In the endless history of human interaction and/or conflict, you will sometimes hear the statement “Don’t be judgmental”. Ignoring the obvious irony of their being judgmental when they tell you not to be judgemental, what exactly is wrong with being judgemental? When you compliment, nobody’s going to call you judgmental. But when you criticize, constructive or otherwise, you will be called judgmental. But the reality is, in every situation you judge people as they interact with you and others, situations as they happen, and things as you see them. It is just how you go about life. It is how you go about getting the good things and avoiding the bad things. Perhaps what is really meant is “Don’t be wrongly judgmental” as in “Don’t judge a book by its cover” But that’s an entirely different thing.
The Lenten Diet
It’s Lent again. People are fasting and/or abstaining from meat and poultry as a form of penance. Instead, those who are not fasting are eating seafoods. Fastfood joints are offering fish this, shrimp that and restaurants are seeing a boom in seafood orders. Now isn’t there something wrong here? Not only is seafood healthier, it’s also better tasting! Where’s the penance in that? Is it paying the higher price of seafood? But seriously, it really shouldn’t be about what you don’t eat.
The Middle East Conundrum
The recent events in the middle east shows how complicated the region is. The lack of democracy in most of these Arab regimes is supposed to have led to the rise of radical Islam. Or is it these Arab regimes that are the bulwark against the rise the radical Islam? Now there are uprisings all over notably in Libya. And the US and NATO have intervened in support of the rebels who, prior to being almost defeated by the Libyan government, were not just a little anti-West. But even some of the Arab league countries supporting the US and NATO intervention have uprisings in their midst and more often there are radical Islam movements involved. Will the US also intervene in say Syria and Yemen? Is the US actually helping future enemies just like what happened in Afghanistan and, it seems, Iraq? It’s a mess. And we’re not even into the Israel issue yet.
Peeing as a Measure of Programming Aptitude
I sometimes see pee splattered on the floor when I visit the men’s room and it occurred to me that maybe it can be used as an indicator of how good a programmer is. Pee splatter is sloppy and sloppiness is definitely not an indicator of a good programmer. But then again, maybe it’s all those business analysts and project managers.
What A Difference A Day (Or Two) Makes
During workdays, I often have to drive Michelle to her office then proceed to my office. At the end of the day, I pick her up before proceeding home. That means I spend about 4 hours per day driving! In a month that would be around 100 hours or more than an astounding 4 days! That’s a major loss! You only have a fixed amount of time and can’t get any back. If the time I spend driving can be cut down even by half, I’d have 2 full days per month of my time back. Time better spent with Jeanne, for example. Or learning iPhone programming. Or even just sleeping! If that’s not justification for another car, I don’t know what is!