Report from the Front

Things are really beginning to heat up as we are now finishing the first month of the fall semester. Due to the nature of most of my classes, I have managed to dodge much of heat that most other students are feeling at this point. And I'm cool with that.

I have one suggestion for the aspiring college professor, however. Do not use scantron for a 4-question multiple choice quiz. Ever. Especially if the questions require lots of calculation, and uberespecially if you have a partial grading policy. We took such a quiz today in Accounting, and I got a question wrong (yes, it happens folks). So that means I get a 75% on the quiz. One wrong answer and I've got myself a nice big fat C. Lots of kids were complaining about making calculation errors, meaning they understood the question but just hit the wrong button on the calculator and the rest of the income statement was screwed. In fact, in this quiz, each question followed from the other, so goof up on number 1 and you're really really screwed. But the teacher doesn't see what you write. It's a monkey-loving scantron, dang it!

Deep Thoughts in the Early Morning

Remember back when the zipper on every piece of clothing used to say "YKK" on it? That was weird, man. Like some kind of secret society or something.

I am now officially a registered voter. I'm not officially a member of a party though; they changed the process. Unfortunately it is now even more shady, since you are not allowed to split your vote between parties. Some long-time readers of SIO will recall my thoughs on our nation's electoral system. The fact is I've come to a new conclusion regarding it all. I really can't stick bull-headed to a position when it really isn't supported by anything but my own conjecture. So, I've decided that the morality/impact of me voting or not voting is essentially the same.

Additionally, I have decided that I can support George W. Bush for President. In consideration of his flaws and shortcomings, it is obvious to me that most men could not have done a better job in the office he's held for the last 4 years. No man is perfect, and I believe that Almighty God has prepared President Bush for the office of president and brought him to it for a reason. He is a man I can trust, and who has a saving faith in Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, I have no shame in going to the polls for him. So there you have it.

Change is good (sometimes)

For those who did not receive my exclusive email regarding my change of email address, I have in fact changed my email address. It is now james.w.lanning@gmail.com. I am evaluating the service and I'll report on it in detail eventually. In the meantime, I'd like to generate some emails to try out the features Gmail offers. This is not to say that I don't receive dozens of emails from all my friends on a daily basis, to which I can rarely respond (except to only the most attractive and/or influential individuals). So, I encourage the sendage of emailitude! You will doubtless reap great benefits in the future, especially as SIO continues to climb in global popularity.

On another techinical note, I noticed that the link to Smack the Penguin died. Due to the overwhelming demand for the official SIO play-while-IMing game by chronic instant messaging types, a new link has been provided.

What is IT, anyways?

Information Technology has only recently come to the forefront of the technology industry. With rapid and global advances in networking and communications, the exchange of data in one form or another has proliferated at phenomenal rates. The study, maintenance, development, and application of all this can be wrapped up loosely by the term "Information Technology".

Or, you could just call it computer stuff.

Needs No Introduction

I was having a typically zany conversation with a buddy of mine Sunday night. And things took a turn for the strange.



Note that the gentleman in question remains completely anonymous due to image identity protection provided by myself.

Happy 500th!

It's been another record-breaking night here at SIO! As you can see, SIO has crested the 500 unique hit plateau. Join with me in celebrating this milestone with a hearty round of "A Pirate's Life for Me". As part of the celebration for this event, I have made available our satisitical tracking information provided by Impressur.com. Just click on the counter! Incidentally, we've also just passed the 3000 mark in total hits. Thanks for reading, and keep your collective sticks on the ice.

Profundificationage Action

Tonight I want to speak out about the widespread use of the term "homophobe" for any person opposed to homosexuality. It's a lame crack-back which people use to marginalize anybody that has a legitimate complaint about the sexual perverts we call homosexuals. There's nothing about homosexuality that I fear, or even misunderstand. Today we were talking about this in Diversity class, and I had to ask the teacher twice to clarify what she meant by "homophobic remarks":

Me: "What exactly do you mean by homophobic remarks?"
Teacher: "I mean things people say that are homophobic."
Me: "Do you mean people who are afraid of gay people?"
Teacher: "No, I'm talking about homophobic people."
Me: "So you mean people who make derogatory remarks about homosexuals?"
Teacher: "Yes."

