The Appropriateness of Sunglasses

So it’s Wednesday morning around 9:55AM.  The weather is overcast.  I am walking to Dedman minding my own business, wearing my Ray Bahns when I hear a girl’s voice.

 “Bright outside Barry?”

 Wow, I’m an idiot, I forgot that sunglasses are inappropriate to wear when the sun is not shining.  But then I got to thinking:  I wear sunglasses at parties indoors and it isn’t inappropriate.  Corey Hart wears sunglasses at night.  What are the official rules on sunglass wearing?  I did some googling and found zero results for official rules so I took matters into my own hands and drafted a few rules on when sunglasses are/aren’t appropriate.

Sunglasses are appropriate under the following conditions (according to Barry):

 

·      When the sun is out (obviously)

·     When it is snowy

·      Whilst riding a motorcycle

·      Whilst driving a boat

·      Whilst wearing a costume that requires it (risky business, soulja boy, etc.)

·      When you are trying to pull off the “too cool for school” look

·      Prom only if you are wearing a suit or shirt that is NOT black

·      If your name is Jake or Elwood Blues

·      If you are a celebrity

 As a general rule (again according to Barry) any other time it is INAPPROPRIATE to wear sunglasses. 

 Thoughts, objections, suggestions, or comments?

 

 

Problems: Dealing With Them, or Running Away?

Heat-Moon no doubt went through some hard times.   When you lose your job and your wife it is only natural to think that your world has fallen apart.  But how should people deal with a collapsed world?  For Heat-Moon, the solution was to embark on a journey.

My question is:  By “turning to the eye” and leaving your problems behind can you really get over them?  By distracting yourself can you really move on with your life?

 My gut instinct is no.

 I believe that in order to really move on you have to allow time to internalize and feel the anger or sadness.  The emotions you feel allow you to get closure and gain a new perspective.  However, one of my classmates made a good point.

 “I believe that it is very helpful and almost necessary for me to step away from the situation for a while to think about it before I begin to deal with it. For me, it never helped simply jumping into solutions without taking a step back and thinking about a solution.”

 I think there is validity to that point.  When your world collapses I do think you need time to come up with a plan.  After all, the best way to gain a new perspective is to step back and look at your life.  By definition, that IS gaining a new perspective.

 Although I don’t think Heat-Moon’s decision to “turn to the eye” and distract himself is a great idea, I do believe that the journey is an effective way to gain a new perspective. 

 So I have come to a solution:  Heat-Moon’s “soul searching” journey is not necessarily an escape, but an opportunity to gain a new view on life.  All our lives we are told to face our problems, but Heat-Moon may have gotten it right by taking a step back.

Update

I commented on Paris's post about SMU football.

Update

I commented on Thinkagain's post entitled "Two Weeks Left."

9/11 Conspiracy (Revised)

I was on Facebook the other day and a kid from my high school posted a note entitled “9/11,” where he posed a question:

 “Can anyone convince me that 9/11 was not orchestrated by the corrupt US government in their ultimate goal to drive the United States into a police state?”

 His note had one reply:

 “Honestly no one can”

 To be honest, at first, the question was almost offensive.  Does anyone really believe that our government is capable and willing to orchestrate the biggest terrorist attack in history upon its own country? 

I went on to do a little research and it turns out more than 1 out of 3 Americans believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy.  Source

 Also during my research, I came across a very popular “Youtube” video that points out all of the inconsistencies that suggest that 9/11 was orchestrated by our US government entitled “Loose Change.”   The video really is fascinating.  

 However, after spending about 30 minutes researching the “conspiracy,” I came to a solution.  “Confirmation bias,” a term I learned it from Professor Crow, my Social Psychology teacher.

 Skepdic.com defines confirmation bias as “a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs.  Source

 Confirmation bias suggests that some people WANT to believe that 9/11 is a conspiracy; therefore, they seek out information that is consistent with that belief (e.g. the fact that steel melts at a higher temperature than jet fuel burns.) and ignore the information that contradicts their belief.  (e.g. the fact that Osama Bin Laden admitted responsibility.)

 The 9/11-conspiracy topic is fascinating to me, and I challenge anyone to show me evidence that 9/11 was indeed orchestrated.  I am open to new information.  However, my current stance on the issue is that there our government had nothing to do with 9/11.

 Thoughts?

 

Update

I made a comment on Chelsea's post, "Hugs, Doors, and Yes Ma'ams."

9/11 Conspiracy

I was on Facebook the other day and a kid from my high school posted a note entitled “9/11,” where he posed a question:

 “Can anyone convince me that 9/11 was not orchestrated by the corrupt US government in their ultimate goal to drive the United States into a police state?”

 His note had one reply:

 “Honestly no one can”

 To be honest, at first, the question was almost offensive.  Does anyone really believe that our government is capable and willing to orchestrate the biggest terrorist attack in history upon its own country? 

I went on to do a little research and it turns out more than 1 out of 3 Americans believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy.  < http://www.scrippsnews.com/911poll>

 Also during my research, I came across a very popular “Youtube” video that points out all of the inconsistencies that suggest that 9/11 was orchestrated by our US government entitled “Loose Change.”   The video really is fascinating.  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E3oIbO0AWE>

 However, after spending about 30 minutes researching the “conspiracy,” I came to a solution.  “Confirmation bias,” a term I learned it from Professor Crow, my Social Psychology teacher.

 Skepdic.com defines confirmation bias as “a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs.” <http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html>

 Confirmation bias suggests that some people WANT to believe that 9/11 is a conspiracy; therefore, they seek out information that is consistent with that belief (e.g. the fact that steel melts at a higher temperature than jet fuel burns.) and ignore the information that contradicts their belief.  (e.g. the fact that Osama Bin Laden admitted responsibility.)

 The 9/11-conspiracy topic is fascinating to me, and I challenge anyone to show me evidence that 9/11 was indeed orchestrated.  I am open to new information.  However, my current stance on the issue is that there our government had nothing to do with 9/11.

 

Thoughts?

 

Update

I posted a comment on Paris Hilton's post regarding class attendance.

Free Health Care? Really?

I have been thinking about the issue of health care in the US for the past couple of days after reading the sample blog that Mrs. Channell gave us.  At one point the author of the blog states:

 “A National Healthcare system would not deny anyone coverage because of price, all individuals would be able to enjoy medicine, doctor visits, and treatment required to continue to live.”

 The writer then goes on to say that the government would be able to limit the prices of medical treatment and keep prices “in check.”

 The point that I would like to make is by limiting the price of medical services, you lower the incentive of pharmaceutical companies to make their product.  You also lower the incentive of researchers to look into new ways to cure illnesses.  I don’t mean to get into the economics of the issue but any economist will tell you that a price restriction or price ceiling NEVER increases efficiency and results in a shortage. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_ceiling>

 So in summary, free/price restricted health care = shortage of health care.

 In fairness, the writer does address these points later in his blog, and I am only using his blog to put my point into context.  I do believe that that National Healthcare is a very complex issue, and I do not intend to provide a solution. 

 My only intention is to point out that price-restricted healthcare is not the most efficient solution regardless of how nice it sounds.