Why do people use the term “scaredy cat”? I have seen and known some pretty frickin fearless cats. In fact, when I was a kid, we had a cat who weighed all of six pounds soaking wet, but she would go toe to toe with a 200lb malamute and smack him in the face and just walk away. I mean, come on now. 😆
Month: April 2024
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What topics do you like to discuss?
Anything math or science related, essentially. I’m not keen on politics or history, but just about anything else is fine.
My favorite topics are physics/astronomy, philosophy, or human biology/medical stuff.
And as a side note, I like to discuss these topics, not listen to someone spout about why their views are right and everyone else who doesn’t share those views is wrong. I aim to understand things, not to blindly accept someone else’s truth. If you’re not willing to entertain questions, I may not be the person to talk to. Just sayin.
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I love the smile that dogs get after just spending time outside sitting in the sun, chillin. Something so simple gives them so much joy, it’s fabulous.
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I have chosen not to master a particular skill set, like being an accountant or a doctor, because I think that is too limiting. There is so much knowledge available in the world, and I would prefer a broad sampling rather than a narrow niche. I think that lends itself better to understanding existence.
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Sometimes, you just have to do the thing.
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George Carlin once said that he likes people, but in very small doses. I fully identify with that sentiment today.
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Being a woman can suck at times. Just sayin.
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How do you unwind after a demanding day?
A few different things can help me with this.
Music
Writing
Dogs
Sit outside and listen to the birds (weather permitting)
A fire pit
Reading
Basically, any activity that doesn’t involve people, especially any people who are expecting shit from me.
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I actually witnessed this today, and it made me smile.
I left for an appointment at around 4, and to say traffic was insane would be an understatement. I was waiting in a line of traffic, and I see this car that needs to make a left into this line of traffic. Poor dude looked so stressed; I have no idea how long he had been waiting.
I left some room for him when the car in front of me pulled up a bit. He and his passenger both smiled and waved in thanks. A little ways up the road, and once we had actually started moving some, he did the same for someone else.
I must admit, sometimes I get fed up with being kind in traffic, especially if the other person doesn’t acknowledge it. Seeing someone do the same for another stranger has restored some small measure of my faith in humanity.
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I had an interesting exchange the other day, and I got to thinking about what it means to be smart or intelligent. I was talking to someone at work, and we were talking about something that we disagree on, and I asked him to explain his logic to me, and that I would admit I was wrong if that was the case, but that I needed to fully understand his point first. We were talking over email, and he responds with, “thought I was talking to the smartest person I know. 😉”, and then said he would explain the following day, as he had something to do.
I started wondering. Even if I were the smartest person he knows, that doesn’t mean that he can’t know something that I don’t. Nobody knows everything, right? So why do we have this idea that we can’t teach other people even if they are “smarter” than us?
When I was in a physics class in my early 20s, one of the guys I partnered with often for labs was actually a janitor at the college. He had a dream to be an electrical engineer. He was a sweetheart too, very kind man.
He struggled with different things, and I would try to help where I could. He was always grateful, but when it came to the unit on electricity, he actually saved me. And by that, I mean my grade – we never worked with enough current to be dangerous. That man understood things about circuits and currents that I just could not wrap my head around. He was the reason I didn’t fail that unit!
Some people looked down on him or assumed he wasn’t “smart” because of his occupation, and that is bullshit. He knew things I could barely comprehend, and just because he had issues with some other parts of the class doesn’t mean a damn thing. He was there, putting in the work to make his dream a reality, which is more than most people can say. I admired him, and am so thankful that he helped me get through what I considered the worst part of that class.
In any case, I looked up the definition of intelligence. It’s not about knowing everything, it’s about the capacity for learning or applying what you know to new or difficult situations. I’ve said before that my dad was one of the smartest men I’ve ever known, and that stands. He wasn’t “educated” per se, but he was extremely intelligent. I think that we too often assign the value of intelligence to how many facts someone knows or how many degrees they have. That’s not what makes someone intelligent. What makes someone intelligent is the ability to take in new information, reason with said information, assimilate it if it fits or discard it if it doesn’t, and move on to solve whatever problem you are facing.
A Peculiar Cerebral Tangle 