True Life and Fiction

I find it amazing how some of the smartest people can exhibit almost no sense when it come to general knowledge. Maybe someone that becomes really book smart loses something in their education. I can certainly support that theory because I was feeling really smart when I graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a bachelor degree in science. But after later graduating with an MBA, I somehow felt ... less smart. My job entails training prospective helicopter pilots for the US Army. Specifically, I teach academic subjects about all the systems that make a helicopter fly. Recently, I had a student in one of our classes that had an engineering degree. Each new concept I would explain to the class (made up mostly of students that have very little scientific or physics background) but could not move on because my engineer student would ask numerous questions. While I do understand that some of the subjects covered are complex, I do explain them in a way I feel every student c

M e too. Well, it looks like we all made it through the rapture. Wait, isn't the idea of the rapture that you WANT to get swept up? The good thing is, Harold Camping is still here too, so we've got someone to blame. I don't know though, he looks to me like he could go any day now. W ait. Does this mean that we are all sinners? Have we all been left behind? I guess we'll never know. That is ... until 2012. T he terrible thing about this whole situation is that I believed in it just enough to put off mowing the yard yesterday, and I have to do it on a Sunday.  I'll probably do the same thing on December 21st, 2012 when our planet is believed to be crossing the galactic center of our universe and become subject to the forces of the black hole ejecta. O kay, so maybe I'll go ahead and put on some sunscreen that day too - just in case.

Sorry. Haven't posted in awhile. Been very busy, and then sicker than a dog the last few days. Don't worry, I'll be back in gear soon. Speaking of being sicker than a dog, ever wonder where that term came from? I've done a little research, and as far as I can tell, the term dates back at least as far as the seventeenth century when dogs were not fed Purina puppy chow as today, but table scraps (if any) that were left on a plate. Therefore, dogs were a little like the modern day "Tom" or "Barn" cat, given a few morsels now and again but, more or less, left to fend for themselves. As most of you know, dogs will eat just about anything. If they eat something that does not agree with them, say a sun dried and partially decomposed armadillo, they will first attempt to soothe their wretching intestines with some grass, and then proceed to come in your house (usually at dinner time) take a seat next to the person most likely to sneak them scraps at