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Posts Tagged ‘Students’

Runnin’ with the Devil* #ThursdayThoughts

Posted in Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 23, 2025| 5 Comments »

Dear Satan,

Well, you’ve outdone yourself: Getting “Christians” to criticize someone espousing the teachings of the Bible AND to accept two Nazi salutes in one day?

Impressive.

I would have said Hell would have frozen over before I saw these two things.

It did snow in Florida, so I guess that’s close enough.

Here’s Dominic in the snow in Pensacola, Florida. Florida = Hell for me as long as DeSantis is in charge.

Trump sold his soul to you, didn’t he? That is really the only way to explain his rise to power and the loyalty to and love for him.

Trump fans: “Back the blue! We are the party of law and order!”
Trump pardons people who killed and injured police officers.
Trump fans: “I didn’t see it.” “Are we making a big deal about the pardons that Biden put in place? That’d be worse.”

Trump fans: “Gas is too expensive. I can’t afford eggs! Trump is going to help the regular folks.”
Trump nominates billionaires to cabinet positions and invites others to his inauguration while — quite literally — leaving regular folks out in the cold.
Trump fans: “Sounds great! They will put America first.”

Trump fans: “Trump knows what he is doing. Musk is intelligent. He’s innovative.”
Musk gives what appears to be the Nazi salute not once, but twice.
Trump fans: “Oh, he’s autistic.” “It was just awkward.” But also from the actual Nazis: “We are so back.”

Musk is really smart but not smart enough not to do what looks just like a Nazi salute? And I know many autistic people who don’t run around doing that gesture. Make it make sense. Satan, is this your idea of Hell on Earth for me outside of Florida?

Succeed in what, Leon? SUCCEED IN WHAT?

There’s an excuse for every damn thing. No one ever says, “Yep. That was wrong. I don’t agree with it.” It’s always, “But Biden did this thing … “ or “I work for Trump.” No, you work for the American people.

Trump signed 42 executive orders and 115 personnel actions on the first day (many of which sound a whole heck of a lot like Project 2025 — not that Trump had any knowledge of that at all, of course).

Among them are these winners:

  • Requiring all federal workers to return to in-person work, as well as a directive to address the cost-of-living crisis. I’m sure that order is going over well with workers. And I’m no genius like Musk, but I’m thinking that the cost of living is much lower in rural areas instead of cities where federal workers might have to be in the office. If they could work from home from these areas, it might kill two birds with one stone. But what do I know?
  • Ending birthright citizenship protected by the 14th Amendment. Nice try, but Trump can’t change the U.S. Constitution with an Executive Order. Both chambers of Congress would have to pass the amendment with a two-thirds majority, plus at least 38 states would have to approve. Not so easy peasy. Fun fact: People have said that four of his five kids won’t be citizens anymore, but that isn’t true: One parent had to be a U.S. citizen at the time of the child’s birth. But guess who WOULDN’T be considered a citizen anymore? Kamala Harris (probably why petty Mr. Trump is so keen on getting rid of the protection). You know who else? Vivek Ramaswamy. Oh, and new Secretary of State Marco Rubio. C’est la vie!
  • Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Why? Because it doesn’t hold everyone accountable like it should? Ooookkkayyy. The reality is that climate change is fast making this planet unbearable. I’m not understanding how people can say that humans can control the weather and are responsible for the L.A. wildfires but NOT for climate change in general.
  • Withdrawing from the World Health Organization. Why? Because they hurt Trump’s fee fees during the COVID pandemic for how he handled it? If the United States is out, it’s likely China will step up. That would give them more worldwide influence. Is that a good idea?
  • Renaming Gulf of Mexico and Denali to Gulf of America and Mount McKinley respectively. Regarding the first, GTFO. ARE YOU SERIOUS? I mean, fine. I guess Trump can make the United States do what he wants, but he can’t make the world call it that. Regarding the second, there is some ridiculousness at play here. Just look at this from the White House website:
Denali already is named to honor our nation’s history — Native American history as it comes from Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascan people, translating roughly to “The Great One.” A prospector named Dickey started calling it Mount McKinley in 1897; the federal government officially named it McKinley in 1917. Alaska reps started trying to get the name changed back to Denali beginning in 1975 and finally succeeded in 2015, over the protests of the reps in McKinley’s home state of Ohio. OHIO. By the way, McKinley never even set foot in Alaska. So which history is Trump honoring? A president who only served for four years (1897-1901) or, you know, an entire people and country that existed before white folks showed up? That’s a rhetorical question. I know whom Trump likes.

