A professor of law at the University of Memphis has banned laptops from her classroom, and boy are the students upset.

Student Cory Winsett says if he must continue without his laptop, he’ll transfer to another school. Winsett says he won’t be able to keep up if he has to rely on hand-written notes, which he says are incomplete and less organized.

So how did all of us who went to college before the invention of laptop computers manage to keep up? How did we manage to learn anything? Let’s see … we took notes on paper, which we then later organized. We used class syllabuses and textbooks. We even used cassette recorders to record lectures so we could listen to them later for anything we might have missed. Amazingly, many of us were able to study and pass classes using these horribly outdated and inefficient methods.

If his handwritten notes are incomplete and disorganized, he has no one to blame but himself. He needs to learn how to take better notes. A laptop is not a requirement for achieving a higher education.

Thought I’d upload a better photo of the current WIP now that the camera is home. I’m looking forward to working on it some more tomorrow. I made a few decisions about where to go next. The sun area needs a few changes, and then I can start thinking about adding some texture of some sort. If I wasn’t so sleepy, I’d be in there working on it now.

The Earth is at the center of Robert Sungenis’ universe. Literally.

Yours too, he says.

Sungenis is a geocentrist. He contends the sun orbits the Earth instead of vice versa. He says physics and the Bible show that the vastness of space revolves around us; that we’re at the center of everything, on a planet that does not rotate.

Is it really necessary for us to leap back into the dark ages?

Meanwhile, Sungenis wants to make sure “people don’t classify geocentrists with Flat Earthers. We don’t believe that at all.”

Oh no, of course not! How could anyone believe anything as stupid as Earth being flat? Or … that the sun, the universe and everything revolves around a completely stationary Earth? You have to read the whole article to gain a true appreciation for this silliness, and do remind yourself that some 50% of Americans believe the planet to only be 5000-6000 years old … and evolution is a lie.

It’s to the point now that I can’t even blame these sorts of stupidities on the current state of education. No, this is willful ignorance all around.

The closing quote from Galileo is a keeper:

“The Bible was written to show us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.”

Disregard the whining in the last post about Lin not getting home until late tonight. Before he could get to the job site, the guys had already disappeared. Sucks for Lin, but now we get to watch the end of the mini-series together … so it makes me happy!

Of course, this also means I probably won’t get any more painting done tonight. Oh well … it’s a good trade-off. Lin gets to come home, and he’s bringing dinner with him, so no cooking for me tonight!

I’m on my own tonight. I’ll probably be on my own for every night this week. It’s the end of the quarter at Lin’s company, and well … they have a lot of work to get done by Friday. That wouldn’t effect Lin’s life all that much except that he has to babysit some of the construction crews. Seems that as soon as they feel one drop of rain, they declare it raining and take off for the rest of the day (and night). Tonight he’ll be cracking the whip on one group that has been particularly bad about that. He says he’s not letting them leave until all the lines are up (cell phone lines on a tower, about six really thick “wires”, I guess you would call them). He’s not a happy camper. Bosses shouldn’t have to be present to keep workers working. These guys will probably not be doing any more work for them, at least not if Lin has any say (and I think he does).

I could watch the last half of the mini-series that is on SciFi, but I get so sick of having to watch things twice and sometimes three times so Lin can see the whole thing. I’m going to record it later tonight or tomorrow night and not watch it until Lin is ready to sit and watch the whole thing without getting a hundred phone calls, having to leave, or falling asleep from fatigue.

What I think I’ll do tonight is work on that painting. That’s the only thing I’ve done all day … other than take loads of naps. I didn’t plan on napping so much, but the electricity was problematic while it was storming, and then it was just out for quite a while. On a dreary day with no electricity, it gets really dark in this house, and I can’t do much of anything. I look forward to a day when we have proper lighting in every room of the house.

You can see in the crappy little web cam pic that I made some more progress today. I have one, maybe three colors to add to the sun area yet. Then I am going to have to think about where I want to go with it next. The only reason I am sitting here writing as opposed to putting down the red (next color to go on) is that I am of two minds of what I want to do with the red … should it just be part of the sun … or should that mountain become a volcano? I’m having a lot of fun with this one. I think when it’s done, I might actually frame it and hang it in the kitchen.

Sigh. The last few months I grew accustomed to Lin getting home at a normal hour every day. It seems so strange now that he might not get home until after midnight or even later. I miss him. Not too much, mind you. He has been an annoying butt head this last week. I’ve been cutting him some slack since he’s been under a lot pf pressure at work, but yeah … annoying butt head all the same. I’m looking forward to the end of this quarter myself.

Ah well … think I’ll read some news and check up on what’s happening in the rest of the world, and then go smear some more paint around for a while.

Some weeks ago, our household received a US Census Test for 2006. They are updating their methods of gathering data, and lucky us, we live in the test zone. I finally opened the envelope today. It’s storming like crazy, so there really isn’t much else to do.

As I was about to start filling it out, I got that icky feeling in my gut. It’s a very short form. It asks whether you own, rent or freeload a place to live. It asks for everyone’s names, birth dates, relationship to others in the household, and race and cultural group. It also asks for a phone number, in case they don’t understand your answers. I’m trying to figure out what there is to not understand on a page with a bunch of check boxes and a few names. It’s not what I would call an extensive or confusing set of data.

