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PS... A Column on Things |
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By Paul E. Schindler Jr. |
Some things are impossible to know, but it is impossible to know these things. |
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I have a day job. So every word of this is my opinion, not that of my employer. This offer IS void in Wisconsin. Except, of course, that some material in this column comes from incoming e-mail; such material is usually reproduced in the Sans Serif type font to distinguish it from the (somewhat) original material.
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June 20, 2005 Vol. 7, No. 24 Table of Contents:
General NewsEco-Friendly CarLast weekend I leased a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid--you know, the same electric/gas hybrid engine as a Prius, but with enough headroom for a guy who is almost 6-2. I'll miss the Mercedes ML320, but this is a way cooler car. I can expect about 33 in the city, 20 on the highway--and during the school year I do 90% of my driving in the city. Plus, there's a gauge that helps me to learn to drive more economically. I wish I could plug it in to charge it, but you can't have everything (and I hear there are kits, although they void your warranty). The dealer kept asking Vicki and me if we were excited. I'm excited. I think she is too--just less so.
WowYou will notice, perhaps, as I did, the outburst of personal ideas and experiences since the end of school last Friday. I suddenly realized it was like a cork being removed from a bottle. My theory: I have gone from thinking almost constantly about my students to thinking more about myself and my needs. Also in the Wow department, a spiritually oriented friend of mine called to deliver a message about the divine will; we are all, after all, only ideas in the mind of God. She suggested that surrender to the will of God--who maintains free will, but also accepts it back, freely given--is navigating through a crowded city in a car. You can do it with a map or what you can see, or you can accept help from a GPS and a helicopter pilot who can see you and the whole city--and who, by the way, knows what every other driver is thinking. It is appealing, if only I knew exactly how to do it... And another "Wow" is that I should be spending eight hours over four days this week doing Seva for a saint (see Seva below), and then, during that same week, get advice from one of the most psychically aware individuals I know. Is God trying to tell me something?
SevaI did volunteer work at the M.A. Center during Ammachi's visit to San Ramon to kick off her summer tour of the United States. She's the "hugging saint." People in the Bay Area will recall a huge front page picture and headline, "10-Hour Wait For A Three Second Hug." A gross exaggeration and an article that tried to place her in the context of a lot of failed male gurus. Definitely a mixed bag, but as Barnum said, any publicity is good as long as your name is spelled right.
Who's Best In High SchoolIn the New Yorker's June 6 issue, Magaret Talbot wrote Best in Class, about disputes--some of them legal--over who should be valedictorian in a high school class. It brought back a flood of memories from my own graduation. I considered using real names in this item, then decided I shouldn't really violated anyone's privacy in that way, and it doesn't make the item better anyway. My high school was a citywide admissions high school. Entry was by test, and it was highly competitive. Back in my day, they posted the class ranking in the front hall--something I am sure is no longer done. In high school I was proud of my ranking. Lucky for me, MIT stopped publishing class ranking a few years before I arrived, because I would not have been proud of my ranking there, which likely would have been 998 out of 1,000. In any case, in four years I earned one B, which, by the end of my senior year gave me a 3.975 average, and a rank of third. JG had a 3.98, which earned him second--and confirms what the article notes about small differences leading to large perceptions. On top of our class was RM. Now RM was a jolly fellow, but while I was working my butt off, majoring in radio/electronics (we had majors at my school), Roger majored in guitar playing and partying; his major at school was architecture, widely considered to be a gut major. He never took a difficult elective (I took two years of German), and his GPA of 4.0 (the only one in our school in those pre-grade inflation days) was widely considered to be padded and unfair. Yet, in the program from my graduation, there he is, listed first in my class. Just as I feel RM's ranking was unfair (I have been unable ever to find out what he made of his life, although JG was very successful) and didn't tell the whole story, I feel my non-published ranking at MIT was also not the entire story. After all, you know what they call the person who finishes last in their class at medical school: "Doctor." I graduated, and about 15-20% of any given class doesn't manage that accomplishment. I've had a very successful and happy life. And that counts for a lot too. Probably more than your college GPA. Come to think of it, for the first time in decades, I realize that I hope RM did OK too.
I'm Improving--Why?I am so much more at peace, less tense and nervous, that even casual acquaintances have commented upon it in the last few months. My doctors certainly see it as they monitor my health. I am slowly losing weight. I am sleeping better. Is it Aqua-Chi? Is it the vitamin program set by my nutritionist? Is it teaching half-time (instead of full time) and getting fewer difficult students this year? Is it that I am learning how to teach? It could be any of those externals. But as a good friend of mine noted in a recent email, it could also be that I am farther along on my internal journey towards peace. Like the nature v. nurture argument, this one can never be settled. And like that argument, it is false to wonder whether the improvement results from external factors or internal factors: clearly, it results from both. Speaking of internal peace, I must wish a very happy retirement to one of the coolest teachers I know, Kent Peterman, who taught elementary school for many years. Go Kent!