I genuinely think Trump does and says crazy things every day so that he keeps the focus and also so that no one has time to really give any of these things full attention. Nothing gets even one full news cycle. Not that the national news is doing any kind of real news reporting. (And I say that as someone who was an actual news reporter.)

Anyway, back to the beginning.

“But mah eggs!”

Listen, kitten, eggs are not going to get cheaper. First, there’s the H5 bird flu — now found in a Georgia commerical poultry plant (fun!).

Second, Trump has rich friends he wants to please (see above).

A 50-page plan from the House Ways and Means Committee outlines exciting ways to give tax breaks to wealthy people and corporations and all the things they can cut to pay for it:

Handouts include removing the estate tax for millionaires, lowering the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, and repealing the corporate profit minimum tax of 15 percent. Cost? $1.2 trillion.

Ways to pay for it? Well, they aren’t going to turn around and tax those same people. Guess who pays? I’ll take “working families” for $100, Alex.**

How? By removing the mortgage interest deduction, raising taxes on single parents, raising taxes on college students, eliminating the tax credit for child care. Oh right, and the tariff on imports, which will be passed along to consumers because THAT IS HOW TARIFFS WORK.

Satan, you have really done a number here. You convinced so many people to vote against their own best interests. Congratulations! Really, good job! During the election, there was one candidate promising $25K toward a down payment for a house. Now the one who won — your buddy! — is taking away a tax credit for people who somehow manage to actually own a house. Delightful!

Really spectacular work. You’ve gone above and beyond.

I’m SO EXCITED to be living in this timeline, Satan. Thanks so much for your machinations.

(Maybe I should have added a trigger warning for extreme sarcasm.)

Sigh.

At least this train wreck can’t go on indefinitely. For you to get a soul, the person has to … expire. No one lives forever.

Not that I’m wishing death on anyone or anything. Of course not.

Maybe good ultimately will win.

Maybe some people in power will discover they have spines.

Maybe you’ll get distracted by a Georgia kid named Johnny or something.

Who knows?!

One can only hope.

Anyway, congrats! You’re winning. #tigerblood
Beth

*It’s only Van Halen if David Lee Roth is singing. Otherwise, it’s Van Hagar.

**Don’t believe me? Read the pdf.

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Stupid is as stupid does #TuesdayTantrums

Posted in Education, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2024| 9 Comments »

Dear People Who Like To Be “In The Know,”

With all the drama surrounding the Biden pardon*, you may have missed the other big drama unfolding on the platform formerly known as Twitter:

A woman defended her dissertation and posted about it. Normal people would say “Congrats!” and go on with their lives.

But on Leon’s platform, no one behaves normally.

People lost their ever-lovin’ minds.

Categories of outrage:

  1. She should be having kids, not studying anything.
  2. ⁠Her topic is stupid.
  3. It’s stupid and WOKE.
  4. ⁠Taxpayer money (! – from the stupid Americans, of course) spent on stupid topic. (Note: She’s in the UK.)
  5. ⁠She’s seeking validation and is therefore stupid.
  6. Her topic is stupid, and therefore I’m smarter (the “I” here being the outraged respondent).
  7. A degree is a waste.

You don’t believe me? Here is a quick sample:

(Note that all these accounts have Leon’s blue check, indicating they pay for the “privilege.” 🙄)

The one that takes the cake is the one she references here:

I mean: WHAT THE ACTUAL F—-?!