So does anyone remember the 2000 Census form? I don’t remember it at all. Lin filled out the form, and I don’t think I even looked at it. I could have sworn the one time I do recall seeing a census form (who knows how long ago), it was a whole lot more anonymous. This isn’t really anonymous at all, and I’m not really all that comfortable about it … particularly the phone number.

I have a question for anyone who does remember filling out the last census form in 2000:

Have you always had to fill out everyone in the household’s full name? Have they always asked for a phone number?

Preliminary Google searches seem to indicate they always asked for names, but what about the phone number? Just curious really. I have no choice but to fill out the form and send it back … or they’ll send one of their minions to sit me down and force the information out of me. I’d just like to know in what ways this form differs from the last one. I’d keep searching the internet, but we are having a hell of storm today, and the electricity keeps popping off and on. Makes it more than annoying to try and look anything up on line.

And why are names necessary anyway, since they then supposedly anonymize the data?

“Only a girl would print them out and stack them up like this. I have to go through them from earliest to latest! The latest ones are on the top!”

“So. Just lay them face down and take the top page.”

[silence + baffled look]

“Jesus Christ! Think out of the box from time to time!”

“But I don’t want them to get messed up from laying face down.”

“Dude, they aren’t going to get any more messed up laying face down on top of each other than they will laying face up on top of each other. God, they are mileage invoices not works of art!”

[silence]

“Besides, I’m not your damn secretary!”

Went to Hobby Lobby with the intention of buying some 8×10 canvas panels and supplies to work on some Artist Trading Cards. Naturally, I spent about two hours wandering aimlessly touching things and contemplating them … and walked out with neither canvas panels or paper supplies. I did get two wonderful synthetic paintbrushes, filberts … one large and one in the medium range. Hey, I can’t pass up some good brushes when they are only $1.99.

So why didn’t I get what I went for? Though they insist they carry Fredrix canvases, they didn’t have any, and I simply refuse to work on the same brand I last bought. They suck, even when they are bought when massively on sale. I’ll wait until I can get to the Artarama to get the brand I want, even if they cost more. It’s worth it in the lack of aggravation while working on a painting. And while the paper products were all 50% off, I wasn’t at all happy with the weight of the card stock they carry. Thanks to the meteoric rise of scrap booking, and the dumbing down of paper stocks due to most scrap bookers not knowing what real card stock should feel like, it’s impossible to find anything of the proper weight anymore. It wouldn’t be so bad if the stuff was cheap, but it’s not (even at half price). I’m just going to have to figure something else out for the ATCs.

Don’t know what an ATC is? Well, it’s a 2 1/2″x3 1/2″ piece of art generally done on card stock or other heavier paper stock/cardboard. That doesn’t really begin to explain them, so here are some links to information and galleries.

Art in your Pocket: ATCs
ATCs: Collaborative Cultural Performance
Ed’s Artist Trading Cards
Marlies’ Artist Trading Cards
Artists Trading Cards

That should give you a good idea of what it’s all about. I’d been interested in doing some for a while, and after seeing the fun one of my Livejournal friends was having with an ATC swap group over at LJ, I decided to join up and have some fun too.

Now Lin is home, the cat is sick, the chicken noodle soup needs stirring, so I supposed I should go deal with all of these things. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some painting today, because I really would like to just escape life for a while, and painting is my new form of escapism. I’m having an interesting idea about incorporating polymer clay with the canvas currently on the table (Sun, Sand, Sea). The work itself is taking an interesting turn, and I still don’t have a clue about where it’s going … but I’m having fun with it. I think that’s what really matters, at least when it comes to forms of escapism.

Three more color bands to go on, and then I can think about the next step. First, dinner and the movie we are watching (Sky Captain).

Lin has been busy with work again this weekend, mostly just a lot of talking on the phone, but occasionally he has to run somewhere and do something. That pretty much has meant we couldn’t really go do anything or get started on any sort of yard work or such with him getting phone calls non-stop and having to leave at a moment’s notice. Ugh. Not that I am complaining. It’s nice to have a lazy weekend.

Currently Lin is playing one of his war games … hunting down terrorists in Bolivia, I believe. All I am hearing is a lot of cussing and gunfire.

I’ve been puttering around alternately snoozing, talking on the phone, and painting. I’ve put the Iris painting away for now. Just got sick of looking at it and working on it. That sort of attitude doesn’t lead to doing good work anyway. Might as well stop staring at it every time I walk into the kitchen. I’ll get back to it when the mood hits me again. The sheep painting had a minor set-back when one large grey cat jumped up on the stool by the table while the paint was still wet and well … cat hair and paw prints. That’s all I am going to say. Good thing I bought 100% non-toxic paints, because I think he even licked it. Since I was having the urge to paint, and neither of the things I have started were working for me, I got out the last canvas panel, blocked out a few shapes and just started mixing and painting. It’s going to be a landscape, of sorts. Who knows what the final result will be, not even myself. I just wanted to paint, so I am painting.

Speaking of which, my latest layer of paint is probably almost dry. I’m going to poke at it, add another layer, and then watch Lin hunt down terrorists for a while. When the camera batteries have charged up, I’ll take a photo of my progress to show you what I am up to.