Bookworm

Well, given that for some reason firefox and java have decided they're not speaking to each other, I gave in and actually bought a copy of Booworm. I play the darn thing enough.

My new strategy paid off, I now have a high score of 1,906,650 I was so close to breaking 2million and everything, but then it dropped two burning U's on me, and there's just not much you can do with a pair of U's, especially not when they dropped into an area that was almost straight vowels. I was trying to spell something with W, U, U, I, A, A, and I. Not much there to work with.

Music!

So just for the benefit of anybody who was curious, here's the full, everything identified list of the songs from the playlist lyrics meme a while back. Starred items were never identified by anybody.

1.Jum McCann - Rare Ould Times - Irish folk song*
2. Billy Joel - Always a woman - Pop
3. John Rutter - Requiem - 20th Century classic choral
4. Five For Fighting - Nobody - Pop*
5. White Town - Your Woman - Alternative
6. Pink Floyd - Grantchester Meadows - Classic rock
7. They Might Be Giants - Dead - Geek rock
8. Mormon Tabernacle Choir - How Great Thou Art - Religious choral
9. Greatful Dead - Casey Jones - Classic rock
10. Carbon Leaf - Mellow Tone - Pop rock*
11. Tom Petty - Last Dance With Mary Jane - Rock
12. Somebody at Warner - Freakazoid - sountrack, I guess
13. Evanescence - Taking Over Me - Alternative
14. Sonata Arctica - Sing in Silence - Rock*
15. Bachman Turner Overdrive - Taking Care of Business - Classic rock
16. Mormon Tabernacle Choir - The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy - Gospel*
17. Grand Funk - Walk Like a Man - Classic rock
18. Weird Al - Confessions part II - Parody
19. They Might Be Giants - Dinner Bell - Geek rock
20. Daniel Powter - Bad Day - Pop*
21. They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Geek rock
22. Kory Kunz - In A Coming Day - Mormom pop*
23. Greatful Dead - Truckin' - Classic rock
24. The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Classic rock
25. The Proclaimers - I'm On My Way - Pop*

So you folks found 17 out of 25. I'm actually slightly surprised that 25, 20, and 4 never got identified, as they're by currently at least moderately famous groups, and for a while there you couldn't get away from Bad Day in particular, it was getting overplayed on half the radio stations in the country, but I guess what did get identified tells me my friends list is a bit more ecclectic in their tastes than that!

All right, this needs blogging about.

Right. First off, we're going to start by saying that the whole thing is stupid. (Witness the fact that the first I found about this was a Fox News clip.)

What is stupid? The idea that Mr. Rogers is the blame for the overblown sense of entitlement that today's American adults suffer from.

That's right, Mr. Rogers.

Now I didn't watch Mr. Rogers a lot as a kid. His show was mostly around during one of our "we don't have TV" phases, so I only saw it on occasion when I was at a friend's house. But I've seen enough to know what the show was like. And it was not about entitlement. In fact, let's let Mr. Rogers himself tell you what it was about.

"My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important."

So the two message of Mr. Rogers were "You are important" and "You are in control of your own life."

Now, IF the message had only been part one, I could see it. Kind of. Sort of. Just a little. Telling people that they are important is, indeed, something that can lead to a sense of entitlement. But even then, I myself find from what I've seen of parenting and people with an overblown sense of their self worth, we still wouldn't be able to pin the blame on Mr. Rogers even if "You are important" was the sole theme of his show. Because it's not "You are important" that does the damage, it's "You are more important." Your time is more valuable than the time of a lowly clerk. Your money is more important than the money of other clients. Your happiness is more important then the happiness of your spouse. That's what does it. And that's something that Mr. Rogers would never have taught.

And let me tell you right now - knowing that you, yourself, are important and special makes a huge difference. I was brought up to believe that I was special. I was a not just a creation of God, but a Child of God. I was divine. And so was everybody else, and I should respect myself, and respect others in the same way. And that was, as far as I can tell, the dividing line between myself and a number of other people I've talked to who contemplated suicide in their teenage years. I went through some very bad patches when I was younger, and another even worse patch only a year or so ago. And a huge part of how I was able to cope and get through all that was knowing that I was of value, that I had worth and potential. I knew that. That is one thing I am pretty sure all suicides have in common. They do not regard their own lives as valuable.

So teach self-esteem! Teach your kids they're worth something! They need to know that. Yes you also need to teach them a lot of other things, or else they'll come out warped and entitled, but having self esteem and having a sense of entitlement are not the same thing. Believing you are of worth is not the same as believing you are better than everybody else. And I'm sure Mr. Rogers knew that perfectly well! After all, we kids watched the show with our friends and siblings, and he was telling them that they were special too, wasn't he?

More about Mr. Rogers for anybody who doesn't know. The man was, honestly, the closest things modern America has had to a real saint.

Interesting

Livejournal and law enforcement appear to have a similar MO. This may not be a good sign.

Today is a day for posts!

I am posting a lot. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm actually not. I keep finding intersting stuff, and the funny thing is that I'm actually getting a little work done today too! Though I've lost a goat thumb tip. If anybody sees a small, hollow, blue plastic triangular pyramid with a rounded tip, painted glossy black on the outside, would you please send it my way? I suspect the cat may have made off with it, but I'm not sure.

Anyhow, in counter to my post of a while back about terror and being afraid of the government, here's a few reasons why whatever else they may do, the Bush administration is probably not going to declare martial law and cancel the elections.

I am an artist!

What does your drawing say about YOU?

The results of your analysis say:

You tend to pursue many different activities simultaneously. When misfortune does happen, it doesn't actually dishearten you all that much.
You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way.
You are creative, mentally active and industrious.
You feel morose and are prone to lethargy.