One of the main through lines here is that people do not understand that dissertations are always relatively niche. They cap a broader area of study.

It’s not just that they don’t understand. They also are completely unwilling to learn.

The anti-intellectualism, anti-science, anti-knowledge, sheer-contempt-for-education bent that many people seem to have is on full display.

I waded in when I saw this:

Um … WHAT?!

What benefit does anyone intend to bring to the world with our education and, ultimately, our job?

Well, Marilyn, who claims she worked successfully as a technical writer at a Fortune 300 company without needing more than a high-school degree, thinks that Dr. Louks can’t write, isn’t a deep thinker, wasted her time on an advanced degree, and won’t get a job.

Note that Dr. Louks already is teaching at Cambridge, but why let a fact stand in the way of Marilyn’s superior opinion?

Before I go on, let me remind you that our Marilyn was a technical writer (so she says). And she is criticizing Dr. Louks’ writing ability. DEAR GOD. My copyediting brain is going to explode.

I tried to share information with her. I can’t help it.

I tried because I would consider myself knowledgeable about the subject at hand:

1. I wrote a dissertation and earned a Ph.D.
2. I work in higher education.
3. I hire newly minted academic doctors all the time.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I’m sure you can imagine that it did not stop there. There was a fair amount of back and forth where I explained that some jobs do indeed require an advanced degree, that I have one (an advanced degree AND a job) in higher education, and that Dr. Louks will be OK.

Here we are nearing the end where I finally gave up.

<RECORD SCRATCH>

I DON’T? I literally spend half my waking hours working in the education system.

So I said it’s my field, not hers. That she’s doubling down on being ignorant, and I was done trying to help her understand.

You can’t fix stupid.

She’s still on there making these insane claims. She’s learned nothing.

Meanwhile, I’ve learned that I really do need to stay on Bluesky where it’s civil. It’s like the early days of Twitter. No “premium” subscription needed.

Please check it out before the trolls take over. Or Leon buys it and ruins it like everything else he touches.

See you there!
Beth

*BTW, let’s put that in perspective:

Donald Trump pardons Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, etc.
MAGA: THIS IS HIS RIGHT!

Joe Biden pardons Hunter Biden.
MAGA: THIS IS SO WRONG!

(credit to @JoJofromJerz)

“BUT JOE LIED! He said he wouldn’t!” Yeah, well, things change. Trump and his cronies said they were going after Hunter and many others as soon as they get in. Also, Trump lied more than 30K times during his term, so maybe take a seat. Or several.

Finally, Hunter’s punishment didn’t fit his crime. Talk about a witch hunt.

So if you support the felon (convicted, I’ll remind you, by a JURY) and his cabinet of rapists/thugs/sycophants/donors (including daughter’s father-in-law — also a felon whom he pardoned), zip it about the pardon.

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George Soros paid me to write this* #SundayStories

Posted in Education, Friends, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2024| 9 Comments »

Dear Certain Facebook Friend,

I really think you need a hobby that does not involve using an “independent browser.” You’ve gone way down the conspiracy-theory rabbit hole.

In addition to hopping on board the HAARP bandwagon, you are, naturally, an antivaxxer.

You posted this recently. Are you really wanting to go back to 1890s knowledge? They were still using cocaine as an all-purpose pain reliever, for crying out loud!

There doesn’t seem to be a conspiracy theory you don’t embrace.

Sigh. Where to begin with this?

Oh. My.

Here are SO MANY tinfoil-hat buzzwords:

Later in the post, you mention the Deep State (of course).

AND, the grandpappy of them all, GEORGE SOROS.

Lord have mercy.

Let me get this straight:

COVID was a well-planned global conspiracy coordinated via the corrupt George Soros-owned media and search engines. The mRNA-DNA altering injections (i.e., vaccines) were sold for massive profits — killing people with the “Pfizer clot shot” while the unvaxxed were hunted.

This is what you said.

OK.

