recommended web site

www.dailyhowler.com

chronicles the main stream media and so-called liberal media bias and lies on behalf of conservatives and against liberals.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has Sprung
copyright 1997 Patricia M. Shannon

Spring has sprung,
the flowers grow,
their pollen flows,
so does my nose.
Oh, hear it blow,
how it does glow.

everybody's creative, in their own way

Some years ago, I saw a very small article in a back page of a newspaper, that reported on some reseach genetic vs environmental influences on human thinking. It stated that it did not appear that heridity influenced creativity. There was no information on the way the study was conducted, but I felt doubtful of the conclusion.

However, with time, I have developed a different point of view. I have associated creativity with new ideas. However, I now see that great creativity is used by many people to rationalize their existing views.

inaccurate prediction

I made a spectacularly inaccurate prediction recently. I was talking to someone about the plan by some group to go around to high schools and colleges and lie to students, telling them that IT would be a good job to go into. I remarked that encouraging people to go into a field that they would have such a hard time getting jobs in, as beginners, was dangerous. Having educated people who can't get decent jobs can lead to the development of terrorists. I opined that the job discrimination against older IT people was probably safe enough in that respect, because older people are past the age when most violence occurs, and probably wouldn't suddenly become terrorists. Two or three days later, the following was reported :

http://cbs2.com/national/topstories_story_065072926.html

Mar 6, 2007 4:00 am US/Pacific
Police Investigate Why Gunman Shot Coworkers
(AP) SIGNAL HILL, Calif. Investigators were trying to determine Tuesday why a 68-year-old man opened fire at a menu printing plant, wounding three co-workers who had apparently helped him land a job there.Jose Mendez, of Hawthorne, killed himself as SWAT teams closed in the Kenyon Press offices Monday morning, police said.Capt. Mary Risinger said the business owner told authorities Mendez had been upset that his hours had been cut back amid a company slowdown. The victims had apparently helped him get the job assembling menus there about a year earlier."We're as confused as everybody else," Risinger said. "If he was mad about the hours, he should have been mad with her, not the co-workers."Mendez's longtime girlfriend, Gilma Newhouse, said Mendez hadn't worked since Feb. 9. "It's his only job, that's why he was so worried," Newhouse said in a phone interview.