So this will be quick because your mind will elaborate on this far better than I ever could, I'm sure. So, we know you're supposed to watch your hands when you've completed your business in the bathroom. We also know that not everyone does this, so some individuals go so far as to use a paper towel to exit the bathroom to make sure they do not soil their hands on someone else's stink.
However, if you are this type of individual, I want you to consider a couple of things. First, if you were in a stall, how many hands touched that door lock on the way out, and what state were they in?
Second, and most importantly, what state were your hands in when your buckled your pants, and did you happen to touch your belt after you washed your hands? Wouldn't that be the same as that door handle you avoided?
Have a nice day.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
A One Way Street
So as we were watching Castle the other night, a new character was introduced who is a "Fruitarian," which is apparently someone who only eats fruits and grains ("Man's original diet, as God intended", so he says). Anyway, the way the interactions with this character went is that whenever he was there, they accommodated this diet of his. He made his stuff and offered it freely, whether anyone else was interested in having it or not.
It got me to thinking about how these sorts of relationships are depicted in movies and TV. When someone decides they are restricted to one type of food or they leave off one food group, it is not only them, but they tend to take everyone around them with them for the ride. Since they don't eat meat, for example, now no one around them can eat meat so no one is offended. Everyone also seems ok with this. Extending this attitude past just food, anytime someone is out of the perceived norm, everyone starts basically walking on eggshells around them so as to not offend.
Exactly when did this become the expectation? If our fruitarian character doesn't want meat for some kind of personal moral reason, why should his values extend to everyone else in the room? Our country is supposedly founded upon the principles of free thought, enabling everyone to go their own way. Yet, whenever someone enters the room who isn't with the grain, there is suddenly accommodation and tiptoeing to make sure no one gets hurt by opinions they disagree with.
Honestly, if Castle wanted a real steak instead of a papaya steak (I guess that's a real thing), he should be allowed to have one without the fruity character taking offense to it. The same goes for every other difference people have. Unless there is a legitimate health issue involved with practicing some sort of freedom around another (usually dealing with allegies and nuts), then no one should be restricted from doing something just because someone else in the room disagrees with it.
The world is ripe with people who disagree over this or that, and yet, we seem very bent on insisting that everyone agree. Getting along is not a prerequisite to life, believe it or not. If I can player a shooter without adverse mental problems, and you don't like shooter games because they're violent, then don't play them but don't expect me to stop. Same with all types of movies. Some like the violence, some like the bad comedy, some like the romance, and in all cases, there are others who don't. No one should lose one for the sake of the other. If you don't like it, then don't worry about it.
But too many people out there are a one way street with their opinion in that if you aren't doing it their way, you are doing it wrong. The world is more like the center grassy area of a school campus between classes. Everyone is going every direction possible, and no one is tripping over anyone else. Well, sometimes they do, but they get back up and move on. There are some laws and rules that are not to be broken for the benefit of all society, but when it comes to pure opinions (and you can probably think of more than a few), everyone needs to do their thing and leave others to their things.
It is the difference of opinions that gives us the cornucopia of ideas that drives innovation forward. Someone thinks of this which inspires someone else to to do that. If not for our differences, the two would do the same thing and no one would move past it. Differences are good.
The one way street only leads to stagnation. Maybe that works for some people, but not for me. And that's my opinion.
It got me to thinking about how these sorts of relationships are depicted in movies and TV. When someone decides they are restricted to one type of food or they leave off one food group, it is not only them, but they tend to take everyone around them with them for the ride. Since they don't eat meat, for example, now no one around them can eat meat so no one is offended. Everyone also seems ok with this. Extending this attitude past just food, anytime someone is out of the perceived norm, everyone starts basically walking on eggshells around them so as to not offend.
Exactly when did this become the expectation? If our fruitarian character doesn't want meat for some kind of personal moral reason, why should his values extend to everyone else in the room? Our country is supposedly founded upon the principles of free thought, enabling everyone to go their own way. Yet, whenever someone enters the room who isn't with the grain, there is suddenly accommodation and tiptoeing to make sure no one gets hurt by opinions they disagree with.