So.

Let’s put aside simple facts such as mRNA doesn’t alter DNA, the vaccines were/are free, and no one hunted unvaxxed folks. There are a couple of other issues:

All the countries of the world agreed to do this: Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, U.S., China, etc.? And they all worked together well and kept it a secret? Like I told you, I can’t even get three people to keep a secret about a Christmas present.

Who exactly benefited from this plot? COVID crashed economies. What’s the point of killing so many people with COVID or with the vaccine? Were they enemies of the DEEP STATE? Did they KNOW TOO MUCH? Somehow I doubt it.

Why is anyone hunting unvaxxed people? There’s no need. I mean, I believe in survival of the fittest. You don’t want to get vaccinated? OK. Polio, measles, cholera, etc. will take you out soon enough.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention THE LIBERAL ELITES.

Side note: All “experts” are not in academia. Look at all the scientists, economists, etc., all over the world.

You know, I have a good position at a university. Shouldn’t I be part of this club? I’ve been working in higher education for nearly 30 years. Shouldn’t I have gotten an invitation by now? I’m a little put out. How am I supposed to know how to indoctrinate students without the official guidelines?

Um … didn’t this dude go to Yale?

I’m also surprised you didn’t warn me off my Alexa. You’d be right about surveillance, though: I’m sure that old ‘ho IS listening all the time and making notes.

Fine. I don’t care. What’s she tracking? When I need cat food? Good.

If Bill Gates wants to implant a chip in me and track my movements, he can go right ahead.

It’s not like I’m plotting a global conspiracy.

Back to that.

Let’s say, just for kicks, that you are right — that you and the rest of the 5G nutters have stumbled onto the truth of a cabal and exposed their machinations. (You haven’t, but let’s pretend.)

So what?

What are you going to do about it?

What if the earth IS flat? (It’s not.)

So what?

How does it affect you?

What if the moon landing WAS fake? (It wasn’t.)

So what?

How will your life change?

It won’t.

It genuinely does not make a difference to you or to me or to anyone in our daily lives. We are still going to go to work, hang out with friends, take care of our families, clean our houses, plan vacations, pay bills, go to dinner, etc., every day whether George Soros buys another TV station or not.

So my recommendation is to get off the Internet (dark web, light web, private browser, whatever) and go get some fresh air. Have a few analog days. Or weeks. Or maybe even months.

When you come back, take a page out of Finland’s playbook for its schoolchildren and practice critical-thinking skills.

With genuine concern for your health,
Beth

*He didn’t. Obviously.

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Pretty good at drinkin’ beer* #SundayStories

Posted in Music, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 12, 2024| 3 Comments »

Dear Drunk Students From Last Night:

I hope your hangover is not too bad. Perhaps you are still mad at me, but I’m betting you forgot our entire interaction.

I’m sorry I had to be the bad guy.

My volunteer job at the concert’s beer garden required me to enforce just three rules:

  1. Must have a pink wristband to enter.
  2. No beer outside of the beer garden.
  3. No passing beer over the beer-garden barrier.

I stopped one of you from violating No. 2 and had this exchange:

Me: Sorry, you can’t leave this area with those [gesturing to his two cups of beer].
Him: Am I supposed to chug them?
Me: I’m not recommending that, but you can.
Him: But I want to go hear the music.
Me: Great! You can do that right here.

Another one of you tried to be slick by putting the cup close to your body and walking out while turned away from me.

Listen, girl: I was young once too. I know ALL the tricks.

Rule No. 3 was — by far — the one that caused you the most dismay.

To be fair, the setup wasn’t great. There should have been a fence for the fence.

But policing that line with you was rough.

Beer makes some of you very bad-tempered. I almost had to call security. (That would have meant breaking up the officers’ coffee klatch though.)

Luckily, only a handful of you acted the fool. Most of you were well behaved.

Also, I was thrilled that the beer ran out quickly, and I was relieved of my duties.

Y’all seemed to have a great time overall and enjoyed the concert. That’s good.

