8

Pizza Party for the Passing of a Prof

The title makes it seem like our professor died, but really he just went on to bigger and better things. However, being that we liked him so much, we decided to throw a going away party for him. Really though, the impetus behind the idea was his possession of Disney's Robin Hood on his video ipod. That's right. A grown man, and a math professor, was not afraid to tell us that he liked Robin Hood. Which was beneficial to him because we all like it too. So, for his going away party, our small class met in one of the classrooms. Soccer Girl and I went and bought pizza, cookies, and soda. Our professor brought Robin Hood, and we hooked my laptop up to the digital projector in the room. Then, the four students and the professor had a fantastic time hanging out, eating, and watching a Disney classic. It's things like this that make being a math major worth it. Smiley.

~The Piebald Penguin

9

Leaving Something Behind

We as humans often like to know that, when we're gone, we will leave a legacy behind us. I'm here to tell you about what I left behind at my college. Now, I don't mean to get all abstract and intangible. I've definitely left something behind that is physical, visible, and noticeable. The summer before my junior year of college, I purchased a car. Not just any car, but a Honda Civic. Sadly, I'm not rich, so it was hardly new (as I would come to find out, it was ummm...poorly taken care...).

On Labor Day of that year, I drove down to the cafeteria because I liked my car, I didn't want to walk, and I could. I got to the Caf and realized that I hadn't brought my meal card. So, I got back in my car and began driving out of the parking lot. Now, what happened next will only make sense if I first describe this particular parking lot. It's a long strip that dead ends into a wall. The exit is a sharp left turn right before this wall. I was driving down the strip and nearing the end, when I decided that I should put my seat belt on. It wasn't being particularly cooperative that day (don't you just hate it when that happens? Sometimes the seat belt just clicks right in, but there's always that time when it takes a full minute to fit the stupid thing into the slot...frustration). I was fumbling with my seat belt and moving ever so slightly forward because I knew that I still had space before the wall. Unfortunately, it took me longer to get the belt into its place than I anticipated. Just as the belt clicked into place, my car jerked to a halt. I had hit the wall! Fortunately for me, my car wasn't damaged. As a result of this mishap, there is a streak of black paint on the otherwise tan wall. At least I know that I have left something behind. Smiley.

~The Piebald Penguin

P.S. Dinner wasn't even very good. Sad face.

The One Where We Countdown From 10

The Piebald Penguin graduates from college in 10 days. As such, I will be counting down the days with memories from the last 4 years.

Hello Kitty

This memory comes from last year during an exciting class known as Modern Geometry. The class name is ironic because most of the semester was focused on learning about the history of geometry. Really, the class should have been named "How geometry came to be as awful and annoying as it is now." Our professor required us to have a compass and a straight-edge for class. We used these to construct angles, shapes, and lots of other fun things. However, of the three of us in the class, only one person had a compass. I was not that person. Thus, Soccer Girl and I found ourselves in a store looking for cheap compasses and rulers. Now, if you've ever looked for school supplies, you would know that cheap means limited function, plastic, and tacky colors. Soccer Girl decided to be boring. She picked a rather plain color (I think she got a green compass, but, to be honest, I could be wrong about that...I just know it was boring). I wasn't willing to be so boring. I went straight for the purple compass and pink protractor. I figured, it's for a math class, so I need as much excitement as I can get. We pulled out our compasses the next day in class. My professor took one look at my compass and said, "Oh, look. It's a Hello Kitty compass." He's a 6'8'' giant. And he made a Hello Kitty reference in class. Win. Smiley.

~The Piebald Penguin

The One Where Osama bin Laden Dies

Dear viewers, in the event that you haven't heard, Osama bin Laden has been killed, again. Oh, yes. How many of you are old enough to remember the last time that we killed him? Hopefully most of you. Because it was only a handful of years ago. That's right. They were almost positive that they killed him. Regardless, apparently he's really dead this time.

What I really want to talk about is how this affects you, the reader of this awesome blog. It doesn't. Sadly, killing one man, even the leader of a terrorist organization will not overly disrupt terrorist operations. Now, of course, my readers are only informed citizens, so you're retort is, "but the CNN analyst dude said that al Qaeda would be dead after this." Obviously you all read articles on CNN.com because The Piebald Penguin gets his news from there. Frankly, I find the articles amusing. It's one of my vices. I make fun of liberals. Yep. Uh...where was I? Oh, right the media organizations are all talking to their "terrorism experts". My advice: Don't believe everything that the experts tell you (unless I tell you something. You should always believe everything I tell you. Remember, this is an awesome blog and you love it and want to give me lots of support by commenting down below and becoming a follower of my blog...like a real one. Don't be lame and just read all the stories without clicking the follow button. It hurts my feelings and makes me feel unimportant to you. Sad face.) Wow. Major tangent. Anyways...

