Scientific studies

Every month there is a new report about some substance that "causes cancer in lab rats". I can't believe the government still hands out money for this, it is like shooting fish in a barrel. Everything causes cancer in lab rats. What I want to know is what would cause lab rats in cancer! That would be far more useful. Well, maybe not useful but interesting. Okay, more gross than interesting. But at least we have a cure for lab rats.

I get tired of reading about scientific studies that prove things that were perfectly obvious to me when I was 12. Too much radiation will kill you, duh. People who are bad at estimating their weight are bad at estimating other things too, double duh. Why does the government keep wasting money on these studies? I would have told them the answers for a lot less money.

Single parenting

Being a single parent isn't easy. Being a single parent of a high-functioning autistic child is just a bit harder. I am certain I am doing the best I can for him, but is that going to be enough to make him a successful adult? That I don't know, and worry about a lot. What if my best isn't good enough?

I solve problems for a living and it is pretty much a way of life for me. Not knowing how my son will turn out is driving me nuts. I don't know if I have a problem or not and I don't know how to solve it when I have already done my best.

This whole life thingy is aggravating.

Another difficult night

There are nights when I just can't sleep, and this is one of them. So here are some random thoughts.

I don't understand how we can have so many stupid people in the world. Now I am not talking about people who are physically unable to think, I am talking about people with perfectly sound minds that won't think. We have free public education (not the greatest but decent) and I know most of the people I am talking about have graduated from at least high school, yet they don't understand simple concepts like "if you spend all of your money on fancy cars you won't have anything to eat". Several people I have met believe this is due to a government conspiracy to keep the voters stupid and under control, but they shouldn't be this stupid unless the government is putting stupid pills into our drinking water. I just don't get it.

Another thing I will never understand is why a woman will stay with a man that abuses her when there are so many good (but not good looking) men available. Is being married to a good looking man that cheats on you and treats you like dirt truly better than being married to a man that doesn't cheat on you but is ugly or walks with a limp? It seems bizzare to me.

One of the few things I do understand is that the older I get the more I dislike winter. I am tired of the snow and ice. And now my joints hurt because of the cold. It makes me wonder why my ancestors decided to live in Michigan. Sure it is better than a desert, but there are some decent parts of the country. Why didn't they go there?

Do aliens dream?

Dogs dream. People dream. Without being an expert I would guess that most animals on this planet dream in some form or another. But what about beings from another planet? With minds evolved totally differently than anything we have seen on this planet will they have a need to dream? Or is that strictly an Earth oddity. Eventually we will find intelligent beings from other planets and be able to ask them. Meanwhile I wonder.

Living as simply as possible

My life is fairly complicated, so I try to balance that by making it simple where I can.

I don't own anything that can't be thown on the floor. None of my clothing is dry clean ownly, none of it is stylish, and all of it is sturdy so it lasts for quite a while. I don't own a fancy car that I need to worry about getting dinged, but it is fairly new since I don't want the complications brought on by owning an undependable car. I spend less than I make because having cash in the bank means I don't need to worry about what checks can clear when. I buy everything in cash because seeing the money disappear makes it easier to track how much I am spending.

Like most things I take a long term approach to simple. It would be simpler in the short term to ignore the change oil light, but ultimately life is simpler if you do things when they are needed rather than ignore them until it is too late.

Simple doesn't mean primative, I own a nice house and use the heating and air a lot because being comfortable is less wearing than being too hot or too cold. I own several computers because the internet provides a cheap and easy way to learn.

Simple doesn't mean lazy, as I noted above putting things off often complicates your life in the long run making it counter productive.

Simple does mean I miss out on having the latest gadgets and the coolest toys. And without stylish clothes and a fancy car I miss out on being the center of attention. But not having to worry about how to pay a massive credit card debt or what would happen if my house was robbed more than makes up for this.

Some random thoughts

It has been awhile since I have posted. Fall isn't my favorite time of year, the days are getting shorter and I just want to sleep. So here is a fairly incoherent post.

I find it rather sad that every product has to carry warnings of the obvious. Coffee is hot, birth control pills won't prevent HIV, you shouldn't put plastic bags over your head. I guess I wouldn't mind it if the warnings were for children, but these warnings are for adults. The warnings have all arisen from lawsuits where people refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. The lawsuit of the man who cut off his fingers trying to use his lawnmower to trim the bushes is the perfect example. He sued and won because the lawnmower didn't have a warning label saying there was a sharp spinning blade inside the housing. Everybody with half a brain knows that, and if they don't it isn't the fault of the lawnmower company. It isn't like the lawnmower company tried to hide the fact that lawnmowers have a sharp spinning blade, nor was their product different than most other lawnmowers. I fear our legal system is teaching people that there is no consequence for their actions, something my parents taught me when I was young.

Speaking of our legal system, a recent post on a paintball forum I follow was discussing what bad shots most police officers are. My position is that we should double the salary of police officers and triple the standards they must adhere to. By doubling the salary we could attract some better qualified people and by tripling the standards they must me (which are pretty low now) we can ensure that only the qualified ones keep the job.

I have spent some time on a database forum recently and am struck by two things. The ignorance of the people asking the questions and the arrogance of the people answering them. The ignorance appears to be because many companies feel that anybody can design a database and often give the task to a programmer who is totally unqualified. The arrogance seems to be just more of the internet bullying that I see on many forums. I do not understand what it is about the internet that makes people act like jerks.

Problem solving problems

I am a problem solver. When I see a problem that I can fix I fix it. Which makes it really frustrating for me when people won't let me solve their problem.

Here is an example I hit in database design all the time. People want their next version of software to have all these amazing new features but they don't want to change the database design to properly support these amazing new features. Sometimes you can support a new feature by just adding a few new tables to a database, other times you have to redesign the entire database because the feature you are adding is so fundamental. But that takes time and adds risk to a project so they want you to support the new feature without redesigning the entire database, even if that is impossible.

A non-database example is when you give the people the solution to the problem but they reject it because they don't understand it or the solution is too different from what they think the solution should be. This is frustrating because I have given them the answer and I know it is right, but the problem continues because I can't convince them. If they would just try my answer they would see that it works, but they won't even do that.

To a problem solver the only thing more frustrating than a problem you can't solve is a problem you have a solution to but you aren't allowed to implement the solution.