Fairly well-attended concert for an artist whose name escapes me.

I did NOT have the greatest time, but that’s ok. I performed a necessary service by reducing liability.

Take some Tylenol. Drink water. Eat a bagel. You’ll be fine.

Maybe I’ll see you next year!
Beth

*Billy Currington, who had his own substance issues.

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I’m baaaack! #SundayStories

Posted in Education, tagged , , , , , , on December 10, 2023| 2 Comments »

Hello Readers!

Not sure I have any left. That’s understandable. I’ve been MIA for WEEKS.

Why?

Consequences of the decision to move to another part of the country, start a new job AND take two courses to finish my Explosives Technology graduate certificate.

It’s been an exhausting time.

Classes are over, though, and I earned my certificate. I knew I’d be fine in the Commercial Pyrotechnics course because I did well in the Stage Pyrotechnics and Special Effects course.

Demolition? Not so much.

At one point, I thought I was going to fail.

Not only did I not fail, I earned an A in the course — due in large part to the final project, which was a group project to create a bid to demolish the St. Louis Arch.

Three twentysomething engineering students and me. We spent weeks working on this project via email, Zoom and group chat. (Our group name: Arch Nemesis, Inc. — yuk, yuk.)

I needed a nearly perfect score to get an A. I had come to terms with getting a B. Then we presented our work. The professor had nothing but good things to say about our bid presentation.

Y’all. He gave us extra credit.

I am so proud of us. I’m proud of myself.

Maybe you can hire me for your next explosive event. Or not. I think I’m done with this chapter of my life.

Now that this semester is over, I may get back to writing regularly.

See you soon (?),
Beth

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China girl* #SundayStories #ShanghaiSurprises

Posted in Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2023| 3 Comments »

Hi Everyone!

I just got back from a trip to China for work. I was in Zhengzhou and Shanghai. I had been to Shanghai before, so I kind of knew what to expect.

However, there were some surprises.

Things I did not have on my bingo card:

Sweet and sour popcorn fish
What amounted to drinkable kerosene (106 proof!)
A Rolls Royce golf cart for a tour of a university campus
A campus that looked like Disney World mated with Las Vegas
A bowling alley inside the student center
A military parade featuring all 8,000 freshmen
A welcome ceremony that rivaled the opening ceremony for the Olympics
Liberace’s furniture in my hotel room
A bathroom with a viewing window
Duck (I think) to go at the airport
The amount of full-on staring people did at our group
The taxi ride from hell: snorting/coughing and texting driver who wouldn’t turn the air on but wouldn’t turn off the turn signal

It was an interesting and productive trip, but I’m glad to be home.

Beth

*Bowie, of course.

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The Graduate #SundayStories

Posted in Parenting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 28, 2023| 7 Comments »

Hi everyone!

It may or may not be a surprise, but Dominic made it to and through graduation.

During COVID, he just checked out of school. (Let’s be honest: He wasn’t exactly a star student before COVID either.) He just wouldn’t turn things in. He’d procrastinate until the very end then scrape by.

“So what are his plans now?”

Many, many people have asked. If I had a dollar for every time … well, you know.

I understand that it comes from a place of genuine curiosity, but I really am tired of saying, “I don’t know.”

I don’t know because Dominic doesn’t know.

He’s in teenage limbo where he has not yet found his passion and purpose.

I always knew what I wanted to do. I’ve always had a plan. I am not the kind of person who drifts through life.

But some people are, and that’s fine. He’s one of them. I’m not trying to impose my will on him.

He might work for a year.

He might go to college.

He might go into the military.

His friends know what they are going to do, and that adds pressure.

He’ll figure it out. The frontal lobe is still developing.

In the meantime, at least he’s passed this milestone. I’m proud of him.

And I’m as interested as everyone else in what’s next.

Beth

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Friends of Mine* #SundayStories

Posted in Friends, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 23, 2022| 4 Comments »

Dear Victoria,

Thanks for going with me to the Haunted Mine at our university (aka place of business).

