I wish I could make a noise like Chewbacca. It just sounds so… satisfying, in the barbaric yawp sort of way.
I can’t make the noise, though, nor the Tim Allen grunt. A guy who worked for my web dev company before Katrina now works for one of my clients, and I sometimes call or text him: Make the wookie noise for me. I feel better just knowing someone has made the noise on my behalf. Today’s been a wookie-noise sort of day.
In Google, when I searched for barbaric yawp to find that video, I stumbled across The Anchoress’ fabulous Vagina Monologues post. A sampling -
So that we all understand: The liberal celebration of mediocrity (in the name of inclusion) continues apace. Rather than exclude untalented actors, there will be no auditions – instead the most politically correct, most committed, the hardest working women for the cause will be “nominated.” How pure. So, those women who have so little going on in their lives that they can donate the most time to feminist-victim-whinery will now fight for the right to act, and badly. I hate to tell you this, ladies, but someone is STILL gonna be excluded. Idiots.
reminded me of this depressing NY Times article; students whinging about the fact that their efforts don’t necessarily result in the grade they feel they deserve. (h/t Slu) Back in grammar school, your effort grade was listed separately from your academic grade – probably so your parents would know whether or not you deserved a beating. Perhaps colleges should adopt a plan along those lines so the wittle babies can still feel that their efforts are being applauded, and still find the grace to realize that maybe they should select a less challenging major. Kids, there’s a reason why we have both the Special Olympics and the regular Olympics. Because effort really ISN’T considered the most important thing for most things in this world. I don’t want an oncologist or heart surgeon who tries real hard. I want one whose patients have amazing recovery rates; one who hasn’t had any claims against his malpractice insurance.
Quote of the day: “The only problem I see with the stimulus package is that, as a rule, it rewards the people that are evildoers – all of them – and that’s a problem for me, personally,”
My Governor, Bobby Jindal, is one of the governors who may refuse some of the porkulus package. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin says he’ll gladly take it… but don’t think he’ll ever allow himself to be held accountable for it. I can’t believe I ever defended that guy.
Some less than feel-good results from a feel-good but scientifically unsound green policy. Heartbreaking. We’ve sponsored kids in Africa for years, but of all the problems they suffer that one really never occurred to me.
Whenever I tend toward feeling sorry for myself, whether it’s too much/little work/help or whatever, I’m reminded that most folks would gladly swap their problems for mine. Acknowledge, aargh, and move on.
Agreed! Americans in general are unimaginably blessed compared to the rest of the world, and I’m in particular very much so, in spite of some serious problems my family is dealing with right now. I reserve the wookie noise for stress and frustration, and when I’m feeling sorry for myself, I have a little whine and cheese.
Who said not spraying DDT is scientifically unsound?
Malaria is a problem in Africa again largely because the pharmaceuticals used to treat the disease ceased being effective against the parasites. Had DDT not been overused by AEI friends, it might still be effective against the mosquitoes that carry the parasites, but because of DDT overuse, it doesn’t work well against the mosquitoes any more.
Environmental Defense, the leading environmental organization against the broadcast spraying of DDT, endorsed the extremely limited use of DDT in indoor residual spraying (IRS), several years ago.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration refused to allow U.S. money to buy DDT, or bednets, which are very effective in preventing malaria. And now, businessmen are suing to stop the limited spraying in Uganda.
So, environmental organizations endorse DDT use, but Bush refuses to fund it, and businesses sue to stop it.
And you blame environmentalists for what?
I don’t follow this controversy too closely because I’m not sufficiently interested, but this BBC article doesn’t support your characterization of historical use of DDT in Africa, Ed. Do you have any cites from neutral sources that I can use to learn more about this?
Still, since you’re especially interested in Africa, I’m sure that as a fair-minded person you’re eager to join Bob Geldof in giving former President Bush the credit he deserves for all this -
Not to mention repeatedly expanding the African Growth and Opportunity Act which has done so much to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Africans. You might also be interested in this fascinating documentary on the business climate in Africa.
Heh – “Who said not spraying DDT is scientifically unsound?”
Exactly. WHO says not spraying DDT is scientifically unsound.
Read it again. WHO lists 10 other insecticides that can be used in place of DDT, which WHO commonly uses instead. See page 5.
And see page 7. DDT should be used ONLY in an integrated pest management program.
DDT is no panacea. It can play a role, but it cannot play the only role. It can supplement other actions, but it cannot wipe out malaria. It is effective, but so are another 10 or 11 insecticides. It’s effective, but more expensive than bednets.
I was being snarky, Ed, paraphrasing your statement with the link. However, the World Health Organization IS, by their own statement, willing to use DDT to fight malaria. Yes, among other products, but the fact that they’re using it clearly indicates that they’ve weighed the options and concluded the use of DDT is more scientifically sound than NOT using it.
Just a quick note, Laura says: “I don’t want an oncologist or heart surgeon who tries real hard. I want one whose patients have amazing recovery rates; one who hasn’t had any claims against his malpractice insurance.”
Laura, doctors with the least number of malpractice claims may have that record because they never do anything or they always play exactly by the book. And some doctors with the highest malpractice suits and claims have them because they are the best, they take the hardest, most difficult and impossible cases that no one else will deal with, so although they have the greatest, most amazing victories, they also have the most failures and quite a few malpractice cases for it.
As the old saying goes, you can always tell the pioneer. He (or she) is the one who’s always out front and who is full of arrows.
Eric: Okay, that makes sense – if you constantly take the “unwinnable” cases then your average would be worse than taking the easier ones. So just no malpractice claims or good recovery rates are not necessarily the best metric.
My larger point was that schools so bent on “self-esteem” and the concept of handing out grades for effort rather than achievement is a bad idea when you try to apply it to the real world. I just need a better example.