Marlow in the NetherlandsMarlow is doing graduate work at Leiden University in The Netherlands. Her latest report: Yesterday I went to see the Prime Minister of Monoglia speak at Clingendael. J and A actually wore suits, which I definitely need one of, and we took the train into the Hague for the speech. Unfortunately, the speech wasn't as good as the talk the ambassador for Mongolia to the UN gave in my class on Mongolian History at Columbia, but then I suppose her whole job is in English, whereas the Prime Minister is more accountable to the domestic audience. There is a delegation of Mongolian ambassadors getting diplomatic training at the Clingaendael Institute; they were in the audience. After the Prime Minister's brief address about security issues, in which he briefly mentioned North Korea but mainly gave a National Geographic description of surrounding countries and various regional names such as Central Asia and North East Asia, the credentials of the people asking questions from the audience were impressive. There were retired finance ministers and ambassadors from the Dutch government. Afterwards I had my first Japanese meal in the Netherlands with J and A. Not bad; I had the chicken teriyaki, deciding it would probably be unsatisfying to do sushi. I am also going to a Snoop Dogg concert with A on Wednesday, and unfortunately I still have a lot of work to do on that final paper, but at least I'm busy. I plow through the Acheson memoirs a little each day. ... I saw the Snoop concert with A last night in Amsterdam. We had seats so we weren't actually on the floor near the stage, and we actually remained seated during much of the concert. The crowd wasn't quite what I expected, but I guess Dutch people listen to rap too, or just like going to concerts.
Political NotesBriefs
Computer Industry NewsCraig Reynolds' TechnobriefsInternet Collaboration: BusinessWeek ran an in-depth article called The Power Of Us saying "Mass collaboration on the Internet is shaking up business." It talks about how decentralized systems, communicating over the net enable products, services and human collaboration in new ways. Microsoft bans 'democracy' for China web users. Microsoft says "MSN abides by the laws and regulations of each country in which it operates" but the article points out "there is no Chinese law that bars the mere use of words such as democracy."Technobits: more on What's Really Behind the Apple-Intel Alliance --- Enough Keyword Searches. Just Answer My Question. --- Online music firm Snocap goes indie route --- Earth's "Bigger Cousin" Detected.
HumorThe Top 25 Ways Michael Jackson Can Repair His ImageJune 16, 2005 25> Just to show he's really not a pervert, sleep with a few 12-year-old girls. 24> Raise the Neverland threat level to SEQUIN. 23> Next time, opt for a big red nose to complete the clown look. 22> Take a page from Betty Ford: Open the Michael Jackson Pedophilia Rehab Center and check self in. 21> Collaborate with Sir Mix-a-Lot on a song about tits and ass. 20> Out with the monkey; in with a pit bull. 19> From now on, only lick the heads of supermodels. 18> Hire a bouncer to stand at the foot of his bed and check IDs. 17> Go to Meineke for a facial. 16> Lure Mike Tyson out of retirement for an easy win in the ring. 15> Half-off all Rohypnol-laced cotton candy at Neverland! 14> Replace all the Jesus Juice with L. Ron Hubbard-Ade. 13> Buy a Pepsi, get publishing rights to a Beatles song! 12> Recruit Pete Townshend and the principal from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as fellow "goodwill ambassadors" to tour the tsunami-ravaged Thailand underage sex-distr-- er, orphanages. 11> Use super-cool dance moves to capture Osama bin Laden. 10> Put on a happy face -- the one that's been in storage since the trial started. 9> Turn back time by re-installing nose #14 from September 1989. 8> Invade Iraq. Hey, it worked for you-know-who. 7> Use his masculine charms to woo Katie away from Tom. 6> Hire Phil Spector to produce killer new album. 5> Same way he repairs his face: spackle, bailing twine, duct tape, Super Glue and a trowel. 4> Step one: Find that other friggin' glove. 3> A public slapping-around of Macaulay Culkin would be a good start. 2> Change the name Neverland to Never-Been-Convicted-Yet-for- Bending-Little-Boys-Over-Like-a-Willow-Tree-in-an-86-Mile- an-Hour-Wind Land. and Topfive.com's Number 1 Way Michael Jackson Can Repair His Image... 1> Quit hanging out with lawyers. [ The Top 5 List www.topfive.com ][ Copyright 2005 by Chris White ] ============= Selected from 124 submissions from 47 contributors. Today's Top 5 List authors are: ----------------------------- Meg Silvern, Tucson, AZ -- 1 (Woohoo! 1st #1!) Paul Schindler, Orinda, CA -- 20
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Dave Methvin's PC Pitstop |
