The Duh Factor - The Intelligent, The Ignorant, & The Absurd

Headline Nonsense

Here's a headline from CNN on Sunday, Sept. 20:

Kid scores 1,019,000 on Guitar Hero

Big freakin' deal. I'm sure the college recruiters are lining up at this kid's door.

Lung Ailment Caused by Spoon Fragment

John Manley has suffered two years of ill health, coughing, vomiting and pain. Finally a doctor, using an endoscope, looked into John's lungs and found the problem. The culprit? A plastic spoon handle from Wendy's. They are calling it a fragment but when you can read "Wendy's" on one side and "hamburgers" on the other, one must ascertain that it was a decent sized chunk.

Now John doesn't recall chowing on a spoon so he said it must have been in either the food or drink. If it was in the food, one would think it would have been discovered by the teeth. I've eaten hamburger with a piece of bone or cartilage in it that was quite easily discovered once it came between my teeth. And it was pretty small. Certainly not large enough to print "Wendy's" on it. If one were eating fast enough I guess there's the possibility of the plastic being missed.

If the handle were in the drink I could understand it going past the teeth undetected. Since fast-food beverages are routinely consumed via straw, I can't imagine a fragment large enough to have legible print on it to be able to pass through the straw. In either case, how did the plastic get into the lung?

That's probably where the saying "inhaling your food" comes from.

Obamanomics

I found this photo to be quite humorous. Why? Because it's funny! Now I had somebody tell me:

"To be fair to him, no he didn't do that. No one person is to blame, and I am personally shocked at the fact that a group of people could so easily condemn one man for what is obviously a broad spectrum of factors contributing in a global economic meltdown."

Obviously Obama isn't solely responsible for the economic situation we are in at the moment. The plane started losing altitude before he took office. I don't think it takes an above average I.Q. to understand that if an airplane is losing altitude that the best way to correct it is to put the plane into a nosedive.

And yes, that is exactly what he's doing.

The R-Word

In an ever increasing attempt to eliminate any potential chance of offending anyone, anywhere, at any time, a new movement has arisen to classify the word “retard” and any derivative as a hate word. They are even going as far as to say “The r-word”. So from henceforth, we'll refrain from use of the r-word in it's traditional form. First let's look at the definition of the word:

R-Word
–verb (used with object)
1. to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
–verb (used without object)
2. to be delayed
–noun
3. a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
Slang: Disparaging
4. a. a mentally r-worded persaon
b. a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way: a hopeless social r-word.
5. Automotive, Machinery. an adjustment made in the setting of the distributor of an internal-combustion engine so that the spark for ignition in each cylinder is generated later in the cycle.

Definition #4 is showing where the derogatory use of the word originates. So therefore there is a negative use for the r-word. On the other hand there is regular use in practical, every day living for the r-word also. This is especially true in the Automotive Industry. When adjusting the timing on an engine, one either advances the timing or r-words it. Imagine the conversation in an auto shop:

Hank: This engine ain't runnin' right.
Merl: The timing is too far advanced.
Hank: What do you think I should do?
Merl: You need to r-word it you moron!

Sounds r-worded doesn't it? I think so too.

It doesn't matter what terminology is used to describe those with challenges it will be used by the majority as an insult for somebody who isn't challenged who does something stupid. Here's a list thus far:

R-word, R-worded – used originally to describe a person with a birth defect affecting the development of their brain. If a person who wasn't born with this defect does something against the grain of common sense, the response was, “Are you r-worded?” or “Don't be such an r-word!”

Mentally Challenged/Handicapped – used in place of the r-word to describe a person with a birth defect affecting the development of their brain. If a person who wasn't born with this defect does something against the grain of common sense, the response was, “Are ya mental?”

Special Education, Special Ed – used to describe the education provided for those with a birth defect affecting the development of their brain. If a person who wasn't born with this defect does something against the grain of common sense, the response was, “You're such a SpEd!”

To further accentuate the “Special” ones, the school system used smaller buses to transport those with special needs to and from school. Unfortunately, being a smaller group of individuals, their bus was obviously not as long as the other buses hauling students around. Therefore the insult used for a person who wasn't born with this defect does something against the grain of common sense, the response was, “And you ride the short bus.”

If this whole “r-word” movement takes effect the next insult will be, “Don't be such an r-word!”

The Special Olympics are spearheading this movement. Don't they have enough to do already? Don't they have better things to spend the organization's funds on? Now I have total respect for those who work with the mentally handicapped. They have a patience and wisdom that is far beyond me. But to make the r-word a hate word is completely r-worded!

What makes the r-word so different that other degrogatory words used to describe people? First of all, the r-word has different uses: Some positive, one negative. The n-word (I find the use of this word offensive) has only 1 use and it's derogatory to people African decent. Spic has only 1 use and it's degrogatory mainly towards Mexicans but is used against those of Latin American decent. At least it's a derivative of Hispanic and last time I checked Hispanic wasn't an offensive word. Wop, used against Italians, supposedly got it's use during the mass immigration to the United States. It's what was written on the backs of those who didn't have papers. W-O-P was written and it meant Without Papers.

