I see lots of people talking about how they hate iOS7. I get it. People hate it when Facebook makes changes too. Most of those changes have been improvements, though some of them have been a tad creepy, but along with those things have come some badly needed streamlining. Now, Facebook is something not only usable, but useful. The cost of that, was a few interface changes that some people didn’t like at first, but they got used to the idea and after a while, it became part of their workflow. Not that Facebook is actually about work, at all, but you get my drift. I bring these things up, to point out that any time a tech company does something that is a major game changer, there are going to be people who don’t like it. It’s not that they have a particular love or hate for the appearance of the new operating system, because that’s not really the problem.… [Read More]
Faith: You’re Doing It Wrong
To the man who just refused to give my son fifty cents so he could buy a stick of deodorant,
You know, I could appreciate you doing this if you didn’t have change, or just didn’t trust it. I understand that. What I don’t understand is that you said. “No, not for you.” And watched him walk out of the grocery store after telling the clerk he didn’t have fifty cents. The clerk just shrugged at him and pointed at the door. All of that is fine. It’s that you actually followed him out to his car after you allowed him to be humiliated to tell him exactly WHY you didn’t help him out. You said that his language was foul and that he had a poor attitude and that Christian people would never help him if he continued to behave that way. You said this, to a young man who said, “Crap.… [Read More]
Gender Specific Pronouns Are Not Sexist
Dear Apple,
This morning I tried out the “proofreader” feature of Pages for the first time. I’m writing a novel, you see and my word processor of choice does a bad job formatting things in PDF and Word format. When I went to send it off to a friend, who is going to give it a read, I decided to double check my work with the spelling and proofreading tools provided with the application. The spellcheck worked great. The proofreader, however, flat out offended me.
I’m a fiction writer. This means I write, you know, fiction. I’m not even writing contemporary fiction. I’m writing fantasy. Swords, sorcery, dragons and damsels in distress? Not familiar with that are you? Well, after using your proofreader tool for Pages, I’d have to say that I’m not surprised to hear that.
I understand that it’s not appropriate to use certain language when writing business to business correspondence, but when you’re writing a fantasy novel calling a woman a “lady” is not only appropriate, it’s offensive to do otherwise!… [Read More]
An Open Letter to the Parents of Special Needs Children
I don’t live near you, or at least, if I do, I don’t know about it. My neighborhood is pretty quiet and not a lot goes on here. Every now and then, someone has an outdoor party in the summer. Big deal, right?
I’m not writing here to talk about that. I’m here to tell you that I have seen some of the most horrible things that I have ever seen said about a special needs child posted to the internet today. Some woman in Canada wrote a letter to a grandmother who babysits her autistic grandson during the summers and on behalf of the parents of “normal” (what the hell does that mean anyway? No one is “normal”, not if they’re being honest with themselves) kids everywhere, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry.
If I did live near you, I would probably ask you the questions that you get so sick of answering, but I wouldn’t ask them out of some twisted curiosity.… [Read More]
Debunking the Doggie Mythbuster
What is it with people anymore? Ever since Mythbusters began airing on Discovery channel years ago, everyone’s gotta jump on the mythbusting band wagon, and it IS a bandwagon.
Jean Donaldson is a well-respected dog trainer. She doesn’t agree with “Cesar’s Way” any more than I do and she strongly believes in positive reinforcement, which I agree with too. I use positive reinforcement in my daily life with my Labradorks, but there are times when you have to correct behaviors too. It’s NOT all about reward for good behavior and ignoring the bad. Sometimes, you are responsible for creating the behavior in the first place. Sometimes, you have to react immediately to bad behavior before it can escalate into a dangerous situation. Training a dog, and owning dogs is a balancing act, sort of like parenting children. There is no such thing as a single solution that works for every dog and every dog owner, in every situation.… [Read More]