I know we are coworkers who barely know each other, but you came through. People I knew better begged off (because haunted, because mine, because both).

Even though I’m an Explosives Technology student, I had not yet been to the experimental mine. I read all about the prep, though.

“Scaring starts at 6.”

Too bad I live 1.5 hours away and couldn’t get in some hours.

I’m glad we met up at the Tater Patch. I don’t know what any of that means.
Sporting saucy hard hats!

We got the safety briefing (“It’s a mine. The walls are made of rock. If you hurt yourself, let a scarer know immediately.”). Then it was time.

It was genuinely terrifying, especially the bit with the clown with the chainsaw.

This is the photo that one accidentally takes when running from a clown wielding a chainsaw.

NO, THANK YOU.

I had to remind myself that the scarers were not allowed to touch me. (And I was not allowed to touch them either. Consent goes both ways.)

Huddled together, we screamed/laughed our way through it.

Well, the screaming/laughing was me. You were mostly laughing. At me. For good reason.

Anyway, it was great, and I appreciate you going with me. Thanks again!

Happy Halloween!
Beth

*A great Duran Duran song and a terrible pun for this post

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And now for something completely different* #SundayStories

Posted in Education, Random, tagged , , , , , , , on September 11, 2022| 2 Comments »

Dear Dr. P:

It’s been a dozen years since I’ve been in a for-credit course. I really don’t know what I’m doing in your Explosives in Industry course. Or what I’m doing in the Explosives Technology graduate certificate program in general.

My background is journalism/mass communications and performing arts.

So why am I here?

I genuinely don’t know.

I guess it just seemed cool to learn about explosives.

And I guess I wanted to do something completely different.

Even though this certificate program is billed as being for non-engineers, there’s still a steep learning curve.

I mean. What is going on there? Those acronyms mean nothing to me!

However, I did enjoy your video tour of the experimental mine.

Also, EXPERIMENTAL MINE?! That’s DOPE!

Anyway, I’m Tracy Flick, so I will figure out what I don’t know. I plan to get an A in the class.

I’m on the right track.

Looking forward to learning more.

Sincerely,
Beth

*Always time for a Monty Python reference.

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First week recap #SundayStories

Posted in Apartment life, tagged , , , , , , , on October 3, 2021| 6 Comments »

Dear Friends and Family,

All is well here in the heartland of America. I explored downtown Rolla on foot in about an hour last weekend. I made it to much of the rest of the town throughout the week.

Plenty to amuse me here.

I’ve found that people are super chatty. It goes way beyond the Southern hospitality that I know.

I had LONG conversations with a woman next to me at the nail salon (she is from Salem, has four kids, back issues, etc.), a guy in the beer aisle at Walmart (his mom cooks with beer) and a couple at the farmer’s market (she is surprised I know how to cook turnip greens and he runs their produce mailing list).

My haul from yesterday. Am I a Southern girl or what?

Really lovely people. True embodiment of the phrase “salt of the earth.”

I’ve been all over campus this week and now know my way around very well. Same thing: such nice people!

I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but my new employer is putting me up in university housing for two months so I can acclimate to the university and get to know people before I start spending all my time in St. Louis.

University housing = residence hall

(No, I didn’t bring my futon, neon beer sign and bookcase made with plywood and milk crates. 😉)

I’m on what appears to be the men’s floor. Though I have a private outside entrance, the interior door opens onto the hallway.

I share my bedroom wall with the guys next door: Paul, Conor and Owen. They had a particularly rowdy night Tuesday night. I have no idea what they were doing, but now to me they are collectively the Noisy Nerds.*

I live for the day I’m invited to a hall party. (You know I’m not kidding.)

Anyway, I’m still fine. A little bored at night after work, but fine. I’ll make friends. Find things to do. As I do. Don’t worry.

Love,
Beth

*Not a pejorative term. I too am a nerd about a variety of things. As you all know.

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