Honestly, if Castle wanted a real steak instead of a papaya steak (I guess that's a real thing), he should be allowed to have one without the fruity character taking offense to it. The same goes for every other difference people have. Unless there is a legitimate health issue involved with practicing some sort of freedom around another (usually dealing with allegies and nuts), then no one should be restricted from doing something just because someone else in the room disagrees with it.
The world is ripe with people who disagree over this or that, and yet, we seem very bent on insisting that everyone agree. Getting along is not a prerequisite to life, believe it or not. If I can player a shooter without adverse mental problems, and you don't like shooter games because they're violent, then don't play them but don't expect me to stop. Same with all types of movies. Some like the violence, some like the bad comedy, some like the romance, and in all cases, there are others who don't. No one should lose one for the sake of the other. If you don't like it, then don't worry about it.
But too many people out there are a one way street with their opinion in that if you aren't doing it their way, you are doing it wrong. The world is more like the center grassy area of a school campus between classes. Everyone is going every direction possible, and no one is tripping over anyone else. Well, sometimes they do, but they get back up and move on. There are some laws and rules that are not to be broken for the benefit of all society, but when it comes to pure opinions (and you can probably think of more than a few), everyone needs to do their thing and leave others to their things.
It is the difference of opinions that gives us the cornucopia of ideas that drives innovation forward. Someone thinks of this which inspires someone else to to do that. If not for our differences, the two would do the same thing and no one would move past it. Differences are good.
The one way street only leads to stagnation. Maybe that works for some people, but not for me. And that's my opinion.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
A Dog's Life
So if you've actually read very much of this blog, you might or might not recall that we have a dog. In the context of the blog, I refer to him as the Hunter, because he is a black lab/German shepherd mix, ad in my mind, that would make a hunter of a dog. Anyway, we got him in 2009, figuring his birthday to be around Valentine's Day, and after some training, he finally stays in the backyard (thank you, invisible fence). At night, he prefers to stay inside, but when morning comes, he knows well enough to leave the house and stay outside all day. Or he used to.
You see, there has been a very disturbing change with him recently in that he refused to leave his crate (a large dog carrier where we make him sleep at night; don't trust him free-roaming) in the mornings to go back outside. I'll open the door, and he'll just stare at me rather sheepishly. That sort of dog look where their ears are down and their eyes droop very sadly. A couple of times, I've just left the crate open and eventually he came out and I've been able to coax him outside ... when I've had the time.
Then he refused to even come out. He would stubbornly stay inside the crate, and when he did come out, he would run back in when I approached the back door. He would end up curling himself up as far back as he could go. This came to a head one morning when I could not get him to come out but left the door open. He never left, so the Queen tried to coax him outside. She pulled him out of his crate, and he straight up growled at her and bit her arm.
This was a shock. The Hunter had never bit anyone. He had been tortured by small children, and exhibited some displeasure before, but he had never attacked any member of the family. I spoke with The Mixer at work, as he is a bit of a dog whisperer, to try and sort out what in the world is going on with my dog, and he had some thoughts about it. Mainly, he suspected there was something about the backyard that made it an unsafe place to him.
So the next morning, I had the day off, so having let him stay inside (only I deal with him at this point to try to sort him out), when I opened the crate, he stayed in it. I offered him treats, cheese, ham, and shot water at him to try and get him to come out, but he preferred to stay in that crate rather than respond to any of it. Yeah, I offered a dog straight up meat, and he refused. He was tempted, but he would not come out. I closed the door at various points during the morning, and reopened it to try and coax him, but nothing. Around noon (he had been inside since about 10 the previous night), he finally came out, but seeing me go for the back door, he ran back into his crate. I coaxed him back out with the ham again, and had one of the children close the door behind him. He tried to return once he got the ham, but he found he was trapped. He finally went outside.
Now, before this, he has pretty much lived only on the concrete porch area of the yard, never straying far from the back door. He is constantly watching us and waiting for his chance to come in, and he always starts pounding the door between 7 and 9 wanting in. I decided to work with some basic training on him, offering treats and such. Did a little come and sit and stay, and not much else to see if he would get those, and he understood just fine. I did all this in the backyard to try and foster a level of comfort with the environment. That's when I noticed something about his behavior.