It seems to me that nobody really knows the meaning of all three of those words, n-word, wop and spic. The only thing the dictionary says is “slang, disparaging” against a particular race. The r-word isn't solely a word used as disparaging slang. It has other meanings too.

As an American caucasian male I've been called a yankee or yank (Dang straight!), a honky (A what? I still have no idea what a “honky” is.), and a cracker (I must be a Ritz!). None of these words offends me in any way. Why? They hold no meaning for me or anybody I know. But dang-nabbit! If the r-word is going to be changed to the r-word then from here on out honkey is the h-word, yankee is the y-word, and cracker is the c-word! Ok, now I'm being r-worded.

Do I think we should call people who are mentally challenged r-words? Absolutely not! We shouldn't refer to them as stupid, idiots or addled either. They may be mentally challenged but they are smart enough to know when they are being insulted. They may be mentally challenged but they have feelings too. They are human. They are people. Therefore they need to be given the same love and respect that we all desire.

If the r-word gets changed to the r-word just think of the strange ramafications it will have on the Enlish language:

If the engine is pinging try r-wording the timing 5 degrees.
This clothing is not flame r-wordant.

To me the whole thing is just retarded.

Silly Scientists, Lungs Aren't For Frogs

I read an article on CNN today about the discovery of a lungless frog. That's right. A species of frog that doesn't have any lungs. Oxygen is absorbed through the skin. They say that the frog got rid of its lungs (due to an evolutionary process) to reduce buoyancy so they could avoid being swept away in the fast moving rivers they call home.

They are also worried about the illegal mining and logging that is clogging the rivers of Croakus Non-Lungous with silt. These acts are causing the frogs to run out of living space. I do not really understand their worry. If the frogs got rid of their lungs to adapt to river dwelling. Then they should be able to grow them back to live on land.

Stupid Scientists.

God Is A Crutch!

How many times have you heard this: "God is just a crutch!" For me, it has been plenty. For the longest time I didn't know how respond to this statement. If I say, "No He's not." then I'm lying by declaring I don't need Him. If I say, "Yes He is." then I've admitted to my own weakness, and playing into that statement, I'm just using God as the fall guy. It's a Catch 22.

The other day this statement came to my mind. Not sure why as I haven't heard the The Crutch Argument in quite some time. But then it hit me. God is a crutch that I lean on daily. If it weren't for my "crutch" I wouldn't make it. Define it. It: Eternal life in paradise. Without my crutch, I spend eternal life separated from God.

God is a crutch that everyone is going to lean on eventually. Those who reject the truth until it's too late will try and lean on the crutch at Judgment only to have it ripped out from underneath them. "I never knew you."

What it boils down to is at what point in our lives are we going to lean on God? As soon as we hear the Good News? Sometime after pondering the truth and realizing it to be truth? Or after death when the crutch is no longer an option? I chose a long time ago to lean on God. And my life has been the better for it.

What I Have Learned - Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a main key to our relationship with Christ. God forgave us a huge debt that we don't deserve to be forgiven of. Why should we not forgive others of their tiny debt?

Welcome to Derek's Discovery of Forgiveness.

Long story short. My dad left home when I was six. Resentment built over the years and really materialized in my teen years. I really didn't care if I saw him again. Then he called me when I was 18. He apologized for leaving and asked for forgiveness. I forgave him. I know it was real becuase it immediately felt like a 2-ton weight came off my shoulders.

But the forgiveness was not complete. I found myself getting bitter and resenting him whenever I thought about the past. I had to continually forgive him. Then around Feb. March of last year, I realized I was rehashing the past in my mind again. But this time was different. I wasn't getting all worked up. I wasn't angry. A little sad over the lost years, but not angry or bitter. At last the forgiveness was complete.

What's interesting is that it took about 13 years for my dad to come to a place in life to humble himself and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness was given but it took 13 years for it to become complete. Sounds like a long time and it was. But it's complete.

And since that breakthrough I've found it much easier to forgive other people and issues of the past. And I feel so free!

Unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment doesn't hurt those who've wronged us. It only hurts the one who can't or won't forgive. If we don't forgive, we're being self-destructive.

It's our job to forgive and ask forgiveness. If we need forgiveness then we need to go to the one we've wronged and humbly ask. Then it's their job to forgive. And if they won't, it becomes their problem.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Headline Nonsense

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Lung Ailment Caused by Spoon Fragment

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Obamanomics

Saturday, April 04, 2009

The R-Word

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Silly Scientists, Lungs Aren't For Frogs

Sunday, December 09, 2007

God Is A Crutch!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

What I Have Learned - Forgiveness

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