We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Recently, I've had a number of bad events occur. Supposedly, these things happen in threes, and I'm hoping that's how it goes. I won't share the first two event details. Needless to say they are both very upsetting and expensive events. The third event was VERY expensive. And very avoidable.
What made it particularly galling was how it happened to me, someone who is ridiculously careful online because among the roles of previous jobs I've held, one has been the management of online privacy and data. Compelling partner companies to take extra effort, steps or other precautions to protect user data and information.
If your company is like mine, you take tests each year to identify several different forms of potential identity capture. Phishing, Spearphishing, downloading Trojan horses, etc. There are many ways to do it, and I'm familiar with all of them. I've always passed these tests with flying colors, and I've even caught several transgressors over the years.
Before I tell my own, very humbling, story, let me say this kind of event is not just an issue of being online. My stepmother is not as adept online as I am, so does not engage the internet to nearly the degree I do. Yet several years ago she was scammed out of several thousand dollars in attempting to do something good for her grandchild - so she thought. Unfortunately, she (much like I am about to detail) missed one or two key details in her situation, and fell victim to a con over the phone. Anyone can be a victim.
The Court's interest in revisiting racial affirmative action got me thinking a bit more about the idea of meritocracy.
Merit, say, for employment in my field, is relatively easy to assess. We want to hire people who are personable enough to be good colleagues, bright, eager, good writers and speakers, and easily-trainable. If they don't work out, they have to leave. We do not care about your golf game.
So, in my view, merit has to do with the right fit for a job or task. The right talent stack, as Adams would put it.
I know that many private secondary schools (the PSSAT) and, of course, still most higher ed wants test scores. The SAT and ACT are basically proxies for IQ or, at least, functional IQ as it has to be applied to a test. But is IQ a measure of general merit as a human being? Of course not. It matters, but how much?
Let's say you are head of admissions at a competitive higher ed school with far more applicants than spaces. Your job is to try to field a group of smart kids with enough talents to field sports teams, an orchestra, some math geniuses, etc. Fill each bucket.
You can do it on a fancy French ship, Le Commandant Ponant (which the two chuckleheads give you a tour of, below), or on a more spartan Russian ice-breaker (second video, with much more Arctic scenery).
First, Teaspoon. The expression is one teaspoon of loose tea per cup, and one for the pot. For a single cup, one teaspoon. Thus teaspoon. A tablespoon is three teaspoons.
True colors (or colours). Naval war etiquette required taking down your false flag before initiating battle.
Learning the ropes. Sailing ships had over 300 ropes and lines. Newbies had to learn them all, on the double.
Pink Floyd was a heck of a successful rock group. A founder, Syd Barrett, became schizophrenic but seems to have remained a shadow member of the group. Sound and fury signifying nothing? You be the judge.
What are your criteria to label a person a "solid citizen"?
That topic came up over beers with friends a few nights ago. It was like a college bull session for adults. When I was younger I would have considered it to be an American bourgeois question, unworthy of consideration by sophisticated kids like we were. We were all young idiots and certain about everything as only youth can be.
Assuming that we all have plenty of flaws, what would it take for a person to achieve the label of Solid Citizen? And is it worth thinking about?
First year Organic is often viewed as one of the sieves to sort out chemists, biochemists, medical aspirants of all sorts, and so forth. First year Organic does not require Calculus, but it certainly requires a grip on all pre-calc maths. Lots of equations.
As a non-STEM college major, I figured out the tricks of Chem 1 and Organic quickly. It's just logic based on relatively simple math. Here are my tricks: 1. Have a smart study partner to challenge you, and to teach. 2. Approach manipulating carbon molecules as fun puzzles. 3. As with General Chem (Chem 1), make sure you can reconstruct the equations by understanding them, and not by memorization. If you understand them you don't need to trust memorization on an anxiety-producing exam.
My Organic Prof was useless, and the TA grad students were just annoyed with us wasting their research time. They just said "Study the textbook." This Prof seems like a real teacher:
Abou