The closer I got to my northern fenceline, the more nervous he acted. He would come and get the treat and might sit for me a few feet north of the porch. I worked my way all the way to the north fence, and told him to come. He came to me, snagged his treat, and immediately ran back to the porch. I finally gave him is treat and scratched his head so he would stay. I told him to sit, and he did, but stared at the fence and whined. A little further back, he would not sit at all, but only looked at the fence and whined.
We had recently gotten a notice from the city to cut our yard, and we were somewhat thrown by this, since our yard was already cut. I had actually mowed not long before receiving this, but upon walking my property, I found there was quite a bit of brush and such along the north fence, so I went ahead and cut it all down in case that was the complaint. It was not long after that that the Hunter started his extra weird behavior.
Our present suspicion? Well, we have always gotten along great with our north neighbors. Never any problems at all with them, and even occasionally talk to them. But their yard is the one he is afraid of. Did they do something to my dog to make him so afraid of his own yard that he would go so far as to attack a member of the family to avoid it? That's what freaks him out. We can't imagine what happened out there, but at this point, that's what we know. And it is disturbing.
You see, there has been a very disturbing change with him recently in that he refused to leave his crate (a large dog carrier where we make him sleep at night; don't trust him free-roaming) in the mornings to go back outside. I'll open the door, and he'll just stare at me rather sheepishly. That sort of dog look where their ears are down and their eyes droop very sadly. A couple of times, I've just left the crate open and eventually he came out and I've been able to coax him outside ... when I've had the time.
Then he refused to even come out. He would stubbornly stay inside the crate, and when he did come out, he would run back in when I approached the back door. He would end up curling himself up as far back as he could go. This came to a head one morning when I could not get him to come out but left the door open. He never left, so the Queen tried to coax him outside. She pulled him out of his crate, and he straight up growled at her and bit her arm.
This was a shock. The Hunter had never bit anyone. He had been tortured by small children, and exhibited some displeasure before, but he had never attacked any member of the family. I spoke with The Mixer at work, as he is a bit of a dog whisperer, to try and sort out what in the world is going on with my dog, and he had some thoughts about it. Mainly, he suspected there was something about the backyard that made it an unsafe place to him.
So the next morning, I had the day off, so having let him stay inside (only I deal with him at this point to try to sort him out), when I opened the crate, he stayed in it. I offered him treats, cheese, ham, and shot water at him to try and get him to come out, but he preferred to stay in that crate rather than respond to any of it. Yeah, I offered a dog straight up meat, and he refused. He was tempted, but he would not come out. I closed the door at various points during the morning, and reopened it to try and coax him, but nothing. Around noon (he had been inside since about 10 the previous night), he finally came out, but seeing me go for the back door, he ran back into his crate. I coaxed him back out with the ham again, and had one of the children close the door behind him. He tried to return once he got the ham, but he found he was trapped. He finally went outside.
Now, before this, he has pretty much lived only on the concrete porch area of the yard, never straying far from the back door. He is constantly watching us and waiting for his chance to come in, and he always starts pounding the door between 7 and 9 wanting in. I decided to work with some basic training on him, offering treats and such. Did a little come and sit and stay, and not much else to see if he would get those, and he understood just fine. I did all this in the backyard to try and foster a level of comfort with the environment. That's when I noticed something about his behavior.
The closer I got to my northern fenceline, the more nervous he acted. He would come and get the treat and might sit for me a few feet north of the porch. I worked my way all the way to the north fence, and told him to come. He came to me, snagged his treat, and immediately ran back to the porch. I finally gave him is treat and scratched his head so he would stay. I told him to sit, and he did, but stared at the fence and whined. A little further back, he would not sit at all, but only looked at the fence and whined.
We had recently gotten a notice from the city to cut our yard, and we were somewhat thrown by this, since our yard was already cut. I had actually mowed not long before receiving this, but upon walking my property, I found there was quite a bit of brush and such along the north fence, so I went ahead and cut it all down in case that was the complaint. It was not long after that that the Hunter started his extra weird behavior.
