FrankL

I think by 18-20 it wasn't "my family won't let me," that dominated her thinking, but "this is how I've always earned my parents' approval (and maintained a decent relationship with my sister)," and that conditioning set itself pretty deeply within her psyche. Acting in all ways like a normal human was the one way of life that she internalized as valid and proper and safe. I can see how it might take a few years of experience in the big, bad, adult world of life in the big city to chip away at that conditioning.

"When I grow up, I want to be like Dad."
 
"I think you can probably do better, kid."  Now where is the damn kleenex?

I kind of feel we have to cut god-like heroes some slack. If we go too far with the whole "Think of all the people who died because you took time away from superheroing; they're blood is on your hands!" attitude, then we put a completely unfair burden on them, and by extension, anyone with the ability to do good but an unwillingness to spend their entire waking lives doing it.
 
Maybe my libertarian roots are showing, but I think every hero has a right to decide for themselves when, where, and how they are going to help people. Or maybe it's because I didn't grow up in a household or culture in which guilt trips are turned into high sport, but I have zero desire to castigate Kara for not heroing sooner (or more often), nor do I feel morally entitled to do so. When Cat Grant tried to play that card, I just wanted to slap her in her CG-enhanced face.

Hilary Clinton...

Me to wife last night: [Our 8yo] and I had to have the racism talk tonight.
 
Wife: Because of the Little House episode? ["Dark Sage," Dr. Baker brings a new doctor to town who is black.]
 
Me: Yeah. He asked me a very pointed question. "Why did that man hate Dr. Ledoux more than he loves his wife?" [A farmer's wife went into premature labor while Doc Baker was away. Dr. Ledoux had to perform an emergency C-Section but the farmer was dead set that "no _______" will touch his wife. Charles punched him. Dr. Ledoux saved their lives.]
 
Wife's [eyes got big from the question he asked]: So you explained it?
 
Me: Yeah, and you realize exactly how stupid and ridiculous racism is when you try to put it in terms an 8yo will understand.

Richard Armitage shuddered at the esoteric tomes on the shelves of the German who had just captured him. Proudly displayed were The Book of Azathoth, Liber Ivonis, De Vermis Mysteriis, Parchments of Pnom (bound in human flesh no less), Unspeakable Cults, Cultes des Goules, and, horror of horrors, THE book guaranteed to shatter the sanity of anyone who read it and send them into a murderous rage, Das Kapital.

In theory, theory and practice work out the same.
In practice, they never do.

In theory, theory and practice work out the same.
In practice, they never do.

((Students wailing that the astronomers' .iso files are not the kind of file you burn onto a CD))
 
Me ... "Yes, those are isochrone files. Flat-text files that contain stellar evolution codes' output. You can read it in Notepad or vi or something, right?"
 
"WHY DID THEY NAME THEM THAT??? Why'd they break the standard?!?" [The students had spend considerable time trying to open the files with things that read "ordinary" .iso files, which helpfully provided them only with the error message, "This is not a .iso file."]
 
Me: "Almost certainly because the astronomers started using that naming convention before the ISO standard was formulated."
 
 
((Continued wailing and gnashing of teeth.))

Well, after 2+ years of part-time employment (and job-hunting for full-time) I have been offered full-time employment with the City of Boise. More money, 40 hrs a week, all the bennies (and they are city gov't type bennies).
 
And the call came today, on my 27th wedding anniversary. It's been a pretty damn good day today.

Or take the youth group to winter conference. Great fun. I counted a lot. All the time, in fact.

Two Cajun pastors, Reverend Boudreaux and Reverend Thibodaux, were busy hammering a sign next to the road. It read, "Da end is near! Turn yo sef 'round afore it too late!"
 
As a car sped past them, the driver shouted out the window, "You religious nuts!"
 
The car rounded the curve, and the pastors heard a loud splash.
 
Boudreaux turned to Thibodaux and said, "I tole you it should jussay 'Bridge Out'."

Eight months ago, someone clutched a monkey's paw and said, "Don't let Jeb get the nomination."

Eight months ago, someone clutched a monkey's paw and said, "Don't let Jeb get the nomination."

I pointed out to my chem 1 professor that one should never lick the spoon after an experiment and he took 3 pts off my final lab report. "Your so-called sense of humor shows you are incapable of the seriousness needed to conduct proper scientific research and have no business inside a lab." He actually wrote that on the paper.
 
A prior lab (when he wasn't there), I went mad scientist while mixing some compounds together. One of my lab partners said to another (both ladies had slightly frightened looks on their faces), "Frank has way too much fun in here."

Two Cajun pastors, Reverend Boudreaux and Reverend Thibodaux, were busy hammering a sign next to the road. It read, "Da end is near! Turn yo sef 'round afore it too late!"
 
As a car sped past them, the driver shouted out the window, "You religious nuts!"
 
The car rounded the curve, and the pastors heard a loud splash.
 
Boudreaux turned to Thibodaux and said, "I tole you it should jussay 'Bridge Out'."

Hey diddle, diddle
The median's in the middle
You add and divide for the mean
The mode is the one that appears the most
And the range is the difference between

Church is delayed (possibly canceled) for snow. I sent this to my wife this morning.
 
If I were Martin Luther, I would write 95 reasons that I love you.
If I were John Calvin, a bouquet of tulips would testify that I find you irresistible.
Were I Karl Barth, my expressions of love would be most dogmatic.
Were I CS Lewis, an essay on how I feel all four loves for you would be on the way to you right now.
Were I Augustine, my only confession would be my love.
Were I Anglican, I would gladly be your defender.
However, we are Arminians, and so I say "I choose you."
And we are part of the Wesleyan tradition, so I find my heart warmed by thoughts of you.
And as Classical Pentecostals, I speak now of the initial evidence of our love.

Q: What's the difference between a hippo and a Zippo?
 
 
 

Hey diddle, diddle
The median's in the middle
You add and divide for the mean
The mode is the one that appears the most
And the range is the difference between

Hey diddle, diddle
The median's in the middle
You add and divide for the mean
The mode is the one that appears the most
And the range is the difference between

In my own tradition, Assemblies of God, we had a reconciliation with the black Pentecostal groups in 1994. In 1948, the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America was created. That fellowship was composed only of white Pentecostal groups. In 1994, it was dissolved and replaced with the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. The replacement was specifically to address the error of excluding our black Pentecostal and Charismatic brethren.
 

The churches are still separate in governance, but we cooperate more now.

Putting the, "law" in, "lawful good."

In my own tradition, Assemblies of God, we had a reconciliation with the black Pentecostal groups in 1994. In 1948, the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America was created. That fellowship was composed only of white Pentecostal groups. In 1994, it was dissolved and replaced with the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. The replacement was specifically to address the error of excluding our black Pentecostal and Charismatic brethren.
 

The churches are still separate in governance, but we cooperate more now.