As you can see, this misused term has become rather encrusted in the minds of so-called "diversity-aware" types. We really don't have any legitimate arguments against anything that we're opposed to, see, because we're just afraid. I think I will begin referring to gays as "heterophobes" from now on. I mean, why not? They're obviously just afraid of us.

I was reading Dave Barry today (note our new link to his N.Y. Daily News column), and I ran across a word which struck me as possibly being the funniest word ever. The word in question is "buttular". If we're going to be going around inventing words, we may as well be inventing words as funny and useful as buttular.

You Can't Trust the Polls

It's true, ladies and gentlemen; polls have been proven often to be nothing more than fluff and twaddle, yet people today give them an inordinate amount of time and attention. Many people claim that polls are bent in whatever direction the news media decide to bend them, which ends up being mostly to the left. I agree with this, because it's obvious that the news media is dominated by liberals, and I also believe that nothing can be reported without some kind of bias (FOX News junkies, feel free to be deflated at this point).

So we should really just disregard polls entirely, right? Possibly. I do think that polls can serve a purpose in their own right. While they are terribly poor indicators of the true national situation and also what will be the national situation on election day, they do give something of a glimpse at possible trends. They also make lots and lots of political noise, something which is apparently a highly valued thing in the business.

The reason I bring all this up is that today a tiny little survey was taken of my U.S. Diversity class on the presidential candiates. About 65% to 75% of my class of 30 kids supported George Dubya Bush! This completely shocked me, to be honest. I would have expected more around 25% to 35% in favor of W, especially at my school, and especially in that class. I then came home to find that Gallup and USA Today polls confirmed this trend towards supporting the President. Personally, I think that after the debates this election will turn into a complete rout. There aren't enough completely stupid morons out there to elect John Kerry... or are there?

Recordsmash

I would like to take a moment to thank everybody for the wealth of thought provided by the nearly 40 comments generated by the ring post. At least half of them were substantive, and the rest were at least entertaining. To bring the issue to something of a close, I have decided that, although it's a calculated risk, buying a ring on my own would be a risk worth taking.

Tonite, a good friend and I had a good and lengthy discussion with a young woman about many different things, mostly focusing on predestination, election, and God's sovereignty. She comes from an Arminian background, but she has been thinking about Calvinism and how it relates to the truth of scripture for a couple years now. In the end, my friend and I were simply able to share our own life experience with her without trying to jam it down her throat. And this part of the conversation struck me most; she said "Well, I also think that God is sovereign in all things." Immediately after this, it became apparent to her that "all things" also included Justification. This really exposed the contradictions of the Free Will doctrine, and she discovered it on her own, right there. In general, I find that sharing what I believe with anybody - even other Christians - is a wholly satisfying and uplifting experience.

Breaking News

This just in: my oldest sister is engaged. Further bulletins as events warrant.

The Endless Persuit of Ownage

Lanning Labs has been a busy place of late, researching everything from shades of green in hexadecimal to how Zippo lighter fluid and a Zippo can be used to clean dirt off a computer desk. The results have been most satisfying.

Prayer meeting at the Lannings' residence is back in full swing. It's always a great time of singing, reading, praying, and the kicking it 'til all hours of the night (or until Dad kicks everybody out). I had an interesting discussion with Maggie about couples and ring-shopping. She thinks that men should pick a ring out on their own in an effort to surprise the lucky lady. I find this to be foolish. Alternatively, the woman should find one she really wants, or at least give the man guidelines for what she's hoping for. This eliminates all manner of difficulties, not the least of which being the necessity on the man's part for mind-reading. But I hear from my married buddies that mind-reading, as a skill, comes in very handy in a marriage.

Week 1 Endeth

And what a week it was! Plenty of action in the trenches, with an entire class getting lost somehow between Advanced Software Engineering and WAN Engineering. We're still investigating. Research is being done into how to eat a Korean meal without eating seafood, and Accounting 213 is just as boring as it was last year.

It's really interesting how your attitude changes when you're a senior. I didn't think I would notice the difference, but it's actually quite striking. You feel bigger than everthing. You appear to be supremely disinterested in everything going on around you. You spot freshmen a mile away and disdain them from afar. Yes, it's good to be a senior.

I keep thinking I need to go to work in a couple hours, but this is not so! Regardless, tomorrow I will most likely end up banging on the doors of GVSU Downtown, wondering where everybody is.