Our present suspicion? Well, we have always gotten along great with our north neighbors. Never any problems at all with them, and even occasionally talk to them. But their yard is the one he is afraid of. Did they do something to my dog to make him so afraid of his own yard that he would go so far as to attack a member of the family to avoid it? That's what freaks him out. We can't imagine what happened out there, but at this point, that's what we know. And it is disturbing.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Repetitive Topics
The hardest part of writing on a blog every day is the stuff you have to come up with to talk about. This would actually go for any relationship ever, since after long enough, your past has been fully examined, and all you have is the future to deal with along with whatever happens to be going on around you. I pondered a couple of things before starting this entry and I found I had done them already, so I decided to talk about talking about things I've already talked about.
Okay, so that sentence was a little circular, but when it comes to fresh topics, it's important to pay attention to what's going on around you at all times and see if there is anything there worth touching on. Paying attention would not only give people such as me things to write about, but it would provide some kind of discussion point to go along with when it comes to chatting it up with the people most important to you as well. Many, many times the Queen has wished to initiate a conversation, but neither of us have anything new to talk about. We communicate pretty constantly, so all the new, actual, physical stuff gets covered and by the time we get home from work, we're only left with "what's for dinner".
Of course, this is a big and there is always something new that comes up (even if there is truly nothing new under the sun). Sometimes, the very topic is how something new is actually something old. Celebrities do something silly that everyone decries and parental organizations go momentarily crazy making new rules to fight the new threat to their children's whatever, even though nothing is actually new, and someone just managed to say, "sure there was a rule, but it didn't say not to do that."
Even after writing about this,do I have anything new really? Not so much at the moment. If I give it long enough, though, I'm sure something will come up. The tricky part for me is writing about it before the inspiration is gone.
Okay, so that sentence was a little circular, but when it comes to fresh topics, it's important to pay attention to what's going on around you at all times and see if there is anything there worth touching on. Paying attention would not only give people such as me things to write about, but it would provide some kind of discussion point to go along with when it comes to chatting it up with the people most important to you as well. Many, many times the Queen has wished to initiate a conversation, but neither of us have anything new to talk about. We communicate pretty constantly, so all the new, actual, physical stuff gets covered and by the time we get home from work, we're only left with "what's for dinner".
Of course, this is a big and there is always something new that comes up (even if there is truly nothing new under the sun). Sometimes, the very topic is how something new is actually something old. Celebrities do something silly that everyone decries and parental organizations go momentarily crazy making new rules to fight the new threat to their children's whatever, even though nothing is actually new, and someone just managed to say, "sure there was a rule, but it didn't say not to do that."
Even after writing about this,do I have anything new really? Not so much at the moment. If I give it long enough, though, I'm sure something will come up. The tricky part for me is writing about it before the inspiration is gone.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
The Game of Reply All
I'd like to introduce you to a game you may or may not have seen before. This game is called "Reply All." It's great fun to watch this play out as a spectator because you never want to be a participant in this game. If you're a participant in this game, you have failed. There are no winners. Well, the spectators are the winners if you really enjoy the head-shaking idiocy of the whole thing. Here's how this game works.
First, you have to be in a company or mailing list that has literally hundreds of people. Only with that kind of pool will you have enough players to make the game worth watching. If it's just your aunt and 3rd cousin, it won't last long.
The way the game starts is by someone accidentally sending a message to the wrong mailing list; this is probably the mailing list you were on, and you weren't supposed to get it either. If you're a level-headed individual who gets lots of emails, you'll look at this message, shrug, and then move on. If you're a player of "Replay All," then the game is on.
The volley starts by someone deciding they got this message in error, and the sender needs to know about it. Instead of clicking Reply, they decide to click Reply All to let that sender know. They put in a completely innocuous message such as, "Bob, I don't know what this is. Please remove me from this list." Sheep being what they are, this first message is followed by a barrage of "Me too" from at least a dozen other people.
It's time for the other side to get involved at this point because they've realized the game is on, but they don't realize that they need to stay out of it. The other side hits back with "Please do not Reply All." This might or might not have helpful instructions as to where to find the "Reply Only To Sender" button, or they could leave it at that.
Well, the "Me too" people already have a head start, and it takes awhile for that first "Don't do it" email to circulate, so that is followed by at least a half dozen more "Remove me from this list" or "Me too" emails.
