's a bad scene.
Of course, I am not really talking about california, there. I'm just saying. it can be worse than you'd think.
now that I've said that, people do get pretty freaked out (OMG, SNOW! WE NEED TOILET PAPER!) and this irritates me because it is stupid. But I have seen firsthand how different the experience of genuine winter weather is in, say, the deep south as opposed to the experience of winter weather in eastern washington or northern idaho.
The idea of being cold, is another thing, and people need to get over that. 37 degrees is not that cold. someone told me in hushed tones the other day that one time it got so cold that ice formed on her husband's beard. While he was camping in the winter. Sleeping outside. Out of a tent. On the ground. One time this happened. I think I was meant to be impressed by that except, you know, my hair froze every day on the way to the bus stop all the way through junior high and high school and I was not sleeping outside on the ground in the dead of freaking winter. I mean, who does that? People who live in warm climates and don't have a clue what real cold is, that's who.
that comment was epic. sorry. :)
Hi - a fellow CC philosophy prof. here (it's good to have a job!) I've nodded in agreement with you a lot, so I felt I should comment. Well, it's a question, really: what text do you use to teach your logic darlings? Do you stick to symbolic logic, or do you integrate some informal, critical thinking material into it as well? I'm not sure what works best in the CC context - especially in the absence of a 'Critical Thinking' offering here. I plan on developing such a course, but in the meantime ...
Keep up the good work!
To the mean person, I'd probably say that the bridge fell because of structural defects compounded by salt -- lucky for CA salt isn't needed there.
It was more the tone of the national news guy that irritated me -- kind of like, yea, some fly-over state has near fatal temps and has just been, in essence, closed due to blizzard -- but, in CA -- wehre it really matters -- might get a dusting of snow.
The facts of geography mean that it will melt very soon -- an it won't be much below freezing...
And the mean person would point out that those bridges over the Bay are exposed to salt air every day, year round. The bridge maintenance folks work constantly to prevent damage, because they know it's an issue every single day.
Folks who do a good job work on the infrastructure they need, and hope that the rare events are, indeed, rare. Snow in (non-mountainous areas of) CA, and earthquakes in the upper-midwest, may they both remain rare.
But, yep, I do share with you the frustrations of living in a fly-over state. We had a tornado hit near here, destroyed much of a town, and the feds didn't name it a disaster area, so limited funds for rebuilding. I guess the logic is that there's only cows and a few dairy farmers out here, eh?
If it helps any, the folks up in Truckee probably scoff as loudly as any about problems with snow in other areas of CA.
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