The reason Obama's (oops!) Osama's death means little to the big picture is as follows: a terrorist organization does not operate like an ordinary military institution. Yes, there is a chain of command and having a charismatic personality "in charge" is helpful, but ultimately, these men are self-motivated to cause terror. You have to be. Setting off a bomb that will definitely kill women and children requires a great deal of determination and courage (Perhaps I will explain that in a later post. But, in all honesty, killing yourself and others in such a manner requires motivation, faith, and an iron will). When your organization is made up of such men, a charismatic leader becomes unnecessary. It is an organization of individual cells and killing teams. They certainly do not coordinate everything with Osama bin Laden. They larger attacks, most likely, but it doesn't require  a great deal of planning to bury a mine in the middle of a road. An example of this type of individualism in a military unit can be found in many places. I will use one from US history to illustrate my point. During the American Revolution (I'm referring to the United States' revolution from 1776-1783. I will be using the term "American" to refer to the revolutionary fighters. If you live in a country that is in North or South America but is not the United States, please don't take offense from this term. It's just easier to use.), American militiamen attempted to engage isolated units of the British Army. In these skirmishes, the first men to die were usually the British line officers, NCOs and buglers/drummers. The Americans would target these men first because it would seriously hinder the effectiveness of a British unit. The enlisted men in the British Army relied on these men to give the precise orders necessary to operate the company of men (company is used in the generic sense). However, the American militiamen operated in loose formations without the need for the strict control of the officer's orders (again, remember that this is in isolated, small unit tactics. Obviously by the end of the war, the United States Army resembled the European armies of the time, at least in structure, the quality was just a little worse). Al Qaeda operates in a similar fashion to these American militiamen.

Another small note. Even if al Qaeda were to dissolve, there are still plenty of other terrorist organization that are not lacking in leadership. Just a thought. Still, please don't take this post as a criticism of our armed forces. They continue to perform their duties with the utmost excellence, and I am a firm supporter of all men and women in uniform.

~The Piebald Penguin

P.S. Did anyone see Castle tonight??? Kind of a bombshell. Smiley.

The One Where We Learn How to Spell America

One of my pastimes is reading the comments on YouTube and Hulu videos. If you've ever done this, then you know what I'm talking about. It's ridiculous and amazing all at the same time. People say things that are completely unfounded and illogical. As if that weren't enough, there are always others who are willing to reply to these illogical statements, creating whole conversations that make no sense to anyone. Now, if you're one of those people who avoid reading the comments, don't worry. I have examples.

First, I found the following comment on a CNN story about immigration (if I remember right):

"THIS IS AMERICAN, anyone living here MUST conform to OUR rules and laws, not their own when it clashes with civil law."

Everything in red is literally just copied and pasted from the forum into my blog post. Now, aside from the obvious inflammatory nature of the comment, the first thing I noticed was that the person misspelled a word. Normally, I don't care too much about others' spelling mistakes, but this one is a bit...uh...sigh...I give up.  It's just sad.


Of course, it's possible that this person is just trolling. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this word, I will now define trolling. It means intentionally posting a comment that is designed to inflame others. Usually the inflamed will begin commenting on how stupid the troll is, or how he needs to go back to school and learn how to write/think. Either that or the troll will start a "flame war", which happens over controversial issues like immigration. The readers pick sides and proceed to write posts on the forum that ridicule the other side. So, the author of this comment may be a troll...but still, there are a lot of people who comment on videos and stories and make similar mistakes. Not all of them are trolls. When did it become acceptable to be less formal in writing than in spoken communication? Please don't blame texting. While that might be part of the problem, I think it's really a generational failing. Specifically, my generation and my parents' generation (more on this at a later date). Personally, I'm of the opinion that you should take extra care with grammar and spelling when everything you say is being, more or less, permanently recorded. People may forget your poor speech habits if they spend enough time away from you, but someone can just open their web browser and reread what you wrote....yeah. No bueno.

Here's a bonus quote from a YouTube video:

"There is friction in space.
There is no GRAVITY in space."

~The Piebald Penguin
P.S. Ok, so I can't resist commenting on the YouTube comment. If there's no GRAVITY in space, then how do we have days and years? What keeps the moon in its orbit? Or the earth? Sigh.