Well, now management really wants a piece of this because they're getting outnumbered, so the next dozen "Me too" emails contain at least that many or more "Stop replying to all" peppered into them. At least one person by now will have changed the subject line to STOP REPLYING TO ALL (yes, in caps), but without a body text. The emails are flying fast and furious at this point with the "Me too" people desperately trying to out-email the "Stop replying to all" side as the game gets to the point that more than a hundred emails end up being sent clogging email boxes and exchange servers across the company.
Eventually, everyone has said their piece and it quiets down for a little bit. That is, until the crowd that only checks their email once a day comes in to find a zillion emails about something they have nothing to do with. They immediately (without a single glance at the subsequent string) reply all with the message "Please remove me from this list" before deleting the entire subseries of emails. The game resumes briefly with an angry "We already dealt with this. Stop replying to all" and a flurry of "Me too," but in the end, the game finally ends.
The last time this game happened, I kept every email and counted up the replies at the end, sorting them by the "remove me"s and the "stop replying to all"s along with a smattering of actual, subject-related emails that normally get lost with at least one being "Please disregard. Sent to the wrong list. Sorry." somewhere near the beginning of the game. That time, the distribution was about 50/50 between the sides.
I was reminded of this game this morning when there was an email for nominations for something or another, and someone replied all saying, "Not sure what I'm getting these. Please stop sending me these emails!" Oh, yes, he used that exclamation point! Because, why not? I got all excited hoping the game was afoot. Alas, no game this morning.
Next time the Replay All game starts in your office, don't be a player. Be a spectator and laugh at the simple-mindedness of your colleagues. Nothing shows character like a good game of "Reply All."
First, you have to be in a company or mailing list that has literally hundreds of people. Only with that kind of pool will you have enough players to make the game worth watching. If it's just your aunt and 3rd cousin, it won't last long.
The way the game starts is by someone accidentally sending a message to the wrong mailing list; this is probably the mailing list you were on, and you weren't supposed to get it either. If you're a level-headed individual who gets lots of emails, you'll look at this message, shrug, and then move on. If you're a player of "Replay All," then the game is on.
The volley starts by someone deciding they got this message in error, and the sender needs to know about it. Instead of clicking Reply, they decide to click Reply All to let that sender know. They put in a completely innocuous message such as, "Bob, I don't know what this is. Please remove me from this list." Sheep being what they are, this first message is followed by a barrage of "Me too" from at least a dozen other people.
It's time for the other side to get involved at this point because they've realized the game is on, but they don't realize that they need to stay out of it. The other side hits back with "Please do not Reply All." This might or might not have helpful instructions as to where to find the "Reply Only To Sender" button, or they could leave it at that.
Well, the "Me too" people already have a head start, and it takes awhile for that first "Don't do it" email to circulate, so that is followed by at least a half dozen more "Remove me from this list" or "Me too" emails.
Well, now management really wants a piece of this because they're getting outnumbered, so the next dozen "Me too" emails contain at least that many or more "Stop replying to all" peppered into them. At least one person by now will have changed the subject line to STOP REPLYING TO ALL (yes, in caps), but without a body text. The emails are flying fast and furious at this point with the "Me too" people desperately trying to out-email the "Stop replying to all" side as the game gets to the point that more than a hundred emails end up being sent clogging email boxes and exchange servers across the company.
Eventually, everyone has said their piece and it quiets down for a little bit. That is, until the crowd that only checks their email once a day comes in to find a zillion emails about something they have nothing to do with. They immediately (without a single glance at the subsequent string) reply all with the message "Please remove me from this list" before deleting the entire subseries of emails. The game resumes briefly with an angry "We already dealt with this. Stop replying to all" and a flurry of "Me too," but in the end, the game finally ends.
The last time this game happened, I kept every email and counted up the replies at the end, sorting them by the "remove me"s and the "stop replying to all"s along with a smattering of actual, subject-related emails that normally get lost with at least one being "Please disregard. Sent to the wrong list. Sorry." somewhere near the beginning of the game. That time, the distribution was about 50/50 between the sides.
I was reminded of this game this morning when there was an email for nominations for something or another, and someone replied all saying, "Not sure what I'm getting these. Please stop sending me these emails!" Oh, yes, he used that exclamation point! Because, why not? I got all excited hoping the game was afoot. Alas, no game this morning.
Next time the Replay All game starts in your office, don't be a player. Be a spectator and laugh at the simple-mindedness of your colleagues. Nothing shows character like a good game of "Reply All."
Monday, September 23, 2013
DIY Glitterizer
Ever heard of a glitterizer? It's a thing that Sassy Pants picked up with birthday money that had Barbie's name all over it. What you do is put glitter in the bottom, use a sticker on your Barbie whatever, stick it in the wardrobe looking cabinet and pushing the button which activates a little fan and blows glitter all over the item in question. The glitter sticks to the sticker, the item, everything within 10 feet of the glitterizer, and everything the item touches. If you've ever wanted to glitterize a house, but weren't sure how to go about, a friend of mine told me a story as to how you might accomplish this.
He had gone home the other day and found his eighteen year old daughter was going to paint with glitter. She has an artist friend who had done this by putting a little glitter in some water to dash up a painting or project or whatever with some shine, so she was trying it. Well, in the course of doing this, she managed to spill the glitter in her room. As any teacher of the very young will tell you, this isn't a problem as long as you nip that mess as soon as it happens and before it spreads, because everyone knows that glitter is a virus. And this glitter wasn't that cheap, hard metal stuff. This was the ultra fine glitter that you can get in your hair just by walking past the aisle containing it at Hobby Lobby.
Well, it was not duly nipped before their dog found his way into the bedroom and took it upon himself to roll around in the glitter. Now you have a glitter dog. Barbie would be proud, princesses all over are squealing in delight, and parents are praying that no one tries to do this on purpose. It gets better.
Where do dogs go? If you said everywhere, you would be correct. Guess where the glitter went? Did you say everywhere? You are so clever. This guy had glitter from one side of his house to the other by virtue of the dog making his rounds all over the house. This stuff is never going to come out of every nook and cranny it found its way into no matter what he does. He figures there is only one way to get to a glitter free house after all this.
Sell the house. I figure the least he could do is paint it pink first.
He had gone home the other day and found his eighteen year old daughter was going to paint with glitter. She has an artist friend who had done this by putting a little glitter in some water to dash up a painting or project or whatever with some shine, so she was trying it. Well, in the course of doing this, she managed to spill the glitter in her room. As any teacher of the very young will tell you, this isn't a problem as long as you nip that mess as soon as it happens and before it spreads, because everyone knows that glitter is a virus. And this glitter wasn't that cheap, hard metal stuff. This was the ultra fine glitter that you can get in your hair just by walking past the aisle containing it at Hobby Lobby.
Well, it was not duly nipped before their dog found his way into the bedroom and took it upon himself to roll around in the glitter. Now you have a glitter dog. Barbie would be proud, princesses all over are squealing in delight, and parents are praying that no one tries to do this on purpose. It gets better.
Where do dogs go? If you said everywhere, you would be correct. Guess where the glitter went? Did you say everywhere? You are so clever. This guy had glitter from one side of his house to the other by virtue of the dog making his rounds all over the house. This stuff is never going to come out of every nook and cranny it found its way into no matter what he does. He figures there is only one way to get to a glitter free house after all this.
Sell the house. I figure the least he could do is paint it pink first.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Being Wrong Is Fine
Without being deliberately boastful, I can tell you that I'm a pretty smart fellow. I have a lot of knowledge about a lot of stuff, and I actively use what I know to fill in gaps that make logical sense to me. This knowledge depth and my command of how to deliver it impresses a lot of people, and some of them think I'm a master of everything and know everything. I never claim to know everything, and I acknowledge that I'm wrong sometimes about my logical deductions regarding the gaps in my knowledge. I'm always interested in correcting whatever it is I don't know with actual facts so that I can be correct. I have no qualms over changing my mind.
Thing is, when people that I deal with learn that I don't know something or I get something wrong, it suddenly becomes a monumental event. They're all "we need to mark this down as the day you don't know something." It's like the incident, if you want to call it an incident, means more to them than to me. Really, being wrong isn't an issue.
I think the reason I complain sometimes about people being "stupid" has little to do with their level of knowledge. Most of the people I shake my head over are generally unwilling to learn what they did wrong so they always make me do it, or they are so stubborn, they refuse to change their ways or knowledge and cannot comprehend that what I'm telling them is true. Any contradiction to what they believe is considered to be wrong, and they want another answer. "That doesn't make sense" is an extremely common phrase, and even when I explain how I know it to be true, they cannot get past their prior knowledge to accept it.
On this, Doctor Who has a lot of good stuff in it, and occasionally, you get such a gem that it's worth keeping around. In the Satan Pit when confronted with the idea that they are dealing with something like Satan who could have existed prior to the universe, the Doctor came back with this one:
"I... believe. I believe I haven't seen everything, I don't know. It's funny, isn't it? The things you make up—the rules. If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe I'd believe it, but before the universe... that's impossible. It doesn't fit in my rules. Still, that's why I keep travelling. To be proved wrong."
I love that. Consider the implications of that. A thousand year old time traveler knows just about everything about everything, but looks forward to a time when he can be proven wrong. Why? Because that's learning. Never stop learning. Always be open to the possibility that there is something that can show you something that shakes your beliefs - your personal set of rules. Anytime someone tells me I am wrong about something, I always ask them to explain. This is not to confront them or challenge them, but I honestly want to know their facts and weigh them against my own. I am always open to being wrong if someone can show me how.
This goes right with what we learn from Mythbusters: Failure is always an option. Consider that. Humanity generally hates failure, but when it comes to failure versus success, you get something from each avenue. Yes, from a psychological perspective, we prefer successes and would rather remember them, but failure at least shows us how not to do something. Granted, failure to successfully land a plane might not give you a second chance, but in most cases, we can use the failure data to move forward.
The people I spoke of earlier? They cannot be proved wrong. They can't accept it. They also don't know how to deal with failure. Failure to them is a catastrophe where to me, it just means I have to change something and try again.
The people around me who seem to bask in the glow of my genius (I'm seriously not making this up) can mark all they want in their calendars, but for me, it's just another learning experience. I am to the point where I just embrace it for all it's worth.
Never stop learning. Every day can teach something new. Always keep that brain busy.
Thing is, when people that I deal with learn that I don't know something or I get something wrong, it suddenly becomes a monumental event. They're all "we need to mark this down as the day you don't know something." It's like the incident, if you want to call it an incident, means more to them than to me. Really, being wrong isn't an issue.
I think the reason I complain sometimes about people being "stupid" has little to do with their level of knowledge. Most of the people I shake my head over are generally unwilling to learn what they did wrong so they always make me do it, or they are so stubborn, they refuse to change their ways or knowledge and cannot comprehend that what I'm telling them is true. Any contradiction to what they believe is considered to be wrong, and they want another answer. "That doesn't make sense" is an extremely common phrase, and even when I explain how I know it to be true, they cannot get past their prior knowledge to accept it.
"I... believe. I believe I haven't seen everything, I don't know. It's funny, isn't it? The things you make up—the rules. If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe I'd believe it, but before the universe... that's impossible. It doesn't fit in my rules. Still, that's why I keep travelling. To be proved wrong."
I love that. Consider the implications of that. A thousand year old time traveler knows just about everything about everything, but looks forward to a time when he can be proven wrong. Why? Because that's learning. Never stop learning. Always be open to the possibility that there is something that can show you something that shakes your beliefs - your personal set of rules. Anytime someone tells me I am wrong about something, I always ask them to explain. This is not to confront them or challenge them, but I honestly want to know their facts and weigh them against my own. I am always open to being wrong if someone can show me how.
This goes right with what we learn from Mythbusters: Failure is always an option. Consider that. Humanity generally hates failure, but when it comes to failure versus success, you get something from each avenue. Yes, from a psychological perspective, we prefer successes and would rather remember them, but failure at least shows us how not to do something. Granted, failure to successfully land a plane might not give you a second chance, but in most cases, we can use the failure data to move forward.
The people I spoke of earlier? They cannot be proved wrong. They can't accept it. They also don't know how to deal with failure. Failure to them is a catastrophe where to me, it just means I have to change something and try again.
The people around me who seem to bask in the glow of my genius (I'm seriously not making this up) can mark all they want in their calendars, but for me, it's just another learning experience. I am to the point where I just embrace it for all it's worth.
Never stop learning. Every day can teach something new. Always keep that brain busy.
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